Grabbed By Grace
II Samuel 9
Can you recall an event in your life that clearly demonstrated the incredible life changing Grace of God?
Do you remember this story?
*30 year old prisoner had committed murder in a robbery
*Sentenced to die – alone, no friends, no family that ever visited
*Angry -bitter-disillusioned-hateful
*His mother had moved to town but she didn’t visit him because he
was so angry at her
*He didn’t know she was in town-
*Here’s the story behind the story
**She had been married several times – her last marriage was to an abusive man who controlled her and her son with intimidation & violence. Every time the boy would misbehave the step father would go into a rage & if the kid couldn’t run out of the trailer house fast enough- he would get beat with a thick black belt on his bare back – but only after the man & the boys mom would whisper in hushed tones in the corner of the room. Then, with his mother watching quietly, the beating would start – one lash after another until it got to about a dozen –then the boy would run outside hating both the step father & his mother. **What the young boy & now prisoner never knew, is that his Mom would always talk her crazed husband into reserving half of the swings of that belt for her…but only after her son would run outside & be far enough away to never hear what was going on.
*When he was eventually told this story while on death row, it changed his perspective about those beatings & why his Mom seemed to just stand there and allow it and never say anything. It changed his heart…he forgave his Mom & got things straightened out with God.
Now I must tell you that this was a story on television.
**You say-“Aw, man it was just a TV show”… Yeah, but it was based on a true story.
How many times have we not understand something ugly in our life & have blamed others, & have become bitter & isolate ourselves from those who love us & even sometimes from God…friends I tell you, if it wasn’t for the Grace of God in our lives, we would all be the most miserable creatures on earth.
II Samuel 9
Beginning in this chapter, we are given an amazing picture of how God’s Grace can Grab someone and rescue them from a life of misery.
*King David lived about a thousand years before Christ.
*He was successful, secure, and satisfied with what God had done for him.
Ch. 8 tells us that David and his army had just defeated and subdued the Philistines, the Moabites, and the Syrians.
*His name was well known all over the Middle East.
One day David was thinking about his friend Jonathan…
Read 9:1
Jon, the son of King Saul, had been David’s closest friend in spite of the fact that Jon’s father was trying to kill David.
According to the culture of the day Saul’s son should have been the next in line to be King. He was the rightful heir, next-in-line successor of his father, Saul. But God had a different plan…and Jonathan accepted the fact that God had chosen David to be the next King of Israel.
In the world of that day it was also common that whenever a new family came to the throne of a nation, the first act of state would be to exterminate all members of the family of the previous regime so that there would be no contest for the throne. Because of that tradition, Jonathan asked David to be gracious to his family and to not kill any heirs. David fully agreed to that request. And as we’ll see, David never completely got over the loss of his friend. 9:2-3a
Before we leave this verse, I need to point out a key word. It is that word "kindness". It occurs three times in this chapter - verses 1, 3, and 7. It is the Hebrew word CHESED and it is used about 240 times in the Old Testament. It is variously translated with words like "kindness, mercy, favor, goodness, devotion, and grace." (W.E. Vine)
So, Saul’s servant Ziba answers David. Read v. 3b-4
Mephibosheth-that’s a mouthful isn’t it? I would imagine that his friends had a nickname for him-perhaps they called him ‘Bo’.
About 30 years before this event, there was a battle on Mt. Gilboa. In that battle against the Philistines, King Saul’s 3 sons were killed which included Bo’s father, Jonathan. When Saul realized what happened, he killed himself by falling on his sword rather than allowing the enemy to capture and torture him. At least that’s how Saul’s supporters would have reported it - fact is, Saul’s spiritual bankruptcy led to his despondency, defeat and demise.
‘Bo’ was only 5 years old at the time. When word reached the family that his dad Jonathan and his grandfather Saul had died there was a panic in the palace. As far as the servants & guards of the king’s residence knew, Bo and his servants would be killed as a new King would come to power. In the chaos that followed, as they tried to get away, there was an accident. As Bo’s nurse was running with him in her arms she fell and when the lad hit the floor it injured his spine & legs so much that he became lame. (4:4)
Years later, while David is on the throne Bo is living in a place called "Lo Debar," perhaps fearful that someday he may be found and killed. This part of the story illustrates the first point I want us to look at:
A. Our Need of Grace.
It’s hard to find a better illustration of the need of Grace in the OT than Jonathan’s son. It’s a picture of God’s relationship with man-kind.
Bo was:
1. Separated from David and the palace.
Lo Debar was in northern Palestine. David was down South in Jerusalem. There were many miles of separation between them.
In the same way people without Christ are separated from God. Isaiah 59:2 says, "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear."
The number one reason why everybody needs grace is because everybody’s sin and evil behavior separates them from God.
2. ‘Bo’ was afraid of David’s power.
The first thing David said to him when he arrived at the palace was "Do not fear..." vs. 7a. David could sense that Bo was fearful. There was no need for him to be afraid...but he didn’t know that… because he didn’t know David!
That’s the way it is with mankind. Separated from God and ignorant of Him, many are fearful. Many have the idea that God hates them and wants them to burn in Hell forever. When people don’t know God, they often are so afraid of Him that they hide from Him. They don’t realize that God actually cares about them. Just as Bo learned that he didn’t have to fear David, so, too we can learn that we do not need to fear God but trust in His marvelous Grace, Love and Forgiveness..
3. It would be understandable if Bo was hostile toward David.
When the soldiers went to get him, he was probably thinking…
1- "What does he want with me?
2. "Why doesn’t he just leave me alone!"
3- "I didn’t ask to be born into this miserable family! I didn’t deserve these lame legs & all because of David becoming King!"
Hostility is not an uncommon response among those who don’t know or understand God. Sometimes they ask: "Why in the world are these Christians pushing their morals on me anyway? Why don’t they just leave me alone!"
And perhaps we Christians are partly to blame for such a hostile response because sometimes we tend to expect Christian behavior from non-Christian people. I’m sure none of you have ever been guilty of this…… but some Christians have a "holier than thou" attitude toward unbelievers. And they exhibit it by saying things like- "Why don’t you quit that disgusting behavior and break those bad habits and stop swearing and become more like me!" Now I don’t know about you, but I hope that unbelievers will not become like that kind of a Christian. You see, expecting a non-Christian to live like one is like expecting the Seattle Mariners to win the World Series this year…or like thinking that Hillary Clinton will not run for President someday…or like expecting a turkey to fly like an eagle.
Non Christians cannot live like a Christian until they meet Christ and are changed by Him. We need to remember what Jesus clearly stated in John 3:17 -"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."
God wants people: *saved - not condemned *Growing spiritually - not criticized *Maturing in Him - not picked apart by judgmental Christians. Let’s not provoke any more hostility toward God than is already there because of their own sin & their misunderstanding of God and His Grace!
4. Bo was in a miserable place.
The place where he was hiding was called "Lo Debar," and it means literally, "no pasture" or "place of desolation, barrenness."
What a perfect description of man’s condition when he’s away from God! Barren…desolate. For some it takes awhile to understand that...but ultimately that is where ‘life away from God’ leads. The bottom line, then, is that mankind, away from God, afraid of and hostile toward Him, in a miserable place, needs to hear the good news that God isn’t the way man thinks He is! God loves sinners, even sinners like us and wants to help everyone with His Amazing Grace! Amen?
B. The Meaning of Grace. Read v. 7
Several things about grace are shown in this verse.
1. First, King David searched for someone who needed kindness and grace.
It’s obvious isn’t it that our friend Bo had not been seeking David. David sought Him!
And no one seeks for God until God first starts seeking Him! It is God who first looks for us and miraculously gives us the desire and ability to begin looking for Him! God is constantly reaching out to Grab People with His Grace!! Back before you were a Christian, you probably knew you needed something, but you didn’t have the foggiest notion what it was. Perhaps you looked for satisfaction and fulfillment in all kinds of things…but couldn’t find it. Then one day, God reached into your heart and Grabbed you by Grace and your life began to change!!
2. Secondly, David extended Grace to someone who had done nothing to deserve it.
This young cripple provided no utilitarian value to David. He had done nothing even to attract David’s attention, much less anything to merit such generous treatment. It would be more understandable had David been rewarding a war hero or a model citizen for his effort. In one sense, Bo was a nobody! He even acknowledged that about himself in vs. 8:
*To him, it was incredible that David was being so kind.
*He did not deserve what David wanted to do for him.
Look at verses 9-13…
David lavished abundance upon ‘Bo’ that he had not earned.
In the same way Grace is God lavishing his abundance on those who have done nothing to deserve it. Ephesians 2:8&9 says, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works that any man should boast." A gift isn’t something you have earned or deserved. It is something that is given as a result of kindness on the part of the giver! We must not think that God forgave us because we were so great or wonderful. We were neither. He gave us Grace out of the goodness of His heart!
3. David offered this kindness of Grace on the basis of the merits of someone else.
Remember David’s words back in verse 1? "Is there yet anyone left...that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?" David did these things on the basis of what Jon had done for him.
Bo was receiving the blessings earned by the life of another.
In the same way, God, too, lavishes his abundance upon us on the basis of what Jesus Chris did for us on the Cross!
Author David Redick wrote these words” We haven’t earned our position with God. It doesn’t matter how long or how fervently we have served the Lord.…..we stand where we do because of Christ, just like this son stood where he was because of his father, Jonathan. So we shouldn’t boast. We shouldn’t compare our record of service with that of others as though we were somehow worth more to God than they. We eat with our feet under God’s table just like all Christians and enjoy the benefits of family membership because Christ suffered for us on our behalf.”
4. David helped a man who could not help himself.
*Bo couldn’t fight for himself. *He couldn’t work. *He was dependent upon the goodness of others! Likewise, Grace is God helping those who cannot help themselves. I’m not talking about the "less fortunate" or the poor or homeless here when I speak of those who cannot help themselves! I’m talking about every human being! We’ve all been crippled by sin. We cannot get up and walk with God in our own strength. We are incapable of being right spiritually in our own strength. "For while we were still helpless,” Paul says in Romans 5:6, "at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
Even after getting right with God we are still dependent upon His help and hand-outs of ever increasing Grace! God just keeps on extending to us His great Grace.
ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR THAT? How Thankful?
C. The Power of Grace.
What do you suppose it was like for Bo to live in the Palace of David as though he were a son? There he was right alongside Amnon, Absalom, and later, Solomon and the other sons of David. It must have been incredible! He would share in all the benefits of royalty. Do you suppose that he ever forgot how he got there? Do you suppose he ever lost his sense of gratitude for what David had done for him? I doubt it! In fact, I don’t think he could. Why? Because being in David’s household and eating at David’s table, as nice as it was, didn’t take away the fact that he was still lame in both feet.
In the same way, even when we are adopted into God’s family and eat at his table, our humanity still lingers. Over and over again we are reminded how weak we are- how insufficient in ourselves we are- how sinful we can be if we don’t rely upon the Lord! In some ways we are still cripples.
Every time Bo came to the table, the limp was obvious and in that stone Palace you could probably here him…clump-thud… clump-thud…clump-thud…
Heh, we still struggle with our sin nature, my Christian friend. We are called to overcome it and obey God, but that struggle will be with us until we leave this world, either head first as we’re are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, or feet first as they put us into the grave. We eat at the Lord’s table in spite of our condition, not because we have overcome in our own strength but because of what God has done for us!! Each time we yield to a temptation, we’re hearing the "clump-thud, clump-thud, clump-thud..." of our condition. We should never forget our need and dependence upon God.
1. Though ‘Bo’ was still lame in both feet, each time he put his feet under David’s table, his true condition was covered up.
Wow-Double Wow!! Think about that- because of God’s Grace the same is true of us! The blood of Christ covers our:
1-sin 2-our sin nature 3-our weaknesses 4-our humanity 5-our failings 6-our shortcomings. His Grace redeems us and gives us Hope!! Hallelujah!! Is there anything better than that? No-a thousand times no!!
2. A wise recipient of Grace will always exhibit faithfulness that comes from gratitude.
A wise recipient of grace will always be indebted to the one who showed him kindness.
*Do you think Bo was grateful?
*Do you think he ever told others how good David was being to him?
*Do you think he would ever have double crossed David if given a chance?
*Perhaps the greatest tribute to this man’s gratitude is recorded in II Samuel 16.
Before the end of his life, David was driven out of the Palace in a takeover attempt led by his own son, Absalom. Let’s read what happened when he was fleeing the Palace just ahead of the approaching armies of Absalom…
Read II Samuel 16:1-4
Now, the only problem with what Ziba was saying here is that it was a self serving lie! Bo hadn’t chosen to stay behind to join the rebellion of Absalom. He had been left behind intentionally by Ziba. We learn that in the 19th chapter...Absalom’s attempt to take over the throne failed when he was killed by one of David’s generals. David returned to the Palace along with all his family and servants. As he was returning, he encountered Bo. Read II Samuel 19:24 All of this indicates that Bo was mourning for David and what happened to him.
David began to realize what was going on. David was glad to see him…but I wonder if we waited to hug Bo until after he bathed-what do you think?
Read 25-27
Bo had been faithful to David all along! He hadn’t double-crossed him…A wise recipient of Grace will exhibit faithfulness to God.
3. We should allow God’s Grace to stimulate us to greater Gratitude. Vss. 28-29
Did you notice that he still remembered David’s Grace? He still remembered what David had done for him! "I was like a dead man before you took me in, David. How can I complain?"
Like Bo even when things seem to go against us, we should resist a mouthful of complaints. What right do we have to moan and complain when we have been the recipient of such grace from the hand of God?
*Do we have that tendency? When things don’t go just exactly our way, are we conscious of the magnitude of God’s Grace and forgiveness, or do we demand our self proclaimed rights? Perhaps the greatest thing that could ever happen to bring unity to the body of Christ would be for all of us to truly see and understand the Awesome Grace in which we stand!
Now let’s consider the final thought: Look again at Bo’s attitude in vs. 30 …
Wow! That’s incredible! "As long as you are home, David, nothing else matters. Not my land, not the fact that I’ve been swindled by another servant. As long as our friendship is healthy, nothing else matters.”
Oh, how we need the spirit of Mephibosheth! It’s the attitude of those who know Grace. Such a spirit makes going the second and third mile a little easier! It helps smooth over the normal rough spots and works at calming the waters of strife. Now I’m not talking about denial, or mind over matter or ignoring the obvious- I’m talking about giving our hurts and frustrations and fears to God and allowing His Grace to heal and restore us in such a way that we can do His Will and please Him with our responses to life.
4. We should allow God’s Grace to change our perspective about life.
Response
1. Do we rejoice enough about how amazing Grace is?
2. Do we respond with more faithfulness to God because of this?
3. Do we submit our Perspective about life to God?
4. Do you need to be Grabbed again by God’s
awesome Grace?
5. Do you want God to do something new in your life?
Something refreshing? Do you need some Hope?
Then major on God’s Grace and as Peter wrote
“Grow in the Grace and Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Amazing Awesome Grace of God
I received this from a Funnies subscriber. It sure sounded like something that actually happened to her. But with the ’Net, you never know. On the surface it sounds like one of those cool stories that you wish was true. So I followed up and found out that it really did happen to her--in fact, on 04/30/02 in a youth ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri! Enjoy... per Mikey’s Funnies…….
I left work early so I could have some uninterrupted study time right before the final in my Youth Issues class. When I got to class, everybody was doing their last minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with us for just a little bit before the test. We went through the review, most of it right on the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard of. When questioned about it, he said that they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn’t really argue with that.
Finally it was time to take the test.
"Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one and I’ll tell you to start," our prof instructed.
When we turned them over, every answer on the test was filled in! The bottom of the last page said the following:
"This is the end of the Final Exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an ’A’ on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced...grAce."
He then went around the room and asked each student individually, "What is your grade? Do you deserve the grade you are receiving? How much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final grade?"
Now I am not a crier by any stretch of the imagination, but I had to fight back tears when answering those questions and thinking about how the Creator has passed the test for me.
Discussion afterward went like this: "I have tried to teach you all semester that you are a recipient of grace. I’ve tried to communicate to you that you need to demonstrate this gift as you work with young people. Don’t hammer them; they are not the enemy. Help them, for they will carry on your ministry if it is full of GRACE!"
Talking about how some of us had probably studied hours and some just a few minutes but had all received the same grade, he pointed to a story Jesus told in Matthew 20. The owner of a vineyard hired people to work in his field and agreed to pay them a certain amount. Several different times during the day, he hired more workers. When it was time to pay them, they all received the same amount. When the ones who had been hired first thing in the morning began complaining, the boss said, "Should you be angry because I am kind?" (Matthew 20:15).
The teacher said he had never done this kind of final before and probably would never do it again, but because of the content of many of our class discussions, he felt like we needed to experience grace.
Pray
Perhaps most of us need to understand the miracle of God’s Grace better than we do. In what area of your life do you need the Holy Spirit to apply more of the Grace of God? At Home? Marriage? Ministry Involvement? Career? Private life? Loneliness? What was it God told Paul…”My Grace is ? Sufficient for you”
Pray
