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Unheard, scandalous grace
If we go back to the Old Testament, to the 1. Book of Samuel, you discover, towards the end of the book, that the people of Israel (the Israelites) are once again in battle with their archenemy, the Philistines.
In this particular situation, they are beaten. In fact, they're hit harder than the Oklahoma football stadium, the Orange Bowl. That is bad; for on this special day, in this special battle, their king, Saul, must die. His son, Jonathan, dies with him in this fight. Our story begins a few chapters later, in 2. Samuel 4,4 (GN-2000):
“Moreover, a grandson of Saul, a son of Jonathan named Merib-Baal [also called Mephibosheth] lived, but he was paralyzed in both legs. He was five years old when his father and grandfather died. When news of this came from Jezreel, his nurse took him in to flee with him. But in her haste she dropped him. He's been paralyzed ever since." This is the drama of Mephibosheth. Because this name is difficult to pronounce, we're giving it a pet name this morning, we're calling it "Schet" for short. But in this story, the first family seems to have been completely murdered. Then, when the news reaches the capital and arrives at the palace, panic and chaos ensue - knowing that often when the king is killed, family members are also executed to ensure there is no future uprising. So it happened that in the moment of general chaos, the nurse took Shet and escaped from the palace. But in the hustle and bustle that prevailed in the place, she drops him. As the Bible tells us, he remained paralyzed for the rest of his life. Just think, he was of royal stock, and the day before, like any five-year-old boy, he was completely carefree. He walked around the palace without any concern. But that day his whole destiny changes. His father has been killed. His grandfather has been killed. He himself is dropped and paralyzed for the rest of his days. If you read the Bible further, you won't find much recorded about Shet over the next 20 years. All we really know about him is that he lives in a dreary, isolated place with his pain.
I can imagine that some of you are already starting to ask yourself a question I often ask myself when I hear the news: "Okay, so what?" So what? What does this have to do with me? There are four ways I want to answer today's “so what?” Here is the first answer.
We are broken as we think
Your feet may not be paralyzed, but maybe your mind. Your legs may not be broken, but, as the Bible says, your soul. And that's the situation of every single one in this room. It is our common situation. When Paul talks about our desolate condition, he even goes a step further.
See Ephesians 2,1:
“You too have a part in this life. In the past you were dead; for you disobeyed God and sinned”. He goes beyond being broken, beyond just being paralyzed. He says that your situation of separation from Christ can be described as 'spiritually dead'.
Then he says in Romans 5 verse 6:
“This love is shown in the fact that Christ gave his life for us. In due time, while we were still in the power of sin, he died for us ungodly people."
Do you understand? We are helpless and, like it or not, whether you can confirm it or not, believe it or not, the Bible says that your situation (unless you are in a relationship with Christ) is that of the spiritually dead. And here is the rest of the bad news: there is nothing you can do to fix the problem. It doesn't help to try harder or get better. We are more broken than we think.
The King's Plan
This act begins with a new king on the throne of Jerusalem. His name is David. You have probably heard of him. He was a shepherd boy who tended sheep. Now he is king of the country. He had been the best friend, a good buddy of Schet's father. Schet's father's name was Jonathan. But David not only took the throne and became king, he also conquered the hearts of the people. In fact, he expanded the kingdom from 15.500 square kilometers to 155.000 square kilometers. You live in peacetime. The economy is doing well and tax revenues are high. If it had been a democracy, it would have been certain of victory for a second term. Life just couldn't have been better. I imagine David getting up earlier this morning than anyone else in the palace. He walks leisurely out into the courtyard, he lets his thoughts wander in the cool morning air before the pressure of the day takes up his mind. His thoughts move back, he begins to recall the tapes from his past. On this day, however, the tape does not stop at a certain event, but stops at a person. It is Jonathan his old friend, whom he has not seen for a long time; he had been killed in battle. David remembers him, his very close friend. He remembers times together. Then David remembers a conversation with him out of a blue sky. At that moment David was overwhelmed by God's goodness and grace. Because none of this would have been possible without Jonathan. David was a shepherd boy and now he is king and lives in a palace and his mind wanders back to his old friend Jonathan. He remembers a conversation they had when they made a mutual agreement. In it they promised each other that each of them should take care of each other's families, no matter where their future journey might lead. At that moment David turns around, goes back to his palace and says (2. Samuel 9,1): “Are any of Saul’s family still alive? I want to do a favor to the person concerned - for the sake of my dead friend Jonathan?" He finds a servant named Ziba, and he answers him (v. 3b): "There is another son of Jonathan. He's paralyzed in both feet.” What I find interesting is that David doesn't ask, "Is there anyone worthy?" or "Is there any politically savvy who could serve in my government's cabinet?" or "Is there anyone with military experience who could help me lead an army?" He simply asks, "Is there anyone?" This question is an expression of kindness. And Ziba replies, "There is someone who is paralyzed." In Ziba's response, you can almost hear, "You know, David, I'm not sure that you really want him near you. He's really not like us. He doesn't suit us. I am not sure that he has royal qualities.” But David persists and says, “Tell me where he is.” This is the first time the Bible speaks of Shet without mentioning his disability.
I've thought about it, and you know, I think in a group this size here, there's a lot of us that carry a stigma. There is something in our past that sticks to us like an anklet with a ball. And there are people who keep accusing us; they never let her die. Then you hear conversations like: "Have you heard from Susan again? Susan, you know, that's the one who left her husband." Or: "I spoke to Jo the other day. You know who I mean, well, the alcoholic." And some people here are wondering, "Is there anyone who sees me separate from my past and my past failures?"
Ziba says: "I know where he is. He lives in Lo Debar." The best way to describe Lo Debar would be as "Barstow" (a distant place in Southern California) in ancient Palestine. [Laughter]. In fact, the name literally means "a barren place". That's where he lives. David locates Shet. Just imagine this: the king runs after the cripple. Here is the second answer to the “Well, and?”
You are being followed up more intensively than you think
That's incredible. I want you to pause for a moment and think about it. The perfect, the holy, the righteous, the almighty, the infinitely intelligent God of the Creator of the whole universe, runs after me and runs after you. We speak of searching people, people on a spiritual journey to discover spiritual realities.
But when we go to the Bible, we see that in reality God is originally the seeker [we see this throughout Scripture]. Going back to the beginning of the Bible the story of Adam and Eve begins the scene where they hid from God. It is said that God comes in the cool of the evening and seeks Adam and Eve. He asks: "Where are you?" After Moses had made the tragic mistake of killing an Egyptian, he had to fear for his life for 40 years and fled into the desert. There God sought him out in the form of a burning bush and initiated a meeting with him.
When Jonah was called to preach in the name of the Lord in the city of Nineveh, Jonah runs in the opposite direction and God runs after him. If we go to the New Testament, do we see Jesus meet twelve men, pat them on the back and say: "Would you like to join my cause"? When I think of Peter after he had denied Christ three times and left his career as a disciple and turned back to fishing - Jesus comes and looks for him on the beach. Even in his failure, God goes after him. You are being followed, you are being followed ...
Let's look at the next verse (Ephesians 1,4-5): “Even before he created the world, he had us in mind as people who belong to Christ; in him he has chosen us to stand holy and spotless before him. Out of love he has us in mind ...: literally he has chosen us in him (Christ). he destined us to be his sons and daughters—through and in view of Jesus Christ. That was his will and that's how he liked it." I hope you understand that our relationship with Jesus Christ, salvation is given to us by God. She is controlled by God. It is initiated by God. She was brought forth by God. He follows us.
Back to our story. David has now sent out a group of men to search for Shet, and they discover him in Lo Debar. There Schet lives in isolation and anonymity. He did not want to be found. In fact, he did not want to be found so he could live the rest of his life. But he was discovered, and these fellows take Schet and lead him to the car, and they put him in the car and drive him back to the capital, to the palace. The Bible tells us little or nothing about this chariot ride. But I'm sure we can all imagine what it would be like sitting down on the floor of the car. What emotions Schet must have felt on this trip, fear, panic, uncertainty. To feel like this could be the last day of his earthly life. Then he starts to make a plan. His plan was this: If I appear before the king and he looks at me, then he realizes that I am not a threat to him. I fall down before him and ask his mercy, and maybe he will let me live. And so the car drives in front of the palace. The soldiers carry him in and place him in the middle of the room. And he somehow fights with his feet, and David comes in.
The encounter with grace
Notice what happens in 2. Samuel 9,6-8: ”When Merib-Baal, the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul, arrived, he threw himself down before David, his face to the ground, and did him due honour. "So you are Merib-Baal!" David spoke to him and he answered: "Yes, your obedient servant!" "Habakuk do not be afraid," said David, "I will do you a favor for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will give you back all the land that once belonged to your grandfather Saul. And you may always eat at my table.” And, looking at David, he is forced to ask the following question. "Merib-Baal threw himself on the ground again and said: 'I am not worthy of your mercy on me. I'm nothing more than a dead dog!"'
What a question! This unexpected show of mercy... He understands that he is a cripple. He's a nobody. He has nothing to offer David. But that's what grace is all about. The character, the nature of God, is the inclination and disposition to bestow kind and good things upon unworthy people. That, my friends, is grace. But, let's face it. This is not the world most of us live in. We live in a world that says, "I demand my rights." We want to give people what they deserve. Once I had to serve on a jury, and the judge told us, "Your job as a jury is to find the facts and apply the law to them. No more. No less. To discover the facts and apply the law to them." The judge was not at all interested in mercy, much less mercy. She wanted justice. And justice is necessary in court to keep things straight. But when it comes to God, I don't know about you -- but I don't want justice. I know what I deserve. I know how I am. I want mercy and I want mercy. David showed mercy simply by sparing Shet's life. Most kings would have executed a potential heir to the throne sparing his life showed David mercy. But David goes far beyond mercy. He showed mercy to him by saying: "I brought you here because I wanted you mercy e r want to show." Here comes the third answer to the "so what?"
We are loved more than we think
Yes, we are broken, and you follow us. And that's because God loves us.
Roman 5,1-2: “Now that we have been accepted by God because of faith, we have peace with God. We owe that to Jesus Christ, our Lord. He opened the way of trust for us and with it access to the grace of God in which we are now firmly established.”
And in Ephesians 1,6-7: “…so that the praise of his glory may ring out: the praise of the grace he has shown us through Jesus Christ, his beloved Son. By whose blood we are redeemed:
All our guilt is forgiven. [Please read the following aloud with me] So God showed us the riches of His grace. "How great and rich is the grace of God.
I don't know what's going on in your heart. I don't know what kind of stigma you have. I don't know which label is on you. I don't know where you've failed in the past. I don't know what atrocities you are hiding inside. But I can tell you that you no longer have to wear these. On December 18, 1865, the 1st3. Amendment to the US Constitution signed. In this 1st3. Change, slavery was forever abolished in the US. It was an important day for our nation. So on December 19, 1865, technically speaking, there were no more slaves. Yet many continued to remain in slavery - some for years for two reasons:
- Some had never heard of it.
- Some refused to believe that they were free.
And I have the suspicion, spiritually speaking, that there are a number of us today, in this room, who are in the same situation.
The price has already been paid. The way has already been prepared. It's about the following: Either you have not heard the word or you just refuse to believe it could be true.
But it is true. Because you are loved and God followed you.
A few moments ago, I gave Laila a coupon. Laila did not deserve him. She did not work for it. She did not deserve it. She did not fill out an application form for it. She came and was simply surprised with this unexpected gift. A gift someone else paid for. But now their only job - and there are no secret tricks - is to accept it and begin to enjoy the gift.
In the same way, God has already paid the price for you. You only need to accept the gift that he offers you. As believers, we had a mercy encounter. Our lives changed with the love of Christ and we fell in love with Jesus. We did not deserve it. We were not worth it. But Christ offered us this most wonderful gift of our lives. That's why our life is different now.
Our lives were broken we made mistakes. But the king followed us because he loves us. The king is not angry with us. The story of Shet could end right here, and it would be a great story. But there's one more part - I don't want you to miss it, it's the one 4. Scene.
A place on the board
The last part in 2. Samuel 9,7 reads: “I will give you back all the land that once belonged to your grandfather Saul. And you can always eat at my table." Twenty years earlier, at the age of five, the same boy suffered a terrible tragedy. Not only did he lose his entire family, he became paralyzed and injured, only to live in exile as a refugee for the last 15 to 20 years. And now he hears the king say: "I want you to come here." And four verses later David says to him: "I want you to eat with me at my table like one of my sons". I love that verse. Shet was part of the family now. David didn't say, "You know, Shet. I want to give you access to the palace and let you visit every now and then." Or: "If we have a national holiday, I'll let you sit in the king's box with the royal family". No, you know what he said? "Schet, we'll reserve you a seat at the table every night because you're part of my family now." The last verse in the story says this: “He dwelt in Jerusalem, for he was a regular guest at the king's table. He was paralyzed in both feet." (2. Samuel 9,13). I like the way the story ends because it seems like the writer put a little postscript at the end of the story. We are talking about how Shet experienced this grace and is now supposed to live with the king, and that he is allowed to eat at the king's table. But he doesn't want us to forget what he has to overcome. And the same goes for us. What it cost us was we had an urgent need and had a grace encounter. Several years ago, Chuck Swindol wrote eloquently about this story. I just want to read you a paragraph. He said: "Imagine the following scene several years later. The doorbell rings in the king's palace and David comes to the main table and sits down. Shortly afterwards, Amnon, the cunning, cunning Amnon, sits down on David's left side Then Tamar, a beautiful and friendly young woman, appears and sits down next to Amnon. On the other side, Solomon comes slowly from his study - precocious, brilliant, thought-lost Solomon. Absalom with flowing, beautiful, shoulder-length hair takes a seat. At this one In the evening Joab, the brave warrior and troop commander, was invited to dinner. One seat, however, is still vacant, and so everyone is waiting. They hear shuffling feet and the rhythmic hump, hump, hump of the crutches. It's Schet, who slowly makes his way to the table. He slips into his seat, the tablecloth covers his feet. " Do you think Shet understood what grace is? You know, that describes a future scene when the whole family of God will gather in heaven around a great banquet table. And on that day the tablecloth of God's grace covers our needs, covers our bare souls. You see, the way we come into the family is by grace, and we continue it in the family by grace. Every day is a gift of His grace.
Our next verse is in Colossians 2,6 “You have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord; therefore now also live in fellowship with him and according to his way!” You received Christ by grace. Now that you are in the family, you are in it by grace. Some of us think that once we become Christians - by grace - that we need to work extra hard and please God to make sure He continues to like and love us. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. As a dad, my love for my children isn't dependent on what kind of job they have, how successful they are, or whether they're doing everything right. All my love belongs to them simply because they are my children. And the same goes for you. You continue to experience God's love simply because you are one of His children. Let me answer the last "so what?"
We are more privileged than we think
Not only did God spare our lives, but he has now showered us with his life of grace. Listen to these words from Romans 8, Paul says:
“What is left to say about all this? God Himself is for us [and He is], then who will stand against us? He did not spare his own son but put him to death for all of us. But if he has given us the son, will he withhold anything from us?” (Romans 8,31-32).
Not only did he give up Christ so we could enter his family, but he now gives you everything you need to live a life of grace once you are in the family.
But I love that phrase, "God is for us." Let me repeat, "God is for YOU." Again, there's no doubt that some of us here today don't really believe that. It never occurred to us that anyone in our fan base would believe the stadium to encourage us.
I played basketball in high school. We usually don't have an audience when we play. One day, however, the gym was full. I found out later that they had planned a fundraiser that day where you could buy an exit from class for a quarter of a dollar. Before that, however, you had to come to the baseball game. At the end of 3. There was a loud buzz in the second sentence, school was discharged, and the gym emptied as quickly as it had filled before. But over there, in the middle of the audience benches, sat two people who stayed until the end of the game. It was my mom and my grandma. You know what? They were for me and I didn't even know they were there.
Sometimes it takes you a while after everyone else finds out - until you realize that God is on your side in every way. Yes, really, and he is watching you.
The story of Schet is just great, but I want to answer another question before we go, it's: Well, and?
Let's start with 1. Corinthians 15,10: “But by the grace of God I have become so, and His gracious intervention has not been in vain.” This passage seems to be saying, "When you have had an encounter of grace, changes make a difference." When I was a child and growing up I did quite well in school and succeeded in most things I tried. Then I went to college and seminary and got my first job as a pastor at the age of 22. I didn't know anything but thought I knew everything.I was in seminary and flew back and forth every weekend to a more rural town in the west-central Arkansas It would have been less of a culture shock to go abroad than going to west-central Arkansas.
It's a different world and the people there were just lovely. We loved them and they loved us. But I went there with the goal of building a church and being an effective pastor. I wanted to put everything into practice that I had studied in the seminary. But, honestly, after being there for about two and a half years, I was done. I didn't know what to do anymore.
The church has hardly grown. I remember asking God: Please, send me somewhere else. I just want to get away from here. And I remember sitting alone in my office at the desk and nobody else was in the whole church. The whole staff was just me, and I started crying and was worried and feeling like a failure and felt forgotten and prayed with the feeling that nobody was listening anyway.
Although this is more than 20 years ago, I still remember it very vividly. And though it was a painful experience, it was very useful because God used it in my life to break my self-confidence and pride and helped me understand that whatever he would do in my life would do Everything happened because of his grace - not because I was good or because I was gifted or because I was clever. And, when I think about my trip in recent years and see that I was allowed to get a job like this [and I'm the least qualified for what I do here], I often feel inadequate. I know one thing, that wherever I am, whatever God wants to do in my life, in me or through me, everything happens because of His grace.
And when you've grasped that, when that really sinks in, you can not be the same anymore.
The question I began to ask myself is, "Do we who know the Lord live lives that reflect grace?" What are some of the characteristics that indicate that "I live a life of grace? "
Let's close with the following verse. Paul says:
“But what does my life matter! The only important thing is that I fulfill the commission that Jesus, the Lord, gave me [which?] to the end: to proclaim the good news [the message of his grace] that God has had mercy on people” ( Acts 20,24). Paul says: this is my mission in life.
Like Shet, you and I are spiritually broken, spiritually dead. But like Shet, so were we, because the King of the Universe loves us and wants us to be in his family. He wants us to have a mercy encounter. Maybe that's why you're here this morning and you're not even sure why you came here today. But internally you will notice that jolt or that pull in your heart. That's the Holy Spirit talking to you, "I want you in my family." And, if you have not taken the step to begin a personal relationship with Christ, we would like to offer you this opportunity this morning. Just say the following: "Here I am, I have nothing to offer, I'm not perfect, If you really knew my past life, you would not like me." But God would answer you, "I like you, and all you have to do is accept my gift." So I would like to ask you to bow down for a moment, and if you have never taken that step, I would ask you to simply pray with me. I say one sentence, you just have to say it, but tell the Lord.
"Dear Jesus, like Shet, I know I'm broken and I know I need you and I don't fully understand it, but I believe that you love me and that you have followed me and that you, Jesus, died on the cross and the price of my sin has already been paid. And that's why I'm asking you now to come into my life. I want to know and experience your grace so that I can live a life of grace and be with you always.
by Lance Witt