Untitled Sermon (2)

2 Samuel 24:1-25

Theological Proposition:

(1) Sin is never isolated, Leadership Sin trickles to Community and Communal Sin, Needing a Larger Sacrifice

(2) Work is not meaningless, the actions of Leadership, those ‘doing their jobs’ led to disaster

(3) David’s Sin, David’s Confession, David’s Reconciliation

(4) Sin shown, Consequences of Sin / Mercy Given, Price of Sin

Sermon Purpose:

Homiletical Proposition:

Image: I once was at a church work conference where Bill Hendricks from Dallas was the main speaker. I was there as a participant coming along with Bill to attend and watch the session. The focus of it was finding your gifting and purpose in which the audience was made up of staff from the church from pastors, secretaries, interns, ministry leaders, and accountants. That last group I bring up because I sat myself down and struck up a conversation with the people next to me and they were accountants.

I asked them “What is your work?” They sheepishly answered with “We just do numbers and counting.” I asked them to explain what they meant “Well it’s not exactly meaningful work, sure people get upset if they don’t get paid but otherwise nobody is going to care or notice our work. It’s not like our numbers change lives or do ‘real work’ like the people caring for the needy or preaching.

Need: I don’t know if we have ever felt this but when describing our work, we sometimes get almost embarrassed. We may answer “it’s just numbers” or “it’s just housework” or “it’s just driving/factory/lesson plans” “It just pays the bills” “it’s just schoolwork” or It’s just fill in the blank. A lot of sermons about work talk about the good aspects of work, in that God ordained and brought work as a good thing regardless of our measure of its value.

Some may know this to be true and some may be hearing it for the first time. But what happens a lot is we get trapped in “it’s just a job” mentality and in that we fail to see the larger perspective. The larger perspective can reveal wonderful things like God’s good work through our stewardship, but it can also reveal the opposite of harm. The failure to recognize the significance of what we do, and because of a “just numbers” mentality we miss the destruction of sin and cause pain and harm especially in positions of leadership.

Our focus today focuses on how there is no such thing as “just numbers” rather

Subject: Our actions are never isolated or “just numbers” and when we fail to recognize the significance of our sinful actions it brings disaster to others and into that mess is where we can find God.

Text: Through a story from the life of King David, we will see that how his leadership and perspective of “just numbers and counting” brought pain and suffering to his people and Israel. The story is found in 2 Samuel 24:1-25, we will be reading from the NASB of the pew Bibles in front of you for 2 Sam 24:1-25. As it’s a larger passage I will jump right in and begin reading from 2 Sam 24:1-25.

Wherever we find ourselves in leading other, leading our families, leading in workplaces, leading ourselves, or waiting to be lead what we can all take lessons because while David thought “It’s just numbers” it reveals three things about Leadership and Sin.

Preview: The first realization we will see is that Sin lies about the true nature of its cost by allowing us to believe our sin is private and individual, the second realization is Sin’s true cost is revealed, it refuses to remain private and always has a cost of death. Finally, when we are realize and repent of our sin the price of sin must be paid by either the sinner or the sacrifice.

Body

When we approach any text, but especially Old Testament text in scripture we are helped by understanding Context. We see right away that in 2 Sam 24:1 it says “Now again” this is our first realization that this isn’t a first time that David has violated God’s command.

2 Sam 24:1 “Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David. We should pause here for a moment because while this isn’t the focus of my sermon today, we should realize the implications this is having.

Did God incite or move David to sin? To further complicate things, in a mirror telling of this story in 1 Chr 21 it says “Satan incited David” which further seems to confuse things.

While many commentators land on different sides of this text, I’ll share my view. I would say this shows who is in Ultimate control and permissive control with the same result. Another character in the Bible named Job faced a similar dilemma when Satan asked God for permission to cause Job pain and suffering. Much like our story here, God is and always was in ultimate control of everything. At the same time God gives permission for Satan to do his evil acts. On one side God is in ultimate control and he gives permission for evil to incite or move in the world.

A question commonly asked is

“If God is in ultimate control how can God allow so much suffering and evil?” There is only two really ways to answer this truthfully. A lot of people answer this question by saying “God can’t be in control, since I don’t see the reason for suffering, I mistrust that it will be good” which turns to anger, depression, pain, and rejection of God.

We may not see the reason for suffering, but logically if God is in control, he does see the reason. That there is a reason for the evil and suffering because God sees a greater good that I may never see or understand, I trust God that one day it will be good, even if today I don’t see it. This greater good may not be seen in my current circumstances, or even my current life, but while Job remained faithful in the face of suffering, temptation, and evil. David did not.

We come to our first focus of the sermon Sin lies about the true cost of sin. To put it simply Sin Lies about the cost it promises.

In our passage it says 2 Sam 24:1 “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

“Go Number” much like our story about “it’s just numbers” David fails to recognize the value of what he is doing. He has dismissed the seemingly mundane as mundane. “Go number” it’s just counting. We can do the same with our sin.

David said, “it’s just number” and here’s the reality, Sin always deceives us of the actual cost. It convinces us that mundane type action doesn’t have a heart attached to it.

In the Bible counting people in a census is not a Sin. In fact, the entire book of Numbers is all about counting at its core. God commands Israel at times to do a census. In our passage, v.1-2 are similar in

v.2 “The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people.”

But David though isn’t counting out of obedience or for his nation. The reason counting was not a sin in other examples is because the heart behind it wasn’t focused on sin. But

Let’s keep reading.

v.3 But Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

“But Joab” those who know the story of Joab know that Joab is not what you would call ‘ a good guy.” If it was to give a characteristic to Joab it would be a bit “murder-ey” Joab tends to murder people, he disagrees with in conflict. But Joab, as much as he is an evil man, somehow sees something with David that the king himself does not. He begs David to reconsider the heart of his action.

What David is commanding is for Joab and his commanders to go to the entire land of Israel with the purpose of discovering how militarily strong Israel is currently.

The problem with this is Israel is not at war and David is an old man getting ready for death. It would be up to the next king, namely his son Solomon to do this task.

David wants to know “how many” it’s “just numbers” but the motivation that David has is to please himself. To find satisfaction is in how strong Israel is, David is looking to estimate his worth upon how large his army is. David is looking to stroke his ego using the mundane.

I have consistent brought up how the mundane has no value is the lie. The first foothold that sin makes in our life is that it convinces us things are unimportant or mundane.

We may fool ourselves into thinking sin sneaks up upon us but all sin finds a home in a wandering heart, thought, or motive.

David thought is

“It’s just numbers but truly it’s pride in self.”

The nature of sin doesn’t usually happen in the dramatic. The dramatic is how it is revealed but it is not it’s birth. It’s the small things, one step at a time in how we enter sin.

“it’s just a picture, it’s just a video, it’s just a text and later it’s an affair.”

“It’s just a website and later it’s an addiction”

“it’s just a conversation and later it’s gossip and slander”

“it’s just a few bucks and later its stealing and fraud”

“it’s just my anger and later it’s a divorce or abuse”

“it’s just a joke and later it’s broken relationships” “It’s just us showing our love and later it’s sex without value”

The effectiveness of sin is that we are convinced the mundane or the little things don’t matter and once we realize how deeply they matter the sin is in full growth.

Our passage continues in v.4

Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army departed from the presence of the king to count the troops of Israel.

David’s sin here is his pride of ego, how often can this be true for us in the workplace? We are looking to find our pride, meaning, and worth in the rewards of work. David did, he wanted to know his value. How easy is it to look at our bank account and determine our worth? The success of our work becomes an idol of our heart.

Leadership molds culture. Corrupt leadership creates corruption.

Maybe though you are like Joab, underneath a boss or corporation that emphasizes sin. A financial insurance advisor once told me about the ‘grey’ spots of his work. A client calls on Monday asking for the market evaluation for insurance for Thursday. On Tuesday he gets the cost for the client which is favorable for his company and gives him a bonus. On Wednesday the market drops, the price is now a lower cost for the client but is less favorable and he loses his bonus. Markets change, they go up and down at the drop of a pin. Anyone in the market knows that.

Here is the grey. Does he tell the client the Higher price or the Lower price? If he tells him the lower price, he gets paid less and the company loses more money. The higher price stabilizes his company better and gets him a bonus. He is not lying by telling him the higher price the market does change. And the lower price may not be stable or there when the client attempts to do it.

All of our workplaces have moments of grey, where we can convince ourselves that we aren’t truly being dishonest or corrupt.

The problem is whether we are in leadership or following leadership, we create a culture of corruption.

In our scenario if the company values the profit you go with the higher. If they value the customer go with the lower.

Joab and the commanders couldn’t go against the king if they wanted to live, but whether they meant to or not they helped create a higher cost for the sin.

We may be forced into places that we convince ourselves that no choice is possible, but we aren’t accountable to the choices we never made.

Sin works not because everyone sinned, but because we all got involved in the sin. If you want a sin environment, encourage the leadership to play out its sin patterns.

Joab and his men went out to count Israel, knowing full well it was motivated by David’s sin as v.5-8

In v.8 “So when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days”

Just numbers mentality and obedience took over 9 months to complete. This isn’t an accidental sin, this is intentional planning and a culture based upon corrupt motives with people who are aware it is corrupt.

The degree of the sin started in the heart, it later become a conversation with Joab, now it hundreds of people working for nearly a year to make sure it is accomplished. Many who are probably ignorant of the motives but feeding the sin.

The cost of this sin has now equaled the sin of a nation. We as people buy into a lie often “I’m not leadership so I’m not responsible” what this passage and many other is the corruption and the evil we are willing to accept in our hearts is accelerated in our children, culture, and the world around us. We are all responsible for the evil around us whether we find it comfortable, grey, or mundane.

In v.9 Joab gives an account of the numbers, there is a difference between this telling and 1 Chr. 21 which is an interesting study to go into. I won’t be going into it here except there is discussion of whether it is counting military population or Israel population.

In v.10 we come to the beginning of realizing the cost of sin as the 2nd focus of our sermon. When Sin has done the course of its damage the true cost is revealed.

“Now” You know after 9 months of allowing a sin motive to spread through the entire land of Israel for v.10 “Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people”

I’m eager to condemn David right here for his failure to recognize and playing out how sin works with letting it continue. But as my name is David, I want some grace in realizing that sin is something that affects us all. The moment of realization for David was this moment, we all have moments ahead of us in realizing our sin and the kindness of God is we listen as early as we can.

For David he realized that the census violated God’s command for both Torah in proper census and secondly of placing himself ahead of God.

10 Now David’s heart troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, Lord, please overlook the guilt of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

David rightly asks for forgiveness in his realization of sin confessing how he was foolish.

One of the greatest lies that is effective upon us as people is that our personal sin is isolated to only us. David recognizes his personal sin and foolishness but sin is never isolated and does not remain private.

When we sin by lying in our workplace, a co-worker realizes they can do the same.

When we show anger to our spouse, our child learns that’s how they talk to romantic partners.

Sin is never isolated and private, sin always grows, always spreads, and always corrupts. Even those who were ignorant in counting ‘just numbers’ were actually contaminating Israel in sin. The people who wrote it down. In a census people must be counted. Homes are invaded. Instead of working a field a person must show up to be counted. Instead of children learning they are being counted.

Our sin will wither, destroy, contaminate, and ripple out in all directions.

If a car is smashed in a hit and run, a victim is left behind. A victim who must either pay or convince insurance to pay for the damage. In some cases, courts and judges get involved. Money, property, even people’s lives are destroyed because a single person decided they were in a hurry.

Sin is never isolated. Somebody must pay for the damage. We see the damage start to appear.

11 When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am imposing upon you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.”’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.”

In our scripture, David is given three choices for punishment and cost. Realize this isn’t God being unjust or angry, this is God showing the cost of the price of sin. Sin lies in that it tell you the cost is cheap for your sin, when sin’s cost is realized we see forgiveness and righting that which was wrong.

We see David’s options here Seven years of Famine, 3 Months of War, or 3 Days of Disease.

David choice is seen in v.14

14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

David may have been the leader that led Israel to this point of sin and corruption as a nation but he’s also a leader who realized that good leadership shares in either blessing or suffering.

In a rabbinic explanation with David’s thinking “If I choose famine the people will say that I chose something which will affect them and not me, for I shall be well supplied with food; if I choose war, they will say that the king is well protected; let me choose pestilence before which all are equal”

David may have introduced and brought this sin to Israel but in this moment, we see David showing his quality of leadership. David through his power could have attempted to insulate himself from the full effects of sin. We tend to do the same with our sin, we will try to negate either by downplaying or turning to our comforts to insulate ourselves but it’s another deception of sin in believing you can escape it forever.

In v.15 “15 So the Lord [d]sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.”

God easily sent and brought the proudest of sinners to humility in 3 days. I think like David, we may find it difficult to understand why God decided to punish 70,000 for the sins of one person. The text itself doesn’t say but it reveals something powerful about leadership and the price of being a leader, whether leader of self or others, that the transgressions of leadership inevitably harm their people.

If business leaders make poor product development decisions people in the organization lose jobs and revenues plunge.

If a restaurant manager doesn’t enforce sanitation rules, diners will get sick.

If a teacher gives good grades for poor work, student will fall further and further behind in their education.

If a factory owner fails to order a part, the workers lose out on hours and entire factories could be shut down due to lack of work.

If you choose your phone over talking to your family or doing work, you lose out on both relationships and growth.

Those who accept leadership positions cannot evade responsibility that their actions will influence others. Moral failures, whether we see them as mundane or huge, will always cause trouble to others.

David who was looking to show how grand and powerful he was through “just numbers” of how large his kingdom now finds his kingdom 70,000 fewer subjects.

The consequences of David’s actions had led to pain and suffering throughout his kingdom. Sin claims to be private, but it never stays that way for long.

Our story progresses in v.16

16 When the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented of the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now drop your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

This verse has an echo of another famous biblical story in the Sacrifice of Isaac, where Abraham was about to sacrifice his own son. But God moves to interrupt Abraham and Isaac is spared. The angel of death is about to strike down the city of Jerusalem with the same plague, but God moves to interrupt the coming death.

We will get to the location of this threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite in a little bit but both the sacrifice of Abraham and the angel stopping happened on the same place called Mt. Moriah. Remember this mountain since it is an important one and how it is a threshing floor.

Returning to David v.17

17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house!”

David’s heart has felt the full weight of sin caused by death and destruction. Leadership humility it shown here and is a lesson for all of us in that sin will always have consequences that humble us, whether we admit it willingly or realize it later. Sin always causes death.

Many believe sin remains private, the entire history of humanity shows the sin never stays private and always destroys, always tarnishes, and always causes greater suffering. We don’t have to think hard to see leaders, even famous Christian leaders, who have caused great pain without private sin.

We see David’s cry that “I who have sinned” and these sheep, have done nothing.

Let’s review: David sinned personally and forced his commanders and by extension all of Israel to fall into sin. Sin causes death and God gave him 3 choices of consequences. Disease through the land was chosen and as David realizes the depth and evil of his sin he turns to repentance. God is the rightful judge, sin is death. Did God change his mind here? I don’t think he did. God is keeping justice right and as David repents of his sin, God doesn’t change his Mind but changes the Method and way justice is shown. God’s justice happens, either it goes into death for the sinners or death of the sacrifice.

This brings us to our last final 3rd focus: Sin must be paid by death either of the sinners or the sacrifice.

David in v.18

18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of [e]Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 Then David went up in accordance with the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded.

Let’s talk about a threshing floor, this is a piece of agriculture most of us probably aren’t familiar with since I haven’t heard someone say

“We should all go down to hang out at the threshing floor recently”

A threshing floor is the place that is as flat as you can either find or make it where after a crop is harvested, they separate either the good grain, for example Wheat from Chaff or literal garbage. Wheat is obviously used for bread or good food; chaff has one purpose. It burns okay but does kind of stink.

It is on this place that David is instructed to go and build an altar. An altar to sacrifice. Remember when sin happens death follows, the death is either the sinner or in Jewish Sacrifice culture the death of the sacrifice. It is on this threshing floor on Mt Moriah, where farmers separate Wheat from Chaff, where Abraham did not sacrifice Isaac and the angel stopped from destroy Jerusalem that our next bit takes place.

20 And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; so Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague may be [f]withdrawn from the people.” 22 Araunah then said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, here are the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God be favorable to you.”

We should pause here before we move. We have this dialogue between Araunah and David. It seems that Araunah is doing a good thing, as David wants to buy the land Araunah wants to give it to him as a gift. This seems extremely generous and is much like another story by Abraham after the Death of Sarah. But there is an interesting culture context we can miss.

If you buy something in Hebrew culture, that means you own it.

If you are gifted something, it is a loan. It is returned to the person who loaned it.

Aranuah is being generous and giving David this land for free, but it’s a loan. David would have no claim to it and as our next verse reveals David won’t do something for nothing.

24 However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price; for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God [g]that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

“No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price; for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God [g]that cost me nothing.”

David understands the meaning of sacrifice. The meaning of sacrifice is that you give up something. There is no such sacrifice if we give nothing.

David saw that a Faith that costs nothing is worth nothing, either to God or humanity.

We sometimes make this mistake, we believe that the payment for our sins cost nothing. We believe that following Jesus with our lives shouldn’t cost of anything. But David reveals something dramatic “No, for I will not offer to the Lord that costs me nothing.”

David bought this land 50 shekels of silver and this gave him the land. To make a single altar.

On Mt Moriah, the threshing floor of now David, King Solomon his son would build the Jerusalem Temple. The temple is the most sacred and holy site for all of Israel, the place where the sacrifices of the sins of Israel would be offered to the Lord.

Getting back to a false belief, we believe that our salvation costs nothing, which is partially true in that No amount of good works, no amount of good deeds, no amount of going to church can every pay for our sin. Because Sin always causes death either of the sinner as Heb 9:22 “22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Without the shedding of the blood, the death of either the sinner OR the sacrifice.

On a mountain near this mountain, this mountain where David buys an altar realizing that religion must cost the sacrifice, where the angel of death spars Jerusalem, where God spars Isaac by stopping Abraham, and where the religious center of Israel makes animal sacrifices to temporarily cover sin’s death.

On a nearby mountain, a single man, the Lamb of God, the King of Kings, the perfect Son of God, was sacrificed upon a cross for the sins of a world.

Religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. Our salvation was given by grace to all those who believe in Jesus Christ the man upon that cross.

We adopted a lie that faith is cheap. It is free for us, but it was incredibly pricey and at high cost to the Jesus who is the sacrifice.

We may ask yourself. Why does it matter if I’m right with God or not, it’s up to me is it not, it’s on me?

I’m Captain, I’m the boat.

What about the boats around us?

Any boat that doesn’t have steering will eventually crash into another. Any sin left unconfessed will eventually crash into another.

Let’s even say we somehow guide ourselves and avoid all the other boats.

But what if the boat is a loan. What if it belongs to another?

Does it make a difference if your ship is truly your ship or not?

1 Cor 6:13-20 You are not your own you were bought with a price

The price for your sin was death, and Jesus took that price. We are not our own we are accountable and responsible to the one who bought us. Jesus bought our sin by his sacrifice.

The cost for us to accept Jesus’ sacrifice is for us free, given in grace to us because God loves us. The cost to Jesus was extremely costly.

Where we got salvation, Jesus got nails.

Where we get freedom from sin’s death, Jesus died.

Where we get the freedom to speak of our gift of salvation, Jesus stood silent as people cursed him.

Where we got blessed beyond comprehension, Jesus was the cursed man upon a tree.

The sacrifice of Jesus is a gift given to us freely, but it was not free for Jesus. For salvation to be given, it must not be given with no price. Sin costs us the sinners or the sacrifice. And Jesus sacrifice paid the price.

Remembering the parallels to Abraham in our story to David it’s with Matthew 1:1 the starting of the New Testament that Matthew starts his gospel this way:

“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

The Messiah of the world, the freedom from our sins, at the cost of the perfect Lamb who was slain and given to death. Death could not keep him, but life did not deserve him. Yet, he gave his life willingly and freely and He is the King who lives to show that we can truly live.

What can we do with such a sacrifice? David gives us our final answer

25 Then David built there an altar to the Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord responded to prayer for the land, and the plague was [h]withdrawn from Israel.

David offered an altar, properly offered in humility and the Lord responded.

We offer ourselves. We have talked about how Leadership trickles. Whether we find ourselves in leadership positions, underneath of leadership, or merely leading ourselves. Our personal sin does not remain personal for long, eventually it will make its way into relationships with those around us and sin will keep spreading there until the sin started by one person is on every level of humanity. Sin tells us the lie that it costs nothing, but when true cost of sin is revealed, we see the price is death. It can start with a death inside of us like our conscious or identity, death of relationships, death of peace, death of security, death of hope, and a spiritual death. This death will either be upon us the sinners or the altar.

It is the 2nd option, the altar that David chose and we see God forgave him.

We offer ourselves. Many of us have made a confession of faith towards our salvation based upon grace. We though can still fall into sin.

If we recognize our sin, or even if we don’t.

We start with God, David didn’t he went to himself and his own ego.

We listen to others, David didn’t and forced Joab to obey him and led all of Israel.

We realize our sin, David took 9 months, I pray we don’t take 9 seconds the longer corruption lives the more it kills.

We confess our sin and realize the price, David confessed, and the cost of sin was the loss of 70,000 people. Confession does not mean no consequences. Confessing sin doesn’t mean relationships are unhurt. Healing may take time.

We don’t accept cheap religion; David knew that faith that costs nothing is worth nothing.

We trust God for ultimate consequences and trust him, David gave an altar of confession and he was forgiven.

What can we do today?

Start with God

Listen to Others in what they show

Realize our sin or possible sins

Confess what we know and deal with what we brought.

We reject false cheap faith

We trust God ultimately and now.