Mineral Springs Church of Christ Podcast
Mineral Springs Church of Christ Podcast
Grace At The King's Table
A royal summons, a broken body, and a seat no one expects—this is the Christmas story most of us miss. We open 2 Samuel 9 and meet Mephibosheth, the fallen heir who expects judgment and receives a place at the king’s table. David’s question—“Is there anyone left… to show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”—becomes a window into God’s heart, revealing why the arrival of Jesus means more than a manger scene. It means covenant kindness for the undeserving.
We walk through the history: a king who should eliminate threats chooses mercy, a man crippled by a fall he didn’t cause is restored, and a friendship covenant reshapes the fate of a family. Then we draw the line to today. Every one of us knows what it’s like to be “dropped,” to carry baggage from moments that still echo. The comfort is not denial of the limp but the welcome despite it. David’s table foreshadows God’s table, and Jonathan’s bond foreshadows Christ, whose love mediates blessings we could never earn.
Ephesians 1:3 anchors the hope: every spiritual blessing comes “in Christ.” Remove that union and the blessing evaporates; hold it and the door stays open. This is the deeper meaning of Christmas—grace that restores what was lost, kindness that silences fear, and a seat reserved for the broken, not the polished. We talk candidly about worth, gratitude, and the only gift we truly offer God: our honest, wounded selves. He takes it, transforms it, and calls us family.
Listen for a fresh lens on the season, a story that moves from manger to cross to table. If this message encourages you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find the show.
You are a wizard of music You are a song that I sick You are a melody You are a harmony Praise your name I will break You are a Lord of Loves You are a mighty God You are the King of all kings So now I get back to you the song that you gave to me You are the song that I sang No You are a person of music You are the song that I sing You are the Maddie my brain You are the Lord of Loves You are the mighty God You are the King of okay So now I give back to you the sound that you gave to me You are the song that I sing Good morning everybody Ah I'm told that fifteen minutes is the time to beat Second Samuel chapter number nine second Samuel chapter number nine I'll read from verse number one to verse number eight into your hearing second Samuel the ninth chapter beginning at verse number one and culminating at verse number nine scripture said then David said Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?
SPEAKER_00:Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziva. And they called him to David, and the king said to him, Are you Ziva? And he said, I am your servant. The king said, Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God? And Ziva said to the king, There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet. So the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziva said to the king, Behold, he is in the house of Macir, the son of Amiel in Lodabar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Macir, the son of Amiel from Lodabar, Mephibusheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, Mephibosheth, and he said, Here is your servant. David said to him, Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you shall eat at my table regularly. Again he prostrated himself and said, What is your servant that you should regard a dead dog like me? If you read that with me, say amen. The true Christmas story. Very true Christmas story. I know you're more than likely familiar, not with this Christmas story, but with a Christmas story beginning with Mary and Joseph. And Mary is pregnant, and Joseph is not sure if he is the daddy, and they try to have uh give birth to this child, and and there's no room in the aid, and he goes to a manger, and there's donkeys, and they're smelly, and there's these tree strange, but wise men who come with gifts. That's good. That's good. That's more of a nativity story than a Christmas story. I believe a true Christmas story is one that shows us the reason why Christ came. And it's in this text, but we have to walk through David, Jonathan, and Mophibusheth. And here's what happens: David becomes king. David is now king. The king before David was Saul, and what would happen normally in that time is that when you become king, there's always a fear that the relatives of the past king want the throne they're now sitting on. And so normally, if you become king and there are any surviving relatives of the past king. Felt like I was okay. So that is what you would have expected David to do. But David becomes king, and instead of killing or removing any threat to the throne, David asks, Is there anyone who remains from the house of Saul that I may show them kindness? And what happens is one of the servants from the house of Saul, Zeba, in most Bibles, Ziva, if you speak Hebrew, but one of the servants came to him and said, There is a guy remaining, one one one guy, and he's lame. And I really wish I had time because 2nd Samuel chapter number 4, verse number 4 tells us how Muphibosheth became lame. Yeah, I guess we need to stick to this mic today. Mufibosheth became lame if you go to 2nd Samuel 4.4, because he he became lame because there was war happening, and when Saul and Jonathan was told about it, Mufiboshev was still a baby, and his his his nurse, his nanny, picked him up and she was beginning to run out the house. But as she was running out the house, she dropped him, and now he broke both legs and became lame. That's how he became lame. And normally, because he's lame, he's no longer considered useful. But David hears about Muphibosheth and he says, Bring him to me. And they bring him, and when Muphibosheth comes before David, David says, I'm going to treat you kindly, but I'm going to treat you kindly because of your daddy. Don't miss this. Muphibosheth is treated kindly by David. David does not know him, but treats him kindly because of his dad, Jonathan. David was a good friend of Jonathan. Jonathan is the father of Muphibosheth. Muphibosheth is the remaining heir of the Saul family line, the enemy of David, and David says, I'll treat Muphibosheth kindly because Jonathan and I had a good relationship. Mophibosheth then asked, How are you so kind to a dead dog like me? I want to move. Follow me here. I told you that Mophibusheth is lame because he got dropped. He got dropped, but it wasn't his fault. Whether you realize it or not, every one of us in this room has been dropped. You've either been dropped by family, by friends, by not friends. You've been dropped at some point in your life, and I don't mean physically, although some of us probably were dropped physically as well. You you were dropped at some point in your life, and what I mean by that is because there was someone who let you down, because there was someone who did this thing to you, you now carry the weight and the consequence and the baggage of it. Every one of us is holding on to baggage because of something that happened to us in our lifetime. But here's where we become Mufibisheth. But I need you to see that David is God, God is supreme reigning king, and he says, I want to bless people, I want people to eat with me, I want people to sup with me, to enjoy my company. And normally a king would look for elites, a king would look for the aristocrats, he would look for the bureaucrats, he would look for the wealthy, he would look for the well to do. Mufibosheth is anything but see if this is really a story helping us to better understand God. Now, before I say that, I'm assuming that you understand all scriptures given by the inspiration of God, and it's profitable. I hope you understand. Romans 15:4 says, Whatsoever things were written aforetime was written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scripture, might have hope. And Jesus himself said in Luke 24 from verse 44, Whatever things were written in Moses, the law, the prophets, and the Psalms were all about me. So there's a sense as you read this, this is historical in that this occurred in the life of David, but it's also revealing something about God to us. Here's what it's revealing David here occupies the position of God. God is willing to bless, God is willing to save, God is willing to bestow friendship on persons, but God is not looking necessarily for everybody who has it together. God understands that not everybody is well put together, he understands that everybody has it all figured out, he understands that some of us have been dropped, he understands that we have baggages, he understands that we have hurts and frustration and worries, and so even though it's not normal for a king to want persons like us at his table, God wants us, he wants us that's been broken, he wants us that still trying to get our life sorted, and he wants to bestow his favor and kindness towards us. But there's another missing part of the puzzle. David does this to Mephibosheth because of the relationship David had with Jonathan. God bestows blessings and kindness towards us because of his relationship to Jesus. See, what happens is Jesus here is the one that allows God to look at us and bless us. Jesus is the mediator, he's the intercessor, he's the savior, his relationship with God causes God to now say, Is there anyone of the family of Jesus to whom I could bestow my kindness and my blessings? Now you're looking at me funny. I believe there's a text in Ephesians, chapter number one, verse number three that says, Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Watch this. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? I'm blessed because I'm in Christ, I'm blessed with all spiritual blessings because I'm in Christ, I'm blessed by God with all spiritual blessings because I'm in Christ. You remove being in Christ, and there's no blessing. So I'm blessed because of my connection, my relationship to Christ. Me believing that Christ is Lord makes Christ my big brother, and God says, Is there anyone connected and related to Jesus who I could bestow my grace and kindness towards? And he does this, he invites you to his table, he shows you kindness, we call it grace and mercy. He blesses you, he gives you every day, every opportunity, every breath that you have, and then he gives you so much more on top of it. And he does this for you, he does this for me because of our relationship in Christ, that every now and then we should ask the same question that Mophibisheth asked in verse number eight. Why does such a great, holy, high king have regard for a dead dog like me? Here's a Christmas story. The Christmas story is that God saw each and every one of us where we were, and thought we were worth being included. We were worth being blessed, we were worth the promise of heaven, the indwelling of his Holy Spirit, the implanted word, we were worth all spiritual blessings, we were worth forgiveness and hope, we were worth reserving a mansion room and crown in heaven with us. He thought we were worth it, and so he made space for us, and every now and then, as you think of Jesus, there should be room to pause and just say, Thank you, Jesus. There should be room to pause and say, if it had not been for Jesus, I wouldn't have what I have now, I wouldn't be where I am now, and I wouldn't hope for the future that God has promised. I'm excited about my life, not because of my education or my standing or status or finances, but because of the God who has invested in it. Not many. So it makes me more appreciative that God said, I will. And he is complexed in himself because David is giving him all this kindness. David gives him a house and servants and money, and he says, As long as you live, I'll bless you forever. And Muthibusheth is wondering. What do I have to offer? Says I have nothing to give to David, but David is still being kind to me. Let me help you. We have nothing to offer to God. Except this. Our broken selves. And he says, I'll take it. But he takes it because of Jesus. So every now and then, as we think of Jesus, we shouldn't just think of the baby in the manger. We should also think that that baby on the manger lives to become the man on the cross. And that man on the cross now allows me to be in the presence of God. Enjoying the blessings of God and having a hope of eternity with God. Me. That's the real Christmas story. Let's all stand. Let's all stand. The story of Mophibusheth is a story of all of us. Really, if I took more time, I would tell you that you're walking around now with baggage. And the baggage isn't all the same, but you're walking around with baggage. And the truth of life is one where we are fussy towards people with baggage. You have a view in your mind of how much baggage you'll accept. And so when you were choosing your significant other, you had in your mind how much baggage you will accept. And you chose the appropriate level of baggage to suit you. And I don't want you to miss this. So let me give you an airline example. The airlines have reduced how much baggage they want to accept. And what I've found more often over the last two years of flying is I carry more baggage than the airlines want me to have. But that his blood was shed for me. I can sing all these verses by heart, but I know you guys love to see the words on the screen. So, what's the number, Drew? If you have a songbook, it's 924. And I'm just buying time for Judy to put it on the screen so that we could all sing this song with fervor and gusto, reminding ourselves that God did this for us.