Song number 757 is a song by Michael W. Smith and his wife Deborah. They wrote the song together in one night for a Christian friend who was leaving. While the verses are a powerful testimony of friendship in the Lord, it’s the refrain that we remember: “And friends are friends forever if the Lord’s the lord of them; And a friend will not say “never,” ‘cause the welcome will not end; Though it’s hard to let you go, in the Father’s hands we know that a lifetime’s not too long to live as friends.”
The truth conveyed in the refrain is that if our friends are Christians, then after we die we will see them again in the resurrection. Romans 6:8 tells us, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 we are assured that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again then whether we are in the grave or still alive when Christ comes we will all be together with the Lord forever. Sadly, the opposite is also true.
While John 3:16 is probably one of the best known verses in the Bible, John 3:18 isn’t as well-known. There Jesus tells us that, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” The sad truth for those who do not believe in Jesus is that they remain condemned due to their sins that separate them from God (Isaiah 59:2).
If we have friends, surely we would want them to be in heaven with us and the Lord. The only way they can be in heaven is by following Jesus. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
We all know someone. Some people we know are mere acquaintances. Most are people we’re friendly toward, while just few are people we can really share our life with. Prior to becoming a Christian you most likely had all kinds of different friends. After you became a Christian, you probably discovered that over time most of your friends are now other Christians. 2 Corinthians 6:14 warns Christians, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” It’s a natural progression for Christians to have more Christian friends than non-Christian friends. Unfortunately, that kind of a relationship paradigm is somewhat restrictive to being the salt and the light that Jesus commands us to be in Matthew 5:14-16. That is why we need to always do our best to make friends, keep friends, and influence our friends for Jesus.
Proverbs 18:24a tells us that, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly . . .” In other words, if our goal is to make friends, then we need to be friendly. We need to do our best to model the kind of friend that Jesus was to those around Him. At the least, this means that we need to be loving, caring, and kind like Jesus.
After we make friends, we need to do our best to keep our friends. Proverbs 27:10, teaches us, “Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend . . .” We do that by learning how to listen and forgive, while being the kind of “friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24b).” Such a friend can talk to you about anything in confidence and is willing to forgive and seeks forgiveness when they’ve wronged you.
No matter how many friends we have if the Lord’s not the Lord of them, then that friendship isn’t forever. It’s important for us to be the Christ-like example that we need to be in order to influence them for Christ. In Matthew 11:19 Jesus repeats what the people observe of Him, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” Jesus was a friend to sinners. He was a friend to all people. For example: the Samaritan woman at the well; Matthew the tax collector; the rich young ruler; the wealthy tax collector Zacchaeus; Nicodemus the Pharisee; the blind, the lame, the leprous, and so on. Jesus did not become like them, but He influenced them to become like Him.
It is good for us to make friends, but it is better for us to make friends and keep them forever. That is only possible if the Lord’s the Lord of them.
