A). THE BLESSING OF THE COMPASSIONATE.
Psalm 41:1-4.
This is a Psalm of David. It is quite possibly about David. It is also about our Lord Jesus (except that Jesus has no personal sin to confess, unlike Psalm 41:4).
Psalm 41:1. “Blessed is he who considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.” This is the outworking of a Biblical principle (cf. Proverbs 19:17; Matthew 5:7).
To “consider” the poor is not simply to throw a coin at him, but to look at his afflictions not so much as a thing he must somehow have deserved (a common error, cf. John 9:1-3), but to recognise him as a fellow human being who has fallen on hard times. It is interesting to notice that our Lord Jesus ‘became poor that we might become rich’ in Him (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9). And He taught, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (cf. Acts 20:35; Luke 14:12-14).
The Psalmist goes on to develop the thought of the LORD’s deliverance:
Psalm 41:2. He shall “preserve” his soul (cf. Psalm 121:7). He shall “keep him alive”: an abundance of life in the here and now (cf. John 10:10). “He shall be blessed in the earth”: the widow’s cruse of oil did not dry up ‘for many days’ after she had fed the prophet - not until the drought was over (cf. 1 Kings 17:14-16)! “Thou wilt not deliver him unto his enemies” (cf. Psalm 37:32-33).
Psalm 41:3. “The LORD will strengthen him in all his languishing” and, literally, “make his bed” in his sickness. The tender bedside manner of the Great Physician (cf. Psalm 73:26), who died on a Cross on our behalf! It is in such times of affliction that we find ‘grace sufficient’, and ‘strength in weakness’ (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:9).
Psalm 41:4-10 takes the form of a lament. Even Jesus had to go through the dark night of Gethsemane. But Jesus had no personal sin to confess: He ‘knew no sin’; He ‘did no sin’; and ‘in Him is no sin’ (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5).
Psalm 41:4. The first stop for David (and us) was confession of sin. ‘Against you, you only have I sinned’ was his former plea (cf. Psalm 51:4). All sin is against God, but He stands ever ready to “heal” all our ‘backsliding’ (cf. Hosea 14:4).
B). THE ADOPTION OF MEPHIBOSHETH.
2 Samuel 9:6-13.
David the son of Jesse, and Jonathan the son of king Saul, were the best of friends. When they parted ways they entered into a covenant in which David vowed to show kindness to Jonathan’s family “for ever” (cf. 1 Samuel 20:14-16). After David became king, he remembered this promise (cf. 2 Samuel 9:1), and summoned Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth from Galilee to Jerusalem.
We can imagine that Mephibosheth came to David with a certain amount of uncertainty. As a member of a fallen dynasty in the Ancient Near East, what could he expect from this new king? Mephibosheth prostrated himself, and paid obeisance to his King (2 SAMUEL 9:6).
“Fear not,” David reassured him. Then king David promised to restore to Mephibosheth all the land of his grandfather Saul, and to give him a seat at the king’s table (2 SAMUEL 9:7; 2 SAMUEL 9:10-11; 2 SAMUEL 9:13). In other words, David gave Mephibosheth a royal inheritance (2 SAMUEL 9:9), and effectively adopted him as his own son (2 SAMUEL 9:13; cf. 2 Samuel 19:28).
Mephibosheth’s response (2 SAMUEL 9:8) echoes the humility of David’s earlier attempt to reassure king Saul that he was no threat to him (cf. 1 Samuel 24:14).
David further determined to ensure that Mephibosheth would be properly provided for (2 SAMUEL 9:10-11). As well as eating at the king’s table, Mephibosheth would have provision for his own household: his wife and son (2 SAMUEL 9:12).
APPLICATION. This passage serves as an adequate illustration of the Christian doctrine of Adoption: what it means to be adopted into the family of God.
In the New Testament, the Greek word translated ‘adoption’ means ‘a placing in the condition of a son’ (cf. Romans 8:15; Romans 8:23; Romans 9:4; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:5). This is not gender specific, as there is (literally) ‘not male and female’ in Christ Jesus (cf. Galatians 3:28). The Lord says, ‘I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters’ (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:18).
Mephibosheth was born into a rebellious house, whom God had rejected. So were we: as a certain rhyming couplet says, ‘In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.’ Consequently, the Bible says, We were born ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (cf. Ephesians 2:1).
Mephibosheth was effectively ‘adopted’ into David’s family on the basis of a historic covenant between David and Jonathan. All he had to do was believe it, and receive it.
Likewise, the basis for our adoption into the family of God is in the fact that, even before the beginning of time, God ‘predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will’ (Ephesians 1:5; cf. Romans 8:29). Then, in the fulness of time, we were ‘redeemed’ with a purpose: ‘that we might receive the adoption of sons’ (cf. Galatians 4:4-5). And all we have to do is believe it, and receive it (cf. John 1:12).
C). GOD IS LOVE.
1 John 4:7-21.
Every Sunday as I was growing up in Scotland, I would hear the minister of our church repeat these words from the beginning of 1 John 4:7 - “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God.”
This is one of the tests of true Christianity. We cannot claim to have the love of God in our hearts, nor can we claim to love God, if we do not love our fellow-believers in Christ. If we love one another, then it is evident that we are true servants of the God of love.
Jesus was once asked, ‘Which is the greatest commandment?’ To which He replied, ‘To love God first, and secondly to love our neighbour as ourselves’ (Matthew 22:35-40).
Love is not just a sentiment, but something which is active. ‘Let us do good to all,’ said the Apostle Paul, ‘especially to those who are of the household of faith’ (Galatians 6:10).
Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another. ‘By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another’ (John 13:34-35).
In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. We could almost imagine the neighbours saying to one another ‘See how these Christians love one another.’ Love should always be what marks out Christians from others.
The person who is born of the God of love, the Christian, becomes like Christ in his love towards others. And Christ’s love is a sacrificial love.
There was no limit to the love which God showed us. He sent His only Son into the World to live and to die, and to overcome death for us. The love of Jesus becomes the standard for our love. He who does not love does not know the God of love, for God is love.
Love has its origins not in the heart of man, but in the God of love. This love in God is so great, that He sent His Son into the world in order to make satisfaction for our sins. Jesus was the substitute on our behalf who paid the penalty for our sins with His own life’s blood.
We receive the love-gift of God’s forgiveness through faith in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the sacrifice of Jesus the righteous God is able to pass over our sins without compromising His justice (Romans 3:25-26).
The beginning and source of our love for God, and for one another, is in the love which God first displayed to us. Sinful human beings will not usually choose to serve God. Those who are Christians know that God first loved us. We did not deserve his love. It was ‘while we were yet sinners’ that ‘Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8). There is no greater manifestation of the love of God.
What evidence might we expect from one who claims to be a Christian? Well, one thing would be the love which he has towards his fellow believers. If Christ died for your sins, then you will love those whom God has loved. We may not see God in His own Person, but where there is love, there is the evidence that someone has been born of the Spirit of God.
There was a man who wished to be accepted into the membership of a certain other church in Scotland, and to partake of the communion of the Lord’s Table. The elders asked him to give an account of his faith, but being a simple man, he could not put it into words. However, the elders knew he was a man of God, and asked if he could say anything at all to convince them that he should be allowed to attend the Lord’s Table?
‘I love the brethren,’ replied the man (1 John 3:14-15).
We see God, not in images and pictures, but in such love abiding in Christian people. If we abide in love, we abide in God, for God is love. The faithful heart rests in God, and in the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God’s love is perfected in the hearts of His people, and He abides there.
The origin of love is found in God Himself. The demonstration of God’s love is seen in His sending of His Son to die for us. We love God because He first loved us.
God’s love for His people began in the counsels of Eternity, when Father, Son and Holy Spirit determined together to bring salvation to mankind through our Lord Jesus Christ. Believers in Him are said to be ‘chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world’ (Ephesians 1:4).
God so loved the world that, when the fullness of time had come, He sent forth His Son to die on our behalf. By this act, fear was vanquished in the hearts of believers. The torment of our consciences is quietened. The dread of a harsh judgement against us is cast out by the love of God towards us.
If we still live in fear of what the righteous God may do against us for our sins, we have not yet learned to dwell in His love. When we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we find that God’s love is a present reality. And by faith we know that His love will see us safe through to the day of judgement.
It is an amazing experience to travel to different lands, and to meet with Christians from different backgrounds. Wherever the Christian goes, if there is a group of fellow-believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in that place, the visitor is welcomed. We find a kinship which is closer than that of any family. People who never knew each other are at one because of the love of God which they hold in common.
The individual Christian has the love of God dwelling in his soul. In fact, this is the only way that the God of love may be seen: God dwells in His people by the Holy Spirit. Wherever we go, we meet God in our fellow-Christians. We are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. It is a bond of love which has its fountain in God Himself.
The person who says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother is described as a liar. He who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
He who loves God loves his brother also. This is a fact, but it is also a command. ‘This is My commandment,’ says Jesus, ‘that you love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12-13).
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God” (1 John 4:7).
D). THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.
Luke 16:19-31.
It was against the Pharisees who were lovers of money that Jesus spoke the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It is a sad story, which shows two men in quite different lifestyles in this life, and the fate of each of them in the life to come.
1. The rich man, however important he thought himself to be, is not given a name in the Gospel. He is a man with fancy clothing and plenty of food, and a house big enough to have its own gate. Other people existed only to serve and pamper him. Even in the place of torment he imagined that Lazarus should be sent to serve him, cooling his tongue or carrying messages to his brothers.
2. Lazarus was a poor man. Lazarus’s poverty was so great that he had to sit begging at the rich man’s gate. Even bread, the basic food, was not readily available to him, and he would gladly have eaten the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.
Lazarus was sick, no doubt from malnutrition and the inability to maintain his health. The poor man could never afford doctor’s fees. The only compassion he received was from the dogs that came and licked his sores. This was not a hygienic thing to allow.
The only dignity that remained to poor Lazarus in this life is that he is given a name. The LORD God knows His own people, and calls them by name.
3. So the beggar died. We hear of no funeral, but rather of the angels carrying his soul to the bosom of Abraham. By this we may conclude that Lazarus was truly one of God’s children, a true son of Abraham living by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Even the repentant thief on a cross was told by Jesus, “Today you shall be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
At death, the souls of believers enter into heaven. Their bodies remain in the earth. The Apostle Paul speaks of this state for Christian believers as being “asleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Thus they remain until the return of Jesus Christ.
4. The rich man also died. In this at least the rich man and Lazarus were equal. Death is the great leveller. “Death comes to all men and after death the judgement” (Hebrews 9:27).
The rich man was buried. In his case we do hear of a funeral. We can imagine that there would have been hired mourners, as was customary in their land. There may have been public orations from relatives and friends, and from flatterers who hoped to benefit from his legacy. This is the way of the world.
We do not, however, hear of angels bearing his soul to heaven, but rather of his immediate torment in hell. We may conclude from this that, whatever his upbringing or religious affiliation in this life, the rich man had not been a godly man, a true son of Abraham through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Whilst Lazarus was ushered immediately into paradise, the rich man had no place there. “There shall by no means enter heaven anything profane, but only those who are written in the Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27).
The rich man was sent to hell. This is the fate of the wicked, and of all that forget God.
5. The difference in judgement between the rich man and Lazarus was not simply a reversal of their social status, but a fair judgement on how they used their opportunities in this life. Not all rich men go to hell, nor do all poor men go to heaven.
It was not the poverty of Lazarus which guaranteed his acceptance into heaven, but how he lived his life before God. He begged, but he did not steal. Jesus makes no mention of the man publicly bemoaning his difficulties, or blaming others, or entering into political agitation, or condemning the rich man’s apparent heartlessness. That is all for God to judge.
Despite his poverty, Lazarus had learned contentment, as many do. More than this, he had learned the fear of the LORD - otherwise he would not have been received into heaven. “Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, than great treasure with trouble” (Proverbs 15:16).
Likewise, the rich man was not condemned to hell because of his riches, but rather for his missed chances. He had every opportunity to show compassion to the poor man at his gate, but does not appear to have done so. Surely he also knew the Hebrew Scriptures: “Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:9).
6. The separation between the rich man and Lazarus was full and final. When we die, we go to our respective places, either to heaven or to hell. We are judged on the lives we have lived, and on how we have used our opportunities to repent of a bad way of life by turning to our Lord Jesus Christ. We make our decision in this life, because after death there is no more opportunity for repentance. “If a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie” (Ecclesiastes 11:3).
The dead rich man could see Abraham afar off, and could see Lazarus in his bosom. The rich man prayed to Abraham who he thought he knew, calling him father. He did not pray to the God of Abraham, whom he had evidently never known. He asked Abraham to send Lazarus to serve him in that dreadful place, to bring water to relieve him from the awful flame.
The answer of Abraham only confirmed the totality of the separation between the godly and the unrighteous. The rich man had all his good things on earth, and Lazarus was receiving his good things in heaven. And there is a great gulf fixed, so that none can pass between heaven and hell.
Next the rich man asked that Lazarus be sent back to earth to warn the rich man’s five brothers of the reality of hell’s torments. Yet, said Abraham, they have Moses and the prophets. The Bible was read every week in the synagogue. That should be enough.
Knowing his own brothers, no doubt as he thought he was beginning to know his own heart, the rich man persisted. Surely if one goes to them from the dead they will repent? The final word of Abraham on the matter is conclusive. If they don’t believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.
7. We have the Bible, in its entirety. We can hear it read Sunday by Sunday, and at other Services appointed by the Ministers. If we can read, and are able to purchase a copy for ourselves, we will also find other times to hear what God is saying to us.
The Pharisees were condemned by Jesus for not discerning God’s voice in the books of Moses and the prophets which they professed to love. We have an even greater opportunity to exercise our faith because we have the writings of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. This is the Word of God, the only rule to direct us how to serve God.
In the New Testament we do read of one who arose from the dead, who before His death did warn us of hell, and by His death makes a way of access for repentant sinners to enter paradise. Rich or poor, if we do not take the chance to repent of our sins, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to join the community of God’s people on earth, then the fault is ours. In that respect, our fate is in our own hands.
What is it to be?
Will you continue under the wrath and curse of God against sinful mankind, revelling in the midst of the miseries of this life, with the prospect of a place of torments forever? Or will you trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, repent of all your sins, and enter into the assurance of His Father’s love, with the prospect of enjoying fellowship with Him in a place of no pain forever?
