e187 Friendships – “The Lord is Witness Between You and Me Forever” (friends inspire friends to witness, Part 2) 

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd. 

Here’s the gist, human. Friends inspire friends to witness. For starters, witness to each other. It’s good practice. Share what God is doing in your life. Do not live through your relationship with a friend on silent, unsaid assumptions that whisper amen. Speak loud, talk boldly to your friends about the presence of the heart of God in your life. We cannot ever get enough of God. We always need Jesus. We need his Word, we need spirit prompts to pull us back into the kingdom reality we are living toward.

Jesus showed his disciples how to be a friend by sharing what he had learned from his Father. (His words, not mine.) He laid down his divine advantage to lay down his life for his friends. A Savior who came to be with us and lead a wild revolution of how people should treat each other, witness to each other, carry a quiver of arrows to protect each other, and find a whole bunch of lost sheep. 

Friends inspire friends to “go finding.”

Today’s episode is dedicated to my three granddaughters—Audrey, Calli, and Sophia.

That they seek covenant friendships throughout their lives. 

That they seek friends who “go finding.”

That they make a wild revolution of it.

Join us. E187. “The Lord is Witness Between You and Me Forever” (friends inspire friends to witness, Part 2) 

I have been talking about shooting three arrows beyond the path of our friends and forging friendships that keep us on the path to find the one. The kind of friend who is working the same terrain, from a different cave, looking for lost sheep. Just like you.

What did the three arrows Jonathan shot beyond the boy represent to David? 

Everything. 

Unconditional, sacrificial love. 

Because his father was the tormented king. Ruling by a senseless, tragic pride. 

David knew that when Jonathan shot his three arrows, he was laying down his life to honor the covenant between them. Jonathan loved David as himself. Does this sound familiar? It should because these are Jesus words. 

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

We looked at the Biblical story of David and Jonathan in Part I (here’s the link if you haven’t checked it out: pod.link/1648558274). 

To review, what did Jonathan demonstrate here as a true friend? 

-He promised protection, three arrows to warn David of an imminent physical threat. 

-He summoned the presence of the Lord between them as the divine witness.

-He defended David’s life in the presence of an angry king, and an angrier father.

-He grieved the injustice, the unjust treatment of David. 

Jonathan died, fulfilling God’s purpose for him without ever becoming king. But he acted like a king. Not just any king. 

The King. It is easy to make the journey from Jonathan to Jesus, following the royal path of what it means to be a friend. The kind of friend the disciples sat with in John 15:13. When we follow the example of Jonathan to the life of Jesus, the urgency of friendship in this life literally explodes. 

The difference is that Jonathan laid down his life for his friend.

Jesus laid down his life for humanity.

From Jonathan to Jesus, Friendship Manifested

In the final week of Jesus’ earthly life, he spent deeply moving, and troubling, time with his disciples. In this context, a context of comfort as the pursuit of his enemies heats up. His disciples feel it, question it, fear for their lives and the life of this man that turned their souls inside out. This man they were walking with, dusty road over dusty road.

They knew the rhythm of his destined stride. But they did not understand it.

Their spirits were roused but their flesh cried out, a foreboding, a caution, a what? It was during these moments, their ongoing conversations, that Jesus defined the agape love that he brought to earth, the agape love that his Heavenly Father authored by his eternal existence. 

No Greater Love – Lay Down Your Life for Your Friends

John 15:9-14

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 

Jesus defines the highest form of love. Agape is the Greek word for unconditional love. To me this means that there are no trials, challenges, circumstances or consequences within a love between friends that cannot be endured. 

The Greek word for “lay down” in John 15:13 is tithēmi. (Tee-thami)

It means to put, place, or set aside. In this context, it implies a voluntary, intentional sacrifice of life rather than merely a forced death. It signifies dedicating one’s life, similar to a warrior surrendering arms or, as in the text, giving up life to secure friends’ safety, representing the ultimate, selfless act of love. 

Here’s a little published information about the cultural and contextual meaning of tithemi. It’s so beautiful.

Within the Jewish Culture, in a sacrificial/prophetic context, the phrase evokes the imagery of the Passover lamb and Old Testament themes, where a life is given to spare others. It acts as a fulfillment of prophecies, such as in Isaiah 53, where the suffering servant bears the sins of many. 

Within the Greek Culture, in a friendship/patronage context, the use of tithemi was revolutionary: While 1st-century Greek culture often defined friendship (philos) with mutual loyalty, tithēmi, to lay down one’s life—turned the tables on typical Roman patronal relationships, where a subordinate might die for a master; instead, the greatest patron (Jesus) dies for his subordinates.

The act of “laying down” indicates a deliberate, redemptive offering rather than passive victimhood. The word implies a conscious, active decision to lay down one’s life as a deposit or gift. So in John 15:13, tithēmi, to lay down one’s life, emphasizes that Jesus’s death was not taken from him, but willingly placed down for his followers. It shows that he has supreme agency over his free will. 

If Jesus made a “deliberate, redemptive offering” then every human by his command should do the same. This is what it means to follow Jesus.  

I am not a victim. I do not live a life of victimhood. Jesus released me from so much self-centered living. He frees me, he frees us to get to the business of “laying down” our own advantage in how we serve, how we love our forever friends.

Oh. Wait. How we love everyone, period.

Everything I Learned From My Father I Have Made Known to You

During this conversation with his disciples Jesus goes on to define why he called his disciples his friends.

John 15:15

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 

His disciples were his friends because he was sharing the most precious gift, the most intimate, the enduring, the eternal connection he had—his relationship with his Father. He was serving them with the heart of his Heavenly Father. Yet, he was Lord of Lords, King of Kings. Simply, Jesus bears testimony to the presence of God in his spirit life, in his earthly life, from before the beginning of time, and during his time on earth.

Think about what this means to his disciples. Think about the Old Testament figures that the disciples were familiar with, those who talked with God, that they had not seen firsthand. But Jesus, he was bearing testimony to God right in front of them. Jesus was their eye witness to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus was their Enoch rising into the clouds, although they hadn’t seen it happen yet.

All believers claim this too. Jesus is our eye witness to God. And we are eye witnesses to the presence of Jesus and our Heavenly Father in our lives. We are eye witnesses to people who do not believe, who have not witnessed Jesus in their lives. 

Doesn’t this make what we are commanded to do, simpler? 

How to Be a Friend With Jesus

Jesus tells us that to be a friend with him we must obey his commands. How is this complicated? He is clear about this. That he shares what he knows about his Father with us.

To remind us, Jesus said in verse 14, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”

And when Jesus is resurrected, he sends the Spirit of truth from the Father to testify, and that we also testify of his presence in our lives. 

His words here, again and again. 

John 15:26

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

Mark 16:15: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”.

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…”.

If we are looking for clarity, our search is over. 

1. Jesus told us how to be a friend with him. Obey his commands. 

2. Jesus told us how to spend our time. Testify to all the world and “preach the gospel to every creature”. 

How to Be a Friend Like Jesus

But further, we are also told how to be a friend like Jesus. He defined the ultimate love, no greater love than to do this: lay down your life for your friend. 

He is our example of how to witness like the Father who repeatedly tells his chosen nation that he is witness to how they respond to him. And we can read through the earthly life of Jesus, and tag every time he sheds light on the nature, the character, and presence of his Heavenly Father in his ministry. 

Jesus layed down his divine advantage to serve his subordinates. 

This is the voluntary sacrifice we make for our covenant friends, every day. To sacrifice our gain for his glory. The glory that came before us. We put our advantage aside to serve a friend. This could be our time, our energy, our talent, our money. To listen, to care for, to inspire, to provide what a friend needs because this is what Jesus does for each of us.

This happens when we prioritize our actions to shoot three arrows in front of our friends. When we stay ahead of a friend by listening carefully and protecting her or his soul so it can spiritually grow.

This happens when we make a choice to serve our friends rather than rule over them. Unto death. Like Jonathan did for David. 

And if we don’t do this for our friends, why would we do it for a lost sheep? We have to walk the testimonial terrain with our friends to be ready to “go finding” the humans who are lost. Stuck on life’s crevice.

Covenant Friendships Fuel Our Rescue Mission

Perhaps I buried the lead here, with what prefaces all of this. It’s quite easy to do when we are considering a Savior who is the way, the truth and the life. His every way redeems. His every truth leads.

So, in John 15:16-17 Jesus goes on to affirm who initiates our friendship with him.

John 15:16-17

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus chose us. The same as God made the blood covenant with Abraham and his chosen people. A covenant through the blood of his Son. God made the sacrifice as a Heavenly Father so his Son could make the sacrifice for us. This is the covenant that connects us to eternity. 

This is the covenant that binds our friendships. It is infinitely stronger than flex glue or flex seal because we do not do the choosing. Jesus does.

Covenant friendships fuel our rescue mission, human. The strength of having our Lord as a witness between friends supercharges our ability to “go finding.” 

Friends inspire friends to witness. I’ll say it again. For starters, witness to each other. Share what God is doing in your life. Do not live through your relationship with a friend on silent, unsaid assumptions that whisper amen. Speak loud, talk boldly to your friends about the presence of the heart of God in your life. 

We cannot ever get enough of God. We need spirit prompts to pull us back into the kingdom reality we are living toward. Friends help us do that. The witness we share with our friends begins to spill over into bearing testimony to others. And as Jesus calls courage to fill your heart, he will give you words when you talk to someone lost on that crevice.

Invest in friends who shoot three arrows ahead of you. 

Invest in friends who “go finding.” 

And “go finding” together in love. 

This is Jesus’s priority. He is clear about it. He commands it. He demands a wild revolution of the human heart that reflects how people should treat each other. 

Thank you Lord. I love that you inspired this connection of a king’s son, Jonathan, to the King who walked the earth for a few short years. It testifies to the eternal nature of Jesus and how his nature runs through all the Old Testament in his Father’s story. A sacred covenant to preserve and promote the sacrifice of our Savior—the divine laying down of a sinless life for a sin-laden humanity. 

A Prayer for a Few Covenant Friends

I am ending today with a prayer, a prayer for my granddaughters to seek deep covenant friendships, a prayer for listeners who will download this episode, to seek deep covenant friendships. 

You know, we don’t need many friends. 

We just need the ones God has ordained to walk with us. Because he knows the path we are on.

Join me in prayer: ( and use it, pass it on, however it serves your obedience walk)

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for being our Father, for your covenant with us. Thank you for sending your Son to us because you are the origin of sacrificial love.

Thank you Jesus. What a friend we have in you. I look at your life, I think about your words, I think about you as the Word, and turn my eyes up and ask you to fill me with your Spirit. 

Jesus, I want to follow the path you walked, the dusty terrain traversed by the lost. 

Jesus, I want to be friends with you. I want to stand face to face with you. I will obey.

Jesus, I need a few friends, you choose the number, a few friends bound by your covenant to love, to pour my witness into, to practice my testimony with, to lay down my advantage and serve. 

And Lord, I need some lost sheep who have strayed away from the 99, some lost sheep to stumble on to my path. I am watching for them.

Lord, just a reminder that I need a few covenant friends, a quiver full of arrows, and plenty of lost sheep to keep me busy until you gather me to your presence. 

Like Peter, I hear your question. I will tend your sheep, Lord.

In Jesus’ name.