THE AUTHORITY OF FRIENDSHIP

In John 15:15 Jesus said something I don't think I have ever heard emphasized.

"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends."

The Great Commission actually begins with Jesus saying, “All Authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me.” In a sense He is saying, “Listen, I'm in charge." We speak of the laws of nature reflecting God's Authority. And we understand that these laws are absolute. For instance, we know that the law of gravity cannot be broken. If you were to jump from the top of the Empire State Building, you would not break the law of gravity. You would prove it. And about the authority of Christ, Luke 20:17-18 refers to the words of the psalmist.

"He is the stone that the builders rejected. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

But if we think of authority like that of a dictator or a Drill Sergeant, we do not fully understand His authority. Look with me at the passage I referred to about friendship, John 15:12-15.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus is saying that we serve Him and one another as friends. In this passage Jesus links two of the words for love in the original language of the New Testament, agape and philos. Of course He had to accurately define agape love for us. He told us to love one another as He loves us. That stretches love to the ultimate sacrifice of the cross.

And He uses Philos, calling us His friends. Here Jesus stretches friendship beyond anything we can imagine. We are His friends because Jesus gave His life for us. We show that we are His friends when we do what He commands. In His grace, Jesus shows us the authority of divine friendship.

First, we see The Authority of Devotion.

We are to obey Him because we love Him. And we love Him and one another because He loves us. When you come to realize the magnitude of the love of God who gave His only Son for you, your heart will overflow with love that will do anything for Him.

And in this passage Jesus brings out The Authority of Purpose.

He said He no longer calls us servants, because a servant does not know what His master is doing. We know what Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 5:19, that in Christ God is reconciling the world to Himself. In verse 18 he says God has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Most of you are familiar with Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life. In that study Rick points out that our lives need to be driven by the purposes of God.

Finally, in speaking of His friendship, Jesus points out The Authority of Understanding.

He says, "All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." Our serving God depends upon our understanding the things of God. And the more we grow in our understanding, the more faithful we will be to Him.

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WITH THE WILD ANIMALS

The Gospel of Mark begins like thunder, with the prophecy of Isaiah and the ministry of John the Baptist. In rapid succession Mark runs through the events leading up to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Then Mark rushes on without giving us the details of His temptation found in Matthew and Luke. But he gives a quiet detail not found in the other Gospels. Look with me at Mark 1:13

“And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him”

What does it mean that Jesus was with the wild animals? I think we can see some implications of this. And in bringing these out I need to admit that these are only implied. They may not be completely accurate. But they are worth thinking about.

First, this implied courage. Wild animals are dangerous. Wolves and wild dogs ran in packs in Israel in those days. Syrian Brown Bears were still in the area, as were many kinds of poisonous serpents. Weakness was a major part of our Lord's incarnation. And His vulnerability was at the heart of His temptation in the wilderness. To automatically assume that God would have protected Him would be very like the Muslim reason for not believing Jesus died on the cross. They say God would not have allowed His prophet to die in such a shameful way.

You also have to assume that Jesus was quiet. One important difference between humans and animals in the wild is quiet. Both predators and prey make very little noise. I suspect some of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness was agonizing. But Matthew 12 quotes from Isaiah 42.

“He will not quarrel or cry aloud,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a smouldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory.”

If He was not quiet, Jesus wouldn't have seen wild animals.

And we have to assume Jesus could be still. I have a nephew who could coax animals to come to him when he was a child. I saw a black squirrel climb up his leg as he sat on a bench in a park in Vancouver, BC. They wouldn't come within 40 feet of other people. He was not old enough to start school when, on a visit with us, he caught a mouse in his hand. The mouse did bite him. But I couldn't have caught the mouse with a net. And whatever characteristics went into his unusual ability, the most obvious was persistent stillness. Jesus must have been very still as well.

Jesus must also have been at peace. Animals can sense when humans around them are disturbed. And they respond appropriately. Jesus had to have been somewhat disturbed by temptation. But at least between times of trial, He must have had an underlying peace that the animals could sense.

And of course He must have shown great tenderness toward the animals. Few things demonstrate the depravity of man as clearly as cruelty to animals.

I believe all this gives evidence of our Lord's authority over nature. There is not a great deal of difference in-kind here, from His ability to walk on water, calm a storm, or heal the sick. But if we think of His authority, as we sometimes think of human authority, overpowering those to whom it is applied, I believe we are thinking wrong. In Matthew 11 Jesus called to us with the same authority, that He said at the end of Matthew's Gospel had been given Him over Heaven and Earth. But in Matthew 11:28-30 He invites us.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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QUIET THINGS IN THE GOSPELS

Over the entire course of my ministry I have been drawn to thunderous things in the Bible. I love Elijah's prayer as he called fire from heaven, and the day the sun stood still for Joshua, Isaiah's seeing the Lord in Isaiah 6, the angels at the birth of Jesus, the voice from heaven at His baptism, the mount of transfiguration, the earthquake at the cross, the angel rolling the stone from the tomb, and hundreds more.

But lately God has been drawing me to quiet things, especially in the life of Jesus. These are things like Jesus reaching out to touch a leper who had not felt a human touch for years, or His giving His mother to John from the cross. There are quite a few of these as well. They are not usually the foundations of major doctrines, but the Holy Spirit can give amazing insights from them. Some of these are difficult to understand. And we have to think about them before they begin to make sense. Many of them are recorded in the Gospels simply because they happened. I want to share some of them with you because God often touches my heart with His peace through them. And I am convinced that He will bless you as we look at them together.

These may be the foundation of a book that I will yet write. I have been praying for God to give me time to write a book on peace. My granddaughter Olivia’s name was particularly chosen in connection with God's Olive Branch to and through us. And she occasionally reminds me of that, and half a promise that I will write such a book. And I pray God's peace will touch your heart through these scriptures.

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LISTENING

Listening is one of the most powerful tools you can employ to improve your preaching. Of course, we primarily need to listen to God. In Isaiah 55:3 God calls us to do just that.

“Give ear and come to me. Hear me that your soul may live.”

You can listen to God in your reading. First, read the Scriptures. Every Pastor needs a regular system of reading God's word that is separate from you sermon studies. You will have trouble encouraging your people to open their lives to Scripture, if you do not regularly saturate yourself in God's word. I once heard a younger friend of T.B. Maston, who wrote Biblical Ethics, and other books, tell about Dr. Maston's reading habits. He liked to read in the library. And before he would read anything else, he would read the Bible for several hours, covering multiple books of the Bible in a sitting.

I also think every preacher should memorize Scripture. And it seems to me that if I will meditate on memorized Scripture, God inevitably touches my heart. From time to time I have benefited greatly by simply listening to recorded Scripture. Recordings of the Bible are readily available through Bible Gateway and other programs.

In addition to the Bible, you can read books in which God will personally engage your heart and mind. I am a slow reader. And this has been a problem for me all my life. But I still read several books at once. Ideally for my preaching I should read different kinds of books. One might be on biblical backgrounds, another historical fiction, and a third, poetry, or even a murder mystery. For many of us listening to a book is a helpful experience. In fact, if I read a really good book, fiction or nonfiction, I will often try to find it recorded and listen to it as well. Different things strike me while I am listening, than when I am reading.

Possibly the most important thing you can do to improve your preaching is to listen to sermons by other preachers. Do you have favorite preachers that you listen to? I had a friend in college who had met one of the best-known preachers of that day. And he took the opportunity to ask him what he did to prepare his messages. He said, “I get most of my messages as God speaks to me when I'm listening to other preachers.”

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