Lame in Both Our Feet
2 Samuel 9
I have been your pastor long enough now for you to know that sometimes my mind works a little weird.
That is the case today as we look at a couple of scriptures.
I actually started out to preach a sermon on Philippians 2:13
“For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.”
So how, you may ask, did I get from a NT teaching of Paul to an OT story of a crippled guy?
The real question is can I lead you down the same road, and when we get there, will you understand?
Let’s start in the OT with the crippled guy.
David is the king and one night he was missing his BFF… Jonathan.
Jonathan was the son of the previous King, Saul. While David was serving Saul, he became best friends with Jonathan. They loved each other like brothers.
When Saul was trying to kill David, Jonathan hid David and cared for him.
On this day David was feeling very sad as he was remembering all of the good times he had with Jonathan. He grieved Jonathan’s death. And, as a way of dealing with the death, David decided to do something nice to Jonathan’s family. He called for his advisors to tell him if Jonathan still had any family living. When he discovered that Jonathan had a son still living… He called for him to be summoned.
Allow me to back up and explain. When One King died, naturally or by violence, the next King would immediately “clean house.”
He would kill off all potential rivals by killing all of the former King’s family. Next he would remove all of the former king’s advisors and political appointees.
That is why Mephibosheth was crippled… his nanny, hearing that Saul and Jonathan were dead and David was the new king, made the natural assumption… that the new king would seek out and destroy all rivals to the throne… grabbed up the child, Mephibosheth, and ran to hide him from the sword. As she ran, something went wrong and Mephibosheth fell. As a result he “was lame in both of his feet.”
When David became king, it would have been natural for him to ask are there still any living heirs of the former king. If there were, they would be killed.
It was “just business.”
But look at what David did… he asked are there still any heirs of the former king…that I may show him KINDNESS!
Not kill… not eliminate… but DO SOMETHING KIND FOR HIM!!
This was unexpected, unprecedented and unthinkable.
David did not have to do it.
Mephibosheth did not deserve it
Imagine you are Mephibosheth and you get a summons to appear at the palace because the king “wants to do something kind for you.”
Have you ever watched “COPS” when the police will set up these fake lottery stings and send notices to on-the-run- felons, informing them that they have won some big prize.
When they all get there, the cops come busting out and arrest them all?
I think Mephibosheth must have had that same wary feeling as he approached and entered the castle… feeling that he was walking into his own execution.
As he is waiting… in walks David, surrounded by his secret service detail.
Jonathan probably thought… “Oh, NO. I never should have come.”
Then David walks over to Mephibosheth and called him by name and said, “For your father’s sake, and because of the love I have for him… I restore to you all that belonged to your father… his land, his houses and his wealth. Servants will till your land and you will live in the castle and eat at my table… just like one of my sons.
Now look at the very last verse… “So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the kings table, and was lame in both his feet.”
Why does the story end with repetition of that phrase… “lame in both his feet?”
Let’s now jump back to the NT to Phil. 2:13. “For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.”
Now trying to knit or weld these two together is the task at hand.
Why is it that we are unable to live a life that pleases God?
I don’t mean our temporary and sporadic obedience. I mean LIFESTYLE… why is it that we have such a hard time being obedient and pleasing to God ALL OF THE TIME?
I think these two different scriptures give us the reason.
I think we are lame in both our feet.
Now you are really confused. You think the preacher is, “a bit daff.”
This is where you have to hang with me… just try to hear what I am saying.
We are much like Mephibosheth…
A. We are incapable of doing anything worthy of God’s goodness.
Paul said, “All my righteousness amounts to nothing more than filthy rags.”
He meant that though we do an occasional good thing… not one of those good things could ever come close to making up for one of our sins.
Think about it. What is a sin? It is spitting in Jesus’ face and saying I don’t care if you did die on the cross, I want to do this thing, and I’m going to do it, no matter what you think.
Now you don’t see your sin that way… but it is… and God does.
You sin… every sin… no matter how small you may think it… you might as well spit in God’s face or urinate on the cross.
Now… if you did urinate on the cross… what good thing could you do… or how many good things would it take to make up for that sin?
There is no number and you can’t.
In light of how bad you sin is… you goodness is like spit in the ocean… useless… like trash.
Like Mephibosheth, we are powerless and helpless to do any good thing that would be worthy of the great love that God showed us through the cross.
B. God’s goodness to us is not based on our worthiness.
David did not ask if any of Jonathan’s family deserved to be blessed.
He just asked if there were any. They did not have to be worthy
BECAUSE IT WAS NOT ABOUT THEM!
It was all about Jonathan… and David’s love for Jonathan.
GOD’S GOODNESS TO YOU (SALVATION) IS NOT ABOUT YOU!
It is ALL about Jesus!!!
The song says, Not because of who I am
But because of what YOU’VE done
Not because of what I’ve done
But because of what YOU are
When you die and stand before God as your judge…
He will not judge your worthiness or your goodness
He will see the blood of Jesus that covers your sin
and the righteousness of Jesus that covers your unrighteousness
If He saw your sin… His wrath would burn in Him and He would cast you from His presence.
But instead of your sin, he will see the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and His heart will be warmed
If God saw your unrighteousness His Justice would demand that He punish you eternally.
But he will see the righteousness of His Son, covering you
AND FOR HIS SAKE… not yours…HE WILL LOVE YOU!
Mephibosheth KNEW that only one thing kept his head from rolling… only one reason he was sitting at the King’s table, enjoying the finest delicacies… HIS RELATIONSHIP TO JONATHAN
Only one thing keeps us from the pits of Hell and allows us to enter heaven’s gates… OUR RELATIOINSHIP TO JESUS!
C. We are lame in both feet.
When it comes to pleasing God there are two elements…
1. Desire 2. Doing (following through)
These two could be thought of as the two feet on which we stand to please God.
And the problem is… WE ARE CRIPPLED, LAME IN BOTH FEET
1. DESIRE
Let’s be honest… the reason we sin is WE WANT TO!
WE DESIRE TO
If I didn’t want to sin it would be a cake walk to please God.
I hate greens. If the only thing Satan tempted me with was to eat greens… I could say no every time and be perfect.
If the only thing Satan tempted me with was to smoke cigarettes… I could say no every time and be perfect.
If the only thing Satan tempted me with was to rob banks… I could say no every time and be perfect.
But he doesn’t! He tempts me to do things I like to do. And so I do them.
It sometimes seems like what Satan wants me to do are the fun things… things I like to do
And the things God wants me to do are the hard things, not as fun… and I have to make myself do them.
The problem is not God’s will… it is my desire.
I am diseased, sick, crippled in my desire.
If we are honest… We do sin because we want to
and we don’t do good, because we don’t want to
WE ARE CRIPPLED IN THE DESIRE FOOT SO WE DON’T WALK THE PATH THAT PLEASES GOD
2. DOING
We have a problem even wanting to do God’s will
And even on the rare occasion when we do want to WE LACK THE POWER - THE DOING - THE FOLLOW-THROUGH.
Paul put it so plain in Romans 7:14f Message
I CAN WILL IT BUT I CAN”T DO IT
Does this sound like Paul has been reading your mail? Watching your life? Spying on you when no one else can see you?
YOUR DOING FOOT IS CRIPPLED
So… we have two crippled feet… DESIRE and DOING
DESIRE AND POWER
What Hope do we have?
IT IS CHRIST WORKING IN YOU BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO HIS GOOD PLEASURE.
You need the great physician… God... through Christ to work on your feet
HOW does God help your broken/crippled feet?
FIRST: He starts with the DESIRE foot.
He takes His Word… and Prayer and wraps them with the Holy Spirit to splint your crippled DESIRE.
Through reading God’s word, studying it and meditating on it…
And praying for God’s mind, will, heart...
And the work of the Holy Spirit
He splints that weak/crippled DESIRE foot
SECOND He works on your DOING foot
He takes Christian FELLOWSHIP… spending time with those who will not lead you astray and who will sharpen your iron
and REPENTANCE… a Godly sorrow for the things you have done… a great deterrent to doing it again.
And wraps them with the Holy Spirit
He splints that weak/crippled DOING foot
Then God… the great physician… works through those things to heal you
Knitting bones… strengthening muscle… re-attaching tendons… repairing the nerves.
Then God gives you crutches… WORSHIP and WITNESS
If you use them… God will overcome your crippled/lame condition
You will still be crippled… until you get your new body
But you will be able to walk the path that pleases God.
Free Powerpoint for this sermon @ rhpendleton57@gmail.com
