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Sunday School Special : Lesson 133

Text: John 15:14-17
16 October 2022

SUNDAY SCHOOL SPECIAL 16 October 2022
Text: John 15:14-17
Subject: “You are My friends” John 15:14

INTRODUCTION

1. The stages of following the Lord

a) Finding faith in the Lord Jesus
b) Following Him as disciples. learning more about the Lord Jesus
c) Called “Friends” (John 15:14)

2. The challenge of learning what it means to be called “Friends” by the Lord Jesus

A LOFTY CALL

14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

15 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 things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

John 15:14-17

1. Once “servants”

a) No longer do I call you servants
i) The Disciples were learning how to serve the Lord and the people
ii) They learn important lessons along the way, but as servants
iii) Limitation of being a servant
A servant does not know what the master is doing

2. Elevated to being Friends

a) The offer of friendship
“You are My friends” John 15:14a
b) Conditional
“If you do whatever I command you” John 15:14b
i) The Lord Jesus is not an ordinary human friend
ii) There is grandeur and dignity in the Lord Jesus
iii) He has every right to “command” His follower-friends

3. Elaboration of the “friendship” the Lord Jesus offers

a) There were many things the Lord Jesus had been given by the Father
b) He had made them known to His friends
c) Once again, the Lord called them “friends”

CHOSEN BY THE LORD

1. The focus is not that the Disciples chose the Lord Jesus

2. The right understanding is that:

a) He chose them
b) He appointed them
i) To bear fruit
ii) That the fruit should remain

3. Important Reminders:

a) About Prayer
i) To ask the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus
ii) The Father would give them their request (God’s will)
b) About Love
i) Love is the Lord’s command (John 13:34-35)
ii) The disciples are to love one another

CONCLUSION

1. Ponder the progression

a) From humble beginnings
b) To becoming friends of the Lord Jesus

2. Pray much about the fulfilment of the Lord’s commands

a) To bear fruit
b) To be prayerful
c) To be fruitful
d) To love one another