No Filter
Pt. 2 - Grace
In an age where things that are not real are promoted as reality it would serve to reason that in church, we would tell you to live with no filter since we are taught by our Savior to live authentic and genuine lives. However, I want to tell you that filters are an important and essential part of life.
Filters catch and hide flaws and impurities. They keep some things in and they keep some things out! A filter is essential if we are going to represent Christ. A filter is essential if we are going to live like Christ. I want to address the fact that many of us have no filters. We have lost some essential filters in our life that were designed to catch impurities, to help us look and act more like Jesus and to protect us. We need to check our filters!
Text: 1 Samuel 20:30-33 (CEV), 2 Samuel 4:4, 9:3-9 (NLT)
Saul was furious with Jonathan and yelled, “You’re no son of mine, you traitor! I know you’ve chosen to be loyal to that son of Jesse. You should be ashamed of yourself! And your own mother should be ashamed that you were ever born. You’ll never be safe, and your kingdom will be in danger as long as that son of Jesse is alive. Turn him over to me now! He deserves to die!” “Why do you want to kill David?” Jonathan asked. “What has he done?” Saul threw his spear at Jonathan and tried to kill him. Then Jonathan was sure that his father really did want to kill David.
Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when the report came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. When the child’s nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled. But as she hurried away, she dropped him, and he became crippled.
The king then asked him, “Is anyone still alive from Saul’s family? If so, I want to show God’s kindness to them.” Ziba replied, “Yes, one of Jonathan’s sons is still alive. He is crippled in both feet.” “Where is he?” the king asked. “In Lo-debar,” Ziba told him, “at the home of Makir son of Ammiel.” So David sent for him and brought him from Makir’s home. His name was Mephibosheth; he was Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect. David said, “Greetings, Mephibosheth.” Mephibosheth replied, “I am your servant.” “Don’t be afraid!” David said. “I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan. I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will eat here with me at the king’s table!” Mephibosheth bowed respectfully and exclaimed, “Who is your servant, that you should show such kindness to a dead dog like me?” Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and servants are to farm the land for him to produce food for your master’s household. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will always eat here at my table.” (Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
Many of you know this account. For those who aren't as familiar let me just set the scene. Saul has been handpicked by God to be Israel's first king. Goliath shows up during a routine battle and a shepherd boy by the name of David saves the day. Saul takes David into the palace and because of David's success in battle Saul becomes jealous and suspicious to the point of throwing spears at David to try to kill him. In the meantime, Saul's son Jonathan, the heir apparent, the next in line to serve as king, befriends David and they end up in covenant with another. Loyal to each other even at their own expense. This brings us to the scene I read to you. Saul is trying to find out where David is so that he can kill him. Jonathan covers for David and Saul erupts in anger and throws a spear at his own son. Finally, Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle. David ascends to the vacant thrown. It was the custom of the day that when a new family took the thrown that they would kill every descendent of the previous king so as to avoid an uprising or misplaced allegiances. David, however, responds differently. Based on the covenant he had with Jonathan his response is to ask if there is anyone left in the lineage of Saul that he can "show God’s kindness to them." The response brings a young man who is dealing with layers of brokenness. He was born broken and then he is broken even further by the mishandling of someone else. He has been living in Lodebar - a dry place, a place of no word, a place of no pasture. Now David brings him to the table for the rest of his life. Mephibosheth sits at the table and his brokenness is covered.
The manner in which David handles Jonathan's son illustrates for us the filter that I believe too many of us have dislodged or discarded in this day and age. We must go back and pick up the Filter of Grace!
Because without this filter of grace we become like the man Jesus talked about who was forgiven a huge debt ($40,800,000) who then went out and choked the man who owed him $68!
So, for a second can I tell you what grace does before we talk about who around us deserves grace?
Grace covers completely & comprehensively.
Mephibosheth was dealing with layers of brokenness - already lame but now is dropped and injured even further. He had been born crippled and now he is furthered crippled because of being mishandled. But when he arrives at the King's table his previous condition and his current condition are covered.
In other words, our filter of grace should make room for people at the table that were broken and those who are still broken.
Too many of us are only willing to offer grace to people because by the time we have to deal with them they are better. We only want to offer grace because we didn't have to deal with their deficiencies and discrepancies. However, the King's kindness is available to those who have been wounded and to those who are still wounded and trying to find healing. Grace makes room for those who are healed and those who need to be healed. We must become people who are just as grace full for your current condition as we are your past condition. The good news is that our brokenness doesn't disqualify us from the banquet! The only way we are disqualified and unwelcome is if the host has discarded the filter of grace.
It is comprehensive. Liability insurance just gives you grace and covers only what you do. We like that kind of grace. However, this grace is comprehensive and not only does it cover our mistake it also covers the other person's mistake! We aren't as quick to remember that aspect of God's grace.
Grace covers continually.
Notice the proclamation that David makes . . . But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will always eat here at my table.
In other words, there is no end to the grace. It is continuous. It has no expiration date. David gives Mephibosheth continuous grace so that he gets his favor back. He gets his food back. He gets back to his feet! He is back in the palace. He gets his position back. Grace should be our go to. Our fall back. Our normal. Because we have no filter it seems that grace is not only the exception, but it is often short lived. It would do us good to remember that our King is long suffering. Our King is patient. Our King is willing to wait on us. We must mimic our King. We must offer grace continually. Over and over. Again and again. Believing the best. Give the benefit of the doubt. We should handle carefully repeatedly!
Grace is connected!
There are many accurate definitions of grace. Perhaps David's definition is the one we should grab onto today. David's definition of grace was that he was showing Mephibosheth God's kindness. He wasn't showing him David's kindness. He wasn't showing him David's mercy. He was literally showing Mephibosheth God's kindness. David understood that his actions were revealing God's kindness - grace.
I want you to notice that David extends grace to someone he didn't even know! His question, "is there anyone?" reveals he doesn't even know Mephibosheth existed and certainly didn't know where he was. David wasn't close to Mephibosheth. He wasn't his friend. He wasn't David's favorite. He wasn't David's preferred. However, notice the reason that David extended grace to Mephiboshethh. He extended grace because of his relationship with Mephibosheth's father. David literally gives Mephibosheth the place of a son at his table out of respect for his father.
Grace is connected to David's relationship with Jonathan! He loves the son because of his relationship with the father. Mephibosheth receives unmerited favor because grace David was connected to his father.
Grace is connected to our love of our father! Therefore . . .
We should offer grace to anyone who is loved by the Father! Our preference, our opinion, our choice really doesn't have any bearing on who deserves to receive grace from us! Our relationship with their Father should cause us to offer them grace! If they are loved by the Father, then they should be loved by us. If they are welcomed by the Father, then they should be welcomed by us. If they are favored by the Father, then they should be favored by us! Honestly there are some people who bother me. There are some people who get under my skin. There are some people that rub me the wrong way! So why do I offer grace to people who don't deserve it? Because, like David, I have discovered that . . .
How we treat people determines how they see our God!
We must know that spiritual growth is not just vertical. It is also horizontal. Some of you are killing it in your relationship with God (vertical) the only problem is you get along with God, but you can’t get along with anyone else. And because of you don't have the filter of grace in place you unpreach, unwitness, undo every attempt God makes to bring that other person to the king's table. We are God's PR company. We are His business card. We are His resume!
It is time to recognize that too whom much is given much is required. It is time to recognize that as a recipient of God's kindness we are to be grace full people. Some of us never operate in grace. We are gruff. Hard to deal with. Rigid. Unyielding. And we would say that is just the way we are. The issue is that we have cast aside the filter of grace. That was how we were! That isn't supposed to be the way we are after experiencing God's kindness for ourselves.
I wonder if we would reestablish a filter of grace if we might look at broken, messed up, less than perfect, less than preferred people and invite them to our table, cover them, make room for them. The grace we offer isn't based on our relationship with them but rather based on our relationship with their father. Our treatment of those at the table can't be based on the worthiness, wholeness or righteousness of those at the table but rather it is based on the One who set the table and the One that brought us to the table.
We have all been dropped. We all need covering. We all need grace. I don't like them. They have been dropped. I don't relate to them. They have been dropped. I don't understand them. They have been dropped. If we will reestablish the filter of grace, then people who would never have been able to come to the table will find their place.
