Sunday, May 16, 2010

Kids' Talk - 1 Samuel 18 (David and Jonathan)

[Not the greatest kids talk ever, but I'll post it for the sake of completeness. It is on David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18. Andrew preached on 2 Samuel 9-10 which includes the bit about Mephibosheth (Jonathan's son). I had a few guys helping me, playing the parts of Jonathan, David and Saul. Saul should wear a crown. Jonathan should wear a royal robe (a sheet) and have a sword of some sort. David stood on one side of me, Saul on the other, and Jonathan stood in the middle.]

There can only be one king. We can only serve one master. The question is – who is it that we'll serve? Will it be God's king? Or someone else?

This was a big question for Jonathan. Jonathan was a prince. His dad, Saul, was King of Israel. The boss. The big guy. The important one. But was Saul God's King? No. Because of his sin, God had rejected him. Saul might be king now, but he wouldn't be for long. God had picked out someone else instead.

Do you remember who that someone else was? David. The little guy.

God had taken his blessing away from Saul and given it to David. God wasn't helping Saul anymore, so Saul stopped winning battles. When the Philistines came to attack, big Saul couldn't defeat them. But little David could. Remember Golliath?

God made it clear that David was his king, not Saul. Do you think Saul liked that? No. Not one bit. He was jealous. He was angry. He wanted to kill David.

This put Jonathan in a very tricky position. We can only serve one king. Who's side would Jonathan be on? David's? Or Saul's?

Jonathan loved David. The two of them were good friends. And Jonathan could see that God was with David. But Saul was his father.

Saul thought Jonathan should be on his side. “Come on, son!” he said. “Don't you see that as long as David is alive you'll never get to be king. If we kill David, I will stay king and after I die you will be king! Come on! We must kill him!”

Who would Jonathan choose? If he stuck with his father, he would stay prince and one day get oi be king himself! If he joined David's team, it was like he was working for his dad's enemy!

There can only be one king. Jonathan knew that. And Jonathan knew that he had to serve God's king. No matter what. He took of his royal robe. He gave it to David. He took his sword. He gave it to David “You are God's king,” he said, “so you are my king too.”

Because Jonathan helped David, he never got to be king himself. Did he do the right thing?

Absolutely.

We can only serve one king. We need to be like Jonathan. We need to serve God's king, no matter how hard it is.

God's king is Jesus. Are you serving him or someone else?

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