Lesson 36

FRIENDS AND BRETHREN

(Audio Transcript)

Scriptures Cited:
James 2:23, Isaiah 41:8, 2 Chronicles 20:7, Proverbs 17:17, Romans 8:28-29, Hebrews 2:9-12, Proverbs 18:24, John 15:13-15, Genesis 18:17-19, 1 Peter 5:5-7

Good morning. Friends and Brethren – that’s actually going to be the title for this lesson today, “Friends and Brethren”. And a lot of times, it’s interesting we’ve been studying in the book of Acts, and it kind of stood out to me on Wednesday’s study, what a blessing it is that we do have a book of Acts where we do see some of the apostles’ actual sermons recorded. You know… that we can see what they actually got up and spoke, and what they actually preached.

And it was interesting to note – when the term “Friends and Brethren” came to me, I was thinking, ‘Is that how they started a lot of their addresses?’ But it’s actually ‘Men and brethren‘, they would say as they would get up to speak. You know, ‘Men and brethren’. Even on the day of Pentecost when the men who heard the message were going to respond, it was ‘Men and brethren, what must we do?‘ But today it’s not ‘Men and brethren’, it’s “Friends and Brethren”.

And what I want to do is look at some things along the lines of “Friends and Brethren” and what the word of the Lord has to say to us. And I guess if you remember last week, we were doing the part two on the “Pride and Humility”. And we looked at Moses; there was a little footnote in the book of Numbers about Moses. And that little footnote just said that he was the most meek or the most humble man on the face of the earth; there was that little commentary about his person. And so I kind of want to do something a little similar here today, we’ll look at a footnote that the Bible has on another well-known Bible personality. So, if we go to the book of James (the New Testament), we’re going to start off in James in chapter 2. And it’s similar to what we saw about Moses. In James chapter 2 and in verse 23 we’ll read a little footnote here. James chapter 2 verse 23 reads:

James 2:23
²³ And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness:
and he was called the Friend of God.

So, there we see that little footnote added in there of Abraham actually being called a friend of God. Like I said, the title of this is “Friends and Brethren”. And it’s pretty amazing, we’ve talked about it on Wednesday night as well – if you had your name, you know we saw those different names you know, as Paul was going along in his travels…to actually have your name recorded in the Bible would be one thing (that would be enough). But then to have your name recorded in the Bible with the footnote that you are the ‘friend of God’ – that you are God’s friend. So, we’re going to start there and we’ll see why this is written in the book of James. If we go back into the Old Testament into the book of Isaiah and chapter 41, we’ll see Isaiah’s testimony of the same. In Isaiah chapter 41 and in verse 8, and this is God speaking – He’s addressing the children of Israel as a whole. But in Isaiah chapter 41 verse 8 we read:

Isaiah 41:8
⁸ But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

So, there you have it from God’s own mouth, or His own testimony that God considered Abraham His friend. Like I said, I want that testimony – that’s an amazing testimony to have. And we’ll see it one other place here in the Old Testament if we flip over to 2 Chronicles chapter 20, we’ll see it one more time. And just this testament that Abraham has in the Bible in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 7. And it reads:

2 Chronicles 20:7
⁷ Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

So, you have it three times in the Bible where it states clearly that Abraham was God’s friend and that God was Abraham’s friend. Like I said and that’s an awesome testimony to have, and that’s a testimony that I want to have for myself. So maybe we’ll see some things here and we’ll look at kind of just following this thread of like I said, ‘Friends and Brethren’ and see if it can help us grow in this understanding, so that maybe we will have that same type of relationship with God to where one day, maybe it will be said of us that we were a friend of God and also that God is our friend. So we’re going to stay here in the Old Testament; let’s go over to Proverbs chapter 17. And it seems like we’ve been in Proverbs quite a bit here lately, but there’s a lot of good stuff in Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 17 and we’re going to go with verse 17. It just gives us a little verse here that kind of ties both the friends and the brethren together. It says:

Proverbs 17:17
¹⁷ A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

We know that Proverbs is just these little sayings of wisdom – and here it lets us know that a friend loveth at all times. So now, apply that to Abraham and God. And think of God saying that ‘Abraham is my friend’. Well it says here that a friend loves at all times. And so, also imagine God as your friend and having that love at all times…

And then it continues on though, and it says ‘and a brother is born for adversity’. And we know this, that when there is hard times – when adversity strikes, a lot of times the people that you can lean on are your brothers, and especially it should be that your brothers in Christ are the ones you should be able to lean on in hard times. Kind of like what we said in Bible class this morning, people dealing with a lot of tragedies in life – and that’s a good time to come back to church where you can have that support of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, from there, what I want to do since we started talking about the friends a little bit with Abraham… and now we see some things here about the brethren – so I want to hit on that a little bit. And then I think the whole thing will come full circle for us. So if we can go to the to the New Testament now, we’re going to go to Romans chapter 8. And now we’re kind of touching on a few verses here that talk about the brethren, or the brothers. In Romans chapter 8, and what we’ll see here starting in verse 28 – Romans 8:28 reads:

Romans 8:28-29
²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

So there we see that this is talking about Jesus, but then it also talks about those who would believe on Him through faith in obedience, being conformed into that image of the Son – and that Jesus would be the firstborn among many brethren. So, there’s many ways that we can look at Jesus. We know He’s our savior, we know He’s the lamb, but here again we see that if we are born as also children of God – and Jesus being the only begotten Son of God… well, that makes Him our brother, and us brethren in Christ.

And then we’ll go ahead and go over to Hebrews and it’ll say it again there. Hebrews chapter 2, starting in verse 9. Once again this starts with Jesus and ends with Jesus. That’s definitely the answer to this book – when you can’t figure it out, just say ‘It must be Jesus’. But in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9, it says:

Hebrews 2:9-12
⁹ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. ¹⁰ For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

¹¹ For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, ¹² Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

So there we see it again, that by what Jesus has done, He’s bringing many sons to glory. And by doing that He is not ashamed to call those sons – those many sons – to call them His brethren. So from there, like I said we see a little bit about the brethren; we’ve talked about the friends with the prime example being Abraham. And what I want to do is kind of pivot again, so let’s go back into the book of Proverbs, and we’re going to read one more thing there in Proverbs chapter 18. And this will begin to hopefully tie it all together and bring us back home. Proverbs chapter 18 and in verse 24, remembering our theme of ‘Friends and Brethren’… verse 24 reads:

Proverbs 18:24
²⁴ A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

And that verse right there, it almost sounds like a riddle – another one of those Proverbs (dark sayings). ‘But a man that hath friends must show himself friendly’ but then the second part here says ‘and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother’. And that friend is the friend that obviously we want to talk about. And I guess like I just said, if you ever have a question in the Bible the answer is going to be Jesus as to who this friend is that sticks closer than a brother. And we’ll see that actually, Jesus letting us know that, that’s the case in the book of John chapter 15. This is going to be Jesus’ own words, letting us know this relationship that He has with us and with His follower’s, disciples and His Apostles. So, in John chapter 15 starting in verse 13, Jesus speaking, says:

John 15:13
¹³ Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

So there we see that friend that sticks closer than a brother. And we read too, that a brother is born for adversity – but this friend, He goes even a step further and He lays down His life for His friends. Verse 14 says:

John 15:14-15
¹⁴ Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. ¹⁵ Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

So there’s a lot there in those few verses about this relationship. And like I said, we see Jesus as our brother, but here we know that He’s also our friend. And it says in that verse 14 – “Ye are my friends if…” so He gives a condition there. “Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” So there’s a condition there. But then in verse 15 He lets us know the reason why He’s calling them and calling us a friend – where He says “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” What He’s saying is, ‘You’re my friends because I’m letting you know my Father’s will; I’m letting you know what the Father is doing’. ‘All the things that the Father has told Me’… He’s telling to His friends… as they say, that’s what friends are for, ‘sharing is caring’. So, Jesus lets us know the reason why they are called His friends, it’s because what He shared with them.

This is where it brings us full circle, where we started, which was with Abraham. We see here that Jesus lets His friends know what the Father’s will is and what the Father is going to do. And if we turn all the way back to Genesis and chapter 18, we’ll get one of the reasons why Abraham is called the ‘Friend of God’. So, in Genesis chapter 18, starting in verse 17 – and just to give some context, this is when the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah had reached up to Heaven, and God was about to intervene. And He came down and He spoke with Abraham for a while. And then we have this passage of scriptures here in chapter 18 starting in verse 17, it reads:

Genesis 18:17
¹⁷ And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

So right there, I mean if we understand the context in what He’s saying here, is He’s saying – ‘Okay, I’m about to bring judgement to Sodom and Gomorrah, but should I hide this from Abraham or should I let him know what I’m going to do?’ And just like we saw with Jesus, with your friends you share with them what you are doing. You share the will – and obviously, this is the will of the Father here. So, we see “And the Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?’ Verse 18:

Genesis 18:18-19
¹⁸ Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Note: More testimony of Abraham. And verse 19…

¹⁹ For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

So, we can see there that this is one of those examples of why Abraham was considered a friend of God. Because for one, God shared His will – He let Abraham know ‘This is what I’m about to do, Abraham’, you know it’s like letting your friend in on what the plan is going to be. Then it also says the reason why is because He knows Abraham will be faithful. He knows that Abraham will not only keep the commandments of the Lord, but He will also pass them down to His descendants. So, with that understanding – that relationship and why God would consider someone a friend, is if He lets you know His will. So we have to ask ourselves, or we should be able to see that God considers us as friends – if He’s made His will known to you, it’s because He considers you a friend.

It’s interesting, when I looked at the bulletin flyer I believe, it was right on the front there “What a friend we have in Jesus“, you know, what a friend. Because He lets us know the will of the Father. Like it says in John chapter 1, no man has seen God at anytime, but the Son, He has made Him known to us. So, we have to think to ourselves, if God has made His will and His way known to us and He considers us to be a friend, the next step is for us to be a friend to God. And the way we saw it here in Genesis with Abraham and the way we saw it with Jesus and the Apostles, He says ‘..if you do the things that I command you, you are my friends’.

So that’s how we can have that friend relationship with God – by understanding His will, appreciate the fact that He’s sharing His will and His way with us… really appreciating it. And then to be His friend by obeying and doing the things that He would command us. So, with that – actually we’ll go one other place in closing this out, keeping in mind the friendship that we have in Jesus. I do want to go to 1 Peter chapter 5. It’s interesting because for the past two weeks we were in 1 Peter chapter 5, we read verse 5 the first week of the Pride and Humility lessons. And then the second week, last week, we read verse 6. And so what I’d like to do today is continue and read verse 7. And I might go back and read 5 and 6 as well. So 1 Peter chapter 5 and I’ll read 5, 6, and the main point being in 7 though. Verse 5 reads:

1 Peter 5:5-7
⁵ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

Note: Verse 7…

⁷ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

And that is that friend that we have in Jesus.

We can cast all of our cares on Him. We can come to Him, He has let us know the way to be saved because He is a friend to us and because He cares for us and because He loves us; because the Father loves us, and that’s why He sent His Son into the world, that we might have a way to be saved. So with that, we’ll go ahead and close it up for today. As always, the invitation is open. If you know the will of God, if He’s shared what His will for you is, you can be His friend today just like He said, by doing what He commanded. Whatever your spiritual need is, you can make it known as together we stand and sing.