The highest form of servanthood is to be called a friend; John 15:13-15

Title: The highest form of servanthood is to be called a friend; John 15:13-15.

 

John 15:12"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

 

And now we see the extent of the power of this love.

 

John 15:13"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for [on behalf of] his friends [total soul love based on understanding of RF’s union with Christ].

 

 “life” yuch, [psuche] = soul. The real you is in the soul therefore laying down is not a reference to physical life, but your essence.

 

The essence of the soul:

Self-consciousness - self awareness

Mentality - the thinking part (left lobe and right lobe)

Volition - choices

Emotion - the responder of the soul

Conscience - norms and standards.

 

The emphasis here is on a soul love where admiration and affection are directed towards our common relationship to Christ within His body, and not typical, exclusive friendship.

 

This is true fellowship with the royal family and it excludes certain very intimate relationships. This is made clear in another passage.

/1 John 3:16

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren [adelphos].\

 

Every believer is in Christ, but no believer is best friends with every other believer.

 

So while philos is rooted in personal love, its nuance in context of the RF is based on the knowledge of every other believer’s relationship to Christ.

 

John 15:14 "You are My friends, if you do what I command you.

 

In verse 14 there is a subtle, but very real change in the context of the message. Philos in the RF applies to the value in every believer in their possession of +R and union with Christ.

 

Philos with Christ is different since it depends on your PMA/BD.

 

/Our relationship with one another is different than our relationship with Christ because Christ is the head of the body. We are under His authority forever.\

 

Abraham is the only person in the Scripture that is called a friend of God. God’s word became more real to him than anything else.

 

/What we commit to the Lord is never lost and much more is gained.\

 

HEB 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;

 

HEB 11:18 it was he to whom it was said, "In Isaac your descendants shall be called."

 

/GEN 21:12

for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.\

 

HEB 11:19 He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.

 

No one to this point in history had been raised from the dead, yet Abraham, believing the promise as well as obeying the command, knew that God would raise Isaac if necessary.

 

/The word of God became more real to Abraham than anything else.\

 

John 15:15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

 

/Conditions on friendship with Christ are application of doctrine, therefore friendship is reserved for spiritual adulthood, of which there are degrees.\

 

Spiritual adulthood: SSE, SA, SM.

 

/ “call” - le,gw[lego - present active indicative] = to call by name or to name. “slaves” - dou/loj[doulos] = slave, servant, bond-slave, belonging to another. \

 

Notice that He doesn’t say, “no longer are you slaves,” but rather, “no longer to I call you slaves by name.” We are still slaves and always will belong to Him through redemption.

 

/When we attain friendship status with Christ we are still servants of Christ forever, but our intimacy with Christ causes Him to call us friends.\

 

Acts 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

 

1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,

 

1 Peter 1:19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

 

/Phil 1:1

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus,\

 

/Titus 1:1

Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ,\

 

/James 1:1

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ\

 

/2 Peter 1:1

 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,\

 

/Jude 1

Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,\

 

Actually, any time you see the word “servant” in the Bible it is generally doulos.

 

John 15:15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

 

The all things refer to the doctrines He has taught them with emphasis on the mystery doctrine that they’ve heard for the last few hours. He cannot teach all of it to them, but He will reveal it to them over the course of several decades and through them reveal it to the world.

 

/Friendship with Christ depends on knowing the plan of the Father for Christ and for you, knowing the divine decree, and knowing the full realm of mystery doctrine.\

 

Knowing these means that you share a commonality with Christ in a true understanding of the Father’s program for human history and your place in it as well as Christ’s, which is the most important to understand.

 

When this is true then you and Christ will be best friends.

 

EPH 3:14 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,

 

EPH 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

 

EPH 3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;

 

EPH 3:17 so that Christ may dwell [be at home] in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

 

EPH 3:18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

 

EPH 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

 

/The life beyond gnosis becomes the life of comprehension of all aspects of the plan of God and then friendship with Christ.\

 

John 15:14 "You are My friends, if you do what I command you.

 

John 15:15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

 

 

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.

 

I chose you - election.

 

/ “chose” - aorist middle indicative of evkle,gw[eklego] = to pick out, to elect, or to choose. This is election in Christ for every Church age believer.\

 

The gnomic aorist indicates that this election is an absolute. The middle voice refers to the fact that the believer benefits greatly by election and the indicative reveals that this is a fact for everyone who believes in Christ as Savior.

 

/Fulfilling your election is attaining super-grace status since you have been called to bear fruit in maturity. We hold our cups out to God and He fills to our capacity.\

 

/Glorifying God is being blessed by God in the midst of an evil and perverse world. This is what you have been called to.\

 

The loser believer is elected but he ignores his election and spends all his time and effort in the cosmic system.

 

In grace God chose us. We did not chose Him. God saw down the corridors of time and saw all who would believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and He elected them.

 

His choosing us does not violate our volition as hyper-Calvinists teach.