Friendship for the Glory of God

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God. Please stand if you're able for the reading of God's word. It's a bit of a lengthier reading this morning, so if you need to sit down at any point, feel free. This is 1 Samuel chapter 20.

Then David fled from Neath and Rama 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? 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. 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. 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 shall not fail to sit at 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. 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? 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? Then David said to Jonathan, who will tell me if your father answers you roughly? And Jonathan said to David, Come, let us go out 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 the 3rd day, behold, if he is well disposed towards 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 me the steadfast love of the Lord that I may not die, and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the house 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. Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. On the 3rd day, go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself for when the matter was in hand and remain beside the stone heap, and I will shoot 3 arrows to the side of it as though I shot at a mark. And behold, I will send the boy saying, go find the arrows. If I say to the boy, Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them, then you are to come, for as the Lord lives, it is safe for you, and there is no danger. But if I say to the youth, Look, the arrows are beyond you, then go, for the Lord has sent you away. And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is now between you and me forever. So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. The king sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty. Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. But on the 2nd day, the day after the new moon, David's place was empty, and Saul said to Jonathan, his son, Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today? Jonathan answered Saul. David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. He said, Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now if I have found favor in your eyes, let me go get away and see my brothers. For this reason, he has not come to the king's table. Then Saul's anger was kindled 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 the earth, neither you nor the kingdom shall be established. Therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. Then Jonathan answered Saul, his father, Why should he be put to death? What has he done? But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him, so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the 2nd day of the month, for he was grieved for David because his father had disgraced him. In the morning Jonathan went out into the field to the appointment with David, and with him a little boy, and he said to his boy, Run and find the arrows that I shoot. As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, Is not the arrow beyond you? And Jonathan called after the boy, Hurry, be quick. Do not stay. So Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master, but the boy knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 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 on his face to the ground and bowed 3 times, and they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most. Then Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord shall be between me and you and between my offspring and your offspring forever. And he arose and departed and Jonathan went into the city.

This is the word of God. You may be seated. Amen, amen.

Well done, made it through another longer reading and still standing, well done. If you do have a Bible with you, let me invite you to open or keep open First Samuel chapter 20 as we will look into this story of David and Jonathan. This is one of these famous stories throughout the story of David, this friendship that they have together. David and Jonathan are really two of these historic friendships. The kind of friendships that are known well past their lives, and really put them in the realm of almost our fictional friendships. This is Frodo and Sam, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, or Calvin and Hobbes. This beautiful picture of what friendship looks like.

However, in recent years, people have often begun to challenge that idea. A new trend has emerged on how this story should be understood. In fact, it doesn't take long for you to find it. If you Google it, it will be the 2nd or 3rd link in there. In light of the sexual transformation we've seen in our own culture, we've begun to interpret this a little bit different. That this is actually a hidden homosexual romance between Jonathan and David. This is the quintessential, well they were just roommates, kind of idea.

And honestly, let's be clear, it's not hard to figure out how people would get there. Even just from the chapter we have read, what have we seen? Well, they clearly love one another, they're making covenants and promises to one another, they are crying together and kissing one another. In fact, you don't even have to look too much further outside of this, in the book of 2 Samuel, after Jonathan dies, spoiler, David writes.

He says how the mighty have fallen in the midst of battle. Jonathan lies slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan, very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.

And so we look at that and people have said, well, you know what? Isn't that undeniable proof that what we are intended to see in their relationship was this secret, hidden, but homosexual romance between these two men. What else could it mean? And so the question I just want to start before we even get into our story here today is, is that what we are meant to see? Is that the story that is here, and if not, how are we even supposed to read something like this?

So let me just give sort of 3 thoughts on how we should approach a text like this. The first is we need to recognize our own cultural lens. We live at a time when the idea of platonic relationships often seems impossible. Even the vocabulary of how we speak about friendships has changed into a romantic, if not even sexual nature. What do we call a movie about two male friends, it's a bromance. We've turned that into a slightly romantic setting. And so being that we have sexualized even the language of friendship, it's not very surprising then that when we look at something like this, we come to that conclusion. We need to pay attention to our own presuppositions.

But secondly, we also need to recognize that very often we don't believe that men can be or should be open, emotional, or engage in physical contact with one another. We have very often perpetuated this idea that real men are stoic, unfeeling, emotionless, if not distant. Men don't cry, men don't hug, men don't open up, especially to one another. And so if you are honest, crying, or speaking emotionally, we say, well it must be taking place in the realm of sexuality. But we really should recognize just how very North American that thought process is.

Plenty of cultures around the world today are very different when it comes to even physical relationships between men. Go to many African countries today, and it's not uncommon to see men walking hand in hand, fingers interlaced with a friend. It means nothing else beyond that. Many cultures today greet one another with kisses, either on the cheeks or even on the lips, and there's no sexual intention behind it. And so when we come to a story about a friendship from 3000 years ago, on the other side of the planet from us, we really shouldn't judge it based on our North American standards of sexuality.

So what then do we do with David saying Jonathan's love was better than women? Well, first of all, we probably need to remember how bad his marriages were. As much as that was a comment on Jonathan, it was a bit of a dig at his wives. And notice I just said wives, plural. David's wives, those relationships were far from great, often his own wives were part of the problems, and so Jonathan stands in contrast to his own marriage because Jonathan was sticking with him all the way through.

But the last thing we really need to recognize as we approach this story. Is just how incredibly bad we are at friendship. The truth is, we are not great at having friends. Whether it is because we have sexualized things or because of social media or some other combination, we are becoming more and more lonely and isolated. And the statistics even back up our own feelings that we don't have many friends. 30 years ago, they did a poll asking adults how many close friends or how many people had even one close friend. The percentage was about 42% of adults. Today, that number is 14. 14% of adults would say they have a close friend, that means the majority of us do not experience friendship on anything but a surface level.

We don't know what it looks like to have friendships that are deep, emotional, and are invested into. In fact, it's become almost a joke for stand-up comedians to make that adults don't have time for friends. We don't do this anymore. We've become so unfamiliar with the concept that we can't read a story about friendships without coming to a sexual conclusion. Probably cause that makes more sense to us. And I think that is not a condemnation on them as much as it is on us. We don't understand friendship.

And so this morning as we walk through this passage, I want us to see what genuine, real, deep friendship looks like and actually encourage and if not challenge us to actually make friends for the glory of God. Because ultimately what we are looking at is a God pleasing, honoring friendship between David and Jonathan. Jonathan's love, sacrifice and trust in God shows us a picture, not only what friendship looks like, but how we honor God in it. In a world like ours that is isolated and lonely, let our commitment be to actually have friends that honor God and show his love for us.

And so this morning we're gonna go through this story and we're gonna kind of take it from a couple of different angles. In many ways, this story is all wrapped together, you see these themes of love, sacrifice and trust in God, all woven together throughout the story, and so we're gonna kind of take each of those as we walk through. But what we're intended to see is that this is what friendship looks like for the glory of God.

Let's start off here and look at what love looks like in friendship. Just to remind ourselves of where we've been. If you were with us last week, you'll remember that Saul, king of Israel, had become jealous of David. David was getting far more famous, everyone was loving him, everyone was paying attention to David, and so Saul begins to get more and more jealous to the point of anger, to the point of now murder. In fact, 4 times last chapter, Saul attempted to murder David. David eventually escapes, God protects him. He runs off to a nearby city.

But what we need to remember is David actually doesn't even know why. To David, this was out of nowhere, why has Saul suddenly turned against me so much? And so he comes back, you can almost imagine him sneaking back into the city to find Jonathan, because he needs to ask Jonathan, what's going on? Why is your dad trying to kill me? David doesn't even have context for what's going on with him. Jonathan is, as we find out, equally confused. The last time Jonathan had talked with his dad, his dad had said, you're right, I probably shouldn't kill David. So that was the last thing he heard, and then suddenly David comes back and says, why is your dad trying to kill me?

And so they come up with a plan, we need to figure out what's going on. And so there's a feast coming up later on that week, and David is expected to be there. As shocking as that might sound to us, David is still working for Saul. He is still a member of his court, and a member of his family. David is the son-in-law to Saul. He is supposed to be at this meal. And so they come up with a plan, David, you're gonna go hide in the field, don't come out. Jonathan, he'll go and he'll explain that you've been called away to go to your family during this feast time. And then we're just gonna watch, and we're gonna try and see how does Saul respond. And so they agree, OK, this is what's gonna happen.

So Jonathan goes to the meal. First day comes and Saul doesn't say anything. He assumes, well, David's unclean. If you're familiar with Old Testament laws, there was lots of ways that someone could become unclean. It wasn't even uncommon, so he's ceremonially not ready to be there, so Saul just assumes, all right, well. I'm not worried about it. And then day 2 comes, he's still not there. So Saul's starting to get a little bit curious, and so he asked Jonathan, what's going on? And Jonathan gives the prepared speech. David's been called away to go to his family, and how does Saul respond? He's furious with him. How dare you let him get away. In fact, Saul now throws a spear at his own son. Again, we're asking the question, Saul, why are you armed at a feast? Like there's a family get-together and you've got a spear sitting beside you, chill out.

Jonathan leaves in a huff, I'm out of here. Grieved, not over what his dad did to him. But over what Saul was doing to David. How dare you disrespect my friend. And so the next day they meet up as they had planned, and they'd come up with a secret code. Jonathan would go out, and it looks just like he's practicing archery. No shock there. Sends a young boy to go retrieve the arrows, and they have a signal. Jonathan yells out, aren't they beyond you? Keep going, run faster, quick, hurry, get away. David knows what that means, Jonathan knows what that means. The boys just grabbing arrows going, I guess I gotta hurry up. Comes back to Jonathan, runs away, and David comes out, meets Jonathan. They hug, they cry, because they know this is the end. They know they're not gonna be able to see each other anymore. David is now gonna be on the run, a fugitive from the law.

But the question is, why is Jonathan doing all this? Why is Jonathan willing to actually go this far for David? And if you've been with us through the story, you'll know actually we got our answer a couple chapters ago. Back in 1 Samuel 18, we're told.

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.

Ever since David took down Goliath. Jonathan and David have loved one another, and honestly it's not hard to figure out why. If you read the story of Jonathan before David shows up, who is the one who is committed to God, who is fighting God's battles, who is trusting God in everything he does, it's Jonathan. Jonathan has been doing this alongside Saul, who wants nothing to do with God, who wants to fight for his own glory, who only cares about what he gets out of it and so when Jonathan finally meets David, he sees someone exactly like him and he goes, this is my guy. I get it, I understand you are trusting in God, I am trusting in him. They are brothers in arms, soldiers together on the battlefield. I mean, this is a close knit bond, absolutely. He's met someone who now matches his zeal for the glory of God.

Saul looks at David and sees a rival. Sees a usurper. Jonathan looked at David and saw a friend, and we are told he loved David. And I know we don't usually use the word love to describe friends. But apparently I think that's our problem, not the Bible's. In fact, one of the most famous chapters in the Bible on love is 1 Corinthians 13. Often it's read at weddings. Goes like this.

Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude, it does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

And I know we've so often heard that in the context of romance, weddings, husband and wife, and yes, but that's not what it's about. In fact, that whole passage, that whole chapter is about love within the church. Brothers and sisters in Christ, friends. This is not describing romantic love, this is describing love of friends. And actually Jonathan is the perfect example of that kind of love. He's not envious of David, he supports him. He does not insist on his own way, he listens to David. He weeps at his father's wrongdoing and upholds truth to David.

When David first comes to Jonathan, what's he asking? He's trying to figure out what's going on, what have I done wrong, and what he actually comes and he says, Jonathan, you need to tell me if I have sinned, if I've done something wrong. Halfway through verse 8. David says,

but if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?

David says, Jonathan, you need to tell me the truth. If I've messed up in some way, put me to death yourself. Proverbs 17 says,

faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Far better to have a friend who tells you the truth, who says, when you have messed up what it actually is, because that's what love looks like. Love is seeking the best for someone and not allowing them to continue on in wrong. Hear me, we need friendship, we need friends, because we all have blind spots we can't see. David comes to Jonathan and says, you gotta tell me.

True friendship rejoices in the truth, calls you out when we mess up. Now Jonathan says, but you haven't done anything, David. Not because Jonathan's unwilling to tell him, but because David really hasn't. And so they commit, we gotta figure out what's going on with Saul. Verse 17, we're told

Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him. For he loved him as he loved his own soul.

What bonded these two men was love, true Christian friendship. And I know we recoil at the idea of two men saying that they would love one another. It's hard to fight that cultural impulse. So men, I'm not saying you need to go and say to all of your guy friends, you know, I love you. You don't need to. What you do need to do is love them. Is to actually do that. And I know right now I'm talking to men, it's not that it doesn't apply to women, it most certainly does, but by and large, you're better at it. Women, you're just better at this, of caring for one another, supporting one another, it comes far more easily, so for just a moment, men.

You need to love your friends. Men You need friends. Some of us have convinced ourselves, we're so busy, we're so stressed, we have so many obligations on our plate, and yes you do, I know. But you need friends, because you're gonna need someone who can call you out on what's going on in your life. So you're gonna actually have to make time for it. You're gonna have to actually ask someone to go do something, spend time together. Go choose an activity. It's hard to just sit down for coffee. Go hiking, go running, go, I don't know, golf, pickleball, Magic The Gathering, whatever it is, just do something. Hang out together, talk with one another, because you're gonna need a friend to call you out on your life. You're gonna need to actually show what love looks like, because you need to be the kind of friend who loves well.

Men, it's not weak to care for your friends, in fact, it requires far more strength. It requires the strength of God to actually do this. And lest you think I'm making this up. Hear me, this is exactly what Jesus tells us. John 15, Jesus says.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends.

Hear me, we can only be good friends if we understand the love of God for us. We can only understand God's love for us in the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus, God Himself, came to this earth in order that he would die on the cross, that he would lay down his own life, die an excruciating death, that he would bear the full weight of God's wrath against sin, that Jesus would do that in our place. Why? We're told because of his love for us. It was the love of God that led Jesus to the cross, to make that sacrifice that we might be saved. The cross is the greatest picture of love the world has ever seen, and for whoever would trust in Jesus, that is the love that we experience from God. The love of God is poured out in full force on all who believe this is our basis for understanding love, this is our basis for how we are to love our friends. It is found in what Jesus has done in the sacrifice of Jesus.

I'm gonna argue actually the greatest example of Jonathan's love in this passage is not the commitments they make, or even their spoken love, but in Jonathan's self sacrifice. See, we cannot read this story without realizing just how much Jonathan puts on the line. He puts his entire life on the line for David. Verse 14, while they're making this plan about how they're going to try and figure out what Saul's thinking. Jonathan has this almost moment of realization, he says.

If I am still alive. If I am still alive after all of this, show me the steadfast love of the Lord, that I may not die.

Do not cut off your steadfast love for my house forever when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. Jonathan realizes actually two things are about to happen here. The first is that he's gonna go and he's gonna talk to his father, and it very likely might be that Saul decides he's going to kill Jonathan on the spot. He throws that spear, he's not far away. Jonathan might actually die just for doing this, but here's the other thing. If David succeeds and he becomes king, what then happens to Jonathan? Well, historically, if you look at one regime taking over after another, what does the new regime do? Kills every member of the family. No one can challenge this new one, so Jonathan's going, wait a minute, I'm now in trouble both from Saul and possibly from David. He might just put me to death because I'm now a threat to him. Now, David is absolutely not going to do that, we know that. And so he makes this promise to Jonathan, but you need to realize, Jonathan is going, all right, so I guess my life is now in your hands, David. Jonathan is placing his life in David's hands, but perhaps the greatest thing Jonathan is about to sacrifice here is his own kingdom.

See, when Saul begins to yell at Jonathan, verse 30, he says,

you son of a perverse, rebellious woman.

Saul, that's your wife, OK?

Do I not know you've chosen the son of Jesse?

Saul, that's your son-in-law.

To your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness, for as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established.

Actually on this one Saul's right. If David succeeds, if Jonathan sides with David, that means Jonathan never gets to be king. If Jonathan were to side with Saul, kill David on the spot. Now Jonathan is the one who gets to be king. He gets to be the most powerful man in the entire nation. If he sides with David, he's nobody. In fact, he loses all of the privilege that he would have had. So just to be clear, Jonathan is sacrificing his present safety, his current status as prince, he's certainly put to shame, and his entire future kingdom. For David Jonathan is putting a lot on the line.

You wanna know what love looks like? It is sacrifice for the good of another. You wanna be a good friend, learn how to sacrifice for other people's good. That is what God has commanded us to do. First John 3 tells us,

by this we know love, that he, Jesus, laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Again, we're not talking about romantic love, we're talking about love in the church, love for our friends. True love is saying I will sacrifice for your benefit. I will take the cost so that you can gain a benefit I will never have. Why Well, because that's what Christ did for us. In fact, not even just a little bit, Jesus did more. Romans 5 says

for while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one might even dare to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jonathan shows us a picture of what it's looked like what it looks like to be willing to die for a righteous man who loves you. Jesus shows what it looks like to die for someone who does not love you and is not worthy. For his very enemies, the greater sacrifice is found in Jesus Christ. Our goal is to display the love of Jesus. As much as Jonathan gives us a good example, it is only pointing us to the greater example we find in Christ. Are you willing to sacrifice that the love of God would be seen in your life?

I know that sometimes sounds grand. Almost obscure. So let me be very practical. Are you willing to give up your time for someone else's good? Are you willing to give up your energy? Even some of your resources, so that other people could be helped, even though it would be an inconvenience to you. See, that's what we're called to do, that's the small step that helps us continue to grow, so that we get to the place where we're saying, yeah, I'm willing to put my whole life on the line so that the glory of God would be seen. Because Jesus has shown what it looks like to sacrifice, we are willing to sacrifice. Jonathan gives us this picture of love and self-sacrifice. So let us follow that example with our eyes on Jesus.

Because I'm gonna argue, actually that's exactly where Jonathan's eyes are too. See, the final thing I want us to see in this story is that Jonathan is trusting God's will. Here if we miss this point, I think we missed the whole point of this passage. This is not just a picture about what friendship looks like, but about what godly friendship looks like. In their conversations between David and Jonathan, 9 times, Jonathan brings up the name of the Lord. Why? Because he is trying to help David in one of the most difficult moments of his life, point to God over and over and over again. God's the one in control. Verse 12,

the Lord God of Israel, be witness.

God is watching over you, David, don't forget, you are not alone, this is not what you are doing by yourself, but God is here. Trust him, he is the one in control. Look at verse 22, as they're coming up with this plan about the signal for David to run, Jonathan says,

if I say to the youth, look, the arrows are beyond you, then go for the Lord. Has sent you away.

Who's sending David? Is it Jonathan saying you need to run? Is it Saul who is driving David out? No, it's God. David, if you have to run, this will be God who is sending you out, he will not leave you. God shall go with you, trust in what God is doing. Even in their parting words, Jonathan reminds David to trust him. Verse 42.

Jonathan said to David, go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, the Lord shall be between me and you. Between my offspring and your offspring forever.

David, who are you trusting? Who are you trusting in this moment of trial? Jonathan, again and again and again, will point David to trust in God and him alone. Notice he never says, just trust me. Just trust me that I'll do it. No, he says, I want you to trust God. He wants David to trust God, hear me, you need a friend like that. You need someone who's gonna come along and say, no matter what you're going through, remember God is with you. No matter if this is the best day or the worst day of your life, remember God is with you. Remember his promises are secure, that he will not leave you.

See, this is the difference between having a friend and a godly friend. Do you have friends who point you to God? Are you that friend to others? Let us be godly friends, who point to other people to see Jesus, to trust the gospel once again. But here's the truth. The only way you can be that kind of friend is by trusting God yourself. See, the only way Jonathan could do this was because he was trusting God's will. Look back just one more time at verse 14. Jonathan says,

if I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord, that I may not die, and do not cut off 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.

Jonathan here, he's speaking almost prophetically of what God is going to do. He says, David, I'm placing all of my trust that God will make you king. See, Jonathan realizes this is not just his friend he's talking to, this is God's anointed king. Certainly at this point in their relationship, David would have told Jonathan about what God had done, anointed him to be the Messiah, the chosen one to lead God's people. And so this is more than just Jonathan's friend, this is the man that God has chosen to be the next king, and so he is willing to bet his entire life and future on what God has said.

See, here is the bottom floor of reasons why Jonathan is willing to make this sacrifice. It's not just because he has some nice feelings going along with it. It's a commitment to follow God's will, no matter what happens to him. He's willing to follow God's direction, even if it means he loses everything in his future. He will have no kingdom, because this is what God has called him to do.