2 SAMUEL 11:26-12:13A / Psalm 51 / EPHESIANS 4:1-16
“I have sinned against the Lord.”
That is all that David says in response to Nathan’s story and the resulting self-incrimination and prophecy of punishment that is given in our reading from 2 Samuel. No “buts”- No “What if’s” – No pleas for mercy . . . No excuses. Just full and complete accountability and surrender.
“I have sinned against the Lord.”
Of course ALL sin – whether it involves a neighbor or a loved one – or someone we don’t even really know – is ultimately sin against the Lord. Sin against the one who knew no sin and who standing with one foot in time and one foot in eternity loves us more than our poor feeble minds can possbly imagine.
So whatever we do to another that separates us from them also separates us from God – such that our response should be nothing short of David’s: “I have sinned against the Lord.”
We don’t really think that – much less say that – very often. But we should. Because if we were to make that connection – I mean really understand the implications of our sin (and not just on some philosophical or theological level) but really comprehend what we are doing when we sin, we might better receive the correction that only God can give – that allows for the kind of true repentance necessary that genuine salvation might be recognized and received.
It’s clear that in hindsight (after hearing Nathan’s story and so fully convicting himself) that David see’s all of his failings and deeply feels the weight of his sin. He immediately confesses what he has done and then prepares for the worst. For Nathan has also told him of the punishment to come – that God will “raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor.”
Of course both of these things happen and more. David’s son Absalom does eventually wind up plotting against him – first killing his lecherous brother Ammon and then later rising up against David and trying to take over the throne. David’s wives and concubines are split up in the process (prophecy fulfilled) – and yet even after Absalom is eventually killed by Joab (interestingly, the same general that did David’s bidding in the murder of Uriah) we are told that David mourns Absalom to his core: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son . . . Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son.”
David’s sad cry is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ lament of the people ahead of his death: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!” Of course Jesus does give his life – just as David wanted to for his own son.
David also faces the more immediate punishment that is the death of the son born of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba – and David’s response to this trial is that he immediately adopts a humble and penitent spirit as he persistently prays for weeks while the boy is sick which gives us the familiar lament and plea for mercy that is the 5st Psalm:
51st Psalm:
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; THEN they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
This is the Word of the Lord. – Thanks be to God.
But as we know, while God hears David’s prayers, it isn’t enough and the boy dies and David ends his mourning and pulls himself up from his intense praying and accepts God’s judgement.
And in hindsight he surely sees the connectivity of it all – how his self-serving decision to stay home while all the other men went into battle lead to his beholding of a temptation he could not resist. Which lead to his intentional efforts to deceive Uriah and then his ultimate murder. Followed by his taking of Bathsheba as his wife as if nothing had ever even happened.
But of course it had. And God was not pleased. And given what he had done for David He clearly allowed the circumstance of the world to correct him in the ways that he knew David needed. He does the same with you I, of course – in ways we would likely never imagine.
But note that the circumstances of the world – as challenging as they were – never fully overtook David – he always rested in and trusted God to be his All in All – through thick and thin. And God ultimately stood by him for it – to the very end.
Just like last week our Second reading strikes a stark contrast to our first reading – and renders a stark truth relative to the connectivity of all that we do in this world – and the natural and even supernatural consequences that surely result. Here now the Word of the Lord as it comes to us from:
EPHESIANS 4:1-16
1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
7But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” 9(When it says, “He ascended”, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
The grass withers and the flower fades but the word of the lord endures forever – Amen
Well the intent of what Paul is saying is abundantly clear. He is literally begging them, “to lead a life worthy of their calling, with all humility, gentleness and patience. Imploring them to “make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit.” Reminding them that there is but “one body and one Spirit . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all . . .”
And he’s telling them this because he’s finding that the early church (much like children who will chase after the next bright and shiny thing) is being, “tossed to and fro and blown about (in all directions) by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery and by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.” That there are those who will twist, distort and manipulate the core message of God’s Word for their own self-serving purposes.
Paul insists that the response to this reality is to A.) “Speak the truth in love” and B.) “Grow up in EVERY way into Jesus . . .who is the head of the church” so that the WHOLE BODY – which is inherently and necessarily connected – might function properly.”
And all of this he says is so that it might: “promote the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” Well, we’re a small church seeking the body’s growth. So how do we do that again?
1.) “Speak the truth in love.”
2.) “Grow up in EVERY way into Jesus.”
3.) Understand the connectivity of everything we do to the ultimate success (or failure) in reaching that very lofty goal.
There. That’s simple enough, isn’t it?
Well, yes and no. Because speaking the truth in love (I mean REALLY speaking the truth in love) is not always – if ever – easy. None of us like stepping on toes or running the risk of offending another – especially here at Peace where in the past feelings have been bruised and there have been members that eventually fell into patterns of bitterness and resentment.
Thankfully, those days seem long behind us now and hopefully we have learned from them. But we must, nevertheless, still be able to speak the truth in love when it is needed, while also being sensitive to the needs of others as they find their way to what they believe is the best course of action. Which may or may not be our first choice. Sometimes it might even be our last – and we have to be willing to seek and to find middle ground – and at other times to even trust the wisdom and inspiration of others fully. For none of us – NONE OF US has all of the answers . . . We’re aren’t meant to.
The second thing that Paul subscribes is EVEN harder than the first – for we already know that as fallen human beings, “growing up into Jesus” is a goal we can never fully accomplish this side of paradise – no matter what!
But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive for it as individuals and as a church with EVEYTHING we’ve got. We will all surely fall short of his glory both individually and collectively (scripture and experience assure us of that) – but we can, as Paul says, “put on the full armor of Christ” and wear it to the best of our ability!
And we must! For it is only in STRIVING to do so that we will ever grow this unique and necessary part of the body that God has called into being in this place and in this time!
And finally, no less than David (and hopefully well ahead of our own missteps) – we must recognize that everything we do is connected to the ultimate success of our calling. That we are indeed “joined and knitted together by every ligament with which we are equipped” (that is you and I and every action we undertake and every reaction we give to one another) so that each part will work properly – “and promote the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”
Because if we’re not building ourselves up in love – we’re tearing ourselves down in something else entirely – namely the pride and arrogance that is born of our forgetting that we are ALL sinners and ALL children of God!
So – let us ALL “connect” – with one another – and with our God – that the Holy Spirit might be allowed to do His part in response to our doing ours. That His Most Perfect Will may be done. Whatever that might be.
And for that to happen it’s going to take equal measures of both careful patience and bold action. It’s going to take prayerful discernment – and trust – born of the positive belief that it is in our connectivity and reliance upon one another (as gifted by God) that will see us through to HIS end. Which is the only place where any new beginning worth anything at all does itself begin.
Let us stand confidently together – fully in the truth of our Lord – or not at all.
– Stuart Revercomb
