Find Your Mephibosheth

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. David's got to find somebody he can show grace to.

He's got to find somebody whom he can love like he's been loved. That's what I mean when I say that those who believe the gospel become like the gospel. The indicator that you have experienced the gospel is you start to display the generosity of the gospel. Thanks for joining us today for Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovich. Okay, so if you've believed and been changed by the gospel, what should your response be? What should your life look like? In today's teaching from 2 Samuel, Pastor J.D. takes us through a story that is perhaps not as well known. It's the story of David and Mephibosheth. You'll see that David's response to the extravagant love of God is to pour that same love onto this unlikely recipient, giving him a permanent seat at his table.

It is here that we find our own story reflected. We, who were once enemies, have also been invited to sit at the table of the king. So let's join Pastor J.D. now in 2 Samuel, chapter 9. All right, 2 Samuel 9.

2 Samuel 9, if you got your Bible, this message has one, just one basic point. By the way, I heard about a young pastor right out of seminary, brand new at his church, preaching one of his first messages there. Just so you know, the worst messages you ever preach in your life are either when you're in seminary or right when you get out of seminary. And at some point in this message, this pastor looks at the audience and says, and 17thly.

And so later, his wife was like, listen, honey, you're going to lose people with so many points. So the next week he stands up and boldly says, the message today is pointless. Pointless.

This message is not quite pointless, but it does have one basic point. And that basic point is this. Those who believe the gospel become like the gospel.

Those who believe the gospel become like the gospel. That's it. That's the point. If you're writing stuff down, write that down. I don't care if you write anything else down, write that down.

Let's take a look. 2 Samuel, chapter 9, verse 1. And David said, is there still anybody left in the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Jonathan, you recall, had been David's best friend.

Tragically, he had died in a battle against the Philistines, fighting right there by his father, King Saul's side. David had loved Jonathan as his own soul, had loved Jonathan with all of his soul. You remember that Jonathan, as Saul's oldest son, should have felt entitled to be the next king. But Jonathan recognized God's hand on David, recognized that God had chosen David, not him. And so Jonathan very humbly and very selflessly stepped aside so that David could be king. And so now that David is king, he wants to see if there are any relatives of Jonathan's, any descendants of Saul still alive that he could show kindness to for Jonathan's sake. And so they go on this nationwide search to find a relative of Jonathan. And finally, they locate an old servant of Saul's, a man named Ziba. And they ask Ziba if Saul has any descendants left who are still alive that he knows about, verse 3. And Ziba said to King David, yes, there is still a son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth. He is crippled in his feet. Mephibosheth, you might remember, 2 Samuel 4, had been dropped as an infant by his nanny during an enemy raid while she was trying to escape from the Philistines. And when she dropped him, she broke both of poor little Mephibosheth's legs and left him permanently disabled. Now I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you, Mephibosheth is a long word. And I gotta say it over and over again today.

I feel like if anybody ever needed a nickname, it's this guy. I thought a fibby or a meth, but it sounded like that could go bad pretty quick. David had a meth problem.

David scoured the countryside looking for meth. It didn't work. You see the problem, right? So we're gonna probably stick with the multi-syllabic Mephibosheth. I'm just gonna work my way through it each time.

It's gonna sound like a train wreck every time I say it. Verse 4, the king said to Ziba, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, well, he's in the house of Makir, the son of Amiel at Lodabar. Then King David sent and brought him up, and Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. David said to him, don't be afraid, 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 all the land of your father.

Oh my goodness, that's a lie. He just made him a wealthy man. You're gonna always eat at my table. And he paid homage and said, what is your servant? What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? Verse 12, so Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem and ate at David's table like one of the king's sons.

And Mephibosheth was lame in both of his feet. This is a precious little chapter that captures the heart of the gospel in one simple story. If you remember last week, second Samuel seven, David had been the recipient of extraordinary generosity. David had tried to build a house for God, but God had said, no, David, this whole deal is not about you giving to me. You're not even worthy to give to me.

You could never do it. You could never be good enough to offer something to me. No, this is about me giving to you. You're not gonna build me a house, David.

I'm gonna build you one. And my promise to you and to your sons and to all of Israel is unconditional, which means that when you and your family and Israel fails to keep your promises to me, I'm still gonna keep mine to you. I'm gonna put my spirit permanently into you. And I'm gonna send a Messiah who is gonna die for all your sins.

And through him, I'm gonna give you a forever kingdom. David's response to that, you remember chapter seven, what was his first response? Worship. We said that David started the chapter wanting to go and do. He ended the chapter with a command to sit and know.

He just sat there before the Lord and worshiped. In second Samuel nine, we're gonna see the second part of his response. And it is the most natural, instinctive response in the world to receiving extravagant generosity. David says, find me somebody. You got to find me somebody to whom I can show extravagant grace like this. David has been shown extravagant generosity. Now he feels the inward compulsion to show extravagant generosity. Three times in this chapter, verses one, verses three, and verses seven. Three times David says, go and find me.

Go and find me. The point is David's not responding to a need right in front of him. He's not acting out of guilt or obligation because there's need right in front of him. He can't ignore.

He's gonna look bad if he doesn't take care of it. No, David is taking initiative. He's like, I got to show grace to somebody. Go find me a need.

Go find me somebody that I can show this kind of grace to. Who does David set his attention on? Mephibosheth. Several things to note about Mephibosheth.

First, Mephibosheth was technically an enemy. You see, in those days when a new king came to the throne, the name of the game was purge. New king didn't want anybody of the previous king's family left alive because for sure there were still some people out there in the land who felt loyal to the old regime. And if there were relatives of the previous king alive, well, they just wait until you went through a season where you were weak or unpopular or you were gone.

Then they'd mount a revolt against you. Happened all the time in those days. Living relatives of a previous king were like one of those sleeping viruses in your body that just waits until you're weak and then it comes out and attacks you and destroys you.

It was just easier to get rid of all the previous king's relatives to remove any potential rivals to the throne. And I know that seems bloodthirsty and cruel to us now, and it was, but in their eyes it made strategic sense and it was the common practice of the day. That's why, by the way, it says that Mephibosheth was afraid and bowed down before David literally threw himself down and started to insult himself, calling himself nothing but a dead dog.

He's saying all that because he is 100% sure that he is about to be executed. Mephibosheth was more than just an enemy, however. It also says a couple of times in the story, it reminds us that he was lame in both feet, which means that he was considered basically useless. I know that is offensive to us now, and it should be, but this was a military and agrarian society, and being lame in both feet meant that he couldn't work. He couldn't fight. He had no value. To fight, he had no value to a king.

He's got to be carried around from place to place, so not only is he an enemy, he's also a drain on the king's resources. On top of that, many people considered somebody lame in both feet to be cursed by God. That's how they thought about it in Israel.

Leviticus 21, in fact, says that those lame in their feet were not allowed to enter into the temple. Furthermore, in Hebrew there's actually some symbolism at work in Mephibosheth's name. The name Mephibosheth literally means spreader of shame. Verse 4 says that he is from Lo-de-bar.

Lo-de-bar literally means in Hebrew no place or nothing. This is a current enemy from nowhere who many regard to be useless and cursed by God that David invites to sit at his table like he is one of the king's sons. The word that David uses for the kindness he wants to show Mephibosheth is the word chesed, which means unconditional love, covenant love, the kind of love that God had shown to David. David does it all, he says, for Jonathan's sake.

Mephibosheth may not have deserved any of this, but in David's eyes, Jonathan did. Can you all see what's being played out there? Can you see that?

Can you see it? David has been the recipient of extravagant grace. He now feels compelled to show extravagant grace.

He is living out both the gospel and our response to it. You see, every time we celebrate communion, every time we gather around the Lord's table, we come and we sit at the table of our king, though we formerly were his enemies. You see, unlike Mephibosheth, we were more than just the lame children of a rebellious granddad. We ourselves were actually the rebels.

We had ourselves killed the king's own son. Spiritually, we were far more crippled than Mephibosheth was. The mark of our sin cut deep. We were by nature, the apostle Paul says in Ephesians, we were by nature children of wrath, sons and daughters of disobedience, without hope and without God in the world, spreaders of shame and rightfully underneath the curse of God. Our shame, unlike Mephibosheth, did not come from outdated social mores.

Our shame was real. We actually were worthy of the cursing of God. But God, Paul says in Ephesians, but God who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins has made us alive together with Christ and raised us up to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages, he might show off the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. He chose me just to show off his grace. He put me at his table as one of his sons, and he made me fabulously wealthy in him. He that did not spare his own son will also freely give along with him all the blessings of heaven. And now I sit at his table like a favorite son and a favorite daughter, loved unconditionally and irrevocably. We got a forever seat at the table because of God's chesed love. And in response to that, David's got to find somebody he can show grace to.

He's got to find somebody whom he can love like he's been loved. That's what I mean when I say that those who believe the gospel become like the gospel. The indicator that you have experienced the gospel is you start to display the generosity of the gospel. You're listening to Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. To learn more about this ministry, visit jdgreer.com. Before we return to our teaching, I want to take a moment to remind you about an amazing resource that we offer our listeners. If you have questions about life, theology, or the Bible, you won't want to miss Pastor JD's Ask the Pastor podcast. In each episode, Pastor JD answers real questions submitted by listeners just like you with biblical wisdom and practical advice.

And the best part? It's completely free. You can access Ask the Pastor with J.D. Greer by visiting jdgreer.com slash podcasts or by searching for it on your favorite podcast platform. Listen on your drive to work or when you're out for a beautiful evening walk. Don't miss out on this great resource by subscribing today.

And don't forget that we also release the podcast on YouTube so you can subscribe to our channel and get notified every time a new episode is released. Now let's get back to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor JD. One of my favorite cinematic moments of all time is Liam Neeson's portrayal of the forgiveness of Jean Valjean in the movie rendition of Les Miserables. Just out of curiosity, how many of you have seen Les Miserables, the stage play? If you've seen the stage play, raise your hand. All right. How many of you have seen the movie version of it?

Raise your hand. All right. Bonus. How many of you have actually read the book?

That's not bad. Like 10 of you. Okay. I love the movie rendition of this great book because people are not unexplainably bursting into song every few minutes. Okay. Though I do admit, I do admit I enjoy the musical itself far more than I ever thought I would.

I've already bought my tickets for when it comes to Deepak here in a couple months. It's like my favorite stage play of all time. But the scene goes like this. Jean Valjean was a convict released from a French prison who could not find work because everybody knows he's a convict and nobody will hire him. Well, finally, an old priest one night finds him sleeping out in the street and out of pity takes him in for the evening. At dinner, Jean Valjean notices all the silver in the house, all the treasures of the church, and so Valjean wakes up in the middle of the night and robs the man, robs the church. The priest hears a racket out in the kitchen as Valjean is collecting all the stuff, and he comes in to see what's going on, at which point Valjean slugs him in the face, knocks him out, and runs away with all the treasures. Early next morning, the police catch Jean Valjean and drag him back to the priest's house. They say to the priest, we caught this man with all your silver and all the church's treasures, and he has the audacity to say that you gave all that to him.

Just say the word and we'll take him back to prison. All the priest has to do is nod his head and confirm that Valjean stole the silver, and not only does he get it all back, Valjean goes back to prison for the rest of his life. The priest walks over in this scene. He stands in front of Valjean, and he looks him right in the eye, and he says, I'm very angry with you, Jean Valjean. Then he pauses for an uncomfortable amount of time, and then he says, I'm angry because you forgot to take the silver candlesticks I gave you also. Why, those are the most valuable things in the house.

You certainly don't want to forget those. He sends a servant to go grab the candlesticks and stuff them in Valjean's bag, and the policemen are like, wait a minute. He was actually telling the truth. You actually gave him all that stuff? The priest says, of course I gave those things to him. Unchained him at once. The flabbergasted police take off Valjean's chains, and they depart, leaving only Valjean standing there with the priest. Valjean says, why are you doing this? The priest says, with this silver and these candlesticks, I have now bought your soul.

You must promise to become a better man. Go, Jean Valjean, and start a new life. Jean Valjean does. For the rest of his life, it's like he is looking for somebody to whom he can show the kind of generosity that he's received. First it becomes Fontaine, one of his factory workers who has been oppressed and mistreated.

Then it's her orphan daughter, Cosette. Then a crazy man on trial for his life. Then a young man named Marius, an undeserving rebel. Jean Valjean has an impulse for generosity that is almost uncontrollable. An impulse that gets him into trouble, in fact. But Valjean can't help it.

He has to find a Mephibosheth to whom he can show the kind of grace that he has experienced, because those who truly experience the Gospel, they become like the Gospel. Or think about the woman in the Gospel of Matthew who comes to Jesus and shatters an expensive bottle of perfume over his feet, and then washes his feet with her tears, and then dries them with her hair. Nobody asked her to do that.

It was not even practical. She was not really meeting the need that Jesus had. She just had to pour out generosity and grace in response to the grace that she had been shown. Jesus interprets what is happening to everybody there. He says those who have been forgiven much, they love much, and they've got to find an outlet for it. So here's my question.

Do you have any Mephibosheth-type relationships in your life? Or are you just in response to feeling so loved by Jesus? You have to do something radically generous. You see, the Gospel is that Jesus ransomed your soul with more than some candlesticks and silver spoons. He poured out his blood for you.

When you understand that, you're going to need to find some Mephibosheths. Let me explain a few places where I've seen people in our church respond like this. Adoption.

That is literally what David does in this story. He adopts into his family a special needs teenager. A lot of the couples I know at our church who have adopted say they did so because it just felt like a fitting response to the Gospel. Here's an orphan child, sometimes with a lot of personal challenges, but isn't that what God did with us? In fact, I remember a couple in our church, at least they were connected to our church, who were about to adopt a child but found out that this child they were going to adopt was going to be born with spina bifida. The doctors told them they could save the life of the child, but for the rest of that child's life, she was going to have significant challenges. The adoption agency called them and said, listen, we'll understand if you need to back out. By the way, sometimes I know that couples through prayer have to make a really difficult decision to not adopt.

I get that. But this wife was really, really struggling with it. She said, as we were praying about it, she said, one night I had this dream, and in my dream I was in this big, huge stadium as beautiful children were brought up on stage for adoption. Each child would be held up, and somebody on the stage would say, who wants this child? Various couples would volunteer to take that child into their home.

But she said there was this one child who was brought up who was obviously disfigured and marred. That same voice called out, who wants this child? That crowd, she said, that huge stadium, fell deathly silent.

Nobody spoke. Finally, she said, somebody stood up in the crowd and said, I'll take that one. She said, in my dream I looked, and it was Jesus.

He walked forward to take the child. At that point in the story, I was like, that is so powerful. The person telling me the story was like, I'm not done yet.

This lady continued. She said, in my dream, when Jesus went down to get the baby, this disfigured baby, I got a glimpse of the baby's face, and that baby that was all marred and disfigured on it was my face. She said, I know the truth is that Jesus adopted me when I was disfigured and wrecked by sin, and I know that he now wants us to take in this child as he took us in. I'm not saying that's every time everywhere.

I'm saying that's what Mephibosheth looks like. Maybe some of you couples or soon-to-be couples should consider doing something like this as a response to the gospel. Adoption is not just about having kids if you are unable to.

For Christians, it is an act of worship. I do want to emphasize as strongly as possible, this is not God's calling for everybody, and this kind of work is definitely not for the faint of heart. Do not do it on a whim. Do not do it because you get inspired.

Do not do it because it feels trendy or cool. The only way I know for parents to endure and work like this is because they feel driven to show the same love to an orphaned child that Jesus showed to them. Maybe if you're not in a place where you yourself can adopt, maybe you can get involved in fostering or in our Safe Families program, which supports parents in crisis so that their children don't end up in foster care. Maybe you could give financially to a couple that are seeking to adopt.

It can be extraordinarily expensive. Maybe your Mephibosheth application will take the form of some radical financial gift to Jesus. I know of one businessman who says, I want to give away 90 percent of all that God has given to me. My goal, he told me, is to bounce my last check.

Why, you ask, would you want to bounce your last check? He said, because that's what Jesus did for me. He didn't leave anything in the bank. He didn't tithe his blood for me.

He poured out all of it. Maybe you won't give 90 percent. In fact, I suppose that for most of you that's not even possible. But maybe there's some possession that you'll give back to him. Maybe it's a car. Maybe it's a house.

Maybe it's your retirement. It's not even that God needs it. It's just your alabaster flask that you feel like you want to break over Jesus' feet. Remember the woman that broke the alabaster flask? She wasn't meeting a need of Jesus's.

She was simply driven by the desire to show generosity toward a savior that had shown so much to her. Maybe your Mephibosheth application will come in the form of leveraging your talents for God's kingdom instead of using your talents just to make money. You'll invest them in leading God's church. And I know that you've heard the opposite of that your entire life.

And everybody's told you, you're so smart and you're so gifted and you've got to go make money with this and become something. You guys understand the ministry is not just for those who can't make it in the business world. And I don't say that with any personal insecurity. I'm just saying that God deserves our greatest minds and our greatest leaders. Amen. He deserves the ones at the top of their classes and the ones who are the best in their fields. Isn't the church of Jesus worthy of that?

When God has shown us such incredible grace, how can we not extend it to others? This is Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Pastor J.D., to go along with your teaching series here on the Life of David, we also have a Life of David Bible study that's available this month to our donors.

Tell us, what can we expect from this study? So, yeah, this guide offers an in-depth look at the various phases of David's life. Think about it. He starts as a humble shepherd boy, so insignificant that his dad literally forgot him. So he starts that leads to probably the most famous battle in history, him versus Goliath, to being the boy king who is on the run.

And then, you know, just all the the ins and outs goes from being one of the most successful kings to a king who, you know, fell tragically. But, yeah, David finds forgiveness. You know, at every point of your life, no matter whether you're in the best of times or the worst of times, there's something in David's life that just ministers to you. You'll find it practical.

He's a great example of courage and leadership. It's like stereo. It's like so many things coming at you at once that they all blend together in a beautiful picture. So you'll want to really dive in on this one. We always try to give you resources that'll take you deeper.

This is an important one. So just go to jdgrier.com. You can get a hold of our all new Life of David study by giving a gift of $35 or more to support this ministry. And remember, nothing we do would be possible without the generosity of our donors and gospel partners. If you'd like to be a part of this incredible opportunity, call us now and give and receive our all new Life of David study at 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220.

Or you can give online at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend as you gather with your local church family. We'll see you next week as we learn more about our new friend, Mephibosheth. See you next time for Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.