11A Worship - David & Joab

Think back to, or think now about, your school days. Why did you choose, have you chosen, the friends you did, the friends you have?

When I was in fourth grade I started spending time with a different crowd. They weren’t necessarily bad … it was fourth grade … but even then I sensed they were moving in the wrong direction. I began to change. I wanted to fit in. I cursed more in my few months with them than I have in all of the rest of my years combined. (during those months my mom introduced me to the taste of soap … those of a certain age know what I’m talking about.) Thankfully, about that same time, another friend, Mark Fischer, invited me to a Christian summer camp. Mark was a kid I knew from church. That summer, at Mt Hermon Christian camp in Santa Cruz California, all of the things I had heard about in Sunday school came together, made sense, and I embraced God’s love in Jesus. When I came back from camp I didn’t return to that group of friends. We remained friends … but at a distance. How far would I have gone if I had stayed with that crowd?

Does bad company corrupt good character? Does the company we keep shape us and affect our choices, our beliefs, how we treat others? What kind of friend, and influence, are we?

This morning’s Bible passage involves David (who would soon be king of all of Israel), Joab (one of his military leaders), and Abner (an apparently decent man who led the army of Saul’s heir to the throne). Alliances made, and broken, then would impact the lives of all three, and the nation too. Who are our friends? May we choose wisely!