Place and Purpose

Intro:

The movie “Pulp Fiction” has multiple different storylines that all come together to form one basic narrative. In the story of “Pulp Fiction,” there’s no one character, there’s a lot of stories

You’ve got Vincent and Jules, two mobsters that nearly die, there’s Butch who just wants to box, there’s Marsellus, the mob boss who’s looking for a treasure, and there’s even Marvin, who get’s shot in the face.

If you try to put the story together in one sentence, it wouldn’t capture the complexity of the story.

That’s true of the Bible, which is one giant story that God has woven together since before time began, that’s true of 1 and 2 Samuel, which tells the story of the line of kings and of David, and that’s true of our two stories today. These two stories feel disconnected, and yet there is a line of plot that runs through all of them.

What we see here is that

God is calling you into a place and a purpose.

One of the big things that we have to realize with these stories, in fact, the whole book, is that everything is connected, all of the places and names and events are part of a grand story that God has been telling since the beginning of time and has continued to tell up until now. You and I are still affected by these stories, and in fact, without these stories actually happening, we probably wouldn’t be in this place at this time.

So, as we are approaching these passages, we’re going to talk through the history of the passages a bit while we’re discussing what’s going on.

History

2 Sam. 9:1.

Ok, first big thing here is that David is the King of Israel, but he wasn’t the first king. The first king was a guy named Saul. Saul was a jealous, angry guy who hated David for his success and tried to kill him.

Saul had a son named Jonathan, and Jonathan and David were incredibly close friends.

So, David starts reaching out once things are a little calmer in the palace to ask about if there was anyone left that was related to Jonathan because he wanted to be a good friend and to show kindness (huge theme in this) to them.

2 Sam 9:3.

Then, this guy Ziba (who ends up being pretty terrible) tells David that Jonathan had a surviving son named Mephibosheth.

Ziba makes sure to tell David that Mephibosheth is crippled.

That was probably to make it clear to David that Mephibosheth wasn’t a threat to the throne.

Mephibosheth became crippled when he was a little boy in 2 Sam 4 after the kingdom of Saul fell. Mephibosheth was only five years old and his nurse tried to flee from the palace with him after some assassins killed his uncle and dropped him.

The fall broke his legs horribly, and, because there wasn’t actual medical care, Mephibosheth was never the same again.

That means that he could never earn a decent wage (he couldn’t farm), and people constantly would have looked down on him for being crippled.

2 Sam. 9:7-8.

So, David gets Mephibosheth to his palace.

I’m sure at this point, Mephibosheth is fairly certain he’s going to die so that David could clear out the line of Saul completely, but he doesn’t. David essentially adopts him and redeems him.

David gives him land so he always has access to money, even while being crippled. He also brings him into his home and nurtures and cares for him.

David lets Mephibosheth eat at the kings table like his sons, meaning David now treated Mephibosheth as his son.

2 Sam. 9:13.

And so, Mephibosheth lives with David and truly loves him.

Place

And so, what we can see here is that David gave Mephibosheth a place. A place to be, a place where he belonged.

You see, Mephibosheth had no place. His land was occupied because everyone thought that all of Saul’s family was dead. He was, up until this point, probably terrified of David because he didn’t want to be a threat to him, and he did not have a family that would bring him in, he was living off of the kindness of someone else up until this point.

You and I can be the same way!

We live in a world where true places of belonging are very hard to come by.

Families are broken constantly, friendships are based on consuming each other rather than building each other, and many of us feel like we believe in a God that is so distant from us that we could never want us around, let alone like us. And that’s if we even believe in the context of faith at all! There are many of us that have no category in our lives for God because He’s just not that important for us. We leave no place for Him, all the while we are starved for belonging in Him!

And this is where

David and Mephibosheth echo the reality of us and God.

David has all the power in this situation

God is all powerful.

Mephibosheth is a broken man (physically)

We are broken people, the weight of our sin is heavy on us. We may not walk with the limp that comes from severe damage, but it shows in our souls the pain that we feel.

David brings Mephibosheth in and cares for him

God the Father through Christ the Son and by the Holy Spirit brigs us in by the cross!

Mephibosheth is offered life with David as his son

You and I are invited to life forever with the Triune God, both now and in eternity.

In this time where I was preparing this sermon, I kept getting this image of a poor broken man kneeling before a great King.

David was a relatively young man, maybe in his forties, and regal.

Mephibosheth was definitely younger, but he was feeble and downtrodden.

And that’s where you and I are at today.

We are the broken man! We are in desperate need of Someone to save us, and so Christ in His mercy will lead you to Him so that you can kneel before Him and become a beloved child of God!

David didn’t even need to sacrifice that much for Mephibosheth to come in! Our Lord gave up His life, He suffered immensely for our pardon and gave Himself for our life with Him!

God in His kindness calls you to a place: in Him.

Notice how often David says that he wants to show kindness to Mephibosheth! It’s the same with God.

What does that mean for you?

For some of us, maybe we’ve never believed in Christ. Or maybe we’ve just never actually believed.

I believe then that you were brought to this church for a purpose, and that purpose is to become a son or a daughter, much like Mephibosheth was with his new father David.

For others, maybe this is an opportunity for us to realize when we aren’t kind.

We are on the receiving end of immense kindness, what do we do with it?

Are we going to be the church people on every news station that are just known for being hypocrites, or can we show others a small fraction of the kindness that we’ve been given?

Purpose

Next we move on to chapter 10, but first, we need some history

2 Samuel 10:1.

Some time later, we don’t know exactly when, but David was growing in power and peace was relatively attained in the land, and he hears about a king of the Ammonites named Nahash who had died.

This king showed up in 1 Samuel 11, he was a tyrant who would gouge out the eyes of his victims, but he hated Saul, and so we assume that when David was on the run from Saul, David might have hidden with him.

And, the nation of the Ammonites are actually descendants of Lot, who is Abraham’s nephew. Abraham is the father of all of the Jews, and so it’s just a giant family dispute that’s really going on! (You see what I mean about it all being connected?)

David sends some servants to offer condolences to the new king, and the new king is persuaded to insult David.

2 Sam. 10:4.

This is a shame tactic to show that Hanun, the new king, doesn’t care about David. He disrespects his messengers.

So, David’s pretty upset, and in retaliation for David being upset, the Ammonites hire out some mercenaries from Syria and they all get ready to attack.

David then sends out Joab, the commander of his army, and they come to the Ammonites.

The combined Syrian and Ammonite forces outmaneuver Joab, and he’s suddenly faced with a battle on two fronts.

So, he and Abishai, his brother, split up their forces and both attempt to fight a battle on one side.

This is where Joab says maybe the one good thing in the entirety of his time in the Bible

2 Sam 10:11-12.

They work together and then they win the battle and both armies flee

After this, David goes out to war and kills off the rest of the Syrians and the Ammonites become weakened to the point where they are taken over by the nation of Israel n 2 Chronicles 27, and then are captured by Babylon afterwards.

I think, from this passage, we can pick up two big purposes that we are given in the new life and place that’s been given to us in Christ, and they are both from Joab in v. 11-12!

Community

God did not leave Joab without aid, and He doesn’t for you either!

The followers of Jesus around you are a gift of God for your flourishing and encouragement.

Joab would have been done without Abishai! His situation was, strategically speaking, a nightmare. He needed people around him, and we do too.

So, your Christian friends, church people, neighbors, children, and spouse are a gift by God to build you up, and you are a gift to them for the same!

We live in a lonely, isolated age, take a jump and get connected with people.

We have been living in what some doctors call a “loneliness epidemic”

Change something about it!

Join a small group

Make a regular meeting with trusted friends

Spend time with your families

Don’t neglect the gathering of believers!

I know that church on a Sunday morning or trying to make time in your day for a small group can be challenging, but our challenges will only get worse if we can’t have people around us that care for us!

Unpredictability

This battle was not the one that Joab would want to fight.

He could have just surrendered and hoped for the best

But, he knew God placed him there and that he had a plan, so he went out and did what he could.

The myth of “nice.”

“Nice” is what we are addicted to!

Nice, easy, simple.

We want a nice job with a nice family with an easy commute and a simple life.

And we want it in our God too.

A lady came up to a pastor who had been emphasizing discipleship and said, “I just want to be a Christian. I don’t want to be a disciple. I like my life the way it is. I believe that Jesus died for my sins, and I will be with Him when I die. Why do I have to be a disciple?” - Dallas Willard

For many of us, that is exactly what we live!

But it’s a lie!

That is a fabrication of excellent marketing done by the powers of Satan and very convincing companies that will leave you cold and dead!

The myth of nice is that we can chase after comfort and everything that we could ever want and then sprinkle some Jesus on it and it’s all going to work out, but that’s not true!

It will kill you, and I can’t tell you what’s going to happen after that!

All that I know is this, when Jesus came, He did not offer a nice house with a nice job, He promised a cross, and then He carried His own and offers for you to take up yours.

That’s not a “nice” life, but it is a true, real life that won’t fail you like every other system does!

The life of a disciple will look much more like surrender and submission than it will crushing it in everything you touch.

Following Jesus this way might mean that you change your relationship to your job

It will mean we stay in our marriages even when it’s hard

It will mean that we live sacrificially

It will mean that we stop working so hard to be perfect and start relaxing with Jesus

It will mean that life will look different from your friends.

And it will mean that you will have a joy that they can’t even begin to understand.

And so, let’s be people who stop chasing after “nice” and start chasing after God.

Notice, this isn’t just doing whatever you want! It’s being in an open and receptive posture to doing what God has for you.

You have a place in Christ, and you have a purpose to live a Christ-life.

He lived in perfect communion with His fellow man and with God. And He gave Himself up for the plans of God because of the love of God.

Application: Find your place in Christ, and be receptive to His purposes for you.