This Ministry of Reconciliation

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Don Filcek; 2 Samuel 19:8-43 This Ministry of Reconciliation

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You're listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsak is preaching from his series,
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The Warrior Poet King, Study of Second Samuel. Let's listen in. Well, good morning and welcome to Recast Church.
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I'm Don Filsak. I'm the lead pastor here. And I'm glad that you're here, and I hope that you are too.
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So, I love the gathering together of God's people. I love the opportunity that we have to look around and see that we're not alone in this journey of life.
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And here, as a church, we value replication, community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth.
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You see that above the donuts on the sign there? And that's an acronym for our name, really.
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Our name is an acronym, Recast. Replication, community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth. And we center our time every
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Sunday morning around a section of God's Word so that we hear from Him together. I think that's vital.
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I think that's fundamental. The capital T, Truth, in Recast. The truth shines into our hearts and brings a message that challenges our preconceived notions about the world, about ourselves, and about God.
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All of us have some preconceived notions. We, left to ourselves, would formulate an opinion about the world.
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We would formulate an opinion about ourselves. We would even formulate an opinion about God. But on what basis?
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And so we come back to God's Word as the truth to correct us in terms of the way that we think of the world and those things.
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This morning, we're going to dig into a text of Scripture that shows King David of Israel moving toward restoration to his throne.
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He's been marginalized, been pushed to the side. There's been an insurrection. His son has tried to take his throne from him.
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And we can get lost in a text like this, in the politics of ancient Israel. We can miss the reality that this is truly about relationships.
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That's what we're looking at in our text. In a fallen world, our hearts will be moved to distrust, to distrust one another, to distrust
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God. And if we're not careful, distrust in our hearts will lead to guarding ourselves and closing ourselves off to real relationships that will be within our family, within our church, within our communities.
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We have a tendency to withdraw if trust is broken. And that often results in a type of cynicism that can settle in over a life that wonders if anyone can ever truly be trusted.
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And we can seal ourselves off to hurt and to pain and eventually to relationship.
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Our text follows the slow return of David back into the rule and reign over a people who previously rejected him for his own son.
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There was an attempted coup, an insurrection. David's own son, Absalom, tried to steal his father's throne.
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And I think it's good for us to set this table before we read the text that I'm about to. But David defeated
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Absalom in a battle that we saw last week. And in tragic fashion, his son was killed in that battle.
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And at face value, our text this week looks like both David and Israel figuring out how to come back together again, how to rebuild trust.
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They're coming back together to mend a broken relationship. And in that sense, it serves as a good model for us.
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If you can see past the details, although I don't recommend that we see past the details. We're going to look at the details, but then we're going to see past those two bigger picture principles that God is trying to teach us from the
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Word. We are going to see a nation and a king reunited, rebuilding trust.
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That's the point of the passage. But if you look just a little past those details, we can see something that David and the people do well, some things that they do well in reconciling and some things they do not do well in reconciling.
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And that will be more the emphasis next week. What they do well in reconciling is this week. Every one of us needs, has needed, or will need the principles presented in this passage.
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Because all of us will experience broken relationships in this world. Most of us already have. David cannot rush back into Jerusalem and just pretend his people never supported his own son against him.
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I mean, you know that sometimes you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Like once it's squeezed out, once you've said those words to your spouse, once you've lashed out at your kids in that way.
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How many of you just raise your hand and say, there are things in my life I wish I hadn't done in the heat of the moment.
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And now I can't put that back right. And that's what David and the people of Israel are facing here.
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He is not returning to the same nation that he left. But he is going to return to that nation.
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He will again be reestablished to that throne. And the healing of that begins in the passage that we're looking at this morning.
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So, if you can do me a favor and open up your apps, your Bibles, your scripture journals, some way to access 2
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Samuel chapter 19, verses 8 through 15. Anybody bothered that that was off -center for all that time?
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Did anybody even notice that? Dave was like, yeah, that was bothering me.
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So we're going to read this passage together in its entirety. It's going to be 2 Samuel chapter 19, starting in verse 8.
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And we're going to read that all the way to the end of the chapter. So, if you can follow along, it's beneficial for you to see that the things that I'm saying are coming from God's word and to actually take it in.
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And our goal is that the Spirit would speak to our hearts through the hearing of His word.
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2 Samuel chapter 19, starting in verse 8. Now Israel had fled every man to his own home.
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And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, the king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the
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Philistines. And now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. But Absalom, who we appointed over us, is dead in battle.
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Now, therefore, why do you say nothing about bringing the king back? And King David sent his message to Zadok and Abiathar the priest.
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Say to the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house?
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When the word of all Israel has come to the king. You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh.
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Why then should you be the last to bring back the king? And say also, say to Amasa, are you not my bone and my flesh?
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God do so to me and more also if you are not commander of my army from now on in the place of Joab.
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And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man so that they sent word to the king. Return both you and all your servants.
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So the king came back to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the
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Jordan. And Shammai the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Behurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet
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King David. And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin and Zeba the servant of the house of Saul.
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With his fifteen sons and twenty servants rushed down to the Jordan before the king. And they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure.
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And Shammai the son of Gerah fell down before the king as he was about to cross the
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Jordan. And said to the king, let not my lord hold me guilty. Or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left
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Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart. For your servant knows that I have sinned.
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Therefore behold I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my lord the king.
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Abishai the son of Zeriah answered, shall not Shammai be put to death for this? Because he cursed the lord's anointed?
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But David said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeriah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me?
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Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?
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And the king said to Shammai, you shall not die. And the king gave him this oath. And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king.
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He had neither taken care of his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety.
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And when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?
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He answered, my lord, oh king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said to him, I will saddle a donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go with the king.
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For your servant is lame. He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God.
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Do therefore what seems good to you. For all my father's house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king.
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But you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I than to cry to the king?
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And the king said to him, why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided, you and Ziba shall divide the land.
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And Mephibosheth said to the king, oh, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come home safely.
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Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogalim and he went on with the king to the Jordan to escort him over the
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Jordan. Barzillai was a very aged man, 80 years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.
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And the king said to Barzillai, come over with me and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.
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But Barzillai said to the king, how many years have I still to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
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I am this day 80 years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks?
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Can I listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
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Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?
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Please let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother.
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But here is your servant Chimham. Let him go over with my lord the king and do for him whatever seems good to you.
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And the king said, Chimham shall go over with me and I will do for him whatever seems good to you.
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And all that you desire of me, I will do for you. Then all the people went over the Jordan and the king went over.
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And the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him. And he returned to his own home.
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The king went on to Gilgal and Chimham went on with him. And all the people of Judah and all the people of Israel brought the king on his way.
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When all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away and brought the king to his household over the
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Jordan and all David's men with him? All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is our close relative.
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Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's expense? Or has he given us any gift?
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And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, We have ten shares in the king. And in David also we have more than you.
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Why then do you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king? But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
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Let's pray. Father, we read your word and I confess that at times on first reading
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I have no clue what in the world is going on there. We read it and as much as we love history or don't love history, sometimes it matters.
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We've got to do research. We've got to dig in. I thank you that you've given me this role. I have a curiosity about the word.
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I thank you that I do have the privilege, awesome and glorious privilege, of getting up and making explicit your word.
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We look forward to the opportunity we have to sit under your word this morning and to hear it explained.
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But, Father, we recognize that relationships get messy, and at least we know that. And what we see in this text are a bunch of messy relationships, relationships that are broken, that need reconciling.
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And we see you working through your servant David to give us a model and an example of reconciliation that also prefigures a greater reconciliation that you have given us.
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And you're the greater king, Jesus, the reconciliation that we need, the realization that relationships are broken both here on this level as well as horizontally but also vertically toward you, a broken relationship with you that needs to be restored, that needs to be reconciled.
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And we see how gently and how kindly you have treated us.
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We deserved your punishment in our rebellion against you, in our insurrection against your throne.
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We deserved to be put down in our rebellion and instead you have extended olive branch after olive branch, grace upon grace upon grace.
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And so, Father, from that place of being recipients of your great grace, I pray that you would release us to worship you with joy and gladness.
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Our sins dealt with, our rebellion dealt with, and now nothing left but joy and hope.
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So I pray that that would be the reality in this gathering of your people as we sing songs to you now in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Thanks a lot to Dave and the band for leading us in worship. I'm really grateful for them. And obviously they put in time and effort, but all that effort is for the purpose of us entering the throne room of God and worshiping him in truth.
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And so very grateful for that. And you wouldn't want me doing what they're doing. That would be really bad. So really grateful for them.
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No, it wouldn't be fine. No, it wouldn't. I do encourage you to get comfortable, but also reopen your
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Bibles or your devices to 2 Samuel 19, chapter 19, verses 8 through the end of the chapter, so you can follow along and see what
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I'm saying is coming from there. And then if at any time during the message, I say this often, if you need to get up and get more coffee or water or donut holes while supplies last back there, do that during the service.
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It's not going to distract me if you need to tank up or use the restrooms. Those are out the double doors down the hallway on the left -hand side.
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Our outline of the steps of reconciliation. So that's what we're looking at here is kind of some steps of reconciliation in this text.
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So as confusing and kind of historical as this account is, and the things that are going on are indeed historical, these are true life events that happened in the life of David, we see something in the character and the way that David responds to these things that is a little out of the ordinary for a king.
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And that out of the ordinariness of the way that David responds in coming back into his kingdom that has been tempted to be taken away from him informs us in terms of the way that we respond in relationships when something has been taken from us.
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And we look at this as reconciliation, coming back together of warring sides.
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And so the first step, this is a five -point outline. The first is win the disloyal, verses 8 -15.
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Again, win the disloyal. Second is grace to the haters, verses 16 -23. The third is settle the lies, verses 24 -30.
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The fourth is reward the loyal, verses 31 -40. And then the fifth is a little unlike the others, and it's expect it to be tough, verses 41 -43.
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So in the first eight verses of our text, we see David winning those who have expressed to him the deepest betrayal.
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Now, it takes somebody who you love and somebody that's really ultimately somebody who's related to you to hurt you the most.
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Like that's where the most pain comes from is when betrayal happens to those you least expect to betray you.
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You guys get what I'm saying on that? So that's what's going on here. We see David winning the disloyal.
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What you need to understand to make sense of this section, a little bit of history, a little bit of culture, a little bit of understanding of who
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David is and where all of this is going, why this talk about Judah and then Israel. David is from the tribe of Judah.
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He was born and raised in that tribalism of Israel where there were the 12 tribes, as you all know, and he was from that one section of Israel called
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Judah. He was first declared king in the territory of Judah.
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The very first time that he was ever called a king was only over that one tribe, and it was at the very city of Hebron, in the center of Judah, the territory of Judah.
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That central city of Hebron was his capital city. That's the place that he was declared king first, and he became king over all
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Israel later, and that's when he set up his capital at Jerusalem. But prior to that, he had spent seven years as king in the city of Hebron.
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Now that's important to understand because Hebron is the very place where the insurrection against David begins.
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His son, knowing David, knowing his history, knowing his father, he goes back to the very place where David was coronated first and makes that his stronghold, makes that the place of his declaration of king.
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So he is called king first in Hebron, just like his father. They are the first people that he targets to win over to his side against his daddy.
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So that's what we've got going on here. When you hear the word Judah in this text, they have betrayed their king,
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David, and gone with his son instead. They've thrown in with the insurrection. So this is his closest relatives, his longest -standing loyalists, and they were the first to begin to support his son's coup.
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So as David comes back toward his throne after defeating this insurrection, does it make sense in your mind that Judah has to be dealt with?
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They've demonstrated loyalty to his son. Now his son has died in battle. Now can he just come back and be like, Oh, Judah, we're all good.
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Everything's cool. Is that what you expect of a king? How would you expect a king to respond to a region that has betrayed him and proven to be disloyal to him?
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How would you expect that to go? How do you, let's personalize it for a minute, how do you treat somebody who has betrayed you?
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Think that through, and that might answer a little bit of the way that this text is unique and different.
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Because what I kind of expect is different than the way that David responds. David does three things in this passage that show his craft as a statesman in reuniting brokenness, in bringing things together.
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Again, I think this is God -given. I don't think it's like, Oh, David is great. Look at him. How many of you know he's done some rough things in the text?
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He gets some things right, but it's only in as much as God is working through him that he gets things right, but he gets some things right in this text.
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We first find out in verse 9 that the ten northern tribes, referred to as Israel here in the text, they are in general arguing for the return of David.
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Word on the street is that David was a good king who delivered them from the Philistines, and that word is spreading, and hey, we need a king, and we might as well reinstate him instead.
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And so the argument is likely rising up to the elders over the tribes of Israel, and the fervor is moving them to the point of reinstating
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David as king. Now, he's out east. He's in a different territory. He's out in Mahanaim, way north and east of Israel.
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And so hearing of this from Mahanaim, David started by sending an appeal. That's the first thing that he does. He appeals to them to reconcile.
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He sends an appeal. He communicates that appeal through Zadok and Abiathar, who are two priests that are loyal to King David, still in Israel, still in Jerusalem.
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So he communicates through them and says, I appeal to you to bring me back as king.
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He's appealing to a people, remember, that have betrayed him. And he wants them to come out in parade to demonstrate that they're welcoming him back as their king.
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And his appeal is based on a couple of different things. It's based on his kinship with them in verse 12.
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He is in essence saying, all the other tribes want me back, but what good is it if we're not united,
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Judah? I need you on my team too. We want to be all together in this. No benefit in having like,
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I mean, think of this like Texas seceding. And it's like, no, let's all get back together again, right? Like let's all come back together and be one united Israel.
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Let's all be one united states would be the mindset. So he desires reconciliation with his people.
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And he gently, here in the text, he is gently appealing to them. Gently appealing.
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Gentle appeal. I think that is hard to come by in human nature, is it not?
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Gentle appeal. We can even have a tendency to think when we're at war with somebody, you know, figuratively speaking, when we're doing battle with our spouse, when we're doing battle with our kids, when we're frustrated and things don't seem to be going our way or we feel betrayed, how often have you thought you were being gentle and you weren't at all?
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Do you know what I'm talking about? You thought you were being utterly reasonable considering what they did.
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But the Proverbs state that a harsh word stirs up strife. A harsh word will stir up trouble.
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And yet we think we are somehow justified because of what's been done to us. And so we shoot ourselves in the foot with harsh appeals to reconciliation.
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Harsh appeals. If you would just meet me halfway. Well, that's an appeal, right?
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Is that an appeal? Yes, it is. But it is not a gentle appeal. If you desire reconciliation, turn down the harsh knob and turn up the gentle knob.
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And you probably have to turn it up higher and further than you think you do to genuinely be gentle in moments where you are riled up.
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Second in this winning back the disloyal is a compromise. We do see them come somewhere in the middle.
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And we see a significant compromise on David's part. In verse 13, David accepts one person of the tribe of Judah to be his new military commander.
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In this verse, he summarily fires Joab on the spot. Joab has been with David for decades.
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Why is he firing him? Well, the hot -headed violent commander killed his son against his own command last week.
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In the text last week, he killed and put to death Absalom. David fires him on the spot.
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You're fired. It's over. And he promotes a man named
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Amasa. Now, you don't really know the history of Amasa. And he factors into some of the books of the
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Bible and some of the wars and things like that. But what he's doing here is he's extending an olive branch to Judah.
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Amasa is a man from Judah. So he's saying, I'm going to take one of your men and make him my military commander.
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He's extending an olive branch. It's a political move. There's no question about it. He's basically saying, well, if you'll come back,
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Texas, then we'll make your representative the speaker of the house.
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Or we're going to give you something beneficial if you'll come back in. And so that's what he's doing here is he's making a political move.
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But it's a certain type of political move. It's a kindness. It is a unifying thing.
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Consider what most kings would do in this situation. You have complete power and authority over somebody who's wronged you.
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There's been an attempt to take your crown. Most would make an example of those who rise up against the crown, right?
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David here proves his quality as a man after God's own heart by seeking to unite the people rather than dividing the people.
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He doesn't divide. He is, in this text, uniting, reconciling, bringing back together.
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And his appeal and compromise results in a restored agreement between the crown and the people of Judah. According to verse 14,
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David swayed the hearts of Judah as one man. It's like they are completely unanimous in their desire to come back together and bring
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David as their king. And so the king returned across the desert as far as the
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Jordan. And Judah comes out as far as Gilgal on the other side.
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And they are awaiting a royal welcoming party to usher him back into his city and back into his palace.
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Now, the return of the king to the city, what's going on here is a cultural thing. The return of a king to a city was a time of celebration.
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And an ancient custom was for the people to come out of the city and line the roads leading up into the city and leading to the palace.
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And they would come out. That's what's happening in the triumphal entry, by the way, is a New Testament model of an
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Old Testament custom. That Old Testament custom of the arrival of a king and lining the roads and throwing down the palm fronds and throwing down the cloaks for him to ride across and all of that stuff.
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And just a show of loyalty going on there. The king coming into his city with the support and the cheers of his people.
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And David now has assurance that the people want him back, so he's waiting at the Jordan River saying, Come on and usher me back in.
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I'm ready to come back in. I'm ready to be your king again. While he's there, he meets up with three people who he had to deal with on the way out of the city.
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Now he's coming back into the city triumphant. And he's coming back in victory.
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He left dejected and mourning and in tears, not sure if he was going to be victorious, not sure if the crown was going to be his again someday.
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So in verses 16 -23, we see David offer grace to the hater. That's the second movement of reconciliation here in the text.
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Grace doesn't come naturally to our hearts, does it, church? It's not the natural first gut level response when we're wronged.
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What comes natural to us is a twisted form of defensive justice. We can't even justify our justice towards others as the right thing to do.
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We don't want to make it look like their behavior was acceptable. And we assume that forgiveness is going to make them justify to make them think, oh,
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I can just do that again, right? And so we develop in our hearts a way of justifying our animosity towards others if we're not careful.
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A way of saying, you know what, they wronged me and I'm justified in wronging them back because I'm going to teach them a spiritual lesson.
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This is a spiritual lesson from my heart to yours. I don't forgive you, or whatever it might be.
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We want to dish out pain to those who hurt us, right, church? If we're being honest about the way that our hearts work, it comes natural.
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That's knee -jerk to human nature. David is shining a real -world example of the instructions of our
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Lord who told us to love our enemies and even pray for those who persecute you. Well, why am
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I saying that so strong? Well, look at who we're talking about as the hater in this text. Who is David forgiving?
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Shimei walked alongside this guy who comes to David in verses 16 -23.
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Shimei walked along as David was in his darkest hour. His son is coming up from the south to take over his throne and put his dad to death.
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David squirts out to the east and gets away from his son, but he's marching out east as his son is coming up from the south and they just miss each other.
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If they connect, David is in battle and he's going to be killed. So he's on his way out.
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And as he's at his darkest hour, tears streaming down his eyes. It tells us in the text earlier in 2
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Samuel. He is grieved. He is leaving the place that he loves and the people that he loves, and they're rejecting him and they're betraying him.
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And in that moment, Shimei comes along and picks up some rocks and starts pelting him saying, Get out, you worthless man.
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Get out, you murderer. You thief of thrones. Get out! And he's just shouting and he's kicking dust.
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And the road goes through a channel where there's higher banks on both sides. And he's up there literally kicking dirt down on the entourage and the king and his men as he's heading out of town.
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How many of you think there's some vehemence there? There's some animosity there.
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This is the guy who David is coming back into town now, triumphant.
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No more tears. No more sorrow. He's coming back in and the people are all starting to muster and say,
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We want you to be our king again. And Shimei shows up. What do you expect to happen when a king has that kind of power and has been abused by one of his subjects?
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What do you expect to have happen? Somebody shout out some words. Execution. That's probably a good word.
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Somebody said death. All the same, right? That's exactly what we expect to see in this text.
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Shimei runs. He's in a hurry. He knows he's not going to be able to hide.
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He's going to be found. And probably the first one, he expects it to be one of the first orders of business of the king.
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So rather than run, Shimei does the wise thing. He goes directly to the king, runs with an entourage to just,
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Let's get this settled or else I'm going to die. I can't stand this pressure on my shoulders. Let's do this.
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Shimei is reasonably fearful. David has been victorious. The expectation is going to be that he's going to hunt down Shimei and relieve him of his head.
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So Shimei falls on his face. He apologizes and he begs for his life. He admits that he acted in sin and he calls it by what it was.
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He says, it was sin for me to curse you as the Lord's anointed. I sinned. You can see it in verses 19 and 20.
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He hopes that by being one of the first of the ten northern tribes to come and join in the return of the king parade, that that's going to count for something.
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He says, we're first. We made it. Me and Benjamin, my tribe, we're here. And he came with his tribe of Benjamin, a thousand military men, along with Ziba, another man from the tribe of Benjamin that we're going to talk about here in a minute.
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And he is demonstrating or attempting to demonstrate a large dose of renewed loyalty to David from the tribe of the former king
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Saul. All of this with the goal of demonstrating a renewed loyalty in Shimei. I'm with you,
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David. I'm sorry. I had a major, that whole kicking dirt on you, major lapse of judgment.
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Could you not count that against me? Could you not take it to heart? How many of you have ever had somebody wrong you severely and be like, yeah, but could you not let it get to your heart?
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Not easy to do, right? Not easy to do. And maybe a somewhat unreasonable request.
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Despite the fact that this is a text following a more political restoration of a king to his people, ask yourself, how do you respond when someone comes back to you groveling for restoration?
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I believe it's happened to all of us in this room, particularly those of us that are adults. Someone has wronged you severely.
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Someone is embarrassed and shamed by their sin against you. And they are there before you saying that they are sorry.
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What do you do next? What's your next move? Look at what David says in the text, right? Go ahead and look at it for a second.
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You aren't really sorry. If you were sorry, you would have never thrown rocks at me and kicked dirt on my head.
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You would never have cursed me in my darkest hour if you were really sorry. Now, it doesn't say that, but does it say this?
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If you're really sorry, you're going to come and wash my royal chariots and muck out the stalls for the rest of your life.
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You're in my debt forever now that you sinned against me. Don't you know who you were dealing with? Is that what the text says?
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Go ahead and show me with your head. No, that's not what the text says at all. Of course not.
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We should learn from this very powerful man in a very, very, very powerful situation how he handles that power in a moment of reconciliation.
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Abishai wanted Shimei's head, it says in the text, and he's even getting pressure from his own guys. Dude, he broke
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God's law off of his head. Can I be the one? Can I swing the sword, says Abishai? He wanted
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Shimei's head back in chapter 16, and now he thinks he's going to get it. David is very frustrated with Abishai, and there's something else going on under the surface there.
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Joab is Abishai's brother. Joab, he basically said, you sons of Zariah, Abishai, Asahel, and Joab were three brothers, and he brands them all throughout their lives as men of violence and blood.
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He says, you guys always, you think that violence is always the right answer at all times, and he says that multiple times to these three men.
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Well, Joab has just killed his son. He's out of the commander position, and David is frustrated with Abishai.
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In verse 22, he even identifies Abishai as a Satan. That's the word in Hebrew that's used there, an adversary.
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He identifies that Abishai's request for the head of Shimei is a type of temptation on David's part to exact vengeance on Shimei.
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But instead, what does David do in this text? He offers grace to this hater.
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At the end of verse 22, David is refreshed in God's call over his life to be king. I like the way that this looks here in the text, so go ahead and look at verse 22 at the very end.
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For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?
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David is refreshed and confident in his calling once again. God made a covenant with me to make me king, and I'm settled in that once again.
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God has vindicated me, and he has made me king, and he has declared me king, and I am confident.
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I don't need to worry about other haters. I don't need to worry about what other people say. I'm confident in my position with God and what he has called me to.
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I don't need to exact my authority in this situation and cut off Shimei in order to validate myself.
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Is that a temptation for some of us? To cut another down to build yourself up?
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How many of you would just raise your hand and testify that that's been a temptation in your life at times? Cut somebody else down to make yourself look better, to validate your authority, to validate your power, to reestablish your role as husband, mother, father, boss, whatever it might be.
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I've got to make an example of fill in the blank. It's a temptation on our part.
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David says, I'm confident in my role. I'm confident to what God has called me, and I don't need to push others down to prove my kingdom.
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That's a big statement. That's a big thing. And he releases him in verse 23 with an oath that he would not be put to death by the king's order on that day.
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By the way, it's not a blanket. You're never going to die, Shimei. No, I'm not going to put you to death today. The most pressing concern of Shimei is released.
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As far as practical application, I would suggest to you that you are rarely ever in a position of more power over another person than when they stand before you in their embarrassment and shame, confessing sin and seeking your forgiveness.
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You are in a significant, crazy place of power over another life to either release them or hold them, releasing them from guilt or holding them in their guilt.
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And nothing demonstrates an understanding of the gospel as much as genuine forgiveness of a person who you hold so much power over in that moment.
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To release that power is truly, I would suggest to you, a miraculous move of the spirit. And it is fueled and is to be fueled by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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But don't take my word for it. Consider what the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colossians 3 .13, where he said this, obviously it appears in a context, but it's all words to the church.
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We're a church, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other.
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As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.
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We forgive out of and in correlation with the forgiveness we have been given in Christ.
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What's that quantity look like? How much of that is in the vat?
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How much forgiveness have you received from Jesus Christ? I would suggest to you that you are not going to exhaust the inflow into your life of forgiveness that you have accessible to offer to others.
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You're not going to exhaust that. You're never going to forgive others as much as Christ has forgiven you.
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That's not going to happen. So keep forgiving. Keep forgiving. Even in the
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Old Testament we see David offering grace to the haters. The third move of reconciliation in this passage is verses 24 -30, where David settles the lies.
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Now this is a harder chunk of Scripture for us to apply. And again, it's because it's ambiguous, as much of 2
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Samuel is. It leaves us wanting more understanding and more information than the text is willing to offer.
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But Scripture leaves the relationship between Ziba and Mephibosheth, here in our text, ambiguous.
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Because that is what real life is like. Any of you ever have two people come to you for some form of reconciliation, be it the two kids in the back seat, or somebody else who's come to you and said, he did this, and he says, no, she did it.
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And you're just faced with a lie. Any of you ever faced with a lie where somebody's literally telling you a lie, and you know somebody's telling you a lie?
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This isn't both true, and that's what's going on here in this text. It's ambiguous, it's real life.
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And David did not have a leg up on us in his ability to see through things. David was a human just like you or me.
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He doesn't know in this text who is telling the truth. And the text kind of tips its hand a little bit,
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I think, in favor of Mephibosheth, but it's not clear, and the text isn't going to go there. It's not going to tell you who's being honest.
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Now here's the scenario, because you're going, what's going on here? Mephibosheth, Ziba, I don't really know. Ziba comes here and came to David earlier on.
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Back in chapter 16, David was in that flight from Jerusalem, heading out east, darkest hour.
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His son is marching to steal his throne. He was confronted by a man named Ziba who is a servant, a
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David -appointed servant over Mephibosheth. He is, I mean, under Mephibosheth.
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He is a servant working the fields with all of his sons and all of his servants working the fields of this dude,
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Mephibosheth. And in that context, David's darkest hour, Ziba shows up as a bright spot.
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He offers food and refreshment to David, and he lays out a banquet and a spread for his people where you contrast
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Shimei kicking dirt and chucking rocks at David and his men. You have
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Ziba out here laying out the last spread that David's going to enjoy before he marches a couple of days across the desert.
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Ziba brought refreshment to David in that context. But Ziba did not only bring food, he also brought words.
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David's gesture was genuinely kind, but in their interaction, Ziba maligned his master, Mephibosheth, and said that his master, who was the lame grandson of King Saul, unable to walk.
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And he says he stayed behind in Jerusalem, hoping to finally gain the crown for himself.
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He's the grandson of the previous royal line, and he wants your throne. Well, we're never told, actually, if Ziba told the truth or not.
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Mephibosheth shows up here in our text now, and he says, No, I'm the one that was the victim.
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Ziba wasn't the victim. You're not the victim. I was the victim. Ziba's lying to you, says
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Mephibosheth. He says, I was the victim of a slanderous servant who told you falsehood about me. Mephibosheth hasn't shaved or bathed as a sign of mourning over the departure.
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He stinks, man. He hasn't laundered his clothes since David left. We don't know how long this is, but a presumption would be at least weeks, if not a couple of months.
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He at least looks like he's being honest. He says that his servant Ziba took advantage of his handicap and refused to saddle a donkey for him and help him flee the city, so he had no recourse to get out.
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He couldn't walk. So he says, My heart was with you, David, all along. I wanted to be out there with you.
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I wanted to suffer with you. I wanted to be in exile with you. I was stuck in the city. I had no means to get out.
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My servant ditched me in my moment of greatest need and wouldn't even saddle a donkey for me. I was stuck.
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So what you need to understand here, though, is that David's in a tough spot trying to reconcile the situation. So in wisdom, what he does is he makes a decision.
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He divides the land between Ziba and Mephibosheth. He says, Okay, you take half of it. You take half of it. Go your own way.
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Ziba, you did a good job. You came out and you helped me in my moment of need. I kind of have a sneaking suspicion that you're lying about Mephibosheth.
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It's probably not so good that the two of you stay together any longer anyways. How many of you would want somebody who works for you that lies to you, that lies about you, that's gunning for your spot?
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Just divide it. Just go your own ways. Part of this text serves what
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I offer to you as a potentially weak conclusion. I'm going to admit that up front so that you know that you don't necessarily have to take this one to the bank.
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I'm admitting that this text resolves a storyline in the narrative, and it might just exist there to wrap that part up.
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But I have a tendency to think that all of Scripture applies to you. All of Scripture applies to me.
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All of it has something to do with our lives. And I think this is it. I think this is what that text is getting at, but I hold it loosely, and I think it's this.
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We will not always be able to be certain that we got things right. We won't always be able to be certain that we got things right.
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We have to live with a portion of ambiguity in our lives about decisions that we make.
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And that might be applied in two directions in our lives. It is, first, to be gracious with those who are adjudicating between us and another.
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Let me just be honest with you that you look as much like a liar to me as anyone. Are you getting what
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I'm saying in it? Everybody looks equally like a liar to me. Is that true in your life?
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Have you been lied to by all kinds of people? Or are you able to look at a person and go, now that guy walking on the street right there, that's a liar.
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We just all look the same, don't we? And so you ask me to decide. You come to my office, and you ask me to decide between you and your spouse.
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And I'm not going to be able to quickly discern which one of you is lying. That's not coming to me quick. Second, then, be gracious to those who are trying to adjudicate.
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But second, do the best you can when you're in the role of mediator. Seek middle ground type of reconciliation.
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In this case, the best David could come up with in a fallen world was to split the property. Sometimes the best thing you can do is create the invisible line down the center of the back seat and say, don't cross that line, kids.
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You know what I'm talking about. According to verse 30, Mephi wasn't bothered at all by the arrangement and says, you know what, let
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Ziba have it all. You have treated me so kindly, David. Whether that's just schmoozing the king, or whether that's absolutely his heart is unclear, but it reflects some kind of gladness that David was returning to the throne.
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That's true. David has always treated Mephi with kindness. He has carried him, had him carried to his royal table.
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Mephibosheth has very few unmet needs because the king has been committed to meet his needs all along.
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So settling lies can be one of the hardest things we face in this world. I don't like to get anything wrong.
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I think you're the same way. You'd like to know the truth in every situation. I'm particularly wired to try to mine down.
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I've got a curious mind and I want to know the truth, and that's one of the most painful things on this side of eternity, is not knowing.
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That drives me nuts. I just want to know the truth. I just want to know what's real. Did you take the cookies or not?
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Was it your brother, was it your sister, or was it you? I don't even know. Did you do it or did you not do it?
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At some point, my failure in my mind is that I want to know. It's not even that I want to punish.
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I just want to know. Anybody with me on that, or am I just kind of psycho up here? I just got this desire to know what is and isn't true.
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I've had some doozies of the course of ministry, it's true. She says he's cheating on her with another woman.
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He denies it. To this day, I still don't know what's true. As a church, and as a pastor,
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I have never once hired a PI. Yet. Just kidding.
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No intentions to either. But I'm telling you, honestly, that's been a temptation. I just want to get to the bottom of this.
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I want to know, but I don't show up at hotel rooms. I don't go follow cars and license plates around the city.
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I just don't do that. But have you faced that type of ambiguity? I do what
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I can here and now only with confidence, and hear me carefully, this is where you land at this point. I can go to sleep at night and rest with the confidence that God is the judge of Ziba.
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God is the judge of Mephibosheth. God will get it right.
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He knows it all. And that gives me comfort and confidence, knowing that there is one who does know what is true.
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Drives me nuts to live in a world where I thought nobody knew the truth. There is really no justice.
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Nobody really knows what goes on behind locked doors. Nobody really knows what it's like in your household. Nobody really knows the places you've gone, the things that you've done.
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But God does. I just take comfort in that. I take it seriously, right?
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Because there's another edge to that, isn't there? Is there another edge to that? Oh, crud, he knows everything
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I've done. Right? That's where we just rejoice and are thankful for the cross of Christ, where he knows all that we've done, and he's paid the price for us.
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The fourth section of reconciliation, we see David reward. Reward the loyal, verses 31 through 40.
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There was a wealthy old dude named Barzillai who was kicking it around the desert with David here in the text. He was a farmer.
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He provided all the food supplies for David's loyal military during this entire military campaign, a pretty substantial amount.
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I would guess that teenage sons have little on military men, like when it comes to how much they can put away.
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How many pizzas do you order for a military of 20 ,000?
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That's a big order. You've got to put that in months in advance, right? You don't just feed them a meal in an afternoon.
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What Barzillai did for David is astonishing. He's basically a type of tribal leader out to the east of where David lives, east of Israel.
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He escorted David to the Jordan, and it was at this time that David said, you know what, dude, you've been so kind to me.
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You've given me so much. Why don't I let you live out the rest of your days in the palace? I'll feed you. It's going to be great.
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We'll hang out like you. You're a good guy. You've been so kind. This is a royal reward being offered here.
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There are some who have stood with us in our darkest times, and I would encourage you to identify those who have been faithful to stand with you in tough times and reward them with thanks and with gratitude.
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And be careful equating those who always agree with you with those who have stood with you. Not everybody who loves you always agrees with you.
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Barzillai is a dude who's willing to speak his mind to the king. In this context, the king says, why don't you come to Jerusalem and stay with me?
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And the way that it's worded in verse 33 is not a request. It's a command. Come to Jerusalem.
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David's a king, and Barzillai says to him, No, but thanks. He wants to live out his remaining years close to home.
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He wants to be buried in the family cemetery. City life and extravagance would be lost on this farmer dude.
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And so he says as much in verse 35, but Barzillai puts forward a servant named Chimhem, and he asks that David bless him instead.
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Barzillai here in this text is showing his character in this move. He uses the blessings offered to him to pass it along to a younger generation.
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There's something informative there for us, church. Guys, the church needs this so much right now.
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Barzillai could have used this blessing on himself. He could have been sipping delicious beverages at the poolside for the rest of his days.
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He could have been waiting out his time in opulence in the king's palace, but instead he gives a young man a shot at royal blessings.
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But the point of this text, this portion of the text, is really found in David's kind reward offered to a man who has been loyal to him for sacrifice.
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We see the uniting heart of David in this. If we're honest, sometimes when we go through dark times,
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I think all of us have at various levels gone through dark times, but those of you that have,
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I would guess that you can testify the same as me, that we have a tendency to lash out at those who love us the most when we're going through hard times.
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Who bears the brunt of our frustration? Who bears the brunt of our sorrow, of our frustration, of our anger?
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And those who show us love and kindness should be the first to receive thanks and reward for the kindness that they offer to us.
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The final movement of this text on reconciliation is a reality check. It's expected to be tough, verses 41 through 43.
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After all of these good moves of David to try to bring the people back together, to try to reconcile warring sides and trying to be kind and trying to compromise,
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David has been kind and his work, he's worked hard to broker a unifying return to the throne that God gave to him.
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He's forgiven enemies, he's rewarded friends, he's sought compromises to bring the people together. But here in the end, we are not guaranteed that our efforts at reconciliation will work.
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We put forth the effort, we try to be kind, we're gentle in our appeals, and we leave the results up to God.
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We see divisive accusation in verse 41. The end of this text is just bickering, just petty bickering.
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In verse 40, Judah goes out to welcome the king and bring him back into the kingdom, and they get all excited about it, and they're all worked up, and so they just basically go, let's go, let's just do this now.
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We're enthusiastic, we've got the people here, we've got the trumpets and everybody's celebrating, let's just bring the king in.
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Only half of the northern tribes of Israel have had a chance to muster yet, and so they get all salty about this arrangement.
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Why were we not allowed to, why were we not included in this bringing back of the king? Judah defends its actions by saying that they've not received any special favors from David.
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He's our kin, we just got excited, enthusiastic about bringing him back in, we need a king, so we brought him back in.
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And they say we acted zealously because we're family. But the elders of the northern tribes assert their claim on David as their king, and they say, we've got 10 elevenths interest in the king, you've only got one.
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And it says in the text, Judah's rebuttal to that statement is not recorded for us, but it is declared over their rebuttal that their words were more fierce and inciting than the words of Israel.
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So this petty bickering is gonna spell further division for David next week. That's where we're going, is we're going towards another rebellion.
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David hit and hit and hit in his kingdom. We'll see one more rebellion before the end of the book.
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But anyone that's attempted to guide reconciliation knows that petty bickering is a genuine human problem.
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Anybody that's lived in a family knows that petty bickering is a problem. Anybody that's worked in an
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American corporation knows that petty bickering can be a human problem. And it doesn't take much to derail reconciliation, does it?
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So let me encourage you all to be careful that you are not the source of petty, fierce words that accentuate divisions and heighten the split and cause drama and all that.
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Don't be the one that brings the drama into the room, that brings the drama into the chat room, that brings the drama into the social media.
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We are those who seek to win the disloyal. We are those who give grace to the haters. We are those who seek to settle the lies.
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We reward the loyal, all while setting reasonable expectations that rebuilding trust and reconciling is tough.
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And we do all of this not merely because David modeled it for us here in the text, but we do so out of a deeper motivation that in the gospel,
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Jesus Christ our Lord has called us all to a ministry of reconciliation. He demonstrated this by winning the disloyal.
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How did he do so? Well, while we were still sinners against him, he died for us. He gives grace to loudmouth haters like us.
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He will one day settle all lies and righteous true judgment. He rewards the loyal and issues commendations, a commendation that I look forward to, and I look forward to hearing over your life too.
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Well done, good and faithful servant. And he has done the tough work of reconciling sinners by giving his own life for us at the cross.
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So as we come to communion this morning, let's fix our eyes on Jesus. He is our reconciliation with the
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Father. His blood shed to cover our sins, so we're gonna take some juice to remember. His body broken in our place, so we take the cracker to remember.
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And he now passes along to all of us this ministry of sharing that reconciliation with a world in desperate need of hope and healing.
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Our world is in desperate need of hope and healing. Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you that you demonstrate to us your concern for our human relationships here and now, the way that David smooths over conflict, the way that he seeks to reconcile, the way that he seeks even at his own loss to bring things back together.
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I pray that you would help us to recognize what you want of us in our families and in our communities and in our relationships at work.
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Father, there may be some very practical applications to this that you might be pressing in on some people here that they need to reconcile.
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They need to give gentle appeal. They need to forgive. They need to give grace. They need to give thanks.
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I pray that you would meet us all exactly where we're at, but most importantly now in these coming moments that you would meet us in the place of recognizing that all that we have needed has been provided in Jesus Christ.
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His death on the cross, his victory over our sin, his resurrection three days later to demonstrate his victory over the grave.
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All that we need is provided in that. That provides us the power to go out and forgive others, to thank others, to give grace to those who have proven themselves to be haters to us.