The Identity Struggle

Introduction

Main Point: When you lose sight of your God-Given Identity and Purpose and replace it with a man-made identity and purpose, you will walk into sin.

Body

So yesterday we established that we all have a God-Given identity and that God gave men a job! God gave identity and God gave purpose. These are two different things, but at the same time, they are related!

Today, we are going to continue looking at what scripture says about identity and we are going to look specifically at an example from the Life of David.

David is called a man after God’s own heart in scripture. In GOD’S WORD! God declares him to be a man after GOD’S HEART!

That’s part of his identity! It was built deeply on GOD! But, David wasn’t perfect. He stumbled, struggled and fell.

Let’s look at one of David’s biggest identity failings, that we see in 2 Samuel 11.

Look at 2 Samuel 11:1 with me

2 Samuel 11:1 CSB

1 In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

There’s a few details that we need to make note of here.

First, notice the time of year it is.

It’s spring. What happens in the spring? KINGS GO OUT TO WAR!

Kings march out to war. They literally GO TO WAR! Every spring, kings would go to war with one another.

This was tradition. The men would plant their crops, they’d finish their barley harvests, and then, they’d go to war!

This was part of what it meant to be a king!

And this year, as David should go to war, what does he do?

HE REMAINS IN JERUSALEM!

Think about this! David should go to fight the Ammonites and to besiege Rabbah, but he doesnt.

Instead, look at what he does. He stays home. He sends Joab who is his #2 to lead his army.

Look at this! David has decided not to fulfill his job as king.

But let me stop us and ask us a question. Who has given David the throne? Who called David to be king?

Do you know the answer? IT’S GOD! God appointed David!

Listen to me, David has been made king by God. It is his GOD GIVEN PURPOSE AND ROLE!

God has given David the throne to lead the Israelites closer to GOD and to MAKE GOD’S NAME GREAT!

We don’t think about that, but it’s true! Israel is to make God’s name great, just as we are to also. We’ll talk about that more later.

But, don’t miss this. David has given up his God-given purpose and has decided to instead follow HIS OWN DESIRE!

It’s really simple. David willingly and purposefully disobeys God’s job that he’s been given.

Do you know what that shows us?

It shows us that David is not understanding WHO HE IS!

David has an IDENTITY ISSUE!

How many of you have thought of that before?

When we disobey, it speaks about our IDENTITY ISSUE! It’s the truth!

When I sin, when I decide that I need something different, or that God hasn’t provided for me, or that I’m not content with what God has given me, it really says that I AM BETTER THAN GOD!

That’s what David’s saying! He’s saying, “God, I’m such a good king that I don’t even have to go! My military is so strong that JOAB CAN LEAD THEM AND I CAN REST IN JERUSALEM!”

Look at 2 Samuel 11:2-3 with me

2 Samuel 11:2–3 CSB

2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. 3 So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hethite?”

David gets up from his bed one night and he goes for a walk around the roof of the palace.

It was common in Ancient Israel to use roofs to cool off in the summertime. The breeze would blow over the roof andcool everything off. It was like having a giant ceiling fan called the Mediterranean Sea.

I know that we think of Israel as super hot and it is. But, I also used to teach Geography. I can classify climates as well as anyone else. Israel is not actually a desert. It’s right by the Mediterranean Sea and so it has these great breezes that blow!

David is taking advantage of that.

So is Bathsheba.

It wasn’t just that people walked and ate on their roofs, they also bathed there, they slept there and they lived up there essentially!

Bathsheba was taking a bath.

Notice what happens. David looks and he sees “a very beautiful woman.”

Let me just ask again- what should David be doing? HE SHOULD BE AT WAR, not in Jerusalem looking at Beautiful women.

So David sees her and makes his second bad choice.

David sends someone to inquire about Bathsheba. The messenger tells David that this woman is BATHSHEBA, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

Uriah is one of David’s soldiers. But he isn’t just some random guy. Uriah was one of David’s “30 Mighty Men.” Uriah is David’s GUY!

They know each other, Uriah is trusted, and David should look out for Uriah.

Instead, what is he doing? HE’S CHECKING OUT URIAH’S WIFE!

And David is about to do something even more telling of how he sees himself. David is about to use his position that GOD GAVE HIM, to TAKE ADVANTAGE of Bathsheba.

Listen to me- David has taken his purpose and his position and made it his identity. He has then removed God and he has made it about HIMSELF!

Example

Here’s the lesson I want us to see so far. When you lose sight of your God-GIVEN IDENTITY and you replace it with a MAN-MADE identity, you will walk in sin!

So let’s see what David does next. 2 Samuel 11:4-5

2 Samuel 11:4–5 CSB

4 David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to inform David, “I am pregnant.”

Look at what David does. He uses his power and his position to TAKE ADVANTAGE OF BATHSHEBA.

Exactly how this goes doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if she could have said no or not. The point is simple. David abuses his position and we see him distorting his identity.

See, what David’s doing is he’s taking his JOB and conflating it with his identity.

His identity is not in the LORD, it’s in BEING KING!

And that leads him STRAIGHT INTO SIN!

David takes advantage of Bathsheba who had been cleansing herself according to the OT law and she becomes pregnant.

She then tells David.

Now, let’s stop for a second. Maybe you’ve heard this story before, maybe you haven’t. If you have, don’t spoil it! Instead, let’s think for a second.

WHAT SHOULD DAVID DO?

HE SHOULD REPENT!

HE SHOULD FALL ON HIS FACE BEFORE GOD SCREAMING OUT AND PLEADING FOR FORGIVENESS! DAVID SHOULD GO TO GOD AND THEN HE SHOULD GO TO BATTLE, RETURNING TO HIS POST AS KING!

Listen, he can handle this in a good way, that involves owning his sin to Uriah and taking the consequences of his actions, or he can handle it in a bad way.

2 Samuel 11:6–9 CSB

6 David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hethite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

I’d say that’s a bad way to handle it.

David sends messengers to the front line to fetch Uriah for him.

David talks to him and then tries to send him to spend the night with Bathsheba.

David is trying to cover up his sin.

He’s thinking that with any luck, it will look like the child is Uriah’s and he’ll be able to escape with no consequence!

Guys, David takes his sin and he compounds sins!

He does this by LYING!

All this time, David is confused about his identity.

Uriah isn’t. Uriah refuses to go home because his fellow soldiers are not at home.

And when we look at Uriah’s response in verse 11, we see someone who is SECURE in his identity!

2 Samuel 11:10–11 CSB

10 When it was reported to David, “Uriah didn’t go home,” David questioned Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah answered David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camping in the open field. How can I enter my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live and by your life, I will not do this!”

Uriah is asked by David why he won’t go home. David is feeling desparate.

Uriah explains that he won’t go home because the army is in the field at war! It’s a noble thing.

But let me make a deeper point about Uriah.

Uriah is secure in who he is. He’s a Hittite who is noww a part of Israel. This means that he FOLLOWS GOD! And here his actions show that he also understands HIS ROLE as a soldier!

Remember, this is one of David’s MIGHTY MEN!

He’s like a Navy Seal! He’s a hero! But pride hasn’t filled his heart!

Now remember, purpose and identity aren’t the same, but remember, you can tell when someone is having an identity issue because their purpose and role get twisted.

And Uriah doesn’t struggle with these.

He is secure in who he is.

This isn’t to say that he is perfect, or that he never questioned his identity, but it is a direct contrast with the actions of David in 2 Samuel 11.

David is clearly lost. He doesn’t know who he is and he’s going further and further into sin, day after day.

Look at 2 Samuel 11:12-13

2 Samuel 11:12–13 CSB

12 “Stay here today also,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. He went out in the evening to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

David tells Uriah to stay one more night. He knows that Uriah isn’t going to leave the palace. But before that, David tries one last thing. He tries to get Uriah drunk so that he’ll GO HOME!

But look, Uriah doesn’t fall into this trap!

And that brings David to his worst decision.

2 Samuel 11:14–15 CSB

14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote: Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.

David comes up with an even more twisted plan.

David decides that he is going to have Uriah killed.

He doesn’t just decide that he wants Uriah to die; he literally decides to make Uriah CARRY THAT PLAN BACK TO BATTLE WITH HIM!

Do you see how lost David is?

This is David, the man after God’s own heart. This is DAvid who just had a covenant made by GOD WITH HIM!

This is David, who was anointed king when no one else thought that he would be worth anything!

This is David the writer of so many psalms.

DAVID IS TOTALLY LOST! And his lostness is over WHO HE IS! And it leads him to sin again and again and again!

Look at what happens in 2 Samuel 11:16-17

2 Samuel 11:16–17 CSB

16 When Joab was besieging the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were. 17 Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the men from David’s soldiers fell in battle; Uriah the Hethite also died.

Joab gets the message, obeys David, as he’s supposed to- ALTHOUGH YOU SHOULD NOT FOLLOW PEOPLE INTO SIN LIKE THIS- and Uriah is killed.

It’s a sober ending to this saga, but it isn’t really done.

Bathsheba gives birth to her son. Her son dies. That’s God’s righteous judgement towards David!

So let’s take a second and recap what we’ve just seen.

David loses his identity and his purpose. He mixes them up and acts out of selfish pride rather than humility.

The issues start to be noticeable when he doesn’t go to battle.

Then, he takes advantage of Bathsheba- one of his bravest soldiers wives.

Then, he tries to cover up his sin.

Then, he tries to TRICK Uriah.

When that doesn’t work, he has Uriah killed.

We have sins all throughout this! It’s twisted and it’s sickening if we are honest.

But at the same time do you knwo what God does with this terrible situation?

Listen- it can be really easy when we fall short to think that everything is over. But 2 Samuel 11 shows us that this isn’t the case!

Do you know who the second son of David and Bathsheba is? This son is born after they are married.

This son is SOLOMON!

God takes a terrible series of actions and makes good come out of them.

And do you know what else happens?

GOD FORGIVES DAVID!

David does eventually repent. He bears consequences from his sin as seen when another son attempts to steal his THRONE, but we see that DAVID IS FORGIVEN!

And listen, that isn’t only the case for David. That’s the case for us. When we fall short, GOD WILL STILL FORGIVE US!

Application