Ecclesiastes says, "⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).  There is great joy in having a faithful friend. It is a true gift from God that He gives to us as part of our daily bread, as Luther mentions in the 4th petition of the Lord's Prayer.  Good friends are a blessing to bear burdens with you, and to rejoice in your happy times. A good friend can make any cloudy day sunny, but also will bear patiently with you in despair. A good friend, or friends, is a gift from the Lord to help you through this life, not in misery, but in joy.

For St. Paul writes, "Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits" (1st Corinthians 15:33). When you keep company with certain people, that is who you become. If you keep company with people who drink all the time, more than likely, you will drink all the time. If you keep company with people who eat Cobb salads everyday for lunch, then you betcha, you gonna be asking for fat free raspberry dressing everyday at lunch time. Who you hang out with determines alot of your life. When you spend large amounts of time with people who judge you, look down on you, preach the law at you even after the horse is dead and gone, then you will become a rather depressed person. If you hand out with people who puff you up, tell you nothings wrong, tell you that all you do is great and perfect, then you will become a rather conceited and self-centered person. Your company determines who you are and what you do. The world, death, sin, and the devil are the company that we take on a daily basis. This company offers nothing, but takes everything from us. This company takes our assurance in Jesus, our patience, our joy, our confidence, our love, our good habits, and everything else that is good and true. The devil takes our sanity, our comfort in Jesus, and drags us into despair. The world, sin, death, and the devil are bad companions that do nothing but change us into someone we don't desire to be. 

But this band of villainy is not our friends. NO. The devil, sin, death, and the world are not your friends, for they care nothing about you. Rather, hear the voice of Jesus that says, "¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you.¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you"(John 15:13-15). Jesus is your friend, because all He takes from you is your sin, not to rub it in your face, but to bear it on the cross and put it to death. He bears all you burdens for you. He bears all your anxiety, all your pain, all your fears, all your failures, all your shortcomings, all your transgressions against the Law and He puts them to death on the cross. He laid down His life for you, because He is your friend and all that belongs to Him now belongs to you. He bears with you in your bad days, and rejoices with you in your good days. He forgives you all your sin. He knows all your sin, all your mistakes, all your bad thoughts and wicked intentions, and He forgives you. Nowhere on this earth will you find a friend who is constant and unconditional as Jesus is. He will never abandon you, or look for a better friend elsewhere that makes him happier. Just like a good friend, Jesus is the gift from your Father to carry you through this life, not in misery, but in joy. Jesus is not bad company for you, but your true friend who bears you up every time you fall. 

So, let us know that Jesus does not leave us alone to meditate on this friendship in the solitude of our rooms, but has created a haven of friendship in the Holy Christian(catholic) Church. Church is the gift from God in that it is a sacred placed where fellow sinners bear our burdens with us, and rejoice with us in the good gifts of the cross. Church is where we hear the voice of Jesus' Friendship in the proclamation of the gospel and the distribution of the sacraments. Being in Church, at the end of a failed week, is like seeing a long lost friend for a fun weekend, it lifts our spirits and gives us joy in our relationship with Jesus.  Take heart then my friends and know that in Jesus you have the best friend and He loves you so much that He forgives you all of your sins and sends friends into your life to bear with you as you await eternal glory with the Triune God. 

Peace be with you. May the devil be silenced, the world be hushed, and the Old Adam be drowned anew so that you hear only the voice of your Savior Jesus who says, "I forgive you. I love you. I claim you as My own forever," Amen.

Jesus' Sheepdog,

Pastor Hull