Pastor’s Thoughts – 05/10/2026

This passage is among the most wonderful in Scripture. What is the context of the words spoken? It is found in the last words of our Lord before going to the cross. He is foretelling what He is about to do and why He will do it. He is addressing the infinite depth of His love for His disciples and by extension for us who will come to believe in Him, and thereby He declares them and us to be His friends. This explains what Christ’s love for us is like. He says, “Greater love has no man than this.” It is the highest display of love ever shown or possible. It is a completely unreserved giving of Himself in a manner without boundaries. Its character is infinitely glorious because the Person performing the act of love is God Himself. He shows His love by giving everything, marked by dying as an act of love for His own rebellious creation. It is an unconditional, and eternally based love that guarantees the glory of it by its infinite measure and the reality of its immeasurable cost!

We know that all of mankind is born in sin and does not naturally love. We, as sinners, are naturally different than our loving God. We are born self-focused and self-preserving. But God is far different than we are as Paul declares in Romans 5:8, “God has demonstrated His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In any manner of reasoning, God’s love is so glorious that it can only be described as irrationally unexplainable to those of us who have received His saving grace. God’s love is a complete sacrificial love. It is the character and activity of God to possess this degree of love which defines biblical love.

John tells us in 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” Love is therefore also stated to be the characteristic of every Christian because John also says in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” John is saying that to truly have a relationship with God, we too will be marked by the same characteristics of love. That does not mean our love will be infinite as our Lords, but it will be of the same nature related to loving who and what Christ loves. Christ’s love for His Father was demonstrated by doing His will, and at the same time His love for us was immeasurable as seen by His infinite act. In a lesser manner, our love for God, and for one another should be demonstrated by our life. In 2 Cor. 5:14-15 Paul says, “For the love of God controls us, having concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

The love of Christ for us is shown to be associated with friendship. What is a friend? Someone who has attachment to us, has regard for us, and has our best interest always in mind. Our Savior not only has this but is not like any other friend, He is also our God, our Master, our Creator and Lord. To be called a friend of Christ is one of the most amazing statements in Scripture. It speaks of our restoration of relationship because He specifically says that He dies for His friends. Is every person Christ’s friend? He answers that adding a qualifier for us to know what is meant by being His friends. He says, “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). This is one of those verses that speaks of God’s particular love for His own. The idea of friends goes beyond restoration into intimacy and obedience. Christ did not die for every person, but for those who would show their belief and friendship of Him by doing as He commands. To comprehend how we, His creation, can have a friendship with Him who is our God displays His wonderful character. Our restoration of relationship, and thereby friendship, comes through Christ dying in our place and is seen by our appreciation in serving Him, and ultimately expressing our love back to Him.

Addressing the glorious restoration of relationship with God also includes the understanding of who Christ really is. He is not as our friend, our equal, but our God. Our Lord had stated earlier in this same context, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Our friendship therefore with Christ includes our love and acknowledgement of Him as our Lord. This is essential. He is not just our Savior friend, but He is our Lord friend. To be a friend to Christ Jesus is to possess the ultimate and infinite of all relationships. There can be no possibility of a greater or more wonderful friend than our Lord Jesus. I have stated many times that if we have Him, we have everything, and that if we do not have Him, we have nothing. As our friend, we are privileged to serve Him, and we can call on Him and know He hears us. Father, thank You for giving us Your Son, and making us His friends!