Title: Jonathan! live like that...
Contents
Jonathan! live like that... (1 Samuel 18:1-5)
1. Nobody remembers second place?
Last year, comedian Seongkwang Park left a buzzword at a comedian concert: “A dirty world that only remembers the first place.” This is a statement that everyone below number 1 resonated with. A few years ago, there was an advertisement for a company with a copy of “Nobody remembers second place”. Remember? In order to survive in the modern society where everything is changing so quickly, this advertisement, which contains the 'natural' meaning that 'first place', 'leadership', and 'victory' must be achieved, aims to be 'the best' In fact, it was an advertisement released by Samsung, the best company in Korea, and it was successful because it matched the corporate image.
Occasionally, there are people who draw attention by being called ‘second prize more valuable than first prize’ or ‘beautiful defeat’, but after being in the spotlight for a while, they are quickly pushed out of the public eye and forgotten. Everyone remembers that Neil Alden Armstrong (1930- ) was the first person in human history to set foot on the moon, but few know who the second person to set foot on the moon was (Edwin Buzz Aldrin). I know that the first president of the Republic of Korea was Syngman Rhee (1875-1965), who served from the first to the third president, but few people remember the name of the second president (President Yoon Bo-seon). The first National Treasure of Korea is Namdaemun Gate, or Sungnyemun Gate, but not many people know what National Treasure No. 2 is (Wongaksa Temple Ten-story Stone Pagoda).
There are not many people who remember second place like this. I don't know if it's because everyone wants to be first, even though they're not, but it means that people who aren't first place only pay attention to the first place. The same goes for the media. They only present stories of people who are constantly successful. But everyone! Unknown, there are far more unsuccessful people, and their stories are much more dramatic and moving. And most of the successful people are those who have risen from the pain of countless adversity and setbacks, not those who have won first place in the first place. In that regard, we need to pay attention to those who are not number one and listen to them.
If so, what do you think God is like? Will God only ask for the first place and seek only the number one life? In conclusion, God remembers second place or less. Look at the many people in the Bible. They're not mostly 'first-class guys'. There are very few of them who only got 1st place. Yet their lives shine like the stars in the sky. What would be the reason?
The person I and you meet through today's text is also second-class in their later years, so they have lived a worse life than the last. But his life was so special, and his name remains a beautiful name forever. So today, we are going to look at how he lived in the “year of service” in the church and to know what kind of life we should live through him.
2. Because of him, there was no.
1) Jonathan was an outstanding soldier.
First, Jonathan was a very good soldier from a young age. We know that David was a very brave soldier, but we do not know how good Jonathan was. After his father Saul became king, Jonathan became his father's right-hand man when he continued to fight the Philistines, leading the soldiers and crossing numerous battlefields. But everyone! If Saul was a savvy and somewhat inhuman leader, his son Jonathan was not only a very good fighter, but also rational (reasonable) and tolerance (leadership). In short, Jonathan was a man with more royal qualities than his father, and he was a decent prince with sufficient qualifications and qualifications to succeed the throne. There are two representative anecdotes that show how good Jonathan was even as a soldier.
? Not only that. Jonathan was a master of bows. In 1 Samuel 20, when he knew that his father Saul had decided to kill David, and when his servant ran through the field to inform David of this, he shot an arrow precisely in front of him and gave a signal to David. . It's like William Tell accurately hitting the apple on his son's head. Jonathan was a skilled man who could freely shoot arrows in any direction and distance he wanted. Guys, this is enough to show how good Jonathan is, right?
2) Jonathan was a man of utmost filial piety.
Second, Jonathan was a man of utmost filial piety. When he was not confident in the battle with the Philistines, his father said, “Cursed is he who eats food today” (14:28). will surely die Otherwise, I want God to punish me and punish me again” (44), Jonathan said, “I have not heard.” He said that he would accept death sweetly without saying a word of excuse, such as “Didn’t you win the war because of me?” Why? Although all of this was the result of his father's fault, not his own, Jonathan was trying to establish his father's authority in front of the people even after he died.
3) Jonathan was a man of extraordinary faith.
“Jonathan son of Saul arose and went into the bushes, and came to David, and made him strong in God, and Jonathan said to him, ‘Do not be afraid. My father Saul's hand will not reach you, and my father Saul knows that you will be king of Israel, and I will be next to you.” (1 Samuel 23:16,17)” Gentlemen, this is faith. You can be greedy, but what is not God's will is faith to give up even the throne.
As I meditated on Jonathan, I thought that David was a really good man, but I realized that Jonathan's faith was not inferior to that of David.
I hope that we too, like Jonathan, humble ourselves, build up others, do our best, put God's will before our own, and live. I hope that through my hard work, devotion and service, precious people of God will live a blessed life.