What does it mean to be a friend? I don’t know about you, but in my circles the way that we show love to our friends—I know this maybe sounds kind of strange—is being sarcastic with each other and putting each other down and having a self-deprecating humor. It’s how we show love to our friends.

Maybe you roll in circles like that too. Or maybe—this is probably better—you show love to your friends by just being there, having a listening ear. Or maybe you actually say, “I love you, brother; I love you, sister,” and you put those words into action. Or maybe sometimes there’s a handshake, and in the palm of your hand is a coin that says, “Thank you. You have been a true friend.”

I don’t know about you, but there are times that I struggle to be a good friend. Sometimes it happens when I’m going through a difficult time, or I’m struggling and there are people in my life that I thought were friends, and when they find out about these things or I tell them about them, they’re just not there to support me. Has that happened to you? Then maybe you find it hard to be a friend back to them.

Or maybe sometimes you find it hard to be a friend because there are those friends who have hurt you or offended you. Or maybe you just haven’t been a good friend lately because you’ve been so absorbed in what you’re doing and in your life that you have forgotten to be a friend to somebody else.

But here’s the good news that I want to share with you today. In fact, it’s what Jesus wants to share with you today. Jesus is your best friend, and that matters. He says this to his disciples in John 15: “You are my friends.” He calls them friends.

The thing about Jesus’ friendship is that it is not dependent on the way that we have treated friends in the past or the shabby way we have taken Jesus’ friendship for granted. Because Jesus says this: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Here’s how we know that Jesus is our best friend and that he loves us unconditionally: he sacrificed himself for us on a cross.

Now, do you know when Jesus spoke those words: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”? He spoke those words the night he would be betrayed by a friend and abandoned by friends who said that they would be there for him in his most difficult time, and then the next day he would go to the cross and suffer and die. That’s true friendship, and that’s the kind of friendship that you have with Jesus: one that is sacrificial for you, one that loves you unconditionally, and one that forgives you unconditionally. That’s a true friend.

Now you and I get to go out and be that kind of friend to someone who needs to hear about a Savior’s love for them, to people that we have hurt, to people that maybe haven’t been the best of friends to us. We get to go and be Jesus to them. That’s a true friend.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you have called us your friends. You show us the love our Father in heaven has for us by laying down your life for ours. Move us to be good friends with those who need to see and hear the love of a Savior who is willing to die for them.

Just a couple of days ago, our nation celebrated Silver Star Service Banner Day that honors the sacrifices of U.S. military personnel, especially those who have been awarded the Silver Star, the third highest military decoration for valor in combat. We thank you for raising up brave men and women who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their battle buddies, for civilians in other countries, and for us. Help us to honor their sacrifices with our words and actions of gratitude.

And finally, Lord, there are a lot of people on our hearts today. There are many, many war fighters who are currently deployed to places around the world where there is potential for violence and in places where there is conflict. Protect our deployed war fighters, send your holy angels to watch over them, and remind their families and friends back home that you are also with them, to comfort and strengthen them through your words of promise. Amen.