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The Promises of Love

Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:55-18:5

I. Love looks like keeping your promises.

A. In 1 Samuel 17:25 we hear from the soldiers what King Saul has promised to give to the soldier who kills the giant Goliath. Because Saul wants to keep his promises to the victorious David, he asks the army commander Abner who son David is (vs. 55).

B. David also kept a promise he made to God. We are told in 1 Sam. 17:57 that David returned from the striking down of the Philistine with the head of the Philistine in his hand. David was carrying Goliath’s head as a war trophy. And we read in vs. 54 that David took another war trophy from Goliath: Goliath’s sword. By placing the sword of Goliath in the sanctuary of God as we see in 1 Sam. 21:9, David was saying the victory and glory in the battle belonged to God. David kept his promise to glorify the God of Israel (vs. 46) after the battle was over.

II. Love looks like knitting.

A. 1 Sam. 18:1 says, “As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” They were knit together in the sense that they were tightly attached together like the yarn in a knitted blanket. They were so attached and knit together that they knew their friend’s innermost thoughts and feelings. In a world like this we all need a friend that we are knit together with.

B. Proverbs 17:17: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” When you are in trouble, you see who your real friends are. One way that we announce our love for one another and grow in our love for one another is by making promises. This is what Jonathan and David did in vs. 3. They walked between sacrificed animals on the ground as if to say, “If I am unfaithful to my promise in this covenant, may I end up in pieces like this animal.”

III. Love looks like making yourself the lesser.

A. By taking his clothes and giving them to David, Jonathan is renouncing his position as the crown prince of Israel (vs. 4). He is making himself lesser than David. Jesus did the same. Philippians 2:5-8: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Application:
Is there someone this week that God is calling you to make yourself lesser for?

Sources:
The book of 1 Samuel
Commentaries on 1 Samuel by Robert Bergen, Dale Ralph Davis and Tim Chester

Sermon Discussion Questions

1) What were the promises King Saul kept to David as the one who defeated Goliath (1 Sam. 17:25)? What is the value in making and keeping your promises to God like David did? Are you faithful to give God glory after He wins your battles?

2) In what ways were Jonathan David knit together in friendship (1 Sam. 18:1)? How can you make friends more of a priority in your life?

3) How did Saul make himself lesser for David, his friend (1 Sam. 18:4)? How has Jesus made himself lesser for you?