Some people say that James’ teaching here contradicts the doctrine of sovereign grace. Martin Luther, for example, didn’t want to include James in his German Bible, because he misunderstood what the brother of the Lord Jesus was saying. Unfortunately, not only did he misunderstand James, he misunderstood Paul, John and Christ Jesus. But James doesn’t say that some are saved by faith and others are saved by works. He says that saving faith is proved by the out-working of faith through works. The faith which talks, but does nothing more, isn’t the faith which God grants to His people. That kind of faith is man-made and impotent.
In the midst of James’ discussion, there is the statement that Abraham was the friend of God. In some ways this is a strange declaration. It is strange because, logically speaking, God doesn’t need, want or ask for friends. And no man is really worthy of the friendship of God in the first place.
I am not God – I do need friends and lots of help. I need companionship; advice and counsel and often I need a friendly correction. Sometimes I get lonely and despondent and only my best friend can help. Sometimes my steps are faulty, or poorly planned, or even dangerous, and I could use a helping hand.
I need a faithful friend, but God doesn’t, because He doesn’t do or need anything that I just described. As Proverbs says, “I need a friend to speak in time with wisdom” – but Jehovah never does. “A friend loveth at all times,” even when times are bad, but things are never in bad shape for God. “As ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the counsel of a friend.” – but does the Lord need Aqua Velvet, or Vick’s Vaporub? And “faithful are the wounds” of such a good friend. In other words, it’s better to be criticized by a friend than to be kissed by an enemy. But does the Lord ever need instruction or to be “wounded” by us? Some friendships are stronger than blood – “There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” But isn’t the Lord’s friendship sort of one sided?
I need friends, you need friends, David, Job and Paul need friends – but God doesn’t. Logically speaking God is so far above us that the word “friend” shouldn’t be in His personal vocabulary. But in the things of the Spirit, human logic doesn’t always work. One preacher, two centuries ago outlined four reasons why he needed friends: First, poor judgment which needed correcting. A true friend tells us when we are wrong. Second, he sometimes committed the sin of selfishness which needed rebuking. Third, his natural laziness needed criticism. And fourth, he experienced common difficulties that need the assistance of a friend. What are friends for, but for such things as these?
And we can add one more: – we sometimes need friends with which to enjoy the Lord’s blessings. But have you noticed that the Bible never equates friendship with fun? “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” That is when we learn who are friends really are. The prodigal had lots of “friends” so long as his daddy’s money held out, but the moment it was gone so were they. When the ugly head of poverty and adversity arose, that man’s “friends” were nowhere to be found. But of course God has no adversity, sinfulness, or laziness. God doesn’t need friends the way that you and I do. Well then, what then made Abraham a friend of God? It must have been something other than the ordinary human grounds and reasons for friendship. And yet, to be a friend of God, still must be a very good thing. There is not a person among us, who doesn’t need to be a friend of the Lord – WE need it.
Here are three items to consider, and if you think that there are worthy – to emulate.
Abraham was a friend because God asked something and Abraham did it.
Obviously, it wasn’t that God needed Abraham to do something for Him. It wasn’t that Abraham befriended God at a moment when the omnipotence of the Lord was running low. God befriended Abraham by giving the man something to do for the glory of the Lord.
Jehovah had promised the father and mother of humanity a deliverer from sin – a Saviour. He said to Satan, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” As a result Adam and Eve began looking for the Messiah when their first son was born. But, no, Cain was not the Messiah or even the great-grandfather of the Messiah. Tracing the lineage down the line nine steps we come Noah – when the world was destroyed. Noah had three sons. God cursed one of those sons – Ham. It was prophesied that Jephethah would become a servant. And God blessed Shem. Then for eleven more generations the mysterious hand of God was quietly working until …
According to the statistics of Genesis 10 – with more than a million families descending from Shem, the Lord chose one on which to bestow this part of His grace; to continue the lineage of the Messiah. The Lord had already chosen Abram, the son of Terah, the brother of Nahor. What grace – condescending, merciful, beautiful grace. It was “not of him that willed, nor of him ran, but of God that shewed mercy.” God approached that backward idolator of Ur in the Chaldees and said: “Come with me, Abram, I’ve got a work for you to do, in a land far away.” And Abram basically said, “All right Lord, just lead the way, and I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
Perhaps we can look at Abraham as God’s friend of because God asked something of him. Without saying that God couldn’t get along with him, isn’t a friend someone who helps out in our moments of crises? A teacher oncd asked for a definition of “friend,” and a little girl replied:“A friend is someone who comes in when everyone else goes out.”
There are all kinds of crises and opportunities through which we can prove our friendship. To enjoy a friend we need more than mutual enemies. The Lord Jesus said, “You are my friends if you’ll do whatsoever command you.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 – “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” What a beautiful friendship there is in the men who risked their lives to get David a little water from the well in Bethlehem. A True friend of God is forever asking, “Lord, what would you have me to do?”
By the criteria of obedience, helpfulness and service, do we qualify as friends of God or of anybody else? If you were someone else, would you want you to be your friend?
A friend knows his friend’s heart and draws out its very best.
A friend provides his friend with encouragement for doing good, being merciful and doing his best. Abraham was visited by the Lord in the form of a man and his two companions (Genesis 18). Then to paraphrase the Lord, He said, “Shall I hide from Abraham the destruction of Sodom, seeing that I have called him my friend?” At that point begins one of the strangest tales in the Word of God, Abraham pleading with Jehovah to spare the city of Sodom for the sake of his nephew.
I think that we can see that true friends confide in one another. This is one of the primary definitions that I have in my Bible dictionary. Of course to confide demands honesty, confidence, discretion and dependability. God, out of love, told Abraham about the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That was something that a friend might do with a friend.
Immediately, the friend of God, undertook the task of intercession for Lot and his family. But to whom was Abraham being a friend – was it towards Lot or to the Lord? Both to a certain degree – but it was primarily toward Jehovah. With whom did Abraham spend more time? Who was it that He loved more? Who did He serve? Abraham was trying to help Lot, but he was thinking of the Lord while he did it. “And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” As I said before, a friend encourages the best out of his friend. Like coaches the friend takes pleasure in seeing his friend victorious. A friend wants his friend to mature, to grow, to be honourable and to be honored. Like Moses when the Lord said that He was ready to destroy Israel and restart with Moses. Yes, the leader of the nation interceded for the wicked nation, but it was the glory of God that he used for his arguments.
To me, this appears to be one of the aspects of friendship which is lost today. In school, one teacher is strict while another is lenient, but which is closer to being a friend? A friend tries draw out our best, and therefore he lovingly criticizes, pushes and encourages. He provokes and stimulates, but he’s not always pleasant. He that speaks nothing but flattery is far from being a friend.
But then there is the other side of the coin. Job was perfectly right in calling his companions “miserable friends.” It is one thing to be helpful in criticism, and it’s another to rejoice in it. If criticism is painful to give, then it is safe to give. If there is the slightest pleasure in criticizing someone then it may be better to keep silent.
A friend is someone who will give his all – even his life – for the one he loves.
This seems to be the context of James’ statement. What was it that Abraham gave up for God? He left his hometown, his country and most of his family. How about us? He gave up luxuries, inheritances, an house, peace and security. Abraham was very much like a missionary – he was a missionary. Later he gave up his nephew Lot, and the well-watered plain of Jordan. And he gave up His Son, Isaac – willingly offering him to the Lord.
And what did Abraham receive in return? That is a difficult question to answer. He got a land which he never possessed and riches which he hardly ever enjoyed. He was promised descendants whom he never saw and a Messiah who came centuries later. But more important than anything in this world, Abraham received the praise of God. And the eternal inheritance of God is something which cannot be valued. There is nothing higher or better than being “the friend of God.”
Using these criteria, can you qualify as a friend of the Lord? Obedience, opportunity, and giving all, testify that we are someone’s friends. Think about it, and while do, think about even greater example.
“Greater love (friendship) hath no man than this than that a man lay down his life for his friends.” There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and His name is Christ Jesus. There is a friend that covereth faults, unlike any other, and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ Friendship with God begins as everything else about our relationship with the Lord begins – at the cross. If we are friends of God there, we can be friends of God in everything else.