Bill Johnson - How to Become God's Friend
Just because we sing the song «I Am a Friend of God,» it doesn’t mean I am truly a friend of God. I do not mean in any way that God would reject me; I am just saying friendship takes time. You learn their voice; you recognize a friend who calls you on the phone because you spend time with them. What is it about this Jesus that is so commanding that someone hears Him and something inside of them comes alive to the point that nothing else matters? How does that happen? It wasn’t the result of a sermon, an altar call, or a summer camp where they decided, «I’m going to follow Jesus.» It was simply that someone came by the shore while they were cleaning nets, and Jesus said, «Follow Me.» Peter responded, «Done. I’m in.» What does that take?
Here are the disciples following Jesus. They are with Him for three and a half years, then Jesus dies. In the last week of His life, Jesus starts talking to these men, and in John 14, 15, and 16, He mentions something four times that is so significant. On four occasions, He gives them a blank check. He gives them what He gave Solomon. He put it this way in John 15: «If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you can ask anything you want, and it will be done for you.» A blank check. In John 16, I believe around verse 20, He says, «Up until now, you’ve asked nothing of the Father.» Remember, all dialogue with God had been through Jesus Himself. Now He says, «Up until now, you’ve asked the Father nothing in My name, but there is a day coming soon when you will ask the Father, and anything you ask Him in My name will be done for you.»
So, four times in three chapters, Jesus gives them blank checks. Why? Because this is the last week of His life, and in one of His final conversations, He unveils the reason for these four blank checks given to His disciples, and it is in John 15. He said, «I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.» Just because we sing the song «I Am a Friend of God,» it doesn’t mean we are friends with God. I do not mean in any way that God would reject me; I am just saying friendship takes time. You learn their voice; you recognize a friend who calls you on the phone because you spend time with them. It is frequent interaction that helps us to know what they value—what their favorite color is, what they like to do on Sunday afternoons, what their hobbies are, and so on. We get to know them through time spent together.
We know Jesus sometimes through a song or a favorite scripture, but we have been summoned into a relational journey. It was to the 12 who had been with Him for three and a half years that He said, «You can ask whatever you want.» He didn’t announce that to anyone in the crowd; that would have been a welcomed message in John 6. Instead of «Eat My flesh, drink My blood,» people would have voted for that one any day instead of the blood-drinking message He preached. They would have bought into that immediately; they would have increased their numbers—the altar call would have been massive. But Jesus chose not to do that.
Here is my question for you: This man asked about eternal life, and Jesus gave him an answer perfectly fitting for him because Jesus saw the horror of his heart. Most of us would have led him in a prayer and tried to make him believe that he was fully surrendered to Jesus, but was he? He wouldn’t be any more saved after my prayer than he was with Jesus’s conversation. The point isn’t to shame people, challenge them, or lock horns with them—that’s not the point. The point is to tenderly love people, speak to them, and direct them into this relationship where it just makes sense to drop the nets. It’s the most logical thing in the world to do. «I don’t need the boat.» The farther you go with God, the less you can take with you.
He could have started the conversation with John 15:7. «Abide in Me.» You can just see Him on the beach; Peter’s never seen Him before. Jesus walks up and says, «Peter, abide in Me; My words abide in you; you can ask whatever you want, and it will be done.» There would have been many more than Peter who would have signed up for that because they would have signed up for the stuff, not the relationship. It’s all about the relationship. Anything I build on the reward—yes, I believe in the reward so much; it’s a central part of the faith journey with the Lord. It’s not the journey for salvation but the journey with the Lord. Once we are born again, faith is an expression of our confidence in Him as the rewarder—that’s Hebrews 11. I must believe He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him. The confidence in Him being the rewarder is essential in our journey.
I feel like the Lord—let me rephrase this. The shaking in our lives reveals whether we are in it for the journey or for all the things. If I measure how well I’m doing by breakthrough in these things, then my self-esteem in Christ goes up and down. But if I see it for what it is, there’s a reward; He has given me much more than I ever deserved. The next week, there’s a challenge; this gives me an opportunity to draw nearer. It’s all about the journey and who I’m traveling with. It’s all for Jesus; it really is. It’s not Jesus looking for entrepreneurs who know how to handle money; He just found one. There’s a prime candidate. Jesus doesn’t need anybody’s gifts; He can bring revival through a rock if He wants to. He can anoint a camel to preach. He can do whatever He wants; He is God.
In the Old Testament, He had a donkey preach. He once announced, «I can raise up a whole generation to Abraham out of these rocks.» Trust me; all He has to do is speak, and they come. Not only that, I can get them to praise. The point I’m trying to make is that the Lord doesn’t look for celebrities or the most talented people. I love talent; I do. I love the Olympics for that reason. It amazes me that people will train eight hours a day for four years to run a 10-second race, and then it’s over. If they come in first place, it’s by a hundredth of a second—how does it come down to that? How do you develop skills like that? I’m so impressed with these individuals. I love human skill, I love musicians, actors, actresses, and businesspeople who have the intuition to know what to do culturally. They see what is happening; they know how to invest. They fly over a city and know where the city is growing, so they invest in this area and that. It’s just amazing to me—the natural wisdom and skill God has given people.
But He doesn’t need any of it. He doesn’t look at the landscape and say, «This guy can really sing; I should get him saved.» He doesn’t think that way; He just finds people who have gifts and says, «Come on, you just can’t drag the boat with you.» I’m not one who believes that the message of abandoning all is the mark of surrender to Christ, and that you have to sell everything to do it. You know, if He says for you to do it, you do it—that’s the point. Jesus ministered to people differently. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were very wealthy people; He never said that to them. Why? It wasn’t at the center of their hearts. See, He has laser vision and the tenacity to go right to the root and core of issues. With one person, it’s the bitterness regarding their past; that’s the key to their breakthrough. With another person, it’s their whole vision for their life; they have to lay it down.