Jonathan - A Faithful Friend & Jesus - A Faithful Friend

Jonathan - A Faithful Friend
Jesus - A Faithful Friend

Introduction

* True friendship is self-love at secondhand. - William Hazlitt
* A friend should bear his friend's infirmities. - William Shakespeare
* Friendship is a single soul living in two bodies. - Aristotle
* A faithful friend is the medicine of life. - Old Proverb

Who was Jonathan?

1 Samuel 14:6-14

Background Information - Prior to the verse we're going to read in a minute, Jonathan, King Saul's son attacked a Philistine outpost at Geba. This ended up inciting the Philistines to the point where they came after Saul's army and had them hiding in the caves and thickets among the rocks. The Bible says that all the troops with Saul were quaking with fear. They waited for Samuel the prophet, but he did not come for 7 days. Saul's men began to scatter. Israel was sorely oppressed by the Philistines. Saul had acted foolishly by offering a sacrifice that Samuel should have offered and did not have the favor of the LORD. Saul had a total of 600 men with him on the day of battle. No blacksmiths were allowed in Israel so the only people of the 600 that had weapons were Saul and Jonathan. They had sword and a spear. The rest of the army had their mattoxes, plowshares, axes and sickles as weapons. The Philistines had 30,000 chariots, 6000 horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude.

Read 1 Sam 14:6-15
V:6 - "Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by
few." What Great Faith! Understand the great odds that
Israel was facing.

V:15 - God acted and sent a panic. I believe this could have been a response to Jonathan's faith - remember Saul had
displeased the LORD was rebuked by Samuel and told his kingdom over Israel would not endure.

We can see from these verses that Jonathan is a daring and courageous man who had great faith in the LORD. He was willing to put his life on the line for his country. And despite the results of his first raid, he was willing to try it again because he was trusting in God.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 - Read

V:1 - David had just defeated Goliath and was speaking with Saul. It was observing this conversation that Jonathan saw something special in David. Perhaps he saw the same daring and courage that he himself had demonstrated.

V:3 - We see Jonathan making a covenant with David. Jonathan was the initiator - Because he loved David as himself. In Matthew 22:39 Jesus says that the second greatest commandment is "to love your neighbor as yourself." When we make a covenant with someone it shows how serious we are with our commitment. It's only when we are serious about something do we take a vow or sign a contract.

V:4 - Try to get the picture of Jonathan stripping himself of his royal robe and weapons of war - giving his robe, tunic, sword, bow and belt. Jonathan was a prince, David a shepherd. By giving these items to David, Jonathan was symbolically transferring his rightful position as heir to the throne, to David.

Jonathan's love for David bears some similarities to Jesus' love for us. Jesus in essence gave up his royalty so that we might also become heirs.

(Gal 4: 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.)

(2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, he for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich)

[The mixture of love coupled with faith in God will produce a spiritual kinship, the resulting bond of which, if it is maintained, can never be broken - such is our bond in Christ]

1 Samuel 19: 1-8
V:1-2 - Jonathan loved David enough to go against his father's plan.
remember, this was no ordinary father he was the King. The
same King was going to kill Jonathan because he ate honey
during the King's edict that no man of Israel could eat until Saul
avenged Israel in battle against the Philistines. Jonathan was
now risking his life for his friend.

V:4-6 - Jonathan spoke well of David to his father and as a result of his
Intercession, Saul took an oath that David would not be killed.
Again, note the similarities in Jesus interceding for us.

(1 Timothy 2: 5. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus)

(Romans 8:33-34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.)

1 Samuel 20:1-42

This whole chapter deals with Jonathan continuing to warn David about his father, Saul's plan to kill David.

**For this chapter just read the verses indicated**

V:2 - Jonathan is a little skeptical that his dad will kill David, Probably more from a denial mechanism thinking that his
dad would come to his senses.

V:3-4 - Jonathan is willing to lay down his life for David. To do whatever David wants him to do. (Again, if we try to keep
in mind the big picture here, this is quite amazing.??) sometimes we may have to lay our lives down for a friend in spectacular fashion such as Jonathan. I think laying down our lives for our friends can also be on smaller scale. Doing something for someone else when you would rather be doing something yourself is an example. Maybe helping someone move, or fixing their mower on Saturday when they have tons of stuff to do themselves. I think that the amount we are willing to sacrifice our lives for someone else is a direct indicator of how deep our friendship is with that person.

V:30-34 - Jonathan continues to remain faithful to David despite Terrible treatment from his father. This also speaks to
Jonathan's character. How hard it is for some of us to take a stand when our parents are in disagreement with us. [Jonathan bore the hatred his father had for David himself - Jesus bore the hatred God the Father had for our sin, himself]

V:41-42 - (Amplified - And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose from beside the heap of stones, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another, and wept with one another, until David got control of himself(David was weeping more than Jonathan). And Jonathan told David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and yours forever. And Jonathan arose and departed into the city.

The kinship with fellow Christians is stronger than family sometimes. In a way, I can find myself feeling more at home with fellow believers than my own non-believing family members sometimes. It's not that I don't love them any less, but that common bond of Christ is not there.

Some commentaries said that David weeped more because his case was more deplorable as he was leaving all his comforts, even those of God's sanctuary. I tend to think that perhaps David was weeping more because he realized that the level of sacrifice & obedience for Jonathan was much higher and harder for Jonathan given the circumstances, i.e. Jonathan was the heir, he had much more to lose. Jonathan grew up a King's kid, knowing one day he would be king. David was a lowly shepherd boy even thought lowly of by his brothers. And also maybe he even thought that Jonathan's love was greater for him than his love for Jonathan?

And we can again think of what Jesus did for us by taking on human form and suffering and going through the toils of life - he was the Creator and yet he took on human form and subjected himself to evil men, demons, and satan, the one who started everything back in the Garden of Eden, for our benefit.

1 Sam 23:15-18

V:16 - Jonathan went to David at a critical time in his life and helped him find strength in God. In David's time of critical need he helped him find strength in the only true source of strength - God. You have to wonder at this point if David's faithfulness to God was due in part to the tremendous faithfulness his friend Jonathan continuously showed him. In order for us to gain something from this passage, I think we need to ask ourselves, are the peoples' faith - those around us, our wives, husbands, children, friends, neighbors partially a result of our faithfulness and Godliness? Or is their lack of faithfulness and godliness a partial result of our lack of faithfulness and godliness. We have tremendous power to affect those around us in positive and negative ways - especially our children and spouses. [What an awesome picture we have of the Lord Jesus Christ and his encouragement to us through the Holy Spirit in the times of trial]

V:17 - WOW - This part here really blows me away. Jonathan is happy being second fiddle. When's the last Time somebody in politics ever volunteered to be second fiddle to another politician? The strength of David and Jonathan's friendship was the LORD. This allowed him to not get caught up in his "personal" stake. His personal faith in God allowed him to trust in God's plan.

2 Samuel 1:25-26

The Philistines have killed many of the Israelites in battle, including Saul and Jonathan. David upon learning of Jonathan's death wrote these verses of Jonathan in a lament he actually wrote for Saul and Jonathan.

CONCLUSION

As we can see, Jonathan was a true friend putting his self-interests second and putting his friend's interests first. He knew this was God's plan and was willing to submit to God's plan with enthusiasm and faithfulness. Can you imagine how different this story would have been had Jonathan been full of self pity and acted in manner similar to Cain, when God showed displeasure with his offering but accepted Abel's? As most of you know, Cain responded in jealousy and killed Abel.

David's life of faithfulness is renowned by Biblical standards - In part due to the godliness and faithfulness of his friend Jonathan. We can also affect those around us by our faithfulness.

[Jesus does all of these things for us and we likewise, as christians are called to show the same friendship to others in need.]

More importantly, Christ's life was demonstrated today in several ways:

Jonathan was willing to give his life for his friend.
Jesus gave his life for us. He is our King, our Redeemer, our Protector, our Savior, but he is also our friend.

Jonathan interceded for David's life.
Jesus interceded, and continues to intercede to the Father for us.

Jesus gave up his rightful place in heaven in order that we mere sinners might get an inheritance that we did not deserve.
[Jesus Christ willingly stripped Himself of all power, privilege, and position to beocme clothed with our filthy rags, and to die in our place. He isn't interested so much in what talents and gifts we have to bring to Him; what He really wants is our heart, and we alone must freely give it. If you haven't done so already, ask Him to come inside now and to seal you with His Holy Spirit promise, the deposit of all He has planned for you. He is the one friend who will never leave you nor forsake you]

I would like to close today's service by opening up the altar for anyone who would like to receive Jesus as their savior. Or if you would like to come up and pray for a specific issue please come. Sometimes it's okay to stay in the pew and pray, but coming forth in an altar call is sort of like striking a covenant with the Lord. It is covenant of sorts we strike with the Lord.

Sermon By Tim Clark