1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:05,200 Good morning. Today's reading is from verses 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:13,500 in 2nd Samuel 12 15 to 25. Then Nathan went home, the Lord, 3 00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:16,700 struck, the baby that uriah's wife had born to David, and he 4 00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:20,800 became ill David pleaded with God for the boy. 5 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:26,100 He fasted went home and spent the night lying on the ground, 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,600 the Elders of his house, Stood Beside him to get him up from 7 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,500 the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with 8 00:00:34,500 --> 00:00:38,100 them. On the seventh day, the baby 9 00:00:38,100 --> 00:00:42,300 died, but David servants were afraid to tell him the baby was 10 00:00:42,300 --> 00:00:45,500 dead. They said look, while the baby 11 00:00:45,500 --> 00:00:47,900 was alive. We spoke to him and he wouldn't 12 00:00:47,900 --> 00:00:50,500 listen to us. So, how can we tell him that the 13 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:53,900 baby is dead. He may do something desperate. 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,200 When David saw his servants were whispering to each other. 15 00:00:58,500 --> 00:01:00,400 He guessed that the baby was dead. 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,500 So he asked his servants, is the baby dead. 17 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,400 He is dead. They replied then, David got up 18 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,600 from the ground. He washed anointed himself 19 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,900 changed. His clothes went to the Lord's 20 00:01:14,900 --> 00:01:18,300 House and worshipped. Then he went home and requested 21 00:01:18,300 --> 00:01:21,600 something to eat. So they served him food and he 22 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:26,100 ate his servants asked him. What did you just do? 23 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:28,900 While the baby was alive. You fasted and wept. 24 00:01:28,900 --> 00:01:31,700 But when he died, you got up and ate food. 25 00:01:32,500 --> 00:01:35,400 He answered while the baby was alive. 26 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,200 I fasted and wept, because I thought, who knows the Lord may 27 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,000 be gracious to me and let him live, but now that he is dead. 28 00:01:43,100 --> 00:01:46,300 Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? 29 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,900 I'll go to him, but he will never return to me, then, David 30 00:01:51,900 --> 00:01:56,600 comforted his wife Bathsheba. He Went and slept with her, she 31 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,300 gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. 32 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,200 The Lord, loved him, and he sent a message through Nathan. 33 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,700 The prophet who named him Jedidiah, because of the Lord. 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:14,600 This is the word of the Lord. To remain standing looking to 35 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,000 pray. We believe that as scripture 36 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,000 says that Jesus walks in the midst of his church, so that God 37 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,800 himself is present with us and already actively working in your 38 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,400 lives. Let's take a moment just to be 39 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:38,700 silent. What comes up for you, what 40 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:41,300 prayer requests come up for you. Right now is your silent and 41 00:02:41,300 --> 00:02:45,800 still in the presence of God? Just be honest with God about 42 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:52,500 that. Our Father, we thank you that 43 00:02:52,500 --> 00:02:54,200 there is nothing hidden in your sight. 44 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:00,100 Our desires, our habits, our instincts, our dreams, our 45 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:02,000 hopes, all of them are before you. 46 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,200 And right now, we ask, as we are here in your presence. 47 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,200 We've been in your presence all week and we are uniquely aware 48 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,200 of that presence. We ask that you take our minds 49 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,400 and you'd reform them udrih Story. 50 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:19,700 The ways that we tend to grasp for identity in success and 51 00:03:19,700 --> 00:03:22,800 image and followers and blah blah blah. 52 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,800 We asked Jesus that you would feel Our soul this morning that 53 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,400 when we walk out of here, we'd be filled with joy and peace and 54 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,200 hope and life. And that that would be what 55 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,700 emanates from our own lives to the world around us. 56 00:03:37,700 --> 00:03:42,200 We ask this in the name of the father and son and holy spirit. 57 00:03:42,300 --> 00:03:44,500 Amen. Please be seated. 58 00:03:46,500 --> 00:03:50,200 Well, it's good to see you guys. We are wrapping up a summer time 59 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:55,200 series, which means summertime is also wrapping up, but we are 60 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,300 very thankful for some cool air in this room. 61 00:03:58,700 --> 00:04:03,300 And are we not? Okay, do not make me work this 62 00:04:03,300 --> 00:04:08,100 hard today, please. My name is Al if you haven't 63 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:10,100 already met. I have the privilege of speaking 64 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:15,200 most Sundays and this past week, our staff watched a video of 65 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,100 Anderson Cooper. Interviewing Stephen Colbert. 66 00:04:18,100 --> 00:04:21,399 Maybe some of you saw it this to begin their conversation with 67 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,400 Cooper relating to Colbert. They both lost their father at 68 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,400 the age of 10 in tragic accidents and Cooper said it 69 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,100 changed. Changed the trajectory of my 70 00:04:32,100 --> 00:04:35,000 life. I'm a different person than I 71 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,400 feel like I was meant to be. He says, and then he's visibly 72 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,200 holding himself together. He's trying not to break down 73 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,400 these, trying to hold on to his position as a journalist and he 74 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,600 turns the Colbert and he said you once said, what punishment 75 00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:56,000 of gods are not gifts, quoting Tolkien Lord of the Rings, which 76 00:04:56,100 --> 00:04:59,100 Colbert admits to being the biggest fanatical nerd of Lord 77 00:04:59,100 --> 00:05:02,200 of the Rings there ever were. And he says, do you really 78 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,300 believe that what punishment of the gods are not gifts. 79 00:05:05,300 --> 00:05:09,600 Do you really believe that in Colbert classically pauses for a 80 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:11,800 moment? A long silence. 81 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:17,300 And he smiles, almost smirks. And he says, yes, it's a gift to 82 00:05:17,300 --> 00:05:20,400 exist and with existence come suffering. 83 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,200 There's no escaping that. Colbert says, I don't want it to 84 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,600 have happened. I want it, the death of my dad 85 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,300 and my brother at an early age, not to have happened. 86 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,000 But if you're grateful for your life, and I'm not always 87 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,500 grateful, then you have to be grateful for all of it. 88 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:39,800 And you know what? I appreciate that. 89 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,300 He didn't look through Rose Colored lens. 90 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:46,200 Like hey, look it, we suffer. Look on the bright side. 91 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,200 God works all things together for good. 92 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,100 You didn't do that. I appreciated that. 93 00:05:50,100 --> 00:05:52,800 He said, I don't want it to have happened. 94 00:05:53,100 --> 00:05:56,700 I want it to not have happened. But I'm also grateful for the 95 00:05:56,700 --> 00:06:00,000 gifts that have come from it. There are probably events in 96 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,400 your life that you are saying to yourself. 97 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,300 I don't want it to have happened. 98 00:06:05,300 --> 00:06:07,200 I wanted it not to have happened. 99 00:06:07,500 --> 00:06:09,700 And you know what? Quite honestly there are 100 00:06:09,700 --> 00:06:13,500 probably things that God would look at in your life and say, I 101 00:06:13,500 --> 00:06:16,700 didn't want that to happen. I wanted it not to have 102 00:06:16,700 --> 00:06:18,700 happened. In fact, when God created the 103 00:06:18,700 --> 00:06:20,900 world, he created everything and he said, looked at it and he 104 00:06:20,907 --> 00:06:22,900 said, it's very good. It's very good. 105 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,200 Good, that's how he created this world. 106 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,000 And certainly we see that in Jesus. 107 00:06:28,300 --> 00:06:31,900 For example, Jesus groans over the pain of others. 108 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,700 He weeps when he sees a family mourning, the loss of a loved 109 00:06:36,700 --> 00:06:42,400 one at the gravesite and he warns his disciple in this world 110 00:06:42,700 --> 00:06:47,100 because it's fallen and it has the broken effects of sin gone. 111 00:06:47,100 --> 00:06:50,100 Wrong in this world. You'll face trouble. 112 00:06:51,300 --> 00:06:54,400 And because we live, in a world where we can expect trouble, the 113 00:06:54,407 --> 00:06:58,500 question that you and I often have to answer is, how can we 114 00:06:58,500 --> 00:07:01,200 find the gifts in the midst of the trouble? 115 00:07:01,900 --> 00:07:05,400 How can we find the gifts in grief? 116 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,500 So, in order to address that question, I think we need to 117 00:07:08,500 --> 00:07:12,400 look at the story in two phases. The first is, I want to look at 118 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:14,900 the work of grief in David's life. 119 00:07:15,100 --> 00:07:18,200 And then I want to look at the gifts of grief and then we will 120 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,300 talk about how do we access those gifts. 121 00:07:20,300 --> 00:07:24,000 So first, The work of grief, most of you are familiar with 122 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,200 Aron Ralston, the guy, you know, the guy who was trapped in the 123 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,200 canyons. He was hiking climbing. 124 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,600 He's stuck underneath the Boulder and an order for him to 125 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,400 escape in order for him to live. He has to cut off one of his 126 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,000 limbs. He has to cut his arm off with a 127 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,000 pocket knife. David has been trapped beneath 128 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,000 the boulder of his own decisions. 129 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,800 From a young age, his life moved from Victory to victory until 130 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,800 now. He's been climbing the ladder of 131 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,100 success. But how many of you know that at 132 00:07:56,100 --> 00:07:59,400 some point when you climb that ladder you look and you're at 133 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,400 the top and you realize oh my gosh, this ladder is against the 134 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:07,800 wrong wall as a warrior. He achieved military success as 135 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,700 a worship leader. He had sheep spiritual success 136 00:08:10,900 --> 00:08:13,900 as a king. He achieved political success, 137 00:08:14,100 --> 00:08:17,300 but success has a way of blinding me. 138 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:27,500 To the shadows in my own soul. I can I can hide in the cracks. 139 00:08:28,900 --> 00:08:33,100 The character can hide beneath the covering of success. 140 00:08:33,100 --> 00:08:37,299 So when David sees a beautiful naked, young woman, bathing 141 00:08:37,299 --> 00:08:40,500 outside of his Palace window. He's overcome with desire. 142 00:08:41,700 --> 00:08:44,500 He sends for her. He's the king. 143 00:08:44,500 --> 00:08:49,300 So he seduces her. And then he sleeps with her and 144 00:08:49,300 --> 00:08:52,600 she conceives a child the culture calls. 145 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:58,000 It just a moment of weakness in the chapter. 146 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,500 God, calls it wickedness. The Scandal David knows will be 147 00:09:02,500 --> 00:09:05,200 enough to wreck him enough to kill him. 148 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,700 Maybe so he does what we'd all be tempted to do. 149 00:09:09,500 --> 00:09:13,700 He covers his tracks. He brings the husband of the 150 00:09:13,700 --> 00:09:18,200 best Sheba back from war Uriah. He tries to make it look like 151 00:09:18,300 --> 00:09:21,200 your Raya is the one who impregnated his own wife. 152 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,200 But Uriah is not willing. He's too loyal to the team and 153 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,800 he's too loyal to go home and enjoy a night with his wife. 154 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,100 When his friends are out on the battlefield. 155 00:09:32,100 --> 00:09:34,100 David realizes this plan is not working. 156 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,700 So when he can't make it appear like it's uriah's baby. 157 00:09:38,700 --> 00:09:43,100 He decides to have Uriah killed for a year, David lives with 158 00:09:43,100 --> 00:09:46,100 this secret. The boulder of his guilt is 159 00:09:46,100 --> 00:09:50,600 crushing his bones. He thinks that he's getting away 160 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,400 with it until one day. His Pastor, a man by the name of 161 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,900 Nathan comes to visit him. And he confronts him. 162 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,500 And in that moment, David learns that what he thought was done in 163 00:10:03,500 --> 00:10:07,600 secret is naked and open before the Living God. 164 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,300 God speaks to his people. Prophetically speaks to this 165 00:10:12,300 --> 00:10:13,100 man. Nathan. 166 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,800 Nathan tells him some random story about a rich man who 167 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,700 steals a lamb from a poor man only lamb. 168 00:10:19,700 --> 00:10:23,700 He has then, he kills it to slaughter it and give it to his 169 00:10:23,700 --> 00:10:26,000 dinner guests. And David says, that man should 170 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:30,100 be killed. Ethan says, David son. 171 00:10:30,100 --> 00:10:34,300 You're that, man. And so in verse 13 of chapter 172 00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:37,800 12, David responded to Nathan and says, I have sinned against 173 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:39,900 the Lord, then Nathan replied to David. 174 00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:42,900 The Lord has taken away your sin. 175 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,500 That's the beauty of the Gospel in is that through the blood of 176 00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:50,400 Christ, the lamb slaughtered for us. 177 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:56,200 Our guilt is washed away. Here's the rub sin has 178 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,500 consequences. Has in the consequences are 179 00:10:58,500 --> 00:11:03,500 significant. Nathan replied to David, the 180 00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:07,700 Lord has taken away your sin. You will not die. 181 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:12,000 However, because you treated the Lord with such contempt. 182 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:13,900 In this matter, the son born to you. 183 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:17,700 He's gonna die and then Nathan went home. 184 00:11:18,900 --> 00:11:21,800 Sometimes when you're trapped beneath something crushing you, 185 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:26,100 you need Extreme Measures to be set free, but David's about to 186 00:11:26,100 --> 00:11:28,200 have more than just his arm cut off. 187 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,500 He's about to have his soul ripped out. 188 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,000 Verse 15, the Lord struck the baby that uriah's wife had born 189 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:40,900 to David and he became ill. These are hard words. 190 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:43,800 I don't want them to have happened. 191 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:45,900 I want them to not have happened. 192 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,400 I don't want to believe that God's goes to Extreme Measures 193 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:54,200 to get my attention. But as we saw last week 194 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,900 consequences of sin are still significant. 195 00:11:59,100 --> 00:12:02,400 And David story follows the progression of sin that James 196 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:06,000 describes in his letter. Look at James 1, verse 14. 197 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,200 Each person is tempted when they're dragged Away by their 198 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:15,300 own evil or over desire. And enticed, then after desire 199 00:12:15,300 --> 00:12:19,800 has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is 200 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:25,500 full-grown gives birth to death. We like to think that we can 201 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:28,500 talk our way out of most anything or at least I do. 202 00:12:29,900 --> 00:12:31,900 Which is why, as I mentioned last week, when I was telling a 203 00:12:31,908 --> 00:12:36,600 friend at one point in my life early, in my following Jesus 204 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,000 phase. Hey, I know God's word says 205 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,600 this, but here's where I want to go. 206 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:43,500 Here's what I want to do, and my friend who loves me, who is a 207 00:12:43,500 --> 00:12:45,800 Nathan in my life? Looks at me and says out. 208 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,000 I've thought about that all day long. 209 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,800 When you told me that and I want to tell you, there's nothing 210 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,500 there for you, but death. Galatians 6 says, don't be 211 00:12:55,500 --> 00:12:57,800 misled. You cannot mock the justice of 212 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:00,600 God. See we all want Justice. 213 00:13:02,100 --> 00:13:06,800 When it benefits us or when it's in, you know, it's cool. 214 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:09,300 It's in Vogue. It's the Hipster thing to do. 215 00:13:10,300 --> 00:13:13,700 But he says, you will always reap what you plant. 216 00:13:14,300 --> 00:13:17,800 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will 217 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:22,700 harvest Decay and death. From that sinful nature, but 218 00:13:22,700 --> 00:13:24,900 those who live to please the spirit. 219 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:27,900 They're going to harvest everlasting life from the 220 00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:30,200 spirit. It's the law of sowing and 221 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,700 reaping. It's just the way it is. 222 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:40,600 David needs the work of grief. He needs also to do the work of 223 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,300 grief and he needs grief to do. Its work in him. 224 00:13:44,500 --> 00:13:49,200 It's two sides of the same coin. What do I mean if all you know 225 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:54,700 is spiritual achievement without Affliction you run the risk of 226 00:13:54,700 --> 00:13:59,800 being very religious. But not living a life of love. 227 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,100 If all, you know is spiritual achievement without some type of 228 00:14:05,100 --> 00:14:09,500 Affliction, you run the risk of being a very condemning person, 229 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:15,000 very critical person, very self-righteous smarter people 230 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,600 than I have broken down the life of faith and to six phases. 231 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:24,600 The end goal of these phases is always a life of love, but it is 232 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:30,400 necessary to be interrupted to get their say just one two and 233 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:31,100 three. David. 234 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,000 Already experienced. He's already experienced a 235 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:38,500 life-changing awareness of God at a young boy, 16 or so. 236 00:14:38,500 --> 00:14:40,700 He's out in the fields with the shepherd. 237 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:43,600 His discipleship, period was real. 238 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,700 He could tell you all of the right answers on the Bible test 239 00:14:47,100 --> 00:14:49,700 and then he serves, right, he serves in the Kingdom. 240 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:53,100 He even becomes king. He's serving God's people and 241 00:14:53,100 --> 00:14:57,100 profound ways, but at some point, if David is going to 242 00:14:57,100 --> 00:15:01,100 really experience love and extend life, giving love. 243 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:05,100 Of, he's got to experience what the mystics call the sacred 244 00:15:05,100 --> 00:15:08,700 wound. The Dark Night of the Soul. 245 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:14,900 A crisis of faith. And that wound forces us into a 246 00:15:14,900 --> 00:15:18,800 journey inward. Where were forced to face the 247 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:24,800 choice of doing inventory in our own soul, about the addictions 248 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:30,000 that we don't want to admit to. I'm talking about even things 249 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,300 like critical attitude. Gossip slander. 250 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,200 We have to face the idols that we hold onto. 251 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:44,000 And I'm forced to ask myself who God really is, and what God, 252 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,800 really wants of me. And what I really want of God. 253 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,200 Do I really want to love God with all my heart or do I want 254 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:55,700 God to just bless my life and hold on to it. 255 00:15:55,900 --> 00:15:58,300 I'm forced to face my own inner fears. 256 00:16:00,500 --> 00:16:02,400 And where I'm really putting my trust. 257 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,700 Well, I'm finally being transformed by love so that I 258 00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:11,000 can really love others. If all, you know, is spiritual 259 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,300 achievement without spiritual Affliction, then you'll likely 260 00:16:14,300 --> 00:16:18,800 have a very rigid religion, not gospel spirituality. 261 00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:23,200 If David doesn't allow grief to do its work, he still going to 262 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:27,100 take advantage of people. He's still going to abuse power. 263 00:16:27,100 --> 00:16:29,400 He still going to see himself as better than others. 264 00:16:30,900 --> 00:16:34,700 He'll forever. Have the shadow side of the 265 00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:38,600 king, the patriarch, the evil Tyrant who uses power for his 266 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:42,900 own pleasure, but for David to passively allow grief to do its 267 00:16:42,900 --> 00:16:46,400 work. He has to actively do his grief. 268 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:50,400 Work verses 16 through 18, gives us a clue as to what that 269 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:54,700 involves three things in order to do the work of grief or for 270 00:16:54,700 --> 00:16:57,600 grief to do its work and you it requires a few different things. 271 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:00,000 First, the work of grief involves tears. 272 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,700 It involves emotion and Falls crying. 273 00:17:04,700 --> 00:17:07,300 It boss. What David is doing is pleading 274 00:17:07,300 --> 00:17:10,400 and fasting and spending the night on the floor. 275 00:17:10,500 --> 00:17:14,000 His child is about to die course. 276 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,500 He's on the floor. Of course. 277 00:17:15,500 --> 00:17:19,900 He doesn't want to eat food. He's dependent on the Living 278 00:17:19,900 --> 00:17:22,800 God, in a way that he hasn't been for several years. 279 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,500 Good grief. Work requires us to open our 280 00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:31,900 emotions and shed our tears. But, secondly, good of grief 281 00:17:31,900 --> 00:17:35,400 work, not only requires tears. It requires truth. 282 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,200 When David Son actually dies, the elders, come to David to ask 283 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,300 him, why he's fast. And when the baby was sick, but 284 00:17:43,300 --> 00:17:45,700 now that the baby's dead. Why won't why are you eating 285 00:17:45,700 --> 00:17:48,100 now? Why are now you taking a shower? 286 00:17:48,500 --> 00:17:51,800 Why are you now getting ready to go out and do your work? 287 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:57,400 David's response to the words of these men with the doctrine of 288 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:02,900 the Resurrection. He needs tears and he needs 289 00:18:02,900 --> 00:18:06,600 truth. He's holding onto the truth of 290 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:11,800 scripture, the truth of a coming New Creation where he will see 291 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,500 the baby again. Most of us lean toward one of 292 00:18:15,508 --> 00:18:17,300 the other. Conservatives usually are good 293 00:18:17,300 --> 00:18:19,700 at the truth. Part of grief work, liberals 294 00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:23,400 tend to lean towards the tears, part of grief work in the Gospel 295 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,900 of Jesus. And in David, we see the need 296 00:18:25,900 --> 00:18:31,000 for both, Grief work is both passive and active. 297 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,200 Meaning, grief work. Does it work in us? 298 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:39,000 If we're willing to do the greet, the work of grief, David 299 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,800 needs this grief work to work in him if he's ever going to be a 300 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,000 king. Who serves others. 301 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:52,000 Thirdly, lastly we don't just need tears and Truth in grief 302 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:53,900 work. It involves others. 303 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,100 Look at verse 17, the Elders of his house. 304 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:02,400 They stood beside him. To get him up from the ground, 305 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,800 but he was unwilling and he wouldn't eat anything with him. 306 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:10,300 Listen. I am learning at the age of 42 307 00:19:10,300 --> 00:19:14,300 about to be 43 next month on September 21st, and I would love 308 00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:18,700 an Apple Watch for my birthday. I am learning. 309 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,100 Preach it. That I need a community of 310 00:19:24,100 --> 00:19:29,700 people around me to help me work through the works. 311 00:19:29,700 --> 00:19:35,600 The areas of grief. Because listen, if I don't learn 312 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:40,200 to transform my pain, I will transmit my pain to others. 313 00:19:41,100 --> 00:19:44,800 It'll come out in the form of bitterness and I know because 314 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:49,400 I've done it. We need to do the necessary work 315 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,600 of grieving. So grief can do it's necessary 316 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:56,200 work in us. If we are to journey through the 317 00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:02,400 wall, beyond the initial stages, and into a life of life-giving 318 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,700 love. That's the first thing, the work 319 00:20:05,700 --> 00:20:08,000 of grief. But secondly, I want to look in 320 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,000 the story at the gifts of grief. Colbert says, there are gifts in 321 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,700 grief. What are they? 322 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,100 Well, by the end of the chapter, David has a renewed sense of 323 00:20:17,100 --> 00:20:19,800 purpose. He has a renewed identity. 324 00:20:20,300 --> 00:20:22,800 We begin to see the transformation and his character 325 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:27,700 and his confidence. And I see at least a few gifts 326 00:20:27,700 --> 00:20:31,100 in this grief, that happens to David first. 327 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,700 I see a redirected faith in verse 15 through 17. 328 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,300 There are many of you in here. Who have had your faith 329 00:20:41,300 --> 00:20:45,300 redirected? What I mean, is Faith is what we 330 00:20:45,300 --> 00:20:47,900 all possess? All of us are trusting 331 00:20:47,900 --> 00:20:51,100 something. All of us are holding onto 332 00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:56,000 something to make life, a life of meaning significance value. 333 00:20:56,700 --> 00:21:01,000 And at some point in your life, your faith was taken from that. 334 00:21:02,100 --> 00:21:05,700 To that it was redirected from a lesser thing to. 335 00:21:05,700 --> 00:21:11,400 God, whether it was that you hit rock, bottom, or you ascended to 336 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,900 the very top of your class or your profession. 337 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,200 No matter what it was, doesn't matter. 338 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,300 If you reach the top of the ladder, or your fell to the 339 00:21:21,300 --> 00:21:24,600 depth of Despair. One of the gifts of grief is a 340 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:29,800 redirected Faith. David is pleading fasting 341 00:21:29,900 --> 00:21:31,100 weeping. Why? 342 00:21:31,900 --> 00:21:35,600 Has his faith. His trust is being redirected. 343 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:38,900 Faith is how David ended up in the situation. 344 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:44,000 I'ma say it again. Faith is how David ended up in 345 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:45,900 this situation in the first place. 346 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,400 Why? Because beneath his adulterous 347 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,900 affair with Bathsheba. Do you know what he was really 348 00:21:53,900 --> 00:21:57,100 doing? He was misplacing his faith. 349 00:21:59,300 --> 00:22:03,900 Faith is simply trust. I'm trusting in someone or 350 00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:09,400 something, maybe myself over God and God's word to bring me an 351 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,900 identity security or to bring me an ultimate sense of value and 352 00:22:13,900 --> 00:22:17,300 worth and satisfaction. That's the essence of sin. 353 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,600 The essence of sin is we often say is not that I'm doing wrong 354 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:23,400 things. It's I'm trusting the wrong 355 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:28,300 things. So when David sees Bathsheba, 356 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,200 and then he kills Uriah and then he lies to cover it up, beneath 357 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:32,500 it. All. 358 00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:37,000 He's really trusting something to be his, ultimate salvation to 359 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,500 save him to free him. To be as covering sin is 360 00:22:41,500 --> 00:22:44,100 idolatry. It's misplaced, faith and 361 00:22:44,100 --> 00:22:46,300 idolatry. I don't know about you, but for 362 00:22:46,300 --> 00:22:51,300 me, it's always appealing. But we'll always let me down. 363 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,800 That's why Dallas Willard, says, anxiety worry, fear. 364 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,800 They occur only as a hangover of bad habits establish. 365 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:05,200 When we were trusting things like human approval, wealth, and 366 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,100 security things that were certain to let us down. 367 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,300 Someone might say, well, I'm not a religious person. 368 00:23:13,700 --> 00:23:15,300 I'm not sure. I even resonate with all your 369 00:23:15,300 --> 00:23:20,000 faith talk. One Theologian said if, at the 370 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:24,400 very least faith is what you trust in than everyone has faith 371 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:29,400 in something. If you are a child of God, 372 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:34,500 through faith in Jesus, there's a promise that you have when you 373 00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:37,800 begin to trust in other things, lesser things, there's a 374 00:23:37,808 --> 00:23:40,600 promise. That's yours that you might not 375 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:46,100 want to actually. Hebrews chapter 12 says and have 376 00:23:46,100 --> 00:23:48,200 you forgotten the encouraging words? 377 00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:50,700 God spoke to you as his children. 378 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,800 He said my child don't make light of the Lord's discipline 379 00:23:55,300 --> 00:23:58,100 and don't give up. When he corrects you for the 380 00:23:58,100 --> 00:24:02,100 Lord disciplines those, he loves and he punishes each one. 381 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,600 He accepts as his child. David's faith is being 382 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:11,200 redirected and B being redirected by a God who is so 383 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,200 good. And so committed to his 384 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,700 flourishing that he'll Faithfully do, what needs to be 385 00:24:16,700 --> 00:24:20,600 done in our lives so that we are free from the boulder of 386 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:22,100 idolatry. You get me. 387 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,100 Just yesterday. I had a chastening moment. 388 00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:30,300 There are these moments as a parent. 389 00:24:30,300 --> 00:24:34,400 Will I have to enter in as a as a moment of chastening and I 390 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:35,600 don't always do it. Well. 391 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,200 But I feel like yesterday. I'm pretty much crushed it. 392 00:24:41,900 --> 00:24:44,900 actually, I had my wife there just to make sure that we did it 393 00:24:45,100 --> 00:24:49,300 the right way and we looked at our daughter one of our girls 394 00:24:49,300 --> 00:24:55,800 and she's not in this room and we said If we want to give you 395 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,900 everything that you ever wanted. Everything that you want. 396 00:24:59,900 --> 00:25:03,900 That's not going to wreck you and make you feel entitled. 397 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,500 And right now, you're wanting something more than wanting to 398 00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:10,200 listen to what we're saying to you. 399 00:25:11,300 --> 00:25:13,200 With tears running down her face. 400 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:17,700 We wiped her tears. And when he said, but the thing 401 00:25:17,700 --> 00:25:20,900 is, when you assess obsess over, what you don't have to the point 402 00:25:20,900 --> 00:25:23,900 that you don't listen to us. And onerous as your parents, 403 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,100 we're going to do all that we can to help you listen because 404 00:25:27,100 --> 00:25:30,100 we're interested in your flourishing ultimately as an 405 00:25:30,100 --> 00:25:34,400 adult. I can personally count two times 406 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:38,900 in the past year where I was sure that either the fine I had 407 00:25:38,900 --> 00:25:44,200 to pay or the apology that I had to give was the direct result of 408 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,400 God's chastening work in my life. 409 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:55,600 One of them was so clear that I was walking and I had this thing 410 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,700 I had to pay or apology. I had to give us a result. 411 00:25:59,100 --> 00:26:02,400 And I was so angry that I said, God. 412 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,500 Are you bleeping chasing me right now? 413 00:26:07,100 --> 00:26:10,700 And I'm not saying that so that you can try that just saying 414 00:26:10,700 --> 00:26:11,800 that. So you can see that. 415 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:17,000 I'm in the same boat. The next morning I read through 416 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,900 scripture. Am I normal scripture? 417 00:26:18,900 --> 00:26:21,400 Reading? I read these verses. 418 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,700 This is no lie. Lamentations 3:25 through 26. 419 00:26:25,700 --> 00:26:27,800 It was just my normal Bible Bible reading. 420 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,200 The Lord is good to those who wait for him to the person who 421 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,500 seeks him. It is good to wait, quietly for 422 00:26:35,500 --> 00:26:39,900 deliverance from the Lord. Let him sit alone and be silent 423 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:45,400 for God has disciplined him. I was like, oh, you are chasing 424 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,500 me. I get it and I'm sorry. 425 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:56,300 Help me to learn this lesson. Help me to Love Like You Love. 426 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,700 Well, someone might say how good can this Lord be when he strikes 427 00:27:01,700 --> 00:27:06,600 a baby. Let me first say that the Hebrew 428 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,800 genre of writing is sometimes written in the form of exalted 429 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,100 prose narrative. So sometimes there is an 430 00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:17,600 exaggeration to prove a point, but let's say in this case. 431 00:27:17,700 --> 00:27:20,800 It seems like the death of the baby isn't just a loud. 432 00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:25,600 It's intentional, please please please hear me. 433 00:27:26,500 --> 00:27:30,600 I am not saying that God removes everything to get good to get 434 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:35,800 our attention. Nor am I saying that everything 435 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,200 good that's been removed. You have, please listen. 436 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:43,500 Nor am I saying that everything good that's been removed from 437 00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:49,400 your life has been removed by God because of a work of 438 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,100 chastening. I'm not saying that and many 439 00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:56,700 times, we will not know until the other side of this life. 440 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:02,300 What was truly at work there? What I am saying is that God is 441 00:28:02,300 --> 00:28:07,100 a good father, far better than me, who does whatever it takes 442 00:28:07,100 --> 00:28:10,500 for his kids to be free when they're trapped, beneath the 443 00:28:10,500 --> 00:28:14,700 boulder of idolatry. He'll even cut off an appendage 444 00:28:14,700 --> 00:28:17,100 so that their faith can be regrown. 445 00:28:17,100 --> 00:28:21,400 And redirected. It's what old translators of the 446 00:28:21,408 --> 00:28:26,300 Bible in Romans 11 called the goodness and severity of God. 447 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:31,300 We were in deep Waters now guys, We're In It Together right here, 448 00:28:31,300 --> 00:28:35,800 okay. There's a section in CS Lewis is 449 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,500 novel called The Chronicles of Narnia where one of the main 450 00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:42,300 characters, a young girl named Lucy and counters to talking 451 00:28:42,300 --> 00:28:47,000 beavers as you do from them. She learns that the king of 452 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,000 Narnia who was to put all things right is on the loose. 453 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,300 He's a lion by the name of Aslan. 454 00:28:54,700 --> 00:28:56,300 And she asked mr. And mrs. 455 00:28:56,300 --> 00:29:01,700 Beaver is, is he a man? A salut. 456 00:29:01,700 --> 00:29:06,100 See as land a man misses. Mr. Beaver sternly says, 457 00:29:06,100 --> 00:29:09,500 certainly not. I tell you he's the king of the 458 00:29:09,500 --> 00:29:13,200 wood and the son of the great emperor, Beyond the Sea. 459 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,200 Don't you know, who is the king of beasts? 460 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:21,200 Aslan is a lion, the lion, the great lion. 461 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:27,700 Is, is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous 462 00:29:27,700 --> 00:29:31,800 about meeting a lion. Safe said, mr. 463 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,700 Beaver. Who said anything about safe. 464 00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:39,300 Course, he isn't safe, but he's good. 465 00:29:40,300 --> 00:29:45,400 He's the king, I tell you. God is so good that he's 466 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:49,400 redirecting. David's faith in the goodness 467 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:53,100 and the severity of God. That's the first gift of grief. 468 00:29:53,100 --> 00:29:55,700 The second gift of griefed is a resurrected. 469 00:29:55,700 --> 00:29:57,800 Hope. What do I mean by a resurrected? 470 00:29:57,800 --> 00:29:59,900 Hope? Verse 16? 471 00:29:59,900 --> 00:30:02,800 Through 18. David is desperately pleading 472 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,300 with God, on their behalf of the baby. 473 00:30:04,300 --> 00:30:07,500 He knows that the child is suffering, as a result of his 474 00:30:07,500 --> 00:30:12,000 foolish choices that he's misplaced, his faith in 47 days. 475 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000 David doesn't eat, doesn't Get up off the floor. 476 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,800 He does the work of grief. He's in such a desperate 477 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,600 condition that when the child does die. 478 00:30:22,500 --> 00:30:25,100 Verse 20 says, then David got up from the ground. 479 00:30:25,100 --> 00:30:29,000 Washed anointed himself changed. His clothes, went to the Lord's 480 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,900 House and worship and then he went home and requested 481 00:30:31,900 --> 00:30:34,200 something to eat. So they served him food and ate 482 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,400 his servants asked him. Why did you just do that? 483 00:30:37,900 --> 00:30:41,400 While the baby was alive? You fasted and wept, but when he 484 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,400 died, you got up and ate food. David responds in an interesting 485 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,400 way. He says, in verse 22, while the 486 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,300 baby was alive. I fasted and wept because I 487 00:30:50,308 --> 00:30:53,300 thought, who knows? Maybe the Lord will be gracious 488 00:30:53,300 --> 00:30:57,200 to me and let him live. But now that he's dead. 489 00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:59,700 Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? 490 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,300 I'll go to him, but he'll never return to me. 491 00:31:04,900 --> 00:31:09,900 David has a resurrected hope or put more accurately, David has a 492 00:31:09,900 --> 00:31:12,600 hope that comes from the resurrection. 493 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,500 It doesn't take away the pain of his loss. 494 00:31:17,300 --> 00:31:20,500 In fact, probably as long as he's alive, and I know this 495 00:31:20,500 --> 00:31:23,100 having walked with friends who've lost their children. 496 00:31:23,700 --> 00:31:30,900 He will always have the wound. And therefore, he'll always need 497 00:31:30,900 --> 00:31:34,800 to hold on to Hope first. Peter. 1:3 says blessed, be the 498 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,400 God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 499 00:31:38,500 --> 00:31:44,400 According to his great Mercy has caused us to be born again to a 500 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,600 Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 501 00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:51,400 From the dead. About a year ago. 502 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,600 My good friend named Bruce was updating me on the status of his 503 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,700 six-year-old. Nephew named Samuel. 504 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,100 Samuel had been battling a cancerous tumor for about six 505 00:32:01,100 --> 00:32:03,800 months. But as the summer Drew near and 506 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,900 his seventh birthday passed, it became clear that Samuel to 507 00:32:07,900 --> 00:32:08,600 Wood. Us. 508 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,400 Just before Samuel died. I received this message from 509 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,200 Bruce. It's been a while since I've 510 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:17,700 updated you on my nephew. At the moment. 511 00:32:17,700 --> 00:32:20,400 Sammy is at home with my brother and his wife by his side 512 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,500 constantly. They stopped giving him steroids 513 00:32:23,500 --> 00:32:27,800 as it was not having an impact. Things have deteriorated rapidly 514 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,100 over the last few weeks. I had a chance to briefly Skype 515 00:32:31,100 --> 00:32:32,800 with him yesterday and see Sammy. 516 00:32:33,500 --> 00:32:36,400 He opened his eyes a few times while I read to him from Psalm 517 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,600 23. And the last paragraph of Cs 518 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,800 Lewis's book, the last battle and then I prayed for him. 519 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:45,900 Darryl told me that he had started reading the final 520 00:32:45,900 --> 00:32:50,500 chapter of the last battle. You read it too Sammy recently, 521 00:32:50,500 --> 00:32:51,900 but he had not managed to finished. 522 00:32:51,900 --> 00:32:53,900 It. It was lovely that I got to read 523 00:32:53,900 --> 00:32:56,300 it to him. I'm grateful for such a small 524 00:32:56,300 --> 00:33:00,400 Mercy. In the email, my friend included 525 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:04,100 those words from the final chapter of Louis's last battle. 526 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,300 It's a chapter called farewell to the shadowlands. 527 00:33:08,500 --> 00:33:11,100 It's a fictional fantasy about the new heavens and the new 528 00:33:11,100 --> 00:33:14,400 Earth. And when I read it, I wept I 529 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:19,900 wept because of the pain of a family about to lose their child 530 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,100 and I wept because I long for the home that Lewis described in 531 00:33:24,100 --> 00:33:28,100 the words from Saint, John in Revelation and the hope that's 532 00:33:28,100 --> 00:33:31,300 coming and the healing that's coming and the heavens that are 533 00:33:31,300 --> 00:33:34,900 coming to this earth, mean that The Best Is Yet To Come. 534 00:33:35,100 --> 00:33:38,500 And if we believe that the best is yet to come that we can have 535 00:33:38,500 --> 00:33:40,600 hope in the midst of our heartache. 536 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,300 Here's the ending to the chapter that my friend Bruce read. 537 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,300 In the chapter Aslan, the lion gives the children's shocking 538 00:33:50,300 --> 00:33:52,900 news. He says, there was a real 539 00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:57,100 accident. There was a railway accident 540 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:01,000 Aslan said, softly your mother and your father and all of you 541 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,900 as you used to call it in the shadowlands are dead. 542 00:34:05,700 --> 00:34:09,400 The term is over. The holidays have begun. 543 00:34:10,199 --> 00:34:13,199 The dream is ended. This is morning. 544 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,600 And then he says, and as he spoke, he no longer look to them 545 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:22,900 like a lion, but the things that began to happen, after that were 546 00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:25,600 so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. 547 00:34:26,300 --> 00:34:29,800 And for us, this is the end of all the stories and we can most 548 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,699 truly say that they all lived happily ever after. 549 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:38,400 But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story, all 550 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:41,300 their life in this world. All of their adventures and 551 00:34:41,300 --> 00:34:45,900 Narnia had only been the cover. And the title page. 552 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,800 Now, at last, they were beginning chapter, one of the 553 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:54,500 great story which no one on earth has ever read which goes 554 00:34:54,500 --> 00:34:58,200 on forever in which every chapter is better than the one 555 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:04,200 before. Well, someone might say, if all 556 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:07,000 you do is hope and Resurrection for life. 557 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,200 After this one. How will you be any Earthly 558 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,300 good? You see in this chapter after 559 00:35:12,300 --> 00:35:16,500 David goes, through his work of grief and grief Works in him. 560 00:35:16,900 --> 00:35:22,800 He resumes his role. As a man who's bringing 561 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:27,000 restoration to the world and he does it so imperfectly that the 562 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:31,100 rest of his life is going to be marked by pain and death. 563 00:35:31,500 --> 00:35:37,000 It's a tragic story here on but David still is the man after 564 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,700 God's Own Heart. And he still is working 565 00:35:40,700 --> 00:35:45,200 co-creating with God, which is why NT Wright says, people who 566 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:50,100 believe in the resurrection in God, making a whole new world in 567 00:35:50,100 --> 00:35:54,500 which everything will be set right at last, our unstoppably 568 00:35:54,500 --> 00:35:58,400 motivated to work for that new world in the present. 569 00:35:59,500 --> 00:36:05,700 Dang. There's only one. 570 00:36:05,700 --> 00:36:08,100 Final gift left for David to experience. 571 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:10,500 It's a gift that will change everything. 572 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,200 You remember he opened the gift of a redirected faith and a 573 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:21,100 resurrected hope but now he opens the gift of real love. 574 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:26,900 Verse 24, and 25 verse 24, then David comforted his wife 575 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,900 Bathsheba for the first time in this section. 576 00:36:29,900 --> 00:36:32,300 Bathsheba is called David's wife. 577 00:36:33,300 --> 00:36:38,900 Until now, she's been your riyas wife, David saw her, David saw 578 00:36:38,900 --> 00:36:43,500 Uriah David saw joab, the commander all as objects until 579 00:36:43,500 --> 00:36:48,000 now. As instruments for his success, 580 00:36:48,900 --> 00:36:52,500 but it took the wall, it took the sacred wound. 581 00:36:52,500 --> 00:36:55,100 It took the Dark Night of the Soul. 582 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:59,100 It took the crisis of faith. It took the ability to look in 583 00:36:59,100 --> 00:37:03,400 the mirror and see his own Frailty in order for him to, 584 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:07,100 really begin to love like he was made to love, like God loves. 585 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:12,000 And now he sees the heartache that he's caused verse 24. 586 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,800 Says David comforted his wife. He's forgiven. 587 00:37:15,900 --> 00:37:17,900 The consequences are significant. 588 00:37:17,900 --> 00:37:21,400 But God's forgiving. Love is so extravagant and David 589 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:25,500 is learning to comfort others. Psalm 103 says the Lord is 590 00:37:25,500 --> 00:37:29,500 compassionate and gracious. Slow to anger and Rich and 591 00:37:29,500 --> 00:37:32,000 faithful love. He will not always accuse us or 592 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:35,100 be angry forever. He is not dealt with us as our 593 00:37:35,100 --> 00:37:39,300 sins deserve or repaid us. According to our Answers David 594 00:37:39,300 --> 00:37:43,100 will forever have the wound, but he's journeying into that six 595 00:37:43,100 --> 00:37:48,000 stage of Faith, the journey into love and I have to tell you from 596 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,500 experience. I have found that every time God 597 00:37:50,500 --> 00:37:53,800 chastens me. There's a work of redemption 598 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:59,200 that almost always follows. Doesn't remove the wound. 599 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:03,300 But it allows me to see real love. 600 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,200 And this case, God gives another son to David and Bathsheba verse 601 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:09,600 24, then he went and he slept with her. 602 00:38:09,700 --> 00:38:13,900 She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon, and the Lord 603 00:38:13,900 --> 00:38:15,900 loved him. And he sent a message through 604 00:38:15,900 --> 00:38:17,400 Nathan. The prophet who named him 605 00:38:17,500 --> 00:38:21,400 Jedidiah, because of the Lord. How is it that David is learning 606 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:25,300 to give real love. It's because David received real 607 00:38:25,300 --> 00:38:26,800 love. The lord. 608 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:32,000 Gave David a son named Solomon or Shalom, a meaning. 609 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,800 Peace, the Lord love this child and gave him. 610 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:41,600 The throne name Jedediah the Beloved of the Lord and through 611 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:44,700 it. All God, love David and he would 612 00:38:44,700 --> 00:38:48,100 continue to love David. Although his life would never be 613 00:38:48,100 --> 00:38:53,200 the same. the consequences of sin are significant, but God's 614 00:38:53,200 --> 00:39:00,800 love is extravagant how so You enter this world and you and I 615 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:05,000 have lived lives trapped beneath the boulder of sin beneath the 616 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:09,500 boulder of idolatry. We tried to cut ourselves away, 617 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:14,200 several different ways through success and fame and money and 618 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:17,200 power status, more insta, followers. 619 00:39:17,300 --> 00:39:20,100 Whatever. The only way for us to be free 620 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:23,100 was for another beloved Son to be cut off. 621 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:29,900 So Jesus, the prince of peace entered, the world spreading 622 00:39:29,900 --> 00:39:33,000 Shalom. Our punishment was placed on 623 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,200 him. He bore our shame, he was struck 624 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:41,700 down for our spiritual adultery, or for loving other things, more 625 00:39:41,700 --> 00:39:44,800 than God, who was blessed for Evermore? 626 00:39:46,100 --> 00:39:49,300 Jesus was smitten for our idolatry. 627 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:55,100 Which is why Colbert ends his interview this way. 628 00:39:56,700 --> 00:39:59,600 What do you get from Los? You get awareness of other 629 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,900 people's loss, which allows you to connect with other person 630 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,100 which allows you to love more deeply and understand what it's 631 00:40:06,100 --> 00:40:10,100 like to be a human being. If it's true that all humans 632 00:40:10,100 --> 00:40:12,700 suffer. At a young age. 633 00:40:12,700 --> 00:40:16,600 I suffered something so that by the time I was in a serious 634 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:19,800 relationship in life with my friends, or my wife or my 635 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:24,600 children, I understood that everybody is suffering and 636 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:28,200 however, imperfectly acknowledge their suffering to connect with 637 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:30,400 them and to love them in a deep way. 638 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,100 That not only accepts that all of us suffer, but makes you 639 00:40:34,100 --> 00:40:36,900 grateful for the fact that you have suffered. 640 00:40:36,900 --> 00:40:39,300 So you can know about other people. 641 00:40:39,900 --> 00:40:41,300 It's about the fullness of your her man. 642 00:40:41,500 --> 00:40:43,400 Do what's the point of being here? 643 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,500 If you can't be the most human, you can be. 644 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,200 I want to be the most human eye can be and that involves 645 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,500 acknowledging and ultimately being grateful for the things. 646 00:40:52,500 --> 00:40:57,200 I wish didn't happen because they gave me a gift and this is 647 00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,300 how he ends and it drops the mic with these words. 648 00:41:01,700 --> 00:41:05,600 In my tradition, that's the great gift of the sacrifice of 649 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:09,400 Christ. The sacrifice of Christ. 650 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:13,900 Is that God does it to you really not alone? 651 00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:20,600 God does suffering too. That's the gift that David is 652 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:25,300 learning. God does it to, he gives his son 653 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:29,300 who has struck down so that we can be free from the boulder of 654 00:41:29,300 --> 00:41:32,800 what's holding us down. Let's pray. 655 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,900 We'll ask the Holy Spirit to begin to speak to us, to reveal 656 00:41:35,900 --> 00:41:40,200 to us, how we are to respond to him doing our own work of grief, 657 00:41:41,100 --> 00:41:42,900 Our Father. We thank you for your words to 658 00:41:42,900 --> 00:41:45,000 us. Thank you for your mercy. 659 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:48,700 That is new here this morning. Dear God.