On the Move: From Enemy to Friend
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, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Before you read any further, take a few seconds and list out a few of your closest friends. Really give this some thought. Consider those that are closest to you. Don’t list acquaintances, or those you only know casually. I am sure these are great people, but for the purpose of this exercise, consider those who are your closest friends.
Now let me ask you a question. Is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit on that list? Better yet, are they on the top of that list? I realize this is a strange question but that is what we are considering today. When we were saved, God moved us from enemy to friend.
Last week we discussed the fact that when we were reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, we were “on the move.” God moved us from being in Adam positionally to being in Christ. No longer do we belong to the old way of life; now we are new creatures that belong to God Himself. We have been moved into Jesus Christ!
But that is only the beginning of the story. The story continues because everything changed. And one of those things that changed is that we were moved from being enemies of God to friends of God. Consider what the Bible says in Romans 5:9-11, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Did you know that before you were saved, before you were “in Christ,” you were an enemy of God? Now you may not like the way that sounds but according to the Word of God in Romans 5:10, before God reconciled us to Himself, we were considered His enemies. You may be wondering, how can that be? The answer is found in the holiness of God and sinfulness of man. God is holy, set apart, perfect, sinless, pure light, and pure truth. Sin is just the opposite. Sin is darkness, rebellion, and pridefulness. Sin is a disgrace in the face of God. And God cannot look on sin, tolerate sin, or condone sin. Sin is set apart as the opposite of God’s holy character. Therefore, sin is an enemy of God. And that is exactly what we were before we were saved. We were sinners and, therefore, enemies of God.
That is what the Bible describes in James 4:4. “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” The person who sets out to be friends with the world is an enemy of God.
So God took a step toward us. And that step was the step of reconciliation through His Son, Jesus. Jesus’ work on the cross and the empty grave brings reconciliation to those who turn from sin in repentance and trust Jesus alone by faith. And when that occurs, we are on the move.
God moves us from His enemy list to His friend list. We become friends with Almighty God. The thought of this first occurred to me several years ago when I was sitting in a room full of pastors. The pastor hosting the luncheon asked one of my pastor friends in the room to pray. So, we all bowed our heads and closed our eyes. And then my friend began to pray. And he prayed something like, “Thank you Lord that you are both our Father and our Friend.” And my mind was immediately captured by this thought. I had never deeply considered the implications. It overwhelmed me that God is both my Father and my Friend! And it all happened because God made the move toward me and then caused me to move into Him. I was moved from the enemy list to the friend list.
Let’s consider a few of the blessings of friendship with God.
God is our confidant.
He is the one with whom we can share all of our life, all of our thoughts, and all of our joys. He knows it all so we can bring all to Him. He is our confidant.
He is our encourager.
Every person needs someone in their life to encourage and strengthen them. That is what God is to us as our friend. He encourages our spirit, strengthens our faith, and exhorts our minds.
While there are many other things, let me share one more with you.
He is our faithful friend.
Proverbs 18:24 says, “A person of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Our God is a faithful friend who sticks with us all the way, even more than a family member.
Before you go today, stop and thank God for not only being our Father but also for moving us onto His friend list. Thank God for His friendship!