Friendship

Sep 12, 2022

I have entitled today’s devotional “friendship,” but candidly, the title is misleading.

One would assume I might talk about what it means to be a friend, or how to choose your friends, but neither of those come close. Today, I am focusing on the “in your face” words of James, the half-brother of Jesus. In James 4, verse 4, he writes,

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend to the world becomes an enemy of God.

- James 4:4

Ouch! Why don’t you tell us how you really feel, James?

Spiritually adulterous people are those who are spiritually unfaithful, who love the world rather than God. And this is not a new concept. Moses wrote about almost 3500 years ago, when in Exodus 34:15-16, he wrote,

Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land, for they prostitute themselves to their gods...and they will lead your sons and daughters to do the same.

- Exodus 34:15-16 (Paraphrased)

Almost 3500 years ago, God directed Moses to write to the people of God to not enter into treaties with people who will lead them astray, who will cause them to idolize the gods of this world. The same held true for the first-century Christians (to whom James wrote) and to us today.

When we enter into friendships and business relations with those whose values differ from ours, we run the risk of being led astray by them.

The idols of this world: wealth, fame, power, status, etc. are inviting, and they can quickly draw us away from who we are in Christ Jesus.

The Apostle John continues this theme when he writes in 1 John 2:15-17:

Do not love the world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.

- 1 John 2:15-17

In Matthew 16:26, Jesus declares, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

And the Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:11 that we are only temporary residents on this earth, foreigners in this land, and that we need to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against our soul.

Jesus and His disciples recognized that the world is not our friend. It is a sheep in wolf's clothing, seeking to suck us in, chew us up, and spit us out. In John 17:14-15, Jesus prays for His disciples, which includes us who are His followers today:

[Father], I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

- John 17:14-15

Jesus knew that when we seek to follow Him and obey His commandments, it will put us at odds with the world. Yet, He does not pray that we be removed from the world, but that God will protect us as we seek to live in this world.

James’ words to us in James 4 may seem harsh, but in reality, his words are an acknowledgement of the difficulty of the battle that lies before us. And like any battle, we must choose whose side we will take. Thus, James writes in verses 7-8, and 10 of Chapter 4:

Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

- James 4:7-8, 10

Friends, the battle before us is not an easy one, but we can take solace in knowing God has already won the war. When Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and was resurrected from the grave on Easter Sunday morning, He defeated Satan and death. He offers new life to us, and we have the power of the Resurrection in us to be overcomers in this world - to be in this world, but not of it. Our friendship is not with the devil, and it is not with the world. And because of what Jesus did for us, we are a friend of God’s.