Do you know Jesus as your battle buddy?

The reason I ask the question deals with the concept of the battle buddy. I started to learn the business of the Army when I went to Basic Training, Fort Bliss, Texas in 1987 and at the time we did not have battle buddies. I think it is a great idea to have a person to stay by your side as you go through your day to help you avoid pitfalls and just help provide the support that you would need to get through the work of Army business for that day. I think we all need someone like that.

In the Gospel of John 15:15, the account comes at the end of our Lord's ministry on earth right before he goes through his suffering, but before he starts his suffering he tells the disciples an amazing truth.

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (New International Version)

What a wonderful statement. Let me explain what the Lord is saying to his disciples. He is telling them that their relationship to him is not a master and servant relationship. During Biblical times the relationship between a master and servant was very different than most places today. Many times the servants were hired hands and sometimes they were bought as slaves with very little to no rights. When a master wanted something he ordered a slave to do it and most of the time it was done out of duty and fear of reprisal rather than devotion and love.

Jesus tells his disciples that their relationship with him is different and it will be one of friendship. He then goes on to describe that friendship as one in which he has told them everything about God that he has learned. He has kept nothing from them. What a display of open friendship. I believe it is true that good friendship is marked by openness and honesty with the ability to share things about yourself that you don't share with everyone. But now we have Jesus telling us that he has kept nothing back that he learned about the Father. He is openly sharing that with his disciples. That can only mean one thing.

God sent Jesus to tell us everything about Himself because He wants a friendship with you. Why could there be any other reason? Why would Jesus tell us everything about the Father and that not benefit us? Why would He tell us everything and in the final analysis, it mean nothing?

A good example of that would be a starving person, chained to a table with a 9 course meal placed before him but not being able to reach out and take any of the food that was set before him.

There is a problem though. We are like the person with the 9 course meal placed in front of us without the ability to eat and enjoy the meal. Why? The chains that prevent us from enjoying the relationship with God are our sin.

Romans 5: 6-11 speaks to this, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him. For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life. Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (NIV)

God knew you and I were chained (powerless) even considered His enemies, but God did not want us to be His "Enemy." He wants to be our "FRIEND." But how did God deal with our sin. That is where the real Battle Buddy comes into the picture. God sent his son Jesus to die for your and my sins so that he could bring us back into a friendship (reconciliation) with Himself. Jesus understands that sin is what keeps you and me from having a wonderful friendship with the Heavenly Father so he willingly allowed himself to be sacrificed on the cross for our sin. That is real friendship. That is the battle buddy you and I really need.

God does not want a master servant relationship with you and me. He wants a friendship. Thanks to Jesus we can be friends. Jesus is the best battle buddy.

Do you know Jesus as your battle buddy?