what a week
It's been really busy scholastically as well as nationally. Obviously, we all know what happened this week, but that's really not what I am completely concerned with at this moment.
I have a sermon for my homiletics class coming up next Tuesday. What is odd is the fact that this is the first time I have not had the sermon mostly finished the week before. Today, I will begin putting thought to paper since I am required to turn in a manuscript for the purposes of the class.
My text will be 2 Samuel 9, where David shows kindness to Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, and it has been interesting studying the passage. But as with all scripture, what's the application? I have had a tough time in that area. The easy road to take in the sermon would be to moralize it and say, "David was kind to Mephibosheth, so you be like David and be kind to the Mephibosheth's in your life". That may sound good to some, but that's completely moralistic and doesn't provide the empowerment for a Christian to show compassion. The truer meaning is that the anointing of God was upon David's life and David's compassion was a result of a heart that was changed by God and was longing to do what was right, whether it was the cultural norm or not. And the danger of saying, "be like david" is that two chapters later, David has sex with his friend's wife and then kills his friend. I don't think we want to be like David.
Then there's a little bit of what some call type and shadow in this passage as well. I am leery of typology because a lot of time it seems to be a stretch to "find Christ" in the text. But in this passage we do see a king who reaches out to one who should be his enemy, and the king graciously takes this crippled person in and gives him the benefits of feasting at the table as a member of his royal court.
So the point of 2 Samuel 9?
It's not entirely that we need to be like David, it's that we need to realize that we're Mephibosheth, and if it weren't for the gracious King who reached out to us with grace and mercy, we would still be his enemy and would not be able to enjoy the benefits of the Kingdom.
Book of the day, Putting the Truth to Work The Theory And Practice of Biblical Application by Dr. Dan Doriani.
I have a sermon for my homiletics class coming up next Tuesday. What is odd is the fact that this is the first time I have not had the sermon mostly finished the week before. Today, I will begin putting thought to paper since I am required to turn in a manuscript for the purposes of the class.
My text will be 2 Samuel 9, where David shows kindness to Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, and it has been interesting studying the passage. But as with all scripture, what's the application? I have had a tough time in that area. The easy road to take in the sermon would be to moralize it and say, "David was kind to Mephibosheth, so you be like David and be kind to the Mephibosheth's in your life". That may sound good to some, but that's completely moralistic and doesn't provide the empowerment for a Christian to show compassion. The truer meaning is that the anointing of God was upon David's life and David's compassion was a result of a heart that was changed by God and was longing to do what was right, whether it was the cultural norm or not. And the danger of saying, "be like david" is that two chapters later, David has sex with his friend's wife and then kills his friend. I don't think we want to be like David.
Then there's a little bit of what some call type and shadow in this passage as well. I am leery of typology because a lot of time it seems to be a stretch to "find Christ" in the text. But in this passage we do see a king who reaches out to one who should be his enemy, and the king graciously takes this crippled person in and gives him the benefits of feasting at the table as a member of his royal court.
So the point of 2 Samuel 9?
It's not entirely that we need to be like David, it's that we need to realize that we're Mephibosheth, and if it weren't for the gracious King who reached out to us with grace and mercy, we would still be his enemy and would not be able to enjoy the benefits of the Kingdom.
Book of the day, Putting the Truth to Work The Theory And Practice of Biblical Application by Dr. Dan Doriani.
posted by Bobby's blog at 3:25 PM
1 Comments:
I believe you captured the essence of that scripture. We were all broken and God reached out to us. Might have to preach that scripture myself sometime.
Neal
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