The Table

The Real

When you read your bible do you ever have a thing that sticks out to you that you maybe you had just skimmed over as an afterthought before? Or maybe you’d never given them a second thought?

This week I was reading through 1st and was taking notes to prepare my message for you this morning over the life of David that prepared him to be the great Kind that he was. As I was reading I came across a name that doesn’t show up very much but for some reason, that I now know was the urging of the Holy Spirit, I felt compelled to meditate and study about a man named Mephibosheth.

You may or may not have heard much or know much about Mephibosheth but I’m hoping that you will have a better understanding of who he is and why he’s important today. Did anyone wake up this morning hoping to learn about Mephibosheth? Did you tell you wife this morning, maybe while you had coffee and ate breakfast, that you were hoping the preacher talked about Mephibosheth today? Anyone?

The Read

You can go ahead and turn over to 2nd Samuel chapter 9 if you brought your Bible with you. I’m going to spend a few minutes just catching us up to this point because it is important.

By the time we get to , David is comfortably ruling as the King of Israel. But that wasn’t an automatic thing.

In chapter 1, we see that Saul and Jonathon have both died.

In chapters 2-5 there’s a violent battle between the house of David and the house of Saul that takes place because there are some descendants of Saul who are still trying to lay claim the throne.

There are some descendants of Saul who are still trying to lay claim the throne.

In chapter 2 David is anointed the King over Judah.

(ESV)

Abner Joins David

1 There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.

Chapter 5 rolls around and most of the house of Saul has been subdued and David is anointed as King over the entire nation of Israel.

Chapter 5 ends with David’s army defeating the Philistines.

In chapter 6, David has the Ark of the Covenant brought to Jerusalem.

This is important because the very presence of God was made manifest through the ark of the covenant.

If you read about it in Exodus, when they are in the wilderness, God tells Moses to place the ark of the covenant outside the camp and the two of them can meet there and Moses can tell the people what God said.

But Moses, who was able to communicate with like like no man before him and no man since, told God that he would rather bring it into camp because the people’s desire was that God would be near to them and dwell among them. God honored the request of Moses and God was among the people.

Then through a series of bad choices, they lost it. How do you just lose the Ark of the Covenant? How did Mary just lose Jesus at the temple? This isn’t like a set of car keys or a cell phone. These are really important thing that got misplaced.

But nonetheless, David is able to restore the Ark back to Jerusalem and he’s able to restore the manifestation of God back with the Israelite people.

In chapter 7, God makes a covenant with David that through his bloodline will come a kingdom that never fades.

Chapter 8 gives an overview of all the great victories that David and his army had.

By the time chapter 9 rolls around, David is finally getting to relax, restore, and reflect on what God has done and how God has been faithful.

a (ESV)

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

1a And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul...”

The wording use here “House of Saul” is referring to the lineage of Saul.

And when there was a dynasty change from one family to the next in a kingdom it was normal that everyone in the line of the old dynasty would be executed.

So though it may seem strange to us that David would ask such a question about the house of Saul, it would have been normal for David to do so. The expected question here, would have been for David to ask if there was anyone left so that he could have them executed.

He would want to make sure that no one from the old kingdom would try to step in and question his authority or to try and take over the throne from him or just cause any chaos and upheaval among the order that David has been able to uphold. He’d already dealt with some of Saul’s crazy family and he didn’t want to have to mess with it anymore.

So for David to ask if he had any family left so that he could eradicate the issue would have been normal and even expected.

But look what David said instead.

(ESV)

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

1 And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

David hoped that if there was anyone left in that line, he would be able to show them kindness.

This word kindness is unique. The Hebrew word is “Hessed.” It is unique because it’s referring to the kindness of God. And in a few verses it is going to be worded that way.

David isn’t wanting to show this descendant of Saul his own kindness. He isn’t wanting to show him Judah’s kindness. He’s taking it up a to a completely new level. He’s wanting to show him God’s kindness.

This is a person that normally would have been executed just because he was in that lineage and David is saying, “Let me show him undeserved kindness.”

It says in verse 2,

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(ESV)

2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.”

So David calls a servant of Saul’s house and asks the same question. But this time you see that line of God’s kindness and we find out that there indeed is someone from that bloodline.

Saul had a son name Jonathon. Jonathon had a son. So this is the grandson of Saul. He was crippled in his feet.

To understand why he was crippled, look at 2nd Samuel chapter 4 with me.

(ESV)

4 Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

So when news got around that Saul was dead and that Jonathon was dead, the writing was on the wall for Mephibosheth. Remember the common practice would have been for everyone in the house of Saul to be executed. Even this little 5 year old boy.

And Mephibosheth had an even bigger target on his back because with Saul dead, Jonathon is the rightful heir to the throne. With Jonathon dead, Mephibosheth, even though just a boy, is the rightful heir to the throne.

His nurse, understanding this unfortunate reality, grabs him up and flees. Somewhere in this she drops the boy and he’s now lame.

I thankful that we live in time and we live in a culture that is accommodating to those with mobility issues and those who, for whatever reason, are handicapped.

But that wasn’t the case here. Wheelchairs weren’t around yet. Handicap accessible buildings weren’t around. And Mephibosheth’s family has all died. He’s at the mercy of strangers to take care of him. He has to rely on strangers for everyday simple tasks like getting from one place to the next or using the bathroom. Mephibosheth had it hard.

On top of that, how much sorrow must he feel that his family is all gone. When you lose one grandparent or a parent or a sister or whatever it is, there’s sorrow. There’s sadness. But most of the time, you have family there to comfort you. Mephibosheth lost all of his family at one time and he had no one to comfort him.

Mephibosheth had it hard. On top of that, how much sorrow must he feel that his family is all gone. When you lose one grandparent or a parent or a sister or whatever it is, there’s sorrow. There’s sadness. But most of the time, you have family there to comfort you. Mephibosheth lost all of his family at one time and he had no one to comfort him.

And then add to that reality, Mephibosheth’s life plan was changed in a moment. Do you remember? He was second in line to become the King of Israel. He was going to live a life with servants. He was going to live a life of luxury. He was going to live a life of authority.

For his entire life people were looking at him wondering what kind of king he would be.

Have you ever noticed how much attention is given to the babies who are born to the royal family in England. They are all over the media because everyone know, someday that kid is going to be the king. And that’s not even a true monarchy.

Mephibosheth is is actually being groomed and prepared to have actual power and prestige.

And in a moment, all of that changed. In a moment, all of his expectations about life changed. The rug was pulled out from beneath his feet.

This little boys name given to him at birth was Merib-baal, which translates to “opponent of baal.” So when Jonathon is looking at this baby, he’s thinking, “This baby is going to help restore the worship of Jehovah. This baby is going to bring God’s people back to him.”

Jonathon had big dreams and plans for this child. But his given name changed. We don’t know why. But it probably has something to do with the events that have taken place with his father’s death and the fall of the family dynasty because his birth name is changed to his new given name, Mephibosheth, which means “The Son of shame.”

Everything changed for Mephibosheth. He was going to live in the palace but we even have details of that change.

(ESV)

4 The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.”

Has anyone here ever visited Lo-debar before. Have you bought you plane tickets and planned your itenerary to go to Lo-debar over Spring Break? I’m not sure if the Coronavirus has effected Lo-debar or not. Take some Lysol and Germ-X just in case.

I’m going to step out on a limb here and presume that you probably don’t know a whole lot about Lo-Debar.

Just the name sounds bad. Everything else that Mebhibosheth has going on his bad, but to top it off he lives in a place called Lo-debar which means, “The house of no bread.” Lo-debar is in the middle of the dessert. It’s the wilderness.

So he goes from a life where the palace is his home to a life where the house of nothing is his home.

Every expectation that he had was changed in an instant and I just wonder if there’s anyone here who has had this kind of moment in their life.

You had dreams. You had goals. You had expectations and in an instant it was all taken from you.

Perhaps it was the moment that you recieved a diagnosis that you never thought would effect you and your family.

Perhaps it was the moment that your spouse said they no longer wanted to be married to you.

Or maybe it was the moment that you were told to pack your things that you were no longer employed.

Maybe it was the moment that you got a phone call that someone you cared deeply for, left this life far too early.

I just wonder if you’ve ever had that moment. Or maybe that moment is still fresh. Maybe that moment is still painful.

Sometimes things are just really, really hard. They may be that way for you right now and that’s certainly the way things were for Mephibosheth.

It moves on and says,

(ESV)

(ESV)

5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.”

So David sends for Mephibosheth. And I just imagine what it must’ve been like for Mephibosheth. He has no idea what’s about to happen. He just knows someone came and knocked on his door and said, “Sir, you’ve been summoned by Kind David.”

He doesn’t know what’s going to happen but you know this is a day that he’s feared since he was a small child and had to flee his once privileged life. He must be thinking, “This pitiful life of mine is about to end as pitifully as would be expected.”

And when he gets to David, he knows his place. He falls on his face and when David says his name, he answers, “Behold, I am your servant.”

In this moment, David controls the fate of Mephibosheth. In this moment David can have Mephibosheth killed on the spot, or sent to prison, or stoned out in the courtyard.

David stands before Mephibosheth as the judge, jury, and executioner. Whatever he says next will determine the fate of the lone survivor from the house of Saul. David can respond with vengeance if he chooses.

But look at this.

(ESV)

5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.”

7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” 8 And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”

David had every right and every opportunity to snuff out the house of Saul right then in that moment. But he didn’t respond with vengeance. He responded with Grace.

And not only did he show Grace to Mephibosheth, He showed favor. He offered to restore all that his family had lost. He offered him a place at his table, and not just on Holidays, but always. He offered him the Kindness of God.

And evidently Mephibosheth was shocked and amazed. His response was to say, “Why are you doing this? I expected to be killed when I came here. I’m just a dead dog. Why have you spared me life? Why have you shown me kindness? Why have you shown regard for me?”

The Ready

You know why I love Mephibosheth so much? This person that I’ve just really come to know? It’s because his story is my story. His story is your story. As I was reading through this, I couldn’t help but think of all the similarities between myself and Mephibosheth. There are so many similarities between us and between you.

Similarity number 1. We both have bad blood.

It’s clear that Mephibosheth had alot of problems and didn’t have the life he dreamed of. He was crippled. He had no family to speak of. His life came up way short of the dreams he had. He lived his life in constant fear of the day King David came to execute him.

Mephibosheth had a rough life. But through all of that, do you know what Mephibosheth’s biggest problem was? His biggest problem was the blood that ran through his veins.

The literal blood that ran through his veins was the blood of David’s enemy. And in a normal circumstance of this day, that would be the end of him. He had the blood of someone who tried to kill David. He had the blood of someone who had laid hands on God’s anointed. The very blood that ran through his veins made him the enemy of David.

We have bad blood also church. We have the blood of Adam.

(ESV)

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given...

We have bad blood. Paul said there in Romans that sin entered into the world because of the choice of Adam and through that choice death and sin spread to all men.

That means that when we are born, we are already born sinners. Our natural tendency is to rebel. Our default setting is rebellion against God.

Every person in this room and every person on this planet, are sinners by their very nature.

And because of that we find ourselves like Mephibosheth. We are at the mercy of the king. We are at the mercy of the judge.

And tells us that God is a righteous judge who feels anger for that sin every day.

At any moment throughout history the righteous judge could have wiped us away from this world. And he would have been justified in doing so.

Just as Mephibosheth stood waiting to hear what David was going to say and waiting to hear what David was going to do, also all of humanity stood waiting to hear what the righteous judge was going to do until 2000 years ago.

The third similarity that we have with Mephibosheth is that the King Restores us.

says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were like Mephibosheth.

His original life was meant to be great but took a turn to something else. Our original purpose for being was to Glorify God. Our original purpose for life was to worship him and to know him and to enjoy. But when sin crept into the world and when sin creeps into our lives it leaves us dead in our sins.

But look what Paul said just a couple of verses later.

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4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus...

He restored us. Everything that we messed up he restored it. Every struggle that we have because of our bad blood, he restored it through his son Jesus.

Paul says it a different way in .

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22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Church listen to me. We have bad blood. The blood of Adam flows through our veins. But the blood of Jesus flows down from the cross.

And because of that, we are restored.

The 4th thing we have in common with Mephibosheth is that the king wants to have us at his table.

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20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

The King is knocking on the door of your heart and he wants to have a meal with you. He wants to talk. He wants to have a relationship. He wants you to be at his table for all of eternity. You have a place at the King’s table.

And Can you imagine the big table when we get to Heaven? Can you imagine who all will be sitting there?

Mephibosheth compared himself to a dead dog and asked why the king showed him kindness.

When I think about all the people who will be sitting at the table of the King, I ask myself the same question. Who am I to have a place here at this table?

says, Who am I that you are mindful of me?

I mean just think about the people who will be there?

The apostle Paul will be there. The disciples will be there. Billy Graham will be there. Charles Spurgeon. Jim Elliot. So many faithful saints. How many of God’s faithful saints from this church? Howard Gwartney, Margreite Kern. There’s going to be some faith believers at that table. But somehow, I managed to get a place at that table also.

We have a place at the King’s Table Church!

The last thing that we have in common with Mephibosheth is that someone took him to the table and someone brought us to the King.

It was a labor of love that carried Mephibosheth from Lo-Debar to King David.

Well guess what, Someone loved you enough to introduce you to Jesus. Someone cared enough about you and your future to share the gospel with you. Someone thought enough about you to bring you to the table.

Maybe it was friend. Maybe it was a parent. Maybe it was a Sunday School teacher. It doesn’t really matter who it was but it matters what they did.

So can I ask you the question? Who is it that you need to show the way to the King? Who is it that needs the outcome of their life changed by blood of Jesus.

The Response

I wonder if the Lord’s been knocking and inviting you to the table for a long time?

I wonder if it seems like your life is not what you expected or what you dreamed it would be?

Well I’ve got good news for you. Jesus loves you and he spilled out his blood for you on the cross for you. And three days after he paid the ultimate price for everyone’s sins, he busted out of the grave defeating death, defeating sin, and defeating hell for all of eternity for those who will open the door when he knocks.

Your life may not have turned out the way you thought but you have the opportunity to change your eternity by accepting the invitation to the King’s table.

If you are hear today and you say, “Right now I’ve never accepted Jesus as my savior.” I hope you’ll come. Don’t let the blood of Adam that flows through your veins define you. Let the blood of Jesus that washes over you define you.

If you wish to come, one our church members will meet you there and pray with you. If you wish to pray and ask forgiveness where you are that’s fine also. If you’d like to meet me at the end of church to talk I will gladly do that.

Logo

But maybe you’re here today and you’ve already accepted Christ as your Savior. For you I want to ask this question: Who has God placed in your path that you need to bring to the king?

I hope that you’ll begin praying for that person. We live in a world full of broken people with broken stories and they need to experience the redeeming love of Jesus. Is there anyone who would get serious enough about that person that they’d come to the alter to pray for them and pray that God would begin the healing process for their life?

Would you respond to God’s word and the urging of the Holy Spirit?

Let’s Pray.