I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again

Ask for hands raised

How many of you have ever seen just a raw display of emotion?

How did you view the person going through that?

In a positive or negative light?

As weak or strong?

Who has ever experienced such strong emotion that it seemed like there was nothing you could do to control it?

Ask for verbal responses

What are some emotions that you think of if I say “good emotions”?

What are some emotions you think of if I say “bad emotions”?

Ask to think about/write down

What makes you emotional?

We’re going to be talking about emotions for at least the next couple of weeks for a few reasons:

We need to remove the stigma that has been placed on emotional behavior

Men aren’t supposed to show them, women are criticized for being “too emotional”

We need to learn how to respond to them in a Godly manner

David

Give me some descriptions of David that you think of when I say his name

Man after God’s own heart

Strong

Warrior

Emotional Man

Now we’re going to read about a time when David, a man after God’s own heart, experienced some great, and powerful, emotion

Explain what is happening earlier in the book (how bad Absalom is) and read

2 Samuel 18:31–33 ESV

And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king! For the Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.” The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.” And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

We see here David’s response to learning that his son has been killed

Look at the difference between his response and the Cushite’s response

“Good news!” vs. “Would I had died instead of you”

The Cushite’s is the normal one for this situation, they’ve just won a great battle! Absalom was treasonous against his king and father, by their law he should have had no right to live or be considered David’s son any longer

2 main points from this text

David’s masculinity is magnified, not diminished, by this response

Do any of you think any less of David after reading this?

Strength is not defined by stoicism

(stoicism just means behaving like a rock in front of all things)

By being willing to have this open display of emotion in front of his men David is showing an example of the love a father is supposed to have to his children

David’s response gives us an example of God’s response to our rebellion

He is exemplifying a small version of the love and forgiveness that The Father had for us when because of his broken heart he sent his son to die in our place

God doesn’t just say “would I had died” like David, God does it

When we rebel against absolutely everything that God has prepared for us, he still weeps for us and has mercy, how awesome is that?

When we die without accepting Christ and living for God, God is broken down just like this

David offered Absalom a way to forgiveness and mercy that he did not deserve, just like God does for us

Absalom rejected it and continued to rebel, as we do in sin, and David’s heart was still broken by his death, just as God’s is in ours

1 point not directly from text, but related to the emotional response of pain

There are things that we should react this emotionally to, but there are also things we should not

I just want to make the point here that just because there are many instances where God given emotion is good, that does not mean we should just go around whining and crying all the time, throwing a fit over not getting your way or losing a sporting event or something is not Godly emotion, that’s just being whiny

Losing a loved one is the most obvious area that this kind of response is normal for, but it is not the only place where an emotional response is good

We should be heartbroken by the brokenness of our world

We should be heartbroken by injustice when we see it

When we see our world becoming ok with evils like abortion we should be heartbroken

When we see people needlessly murdered by terrorists and shooters here, we should be heartbroken

When we recognize the fact that things like racism and other types of prejudice (rather obvious or internal) are still prevalent issues in our world and in our community, we should be heartbroken!

We should be heartbroken when we see our friends act in sin rather than in the grace of God

We cannot become numb to the world around us, because then we have no reason to reach it

We should be heartbroken by the brokenness of our Church

When the church spends more time debating specific issues among itself rather than seeking to reach the lost, we should be heartbroken

When we see people leaving the church or refusing to come because it has become a place of judgement rather than grace, we should be heartbroken

When we see the church only looking in on itself as a source of entertainment rather than outreach, we should be heartbroken

How do we respond to this brokenness?

God does give us emotion for a reason, when we become numb, when we no longer allow our hearts to be broken, we lose one of the most powerful tools God has blessed us with

When there is emotion like personal grief, everyone responds to that differently, and there is honestly no correct answer

Sometimes you may be mad at God or confused, those feelings are OK as long as you bring them to God and you do not reject him because of it

You must still submit to God’s Lordship in your life, no matter what you are feeling

However, with the heartbrokenness we should have when we see brokenness in our world and in our church, we have one response, try to fix it.

It can be overwhelming, but God never meant for one person to fix every problem, but he does put us in a position and give us the authority to make our circles of influence look a little more like him

We may not be able to stop every needless shooting that has become all to common in America, but we can love others and not reject or isolate the mentally ill

We may not be able to stop terrorist groups like ISIS, but we can try to reach more people with the gospel every single day regardless of how they look or what they currently believe

We may not be able to fix everyone’s broken view of the church, but we can love others and make our church a place that welcomes them in

We may not be able to fix the brokenness happening in the church as a whole, but we can make sure that we are focusing on living like Christ in our own church and we can partner with others to reach more people

God gives us emotions so that we can have responses. Allow yourself to be broken, and then allow God to put you back together.