Leadership: Leaders Repent

2-Part Series within our Leadership Series

Nathan: Leaders Confront

David: Leaders Repent

Back story:

The story begins with King David reigning from the throne in Jerusalem. At a time of the year when Kings go out to war, David decides to stay home in Jerusalem. David takes a late night walk on the rooftop of his palace, and from his high angle is able to look down at what’s going on down below. The Bible doesn’t say David was purposefully looking for something, but it makes you wonder: When all his men are off to war, why meander at midnight like this. His eyes begin to meander too, and he sees a beautiful woman bathing in the dark. The Bible makes mention that she was beautiful, the more uncommon word for beautiful referring to mere physical beauty.

David’s urges get the better of himself and he summons his messengers to go fetch Bathsheba. Of course, David knows Bathsheba. There’s a reason why she lived so close to David. See, Bathsheba is the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah is one of David’s Mighty Men. David kept his strong men close to him to protect him. And so while Uriah is out fighting David’s battle, David sleeps with his neighbour’s wife.

Shortly after this moral lapse, Bathsheba informs the King she’s pregnant. At this moment, David has a choice to make. He can make things right, or he can cover his tracks. He chooses the latter, and fetches Uriah from the battlefield. David understands what it’s like to be away in battle. David’s thinking: Uriah hasn’t been around his wife for some time, and so hopefully I can get Uriah to spend a romantic evening Bathsheba. No one would ever suspect I did anything then. But Uriah does the unexpected. Instead of going home to Bathsheba, Uriah sleeps in front of the doors of David’s palace.

Why? Because Uriah still considers himself on duty. The ark, his fellow soldiers, his generals, are still fighting for the kingdom. He’s still in uniform. He sleeps at the doors of the palace because Uriah’s loyalty to God’s Kingdom trumps his libido. Ironically, this frustrates David, because if Uriah doesn’t sleep with his wife, or at least spend the night in his own house, then how did Bathsheba get pregnant?

So David then gets Uriah drunk the next night as a way to lure Uriah back to his beautiful Bathsheba. But again, Uriah’s loyalty to God’s Kingdom trumps his drunk libito and still sleeps at the palace gates. Little does Uriah know that David’s next plan was to kill him.

David gives Uriah a note to his right hand man Joab who is still in battle. Uriah delivers the note with the command to kill him. Joab obeys the king, Uriah dies in the next battle. David is notified. David swaggers over the Bathsheba, takes her as his wife, and continues to rule as if nothing has happened.

David broke the 6th Commandment- You shall not murder.

David broke the 7th Commandment- You shall not commit adultery.

David broke the 6th Commandment- You shall not murder.

David broke the 9th Commandment- You shall not give false testimony.

David broke the 10th Commandment- You shall not covet your neighbours wife.

David broke the 9th Commandment- You shall not give false testimony.

A late night stroll from his palace led to a downward spiral of desire, deceit, death.

Last week we talked about how Nathan confronts him with all these sins. He summarizes David’s sin in : Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?

This is a guy labelled: a man after God’s heart.

Now David exposes his heart in a deeply personal, intimate, and passionate Psalm.

Reveals Tremendous Gifts for the Church as to a process of repentance!

v.2: Wash me; Cleanse me

v.3: I know my transgressions, my sin is ever before me

v.2: Wash me; Cleanse me

v.5: I was brought forth in iniquity

Cleanse me

v. 7: Purge (unsin) me with hyssop

v.10: Create in me a clean heart… renew a right spirit within me.

v. 14: Deliver me from bloodguiltiness

David knew the depth of his sin

Guilt is person

Sin is person

Repentance needs to be personal.

Guilt! This feeling of guilt, of knowing who you are as a sinner before an Almighty God

Jonathon Edwards: Sinners at the Hand of an Angry God

Personal, Responsibility and Personal Repentance!

: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!

Take Ownership of Their Sin

I come to you each week as a sinner.

Leaders know they aren’t all that and a box of chocolates

Fully clean

C.S. Lewis: Screwtape Letters:

Nephew Wormwood

Heart change

When Leaders do mess up:

Spirit resuscitation.

1. Use the Gospel to Assuage the Conscience

The things David did would disqualify him from ministry today…

1. Use the Gospel to Assuage the Conscience

Use a cheap and watered-down version of the Bad News to assure the patient that he is forgiven and all is done. Train him to think that the word “forgiven” means “immediately and fully transformed,” so that he actually believes he will not repeat his act. (He most certainly will.)

When he does repeat his behavior, bring relief so sudden and so full that he moves on without a second thought. Soon, he will be thinking of his forgiveness while committing his abuse. See that this continues until he thinks nothing of either the forgiveness or the abuse again. He will be peacefully enslaved to his own devices, deceived by a form of the Bad News that is emptied of its power.

Abuse of forgiveness: : Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? BY NO MEANS!!

Like, murder, adultery, bearing false witness, plagerism- committing any one of these things would disqualify me from ministry.

But

vv. 1-2: HELP ME! Cry for Mercy!

vv.3-6: I’M A SINNER: Recognition of Sin

Sin is ever before me. Pride around every corner

vv.7-9: FORGIVE ME!

From shame to joy

vv. 10-12: Desire to Remain in Communion with God

vv. 10-12: STAY WITH ME!

Make me new so that I can stay in your presence

Some of you may just need to hear this news this morning:

Promises at Baptism: I will never leave you or fore sake you. New covenant promise!

Have you messed up lately? Just need to hear: God will not caste you from his presence.

Desire for Joy

vv. 13-17: USE ME! Make Repentance Opportunity to Teach, Praise and Change for Good!

vv.18-19: BUILD US: Sacrifice of the Community

vv.18-19: Sacrifice of the Community

Repentance is Tied to Great Community

Zion= people

Publicly exposed, Publicly confessed

Repentance is habitual

2. Use the Gospel to Prevent True Repentance

Tell him that the Enemy is now pleased with him and that this means: he need not confess his deeds to those he has harmed; he need not confess his deeds to any other followers; he need not confess his deeds to other church leaders; he need not step aside from his office in the church; he need not seek help from other followers. This thinking will prevent him from receiving the ministry of other followers who may—I shudder to think it—pray to the Enemy on his behalf. It will avoid any appropriate civil or criminal justice. It will ensure a disqualified man still leads the church. Most importantly, it will make it more difficult for those he harmed to receive help and healing.

v.5: Total Depravity

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

One of the best Biblical proofs that life begins at conception. We were conceived into sin!

Not just- I was a sinner, but i still am a sinner!

vv. 7-8: Forgiveness

Total depravity, Original Sin

Repentance is

7 Purge (unsin) me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

Holistic Confession

Leaders teach these truths rather than manipulate them to fit their agenda!

v. 2: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, Cleanse me from my sin

Cleanse me from my sin

FALSE: Use the Gospel to Demand Forgiveness

1. Use the Gospel to Assuage the Conscience

Leadership Confession:

Use a cheap and watered-down version of the Bad News to assure the patient that he is forgiven and all is done. Train him to think that the word “forgiven” means “immediately and fully transformed,” so that he actually believes he will not repeat his act. (He most certainly will.)

Tell him that the Enemy is now pleased with him and that this means: he need not confess his deeds to those he has harmed; he need not confess his deeds to any other followers; he need not confess his deeds to other church leaders; he need not step aside from his office in the church; he need not seek help from other followers. This thinking will prevent him from receiving the ministry of other followers who may—I shudder to think it—pray to the Enemy on his behalf. It will avoid any appropriate civil or criminal justice. It will ensure a disqualified man still leads the church. Most importantly, it will make it more difficult for those he harmed to receive help and healing.

At the moment that the patient is face-to-face with his rebellion against the Enemy, make him be the most eloquent proclaimer of the Bad News that has ever walked the earth. With tears in his eyes and a trembling voice, give the patient the power to say that he has confessed his rebellion to the Enemy, trusted in the Enemy’s Son, and received the Enemy’s pardon. This will give him the appearance of humility and spiritual high-ground. It may even cause the victim, confused and reeling from the abuse, to feel spiritually-inferior to the patient. This is a recipe for a destructive dessert.

Having paraded his piety and praised the Enemy for His grace, we can swoop in for the kill—a demand for forgiveness. “God has forgiven me (and you) for this,” the patient will say. He will look the victim in the eye, perhaps with a hand on a knee or a shoulder, and continue, “You have to forgive me.” The victim almost certainly will say, “I forgive you,” if only to relieve the tension and be released from the room.

POINT:

Leaders teach and put in to practice the Gospel of Grace. They understand the theology and don’t use the theology to take advantage of their position of power!

Doesn’t take responsibility

Abuse of Power imbalance

Lessons on Forgiveness: Lewis Smedes: Art of Forgiveness

Put the full burden of responsibility and action (or inaction) on the shoulders of the downtrodden. Tell them this is what the Bad News demands. Have the patient insist on secrecy, saying things such as, “Forgiving means forgetting. Now that you’ve forgiven me, you can never bring this up again. In fact, you can never tell anyone that this happened. If you do, you haven’t forgiven me. And God says that he will not forgive those who do not forgive others. You do believe the Gospel, don’t you?”

No where in the Bible does it say, “Forgive and forget.”

Lewis Smedes:

“Forgiving someone who did us wrong does not mean we tolerate the wrong he did.”

God didn’t tolerate David’s sin

“Forgiving does not mean that we take the edge off the evil of what was done to us.”

“Forgiving does not mean that we surrender our right to justice.”

Evil was done

“Forgiving does not mean that we surrender our right to justice.”

Forgiveness is a power that exists within the individual. Justice is a power that exists outside of us. Justice belongs to the courts. Ultimately, God is the judge.

Justice for leaders: David received it!

“Forgiving does not mean that we invite someone who hurt us once to hurt us again.”

Forgive and protect!

“Forgiving does not mean that we want to forget what happened.”

Leaders Get the Gospel and put into practice!

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Hyssop: Plant, and when bunched together was good for sprinkling water.

29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

In Leviticus, hyssop was one of the tools needed to spiritually clean those suffering from leprosy. But when King David writes, ‘un-sin me with hyssop’, he is asking the Lord to do much more than sprinkle him with some water. This request is that the sin that infects his insides like a disease are spiritually sprinkled clean. He’s crying out, “Lord, my insides are leprous. They are infected by the disease that removes my spiritual feeling. Get this sin out of me!”

The prefix is synonymous with our English ‘un’. Verse 7 literally says ‘Un-sin me with hyssop.’ ‘Un-sin me with hyssop’. The word for un-sin is translated as cleanse because of the purpose of hyssop. Hyssop is a plant, and when bunched together was good for sprinkling water. In Leviticus, hyssop was one of the tools needed to spiritually clean those suffering from leprosy. But when King David writes, ‘un-sin me with hyssop’, he is asking the Lord to do much more than sprinkle him with some water. This request is that the sin that infects his insides like a disease are spiritually sprinkled clean. He’s crying out, “Lord, my insides are leprous. They are infected by the disease that removes my spiritual feeling. Get this sin out of me!”

In Leviticus, hyssop was one of the tools needed to spiritually clean those suffering from leprosy. But when King David writes, ‘un-sin me with hyssop’, he is asking the Lord to do much more than sprinkle him with some water. This request is that the sin that infects his insides like a disease are spiritually sprinkled clean. He’s crying out, “Lord, my insides are leprous. They are infected by the disease that removes my spiritual feeling. Get this sin out of me!”

Enter the New Testament:

: A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus takes in the leprosy!

Jesus un-sins us by becoming sin for us

“IT IS FINISHED”

There are two times when the word ‘hyssop’ is used in the New Testament. The first time is in . Jesus is hanging on the Cross, and he only has a few breaths left. Someone takes a hyssop plant and dips it in wine-vinegar. After the hyssop plant touches the mouth of the Messiah, Jesus cries out ‘It is finished.’ The plan to un-sin humanity was finally completed.

: For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

The second time the word hyssop is used in the New Testament is in Hebrew 9:19-22. Here the author of Hebrews describes how Moses took the blood of calves and goats, and mixed it with water. With scarlot wool and a hissop plant, Moses sprinkled blood on the people. Verse 22 then says, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Leaders teach the Gospel of Repentance- to believe the blood of Jesus is the key to forgiveness.

David was the King who couldn’t. He was a man after God’s own heart who broke God’s heart.

Jesus, as our Great Leader, took the blow.

Leadership: Leaders Repent

Introduction:

King David takes his Repentance Personal

David goes through a Repentance Process:

2. Use the Gospel to Prevent True Repentance

David Understand the Theology of Repentance

1. Use the Gospel to Assuage the Conscience

3. Use the Gospel to Demand Forgiveness

Lewis Smedes: Art of Forgiveness

No where in the Bible does it say, “Forgive and forget.”

Leadership: Leaders Repent

Introduction:

King David takes his Repentance Personal

David goes through a Repentance Process:

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2. Use the Gospel to Prevent True Repentance

David Understand the Theology of Repentance

1. Use the Gospel to Assuage the Conscience

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3. Use the Gospel to Demand Forgiveness

Lewis Smedes: Art of Forgiveness

No where in the Bible does it say, “Forgive and forget.”