INTRODUCTION
John 15:15King James Version (KJV)
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Using the word “henceforth” simply means that we used to be classified as servants but a date and time came when our status changed eternally.
Jesus was very clear when He said in John 15:14 “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
He was not mincing words at all and was very upfront about His criteria for us to qualify for His friendship. You simply have to do whatever I command without question.
Let quickly assess the parameters that makeup this criteria for friendship. The first one here is to DO
James 1:22 (KJV) says;
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
While the NIV version says
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
This means to be actively living out the word of God, the bible with our every breadth.
And to COMMAND means to give an authoritative order.
How many of us like commands?
I am sure He must have expressed His mind this way because as believers, we are soldiers and soldiers take and are used to taking commands. In fact that’s just how they operate.
2 Timothy 2:4 (KJV) says: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
2 Timothy 2:4 (NIV) says: “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.”
Though we are soldiers in His army and He is our commanding officer, He has extended a genuine hand of friendship to us.
The friendship we are exploring today has been classified as “Supernatural” because it is friendship with Jesus the Son of God or simply friendship with God. This level of friendship guarantees or have benefits that no human friendship can deliver.
As stated by Jesus, this friendship is expressly accessible on the platform of obedience.
Hearing the word does not qualify us… Speaking the word does not either… neither does studying the word… But being a DOER of the word is what qualifies us for friendship.
Even Jesus Christ understood this in the days of His flesh that Acts 1:1 says
“In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach,…”
Benefits of Obedience
- It makes us have A PECULIAR & TEASURED RELATIONSHIP
God emphasises how become a people to be treasured (friends) as a product of our outright obedience to the His voice.
Exodus 19:5 says
“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:”
- It makes us A BLESSING
Deuteronomy 11: 26 – 27
“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today;
Job 36:11
“If they obey and serve Him, They shall spend their days in prosperity, And their years in pleasures.”
- It makes us STRONG
Deuteronomy 11: 1 – *8
“Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess,”
- Unlocks LONGEVITY OF LIFE
Deuteronomy 11: 9
“and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.”
- It guarantees PROTECTION
Just like you and I are very likely to protect our friends and even oppose those that oppose or confront them, God takes us in a similar way.
Exodus 23:22
“But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.”
It is important that genuine obedience has a root in LOVE as we cannot consistently walk in obedience to the word or commands of God without LOVING Him.
Deuteronomy 30:20
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
This kind of summarises all the benefits stated above.
When we walk in Disobedience!
- It EXPOSES to ENEMY ATTACK
Job 36:12
But if they do not obey, They shall perish by the sword, And they shall die without knowledge
- It attracts CURSES
Deuteronomy 11:28
“and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.”