I No Longer Call You Servants

While talking with a coach recently about the vision I have for my life I began second-guessing myself. One of the things I had told him was something that had just within the past few weeks become highly important to me. While I mentioned spending more time creating this vision I thought for a moment and said that I need to make sure that this is what I am supposed to do. Immediately my coach stopped me and said, “You aren’t a servant, you are a friend. Friends have the option to do what they want.”

I suddenly realized that I was thinking the way I used to, always asking what God’s will for my life is. Jesus taught the disciples to pray in Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When Jesus talked about the kingdom coming, or being at hand, he was always talking about the good news of God’s love being shared as well as the sick being healed, the dead being raised to life, and the oppressed being freed. So when my vision lines up with His kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven, I shouldn’t be worried about the details. Why? Because God wants to be in relationship with us and will tell us what we need to know. Jesus says in John 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.” Jesus tells us everything that the Father tells him. So when Jesus says in John 5:19 that he only does what he sees the Father doing, which was healing every person that came to him, we also have access to that same realm!

Although we know that we are God’s friends we often have tendencies that suggest we still feel like servants. And as long as we still feel like servants we will not fully access our heavenly bank accounts where we have waiting for us the full knowledge of what the Father is doing. As long as we have the mindset that we cannot possibly know what God is doing we create a theology that excuses us from knowing what God is doing. When we are convinced that something can’t happen we will live our lives to make sure that we are correct. It is only when we determine that something is possible that we will live our lives to search out a creative solution. What about Proverbs 25:2 which says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” There is truth to it, but Solomon isn’t the savior of the world, Jesus is. John 14:6-7 says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." If we want to know the Father, we need to know Jesus, as he is the ultimate truth.

Since we are friends with God and not servants we have a voice. When we ask God for things He hears us. John 14:14 says, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Jesus didn’t say to ask anything that is God’s will; He said to ask for anything. What is it that you are passionate about? What dreams has God given you? Don’t do nothing just because you don’t want to do what isn’t God’s will. If you are in relationship with God He will tell you all things and loves you whether you decide to be a pastor or a high school math teacher. Jesus taught us to pray that the kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven and that can happen no matter what you are doing and no matter where you are. As a friend you have full access to God and the answer to every problem that the world will ever bring you.