Hey Andy, isn’t it sort of disrespectful to call Jesus your “friend?”? I don’t see how the Bible tells people that Jesus is supposed to be your friend. You’re supposed to fear and respect him and stuff.
Calling Jesus Our Friend
Hi. Well, if we’d come up with calling Jesus “friend” on our own, then I can see how that might be stretching it some. However, calling Jesus our friend didn’t come from us, but from Jesus Himself. If you’ll look at John 15:13-15, you’ll read that Jesus actually tells His disciples that He now calls them His friends. Then Jesus explains what it means to be friends, and puts it into the context of love and loving Him.
Old Testament Friends of God
We also know that God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and that He also remained in their presence, even after He kicked them out (for Cain said that his punishment to be cast out of God’s presence was too much).
The patriarchs, prophets, and David all had a close relationship friendship with God. They were also in great awe of Him, but there was definitely an intimacy between them and Him.
And finally, when you look at it, awe, respect, honor, trust…aren’t those also characteristics of a good, healthy friendship or intimate relationship?
Jesus as Savior, Before Friend
However, I do see a point to your question, for calling Jesus our friend shouldn’t stop there. Filipino celebrity Kim Atienza once said, “A best friend is someone you can run to; he’s also someone you can disobey, snub when you’re not in the mood, and friends always understand.” Now, though you can always run to God, and though He will always understand, He won’t always approve of what you/we do, nor should you disobey Him (and he’ll talk about that in his testimony below). So yeah, there’s that other necessity of recognizing and acknowledging Jesus as Savior, but I think most of all, Lord.
Also, If you scroll down on my “About” page, you’ll see me mention that “Jesus is not only my best friend, but also (and first) my Lord. Jesus is God, first and foremost; He’s my best friend second…”
Jesus as Lord, Before Friend
Below, I’ve included a video testimony of Filipino television host, actor, weather anchor, and a former politician, Kim Atienza, who talked about this same thing, and about how calling Jesus “friend”, wasn’t enough for him to remain obedient to God, but instead, stretched the limits, because he didn’t (at that time) recognize or acknowledge Jesus as Lord. He gives some really good points, and stresses the necessity of Jesus being our Savior and friend, but most importantly, our Lord.
Kim Atienza on Calling Jesus our Friend — Watch His Video:
The Problem of Not Calling Jesus, “Lord”
If you’ve been a solid Christian for some time, you’ll notice that, much like with Kim Atienza’s experience, there are a LOT of people in the world who claim Jesus as their Savior and/or their best friend, but who are nowhere near calling Him “Lord” or “their Lord”. This is a problem, for this goes back to the liberal Christians who call on “Cheap Grace” and “Christianity Lite” — they want the benefits of God, but they don’t want His Lordship over their lives. But that’s not what God offers.
Fearing God
In the sense of fearing God, I like what the late Brennan Manning said in one of his books (and many of his speeches), “My understanding of the Biblical meaning of fear of the Lord is this: Sound wonder, radical amazement, and affectionate awe–.” Yes, we are to fear God, especially fear disobeying Him, not repenting of our sins to Him, living without Him, and as in Cain’s case, being sent away from Him. All of these are results of sin and forms of sin (like pride and such). For if we don’t fear God in any of these ways, then God’s wrath, punishment, discipline, and eternal separation from Him will fill us with unimaginable fear for all eternity. But in terms of our image of God, according to Brennan Manning, “the fear of the Lord is sound wonder, radical amazement, and affectionate awe.” (watch his whole speech on this)
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