Level Four Friend
Jerry Leachman could be proud of his worldly credentials. He played linebacker for Bear Bryant at Alabama. He ministered to important national figures for over three decades in Washington DC. He served as chaplain for both the Washington Redskins and for Fox News. He also led a ministry group of national broadcasters. Jerry was influential in organizing the National Prayer Breakfast. His wife Holly was a close personal friend and confidant to two First Ladies: Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. Despite his worldly credentials, Jerry says that there is only one credential that really matters: that he knows his Lord Jesus Christ…that Jesus Christ is his intimate friend.
After thirty two years in Washington, DC, Jerry followed God’s direction and moved to Colorado west of Pueblo where he directs a guest ranch. The Lord always affirms hospitality. In the Old Testament, God’s people were honored to entertain guests because they believed that in entertaining strangers they could be ministering to angels unawares.
According to God’s word, there will come a time when men’s hearts will be overtaken by fear. Our hearts and minds are influenced by the food we feed our minds. However, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. According to Isaiah 40 beginning in verse 10: Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
14. With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
15. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”
26. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31. But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
God says to look into the heavens for the heavens declare the handiwork of God. There is a famous picture of the Sombrero Galaxy taken from the Hubble Telescope. This galaxy is 38 billion light years away. It consists of 2 billion stars that are bigger than our own sun. There are over 200 billion galaxies like the Sombrero Galaxy. Several years ago the Voyager space probe left our solar system and entered interstellar space headed toward one of the closest stars in our galaxy about 17.6 light years from earth. At 30,000 miles per hour Voyager will approach to within 1.7 light years of this star about 40,000 years from now. Who are we compared to the vastness of God’s universe? According to the Psalmist, “Who is man, O Lord, that thou art mindful of him?
The first verse of the bible says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. According to John chapter 1 nothing was made without Him. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last, the beginning and the end. Jesus Christ was and is the reason for the creation.
Despite the vastness of God’s creation, One of the last things that Jesus said to his disciples before his crucifixion was, “I call you my friends.” Friendship is a central teaching of the New Testament. Our relationship with Him is the basis of Christianity. The question is “what kind of friend are you?”
Either you are a friend or you are a “user.” A user acts friendly but his ulterior motive is “what’s in it for me?” Jesus said, “greater love hath no man but that he would lay down his life for his friends.” When the crowds were following Jesus, he turned to them and said, “You follow me just because you witnessed the miracle of feeding the five thousand.” They didn’t follow him because they were his friends. They were users: they just wanted to get something in return.
The theme of capitalism is “give people what they want.” A sales transaction is for the value of “what’s in it for me.” The buy-sell transaction is an exchange of value for goods and services. This “economic exchange” temporarily satisfies our self seeking desires. However, the love of God is a higher motive. Friendship is based on the love of God. Love “seeketh not her own.”
There is a difference between a covenant and a contract. A contract is based on mistrust. A contract is a legally enforceable promise where there is a penalty for non-performance. However, a covenant is based on trust. A contact is transactional….a temporary exchange of value. It is a quid pro quo transaction and is over when the agreed upon exchange of value is completed. In contrast, the value of a covenant is not an exchange of valuable goods or services. The value of the contract is the relationship itself.
The covenant of marriage is a vow in the presence of God and witnesses. The root word for Vow in Hebrew means “debt.” You become a debtor to the one to whom you make a vow. The debt is paid in the fulfillment of the vow. A covenant cannot be broken without lasting consequences. A contract can always be breached or modified. However, the debt of the marriage covenant remains “until death do we part.”
Jerry remembers passing a little pickup with a sign that read, “any load, anywhere, anytime.” That’s a covenant relationship. A covenant relationship is a level four franchise friendship.
The first level of friendship is an acquaintance. These are the people you see everyday and say “hello” when you meet them. A second level friend is a team mate. These are people you work with to achieve a common goal. The third level of friendship is a person with whom you spend discretionary time. You make a deliberate effort to spend time with your level three friends. Most men never go beyond this third level of friendship.
A level four friend is a franchise level intimate friend. A franchise player friend cannot be traded. This type of friend is committed for life. A level four friend is committed to a covenant relationship and will never leave you or forsake you. These friends collaborate with you to make important life decisions. A level four friend will do anything to make his friend successful.
Most men are people-pleasers. They seek validation from others. However men can never validate anyone. The only true validation is from our Heavenly Father.
There are two flagship mottos for level four friends. The first motto is: “Losers make excuses but friends take responsibility.” If we miss the mark, then say, “I messed up. Please a forgive me for falling short.”
The second motto is, “You can fake caring but you can’t fake showing up.” Jerry recalls that three and a half years ago he suffered a massive heart attack and was in a coma for three days. He had a franchise player friend who heard about his heart attack. His friend said to himself, “How can I live without Jerry.” He immediately took the next flight to DC to see his friend. He stayed up for three days and nights without eating or sleeping to pray at Jerry’s bedside. This is the example of a level four friend.
It’s important to make a list of your level four franchise level friends. Start with your wife and children. You have to be a level four friend to have a level four friend. The characteristics of a godly man are the virtues of a level four friend. Jesus Christ himself is our level four friend. The central teaching of Christianity is friendship. Christianity is a true friendship “relationship” with our Lord Jesus Christ. When we develop a level four friendship with Jesus, we can be a level four friend to our most intimate friends.
According to Ephesians 3:20, “now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.” As we trust the Lord with all our hearts and lean not unto our own understanding, he will bless us more than we could even ask or think.
Jerry was asked to meet with five generals at the Pentagon. The day before his appointment he had been jogging and was feeling anxious. He thought to himself, “I’m not worthy to meet with them.” He prayed that his level four friend Jesus Christ would speak through him and that his words would be a blessing. God answered him with this four part prayer: 1. Lord Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. 2. Lord give me favor and cause men to love me and bless me (for thy sake and for thy blessing.) 3. Lord give me power over people when I speak as I tap into your power. 4. Lord give my wife power over people as she taps into your power for your glory.
The bible says in Proverbs 18:6, “A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.” The gift is the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. The riches of the glory of the mystery is “Christ in you the hope of glory.” He has made us able ministers of the New Testament. When we delight ourselves in the Lord he will give us the desires of our heart. When our desire is His desire, then it is God who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
God wants us to be franchise player level four friends to those he has surrounded us with in our inner circle. Jesus Christ himself is our example of our most trusted and intimate level four friend. There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. For he who knew no sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.
What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and grief to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. …Casting all your care upon Him for he careth for you.
As level a level four friend of those whom God has blessed us to love, May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace, Your brother in Christ,
Michael