Theme: God’s Kindness
Object: Is shown to us in Jesus, even in the depths of our lowest times
Did you see the movie Shallow Hal? It is a movie about an unattractive, really shallow middle-aged man named Hal Larsen who judges women on how “hot” they are. But then one day, Hal gets stuck on a stalled elevator with a motivational guru who helps him overcome his shallowness by hypnotizing him so that he sees only the inner beauty of people. Leaving the elevator, Hal sees large, unattractive women as supermodels. When a 330 pound blonde named Rosemary shows up, to Hal she looks like. . . well like Gwyneth Paltrow. He is overcome by her kindness and humor, and she becomes the most beautiful girl in the world to him. Somehow I think that is the way it is when God sees us. He does not even notice our weight, our shape or our nose, or if he does, we look very beautiful to him. When he comes into our lives, he gives us an extreme makeover. He sees the person we are inside. He sees the person we can be. He is attracted to us because he sees the image of his Son in us. He sees the Holy Spirit living in us. He sees us growing into the likeness of his Son.
Sin is an awful thing. It entices, it creates beautiful images of what life will be like when we give in and live in un-loving ways. When we dwell on these empty lies, we begin to be drawn away by desire, and as James says in ch 1:15, that desire gives birth to sin, and sin, it is full grown, brings forth death.
Along that path we turn from the enjoyment of what ever our preferred behavior is, to a feeling of being “less than” we should be; a feeling that something is not right within us. The further we get into it, the more this feeling intrudes into our awareness, the more difficult it is to push it out of awareness. We find ourselves becoming more and more stressed, like sitting on a pressure cooker trying to keep the lid from blowing off. Eventually the effort saps all our strength, our will, our efforts to keep going, and finally we just can’t put one foot in front of the other anymore. If the life we have chosen itself does not kill us, which it may – alcoholism is one of the nation’s biggest killers, promiscuous sex brings forth untold numbers of unwanted children, fueling the abortion industry, as well as life threatening and life ending illnesses, and of course we could go on and on – but if the lifestyle itself doesn’t kill us, many times people find suicide the only apparent way to stop the suffering.
Many times our feelings of low self worth come out just as recorded in 2 Sam 9:8 – when Mephibosheth says, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”
Let’s begin reading at 2 Sam 9:1: 1 David asked, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?"
2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They called him to appear before David, and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?"
2 "Your servant," he replied.
3 The king asked, "Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?"
3 Ziba answered the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet."
4 "Where is he?" the king asked.
4 Ziba answered, "He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar."
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
6 David said, "Mephibosheth!"
6 "Your servant," he replied.
7 "Don’t be afraid," David said to him, "for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, "What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?"
9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, "I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table."
Mephibosheth thought that he was to be killed when King David called for him, for it was common practice in those days when a king was deposed that his descendants – who would challenge the new ruler for the throne that they would naturally feel was rightfully theirs – would all be killed. But King David did not follow the “normal” rules of the day. Neither does our God.
BODY:
Mephibosheth discovered at least three things about King David that we also discover about God when we learn of His ways.
1) David showed Meph. Mercy and kindness without considering Meph’s behavior. God shows us kindness and mercy – forgiveness – even in the face of our unkind acts. God offers us complete forgiveness and the restoration of our hearts and minds – our souls – through Jesus. He has done all the work; Jesus has paid the price of our mistakes and foolishness. All we have to do is return His love to Him, and accept His kindness. We are living somewhere out in the world, somewhere between Lo Debar and Timbuktu, lost and unaware, and He is asking His servants, “Is there anyone else out there to whom I can show My Kindness and love?” “Is there anyone in this world that is lost and struggling, lame or blind, wounded and alone, that I can send My servants to bring home?”
a. This is certainly not what we expect. We struggle with the idea of justice. We know what we have done, and we know that we deserve to be punished, even if we simply can’t bring ourselves to look at it at all. We all feel the pressure, the stress, the feeling that we really are just not worth it, or perhaps we feel angry and bitter at those we perceive have harmed us, and that’s just as destructive to our emotional and spiritual lives. So we hide from others, or we hide from ourselves. Just like Adam and Eve, we hide from God. We know that we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory, and we know that the wages of sin is death, so what hope is there?
b. You know, except for God’s grace, there is none. We would all be judged by a standard that is far too high to reach, and we would fail. We would stand before the judgment seat of God without defense.
c. But Jesus is our Defense attorney. He will stand before God’s throne at the last day and say, “All the accusations against my client are true, but he doesn’t plead guilty. Father, I have paid the price of his guilt. Justice has been done through My sacrifice. He has reconciled himself to You by being washed in My blood, he has been cleansed by the very act of submission to Your will. He may have been guilty, but he stands before you now innocent and pure. The price has been paid. His punishment has already been executed.”
d. If your concept of God is skewed toward the justice/no mercy side, then perhaps you may be able to understand a little more about how God’s perfect justice is balanced with His kindness through Mephibosheth’s story.
e. Just as David showed Mephibosheth kindness for the sake of his good friend Jonathon, God shows us kindness for the sake of His Son. Just as Mephibosheth had never done anything to deserve King David’s kindness, neither have you done anything to deserve God’s kindness. It is extended to you simply because God loves you, and for the sake of Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary.
2) And when we accept this offer of His gracious kindness, God restores to us all that we have lost. Beginning with wholeness of heart and mind, He brings us the thrill of living again – not the thrill of a quick high that leaves us feeling more depressed than before, but a permanent feeling of being “high on life” that makes each new day an adventure. An “inner peace” that passes all understanding.
a. It’s not physical reward that He offers, although that may come to some. Spiritual focus – Rom 14:17: the Kingdom of God does not consist of the physical things of the world, but of “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
b. But a strange thing happens when we submit to God’s will and begin living in faith, trusting Him to care for us. The beliefs that are a part of God’s ways just simply work better in this world, because they are true. We talked last week about how it’s not what happens to us in this world that makes us mad/glad/sad or scared, it’s what we believe about what happens to us – remember? I told a story about standing on the street corner and having someone shove you down without warning, but pointed out that when you believe that he was just a jerk you were angry, but when you saw a car come up the sidewalk and realized he just saved your life you were happy and grateful, and instead of punching the guy out you wanted to hug his neck. But what would the people standing by think if you saw that he had saved your life, but then you punched him out anyway? They would think you were crazy, right? You were behaving irrationally. You know, I know people who would say, “I don’t care why he did it, he should not have pushed me like that!” That’s an example of what worldly pride will do. That’s the difference between living by the world’s beliefs and living by God’s truth. And when you submit to God’s will, you will find that the way you respond to the “activating events” of the life you are living will be much more rational and lead to less friction, more peace; less violence, more joy. And as a consequence of doing things the way they work best, the physical things of life will go better as well.
c. I just read this week that the hiring departments of the major corporations are looking for a new thing in potential hire-ins – they are looking for people who “play well with others” – that is, who get along with people. The pride that says, “I punched the guy who just saved my life because he hurt my feelings, or damaged my pride, or whatever” will keep you from getting hired in many places. So God’s ways work better, even in the physical world.
d. So God restores to us all that we have lost, both now, and in eternity, and He keeps His promise that …
3) We will always eat at the Lord’s table.
a. All our needs will be provided for. Maybe we will never be wealthy like Bill Gates, but we will feast at the Lord’s table, and God will nourish our souls.
CONCLUSION:
God asks now, “Is there anyone left in the world to whom I can show kindness? There is still room at my table. Go, invite the wounded, the helpless, the feeble.”
If you are a Christian, this is God’s instruction to you. He wants you to go and invite all who are weary and heavy laden.
Are you among the ones who, like Mephibosheth, feel like a dead dog, who really see nothing to look forward to in this life? God is waiting and knocking right now at the door of your heart.
Opening illustration retrieved from www.SermonCentral.com on 10/3/08.
