People Who Shaped David: Jonathan
I Samuel 18:1-4
1. In
this session we are going to look at some of the people who shaped the life of
David…going to explore one of the great friendships on pages of Scripture...to
this point in our study we have looked at—
--Samuel
who believed in David...anointed as future king of Israel...
--Saul
who mistreated David...constantly sought to kill him...
--Goliath
who challenged David...
In
this session we will focus on the relationship between Jonathan, the son of
Saul, and David...
4. From
a purely human perspective the friendship between Jonathan and David should
never have happened...
--couldn’t
have had more different upbringings...Jonathan was royalty ...his father was
the king...appeared he was destined to inherit the throne...David was a
shepherd boy...appeared he was destined to herd sheep all his life...
--as
David rose to national prominence after his confrontation with Goliath, the
most natural thing would have been for him and Jonathan to be rivals...but it was at that point in time
that their friendship began to flourish...
5. The
story of this remarkable friendship stretches over several chapters is I
Samuel...cannot possibly deal with it all in one session...want direct
attention of I Samuel 18:1-4...(text)
Before
get to heart of what want say today, want to lay to rest a terrible
misconception which is sometimes associated with Jonathan and David... because—
--the Bible repeatedly says that
Jonathan loved David as himself...
--I Sam. 20:41 speaks of Jonathan
and David kissing each other...
--at
the death of Jonathan, David said of his friend, “Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of a
woman.” (2 Sam.1:26b)
Some
have asserted that the relationship between David and Jonathan was a homosexual
relationship...nothing could be further from the truth...as look are
relationship between Jonathan and David, need keep three things in mind:
--the OT specifically and
unequivocally condemns homosexuality...for David, the main character of
the OT, to be portrayed as homosexual in a book that forbids such relationships
would be totally inconsistent...
--the word “love”
used to describe the relationship between Jonathan and David is not the Hebrew
word used to described sexual activity, either heterosexual or
homosexual...that word, which is normally translated “know” in most English
Bibles such as in the Genesis 4:1 which says, “And Adam knew his wife
and she conceived and bore Cain...”, is never used to describe the
relationship between David and Jonathan...the word used of Jonathan and David
means a sense of deep kinship and genuine affection...has nothing to do with
sex...
--in eastern culture, even to this day, not unusual
for men to show openly affection of each other...not
uncommon in some parts of the world to see men walking together holding
hands...not mean homosexual...meant close friends...
It is a perversion of the Scripture to read into this story anything
about homosexuality
I want
direct your attention to what we can learn from Jonathan and David...one writer
says, “The relationship between David and Jonathan constitutes an OT picture
of a NT reality – the relationships God intended to exist in the body of Jesus
Christ.” [Getz, David: Seeking God Faithfully, p.82]...Jesus
stated clearly and succinctly the standard for relationships among
Christians...He said in John 13:35
– “By this all men will know that you are
my disciples, if you have love for one another.”...the relationship
between David and Jonathan shows us what it means to love one another...their
relationship shows that...
I. Jonathan and David show us that love
binds us together
- A beautiful thing is
said about David and Jonathan in 1 Sam. 18:1 ...”...the soul of Jonathan was
knit to the soul of David...”...word translated “knit”
literally means “chained”...they
were chained together, bound together in an inseparable
relationship...nothing could come between them/divide them/drive them
apart...and that is precisely how the Lord desires for us to relate to
each other as brothers and sisters in Christ in the church...
2. In Colossians 3:14 Paul describes love as “the
perfect bond of unity”...that is, love is the glue which holds the
fellowship together... where love is absent there is fragmentation, division,
and strife...where love is present there is unity, oneness of spirit, and
peace...that’s why the Scripture emphasizes over and over again the importance
of Christians being bound together in love...
3. As I’ve told you many times before, being bound
together in love does not mean that we have to all think exactly like...Jonathan
and David didn’t always agree on everything...in 1 Sam. 20 Jonathan at first
refused to believe David’s claim that Saul, Jonathan’s father, was out to kill
David...but that disagreement did not shatter their relationship...
4. And from that we can learn that being bound together
in love does not mean that we all agree on every minute detail of theology,
biblical interpretation, or application of the Bible to life...doesn’t mean
like same music...doesn’t mean have same tastes and preferences...it doesn’t
even mean that we have the same warm, emotional feelings toward every
individual...but it does mean that we do not allow our differences to divide
us...being bound together by love means our common commitment to, union with
Christ keeps us together in spite of our differences...
1. James Irwin
was one of a handful of astronauts who had he privilege of walking on the
moon...he wrote a book about his experience...the book is entitled To Rule
the Night...in the book he tells how his flight into space and especially
his time on the moon awakened him spiritually...after returning to earth he
began to have a growing conviction that God had a special mission for his
life...he committed his life to Christ and began sharing Christ with anyone who
would listen to him...want you to hear one thing that James Irwin says in his
book: “Prior to my commitment to
Christ, my wife and I had some differences that threatened to destroy our
marriage. However, since renewing my
relationship with Christ, those differences have paled.”...and he
adds, “When you know Jesus Christ,
differences fade away.
II. Jonathan and David show us that love is unselfish ... it is
giving
1. It seems that Jonathan was always giving to
David...18:4 says “... Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it
to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.”...and
that was only a preview of a far greater gift to come...
2. As the son of King Saul, Jonathan was next in line to
be King of Israel...in the eyes of Saul and in the eyes of the people of
Israel, before David burst on the scene, it was a given that Jonathan would one
day become king...
3. In 1 Sam. 23:17 Jonathan makes an amazingly unselfish
statement to David...he said, ”...you will be king over Israel and I will
be next to you...”...in other words, Jonathan was willing unselfishly
to step aside and let David be king...
1. Love and selfishness are mutually exclusive...where
you have one, cannot have the other...if characterized by love, will not be
selfish...if characterized by selfish spirit, will not have love...
2. George Truett
story...each winter went through numerous overcoats... not unusual be walking
in downtown Dallas on cold day and take of new, warm overcoat and give it to
some unfortunate street person...was so giving and unselfish church had take
steps to protect him from his propensity give things away...built a house for
him...insisted deed be put in Mrs. Truett’s name so the pastor couldn’t give it
away... [Pastoral Letter,
Truett Seminary, May, 2003]
3. It is the nature of love to give...
III. Jonathan
and David show us that love shines under pressure
1. Saul correctly understood that David was a great
threat to Jonathan becoming king...in 20:31 Saul told Jonathan, “For
as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom
will be established.”...and Saul put great pressure on Jonathan to
abandon David and protect his inheritance of the kingdom...
2. But to Jonathan’s credit, he did not cave in to that
pressure...he stood his ground and protected David from the evil plots of
Saul...and in doing so he risked the scorn of his own father and those in the
court of his father...
3. And from that we can learn that genuine love, the kind
of love God wants to characterize the fellowship of the church, doesn’t bail
out when things get tough...as matter of fact, it does just the opposite...it
takes the heat...and remains loyal...
- A few
months ago the move “42” came out which is the story of Jackie Robinson who
the first black man to play Major League baseball. In his first season
with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson faced venom nearly everywhere he
traveled. Pitchers threw fastballs at his head. Runners spiked him on the
bases, brutal epithets were written on cards and spoken from the opposing
dugouts. Even the home crowds in Brooklyn saw him as an object of
reproach. During one game in Boston, the taunts and racial slurs seemed to
reach a peak. To make matters worse Robinson committed an error and stood
at second base humiliated while the fans hurled insults at him. Another
Dodger, a Southern white man by the name Pee Wee Reese, called timeout. He
walked from his position at shortstop toward Robinson at second base, and
with the crowds looking on, he put his arm around Robinson's shoulder. The
fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved
his career. [Brett Blair, www.SermonIllustrations.com, February 2003]
- That’s what real love does...when the pressure is
on, it comes through...
Conclusion
1. As studied the relationship
between Jonathan and David this week thought struck me that we all need in our
lives people like Jonathan...
--people with whom we
have a close, unbreakable bond...
--people who are
unselfish and self-giving...
--people who will
stand beside us, especially in times of difficulty...
2. And in the fellowship among
the people of God is the place we will find such relationships.
