Who of us has not wanted to be counted among someone else's friends? Children long to be included in the circle. Adults, in their loneliness, look over at someone and hope to be noticed and loved and admitted to a re­lationship of friendship. Friendship is a basic human need. Paul Simon, a pop­ular American songwriter, wrote some decades ago,

I have no need of friend­ship;
friendship causes pain...
I touch no one and no one touches me...
I am a rock. I am an island.

This was a song of pain and sorrow and loneliness. It was a song of defense, not defiance, for even Paul Simon needed friends. His song expressed that basic human need. The need for a friend who loves at all times. Christians know and be­lieve that God in Christ has admitted his own into that relationship of friend­ship. No Christian will want to sing Paul Simon's song.

But who are God's friends? In Scrip­ture, Moses is called God's friend (Exodus 33:4). Abraham too is called, "Friend of God" (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8). The apos­tle James writes that

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as right­eousness, and he was called a friend of God.James 2:23

Job lamented the loss of the friendship of God (Job 29:4). These men, Abraham, Moses and Job, believed God and in his promises. They were loyal and walked before God with single-hearted devotion.

Who are the Lord Jesus' friends? "You are my friends," Jesus said to his disciples. He said that He would die for those whom He could call his own — for his friends. For whom did He lay down his life? The Lord Jesus says that He would do that for those who do what He commands. He would die for those who are faithful and loyal. The Lord Jesus considers his disciples as friends, if they but live in loyalty to Him. We should notice though, that the dis­ciples to whom He first spoke these words were men who denied Him that very night. Judas betrayed Him. All for­sook Him. None stood by Him in his hour of need. Even Peter denied know­ing Him. Yet, He counted these disci­ples among his friends. Lord Jesus' loy­alty is greater than that of his friends. For though He knew that all would for­sake Him, yet He lay down his life for them. He went to the cross in perfect obedience to his Father and in loyalty to his friends.

When the Lord says that we are his friends if we obey his commands, He does not mean that He takes us as his friends only if we live like cowering slaves. No, obeying Him and being loyal to Him means taking seriously what He says. That seriousness must be shown in our manner of living. We must live with due regard to what the Lord Je­sus wants of us. James writes that Abra­ham believed God and he was called God's friend. But James also writes that friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). Friendship with the world, loyalty with the world, is ha­tred toward God. Each of us should re­flect on that. Friendship, loyalty, with the world is hatred toward God. We cannot be friends with the world and the Lord at the same time.

Abraham, Moses, and Job — these were friends of God. Peter, John and James — these were friends of God in Christ. Yet, these were sinners, all of them. But these were people who took seriously the commandments and the will of God for their lives. So it is to­day. Disciples of Jesus are admitted to a relationship of friendship with God in Christ because of Christ's loyalty. This is not a relationship of equals. Notice that not one of the apostles claim for them­selves that they had God as their friend. None says, "Jesus is my friend." Paul speaks and writes of himself as servant and slave of Christ. So does James the Lord's blood brother. Jude, another of the Lord's siblings, son of the same mother, simply identifies himself as brother of James. The Lord Jesus, how­ever, admits us into the fellowship of his friends. He is always loyal. He is always faithful. He will never leave you or for­sake you. He keeps covenant forever.

The Lord Jesus Christ truly fulfills the proverb: "A friend loves at all times." He is the friend who sticks closer than a brother. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, his bride. Paul writes, "The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20b

The Lord said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

This he did for you and for me. We are his friends!