Sermon

February 24, 2002
Festival of Friendship
Proverbs 18:24
Pastor Robert Raasch

Jesus is the Friend You Can Rely On

1. He'll Tell You the Truth
2. He Gives You What You Need

(Prov 18:24 NIV) A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Have you ever had someone you considered to be a friend who really let you down? Maybe it was your first high school date who after a few weeks unceremoniously dumped you, to go out with someone who was apparently better looking than you. Ouch, that hurt! Or maybe you took the time to confide in a co-worker; you poured out your heart; you shared some of your deepest thoughts and fears. And by the end of the week, everybody at work knew what you said. You feel totally embarrassed, humiliated. Thanks for the special bond of friendship, right?

Or maybe you asked a friend to carry out a task for you. Maybe cover your paper route while you're on vacation. And what happens? You get back home to find your answering machine filled with messages from irate customers. And the newspapers are still stacked in bundles on your back step! You're thinking, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"

I expect that we've all known people, maybe even loved people who at one time or another, let us down, people who proved themselves to be unreliable, unfaithful, discouraging. And that's a shame. For you see, as human beings, we crave true friendships. We need people we can confide in, people we can relate to, people who will multiply our joys and divide our sorrows. Unfortunately, even the best of friends and the dearest of loved ones can still disappoint us, and we in turn, can still disappoint others. So, the question is, is it possible to find a friend who is always faithful? Someone who we can always count on, someone who will never let us down? Or as wise King Solomon put it here in our text, "Is there 'a friend who sticks closer than a brother'?" Yes there is. And the Bible says that his name is Jesus. On this Festival of Friendship, as we gather together to celebrate the love and faithfulness shown to us by our Best Friend, let's consider this thought:

Jesus is the Friend You Can Rely On

Why can you and I rely on Jesus like no other?
Because:

1. He'll Tell You the Truth
2. He Gives You What You Need

First, Jesus is a friend you can rely on because he'll tell you the truth. I expect that we all know people who are good at telling us what we want to hear, who flatter us, make us feel good, but aren't very good at telling us what we need to hear. A true friend tells us the truth, even if it's not pretty. A true friend is the one who tells you that you have a piece of spinach between your teeth. Or on a more spiritual level, a true friend is someone who is willing to confront you about your sin or speak to you about the offense your actions have caused.

Well, if that's what a true friend does, then no one could be a better friend to us that Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? When it comes to showing us what we look like in the mirror of God's law; when it comes to telling us how we stack up against God's standards, Jesus pulls no punches. He tells it like it is. Remember what Jesus said to his friends when he gathered them on a mountain in Galilee? He said, "You have heard it said, 'Do not murder'…But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to the judgment…And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." And again, "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matt. 5:21-28)

Do you realize what that means for you and me today? It means that Jesus not only judges our outward behavior. He judges our inner motives. He judges our hearts. And when he finds in our heart the sins of anger, contempt, lust jealously or greed-any time Jesus sees that our heart are not pure, he's going to tell us what we've earned for ourselves. What does the Bible say? "The wages of sin is death."

In that sense, you might say that Jesus is like a doctor who takes one look at our heart and says, "Your coronaries are all almost completely blocked. And listen, if nothing is done about it, you will surely die!" Now does anyone want to hear news like that? Of course not. But do you and I need to hear it? Absolutely! And if your doctor truly cares about your long term health, he won't just look the other way, or say, "Oh, I think you'll be fine." He'll tell you the truth!

My friends, because Jesus is your best friend, you can be sure that he too is going to tell you the truth. While a lot of people will encourage you to not worry about your sin, or try to explain it away by saying everyone is sinning too, Jesus will tell you the truth: You and I are accountable to God for our actions. And if left to our own devices, we're all damned.

Well thanks be to God that our best friend loves us enough to not only point out our problem, but also provide for us a solution. Or to put it another way, Jesus is the friend you can rely on not only because he'll tell you the truth, but also because II. He'll Give You What You Need.

The story is told of the little boy who was carrying to market a basket of eggs he was planning to sell. Along the way, he tripped and fell and all the eggs lay smashed on the ground. Soon a small crowd of sympathizers gathered around the sobbing child. One said, "My, my, what a mess he's made. Another said, "I hope he doesn't get a whipping when he gets home. Another put his hand on the boy's head and said, "Don't cry, boy. Tears won't make the matter any better." Just then a man stepped forward and said, "I care 50 cents worth and handed the boy a silver coin. Another then said, "I care a quarter's worth." And in just a few moments, the boy had enough money to cover the cost of the broken eggs. You see, a true friend does more than simply point at the problem. A true friend does more than sympathize with the sorrowful. A true friend puts his words and emotions into action. A true friend does something to fix the problem. A true friend does something to make things right.

My friends, isn't that exactly what Jesus has done for us? Jesus has done much more than simply point out the problem. He doesn't simply call our attention to the mess we've made of our lives. No, he steps forward and says, "Here, I'll pay for all your mistakes. I'll offer my body on a cross to make everything right again. I'll do something to restore your relationship to God. How does the Bible put it? "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." (Gal. 3:13) And again, "the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

Do you realize what that means? It means that Jesus Christ had done what it takes to make you acceptable in the eyes of God. By his life and death, he's restored your relationship to God. He's taken away your sins. He's clothed you in his righteousness. And in so doing, he's given you and me exactly what we need. And that is, a clean slate with God. And with that clean slate, comes a new life both now and forever in heaven. And notice, these are all things that Jesus has given us. When we say that Jesus is the friend who gives us what we need, it means that Jesus did not say, "I'll do this for you if you live a good life, if you obey my commands, if you prove yourself worthy. No, Christ's love for us is an unconditional love, a love that doesn't take into consideration what we've done or where we've been. In the original language of the Bible, that's called agape love.

A foreign missionary once shared a story which I think illustrates what agape love is all about. It's the story of a girl named Christina, and her mother Maria, who lived in a one-bedroom house in rural Brazil. At the age of 15, Christina dreamed of the day when she would be able to trade the dusty streets of her village for the exciting streets of Rio de Janeiro. Her mother, however, was horrified by the idea of Christina setting out on here own. Her mother knew what would happen to a pretty girl like Christina in the big city. She knew that when pride meets hunger, a human will do things that beforehand were unthinkable. You can imagine how Maria's heart must have broken when she awoke to find her daughter gone.

But Maria was determined to find her daughter. She threw some clothes in a bag and ran to catch the first bus to the city. But before she did, she stopped at the drugstore and spent all the money she could afford on pictures of herself. When she got to the city, she began to scour the streets. She went to bars, nightclubs, hotels-any place that had a reputation for harboring prostitutes. And everywhere she went she put up pictures of herself, each with a handwritten note on the back.

Some time later, 15 year old, looking tired and older than her years, caught a glimpse of one of those pictures. She recognized a familiar face. With tears welling up in her eyes, she read these words written on the back, "My daughter, whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please, please, come home." And with that simple invitation, Christina did just that-she went home.

That, my friends, is agape love. And even at that, it's only a glimmer of the love which Jesus has shown to each one of you. No one loves you more than your Savior does. No one has ever made the sacrifice Jesus made for you, and no one ever will make that sacrifice. Even though you and I may have friends who love us, no one will ever be the Friend that Jesus has been and will always be.

Now, the only question that remains is this, "How can you and I ever thank Jesus enough for being the friend he's been to us? Well, there are two things we can do. First, we can trust him, that is, put all our confidence in him. Rely on him to not only take us to heaven when we die, but also take care of us while we live. Trust Jesus to use even the hardships in life to serve a good purpose.

Secondly, we can show our thankfulness to our best friend by listening to what he says. If you received a letter in the mail from one of your closest friends, would you chuck it up on the shelf and forget about it? No, you would open it up and read it. You would want to see what your friend has to say to you.

Well, your Best Friend has also written a letter of sorts. It's called the Bible. Here is Jesus' message for you. Every Sunday some of Jesus' friends gather in churches like this one to read Jesus' letter. We do it for a couple of reasons. First we want to be reminded of what Jesus has done for us. Reminded of how faithful has been to us, even when other people haven't been faithful to us. And yes, even when we haven't been faithful to him.

But we also want Jesus to offer us his counsel on every day events in our lives. Just as we might go to a close friend to get some advice on how to handle a sticky situation, so also we look to God's Word to help us answer the question, "What would Jesus do?" And in his Word, Jesus offers us his divine advice. He shows us how to live our lives to his glory. He tells us, for example, "Speak the truth in love." "Honor God with your body." "Submit to the governing authorities." "Serve one another in love."

Are there times when we still ignore our Savior's advice? Times when we genuinely hurt our best friend? Times when we try to run away from him? Yes, there are times when we do that. But that's when Jesus proves what kind of friend he truly is. For even when we're unfaithful, he's always faithful. In his Word, Jesus in effect reaches out his hands, with the nail marks still in them, and says, "Friend, I don't care what you did. I don't care what you have become. Please come home." My friends, there is a friend you can love, a friend you can trust, a friend you can rely on. What a friend we have in Jesus! Amen.

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