Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Jesus is saying something like this: “Now Martha, stop and think about life; there are not really many necessary things. You are concerned about a lot of details, but you could live without them if you had to. On the other hand, there is one thing that you just can’t do without—and Mary has found it!” We need to avoid two errors: One error is flippantly calling Jesus a “chum,” “buddy,” or “pal”— as though friendship is trivial. On the other hand, we could so emphasize Jesus’s kingship that we neglect his companionship. We could so emphasize his authority that we don’t enjoy his affection. But Jesus offers himself to us as both our cosmic ruler and our closest friend. Cultivating Friendship with Christ
Lesson 6) Mary chose the good part, the one thing needful—which is salvation through repentance of sin, faith in Christ—and a commitment to follow Him in obedience. The Spanish group Mocedades did the song with the translated title Aire in their 1982 studio album Amor de Hombre. [38] The Spanish lyrics for this song were written by Fernando De Diego. [39] But do you view him this way? What does it mean for him to be our truest friend, and how do we experience his friendship? He Gladly Calls Us Friends Jesus calls us to love one another as he has loved us. Think of what that means. At this point, Jesus has just washed the disciples’ feet, taking on the role of a slave, the lowest of the low in his cultural context. And he knows that the very next day he will die on a Roman cross for them. That’s how Jesus has loved them and his command is to love each other with the same kind of love. That’s a big challenge! We can almost see Martha, when she received word that Jesus was planning to stop by; she was concerned about hospitality and generosity. She immediately went to work, beginning to prepare the meal. She sent one of her helpers to the market to get some extra food; she began to build a fire for cooking—and in the midst of the bustle of preparation, Jesus arrived.Lesson 2) Martha’s gift of hospitality is a gift which the Bible says is important. One of the qualifications for spiritual leaders is that they are to be “lovers of hospitality” (Titus 1:8). May God bless all thoughtful, busy, efficient housekeepers like Martha. Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016 . Retrieved May 7, 2017. Mary seemed to care very little about such details. She didn’t mind disarranged cushions and things not always in their exact place. She preferred to sit and interact with the company than go to a lot of work to make a dainty meal. The Synoptics tell us that the Three were terrified as they witnessed the Transfiguration. It was the only time any of His disciples would see His unveiled glory. Mark tells us Peter did not know what to say he was so afraid. Matthew says that after it was all over, Jesus told the Three, "Don't be afraid." Most often when He was revealed in a new dimension Jesus had to comfort them with those words. When their nets were miraculously filled for the first time in Luke 5, Jesus responds, "Don't be afraid, from now on you'll catch men." When he approached the boat, walking on the water he called out, "I am, don't be afraid." (Mk 6:50) It is what he tells the women at the tomb as well. (Mt 28:10) When Jesus is your friend you know you will never be excluded by your failures or shortcomings. (Rom 8:38)
It sounds like a promotion, doesn’t it? Going from servant to friend. Being a servant, however, is not a bad thing. Indeed, over the centuries a great number of Johannine scholars grappled with the question of whether the alternation of verbs ἀγαπάω and φιλέω that appear in the conversation between Jesus and Peter, in which Peter is reinstated on the profession of his love for Jesus (John 21:15-23) is narratively significant. The consensus of those Johannine scholars who conclude that this alternation represents John’s stylistic preference for using different but synonymous words, is based on their insistence that all attempts to draw a semantic distinction between ἀγαπάω and φιλέω are doomed to failure, whether in Greek literature generally, the Septuagint, the New Testament, or John’s Gospel itself. One of these scholars, James Barr, wrote in his essay, “Words for Love in Biblical Greek” the following: You can sit around and speculate about whether you would do such heroic deeds if you were thrust into those situations, but the place we all need to apply this is by confronting our selfishness in small, daily matters. Husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her (Eph. 5:25). Do you? You say, “Oh, sure, I’d die to save my wife from an intruder that was trying to kill her.” But do you die to yourself so that you can serve her? Do you turn off the TV or leave the computer and help her clean up the kitchen or get the kids into bed? Do you give up your own pursuits because you delight to be with her? It’s in these small, daily ways that we should be practicing sacrificial love for one another. B. We can only love one another if we abide in Christ’s love. But as D. A. Carson cautions ( The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 522), we need to be careful about being too chummy in calling Jesus our friend. In the Bible, God and the Lord Jesus call certain ones their friends, but no human ever refers to God or Jesus as their friend. It’s not a mutual, reciprocal friendship. The Bible refers to both Abraham (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23) and Moses (Exod. 33:11) as friends of God. Jesus here calls the disciples His friends. But He is still their Lord and Teacher (John 13:13, 14). Although at the last supper, the apostle John laid his head on Jesus’ breast, years later when John saw Jesus in His glory, he fell at His feet as a dead man (Rev. 1:17). So as we consider whether or not we are friends of Jesus, we need to maintain John’s reverence. Luke 10:38 says, “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village; and a . . . woman named Martha received him into her house.”But,” you say, “you don’t know how difficult that other person is to love!” That leads to the third thing here: C. The others that we are commanded to love are imperfect sinners, just as we are. On the occasion described in Luke 10, Jesus was traveling through the country with His disciples, most likely coming up from Jericho. He had just related the story of the Good Samaritan (the man who was robbed and left for dead along the Jericho Road). Jesus no doubt sent a messenger on ahead to inform His friends at Bethany that they could expect Him for supper that night. His disciples may have gone on to Jerusalem, or perhaps they too were included among the visitors who would drop in at Bethany. That is not clearly stated. But in verses 41-42 Jesus responded: “(He) answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
The question I’d like you to think about and ask yourself is, “Would Jesus call me His friend?” Our text reveals four characteristics of those whom Jesus calls His friends: For the Christian, the one friendship that never ends is our friendship with Jesus. This is the kind of friendship that a man named John had with Jesus while He walked the earth. In fact, Jesus’ best friend, John, is called “the one whom Jesus loved” no less than five times in the Bible (John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20). Friendship is in the deepest heart of Christ and it’s at the very center of the gospel. He Is Not Our King or Our Friend
Study by:
Lesson 3) Jesus saw Mary and the other mourners weeping, and He too wept. The words translated “weep” in John 11:33 and 11:35 are two different words. In the entire Old Testament, only two men were ever referred to as a friend of God: Abraham and Moses. They enjoyed a close relationship with the Lord, and he revealed himself to them in unique and special ways. The children of Israel feared that kind of revelation. Remember how they trembled as Moses prepared to ascend Mt. Sinai and meet with the Lord (Exodus 19:16)? When Moses descended the mountain after forty days and nights, his face was shining so brightly that the people were terrified. They were afraid to see God face-to-face, or even to look upon his reflected glory (Exodus 34:30). While the Israelites were children of God, they were not called friends of God. The Lord did not reveal himself to them, but rather spoke through Moses, his mediator.
In 2000, Priceline aired a television commercial featuring actor William Shatner performing the song with altered lyrics about the company's services. Or more importantly, what does it mean when He calls us His friends? We have over simplified and sermonized endlessly on the question, skirting all around the issue but never getting to the point. We have reduced the profound concept of becoming His "friends" to the shallow notion of being His "buddies." Regardless of what was said about or done to John, nobody could get him to stop talking about Jesus’ love. According to historical accounts outside the Bible, it’s possible John was a very elderly man when the church gathered to hear him speak about what it was like to hang out with Jesus. The young new Christians who never got to see Jesus with their own eyes and hear Jesus with their own ears would gather around to hear John tell about his best friend and Lord, Jesus Christ.Now we have the Holy Spirit and the Spirit-inspired Word of God to reveal to us all that we need to know for life and godliness (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:9-13; 2 Pet. 1:3-4). If you know Christ, you know things that the most brilliant scientists and philosophers in the world don’t understand! You know the living and true God, who spoke the universe into existence! You know His plan for history. You know how to have your sins forgiven. You know why He put you on this planet. You know that you will spend eternity with Him in glory. You know how He wants you to conduct yourself in all of life’s difficult situations. All of this and more is revealed to us in God’s inspired Word!
Great Deal 
New Comment