Kinship | Pastor Rick Wright | The Church at CW

Why don't you take your Bibles this morning and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 18?

1 Samuel 18 · chapter mention

So we started last week the friendship series, and it was companionship last week, and I want you to hear that the beginning sermon sort of covers what we were created for in relationships, and as it continues, it's going to be expressions of friendship through biblical friendships.

That in mind, this story of David and Jonathan that we're going to look at today starts with something really interesting.

We're going to start with a robe.

I know what you're thinking.

Pastor Rick, have you lost your mind?

Can I preach the whole sermon just this way?

You could.

I want you to remember this robe because in the Bible, robes mean more than just a cover.

It means more than something.

Often it indicates authority, position, it indicates identity.

And in this story, Jonathan is a man that has a robe.

His father is king, and he stands to be next to be king.

He's in line.

And there's this passage that we'll see where Jonathan strips himself of his robe and he lays it at the feet of David.

What does that represent?

Why would he give David something that only a king's son would identify with?

Because Jonathan knew this.

He knew something that jealousy doesn't know.

Your elevation doesn't have to be my demotion.

I'm going to say that again.

Your elevation, somebody's elevation that you know doesn't have to be your demotion.

Would you bow with me for prayer?

Lord, we love you.

And we're thankful today.

God, that we have a picture of friendship so clear.

God, a picture of biblical brotherhood from two people.

And I pray today that you would help us as we live through this life to be able to express ourselves in the fullest way as friends.

And God, I pray that our people today would be motivated by the Word of God and that our hearts would be changed by it.

Amen.

I want you to think about a question as we open this morning that we will probably close thinking on.

I want you to picture a person, a friend, or maybe a friend that used to be.

I want you to get somebody of mine, and here's what I want you to think on throughout the sermon.

Is there someone you know that you need to encourage?

Think about that person.

Could be the same person, all of them.

Is there someone in your life that you need to fix or forgive?

I want you to think about that person.

And is there somebody in your life that you need to stand beside?

Want you to think about that person.

The last person I want you to think about that we'll close them.

I want you to think about you.

Think on you in regards to friendship.

1 Samuel chapter 18, verse 1 through 3, we'll start.

1 Samuel 18:1–3

Kinship centers with a covenant.

Look at 1 Samuel 18.

Now, this is right after David slays Goliath, and we see as David is moved in, he's taken by King Saul, put in his home.

Now, when he had finished speaking, verse 18, chapter 18, verse 1, and when he had finished speaking to Saul, the son of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

Saul took him that day and would not let him go home to his father's house anymore.

Then Jonathan and David made highlight this word, a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

The word covenant is the Hebrew word karit brit, and it means to cut a covenant.

Parties would split an animal sacrifice in half, and then he would walk between the animal sacrifice, saying, This blood that is shed, may it be unto us if we break our promise to one another.

That's how strong and how firm the word covenant meant to people.

Letter A, I want you to see the shared heart between Jonathan and David.

It says already, they were knit together.

If you look back in 1 Samuel chapter 14, verse 6, it talks about a battle, and Jonathan there calls out to the Lord and said, May it be that the Lord would go before us.

1 Samuel 14:6

And so I want you to see a couple of things.

Two warriors, right?

What bonds people, usually commonalities, two warriors, two people willing to fight, and then they both had a strong belief in the Lord.

Believing in the Lord was more than just two fighters.

Common interest starts a friendship, common faith secures a friendship.

Knit together.

We were at Blue and White Day the other week for Chelsea in the community pep rally, speaking of knit together.

I mean a hundred and whatever ungodly degrees it was.

And where did I get put?

My wife said, You're on inflatables.

Right there in the middle of a field, and the sun was beaming down.

I felt like I was there for 46 hours that 12 hours.

And I'm sitting there and I'm making some friends, and I look over, and there's this lady, right?

And her kids are running back and forth.

If you stood there for three minutes, you were just gonna be pouring.

She's just pouring swept.

And I look over and I'm like, what is she doing?

She's got this stuff in her hand.

I'm like, it looks like she's knitting in the middle of a hundred and something degrees, and sure enough, I look at her, she she's just going.

Kids over here playing.

I'm like, what a multitasking mom out here knitting.

And so finally I couldn't take it no more.

I got up to her, I said, Are you knitting in 105 degrees?

And I was like, what are you?

And she's like, yeah.

She kind of laughed at herself and I said, What are you knitting?

She's like, Oh, a sweater.

I was like, no, this is not okay.

But I thought about the little girl that she was knitting that for and the heart behind what it takes for somebody to knit something.

It means bound together.

It says they were knit together.

David and Jonathan are not just brothers in friendship.

Hear me, if you should be so lucky that God would give you a bloodbot, brother, in your life.

One that chooses you, that you feel such a kinship.

They had hearts bound by the common thread of God.

Well, I want to pull up a picture of some people that you will recognize this morning.

We have a picture of Jalen Hurts and Tua.

Now, don't boo or anything like that, okay?

Listen.

A few years back, Jalen Hurts went 26-2 with Alabama.

And I remember this taking place, great seasons, and all of a sudden a game was getting out of hand, and the coach pulled Tua in and replaced Jalen Hurts, who had, I mean, just driven this team for two years.

And they were down 13 to nothing.

All of a sudden, Alabama comes back under Tua's leadership and they win the game 26-3.

And I thought, well, probably like some other people thought, what's the team gonna do with these two great quarterbacks?

What has motivated me since about that picture?

Jalen Hurts didn't quit the next year on the team.

He stayed.

Can you imagine 26-2?

You are the lead guy, and all of a sudden this younger guy comes in and replaces you, and he stayed the next year as the backup quarterback.

Well, they got to a championship game that year, and guess what?

The role reversed.

Tua was taken out of a game, and Jalen Hurts jumped in and led them to that SEC championship game.

I think I got all of those facts right.

I know you Alabama fans are checking me.

But what a picture that I thought about this, and you see them embracing.

Later in the NFL, Jalen Hurts said this.

Now I know some of y'all in the room are still mad about all this, this that I'm talking about.

You just need a hug, okay?

It'll be all right.

But I think about that shared bond that they had.

It was bigger than just we like football.

Mutual interest, but they had a bond.

Jonathan could have thought this.

That's my throne.

Instead of thinking, that's my throne, that's supposed to be, this is what Jonathan thought.

That's my friend.

Shared heart.

Acts 4.32 says this, or Acts 2.32.

All the believers were in one heart.

All the believers, church, they had one heart.

Are you in one heart with the person across the room from you?

And in one mind, in Philippians 2.2, Paul urges believers to complete, listen, he said, complete my joy by being like-minded, having the same love.

What should bond us as brothers in Christ?

We should be as one.

Why?

We're on the same team.

We're on the same team.

If CCW is to take the next step as a church body, we have to be of one heart.

Jonathan and David are this picture.

Letter B, we see sacrificial honor.

Look at 1 Samuel chapter 18, verse 4.

1 Samuel 18:4

It says, and Jonathan took off the robe that was on him, and he gave it to David with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.

A robe, a sword, and a bow.

Jonathan could have just said, David, I honor you.

But he gives a visible transfer that represented much more, represented his own identity, royalty.

It had this standing, this robe and armor and power.

And Jonathan, hear me, church, he doesn't lose one thing by giving honor to somebody.

Jonathan is saying, your calling matters, David.

Your future matters, David, and I can see it.

I'm honored to see it.

Do you see it for people around you?

Before everyone else knows the outcome of David's story, Jonathan, a friend, saw it in him.

Romans 12, 10.

This is an important verse for us.

I want you to hear this.

It says, be kindly affectioned with brotherly love, in honor, preferring.

Highlight that word.

Preferring one another.

That word preferring means taking the lead in honor.

Don't wait for someone else to honor your friend.

Go first.

The word honor there is, or preferring is protimo, and it means outdoing one another in honor.

That's what it means to prefer somebody else.

You outdo them in honor.

Last week we honored Benji and Sarah for 14 years of leading this worship ministry.

I can tell you this, Nate Smith wasn't up here just angry.

He wasn't like, I can't believe this.

I'm the worship pastor.

And they're honoring Benji.

No, because we're on the same team.

And we honor them for what they have done.

And I know that they're going to continue to do.

These are my friends.

Pastor Dave, Pastor Eli, Pastor Trey, Pastor Danny have all preached here in the last three months.

And I honor these men.

We are bonded together in the gospel, and they all have great talents.

We're all different in styles.

But I honor them.

I don't feel threatened.

God has called me to a calling.

And if these men are good at what they're doing, praise the Lord.

We have other men in the fight.

Yes, I love the way that these men preach, and I'm thankful that they're my brothers for the gospel.

I honor them.

I love them.

David and Jonathan had a bond that felt like family.

And family doesn't compete for honor.

The enemy, though, this is what he wants to do, church, he wants to creep in right here, and he wants you to dwell in the land called comparison.

He wants you to consider all types of comparisons and looking at other people and considering yourself.

Because Jonathan could have said, This is my right.

It's my position.

This is supposed to be my time.

Who is this guy coming up?

1 Corinthians 13, verse 4 says this love does not envy.

1 Corinthians 13:4

Doesn't envy.

You will not live in your calling living by comparison.

Living by comparison on Facebook or social media or looking at what somebody else has or does or how they're gifted, you won't live in your calling.

In fact, we don't have time, but 2 Corinthians 10, if you do get time, it says, a foolish man lives in comparison.

It's not wise for you to look at what somebody else is doing and try to stack up.

The real question though, David and Jonathan, what happens when their friendship is tested?

We're gonna find out.

Look at your Bible there, 1 Samuel chapter 18, verse 7 through 9.

1 Samuel 18:7–9

The tune literally changes.

So the women sang as they danced and said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands.

Now what more can he have but the kingdom?

So Saul eyed David from that day forward.

The conflict here beings it starts with a big-haired lady singer, right?

And she's going on singing this song, and Saul said, What does she say?

And it says, Saul eyed David from that day forward.

Imagine Saul.

Saul, the king of the land, who has been prescribed previously as head and shoulders above all the rest.

He's described as a handsome man, a manly man.

And now, yes, this little shepherd boy came in and had a great big defeat.

And you know what?

All of a sudden, Goliath is no longer the giant.

Ego is the giant.

Ego.

Pride ruins many friendships.

Pride ruins churches.

Pride ruins families.

When people see things one way, hear me, church.

Teaching me been stomping all over my toes this week.

When you see things one way and will not look from another lens and you become inflexible, that is pride.

I'm not talking we bend on the word of God.

That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking David just did something great for the whole country.

And Saul, his lens starts and ends like this.

If it's good for Saul, it's good for Saul.

That doesn't seem like it's good for Saul.

His lens is all about one person.

If Saul had social media, he'd have said, Well, I gave David the armor and he killed Goliath today.

Look at what I did.

Right?

He did something great.

Saul wanted rid of Goliath, but wasn't ready to share the glory that came to David.

You see, conflict in your friendships reveals if your relationship was out of convenience or if it was out of covenant.

Convenience says, I'll be your friend as long as this works for me.

Kinship says, when it gets difficult, I'm not going to abandon.

Proverbs 17, 17 says that in this way.

A friend loves at all.

How much of the time?

At all times, and a brother is born in adversity.

Adversity reveals if at all was true for you.

Couples, let me ask this.

How many disagreements, disappointments, misunderstandings have you had in your marriage?

Anyone, five or more?

I mean, a few.

And look, you made it.

How are you making it?

You've had all that adversity.

Oh man.

Me and Heather aren't really yellers, but one time, the worst of all time of times, we were in Texas at a ranch, undisclosed location, where the body of Rick couldn't be found.

And there we were, all of her uncles, which are big, burly Texas men, all of her brothers.

And I choose to open my big fat mouth and make a complaint to her.

I said, she's talking to Uncle Lonnie, which is like patriarch, if you will.

And we drove 20-something hours from Indiana.

And he was asking how the trip was, and she said something along the lines, it was good except for a few of them rumble strips.

Well, that got me in my feelings.

So we went back to the room, and I was like, I can't believe that you would let Uncle Lonnie think I'm a lesser man.

Something along these lines.

I'm like, 20-something hours, a few rumble strips, 10, 15, it doesn't matter.

We got here.

And I did not say the right thing at the right time.

Heather locked herself in the bathroom.

And I was like, what does that mean?

That had never happened in our marriage.

We were pretty new still at it.

And I'm like, what do I do?

Do I knock?

Do I let her be?

I wasn't getting out of that room.

It was at the end of the hall, and there was people everywhere, big old place.

And I'm like trying to say something to the door, and she said, You disgust me.

I was like, oh no.

I'm looking left and right.

They're gonna come.

They're coming down.

They all got guns.

I'm about to be dead.

I'm like, baby, I'm sorry.

I don't know what I said.

I definitely was wrong.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I love you.

Whatever, Christmas is coming, what you want?

But we made it.

Until you walk through things with your friends, you don't know how strong your relationship can be.

Can you disagree without destroying somebody?

Can you confront somebody without condemning them?

Could you be wrong if you thought about it differently?

Can you forgive without keeping score?

Because that's when companionship starts becoming kinship.

Kinship is proven when you've walked through the storm and the rain and the thunder has stopped and you're still walking arm in arm.

That's kinship.

Letter A, let's see the sin that's confronted.

1 Samuel chapter 20.

1 Samuel 20 · chapter mention

Then David fled from Naoth and Rama and went and said to Jonathan, What have I done?

What is my iniquity and what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life?

So Jonathan said to him, By no means you shall not die.

Indeed, my father will do nothing, either great or small, without first telling me.

And why should my father hide this thing from me?

It is not so.

Then David took an oath again and said, Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes.

And he has said, 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.

So Jonathan said to David, Whatever you yourself desire, I'll do it for you.

Saul hears David being praised.

We saw that.

And he doesn't celebrate.

God's hand is on a son in the land, and instead of saying, Praise God, we've got a young warrior on the team.

Jealousy infiltrates his mind, and he says, If someone else rises, you will fall.

Saul's jealousy turned into comparison, and comparison does this it turns somebody's blessings into somebody else's competition.

David's success became Saul's insecurity.

Conflict church, hear me.

We're gonna go through it.

And if you stay here for a little bit.

We're going to have conflict.

Conflict should not ruin kinship.

Kinship protects during conflict.

David says, Your father is trying to kill me.

That's a pretty big accusation, right?

I'm sure nobody here has said that to anyone else.

Your father's trying to kill me.

Now, Jonathan, hear what he doesn't do.

He doesn't just say, You're wrong.

That's a lie.

Jonathan begins to investigate his friend.

He tests his words.

He considers what he has already seen of David.

And he doesn't just assume that his opinion is the only one that matters.

So how do we enter conflict?

Usually conflict looks one of two ways.

It's this.

How do I fix this, talking about a relationship, or how do I win this?

What I want, what I see.

How do I fix or how do I win?

By the way, you can be right about something.

How many know this?

You can be right about something and still handle the conflict in the wrong way.

You can be completely right and mess up everything by the way that you handle it.

So how do we confront an issue?

I want you to see Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Or Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Look at verse 1 through 3.

So this whole idea is about our church digging deeper in unity.

From friendship, companionship to kinship.

And Paul says this.

How?

Listen to this.

How do we enter conflict?

With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.

Why?

Endeavoring to keep that the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

Here we are.

There's one body, one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.

So how do we enter?

We enter lowly and gentle.

Kinship seeks truth and restoration.

Proverbs 27, 5 says this about a friend.

Open rebuke.

So when somebody handles a rebuke with you or looks at something, an open rebuke is better than secret love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend.

That's hard.

Most of you, if you're anything like me, you don't like an open rebuke.

But many of you that have been married for several years, you understand this.

You've had some open rebuke.

And you've become better because you let your pride be pushed aside, and you say, you know what?

I need to consider that.

This person loves me.

I need to consider it.

It says, faithful are the wounds of a friend.

The word wounds is petzah, and it literally means a strike.

Faithful are the now, some of you are like, Pastor, now you're getting where I want to be.

I want to slap somebody here today.

Y'all, come on.

You need a hug too.

Talk to somebody about the problem.

Talk to your brother about the problem.

Talk to that person.

Sidebar, once you begin, hear me, please.

Once you begin collecting a circle of brothers or sisters, and you're talking about somebody who's not in the room, you're no longer pursuing restoration.

That's called gossip.

If they're not in the room and you're negative about them, that's gossip.

If you've talked to one person and then you've talked to another person, and here, we justify it in this world.

One of the justifiable sins, we call this and come and we say, I'm just explaining the situation.

If you're negative about a person who's not in the room, that's gossip.

And it's toxic to churches, it's toxic to friendships, it's toxic in your family.

It's wrong.

We act like it's an acceptable sin.

The two G's, gossip and gluttony.

I'm not gonna go into gluttony today.

But I've long spoke with my children, my family, this verse, Ephesians 4 29, it says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.

How much?

But that which is used to build others up.

If you're going to speak about somebody, Paul says, if you're not gonna build them up, don't talk.

No corrupt communication.

If you're not going to build somebody up, don't talk.

If you have something to say that is seen through a lens of negativity, you go to that person and then you talk.

I thought about this this week.

My mom is in heaven.

And we disagreed on so many things.

I'm gonna tell you, no one on planet Earth could make me as mad as my mom.

Anybody like that?

Oh my soul.

Some people, you just want them to see things the way that you see them.

And when they won't see things the way that you see them, you get so mad you can shake them.

That's how I felt sometimes arguing with my mom.

Nobody got me as mad as my mom got me.

Now, my mom is not here to make me mad.

And I would rather have my mom here to make me mad than to not have her.

What do you win by being right and losing people?

Winning and fixing are two different mindsets.

Look at letter B.

Jonathan and David, they stand with courage.

Look at verse 5 through 7.

Chapter 20.

David knew that Saul wanted his life.

They had spoken over this, verse 5, and David said to Jonathan, Indeed, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fall fail to sit with the king to eat, but let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.

If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly, ask permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem his city, for there is a sacrifice for all the families.

If Saul, if he says, It is well, your servant will be safe.

But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him.

Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you.

Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself.

For why should you bring me to your father at that point?

So we see Jonathan here stands with courage with his friend, because anybody, listen, anybody can be your friend when you're winning, when you're popular, when you're successful.

But this friendship, this moment in friendship came at a cost.

He says, If your father notices I'm gone, ask him permission to come and join my family for a yearly sacrifice.

If he says okay, all is well.

If he's angry, be sure he wants to see me dead.

So Jonathan is put in this position to consider whether what David was saying was true, or what do I feel about my father?

Y'all know people that talk about your family, you can talk about your family.

I can get up here and say what I said about my mom, but don't you be talking about mama.

Right?

Jonathan, this friend David was making a big accusation.

Wyatt and Wesson, they'll fight and fuss.

And it's gotten better, praise the Lord.

But every now and then I'll still hear a scream somewhere off in the distance in the house, and I'm like, oh, here we go.

And it used to be, again, a lot worse, but fight and fuss, fight and fuss, they either have the most fun together or the most fights together.

I don't know which day it's gonna land on.

But all of a sudden, all that aside, we've been sitting at the dinner table twice, and Weston started choking.

Wyatt, I don't even, he didn't never had a CPR class, nothing.

He sat through, he looked over choking Weston, threw his finger in the kid's mouth, pulled out the thing he was choking on.

Twice that's happened.

And I'm like, he might be over there choking him five minutes before, but something else ain't gonna choke my brother.

Wyatt flew off of this scooter, hit his head.

Weston was like five years old.

I didn't even realize in the moment we were in the dark, and I couldn't tell Heather how to find us to pick him up to get the ambulance.

And next thing I noticed, the five or six-year-old, whatever he was, had run home in the dark to find help.

They can fight and fuss, but family?

No one else better hurt them.

So what a position for David and Jonathan and their relationship.

Let's see what happens.

Go down to verse 27 in chapter 20.

And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David's place was empty, and Saul said to Jonathan, his son, Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?

So Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem, and he said, Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there.

And now if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.

Therefore he has not come to the king's table.

Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom.

Now therefore, sin and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.

So we see Saul is irate.

He cusses his son, talks about his mother.

And Jonathan in verse 32 says, Dad, what has he done?

Saul picks up a spear, throws it towards his own son.

And in verse 35, we see that Jonathan goes out into the field and takes us to the third thing.

Kinship creates a continued legacy.

Look at 1 Samuel 20, 12 through 17, go back.

I want you to see this covenant between them.

Then Jonathan said to David, The Lord God of Israel is witness when I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow, the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you.

May the Lord do so much and more to Jonathan.

But if it please my father to do evil, I will report it to you and send you away.

And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die, but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever.

Verse 16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David.

Letter A, we see sworn compassion.

They swore to each other.

Great theological writers, Baker and Myers, penned these words.

I know what's weighing on your mind.

You can be sure I know my part.

And I swear, by the moon and the stars in the skies, I'll be there.

And I swear, like the shadow that's by your side, I'll be there.

So much of my 14-year-old love life could have been wrapped around these words.

I swear, David and Jonathan swore to each other.

It's a covenant, and this word covenant is binding.

It's a legal agreement of life or death.

There's 7,487 promises or pledges from God to mankind in the Bible.

There's five covenants.

At CCW, we have a next steps class, and the next steps class invites people to become a covenant member.

Covenant membership is not coming into this body.

And listen, everyone can worship with us.

You don't, nobody has to become a member.

But a covenant member says, I want to be binding with these people.

We don't say what church do you attend, we say which church do you belong?

Because it's meant to be this covenant.

Now I'm also a card-carrying Costco member.

How many of you got your card?

Praise God.

Costco membership has never asked me to love the guy next to me with 37 cases of water.

It has never asked me how I will share my gift with somebody that's there.

It'll give me goldfish to feed every class.

It'll give me rotisserie chickens for days.

But church covenant membership says this: How will I love the person across the aisle from me?

And how will I share my gift?

Consumer membership says, What do I get?

Covenant membership asks, What do I get to give?

You really don't know what your covenant means until keeping it costs you something.

And that's exactly what's happening with Jonathan and David.

Jonathan promises, I will seek the truth.

I will seek to understand where my father is at.

This is my family.

I don't want to just take this word.

I will seek to find it out.

I will seek to protect this relationship.

And then in verse 35 to 32, or 42, we don't have time to go there.

But Jonathan sees his father irate.

He runs out.

He shoots three arrows, which was the deal.

He said, I'll shoot them past where you will be, and you will know when I do this, it'll be a sign to you that my father means bad for you.

And so Jonathan keeps to this, and I want you to see verse 42 in chapter 20.

Then Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, since we both have sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.

So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into his city.

And so Jonathan kept his covenant.

David sets off.

Well, I want you to see kind of how the story ends.

I want you to turn your Bibles to 2 Samuel.

Much further down the line.

David is now king.

Jonathan and Saul have passed.

Look at verse 1 of 2 Samuel 9, and then we'll look down at verse 6.

Now David said, Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?

Verse 6, they come to his son.

Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face, prostrated himself.

And then David said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, Here is your servant.

So David said to him, Do not fear, for I surely will show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and I will restore all the land of Saul.

You will eat at my table continually.

Then he bowed himself and he said, What is your servant that you should look upon a dead dog as I?

And it continues.

So we see, Jonathan passes, but the covenant doesn't die with Jonathan.

Jonathan gave David his robe years ago.

Jonathan was gone, but David remembered the covenant that was between him.

David sought out, looked for a kindness to give to somebody of that family because they had sworn together that this would continue.

He comes upon Mephibosheth, Jonathan's crippled son.

It's not popular at this time to be the grandson of Saul after David had been chased and followed after, and Saul has sought his life, and now David goes and finds his grandson.

And so Mephibosheth falls on his face.

He lays before the king in a moment of really great vulnerability.

Perhaps in his mind, the name calling of a lifetime, this crippled boy sits there thinking how unfit he is, unfit to be king.

He was supposed to fall on that line.

Dead dog, man of shame.

Hears all of this things over and over in his head.

He expected disdain from this king.

He expected something.

And David said, Do not fear.

For your father's sake, I'm going to restore you.

Hear me, church.

Luke 6, 45 says, A good man brings forth good things out of the goodness of his heart.

They're stored up, and likewise the same from a bad man.

The fruit of the Spirit is kindness.

Now, David kept that robe.

All that time, this picture was before him of something that was laid down.

A picture of who he was, a picture of what his friend thought he was, and the covenant that was between them was ever before him.

And David looking down at Jonathan's son Mephibosheth covers him.

But there's such a greater picture.

You and I came to the king and we had nothing to offer.

Jesus had everything.

The glory of heaven, the king of eternity, came and he left his crown in the hat rack of heaven, he left his robe, and he came down to this earth.

The Bible says that he willingly laid down everything.

His glory, his honor, his robe.

He who knew no sin became sin.

That the righteousness of God would fall on you and me.

He took my sin and he took my shame and he took all of my faults and he took all of my failures, he took my place, and he gave me righteousness, that before the Father which is in heaven, he would see the blood of Jesus Christ in me and say, That is a Son, and that is a covenant between me and him, for any that would give their life to Jesus Christ.

And the Bible says this Nota, there is no greater love than this, than a man lay down his life for his friend.

And that's what Jesus Christ did for you and for me.

Jonathan gave David his robe.

Jesus gave us his robe and his righteousness.

He gave us everything.

And in Galatians 6, 1 and 2, it says, Brethren, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, lest you be tempted.

And bear ye one another's burdens, so fulfilling the law of Jesus Christ.

That burden, Richard said this in our Connect group meeting last week, that burden that Jesus bore was a picture to all of us.

He was willing to bear the deepest, greatest burden of humanity in history.

And he says, When you will bear one another's burdens, you're being like Christ to the world.

He says, I've loved you with a love that I would lay down everything.

And he teaches us, now you love one another in the same way, and the world will see that you are my disciples.

When you love one another, when there's a kinship of the body of Christ, would you bow your head and close your eyes this morning?