When I was growing up there were two things I really liked, Gameboy and bouncy balls. The only problem was that I didn’t own a Gameboy, and it always seemed like the bouncy ball I wanted belonged to someone else.
My oldest brother Jay did have a gameboy and he kept it in his closet in a white Styrofoam case. Occasionally I would borrow that white Styrofoam case and the gameboy just happened to come along with it. There was no telling how long I would have it before Jay found out that it wasn’t in his closet any longer. As was always the case, my mom would find me and ask me if I had Jay’s gameboy. Following my modus operendi, I said “NOPE.” Then I would scramble to get the gameboy put back into Jay’s closet. Lucky for me, no one ever really knew that I had it, wink.
The other thing that I coveted as a child was the bouncy ball. Hopefully you are all familiar with what I am referring to, but just in case I have one with me today. Now it wasn’t like I didn’t have any bouncy balls that were my own. I had lots of them, all different sizes and even shapes. Yes, I even had a bouncy ball that wasn’t round. Suffice it to say one bounce and you were done playing with that ball.
Now for some reason I must not have been taught all Ten Commandments. If I had been taught number ten, which says not to covet your brothers’ gameboy or neighbors bouncy ball, I would have behaved much better as a child. But I must have been tired and so mom only got through number 9 before I was asleep.
But like I was saying, I loved bouncy balls and my coveting drove me to sneak occasionally into my other brother Matt’s room. He had a junk drawer that contained some bouncy balls as well. And I would go in every once and a while and swipe one. Then in the fourth grade I encountered the biggest bouncy ball I had ever seen. My classmate’s name was William and he was a bit on the goofy side. But this ball that he had brought to school grabbed my attention on recess. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, William sat in the desk directly to my right. Our desks were pushed right up against each other, and I was successful in sneaking my hand into the left half of his desk in order to obtain that bouncy ball. I am embarrassed today to admit it. My name is Mike, and I am a kleptomaniac.
What is interesting to me this morning is that these are fun stories to tell, but the truth is that I knew I wasn’t supposed to do those things. Even at that young age, I knew the difference between right and wrong, but I just didn’t care. So I want to present a question to you this morning: What is the big deal with sin?
I want to tell you another story this morning. This is a true story and perhaps some of you will be familiar with it. If you are, don’t ruin it for your neighbor. A long time ago in a far away land there was a young king. It was spring time, the time when kings go off to war, but for some reason this king decided to stay back at the palace and to entrust the army to his best leaders. The army destroyed the Ammonites and besieged a city called Rabbah, but the king stayed in Jerusalem.
This young king was quite the famous man. His name was David, and he had accomplished great things already in his life. As a young boy he was the only one brave enough to stand up to the Philistine giant. And God personally chose to take him from the shepherd fields to Jerusalem to be king of Israel.
One evening David was in bed but he was restless, so he got up and took a walk on the roof of his palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman on another rooftop. She was bathing and David took note of her beauty. In fact, David was so taken by her beauty that he sent one of his servants to find out more about her. The servant came back with his report, “Her name is Bathsheba. She is the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
David, coveting what did not belong to him, sent messengers to get her. Bathsheba came to the palace and David slept with her. Bathsheba returned to her empty house. With her husband away at war, no one would have to know what had happened. But much to the surprise of the king, Bathsheba conceived and sent a message to David saying, “I am pregnant.”
Now David had a problem. It wouldn’t be as easy as he thought to hide what he had done. Bathsheba was not pregnant when Uriah left to go to war, and when he returned to find a pregnant wife or perhaps a child already born, there would be questions to answer. So David quickly thought of a plan. He sent for Uriah the Hittite and asked that he come back to Jerusalem to report to the king on the war. When Uriah arrived David asked him about Joab his general, about the men and about the war. He listened anxiously waiting for Uriah to finish. Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”
If everything went according to plan, Uriah would take the opportunity to sleep with his wife and the pregnancy could then be attributed to Uriah. But Uriah didn’t go home that night. He only went as far as the entrance to the palace and fell asleep with the other palace servants.
When David was told that Uriah did not go home, he called for him. Faking curiosity, David asked, “Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?” Uriah responded, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
Trying to hide his frustration, David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem and at David’s invitation he ate and drank with him, but David made him drunk. David thought surely now he will go to his home and be with his wife. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants and did not go home.
The following day David could think of only one more option. He wrote a letter to his general and sent it along with Uriah as he returned to the battle. In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” Uriah unknowingly carried his own death certificate as he returned to the battle.
While Joab had the city under siege he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out to fight, some of the men in David’s army died, including Uriah the Hittite. All of this was reported back to David and when Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. David was successful at hiding his actions from Uriah, but at what cost?
The last line of the story in 2 Samuel 11 says this, “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.”
So what is the big deal with sin? First of all sin displeases the Lord. God hates sin and when we participate in sin, we go against the plan God has for us. Furthermore, if we refer back to my story I told about the Gameboy and the bouncy balls. Every time I took Jay’s gameboy without permission, I ended up lying about it. When I took that bouncy ball from my classmate at school my mom asked where I got it. I had to lie then to cover up my stealing, so I told her I found it by the baseball field.
A similar thing happened in our story of David and Bathsheba. I count six obvious sins, there may be more that I don’t hit on, but that isn’t the point.
Sin 1: David didn’t just see a naked woman bathing and avert his eyes. No he remained where he was and watched her long enough to see she was beautiful.
Sin 2: After finding out who this woman was, after being told that she was married, David sent for her. In my opinion this was the key deciding point for David. He could have stopped after sin #1. But he was enjoying his sin, and already knowing what he intended to do with her, he sent for her to be brought to the palace.
Sin 3: David slept with Bathsheba. Surely he knew all ten of the commandments and decided to break #7.
Sin 4: Reacting to the news of Bathsheba’s pregnancy, David misleads Uriah. He pretends to care about the war while only desiring for Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba to cover up his own actions. But that didn’t happen, which leads to…
Sin 5: David tries and succeeds at getting Uriah drunk hoping that with altered judgment he might stumble home and be with his wife. Unsuccessful once again.
Sin 6: David, seeing no other way to hide from Uriah what has happened, he gives the command for Uriah to be placed at a spot in battle where he will surely die. Not only did Uriah die, but because of this order, the battle plan was altered which took the lives of other men as well.
Sin is a big deal. As Christians we strive each day to be more like our Lord, to be more like Christ who walked on earth as our example. And each day the devil tries to drag us backward by causing us to sin. Every day the world tries to convince us that sin harmless and that it is normal behavior. Sin can be pleasurable, sin can be enjoyable, sin can be fun. But sin is a trap, sin always has consequences, sin is self-destruction. As our story illustrates today, the first sin leads to a second, and the second to a third and so on.
So what are we to do? First we must be aware of our weaknesses. The enemy will attack each one of us in a different way. So if we identify areas where we are easily tempted, then we can better guard against temptation in that area. Maybe for David that would mean if women bath in the evening, then he would intentionally not go on the roof in the evening.
Secondly, as followers of Christ we must hold one another accountable. We do this without judging the other person. But if I see something in Zeke’s life that doesn’t look right to me, I am responsible to go to him and present the situation to him. I don’t go to 10 other people and tell them all about what I think is happening and then go and talk to Zeke. I go directly to Zeke. Why is it so important to go directly to him? Because I could be totally wrong. Going to him gives him the chance to clarify if I am misunderstood what happened. But if he is sinning, then it has been called to his attention and he chooses what to do with that. The hope is that he would follow the advice from the book of Hebrews and throw off the sin that so easily entangles.
The point today is that sin comes to us in all shapes and sizes, disguised in many different forms. But the truth from the word of God shows us that sin is nothing more than a trap. We can try to convince ourselves that sin can be harmless, but in fact it brings death, both physically and spiritually. We must be vigilant, not only to protect ourselves, but to help one another remain in Christ as he instructed us to do.
