Community Building 5

Remember...

David has been fighting - working to unite the kingdom after Saul - finally happens

Then Joab shows up and murders Abner - who David had restored.

David laments:

2 Sam 3:38-39 “And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!””

David is trying to lead, but those beneath him are making it near impossible.

And it’s out of his control

But this is how God works...

God gives us dominion to take, a kingdom to build, a garden to expand.

he sends us into the world on a mission, to take it for HIM.

but he puts obstacles.

weeds in the flower bed - snakes in the rice farms - tares in the wheat field -

and it’s often tempting for us to thing that these obstacles are too big - too much to ocercome.

and we are tempted to despair.

In the pastoral world I’ve seen it a hundred times.

new pastor gets a new church - he’s gonna change the world - and he’s met with politics, tradition, selfishness...

and they burn out. or become politicians. or pragmatists.

they fight for a little while, it looks impossible, and they despair.

I imagine elected officials feel this way too. They get elected by the people to change the world - then walk into beaurecratic and political gridlock.

then the despair leads to the temptation - get pragmatic - get shady.

imagine being the mayor of Opelousas - water system out of date for the last 30 years, crime running amock, and you gotta turn that ship?

or you’re a dad coming to the faith late, and you’ve got older kids… or maybe your kids are under an influence that you think may kill them in the end…

our nation is falling apart, coming apart at the seams… and we’re preaching about building a community? LOL.

a lost cause? a fools errand?

it’s all just going to hell in a handbasket anyway!

no. we’ve got our mandates, and we obey.

So how do we move forward? David shows us… when faced when impossible odds … how to keep building

WHAT DID DAVID DO?

HE WENT PUBLIC

David is beign charged with the murder of Abner. Think about it - peace finally between rivals - but then one of them shows up dead?

IT WAS A SETUP! It’s like the plot of a mob movie.

SO HE GOES PUBLIC

2 Sam 3:31-32 “Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.”

This is a bit of a photo op… but it’s sincere.

David is broken, and he wants the people to know it.

AND he wants the people to know who JOAB really is and the problems he is causing.

He even composed a song to sing publicly

2 Sam 3:33-34 “And the king lamented for Abner, saying, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound; your feet were not fettered; as one falls before the wicked you have fallen.” And all the people wept again over him.”

David is publicly pointing out - “I’m not the murderer, JOAB is”

Joab is the “wicked,” and everybody is gonna knwo it.

He’s leading with a song that all will sing, and he’s forcing folks to pick a side.

This is a VERY public statement.

AND IF THAT WASN”T ENOUGH

He publicly curses Joab.

2 Sam 3:28-29 “Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!””

In our contemporary churches, we think being mild-mannered is the only way.

we wince at public statements of opposition - imagine if we made public statements of curses!!!

but this is EXACTLY what David does.

Listen - if there is a snake in the kids play set, being mild-mannered is not the right move.

it enables, endangers, and might even lead to more snakes.

you need to kill the snake.

harshness is necessary.

If youre changing a diaper, you need a baby wipe.

if you’re preventing splinters in your porch swing, you need sandpaper.

different tools for different jobs. and if you get it mixed up… you’re gonna hurt your kid both ways.

Joab is a splinter - and David isn’t HATING Joab - he’s restating the exact same judgement that God pronounces on the unrepentant wicked.

That isn’t “mean”

it’s loving and honest.

and it’d be great if Joab repented.

Paul did this too

2 Tim 4:14 “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.”

Gal 1:8 “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”

DAVID used all forms of communication and media at his disposal to make his public denouncement.

and his TONE was angry. All of it was appropriate given the circumstance.

He lamented - he was hopeful - he was angry - he was honest.

APP

LISTEN - if we’re going to build up our community - we have to have the courage ro publicly curse those people who are killing our community from the outside and inside.

but don’t go in half-cocked.

Don’t go in with 10% of the information and 100% of the moxy. Get the facts. Get the info. And be courageous with the truth...

Blow the whistle - air the dirty laundry - wickedness should be exposed.

Want to see our nation repent? Break the cycle of poverty and stagnation in the progress of our society?

we need prophets. wiling to expose. will to bring truth to bear.

and in the right instance - willing to call evil evil.

eph 5:11-13 “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,”

if we refuse to expose, evil continues. we enable and endanger everyone around us for the sake of “peace”

in fact, this is what the Bible means when it says that we say “peace peace when there is no peace.”

BUT PREACHER

aren’t we called to evangelize? We’re gonna ruin our opportunity.

no youre not. if they never hear the law, they never know why they need Jesus. The first step of evangelism is the bad news, then the good news matters.

but isn’t this divisive? yes. so was Jesus ministry, so were all the prophets, so were the apostles.

why do you think they were killed? because they were so nice?

BUT HOW?

Be wise. Be strategic. Be faithful.

in Joshua 7 - Joshua failed mightily the first time he went to fight AI, why?

there was sin in his own house. sin in israel.

The sin of Achan was revealed, dealt with, and then Israel had victory.

Rule: deal with Achan before Ai.

log then speck.

nobody trusts a sickly doctor, or a fat personal trainer.

it’s foolish to shout from your rooftop if your house is on fire.

And when Joshua did defeat Ai, he had the favor of the Lord, and he deployed strategy.

He didn’t just say “ah, the Lord says the battle is ours!” and just run in blindly.

God gave us a mind. We should use it, strategize, make a plan for taking our region for the kingdom fo Christ.

If we want to conquer and build - there are roles. Rules. Order.

we can’t all just grab our megaphones and run. There needs to be strategy. Division of labor. ALl of that.

Want to be a part of the strategy? Come to church, come to Sunday school, go to Bible studies. get connected.

you’ll start to pick up on it.

And we see the faithful who have done this.

Luther and his thesis.

Thesis 6 - The pope cannot remit any guilt

Thesis 27 - They preach only human doctines who say that as soon as the money in the coffer clinks, the soul from purgatory springs.

Luther went head first against the reigning superpower church of his day, an impossible fight, but he did it with the Bible.

and the protestant movement gained ground.

and he was loved… and hated for it.

John the Baptist

matt 14:3-4 “For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.””

John spoke against Herod, commanded him to submit to God’s law - salt and light - but was beheaded.

but where is Herod’s kingdom today? and where is the kingdom of Christ?

Think about Jesus

Matt 21:45 “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.”

Jesus exposed darkness - and they hated him for it. Killed him.

but where is Christ and his kingdom now?

Stop being pragmatic.

we must go public.

we must do it wisely.

and until we do, we won’t see the future growth the Lord has promised for his church.

For Christ, and his Kingdom.

Once more unto the breach.