YOUTH GROUP LESSON ON LOVING OTHERS
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This lesson is a part of a larger series called Find Your People. We have an entire sermon series library loaded with resources like this at youthpastor.co.
Lesson Overview
• Friendship is one of the key places we learn how to love others in the way Jesus loved us. Learning to love others more than ourselves is key to understanding the heart of Jesus. This lesson explores the relationship between David and Jonathan to understand what its means to truly love others more than ourselves.
Breakdown
• Main Scripture: Proverbs 18:24; 1 Samuel 20:1-4,17; Philippians 2:3-4
• Bottom Line: Friends love others more than themselves.
Capture: Grab their attention with an illustration.
• Illustration/Story: Share a story about a best friend who felt more like family than just a friend. When we share this kind of intimacy with others, we feel as comfortable with them as with our own family. They may keep clothes at your house, raid your fridge, or call your parents mom and dad as well!
• These friendships are special and beautiful. Scripture shows us an example of this type of friendship between two men who were so close that they were like brothers.
Connect: Connect them to God’s word.
• Tension Question: Do you have a best friend who feels more like a sibling than a friend? This intimate friendship is so precious! We all need these types of friends. Scripture has much to say about friendship in the story of David and Jonathan.
• Scripture: Proverbs 18:24 — Real friendship is an intimate bond between two people. True friends feel like family!
Consider: What does this mean for us today?
• Scripture: 1 Samuel 20:1-4,17 — Context: At this point in the story of David, he is actively avoiding the wrath of King Saul, who David believes is about to kill him.
• The friendship between David and Jonathan is one of the strongest brotherhoods we see in Scripture. Jonathan swears his loyalty to David, even though Jonathan doesn’t see things the same way David does.
• Verse 17 encapsulates the lesson we learn in the friendship of David and Jonathan. Some translations say that “Jonathan loved David more than he loved himself.”
• This is what sets them apart as friends and brothers! What a strong principle for us to take into our own friendships — to love others more than we love ourselves.
• Bottom Line: Friends love others more than themselves.
Collide: How do we apply this in our lives?
• Scripture: Philippians 2:3-4 — If we want to have this level of friendship with others, we need to learn how to love others more than ourselves.
• Verse four gives us two great warnings to avoid in friendship: selfishness and pride. Nothing hurts a friendship more than selfishness, and real friends don’t feel the need to impress others — they are comfortable with and interested in others!
• Ask yourself, “Is selfishness or pride hurting my friendships?” If you want to experience the kind of friendship we see between David and Jonathan, actively live in selfless humility.
• Application: Put others before yourself.
Call: How do we respond to the message?
• Altar moment: If you can identify selfishness and pride in your relationships, don’t let it live there any longer! Ask God to help you prioritize selflessness and humility to love others more than yourself.
• Small Group Questions:
1. Do you have a friend who feels like family? Why are these relationships so special?
2. What does it mean when Scripture says that a friend sticks closer than a brother?
3. What does it mean to love others more than you love yourself?
4. How can you eliminate selfishness and pride in your friendships?