Sermon - 2013-04-07 - The Trials of a King

David is often known as the boy who slayed the giant Goliath with a slingshot.  David is known for the wonderful heart devoted to God and so God greatly blessed the entire people of God within the Promised Land of Israel. However, while David enjoyed a life of prosperity, blessings and joy; David was human and strayed from the way that God wanted him to live.  God blessed David in so many ways.  Yet, even on top of all God had blessed him with.  It was still not enough.  So today, we are going to look at his more personal life.  Yes, for every person who seems squeaky clean on the outside; there is generally a flaw, a flaw they do not want people to know about.  The greater they try to hide it, the greater the flaw truly is.  

The story of David and Bathsheba is very familiar to us. So I am going to assume that you know the story and explain things a little further.  David looks out over the land from his balcony.  The King’s castle is placed upon a hill so that he could look out upon all of his kingdom.  He could look for miles. People would often bath on top of their roofs.  The water could be put up there and warmed up in the sun throughout the day.  Bathsheba, being married, should have been off limits. But David, being King, did not think that the rules applied to him.  

When David finds out that Bathsheba is pregnant, he sends for her husband Uriah.  During this time, soldiers could not simply leave the battlefield and return home.  Uriah displays great character and faith in God by staying with the servants rather than returning home.  David sent the order to his general, Joab, that Uriah should be placed in the front lines of the battle, where it was the most dangerous, and left to the hands of the enemy (where he was more likely to die). Uriah is sent back to the front lines carrying his own death sentence.  The wars that were fought were either in two ways.  Each army takes a hill around a valley, and fighting within the valley.  Or, the armies would fight surrounding a city and siege the people until they gave up. There were those soldiers who would be at the front; and I mean the very front.  They would see every arrow coming at them.  For those of you who have seen The Lord of Rings: The Two Towers, it would be like the orcs coming at the humans and the Elves within Helms Deep; except less medieval in their weapons.  It was pretty much a death sentence.

However, God had blessed David and the people and would not abandon them.  Nathan was sent to bring the very word of God to David.  (Why that’s me!!)  How does Nathan do it?  He constructs a story in which David does what he does best.  He brings judgement against someone.  As king, David’s word is law within the land. The sentence given though is not for typical stealing.  Usually this sentence would be to return the cost that was stolen plus 20%.  But, David declares that the punishment should be severe, so severe that it is the repayment for killing someone.  Four times the cost that is taken.  Only once the law is announced, is the culprit shown.  Nathan shows that David is the culprit.  Nathan is only the messenger who delivers the verdict from the true judge, we must answer to, God.  

God had poured out riches, wealth, and blessings upon David and his family but still that was not enough.  The child that Bathsheba would bear would die.  Along with that, turmoil would be found within David’s family. We, as God’s people, can learn a lot from this story.  Today, we are sitting in the glory, blessings, and gifts that others have given to us.  It is a great feeling.  However, once a person is there, we should never forget the struggles it took for us to get there.  We should never take for granted the gifts that we have received. It is one of the hardest things to teach. More often than not, we want to skip ahead and hear that everyone will live “happily ever after”.  Yet that journey becomes our journey so that we know it, live it, and ultimately can receive the rich blessings that have been given to us.  So we may know just how much of a gift it truly is for us.

That’s why we celebrate Christmas and Easter every year.  To know of the stories, to know that they are true, to understand the journey and to understand the gift of Jesus Christ. Only during Holy Week do we understand the true purpose of WHY Christ came into the world. For it is within this week, we realize God does not come in the ways or for the reasons we expected.  No, Christ comes to do something new within the world.  Christ comes to do the work for us.  To take on all we have done wrong and fully forgives us for them. This is known as the Atonement Theory of Satisfaction.  For it was through the work Jesus Christ did on the cross, the suffering, words and death that we bear witness to the full payment and substitution. For Jesus takes on the sins of the whole world, yours, mine, and anyone else you can think of. The sins of all were forgiven on the cross. It was not the sins of Jesus, for Jesus was without sin. However, Jesus takes on our Original Sin and all the sins within our life. Yes, ALL of them. The payment for your sins is paid in full, not from anything that you have done, but completely through the work that Jesus has done.  This work was done so that we could not screw up the work, we could not claim it as our own, or that we would not hold on to this world.  For this world will pass away. David shows us that even a man who is blessed by God, who is given all the riches of this world, and all the power of this world, can not save himself.  Yet the word of God that created it all shall continue. You are brought into that word, into that truth, and into that love of God. That word that created you, sustains you, and will bring you back into the presence of God is LOVE.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life.”  

So, what is there for you to do within the world? Now that you know fully of what God has done for you. You have heard witnesses share their accounts of the events. Now that you are aware, you are no longer a servant in the world but equal to the Son. For you know the work that God is doing, has done, and will do within world.  You are to go and do the work of which you are a part. You are to help those around you in need. You are to share the Good News of the work of the cross. For truly when Christ comes back among the living, he comes to announce that the gift has been given and the victory has been won. So we give thanks to God that we are members of the family, that we have received the gift he brought us, but that we can share in the Kingdom of God even here and now within this world.   AMEN!