Invited to the Kings Table 5/10/26

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Transcript

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Great to be with you. Happy Mother's Day. Moms, thanks for being with us this morning. And uh, we have a great story for you from the book of 2 Samuel today in the life of David. Uh, you know that part in so many movies in the beginning, in like the the first third of the movie, um, when everything is going really well, like everything's great, everyone's happy, like life is as it should be, but you just know something's coming. Like you know something's about to happen. You don't know what, but I mean it's the first third of the movie. Something has to happen, right? Uh, you know, so this is like when you watch Pixar is up and the happy couple is just, you know, enjoying every stage of life, and it's amazing they love each other, and you're like, something's about to happen. You know, like you just know. Or like Jack and Rose are dancing in the ballroom on the Titanic, you know, John Wick is playing with his puppy, or you know, like the grandkids are just excited for a fun day at Jurassic Park, you know, like that kind of moment in the movie. That's where we are in the story of David right now. Uh this is the last week of being in the great times of the reign of King David. Uh, this is the last week we're gonna celebrate the way that he's reflecting God's heart, where he's leading well, where he's doing his quiet time every morning. You know, like this is the last week of it going well. Next week, come back and we'll introduce you to a character named Bathsheba, and it's a whole thing, uh, but that's next week. This week, we're big fans of David. And uh and we're gonna see something that we kind of pointed to uh a week ago, which was there was this really beautiful verse in chapter eight of 2 Samuel, where David at his best was summarized. This is 2 Samuel 8.15, and we're told, so David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all his people. And we kind of dove in deep with those words justice and righteousness, and how there are these words that describe the way that God wants things to be, how he wants us to be, and he wants the world to be. And David was leading that way. He was bringing God's will to earth as it is in heaven. And this week we kind of get a snapshot of what that actually looked like. We get a tangible story of how David led with justice and righteousness. And we see that in the story of David and Mephibosheth. If you've never heard that name before, uh, try to say it ten times fast. I've been doing that backstage, you know, just trying to get the word out. Mephibosheth. Uh it's an amazing story, and it shows us uh really why we call David a man after God's own heart. And so let's jump into it. This is where chapter nine begins, verse one. David asked, Is there anyone remaining from the family of Saul I can show kindness to for Jonathan's sake? Now, to get us caught up in this story, we gotta remember a few things. One, uh, David is uh in this kind of moment of peace and prosperity. He's just defeated all the enemies around Israel, and so now he's reigning in a moment of peace, and he's saying, Okay, uh, I want to do something good, I want to do something kind, I want to show kindness to Jonathan. And so let's remember who these characters are. Jonathan is the son of Saul. And this first character, Saul. Uh, he was the first king of Israel, really complicated character, but ended up being evil, ended up having no heart for God and rejecting God's will. And he tried to kill David. He made he made David's life a living hell in so many ways. He threw a spear at David a couple times. Uh, he ran David out of the kingdom, he forced David to live in the wilderness for over a decade. While David was in the wilderness, he took David's first wife and married her off to somebody else, even though he knew David was still alive. Like I could go on. Saul was not a great guy. But Saul's son Jonathan actually was David's best friend. Jonathan was a godly man, even though his father was evil. And David and Jonathan uh developed this incredibly close relationship where they loved one another, they took care of one another, which was astonishing, particularly because Jonathan was in line for the throne. Like he should have been the next king. And yet, despite that, he laid that down to honor David. He knew that God had chosen David as the next king. And so even though Jonathan could have tried to seize power for himself as the prince, he didn't. He honored Jonathan, he was faithful to Jonathan. And there's this moment where they kind of make this covenant together where they promise each other. And this is where Jonathan says to David, I'm gonna give you my loyalty. You're gonna be the king, not me. And I'm gonna honor that. And Jonathan says, But I want you to make a promise to me as well. And this is what Jonathan asked for from David. He says, If I continue to live, show me kindness from the Lord. But if I die, don't ever withdraw your kindness from my household. Not even when the Lord cuts off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth. And think about what's going on here, okay? Jonathan knows what would normally happen if another family took power in Israel. Like when David rises to power, he has a lot of incentive to kill Jonathan, the prince under Saul, right? And so this is what this is what the agreement is, the covenant, the promise, the friendship. Jonathan says, I'm gonna love you, David, and I'm gonna humble myself before you. I'm I'm gonna submit to you as king, but you love me and my descendants and my family in return. And this was this unlikely friendship that they shared together. And so what we're told is this is now years after Jonathan's death. David is saying, Okay, I want to honor that promise I made. I promised that I would be faithful to Jonathan's kids. And so who is left of Jonathan's family that I can show kindness to? And one of his servants speaks up. We're told that Ziba said to the king, There is still Jonathan's son who was injured in both feet. Now, I think Zeba is being a little bit coy here. We know that Zeba was actually a servant of Saul back when Saul was in charge. He was one of Saul's people, and now he's one of David's servants, but he still probably has a lot of affinity for the family of Saul. I mean, he he lived with that family. And so Zeba also knows like what typically happens when new kings come to power. I mean, this is the playbook of you know ancient Near East kings. You come in and you wipe out the family of your predecessor. You kill all everyone, their wives, their kids, their grandchildren to consolidate power. And so Zeba is in the court and he's hearing David say, Hey, who's still alive from uh the dynasty before me? And Zeba's like, Why do you want to know, David? You know, like uh and so he doesn't mention Mephibosheth's name here, and the first thing he says is that he's a cripple. Like Zeba's kind of saying, like, David, there is, I'm your servant, there is one guy, but you don't need to care about him. He he can't walk, he's not a threat to you. Like, just leave him alone. You don't have to kill him. But David isn't being deceptive, but he really does want to show kindness to the family of Jonathan. And so he sends servants to Mephibosheth's house, and he has him brought to the palace. And again, like everybody knows what's normal here. Everybody knows that these things normally end in murder, even Mephibosheth. And so, I mean, imagine what's going on in his mind as he gets this mandatory invitation to the palace, right? This is what happens. He shows up. Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David, fell face down, and paid homage. David said, Mephibosheth, I am your servant, he replied. And then there's silence, and Mephibosheth is wondering, like, is this it? Right? Is this when the guards come out and kill me? Like, why on earth am I possibly here? I'm I am the son of the prince of King Saul, the evil king before. Like, what on earth could David possibly have to do with me? And David immediately puts him at ease. Don't be afraid, David said to him. Since I intend to show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, I will restore to you all your grandfather Saul's fields, and you will always eat meals at my table. David says, basically, like, don't be afraid. I am going to change your life forever. The first thing to look at in this passage is that don't be afraid. There's this kind of really cool echo here because uh, like I said, you know, David and Jonathan, um, Mephibosheth's dad, were these close friends. And earlier in the story, in 1 Samuel, um, the situation was reversed. David was the one who was afraid for his life. David was the one who thought he was gonna be killed. Saul was trying to kill David, and he's in hiding. And Jonathan is the one who goes and finds David. And David is unsure if he can trust Jonathan, and Jonathan says this exact same thing to David when he shows up. He says, David, don't be afraid. I'm not gonna kill you, I'm not gonna harm you. And now, years later, David is able to return that kindness, not to Jonathan, but to Jonathan's son. And in the same situation, he says to Mephibosheth, Don't be afraid. I'm not against you, I'm not gonna kill you, I'm for you. And more than just saying, Don't be afraid, he says, like, everything's gonna be different for you, right? What is what does he promise? He says, uh, first, I'm going to restore to you all your grandfather Saul's fields. That is a big deal. Remember, Saul was the king, he had a huge estate. Mephibosheth is probably struggling just to survive at this point, right? He is crippled in both feet, which means he's basically unemployed. He can't work the land. That's what everybody did to make a living at that point. And so he has to be dependent on others to care for him, to give him food, to take care of his family. And so at this point, what David is saying is you're gonna go from being, you know, unemployed, probably, just struggling to survive, to becoming one of the wealthiest people in the entire kingdom. Land was wealth at this time, and Mephibosheth just inherited the wealth of a king. And not only that, David goes on to say, and you will always eat meals at my table. That was also a pretty big deal. Uh, you know, in this day, uh, food was a lot harder to come by than it is in our culture today. You know, many of us are struggling not to eat too much. That's not how the world was back then. You know, uh the average meal for somebody in this day was just a piece of bread and some water, and you were lucky to have the bread if you had it. Meat was a delicacy, you know. Uh this just that's just how life was. Food insecurity was the norm, but not at the king's table, right? The king's table, it was the best of everything that you had. It was, you know, all you can eat. It was the best wine, it was all that. It was living in a totally different world than the average person. And David is saying, like, that's gonna be your life from now on. You're eating with me. Have you ever experienced that kind of extravagance, that like over-the-top generosity, that kind of meal? I don't have a lot of experiences I could point to uh with that, but there is one a few years ago, uh, my wife and I got invited to like a pre-grand opening of Fogo to Chow right here at the mall, this Brazilian steakhouse. It was this weird thing where, like, before they opened the doors, they wanted to test the staff and like make sure everything was good. And so they invited some community leaders and and a bunch of social media influencers, and they apparently had a hard time filling out the list. So I got an invitation to come as well. And we weren't sure if we even wanted to go. It was like it was this kind of a weird invitation of like, come, you know, enjoy dinner, it's on us, and like it's a the pre-opening, and you know, we had to get babysitting, it was a whole thing, and so we were kind of on the fence, but we decided, you know, whatever, let's just go and let's do it. And so we showed up, and it was crazy. It was wild. It was like nothing I've ever experienced. It wasn't like there was just a preset menu that was free. The entire menu, everything they offered was free. People were ordering, like, you know, the $200 seafood towers and the tomahawk steaks and the whole thing. Like the whole bar menu was comped, and we're there. And I mean, two-thirds of this restaurant is filled with influencers. And so, like, there's all these people with their cameras out and they're following the waiters around, and the plates are coming out of their table, they've got the ring light, and they're making duck faces, and they're like all kinds of stuff. And I mean, the food just keeps coming, and my wife and I are sitting at this table, just like, where are we right now? Like, this is the craziest thing we've ever been a part of. And I mean, it wasn't just that you didn't pay, like, instead of bringing you a check at the end of the night, they brought you bottles of wine to take home for free. I mean, just the whole thing was just so nuts. And that's kind of what I imagine. Mephibosheth is being invited into. I mean, that's like dinner at the king's table. Everything's free, whatever you want, just over the top. David says, Come on in, I'm gonna treat you like you're one of my own. And so Mephibosheth, he's you know, he's just trying to take this in. He was afraid for his life. Now he's being made one of the wealthiest people in the kingdom, and he's overwhelmed. And this is what he says in response. Mephibosheth paid homage and said, What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me? What why are you doing this? Like I I'm I'm worthless, I have no value, I bring nothing. I'm like a dead dog on the side of the road. Now, I mean, even today in our culture, uh referring to yourself as a dead dog is like a pretty low thing, obviously. But it's actually much worse in this culture. I mean, in our culture, we at least like dogs, you know? Like if I say to you, picture a dog, you picture some cute thing like this, you know, um, or maybe, or maybe one like this. Uh and maybe you're a lab person, you know, so you picture this. No one thought of dogs like this in Mephibosheth's day. Like, dogs were not pets. They were wild scavengers, they were dangerous, they carried diseases. Like, if you ask somebody in Mephibosheth's world to picture a dog, they pictured something like this. Like, this is what a dog is in this culture. And so Mephibosheth is saying it's it's not false humility. He's saying, like, I bring as much value as just like a dead scavenger dog on the side of the road to you. Why are you treating me this way? And you know, David doesn't really answer the question. He just shows his love. He just makes it happen. You know, he's giving Mephibosheth all this land. Uh that's somewhat of a problem if you can't walk. Like, how is Mephibosheth supposed to take care of all this land? And so David then goes on and he assigns, remember Zeba, uh Zeba's family and all of Zeba's servants get assigned to work for Mephibosheth. He has 15 sons, he's got like 20 servants, and so you know, now Mephibosheth has this staff of 35 people who are working for him to care for the land that he was just given. And David says, You're not going to worry about that at all. And David, you know, brings him to Jerusalem and gives him a place to stay. And the invite to the king's table, he just showers him with blessing after blessing. And it's summarized this way in verse 11. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table just like one of the king's sons. He's adopted into the family. And just remember how crazy this is. Who Mephibosheth is. He isn't just like a random person who had nothing, who was crippled. No, he's a prince in Saul's family. Like he's the enemy. He's aligned with the wrong kingdom, with the wrong dynasty. And yet, because of David's love for Jonathan, he's blessing him as one of his own sons. And that's what I want to kind of focus in on you with this morning, is to look at that question of why David is doing this. This is Mephibosheth's question. Why? Why are you treating me this way? And David doesn't answer the question to Mephibosheth, but we do get the answer actually earlier in the story. I want to put verse one back on the screen where we started. David asked, Is there anyone remaining from the family of Saul that I can show kindness to for Jonathan's sake? And the key to this whole story is this word right here, kindness. Kindness is not a particularly powerful word in English. You know, we kind of expect kindness as just a basic reality of how we treat everyone. You're supposed to be kind to strangers, kind to you know, friends, even you know, be kind to people who aren't necessarily even your friends. Uh, we just expect people to be kind. We're not kind a lot of the time, but it's an expectation of just kind of normal life. But this word kindness, it's interpreting a Hebrew word. And the Hebrew word is hesed. And I want you to understand that word because it explains this whole story, and it actually shows us what's really going on here that the author wants us to grasp. This word hesed, it's not that kindness is a bad translation of it, it's just not deep enough. It's not, it doesn't show you enough of the meaning. This word hesed is more than just being kind by like being polite or anything like that. The word hesed refers to the way that we love people that we are in committed covenant relationships with. So if you want to like understand the word hesed, you could picture a wedding. So picture, you know, the couple up at the front at the altar with the pastor, and they're holding hands and they're looking into each other's eyes because they're committing themselves to each other for life, and they and they say they're vows. And part of the vows is that I vow to love and cherish you, right? Like that's kind of the idea of what Hesed is. It is this commitment, this promise that you're making to another person. A good way to define the Hebrew word here, Hesed, is it's faithful, loyal, promise-keeping love. This is what David says. He says, Look, I had this covenant, this commitment to Jonathan. I promised to love him, and because of my faithful, loyal, promise-keeping love to Jonathan, I'm gonna be kind to Mephibosheth. This is kind of the summary of this story. If you want to understand the story in one sentence, it's that because of David's faithful, loyal, promise-keeping love, Mephibosheth is given a seat at the king's table. And we could just stop here, and some of you are like, yeah, let's do it. You know, uh, but there's so much more going on. Like, we could just admire David and say he did a great thing and how cool. But this word, it also is kind of a pointer because this word Hesed in the Old Testament, it's actually one of the most important words that describes God's character and who God is. And you know that because God introduces himself to us in this really amazing passage in Exodus 34. It's with Moses, and Moses is just getting to know this God that rescued them from Egypt. And God says, Let me tell you who I am. Okay, this is what Exodus 34, chapter uh verse six says. The Lord, the Lord, this is God speaking. And remember, the Lord here in English, it's translating God's divine name, Yahweh. So he says, I am Yahweh, and who is Yahweh? Well, Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. And of course, that word Hesed is it's right here where we read faithful love is the Hebrew Hesed. Who is God? Well, he's compassionate and gracious, he's slow to anger and abounding in Hesed and truth, maintaining Hesed to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. This verse is like the John 3.16 of the Old Testament. It's it's repeated more often than any other verse in our Bibles. Old Testament authors, time and time again, they go back to this verse to help us understand who God is and what he's like and why he's doing what he's doing. And right at the center of it, at the heart of God's own definition of himself, is that he is full of Hesed. And so when you read that verse, that David says, okay, how can I show Hesed to Jonathan's family? What David's really saying is, how can I reflect God's character? How can I be like how God is? And that's why this story, it isn't just a story of something cool that David did. It's actually a picture of who God is and how God has treated us. This story is pointing us to a greater reality, which is that because of God's faithful, loyal, promise keeping love, we are given a seat at the king's table. This picture is a picture of the gospel. And it's actually an image that was really important to Jesus. When Jesus shows up and he begins to teach about who he is and Who God is and what the kingdom is like. This image of God as a king who is loyal and faithful and loving and wants to bless people and wants to invite people into his table is an image that Jesus goes back to. He tells a couple different versions of a parable about the kingdom that use this very idea. One of my favorites is in Luke 14. And Jesus basically says, Look, the kingdom is like this. It's like there's a king who's throwing a banquet. He's throwing a huge party and he's gonna spare no expense. It's gonna be the party of the year, if not the party of the decade. And he he goes through all of this to bring people into his home to share his food, to sit at his table. And the time comes for the party to start, and so he sends his servants out into the city to go collect people and tell them to come on in. And his servants go out and they say, Hey, it's it's happening, the party's on, the fatted calf has been killed. Like, come to the king's table. And everybody kind of has a reason they can't come, an excuse for not actually showing up to the party. One person says, you know, basically work is really crazy right now, and I just can't. And another person says, We have this family thing going on, and so I can't come either. And the next person says, Yeah, I'm about to leave on a trip, I can't make it. And you gotta imagine, I mean, the servants are shocked. Like, this is a huge event. I mean, no one would miss it. And the servants have to go back to the king and say, Hey, we're really sorry, we did what you asked, but but no one's coming. Everybody said they couldn't come. And so the king, Jesus says, decides, well, look, uh I mean, I'm I'm throwing the party. We're not gonna cancel the party. And I want people here at my table, and so go back out into the city, and this time invite everyone you see. Invite the poor and the marginalized and the outcast, like anyone you find sitting on the street, you invite them to come to the party because I want people here who want to be here. And so that's what they do, and the people come, and the king blesses them by giving them a seat at his table. And as Jesus tells this story, he's describing this reality of what God is doing to us, that he is sending this invitation. He's inviting us to come to the table, and ultimately he's describing what he came to accomplish, that the way that we're invited in is because he makes the way, he pays the penalty for our sin, he covers over our brokenness, he adopts us into God's family. This is what it's all about with Jesus is this picture of God as the generous king who invites us in. But that parable it points out this really interesting reality, which is that many people refuse the invitation. Many people don't actually come sit at the table. And I think this story of David and Mephibosheth, it helps us understand a little bit of why that is. Like in Jesus' parable, why don't people come? It's because they're busy. They have better things going on. They they have ideas for their own weekend, their own life, they've got their own agenda, and they don't understand that what they have going on just pales in comparison to what they're being invited into. And in with Mephibosheth, I think part of what's going on is there's something in us that we don't really want to be Mephibisheth. You know what I mean? Like, that's how we're supposed to see ourselves in this story. We are the ones who were aligned with the wrong kingdom and the wrong king. Like, we were the enemies of the king. We were the ones with nothing to offer, nothing to bring, no ability to bring any value, we just receive from God. But you read a story like David and Mephibosheth, and we don't really want to resonate with Mephibosheth, right? Like, wouldn't you rather resonate with a character who's being generous and who's hosting the party, or like the one who was faithful, you know, like Jonathan, who, you know, betrayed his evil father to show kindness to David. Like, we want to resonate with those people. We don't want to resonate with the one that has nothing to offer. I mean, think about how you feel when you show up to a high school reunion, right? And you know, it's been 10 years since you've seen these people and they mean nothing to you, but you really want to impress them anyways. And and like every conversation is a version of the same conversation, which is basically like, what have you done with your life? You know? And you have to give some answer. Like, how do you want to come across? Uh you want to look somewhat successful. You want to look like you have it together, like you've done good things with your life and you have good things to show for it. We all have the desire in us, we want to be that way. No one wants to look like we have nothing of value to bring, like we're broken, like we're deficient in some way. You know, it's it's Mother's Day this morning. One of the best parts of so many amazing moms, my mom included, is that I know for a fact she would love me no matter what. You know, I remember as a kid, like whether I struck out four times or I hit a home run, didn't matter. My mom was gonna love me. But I don't want her to have to love me when I suck. Like I want her to love me because I'm great. Like that, that's the that's just how we all are that way. We want to earn it. And this story is saying that's actually that's not how the kingdom is. See, the beauty of the kingdom is we've all been invited in, but there's only one way in. And it's as Mephibosheth, it's as the one with nothing to bring, with no value, who just receives the grace of our King in heaven. See, this is the point that we're pointed to, that we will only take our seat at the table when we recognize our need. We're all invited, but we have to be willing to say we need it in order to come. And I think this points us to a reality for us today as followers of Jesus. When we think about who we are, and when we think about what kind of church we want to be, what kind of community we want to have here, there's something about this story that it's really important we grasp. Because even those of us who know Jesus, even those of us who know the truth, which is that we were sinners, that we're saved by grace, that we don't earn our salvation, that we just receive from Jesus, even when we know that, it is still so easy to slip into a mindset of wanting to earn, wanting to look good, wanting to seem successful and to have it together. And sometimes church becomes that way. You know, we show up here in our Sunday best and we smile and we act like we haven't just been arguing with our family in the car on the way here, and we act like our kids always obey us, and we're shocked to hear that he hit that kid. That never happens, you know. And like we just we want to look like everything's good. And when we talk to people, we talk about what's going well in our life, and we say we're doing fine, and you know, all that stuff. And it's not the full picture, it's not real, but it's how we want to look. And then we leave here and we go home, and that's where the mess comes out. But do we want to be that kind of community? I don't think we do. Because Jesus says that our purpose, like why we exist, is to show the world who God is and what God has done for us in Jesus. Like Jesus' idea or the way that he explained this was that we're like a city on the hill that people can look to, that we're like a light in the darkness that shows the reality of who God is. And here's the thing: if we all pretend like we're great and we have it together and we kind of deserve to be here basically, then how are we gonna show the reality of Jesus to the world? We're hiding actually the reality of who he is and what the gospel is. Like we're hiding this beautiful truth that we all come with empty hands and we're only here because we have the same story, which is Jesus loved us anyways, that even when we were God's enemy, Jesus pursued us. Like that's the story we all share. And so if our message is to, if our purpose is to bring that message to the world, the only way I think we can be effective in doing that is if we're real, is if we're honest. Is if we come, we share our whole lives and our whole stories with each other, if we lean on the grace of God, if we if we ask for prayer, if we encourage one another, not as people who have all the answers, but as people who need the answers just as much as everybody else. And that's why we care so much about connection here at Alderwood and community, because it's really hard to be that real self in this room, right? Like, I'm not gonna invite you on stage and say, okay, like tell us the worst of everything, you know. I like, I'm not even gonna do that for you. And that's why we need real relationships, that's why we care about life groups and midweek and you know, just even you know, inviting people to lunch and having people in your home and sharing your stories is because that's how we actually live out this gospel reality together. And it's because we need it and we need the reminder, but it's actually so much more because the world needs this, and the world needs this message of who the king actually is. That he is the one who brought us in, even though we had nothing to offer him in return. I'm really excited to see the way that God is using Alderwood even right now to bring that message to the world around us, and I can't wait to see what more he has in store as we live this way together. And so let's pray and ask him to keep up that work that he's doing. Jesus, we uh we worship you this morning, and we just remember together that we come to you with nothing in our hands, that you love us and you show your grace, and you you show your faithful, loyal, promise-keeping love just because of who you are, and because you created us, and because you love us unconditionally. And so would you help us to live secure in that truth, not not believing that we have to come across a certain way or look a certain way or prove it or earn it or any of that, but would you just let us receive that truth as your kids that we're adopted into the family, and nothing can ever change that. And would you help us to love each other that way so that the world would see the truth of who you are? So we love you and we give you the praise and the honor and the glory. You alone are worthy of it. And we declare that together in the name of Jesus. Amen.