Love Your Friends 1 Samuel 18:1-6; 19:1-3

Love Your Friends 1 Samuel 18:1-6; 19:1-3

Proverbs 17:17a “A friend loves at all times,”.

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art … It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

1 Samuel 17:57, 18:1 “As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head. . . . After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.”

1 Samuel 16:7b “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Kristi Walker “Jonathan and David came from very different backgrounds, but they had a few key things in common: They were both warriors, they were men of faith who served the living God, they were provided with God-given courage and strength, and they needed each other.”

1 Samuel 18:3-4 “And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.”

1 Samuel 20:42 “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.’”

Five Takeaways from the Friendship of David and Jonathan

1. A true friend is true.

Proverbs 18:24 “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” 

2. A true friend loves you.
1 Samuel 18:3 “And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.”

Matthew 22:39 “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”

5. A true friend helps you find strength in God
1 Samuel 23:16 “And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.”

John 15:13-15 “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.”