The Kindness of a King

This is a social experiment showing how people will react if they have the choice of having something or allowing someone else to have something even better.

This kind of confirms the bible’s teaching that it is better to give than to receive.

Kindness and generosity make us feel good don’t they?

The reason we feel good when we are kind and generous is that we are living like God and how He designed us to live.

Love, kindness, and generosity are all characteristics (attributes) of God, just like our eye color, height, and personality traits describe who we are (at least in part).

God is loving, kind, and generous.

Last week, Pastor Andy preached through 2 Samuel 7 and God’s amazing promise to David.

He promised to bless David and his family, and promised that someone in his family would be king forever.

Now that promise wasn’t for David’s sons and grandsons who would be kings in Israel, since it only took 2 generations for the whole thing to fall apart.

No, God’s promise (covenant) was pointing to Jesus, who came from David’s family and through His resurrection, is our eternal King who will one day come and rule over all the heavens and earth forever.

But here’s the thing, God didn’t choose to bless David because David was a really amazing guy who never messed up, served God perfectly, and earned the right to receive God’s promises.

No David had a lot of good qualities, but he was also pretty screwed up and sinful, like all of us.

God made the covenant with David out of his LOVING KINDNESS, His GRACE, which means unearned favor.

God is loving, king, and generous.

Fast-forward several month/years later, and we get to our passage for today.

2 Samuel 9 CSB

1 David asked, “Is there anyone remaining from the family of Saul I can show kindness to for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 There was a servant of Saul’s family named Ziba. They summoned him to David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “I am your servant,” he replied. 3 So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family that I can show the kindness of God to?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still Jonathan’s son who was injured in both feet.” 4 The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba answered the king, “You’ll find him in Lo-debar at the house of Machir son of Ammiel.” 5 So King David had him brought from the house of Machir son of Ammiel in Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, fell facedown, and paid homage. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “I am your servant,” he replied. 7 “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.” 8 Mephibosheth paid homage and said, “What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?” 9 Then the king summoned Saul’s attendant Ziba and said to him, “I have given to your master’s grandson all that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You, your sons, and your servants are to work the ground for him, and you are to bring in the crops so your master’s grandson will have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do all my lord the king commands.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table just like one of the king’s sons. 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. All those living in Ziba’s house were Mephibosheth’s servants. 13 However, Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king’s table. His feet had been injured.

David has been king for a while now, and has been busy securing the kingdom from enemies and threats.

But now he has reached a time of peace and he shifts his focus.

His best friend, Jonathan, was the son of Saul who was king before David.

Before Jonathan died, David has promised Jonathan he would continue to show kindness to his family even if Jonathan died.

Now several years have passed and David sees the opportunity to fulfill his promise to his friend.

He goes to Ziba, a former servant of Saul’s family, and asks him if there is someone he can show the kindness of God to.

The word David uses here for “kindness” is the hebrew word “Hesed”, which can mean kindness, grace, goodness, and faithfulness.

It is a much bigger word than just kindness, since we usually think of kindness as being nice and thoughtful.

It is the faithful, unconditional, never-ending, always and forever, lovingkindness of God.

A verse that helps us understand the word Hesed and David’s desire in 2 Sam 9 is John 3 16

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

“For God so “HESED” the world that he gave His one and only Son…” yes LOVE, mercy, grace, kindness…LOVE.

David wants to show God’s lovingkindness to someone in Saul’s family to honor his friend Jonathan.

Ziba chooses someone quite unlikely, but

Before HESED:

1) He was Broken

The name Mephibosheth actually means “spreader of shame”, but isn’t the name used for him outside of 1 Samuel.

He is called Merib-Baal in 1 Chronicles, which can be translated “God Contends”

He went from being someone God contends for to a spreader of shame.

He was dropped as a child when the servant taking care of him was fleeing after Saul’s death.

The fall caused him to become lame, or crippled in his feet.

In this culture, life for Mephibosheth would have been hard.

He couldn’t work, he couldn’t serve in the military, so he was pretty much useless.

That sounds horrible in our culture and I am glad it does because it isn’t true, but in that culture, Mephibosheth was a broken toy that had no use (Land of Misfit toys from Rudolph)

2) He was Rejected

He lived in the far out town called Lo-debar.

“debar” can be translated “word” or “thing” and “lo” means “no”

So Mephibosheth lived in the “Nothing-town”, which likely reflected the state of the town.

He was born as a prince in the family of the King of Israel, but he had lived the majority of his life hiding from the new king in a nowhere town.

It was customary for the new king to take out all those who would have a claim to the throne in the old king’s family.

When Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle and David was to be named king, Mephibosheth was hurriedly removed from his home and brought to Lo-debar.

Even when David shows up, he struggles to believe David isn’t there to kill him.

He also struggles to believe he is worthy of anything other than death. “What is your servant that you take an interest in a DEAD DOG like me?”

3) He was Hopeless

As a grandson of Saul, David had the right to kill Mephibosheth and his family. It was common for kings who had overthrown the prior king to eliminate anyone in the former kings house who may seek to take back the thrown.

Not only that, but with his physical state and the ruined state of his family, there was little hope for Mephibosheth.

I can imagine Mephibosheth often looked at his life as a loss, a waste, and a meaningless existence.

When is carried into David’s palace, he wasn’t expecting Hesed, he was expecting what he thought was inevitable for someone like him, rejection, punishment, and death.

2 Samuel 9:7 CSB

7 “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.”

Can you imagine how Mephibosheth’s expression changes.

This broken, rejected, and hopeless man hears words he could never imagine hearing.

In a single moment, his entire life changes forever.

He had experienced HESED, God’s lovingkindness.

After HESED:

1) He is REMEMBERED

Outside of a short mention of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 4:4, he seems to be basically forgotten in the story of Israel.

That was until David goes looking for someone to show gracious, loving kindness to.

Ziba was a servant of Saul’s family, so he likely knew all the children and grandchildren and where they had ended up after Saul’s death.

Mephibosheth wasn’t the only one left of Saul’s family, he was just the one Ziba decided to tell David about.

This broken, rejected, hopeless and forgotten son was remembered in time for him to be given something he definitely didn’t deserve.

2) He is REDEEMED

Not only was he remembered, he was redeemed.

Redemption means to secure the release or recovery of persons or things by the payment of a price.

Years before, Mephibosheth’s family had lost everything when Saul and his sons had died on the battlefield.

But in one gracious act of loving-kindness, David restored Saul’s land to Mephibosheth.

All the farmland and personal property Saul and his family had before his fall was fully restored to Mephibosheth.

He didn’t deserve it, didn’t earn it, and couldn’t even take care of it himself.

But that is the beauty of HESED, God’s grace, it doesn’t make sense and yet it is utterly extraordinary.

3) He is RECEIVED

But David doesn’t stop there,

Not only did he give him his grandfather’s land, but he gave him a seat at the King’s table.

“In the Near East, to share a meal with someone is a guarantee of peace, trust, fraternity and forgiveness–the shared table symbolizes a shared life.”

David made Mephibosheth a part of his family.

This “dead dog” now eats at the table of the King.

We are Mephibosheth

Do you see yourself in this story?

We are Mephibosheth!

Like David, Jesus seeks out broken, rejected, and hopeless people like us and offers us the greatest gift anyone could ever receive.

In Jesus we are REMEMBERED - Jesus says His mission, the reason He came, was to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19 10

Luke 19:10 CSB

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Everyone of us at times have struggled with feeling worthless, unloved, and overlooked.

But the Gospel says that even at our most unlovable state, Christ showed His love by dying in our place. Romans 5 8

Romans 5:8 CSB

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God knows you, He loves you, and He is pursuing you.

In Jesus we are REDEEMED - Purchased by the blood of Christ, set free from our slavery to sin and death, and given the riches of a heavenly inheritance in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:4–10 CSB

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Like Mephibosheth, we have been given more in Christ than we could ever imagine, and not because we deserve it or because we have earned it, but only by His grace.

In Jesus we are RECEIVED - Welcomed to the table of our King.

John 1:12 CSB

12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,

The way we symbolize this truth is through the Lord’s Supper

For those who have trusted in Jesus, this is our way of remembering, reflecting, and rejoicing in being invited to the Table of the Lord.

We are Mephibosheth.

A former enemy; a treasonous traitor. A spreader of shame. A nothing. Spiritually crippled. And we are invited.

If you have received this gift, this invitation, we would invite you to join us today.

INVITE THE USHERS FORWARD

But if you haven’t and you would say that you are not a follower of Jesus, we would instead invite you to receive Jesus.

Maybe God has revealed to you today that you are Mephibosheth and you are ready to trust in him.

Say, “Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner who needs to be saved. I believe Jesus died for my sins, and I accept your invitation to become your child and sit at your table. I surrender to you as Lord.”

1 John 3:1 CSB

1 See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.

Think about the promises that are yours sitting at this table.

Romans says: He that did not spare his own son, will he not also freely give us all things…

There is no therefore no condemnation for those in Christ.

He has brought our sins as far as East is from the West.

This is what we rejoice in and celebrate in the Lord Supper.

Sometimes marriages don't work, and sometimes babies die Sometimes rehab turns to relapse and you're left just askin' why And for all the prayers I've prayed, I still wonder if He's real And if He is, how is He choosin' who He does and doesn't heal?

I've tried to run from Jesus, I've started holy wars I've tried the patient waitin' and the kickin' down the doors I've cursed His name in anger with my fist raised to the sky And in return, all He's ever been is kind

And I've burned my fair share of bridges I learned to tuck my tail and run Watch the wreckage in the rear view From all the crooked things I've done And I know that He forgives me But it's hard to forgive myself I can't help but think that amazing grace is for everybody else

And I know I wasn't there But when I look up at the cross I see the darkest day in history I guess that's what kindness cost

I've tried to run from Jesus, I've started holy wars I've tried the patient waitin' and the kickin' down the doors He knows I don't deserve it But He's never changed His mind All He's ever been is kind All He's ever been is kind

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