VCA Chapel - Friendship
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Intro
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Story about Friendship
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Kids Share
What makes someone a good friend?
Have kids share thoughts
Bible Lesson - David & Jonathan
I want to tell you about a great example of friendship that’s in the Bible - the friendship between David and Jonathan
I’m sure most of you know who King David was
He was the guy that took down the giant Goliath with just a rock and a sling
He became the King of Israel
He was also a musician and wrote many, many worship songs which are written down in the book of Psalms in the Bible
Jesus would come from David’s family tree
David had a best friend - his name was Jonathan
1 When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan was bound to David in close friendship, and loved him as much as he loved himself.
Many of you know David, but who was Jonathan?
He was King Saul’s oldest son
Saul was the first king of Israel. He started off as a good king, but then he didn’t do so good and so God said that He was going to replace Saul with a new king one day
Do you know how you got to be the king back then? You just had to be born into the right family!
The king would stay king until he died, and then his oldest son would take over. And then that guy’s son would take over, and so on and so on
But b/c Saul had stopped following God, God had actually anointed (picked) David to be the next king
David wasn’t king yet, but God said that it was going to be him instead of Saul’s oldest son
Who was Saul’s oldest son? Jonathan
Jonathan wasn’t like his dad though
His dad was mean and angry and prideful, Jonathan was loyal and trustworthy and had a deep faith in the Lord
So when he meets David after David beats Goliath, they immediately become BFFs
He wasn’t jealous of David (“I should be king!”), he didn’t treat David badly like Saul would, he was a kind and loyal friend
The verses we’re reading are right after David defeats Goliath. So he’s the hero of the story and everyone is cheering David like he’s Captain America. Let’s see just how deep David and Jonathan’s friendship was:
2 Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house. 3 Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as much as himself. 4 Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.
David starts to work in the palace for the army full time after defeating Goliath, and during that time is when David and Jonathan became BFFs
Jonathan found out that God had picked David to be the next king, and instead of getting jealous that someone else was getting what he thought he deserved, he wanted to follow what God said and he became David’s bud
It says “he made a covenant” and gave David all his stuff that the prince would normally have (the robe & sword and bow)
We can learn 4 things about friendship from David and Jonathan
True friends put the other person ahead of yourself instead of seeking what you can get out of the friendship
Jonathan sacrificed, he gave his stuff and his right to be the next king away to David
He wasn’t David’s friend because of what he could get from him
Who here has an Xbox or Playstation?
So I just found out you have this, and I don’t have one. What if I tried to become friends with you because I was hoping that you’d invite me to your house and I could play your Xbox/Playstation?
How would that make you feel if that was the only reason I wanted to be friends?
The Bible tells us that we should think of others instead of ourselves
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
We shouldn’t be a friend selfishly, we should think of others first.
True friends are loyal to one another and stick with each other through good and bad (1 Sam 19)
Eventually King Saul would start to get more and more jealous of David because he was the hero. David was Captain American and Saul was Frog Man (look him up, real Marvel hero in the comic books - him and Spiderman are buds....)
It got so bad that Saul wanted David dead
But Jonathan stuck up for David
1 Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much, 2 so he told him, “My father, Saul, intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning and hide in a secret place and stay there. 3 I’ll go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are and talk to him about you. When I see what he says, I’ll tell you.”
Proverbs 17:17 tells us
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.
We don’t abandon our friends when they’re having a bad day, we support them
We don’t turn our backs on people even if everyone else in the class does, we should be like Jonathan and say, “No! I’m with you and you won’t be alone”
True friends look for ways to encourage/support/build up the other person (1 Sam 20)
Things got even harder for David in life, he had to flee the palace because of how mean Saul was to him.
He found out that Saul was planning to kill him if he ever saw David again, and that left David down in the dumps.
Jonathan meets up with David to encourage and build him up
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’ ” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
Jonathan reminded David that they were friends for life, that God was with them.
He was really good at always finding the encouraging thing to say, and realized that his words mattered, so he made sure that they were helpful and didn’t tear his friends down
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
How can you go out of your way to encourage someone today? To build them up by saying something kind about them?
Wade into the crowd and compliment a kid or two
Did that compliment make you feel good?
A true friend doesn’t just make fun of or tease all the time, a true friend builds others up
True friends treat others the way Jesus tells us too (golden rule - Jonathan loved David as he loved himself)
Back in 1 Samuel 18, we saw that Jonathan loved David just as much as he loved himself.
Reminds me of something Jesus told us that we all know
31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Treat others the way you want to be treated. It’s the Golden Rule, how we should treat everyone, not just our friends.
Jonathan treated David this way, he treated him the way he wanted to be treated
Jonathan served David, he was loyal to him, he encouraged him.
These are all things I’m sure he wanted too. But instead of waiting for David to be nice first, Jonathan was the one who was kind and loving and being a godly true friend.
One last thing that I want to talk about for just a minute, about the best friend that any of us could have
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. 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.
We all have the best friend in Jesus
He displayed the truest mark of friendship, by laying down His life for us. His sacrifice for us shows how much He loves us.
And He calls us His friends! That’s so awesome! When we follow after Him, we get to be God’s friends.
Jesus didn’t pick and choose who He wants to be friends with
He doesn’t pick the most popular ones, or just the smartest, or the best looking, or the strongest. He wants to be friends with all of us.
And we have that same command from Jesus - love each other and I have loved you
Don’t ignore someone because they may be a little different or may not be exactly like you
Be kind to them, love them, be their friend!
And never forget that you have a friend in Jesus.
Pray