Introduction:
A. Today I want to tell the story of a man named Mephibosheth.
1. Now there’s a name for you! Anyone want to use that name for their son?
2. It’s so hard to pronounce that I thought about giving him a nickname for today.
3. I thought about just calling him “M.”
4. Then I thought about “Fib,” but didn’t think that would work.
5. “Bo” sounded pretty good.
6. “Sheth” didn’t do much for me.
7. But I guess even though it is a bit of a tongue-twister, I’ll just call him by his full name.
I. His Story
A. Mephibosheth’s story is found in the Old Testament portion of the Bible, in the book of 2 Samuel.
B. The story goes something like this:
1. One day there was a knock on Makir’s front door.
2. Makir went to answer the door and there stood Ziba, a servant of the former King Saul, with an authoritative look on his face.
3. Bluntly, He told Makir the news: "King David wants to see Mephibosheth NOW!"
C. I’m sure all of us remember King David.
1. He’s the same David who killed Goliath the giant, then grew up to be the 2nd King of Israel and then got in trouble with Bathsheba.
2. What Mephibosheth didn’t know was that many years before David became king, Jonathan (Mephibosheth’s father) was David’s dearest friend.
3. In fact, Jonathan and David were so loyal to each other that they made a covenant together.
4. They promised that no matter what happened they would always look after each other’s families.
D. Not knowing any of that, Mephibosheth, now an adult, trembled at the news.
1. Finally, after all of these years, king David had found him, and now his life too was going to end!
2. His fear was not for himself alone, but also for Mica, his own son.
3. And his fear was likely mixed with another feeling: "It’s not fair, It’s just not fair!"
E. Mephibosheth was right. Life had not been fair to him.
1. Oh, His life had started out great. His father was prince Jonathan, and his grandfather was King Saul, the first king of Israel.
2. He was royalty and royalty had many privileges.
3. Back then he even had a royal name "Mirab Baal" meaning "opponent of Baal." Baal was a false, pagan god.
4. But now his name was different. Mephibosheth meant "Son of Shame." His name was changed all because of what happened that one day many years ago.
5. When he was a little boy, just 5 years old, a man, bloodied and exhausted from battle, ran into the palace gates and yelled out: "King Saul and his sons are dead!" "King Saul and his sons are dead!"
6. The same cold chill that he now felt ran through his body that day, many years before.
7. Back then he did not understand it all, but suddenly the palace became a place of panic.
8. Wives wept, servants were white with fear.
9. Mephibosheth remembered how his nurse came running up to him with a few things in her hand and she yelled: "RUN Mirab Baal - Run for your life!"
10. He didn’t understand, but he ran with her as hard as he could. But his five-year-old legs could only go so fast and so far.
11. In desperation, his nurse picked him up and with Mirab Baal in her arms, she ran, but something caused her to loose her hold on the boy, and he flew out of her hands and in the fall became crippled.
F. And so, on the day that his dad Prince Jonathan died, and his grandpa King Saul died. Mirab Baal’s life changed for the worse.
1. His nurse took him to Lo Debar, an obscure town a long way from the capital, and his name was changed from Mirab Baal to Mephibosheth, after all who would be interested in a person with a name like that - "Son of Shame."
2. He had to live the rest of his life without his father and with a severe disability – whenever he is mentioned in the Bible from then on, his disability is mentioned as well.
3. He lived there in hiding, because being part of the defeated royal family meant that he was also an enemy of the state.
4. He would have been a potential rival for the kingship – the sort of person Saul’s supporters would have rallied round in opposition to David, the new king.
5. And so, for many years he lived there in secrecy, being cared for by others.
G. But now, on this day there was a surprise at the door: “King David wants to see Mephibosheth!”
1. What did David want? What could Mephibosheth do?
2. But there was nothing Mephibosheth could do. His legs did not work. He could not run. He could not fight. He could not hide any longer.
3. He could only go see King David and face the end of his life with honor.
H. So Mephibosheth was brought before king David.
1. He bowed down to pay honor to David.
2. David said, "Mephibosheth!" But surprisingly, David’s voice didn’t sound angry.
3. Without even daring to look up - Mephibosheth answered "Your servant..."
4. Then King David said, “Don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” (2 Samuel 9:7)
5. I’m certain that Mephibosheth could not have believed what he was hearing!
6. He quickly put his face to the ground again and said: "What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?" (2 Samuel 9:8)
7. Dead dog – now that was a fitting name! It seemed anyone who opposed King David, the king chosen by God, was a dead dog. To oppose him was to oppose God. Just like Goliath was a dead dog. Mephibosheth could not expect anything different.
8. But as Mephibosheth waited face down, waited for King David to change his mind and for the sword to cut through his body, but something else happened!
9. “Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, ‘I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.’ (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)” (2 Samuel 9:9-10)
10. And so the story ends, “And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was crippled in both feet.” (2 Samuel 9:13)
11. After all these years, King David called for Mephibosheth, not to harm him, but to bless him.
I. Isn’t that an amazing and wonderful story?
1. Now what I’d like to do with the few minutes remaining is to show you that Mephibosheth’s story is a great illustration of each one of our stories.
2. Mephibosheth’s story represents what God has done for each one of us.
3. So, let’s make the comparison.
II. Our Story
A. First of all, like Mephibosheth, we were all CRIPPLED BY A FALL:
1. You remember from the story I just told that Mephibosheth’s well-meaning nurse panicked, and in her haste to get the boy away from danger, she dropped him.
a. Because of that, Mephibosheth grew up crippled in both feet.
b. This child would, for the rest of his days, need the help of others in order to get by.
c. He was pretty much at the mercy of anyone who came looking for him.
2. And in much the same way, the human race is crippled because of the fall of Adam.
3. We are also at a distinct disadvantage because of our propensity to sin.
a. Morally speaking – we cannot live up to the perfect standards of God.
b. Physically speaking - we all face pain and sickness and death.
c. Spiritually speaking - we cannot make ourselves righteous enough to approach God.
4. So, We have the same basic problem Mephibosheth had; he was crippled and so are we.
5. We are crippled when it comes to pleasing God on the basis of our own deeds.
B. Second, But the good news is that, like Mephibosheth, we were SOUGHT BY THE KING.
1. King David said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet” (II Samuel 9:3)
2. Mephibosheth did not search for the King; the King searched for him.
3. He was only 5 years old when he fled the palace and chances are, he didn’t even know David.
4. But David made himself known to Mephibosheth…just like God has revealed Himself to us.
a. And King David went out of his way to seek out this lost son.
b. Fortunately, for Mephibosheth, he sought him out for good not evil.
5. In very much the same way, Jesus came into the world seeking those who were not seeking him.
a. John 1:10 says that, “He (Jesus) was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”
b. Jesus said: “I have come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
6. As a general rule, people do not seek after God…mainly because they don’t know WHO He is or HOW he can be found.
7. We may know there IS a God. But we don’t really KNOW Him until he makes Himself known to us.
8. God is not the one who is lost, we are!
9. It is said that when Henry David Thoreau, the naturalist, was near death, he was visited by a religious aunt who asked him, “Henry, have you made your peace with God?”
a. His reply to her was, “I didn’t know that we had ever quarreled.”
10. That answer revealed profound spiritual ignorance. He really didn’t know any better.
11. And many people today are just like him.
a. They are utterly unconscious of the fact that they have sinned against God.
b. They have no idea that they are, in reality, lost and separated from Him.
c. They don’t know that the first step in coming to Christ is to realize that they are lost sinners who desperately need to be found and saved.
12. At least Mephibosheth knew he was officially an enemy of the King.
13. And he knew there was nothing he could do to make things right.
14. Unless the King came and sought him out, he was doomed to hide all his life.
C. Third, Like Mephibosheth --- who was SOUGHT BY THE KING --- we have been FOUND IN A FAR COUNTRY.
1. David asked a servant named Ziba where he could find Mephibosheth. Zeba explained he was hiding out in a country called Lo Debar.
a. I’m told that Lo Debar was a city east of the Jordan River.
b. The whole area is a barren wasteland.
c. The literal meaning of Lo Debar is “the place of no bread.”
2. Mephibosheth was hiding out in a desolate place.
3. Like him, we are also in a desolate place if we are separated from God: a place of no bread.
4. But to that place comes Jesus --- who is the bread of life.
5. He came into our desolate place so that we could have nourishment and life.
6. God took the initiative to seek and to find.
7. In the parable that Jesus told about the lost sheep.
a. The Good Shepherd left 99 healthy sheep back in the safety of the sheep-fold while he scoured the countryside all night, looking for one wayward lost lamb.
8. That’s how God looks for any lost sinner.
9. Mephibosheth was sought by the King and found in the far country, and so are we!
D. Fourth, Like Mephibosheth, we were SAVED FOR ANOTHER’S SAKE.
1. David said to Mephibosheth, “Do not fear for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake...” (II Samuel 9:7)
2. David loved Mephibosheth from the very beginning…not for his own sake…not for anything Mephibosheth had done to deserve that love…but for Jonathan’s sake.
3. His love for Jonathan extended through the generations to Jonathan’s descendants.
4. In much the same way, God loves every one of us for His Son’s sake.
5. We don’t have to earn his love…we already have His love.
6. God’s love was given freely…given in the name of His son, Jesus.
7. Ephesians 1:5-6 says, “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”
E. Finally, we notice that the story of Mephibosheth has a happy ending. (We like stories with happy endings don’t we?) And our story, too, can have a happy ending because…like Mephibosheth…we can some day be RESTORED TO THE KING’S TABLE.
1. Verse 11 reads, “So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.”
2. Jesus often spoke of the great banquet that is going to take place some day in heaven.
3. Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God.” (Lk. 14:15)
4. The church is the bride of Christ, and Jesus, the groom, has set a place for us at HIS banquet table…and the place mat has your name on it and mine!
5. How about that for a happy ending?
6. The table has been prepared. We are invited. The question is: How will we respond to the invitation?
Conclusion:
A. I hope and pray that the story of Mephibosheth will stick in your minds and in mine.
1. I hope that it will remind us of how crippled and lost we all were or still are.
2. Yet we are reminded how God actively seeks those who are lost and brings them home to his table.
3. That kind of love for the lost sinner deserves a response, wouldn’t you say?
B. I hope and pray that in love and gratitude each one of us will reach out to the one who has already reached out to us.
1. Responding to God is not really a complicated thing. God has made it simple
2. It begins with the validity of our faith. Hebrews 11:6 reads, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
3. Our faith must then be confessed before others. Romans 10:9-10, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
4. Our faith causes us to admit our lost state and acknowledge our need for change – which is called repentance. Jesus said in Luke 13:3, “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
5. Each of these culminates in a spiritual birth as we are immersed in water for the forgiveness of our sins – this is called baptism. Peter instructed those first believers in the first century who wanted to be saved, saying, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39)
6. In baptism we are united with Christ, our sins are washed away, and we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit.
7. For thousands of years, people have been hearing this simple message of God’s love and their need for a Savior.
8. Millions and millions of people have put their faith in Jesus, have turned their lives over to God in repentance, and have been buried with Christ in baptism.
9. We see in Scripture that thousands were baptized the very first time they heard that message in Acts 2.
10. Baptisms were never delayed. No matter what time of the day or night it was – when a person believed, repented and made the confession, they were baptized.
11. We want to offer you that opportunity, right now.
12. Do you recognize your need for a Savior? Do you realize that Jesus is the Savior you need?
13. Are you willing to turn your life over to Jesus and follow him as Lord?
14. If the answer is “Yes”, then you need to do is to walk to the front as we sing this song, and tell us that you want to become a follower of Jesus.
(Some ideas for this sermon came from the sermon Restored by a King by K. Edward Skidmore)
