Recipe for Disaster
2 Samuel 11
Over the next two weeks I am going to be preaching a 2 part message…
The two sermons present the wrong way and the right way to avoid spiritual disaster.
This week I will start with the NOT TO sermon and I am calling it
“The Recipe for Disaster”
Next week we will look at the positive side of HOW TO and I will call it
“Recipe for Success”
Now we all know the recipe for disaster
In the 1960 some child hater invented a toy that was sure to break thousands of arms and bust thousands of heads.
He took a short piece of plywood and put rollerskate wheels on it and called it a skateboard.
But breaking arms and heads was not enough so some Einstein thought… hey, what if we make a bowl shaped ramp 50 feet tall on one side and twenty on the other, then we’ll fly down the tall side, jump the first ramp and fly 100 feet through the air, land on another ramp and shoot five stories up in the air and do flips and tricks before we land.
I mean… nobody saw disaster coming… right?
You take one dangerous board of death… plus crazy speed and a five story fall… that is a recipe for disaster
Or how about this one
Another Einstein gets the idea to make a children’s toy that is razor sharp and made to be thrown.
How many kids got darts in their head or eye?
But then some bozo comes up with the idea to make the dart 10 times bigger and heavier, and have kids throw them up in the air like missiles.
Half a pound of metal… WITH A POINT… and small kids running around throwing them
That is a recipe for disaster
ONE MORE
Somebody invented the YOYO…a fun and safe toy.
But them someone starts teaching kids to spin them round and round like weapons and thousands of heads get cracked
Then along comes one of those Einsteins who says… hey we can make this ever scarier and more deadly
We’ll double the danger by using two spheres and we will make them out of glass.
Then we’ll have kids smash them together at high rates of speed and velocity
AND PARENTS BOUGHT THESE THINGS FOR THEIR KIDS
Balls of glass on a string… plus centrifugal force… plus 2 feet from the kids eyes = Recipe for disaster
Hindsight is 20/20 and we now know how dangerous those toys were
I want to use that same hindsight to look at another recipe for disaster
You know the disaster as “David and Bathsheeba.”
I want us to look at the recipe that led to the disaster… a four step or ingredient recipe
The first ingredient in this recipe is
IN THE WRONG PLACE
David could have avoided the whole debacle if he had just been in the right place.
The scripture tells us In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
David should not have been on that rooftop, and he never would have seen the beautiful woman bathing.
The bible plainly tells us that kings belonged out in the field, in battle, leading the troops.
And if David needed to be back at the palace for “kingly” reasons… he should have been IN PRAYER for his men
Or IN PLANNING for his men
Or IN BED so he could get back to the field
The fact that David was on that rooftop tells us he was where he should not be
How can we know if we are in the wrong place?
Sometimes you are in the wrong place and you know it… no one had to tell you
Maybe you are in the wrong place because you are out of place
Maybe it is the wrong place because YOU KNOW DANGER IS LURKING
And if you get in those places… bad things can happen
So the first ingredient in the recipe for disaster is…
BEING IN THE WRONG PLACE
Are you in the wrong place????
The second ingredient is…
ALONE
When it comes to morality and purity one of the most horrible words I know is ALONE
You and I would never walk ALONE through a dark back alley in Harlem or any large city….
We know better… we know how much more dangerous it is alone… we know there is safety in numbers
But in our spiritual life we have not learned that lesson
There is strength in numbers
Alone = danger
Have you ever realized how often the gospel accounts of Jesus tell us he was in crowds?
Why did Jesus surround him with 12 stinky fishermen, hard headed tax collectors and the like
Because he knew it was safer in a crowd… temptation could not as easily become sin
When Jesus was in the crowds and with the disciples we read that he was tested and rebuked and reviled and accused…
But do you ever read that he was TEMPTED?
When do we read that he was tempted???
In the Garden…. ALONE
And what did he do when the temptation became too much for him alone?
He returned to the disciples… to a safe place
The disciples were Jesus’ ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP
EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER
EXPLAIN
The bible tells us that… 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecc. 4:9-12
What is the cord of three?
YOU
Partner
God
David was ALONE and he was easy pickings for Satan
Who is your accountability partner???
So the second ingredient is ALONE
The third ingredients is…. PASSION PURSUED
David knew not to stand close to the fire or he would get burned… but he did not care…
He stepped up real close
He called for Bathsheeba to be brought to him
At a distance she was a temptation… but one he could resist
At arms length… or in his arms… she was kryptonite
He could have turned in the right direction
He could have turned…AWAY… get busy, think about other things
He could have turned… to his wife
He could have turned… to God
He could have turned… to RUN
But he turned… to mush
Do you need to turn away… to god… to helper… to run???
So the third ingredient is PASSION PURSUED
The fourth is… NATURE TAKES ITS COURSE
You might say… This is where David fell
It is not
This is what I call the “It’s not my fault” point
This is where you hear people say that
A man put a boat in the river and paddled out into the current, it was beautiful and tranquil. He was paddling along enjoying the time and the current picked up. Soon it was going a little too fast and he thought about getting out. But he didn’t. He rode on in the swift current sort of liking the challenge and the danger of it. He passed a sign warning him not to go farther… but he did not listen. Soon he hit the small rapids and he thought he should get out… but he did not. Before long the small rapids became whitewater rapids and he was out of control. He looked ahead and saw the waterfall and he was helpless. He went over and he was saved but the boat was destroyed. His friends asked him why he did such a stupid thing and he said…. It’s not my fault, I could not help it.
You could help it when you put the boat in
It was your fault when the current picked up and you knew to get out.
It was your fault when you saw the sign and ignored it
Sure when you hit the whitewater and when you lost your paddle you couldn’t help it…
But it is your fault because you had opportunities to get out while you still could
David probably said, “It is not my fault. I couldn’t help it”
He might think the fall was not his fault but
The fall began way back there when he was where he did not belong
Are you here today and you have fallen… have sinned… or are being tempted… BECAUSE YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE?
The fall continued because David was ALONE… he had no one to help him, no one to counsel him, no one to be his compass… his strength
The fall, like the boat in the rapids, picked up speed when David Pursued his passion
When he stepped up closer to the fire instead of stepping away
And the fall was a done deal… when he acted on his temptation
He gave in to the temptation
When David took Bathsheeba to his bed
The child was a good as dead
Uriah was a dead man walking
There was no way David would not take Bathsheba… he might not have been able to help himself
But he could before… he had many opportunities to get out of the river and out of the boat
But he did not when he could… and he cannot deny HE WAS TO BLAME
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
