All right, well, good morning and glad you're with us this morning. So it's spring break or fifth winter here in Wisconsin. As we look outside and see more snow, there's actually a lot of us are gone this, this weekend, which I'm grateful for. There's actually a good number of folks from the church are out on spring break mission trips to different parts of the world, which is, which is cool. And a lot of others are just with family, you know, hopefully somewhere warm.
But I'm glad that you're with us today. So if you have a Bible with you, if you'd open up to first Samuel, chapter 18 this morning, I'm going to read for us verses 1 through 5. So first Samuel 18, 1 5, and then I'm going to pray, ask for the Lord's help in this time, and then work through the passage.
So let me read the text. This is what the Bible says.
As soon as he'd finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day, would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt.
And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him. So Saul sent him over the men of war. This is good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. Okay, so that's God's words for us this morning. Let's pray.
Lord, it is good for us to be here together.
And Lord, the reason we are together is we want to hear from you through your word.
And so God, I do pray that you would bless this time through the power of your spirit, through the power of your word, through the folly of preaching that you would speak.
I pray this on Jesus name. Amen. Okay, so we know the Bible is a good sized book, right? It's God's holy word that speaks to so many different areas and issues of life. And because it's a big book that talks about many issues, when issues come up, whether it's some type of doctrine or some type of like related to life type issue, there can be like many helpful go to texts or passages that Christians can point to in regards to that various issue.
That being said, there are some topics that come up that almost universally Christians point to as like a go to passage or two to Help us to better think through that subject matter. And this morning as we gather together, we actually come to one of those passages, which is a pastor's almost university Christians point to as the go to passage when it comes to the topic of friendship. Okay, now Bible actually does speak a decent amount about friendship, the importance of friendship within that. The Bible teaches that we should desire and long to be a friend, to have friends. In fact, I don't know if we can live a healthy Christian life without friendship, which actually does relate to our second pillar as a church, the pillar of connect.
Friendship is actually one of the goals that we have as a church when it comes to our connecting, that we are connecting in such a way that we're finding friends. And by the way, go back to one of the evidence of grace that we see at Red Village. At least for me, one of the evidence of grace is that so many in our church family have made close friends. In fact, I would even guess that some of you would say that some of your closest friends are people in the church. And that's a real grace.
So there's a Christian poet from the 1700s named Anna Steele who wrote this. She says that friendship was the noblest earthly gift a heaven on man bestows. She wrote that not minds afford a gem of equal worth as friendship. This morning as we work together through this friendship passage. This passage details the friendship of David and Jonathan.
And if you have close friends, you should see them as an evidence of grace in your life, more valuable than even precious gems. This morning. However, if you're lacking friends, I'd actually love to talk to you more after the service. Maybe there's some ways that we can maybe more fully connect you into our church family in the hopes you can find friendship. If you're lacking friends, I'd even like to pray over you that God would bless you with the gift of friendship.
Before we get to our text study, just a reminder where we left off in 1st Samuel, which is a study we actually started last summer. So where we left off, so Israel has two kings. So they have King Saul, who is the people's choice, a man after their own heart, who after a pretty good start to his reign as king, quickly fell apart as he fell into deeper and deeper sin that caused the Lord to reject Saul as king. And as the Lord rejected Saul as king, he replaced was going to replace Saul with a man after his own heart, the aforementioned David. The last few weeks in chapter 16 and 17, we learn more and more about David.
We learned that David was overlooked Youngest son of a man named Jesse. We learned that he was a shepherd, which is kind of like a lowly, humble trade. He learned. We learned he was a master at playing the harp. We learned that he was a young man who had great character.
He was well thought of by others. And we see in chapter 16 that he was a young man who the Lord clearly was, with which we certainly seem to be true in our text last week when we read about the story of David striking down the Goliath, the giant Goliath, which he did by faith as he slung a stone through the air that the Lord used to bring forth a great victory for his people. So today, as we continue our study of First Samuel, we see, in addition to all the things I just mentioned, David himself was a good friend who, who had a good friend in the person of Jonathan. By the way, he's also someone we've met already in our study of First Samuel, most notably in chapter 13, we learned that Jonathan was the son of Saul, Saul. Chapter 14, we read that Jonathan was much different than his father, Saul, and that Jonathan was actually more like David, a young man of strong character who also had a strong belief and trust in the Lord.
Okay, so that was a little refresher where we were look back through their text, starting at verse one, which historically took place right on the heels where we left off in chapter 17 in the aforementioned story of David Goliath. So if you remember, study last week, after David struck down the giant, he cut off Goliath's head as a spoil of war. He took it to Jerusalem, which was not yet part of the territory of Israel. And as David took the head of Goliath to Jerusalem, it seemed to be a warning to the Jebusites who were in control of the city, of what was going to happen to them next. And as you remember, as David is using the spoil of war to give Jebusites a warning, Saul was trying to get a better handle of just who David was.
I mentioned this last week as chapter 17 ended. It felt like Saul is now beginning to wonder if David was the promised king who was to come, if David was the man for God's own heart, who Saul would be turning his kingdom over to. So our text ended last week the conversation between Saul and David, with Saul trying to learn more about David, specifically where he was from in terms of his family lineage. So now in our text today, verse one, as soon as David finished up speaking with Saul, as that conversation comes to end, we read that very quickly, the son of Saul, Jonathan that his soul was knit together to David's soul, or perhaps better said, Jonathan attached himself to David with great devotion. Now, it's impossible to know how much interaction David and Jonathan had before verse one of our text today.
I do think it's safe to include that they were least aware of each other and they would have at least some interaction with each other before our passage. Also naturally include that Jonathan was present with his father Saul, for the conversation just took place at the end of chapter 17. And as David was humble, honest, transparent with Saul concerning his family lineage in our text today, verse one, this seems like it really resonated with Jonathan. And Jonathan began to quickly realize that this David, this is someone that he wanted to be friends with. David had just something of like the same values that Jonathan had.
Jonathan could tell that David had like some high character like he did. He had the same humility that he did. Jonathan could tell that he had that David had a similar strong faith in the Lord as he did. As this conversation with David and Saul was ended, it became clear to Jonathan that he and David were really like minded guys and that they really get along well together in friendship. This week, as I was thinking about this conversation that took place the end of chapter 17, I can just kind of picture like somewhere along the lines of the conversation between David and Saul that these two young men, Jonathan and David, were like kind of branching off into like their own kind of conversation, maybe sharing a little bit of the war stories with each other, reliving the victories that the Lord had gave them.
Religious where Jonathan humbly and excitedly shared with David about the scene that happened in 1st Samuel 14 and how the Lord used him and his armor bearer to cause such confusion in the camp of the Philistines that the Philistines actually started to fight against each other. Which I'm sure was a story that David was familiar with. And as Jonathan is sharing that story, as he finishes up, only for David now to start sharing humbly what took place in 1st Samuel 17, he starts to share about what was going through his mind as he's like clapping back at the giant Goliath in the valley before he struck him with a stone. At least for me, in my mind I can just see these two young men laughing it up, excited to share, excited to hear, just invested in the conversations that they were branching out into. As I see them in my mind, I can almost see Saul almost being pushed off to the side.
He just watched these two young men connect with each other. Obviously we don't know how this conversation looked. But whatever took place, the end result is a deep friendship was quickly formed between the Jonathan and David text tells us this budding friendship with a friendship that was so deep at the end of verse one that Jonathan had love for David, such love for David that it was so full, so deep and as if it was like love for Jonathan's own soul. So we're going to circle back to this more in just a bit, but take note that that's a good friend, a friend who loves others and full deep ways. Be that type of friend.
Look for that type of friend. Verse two, we see that after the conversation ended, going forward, Jonathan and David actually be seeing a lot of each other because from that point forward, Saul decided that he needed to keep David by his side so he would not let David go and return to his father's house. If you Remember back chapter 16, 17 appears that David had a bit of like an on call relationship with Saul. So if you remember back to chapter 17, during times in the harmful debilitating spirit came to torment Saul, remember how the servants of Saul would like send for David who would then come to Saul to play the harp for him, which is like a means of grace in his life that would drive the harmful spirit away. Then if you remember a text last week before David and Goliath engaged in the battle, the Philistines and Israel in Israel were basically at a military standstill for like 40 days.
And in that standstill we learned that David like go back and forth from tending to his sheep in Bethlehem to the battle site to deliver supplies to his brothers. Before I seen today, as mentioned, David almost had like a bit of an on call type relationship with Saul, kind of like bivocational where he had two jobs where he had worked for his dad as a shepherd as well as for Saul in the harp, playing with a harp. But now in verse two, there's no more back and forth for David. It was time for David to tell his dad that he won't be returning to the fields. His days of Bible vocational work, they were now over.
Saul insisted that David hang up his shepherd's crook, that he put his shepherd's pouch on ebay so he could focus all of his energies on tending to Saul to commit to Saul as a full time job. Verse three, as David was brought into full time service of Saul, you see that Jonathan had a commitment that he was going to make to David. You see in the text that Jonathan went into covenant with him, which culturally was strong, heavy, significant relational commitment. So for here in the text, Jonathan is not looking for David to be some type of, like, superficial friend. Rather, this friendship, he wanted to be filled with love, devotion, a strong commitment.
This is not a commitment of like, yeah, let's be friends, but only kind of when it happens to fit into our schedules. Remember this illustration? I think I shared a few different times of trying to fit, like, walnuts and rice into a jar. If you put like the rice in first, which is a picture of things that are really not that important in your life, what happens is the rice will fill up the jar in such a way and you try to put it in the walnuts, which are the picture of the priorities of life. Like, there's no room left for them.
When you put the walnuts in first, you put your priorities in first. The only times it comes to the rice, they kind of just fill in the rest of life where everything kind of fits together. In the story Jonathan is telling David, this friendship, this is like a walnut of his life. This friendship was a priority to him that he was going to make a covenant with David. Verse 3 in our text goes on to tell the motivation that Jonathan had to make this covenant with him.
Once again, Jonathan tells, or the text tells, that Jonathan loved his friend David as his own soul. This is love. The love was like, compelling him into this covenant. He's repeating the same phrase, his love for his own soul. This is, I think, to show emphasis, that's how deep this friendship was rooted, grounded in love.
In fact, the same phrase is gonna be repeated again. We get the chapter 20, how Jonathan loved David as his own soul. I said again, for the sake of just trying to capture the weight of this friendship, listen, this is not a shallow, superficial friendship. This is more than just like, kind of like following each other on Facebook and Instagram. This is not just like even throwing out the term friendship.
Describe someone that you have, like, like haven't talked to in years or just so happen to be in the same, like, kind of social circle. This is not a friendship that was like, maybe only pursued and was like, maybe a little bit convenient. No, this is real, genuine friendship. This, this is a friend who is sticking closer than a brother. This is a friend where, like, sacrifices were being made to keep it together.
Which is actually, we see in verse four to see the details of the covenant that Jonathan was making. In the text, we read that Jonathan gave David the robe off his back. He gave to David his armor. Jonathan even gave to David his sword and his bow and his belt, which for us, on face value, These might seem generous, you know, kind of nice for Jonathan to do that for David. I mean, Jonathan gave David some nice clothes.
I mean, who doesn't like getting nice clothes? Jonathan is obviously aware of David's military conquest over Goliath. So kind of touching, kind of thoughtful. Jonathan gave to David like some expensive armor, gives a new sword, a new bow, a belt to match. But culture here, this is more than just that.
This is more than just giving a friend a few big ticket items on their Amazon wish list. Culturally speaking, this is a deeply symbolic, significant act. In fact, culturally, I don't know if Jonathan made a more significant act towards David than this. In this covenant, the robe and the armor that Jonathan gave to his friend David, these are items symbolic of a king many ways we might think of like a crown today, because Jonathan was the son of King Saul, right? He was the next in line to be king.
But now here in this text, in this covenant, in this action, Jonathan is symbolically telling David that he, David, he would be the next king of Israel, that his friend would be the king mentioned earlier. It kind of feels like Saul was starting to, like, maybe become aware of what's happening with David at the end of chapter 17. But here in this act, Jonathan, like, he's completely understanding what's taking place. So here in this covenant, in this act, Jonathan is telling his friend David, hey, I'm not going to stand in your way here. He's not going to fight David over this position of being a king.
Like, he was not going to risk losing the friendship. Rather, he's telling David, I am laying down my desires, any personal desires I have for you. In this act, not only is Jonathan committing to lay down these desires, but maybe doing so, like begrudgingly or obligation, that he's willingly submitting himself to David. We see that in the giving of the sword. Culturally, this is an act of submission.
Whereas mentioned, Jonathan was declaring to his friend that he's not going to stand in the way. He would willingly submit, joyfully submit to David's authority over, over him as future king, as the true heir to the throne. Right? This is an incredible commitment Jonathan is making towards his friend David. Say it again from.
We see in the text, like, there's no hint of Jonathan doing any of this out of obligation. There's not even a hint of jealousy, which actually will be our theme next week, where we see Saul rage with jealousy towards David. No, willingly, out of a heart of love, Jonathan made a covenant with his friend.
By the way, we'll see this in the weeks to come, we'll see this in multiple times, in multiple ways, how Jonathan actually kept his covenant over and over again, often with great cost and great risk. Jonathan even kept the covenant to David through some really dark, scary times that David had to endure. See, this is mentioned a few times over and over again actually in the next few weeks. Verse 5, with David having his good friend Jonathan solidly behind him, we see that David went out to serve Saul. And as David served Saul, he found success in all that he set out to do.
Not that Jonathan was the sole reason for his success, but I'm sure it helped, right? This is a grace in David's life to have Jonathan, a huge support, a huge encouragement to David and the work set before him. The text that David has sent out, there's probably numerous different tasks that Saul commissioned to do. However, the primary means he sent out was either to protect or to expand the kingdom. To see in the text that David or Saul was sent out, or Saul sent David out to be the one who was over the men of war.
And finally our text this morning ends, not only did Jonathan have big thoughts about his friend David, but really all of those around David had pretty big thoughts about him. So the text tells us Saul sent David out, that this is actually good in the sight of all the people, as well as in the sight of Saul's servants, which this week, as I thought about the support that David had, I think this furthers indication of both David's competency, but also his character behind his competency, which he's already kind of highlighted in chapter 16. So I thought about, in the competency side, David must have been really good, really gifted at what he did. And we can come to that conclusion because all Israel stood in favor of him. In fact, our text next week we'll see that he favored him so much, he almost seems like a popular celebrity among the people.
Like we know this. If David was terrible at his job, if he's unable to do the work set before him, his approval rating would have been super low. If David was not competent, if he was terrible at his job, that would have had major implications for the quality of life for the people of Israel as a whole. The text tells us Israel, they liked David, they liked him a lot. He had to be competent.
What he was doing. On the character side of things, we conclude that he has a man of great character, just from our text. And we conclude that because those who knew him best, who saw him most closely, Saul's servants, they also loved him. They loved Working for David. I mean, David wasn't just like, good in public, where he kind of knew how to turn it on in front of a crowd, but then behind closed doors, he's like, kind of a jerk, where he's like two different people.
No, those who knew him best, they thought highly of him. David was a man of great character, which is. We're going to end in our passage of study today. Now, as we get to close this sermon, what I want to do is circle back to what the theme I started with. As mentioned, this passage here almost universally is looked at as being one of the great passages concerning friendship in the Bible.
Say again, as I close this, I hope to use this text to encourage us towards friendship, really, on both sides of friendship. Like, I want to encourage us as a church to be a good friend as well as to seek good friends. I've actually worked through this. I not only want to encourage us to be a good friend and seek good friends, I actually wanted to emphasize to us just how important friendship is in this life. Book of Genesis tells us that it's not good for man to be alone.
So part of God's good design that he's given to us as mankind is we are to live in relationship with. With others. Friendship. Good, healthy friendship. This is a grace in our life.
Listen to this, perhaps my favorite quote on friendship. This is given by a theologian from the 1800s, J.C. ryle. Maybe some of you have heard of him. He wrote this. The world is full of sorrow as it's full of sin.
It is a dark place. It's a lonely place. It's a disappointing place. The brightest sunbeam in it is a friend. Friendship halves our troubles and doubles our joys.
That's what we want as a church, to have those type of friendships. We're living in relationship with each other. We're like mutually having each other's troubles at the same time, doubling each other's choice. However, that being said, before I give you some closing thoughts on friendship, I do want to spend just a few moments, just to give a few cautions before we get to that spot when it comes to friendship. Just because I don't want to set us up for a fall.
Okay? So before I give us some encouragement, let me give you a few cautions. So first, understand that good, deep friendship, this is something that's actually not easily found. Okay? So in heaven, yes, all of God's people of faith, right?
We all will be in sweet relationship with each other. We all will be friends. And that's going to be great. I can't remember who said it, but there's a pastor from yesterday who even said, in heaven, like, we'll all be like basically each other's best friends, but we're not there yet in this life. At times, perhaps even often, finding good friends can feel like going on a quest for a lost, hard to find treasure.
I think that's even probably more true today than maybe ever before, simply because living such a transient life where, like, people are always coming and going, it's hard to find friends when relationships are always and forever changing. Which, by the way, kind of on that note, that's why I think it's so important to try to put down deep roots. Deep roots that over time can help produce friendship. This morning, even though I want to encourage us in friendship, the pursuit of friendship, I don't want to set up for a fall of, like, disappointment. This is not always an easy thing to find.
Second, caution, which is a caution to not put your hope, your satisfaction, your identity in friendship. These are things that only can be found in God himself kind of tied with that. Don't be obsessive when it comes to friendship. Like, the only thing you ever think about is, like, you know, a certain person really angry or jealous if things don't get. If you don't get the way things that you want them to go.
So, yes, friendship is a walnut in life, but it can't be the only walnut. So in constant worlds, like obsessive friendships, sometimes referred to as, like, codependency, we're like so obsessed on someone, we almost feel like we can't function without them. Whether it's because we need constant affirmation from them or because we need to be needed by them. And this is such an easy trap for us to fall into when it comes to friendship, because friendship can feel like a treasure. So when we find it, we almost want to obsessively try to hold onto it.
For you that are Lord of the Rings fans, think of Gollum and his precious the Ring. So be careful here, have a little caution. Seek friendship, but don't obsess over in such a way that you're putting all of your hope, all of your satisfaction, all of your identity into it. That's actually idolatry. Third, caution, as great as friendship can be, it is such a gift.
Friendship also comes with letdowns and disappointments because we're all sinners. So without trying to be cynical here, you and I, we're going to let friends down. You know what? Friends will let us down as well. And the letdown of friendship can feel like some of the deepest pains that we can carry in this life.
Which is why I think for some, maybe even some here this morning, you almost want to stop friendship, finding friendship altogether because of past pain. Maybe when you feel like betrayed by a friend, that hurts. So this morning, even though I want to encourage us all to pursue and continue to pursue friendship, I do want to understand this is not always an easy thing to do. Okay, so those cautions. With that in mind, let me send just the last bit of our time here speaking towards friendship, healthy friendship.
So first let me speak towards being a friend, a good friend, which is something we actually do need to keep front and center when it comes to friendship. So in the selfish world that we live in, it's so easy to focus on, like, how others are being a friend to us or, well, how others are not meeting the standard that we've set for friendship. When it comes to friendship, we need to actually be more concerned about how we can be good friends to others. Is that mine? Let me give you a few things we see from the text about being a good friend.
So a good friend is someone who loves for us. Be a loving friend for us as Christian people. This is really the call when we trust in Jesus, like we're going to love. Love is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Found in the book of Galatians.
Jesus himself boiled down the entire law into love. To love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourself. This morning, as we think through this go to text on friendship, what do we see? We see love at the core. Jonathan loved his friend David as his own soul.
We see it in verse one, Jonathan loved him as his own soul. We see it in verse three because he loved him as his own soul. Same thing as mentioned when we get to chapter 20, Jonathan once again swore to David in his love for him because he loved him as his own soul. By the way, it's hard to know exactly how much time took place from our chapter today to chapter 20 when that verse is repeated. But it does seem there's some real time between those events.
And as mentioned, in that time, between those events is a lot of hard things that came up that could have severed friendship, making a challenge for these two men to actually love one another. Yet through it all, through all the ups, through all the downs, through all the trials, through all the tribulations, this friendship was grounded and sealed in love. Church be a friend like that one who loves. Second, be a good friend who is committed. Now if I can date myself just a bit.
So the first Christian band that I was exposed to was actually when I was in middle school, the famous DC Talk. There you go. So after I was exposed to that band, it was actually at a youth event that I was invited to. Like honestly before this I didn't even know there was like Christianity music, also like hymns. So even though I was not a Christian at this point, I was actually intrigued enough by DC Talk to pick up one of their CDs and the song that I remember most from that CD was the song Love.
I think it was actually L U V Love is a verb. Yeah, love is a verb which implies there's action tied to love. And in friendship, one of the great acts of love is the commitment that we make to that relationship. Text not only did Jonathan express love, he backed it up with actions by committing to David to their friendship. He made a covenant with David that came with great personal sacrifice where he willingly laid down his lineage to the throne.
As mentioned, the weeks to come, chapters to come, multiple times, we see Jonathan stay true to this commitment even though it was hard, even though there are some really dark times for David. And you know what, this wasn't even just a one side commitment. Even David was committed to Jonathan throughout this friendship. Perhaps most famously, we see this commitment actually in Second Samuel where David is like firmlessly established, firmly established as the king at this point. And he's like trying to keep his commitment of friendship to Jonathan, his commitment to love Jonathan, he wants to show kindness to Jonathan, which he did by blessing one of Jonathan's sons, a cripple named Mephibosheth.
Remember that story? It's one of the great stories, one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament church. If you think about friendship, healthy friendship, like we must set our hearts to be this type of friend. Friend who loves a friend who is committed, a friend who sticks closer than the brother, a friend that can be trusted, which is an important part of the relationship. Friendship which by the way, we are going to see in weeks to come as well.
David, he trusted Jonathan and his love and his commitment towards him. So that's the one side of friendship for us to be good friends. But then there's the other side of friendship, where to actually seek good friends. Now as mentioned earlier, we need to be careful to not get self centered or selfish when it comes to friendship. We're like exclusively obsessively worried about others, how others are being A friend to us.
However, that being said, if we're going to have healthy friendships, we need to pursue the right friends. The right type of friends. A few thoughts on this before we get back to text. So first, we just can't be friends with everyone. We can't.
Friendly, yes. Close friends. We just can't. Not only do I have different personalities and interests, it helps us connect better to some and maybe not as well with others. But we're also limited by time and space, so we can't be like equal friends with everyone.
I actually think that's unhealthy. If we try to do that. If we're trying to be equal friends with everyone, that actually might be a sign. Maybe there's some people pleasing going on in our hearts. Maybe a sign of like some deep insecurities that we're carrying.
Maybe even have like a savior complex. There should be people that you're just closer with than others. We just can't. We cannot be same close with everyone. Second thought on this too.
Not only can't we be friends with everyone equally, we really shouldn't be friends with everyone. In fact, that's actually one of the great pieces of wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs. So many of the problems give us wisdom and guidance concerning the type of people we should be pursuing in our relationships, as well as type of people we actually should not be pursuing. So there's a discernment that's necessary when it comes to friendship. In a sense, we have to pursue the right friends.
Okay, that being said, now back to text. So what are the right type of friends we should be pursuing? Obviously, all the things we just talked about apply in this end as well. We're to seek friends who are like loving towards us. We are to seek friends who are committed to us, to the friendships.
We're to seek people that we can trust. William, also mentioned, based on the text, there's a couple more things. Let me encourage you to seek friends who have high character, which is what much of the book of Proverbs is pointing us to. As mentioned kind of at some point in the sermon, Dave and Jonathan, young men, high character. They had earned reputations being kind of honest and forthright.
They seemed to walk with a lot of humility. They were well thought of by others, even by those who knew them best. They were not people who were in one setting one way, but then radically different in other settings. In the text, we see David who he was in public was who he was in private. What we see in previous texts I think we see the same thing concerning Jonathan.
Friends. Look for those type of people, people of high character to be friends with. Second, seek people where there's obvious mutual knitting of souls, which is where our text started this morning in verse one. This wasn't a friendship where like Jonathan was trying to force and manipulate friendship with David or David's like trying to force a manipulate friendship with Jonathan or like either one or the other is like unsure of the relationship, insecure in the relationship. There wasn't like ongoing conversation in their own hearts like I think he sees me as a friend, but I really can't tell.
Their souls were knit together. This is more than just a superficial relationship. They're close. There's depth, there's openness, there's honesty, there's transparency. Mutually knit together.
Seek those type of friends. If all of our friends are just like an inch deep, we're going to live a lonely, lonely life. Pursue friendship. Seek friendship. Desire to be a good friend.
Look for good friends. Recognize that God has designed us to live in relationship with others and friends. As you do that even more so. Recognize in the end that the one friend that we all need is Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, the perfect, the truest friend, the friend we all must have. Now friendship with Jesus is different than friendship we might have with each other.
The friendship we have with Jesus is when we come to him, not like as our buddy, but as our Lord. In addition, when we have friendship with Jesus, it is wholly and fully a one sided friendship. Like in a sense, like Jesus, he doesn't Jesus, what does he need from us? Like we're the ones who need everything from Him. And friendship we can have with Jesus is not because like we have like sought him out because we have pursued Him.
In fact, the scripture teaches the opposite. Like we ran from Him. But in his mercy and his grace, Jesus is the one who sought us out. That in accordance with his eternal grace, God through Jesus Christ has chosen to call a people to himself. And because Jesus is such a great friend of sinners, to demonstrate this great love, Jesus made a new covenant with his people.
A new covenant found in his blood where after Jesus himself was betrayed by a friend, according to God's eternal plan, our Lord Jesus willingly, joyfully kept the covenant by laying down his life by dying on the cross in our place to take on the punishment of our sin. He's that good of a friend that he would even die for us, only to pick his life back up from the dead on the third day. So by His Grace through His incredible love by the power of His Spirit. All who come to him by faith, who confess their sin, who turn to him, who confess Jesus to be the Lord by believing that he did die and rise again for them they have this incredible eternal promise that through the power of the Spirit, their heart will be knit to his heart forever and ever. Where forever and ever we will be in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
A relationship where he promises that he will never leave us, he will never forsake us, even in the most difficult and dark times of our life. He is the one that we can fully and completely trust and friends as our great and eternal friend. Jesus has even given us his word that one day he's going to come for us and he's going to bring us to him into his eternal joy where we have fully experienced this incredible friendship with him and with each other. Because he is so kind and so merciful to call sinners like us to Himself to be his friend. So yes, we're village saved one last time.
Seek, pursue friendship. Please be a good friend, seek good friends, but do so in ways where you joyfully understand what a friend, what an incredible friend we have in Jesus. Let's pray.
Lord, when you think about really does not make sense that you would call sinners like us your friend.
And Lord, friendship relationship with you we know came at a great cost.
The cost of the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, laying down his life to take on the punishment of our sin.
And Lord, I do pray that as we seek to be a good friend, as we look to pursue good friends, that friendship with Christ is at the core. That your great love for us would compel us to love others. Well, thank you for the many friendships that have been developed here in our little church family. God, for those here, maybe in here this morning that are struggling to find friendship, God please bless them. Finding good friends.
God, for those of us here who have found good friends, God, please help us to be true to those friendships.
Help us to be found faithful to them.
And Lord, help us just to just be grateful.
Pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.