Sermon Tone Analysis

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.