20:1 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2 And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so.” 3 But David vowed again, saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.” 4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” 5 David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit at table with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant, but if he is angry, then know that harm is determined by him. 8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?” 9 And Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would I not tell you?” 10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?” 11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So they both went out into the field.
12 And Jonathan said to David, “The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness!1 When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? 13 But should it please my father to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the LORD, that I may not die; 15 and do not cut off2 your steadfast love from my house forever, when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May3 the LORD take vengeance on David’s enemies.” 17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
Footnotes
[1]20:12Hebrew lacks be witness [2]20:15Or but if I die, do not cut off [3]20:16Septuagint earth, 16let not the name of Jonathan be cut off from the house of David. And may
20:1 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2 And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so.” 3 But David vowed again, saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.” 4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” 5 David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit at table with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant, but if he is angry, then know that harm is determined by him. 8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?” 9 And Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would I not tell you?” 10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?” 11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So they both went out into the field.
12 And Jonathan said to David, “The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness!1 When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? 13 But should it please my father to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the LORD, that I may not die; 15 and do not cut off2 your steadfast love from my house forever, when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May3 the LORD take vengeance on David’s enemies.” 17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
Footnotes
[1]20:12Hebrew lacks be witness [2]20:15Or but if I die, do not cut off [3]20:16Septuagint earth, 16let not the name of Jonathan be cut off from the house of David. And may
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Connor Coskery:
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to 1 Samuel, chapter 20. It's also there in your worship guide. 1 Samuel 20. By this point in David's life, we've certainly seen a pattern emerge. And it's not just that everybody seems to want to kill David.
Connor Coskery:
That will be a pattern that we see often in his life moving forward. But the pattern is this. Family will be the biggest source of discouragement in his life. Think about it. When Samuel first went to his dad, Jesse, to ask if he had any sons that would be potential kings.
Connor Coskery:
Jesse brought forth all of his sons except for David. He didn't think David worthy of it. When David went to go fight Goliath, he was his own brothers who were the biggest source of discouragement to him, and they told him to go home. I actually think God found his brother's words to be more blasphemous than the words of Goliath. And then David marries into Saul's family.
Connor Coskery:
Saul becomes his father-in-law, good, loving, gentle, encouraging Saul. What a family to marry into. And his father-in-law would become a constant source of discouragement. My father-in-law once mailed Lauren a letter. The end of letter, it just had an article that he had cut out of a paper.
Connor Coskery:
And the headline for the article was this, The Sinister Minister. And it was about a respected pastor in the community who was secretly living a double life, and he ended up killing his wife and his children. And he just wanted Lauren to know that. My father-in-law has been a constant source of encouragement. I know that some of you are looking at each other, being like, oh, yeah, in laws, but none of us had an in law like Saul, who literally tried to spear David twice up against the wall.
Connor Coskery:
But some of you can relate to family being, a source of discouragement for you, especially as you try to follow the Lord. But thankfully, David had a friend. Jonathan was that constant source of encouragement that he needed. It was a constant source of support for David. Their friendship was a deep, intimate, sacrificial.
Connor Coskery:
We will call it even covenantal in nature, friendship. There's not many pages in scripture dedicated to friendship, but we do have this one story here, and we, here we find a robust vision of the importance of friendship in our lives. And so, 1st Samuel chapter 20, I'm not gonna read the whole thing. Then David fled from Naoth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, what have I done? What is my guilt?
Connor Coskery:
And what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? And he said to him, far from it. You shall not die. But behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me?
Connor Coskery:
It's not so. But David vowed again saying, your father knows. He knows well that I have found favor in your eyes. And he thinks, do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
Connor Coskery:
Then Jonathan said to David, whatever you say, I will do for you. David said to Jonathan, behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit at the table with the king, but let me go that I may hide myself in the field till the 3rd day at evening. If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the clan. If he says, good, it will be well with your servant. But if he is angry, then know that harm is determined by him.
Connor Coskery:
Therefore, deal kindly with your servant. For you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is guilt to me, kill me yourself. For For why should you bring me to your father? And Jonathan said, far be it from you.
Connor Coskery:
If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come you, would I not tell you? Then David said to Jonathan, who will tell me if your father answers you roughly? And Jonathan said to David, come let us go into the field. So they both went out into the field. And Jonathan said to David, the Lord, the God of Israel, be witness when I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow or 3rd day.
Connor Coskery:
Behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? But should it please my father to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. If I am still alive, show the steadfast love of the Lord that I may not die. And do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever.
Connor Coskery:
When the Lord cuts off every enemy, every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, may the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies. And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. This is the word of the Lord. Yes, we do.
Connor Coskery:
If If you would pray with me. Father, we ask that You would honor the very reading of Your word as we hear those words, we hear them expounded upon. Lord, we would just rejoice in the friendship you have displayed over us. Thank you for being our friend, Jesus. Thank you for being a friend that sits closer than a brother.
Connor Coskery:
I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away. But, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. We only read a little bit of this story, because well, it's really really long.
Connor Coskery:
Not even all of it's there in your worship guide. Honestly, it's somewhat repetitive. Not much happens in the story. There's some cloak and dagger stuff in there, you know, like, how am I gonna know how my how, King Saul feels about me? David's asking Jonathan this.
Connor Coskery:
They come up with this elaborate plan. You know, well, I'll shoot an arrow that's short. That means you could come home. If I shoot it kinda long and say you need to go away, then you need to flee. But then after they do all this cloak and dagger stuff, they just get together and they talk afterwards.
Connor Coskery:
And, really, honestly, the entire chapter would be so much shorter if they just had iPhones and could text. It literally would have been like, dad's mad. You need to run. And David maybe with a little screaming emoji, something like that. And end of story.
Connor Coskery:
But instead we get this really, really long chapter. It's one of the longest in first Samuel. And I can only guess as to why, but my suspicion is this. The author of this, of first Samuel just wants us to linger on this. He just kinda wants us to to sit and not so quickly move past the friendship of Jonathan and David.
Connor Coskery:
There's not many friendships like this described in the Bible. And so when we finally have this one here, He wants us to linger the beauty of such friendship. And let's be honest, friendship is in short supply these days, isn't it? It was 22 years ago that Robert Putnam, he wrote his famous book. A book that everybody quotes and hardly anyone has read, but it's called Bowling Alone.
Connor Coskery:
In this book he describes the ever increasing isolation of Americans, and how we are becoming a people who experience fewer and fewer in person interactions with one another. And he goes on to describe how he thinks this is this is destroying the very fabric of our country. And he paints this one picture of what it looks like. He says, we've come to a point where we bowl alone. And so the picture of someone bowling alone, is presented as the most depressing picture that we have.
Connor Coskery:
And it is. I mean, bowling itself is a little depressing. The the only thing that makes bowling tolerable is if you go with a bunch of friends. But who goes to bowl alone if you do talk to me? Now now this this book was written 22 years ago, And the isolation that we've experienced has only increased since then.
Connor Coskery:
If a sequel to that book were to be written today, and I I think there's an article under this name, it would be called not bowling alone, but scrolling alone. Think of all the time we spend endlessly scrolling on our phones, scrolling away to, to numb our loneliness, scrolling away to kill time, Scrolling as a way to actually avoid being physically present with someone. And as a result, we have all of these digital friends but we actually have very few friendships. And we've never been more lonely. 25% of Americans say they do not have a single friend.
Connor Coskery:
It's no wonder that we experience such loneliness, such depression within our culture. My old counseling professor used to often say, he goes, the vast majority of the clients that come to see me would never need to come to my office if they had just one friend. The Boston Globe recently reported in an article that the biggest threat facing men as they age isn't obesity. It isn't smoking or anything like that. It's loneliness.
Connor Coskery:
The article went on to say that loneliness has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and of stroke, of the progression of Alzheimer's disease? Similarly, in Women's Health Magazine, they reported that 30% of millennial women feel that they are lonely always or often. As I look around this room, I realize I don't have to convince you of this though, do I? Of the loneliness we feel. I don't have to convince you that of the 100 of friends you have on social media, that they're not really friends.
Connor Coskery:
I don't have to convince you that the deepest desire of your heart is to actually have friends. To have someone who knows you and loves you. We were made for friendships. God made us to have these deep, deep connections with other people. You were made to have friendships like David and Jonathan.
Connor Coskery:
In chapter 18, we read that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. I love that. They were knit together. And that Jonathan loved David as his own soul. Now let's be honest, the the majority of the friendship that we see described there is completely on Jonathan's initiative.
Connor Coskery:
Jonathan is clearly the one who's being presented here as the model friend. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any other person in scripture that so speaks to the friendship of Jesus as Jonathan's friendship to David does. When I look at the life of Jonathan, I cannot help but think of that hymn in Philippians 2 about Jesus and about he who knew form with God, but he did not consider the form of God, something to be grasped. But He emptied Himself and He took on the form of a servant. Don't you see that in Jonathan?
Connor Coskery:
Who did not see kingship as something to be grasped? But he emptied himself and he took off his royal robes and he became a servant even to the point of death. Jonathan is the one, not David. Jonathan is the one who really points us to the friendship that we have in Christ. Jonathan loved David as his own soul, and you will not find a more tender scene in all of the bible than the last words in this chapter, which is their final goodbye to one another.
Connor Coskery:
It's the last time they're ever gonna see one another. And David, who we haven't known how he's felt during all this, he finally lets out all of his emotions. So we read that in verse 41. And Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, go and carry them to the city. And as soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and fell fell on his face to the ground and bowed 3 times.
Connor Coskery:
And they kissed one another. And they wept with one another. David weeping the most. Be honest. Does this scene make you just a little bit uncomfortable?
Connor Coskery:
Just a little bit. Can can a friendship really be this deep, this intimate here? I've realized that I need to address this because in our culture, people would say no. This has actually led a few modern readers to see what is being described here, not as a same sex friendship, but as a same sex romantic relationship. And I would just say that the the fact that this view is even being considered reveals way more about our struggles to understand deep friendships than it does anything about this text.
Connor Coskery:
2 guys kissing cheek to cheek in this culture was a common, common sight for showing honor. I mean, just think of Paul's letters, how many end with greet one another with a holy kiss? David here, he's even bowing down 3 times as a way of showing respect and deep honor to Jonathan, weeping together, kissing one another, but nothing romantic here. The Bible is very clear that God has given sexual intimacy as one of His good gifts for us to enjoy, but it's to only be enjoyed within the relationship of marriage between a man and a woman. Outside of this relationship, it becomes harmful.
Connor Coskery:
The Bible in no way supports same sex marriage. And it no way supports sex, even between a male and a female outside of marriage. And I realize that that's not popular in our culture at all to hold to such a position. And that rather than that position being seen as loving or seen as beautiful, in our culture actually, it's come to be seen as harmful. Maybe even hateful.
Connor Coskery:
But here with God's word will stand, and He is crystal clear on this issue. And I do not care if if every news source out there, if if every article, if every institution, if every professor, if every new law, if every pastor, if every seminary were to go against God and His word on this, majority still rules and God plus no one is a majority. He is so clear on this. Marriage between a man and a woman, it points to who He is and His relationship to us, and it's something to be protected and preserved. Once again, to view this relationship here as anything else other than a deep intimate friendship reveals far more about our misunderstanding or lack of ability to comprehend deep friendship than it has anything to say about this text.
Connor Coskery:
We do struggle grappling with this type of friendship, don't we? Can this really be possible for us? Yes. It's why we have this story before us. To see this beauty and friendship, and this is God wants us to have friendships like David and Jonathan.
Connor Coskery:
Do you think David could have been all that he was called to be apart from his friendship with Jonathan? No. Do you think you can be all that God has called you to be apart from a deep deep friendship like this? No. This deep, intimate, soul knitting, covenantal friendship, these are God's gift to us to help us along the way.
Connor Coskery:
And so what I want us to do is just just look at a few things here about how we can foster these types of relationships. We'll go through 4 or 5 or 6 depending on time. There's more. The first thing we see about their friendship is that it was covenantal in the nature, not contractual. Their relationship was covenantal, not contractual.
Connor Coskery:
Back in chapter 18, Jonathan initiated a covenant with David, and he does so again in this chapter. True friendships are covenantal in nature. Toxic relationships are contractual. Let me explain the difference. A contract is used in a relationship in which someone wants to exert control.
Connor Coskery:
A contract is about protecting one's own interest. It's not looking out for the interests of the other. A contract sees relationships as transactional. I will do this for you, but in return I expect that you are to do these things for me. A contractual relationship doesn't see the other person as a person, only sees them as a resource.
Connor Coskery:
Someone to be used. And so they will use you. If you're in a contractual relationship, somebody will use you for your compliments. Use you to build up their self esteem. Use you maybe to be part of your inner circle of connections.
Connor Coskery:
They will use you for a free counseling session. Draining, isn't it? Toxic. It's exhausting being in a relationship like that. Now some of you relate to Jesus this way.
Connor Coskery:
You have you relate to Him, you know, like you have an unwritten contract that you've signed with Him that says, you know, okay, Jesus, I realize I'm supposed to do all of these things here, and if I do this, my expectation for you is that you will then reward me, you know, maybe with some good things in this life, but certainly you're going to reward me with eternal life. And that's the contract. That's the bargain that you have struck with Jesus. But this is not how Jesus relates to us. In John 15, Jesus told His disciples this.
Connor Coskery:
No longer do I call you servants, For the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. The Lord of this universe calls us friends. We do not have a contractual relationship with Jesus. He did not come to us and say, okay, few things we need to sign. I'm so excited that you're interested in a heavenly home.
Connor Coskery:
You know, you're you're buying in at the good time. The persecution rates are really low. And, and I I just need you to sign here, here, and, and this here just says, like, read all the rules, 10 commandments, stuff like that, blah blah blah. Sign it and we're good. And some of us think that's how we're supposed to relate to Jesus.
Connor Coskery:
But Jesus treats us as friends. His relationship to us is that he has fully committed himself to us before we have ever lifted a finger. He doesn't take from us, He just graciously gives and He gives and He gives and He gives. And then our hearts, so moved and transformed by His grace and love, we respond to Him. That's friendship.
Connor Coskery:
There's no greater friend than Jesus. This is the type of friendship to which Jonathan points us to. He makes a covenant with David. This covenant is founded in love and trust. It's focused on giving, not receiving.
Connor Coskery:
He's primarily looking out for David's interests, not for his own. And so here we see the true nature of friendships. They're covenantal in nature, not contractual. Next, we see this. True friendships, begin with vulnerability.
Connor Coskery:
They're vulnerable with one another. Jonathan lays down his defenses. Oh, we saw that last week. Remember when, Jonathan gave David his sword? No soldier gives someone else their firearm, unless there's deep deep trust.
Connor Coskery:
And here, Jonathan does does it again. Before he approaches David, he sends his servant away with his bow and arrow, so he could once again come to David unarmed. True friendship requires vulnerability. Let me ask you this. When you're with your friends, do you feel like you always have to keep your guard up?
Connor Coskery:
Do you feel like you can't really share what you're really thinking because it would be like handing somebody a weapon that they could then use against you? If if that's how you feel with your friends, then know that you haven't really entered into a true genuine friendship. Friendship requires vulnerability. The difference between friendship and an acquaintance is vulnerability. And so if you want to move from being just acquaintances with someone to moving into being a friend to someone, it will require you taking a risk, handing over your weapon, and letting your guard down.
Connor Coskery:
You're gonna have to lower your defenses. I realize it's a risk And it might bite you at times. I look in my life and and there's definitely been times when I was vulnerable. And I shared, and it came right back on me. And I don't know if it was done intentionally or non intentionally, but it it felt like I handed somebody a weapon and they just fired right into me.
Connor Coskery:
And let me tell you, the results of that are you want to just isolate yourselves. Anybody who's ever done that. That's immediately what you want to do is never again. Never again am I gonna allow that to happen. And your circle keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller to pretty much where it's just you.
Connor Coskery:
But hear me. The Holy Spirit never moves you to isolation. He always moves you to community. And there's gonna be times where you're gonna have to risk. I'm not saying you risk that to everyone.
Connor Coskery:
You gotta be wise in that. But there's gonna be some people you need to let your guard down in order to move from being an acquaintance to moving into a genuine friendship. Some of you need to take that risk this week. Often, what you will find is you will let your guard down, make yourself vulnerable and share, and that becomes disarming to them. Literally, they take their armor off and they share.
Connor Coskery:
And for the first time, you face one another without armor. Seeing one another for for who you really are. It's the basis of friendship. Next, we see, and not only we're supposed to be vulnerable with one another, but we see that there is no comparison within friendship. There is no comparison in friendship.
Connor Coskery:
Perhaps you have heard the phrase that comparison is the thief of joy. 100% true. Comparison is the thief of joy. But I would also add to this that comparison kills companionship. Comparison kills companionship.
Connor Coskery:
Jonathan was not bothered. That David was more valiant than him. That the Lord obviously was blessing David more than him. That absolutely everyone was smitten with David. That even the throne was that was his by birthright is now being given to David.
Connor Coskery:
Those things did not bother Jonathan because he wasn't comparing himself to David. In contrast, we have Saul. Saul was always comparing himself to David. Saul literally went mad when he heard people singing a song comparing how many people he had killed versus how many people Saul had killed. Meanwhile, nobody even wrote a song about Jonathan and he's absolutely fine with it.
Connor Coskery:
Once again, be honest. Some of you have a hard time being a friend to someone, not because they are not likable, but it's because that person does everything better than you. I mean literally everything. They're more outgoing. More likable.
Connor Coskery:
They dress nicer. They have a larger house. They look younger. And worst of all, they seem to genuinely be happy all of the time. And because of this, you're constantly comparing how your life measures up to their life And what you're doing is you're destroying the opportunity for true companionship because you're always comparing.
Connor Coskery:
A good litmus test to see whether you're doing this or not is just ask yourself this, can I rejoice when that person rejoices? Christians are so good at weeping when a friend weeps. I mean, gosh. It's, you know, one of our Christian brothers and sisters, if if they lose a job or if they they lose someone dear to them, church just rallies around people like that. We weep so quick to weep with those who weep.
Connor Coskery:
But can we rejoice when they rejoice? Can you rejoice when that friend of yours, something really good happens to them? Can you rejoice when they get engaged and you so desperately want to be married? Can you rejoice when they're pregnant and you so desperately want a child? Can you rejoice when they keep going on these exotic vacations, and you neither have the time or the resources to do those things?
Connor Coskery:
Can you? Or is comparison killing your companionship? What you should see if once comparison leaves is when that person rejoices, it's actually an invitation to increase your joy. You're being invited into joy and that joy should multiply in your life. Jonathan was so happy to see the Lord's favor upon David.
Connor Coskery:
He rejoiced when hearing the song sung about David, even though no one was singing about him. David would have to write a song about him after he died. So it's hard to rejoice when you're constantly comparing your life to others. So friendship does not live in this world of comparison And let me just say that 10000 years from now, you're actually gonna realize you're comparing your life with others on the wrong things. Alright.
Connor Coskery:
Next, we see friendship is based on a common vision. We'll end with this one. Friendship is based on a common vision. Jonathan didn't enter into a friendship with David because he was lonely, because he was needy. He didn't seek this friendship because you know, there was just some hole in his heart that he needed David as a friend to come in and fill.
Connor Coskery:
He wasn't that emotionally needy person. That wasn't the basis for their friendship. Jonathan wanted to be David's friend because they shared the same vision. They both wanted the Lord to be exalted in this world. They both wanted to be a part of what God was doing in this world.
Connor Coskery:
That's what united them together. C. S. Lewis, when he wrote about friendship, he said, Friendship begins with these two words, you too? You too?
Connor Coskery:
And we realize we share the same passions, you know? You too like this this team? You too like to do these things? You too believe Tolkien's way better than CS Lewis? I mean, you say that, you're like, yes.
Connor Coskery:
You know, there's this there's this connection. You become fast friends. As believers, we all share the same glorious vision. We want to see Christ exalted in this world. We want to be a part of what He is doing in this world.
Connor Coskery:
We long to see people find a new life in Jesus. We all share this vision, this common mission, if you will. And I promise you, if you don't have friends, but you connect with that vision with all of your heart, soul and strength that you wanna see Jesus glorified in this world. You wanna do whatever you can to see that happen. You will find others with the same passion, and you will become fast friends.
Connor Coskery:
Why is it that you think people go off on mission trips, who hardly know one another? They come back after a week or 2, and they're like best buds. I mean sometimes it's like irritatingly so. It's not just because they got to go away on some exotic location together. Because let me tell you, I have seen families go on vacations together and they come back as enemies.
Connor Coskery:
It's not it. It's cause they they they went away. And for that week or for that 2 weeks, they were so focused on their mission. They all have the same vision. They wanted to see Jesus glorified in this place and they were praying towards that end.
Connor Coskery:
They were meeting and gathering towards that end. They were coming and reporting back to one another according to that end. And that was the basis of their friendship. We have no more glorious mission than seeing Christ high and exalted in this world. We want people to find new life in Jesus.
Connor Coskery:
That's what unites us together. We want people to find a friend in Jesus. The reason that we so want people to know Jesus is because there's no friendship like a friendship with Him. There's no friend like Jesus. A friendship in which we are both known and we are loved.
Connor Coskery:
Remember I mentioned those are our 2 basic needs. We want to be known and we want to be loved. But there's a huge problem with that. The problem is this, we think, if somebody were to know me, like, you know, if I walked around and there was actually a bubble that went over my head that said all the things I was thinking, no one would even come near me. If people actually knew who I am and the deep dark things going on in my heart, no one would love me.
Connor Coskery:
But yet, we wanna be known and we wanna be loved. But now we think the only way that we could be loved is to not ever be fully known. I've gotta keep those things hidden, so others will actually love me. And this is why Jesus is such a glorious friend. He fully knows you.
Connor Coskery:
You do not know half of the things that are wrong with you. We know like this much of the evil that resides in our hearts. And Jesus knows it all. He knows the dark, ugly things that you're even scared to look at. He knows you fully, and yet He loves you with a relentless passion.
Connor Coskery:
There is no friend like Jesus, no friendship so loving, so forgiving, so encouraging, so life giving, than a friendship with him. So I simply end just asking this, do you know that friendship? Do you know Jesus this way? Because once you know that friendship, it becomes the basis for such deep meaningful friendships within His body. Pray with me.
Connor Coskery:
Jesus, we come before You now, acknowledging that there is not a person on earth that could fill the hole in our hearts. You can. You make us whole. You know us and you love us, and we wanna see the whole world come to know you. And because we have been healed of this, we can now go looking for friendships, not out of a base of need, but out of mission and vision, wanting to see You glorified all across this globe.
Connor Coskery:
Would You do that? Lord, this week, would you help us to be vulnerable where we need to be vulnerable, covenantal where we need to be covenantal? Would you show us how we can be an encouragement to others where we cannot just love our enemies, but we could love the friends that you've put all around us. Love them like you love them. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus.