You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all the things that I have heard from my father I have made known to you.
– John 15:14-15
In this particular verse, Jesus is now calling his disciples friends. For his own death on the cross has proved his love for them and now they would prove their love for him by loving one another and loving the entire world. See friends each other and they help each other, and the obedience of Christ that flows through the believer ought to be on display for a sick and dying world. Guess what family? God is calling on us to love our neighbors, to love one another and to be the example of Christ on the earth. So, because we are his friends and he abides in us, we too ought to abide in him and do the things we’ve seen him do.
In scripture we’re reminded that Abraham was God’s friend and God told him the plans he had for a fallen world. And so today I want to remind you that you too are a friend of God and he has shared his plan with you; for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Let’s pray: Eternal Father, our God, thank you. Thank you for the love you have for us and love you’ve shown abroad in our hearts. Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins, rising victoriously from the grave and giving to everyone freely, the wonderful gift of eternal life by believing and confessing in your son Jesus. Thank you so much for this great university, bless our cohorts as they study and learn together. Thank you for our administration, our faculty, our staff, but most of all thank you for these students that help to show us the way as well. We love you, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.