
August 2020


August 23, 2020 – “The Gospel According to David: Life of Relationships” by Rev. Cody Sandahl
View the Sermon
First Reading = Mark 9:2–8
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
Introduction
This is the final week of our series looking at the Gospel According to David. Last week we heard that David lived life to the fullest. Next week we’re going to try something a little different. We’re going to try a “stump the pastor” Sunday! This is like an “ask me anything” for church. So email me a faith question by this Friday, and I’ll draw them out of a basket and address them right then to the best of my ability. So email me a question – cody@fpcl.org by Friday August 28 to be included.
But for this final week in our series about David, we’re going to look at one of David’s defining characteristics: his commitment to relationships. Jesus had this same characteristic. And we often talk about how we want our church to be defined by a commitment to relationships as well.
In our main text today, we’re back in 1 Samuel – before David was king. This text marks a transition for David. Before this, he was married to Saul’s daughter Michael. He was best friends with Saul’s son Jonathan. He had fame and respect after defeating Goliath. He was an honored part of the king’s household. But then Saul realized that David might become king instead of his own son Jonathan. So Saul decided to kill David while he still could. Listen to how David’s commitment to relationships change the course of events.
Main Reading = 1 Samuel 19:1-24
Saul spoke with his son Jonathan and with all his servants about killing David. But Saul’s son Jonathan took great delight in David. 2Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying to kill you; therefore be on guard tomorrow morning; stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you; if I learn anything I will tell you.” 4Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been of good service to you; 5for he took his life in his hand when he attacked the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced; why then will you sin against an innocent person by killing David without cause?” 6Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan; Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7So Jonathan called David and related all these things to him. Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
8Again there was war, and David went out to fight the Philistines. He launched a heavy attack on them, so that they fled before him. 9Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing music. 10Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear; but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night.
11Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, planning to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12So Michal let David down through the window; he fled away and escaped. 13Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed; she put a net of goats’ hair on its head, and covered it with the clothes. 14When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15Then Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16When the messengers came in, the idol was in the bed, with the covering of goats’ hair on its head. 17Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go; why should I kill you?’”
18Now David fled and escaped; he came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and settled at Naioth.
Divisions
I don’t know about here in Colorado, but in Texas there is a time-honored tradition. Many fathers of high school-aged daughters have a ritual they perform before every one of their daughter’s first dates. The details differ, but the basic goal is to provide the high school boy with some …disincentives for certain behaviors on the date. Some dads who are hunters take the boy to their room showcasing all of their kills. Others are cleaning their weapon while talking. Others are more subtle. I don’t know if that’s a thing everywhere, but in rural Texas it was definitely a part of the culture.
Now I share this, because I think Saul in our text today got things a little backwards. I mean, he gave it a good try. He threatened David with a spear. That would’ve gotten my attention before a first date! But he didn’t threaten David with a spear until after he had already married Saul’s daughter Michal. I think the horse has left the barn already, Saul!
I mean, you might think your family has some dysfunction. But Saul is on a whole other level, right? Our text says, “Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear; but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall.” And our text tells us that the source of his murderous intent is fairly simple: David keeps winning battles and getting the credit for it. Saul is jealous of how the people see David, pure and simple. He also sees the writing on the wall for his own lineage. If David is alive when Saul dies, he knows that David will wind up on the throne instead of his own son Jonathan. Jealousy. Fear of losing power. That’s a dangerous combo. Those are some serious divisions.
In fact, there are quite a few divisions that are or could be present. David would be well within his rights to strike back at Saul for trying to pin him on the wall with a spear. Jonathan would be well within his rights to undermine David as a potential rival. For Michal, it would be easy to see her side with her brother and father and her clan instead of her newly minted husband. At the end of the text, Samuel could easily have sided with Saul – who was Samuel’s own pick to be king – instead of David – who was God’s pick rather than Samuel’s.
Jonathan cares more about his deep abiding friendship with David than holding onto his own power. And in his dialogue with his father, he appeals to doing what’s right instead of doing what’s expedient. He was united with David in more important ways than he was divided.
Michal is in a tight spot. But she finds a way to help her husband without abandoning her father. She sees that she is united with David and Saul in more important ways than she is divided.
David had opportunities throughout the stories we’ve read in this series to kill Saul. But he never did. He was committed to the Lord, committed to Israel’s ability to defend itself against the Philistines, committed to his friendship with Jonathan. Those things were more important to him than the divisions between himself and Saul. Now, David was no fool. He ran away rather than sticking around for some more spear-throwing sessions. But he believed in certain things above and beyond the divisions between himself and Saul.
One of the biggest questions embedded within this text and indeed embedded within David’s life is simple to ask but hard to answer: do our reasons for being united outweigh our reasons for being divided? Or do our reasons for being divided outweigh our reasons for being united? On balance, are we more united or more divided?
David had to answer that question with someone who was literally chucking spears at him. And, interestingly, he decided he was more united with Saul than he was divided. Why? What on earth could be more uniting than a spear is dividing?
The Most Important Things
Well, some of that answer isn’t on earth. I’m pulling from other parts of David’s life, but when he spared Saul’s life multiple times, David called Saul “the Lord’s anointed.” David saw their shared faith as the greatest source of unity. And he repeatedly refused to change God’s timing. He saw his faith – which he shared with Saul – as the most important thing. Everything other division paled in comparison to the unity they had in their faith.
And yes, I think we can say that David had a much more real and meaningful faith than Saul did. Saul was very self-centered. Saul tried to use God for his own purposes. But he still worshiped the Lord instead of someone else. That was enough for David to see himself as being on the “same side” in many respects as Saul.
We see in our text today that David is willing to continue fighting against the Philistines – even after getting some pointy objects thrown at him by the king. After their shared faith, David also saw their shared nationality as a great source of unity. There were some things just naturally important to all Israelites, and sometimes that meant he had to put down his hurt feelings and put down the internal divisions so he could support those bigger, shared things.
We also see in our text today that David saw his deep and meaningful relationships as more meaningful and durable than the divisions that might push them apart. He was more committed to Jonathan as a friend than he was committed to getting his own way.
So David found unity in things that he saw as more important than the divisions. He found unity in his shared faith. He found unity in his commitment to relationships. And at a more base level he found unity on some things with all Israelites – even the one who was chucking spears at him.
The question then turns around to face us: do we find more reasons to be united or more reasons to be divided? Some of that depends on where we are placing our focus.
The comedian Emo Philips tells of a time when he saw a guy laying down in the gutter, looking completely distraught. Worried that he might harm himself, Emo went up to him. Here’s how that conversation went.
“I said, “Tell me what’s wrong!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”
Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Heretic!” And I pushed him back down into the gutter.”
That may be a joke, but it also hits pretty close to home. In theory, Christians everywhere should feel far more united than divided. We share an eternal destination. We share an unfathomable and undeserved love. We have been adopted into the same family through Jesus.
But that’s just the theory. Historically, we as Christians have not been all that great at seeing what unites us. Wars have been fought over church structure. People have been executed for having different views of Communion. When I was in seminary, one of the professors warned us that you can jeopardize your role as pastor of a church if you change the color of the carpet in the sanctuary. Incidentally, that’s one of the things we’ve looked at as part of our building renovation plan, so maybe my days are numbered here! The royal blue camp is going to have my head if I favor the forest green option!
Jesus himself framed this pretty directly. In John 13:34-35 Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” We are commanded by Jesus to love one another AS HE LOVED US! That’s a VERY high bar! Our love for one another is supposed to be our #1 witness to the world.
That has historically not been the case within Christianity. But may it be true of us! Maybe love for one another is not true elsewhere, but MAY IT BE TRUE OF US RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW! May they know we are Christians by the love we have for one another.
We have been a church where people don’t all think alike. We have been a church with a diversity of thought. That’s not easy to find these days, and I can tell you that it’s not easy to maintain these days. Our church leadership articulated this as one of the values of our church: to “demonstrate the love of Christ at all times, even when politics or theology might divide us.” May that be true of us.
We have a significant number of people in our church who will vote on opposite sides in this election cycle. Nevertheless, may they know we are Jesus’ followers by the love we have for one another.
We have a significant number of people in our church who focus on different parts of the Bible to come to different theological stances on the hot button issues facing the global church. Nevertheless, may they know we are Jesus’ followers by the love we have for one another.
We have a significant number of people in our church with completely different takes on how safe it is to worship in-person right now during COVID-19. Nevertheless, may they know we are Jesus’ followers by the love that we have for one another.
Christianity hasn’t been great historically at demonstrating love despite our differences. Many churches and many Christians right now aren’t demonstrating love despite our differences. Nevertheless, may they know we at First Pres Littleton are Jesus’ followers by the love that we have for one another. May that be true of us!
This is not an easy task. But David stuck with his bigger values even when he had a spear chucked at him. Are we made of that kind of stuff?
Walking away from each other is easy. Seeing our differences as greater than our shared faith in Jesus is easy. Turning on each other is easy. Only talking with those who agree with you is easy. But Jesus didn’t call us to “easy.” Demonstrating the love of Christ isn’t easy. In Matthew 7, Jesus told us, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” May we find the narrow gate together here at First Pres Littleton. May the narrow way be our way. May it be true of us.
As most of you know, the New Testament was written in Greek. You might have heard before in your life of sermons that the Greek word for fellowship is “koinonia.” It’s the word used to describe the life of the early church. And it very literally means “a relationship among fellows.” But it is only possible if you can see others as your “fellows.” There must be something or some things that form a common bond larger than the things that might divide you. The early church was the fellowship of Jesus. Jesus was the one thing that united the wealthy widow patrons, the wandering refugees, the craftsmen, the slaves, the thinkers, and the outcasts. Those people wouldn’t mix and mingle with each other in a thousand years without their faith in Jesus. But through Jesus they became “fellows” and became part of a world-changing “fellowship.” May that “koinonia,” may that “fellowship” be true of us here at First Pres Littleton.
Summary
Sisters and brothers, David was committed to his bigger values even when Saul was chucking a spear at him. Even then, he saw their shared faith in the Lord, their shared status as Israelites, and their shared relationships outweighing the divisions between them.
Jesus said that the world would know we are his followers by loving one another AS HE LOVED US!
Does our shared faith in Jesus outweigh the spears we might want to throw at one another? I believe it does. But I hope that we don’t just think that. May it be true of us right here and right now. Amen.

August 9, 2020 – “The Gospel According to David: Receiving Grace” by Rev. Cody Sandahl
Watch the Sermon
First Reading = 2 Samuel 11
11In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. 5The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
6So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. 8Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” 11Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” 12Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, 13David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” 16As Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant warriors. 17The men of the city came out and fought with Joab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was killed as well. 18Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting; 19and he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling the king all the news about the fighting, 20then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbaal? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.’” 22So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us, and came out against us in the field; but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king’s servants are dead; and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another; press your attack on the city, and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.” 26When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. 27When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,
Introduction
We are still in our series about the Gospel According to David. David demonstrated, received, and desperately needed the grace of God just as Jesus’ disciples did so many years later. Last week we heard how David demonstrated unmerited grace and favor to someone who was heckling him. We were encouraged to choose someone who was pestering us or getting under our skin and choose to show them unmerited grace for one week.
As I promised, this week we are looking at how we need and receive the grace of God. And David demonstrates this in spades in our text today. In our first text, we heard the depth of David’s sins. You probably already knew that David had an affair with Bathsheba. But David was just getting warmed up!
He tried to trick Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite. And the text notes how Uriah, a foreigner, was faithful to the Lord while David, the king of Israel, was trying to get away without getting caught in his sins. He then sent Uriah back to the army carrying his own death sentence in a sealed letter. To carry out David’s instructions to kill Uriah, the commander of Israel’s army had to send several soldiers to their deaths.
Just to add a little spice to the story, as if it needed more spice, Uriah was one of David’s Mighty Men. We heard about them last week. They were his most loyal soldiers and each of them, including Uriah, were famed for their prowess in battle.
This would be like Jason throwing away the lives of his Argonauts to save face. This would be like Odysseus killing some soldiers who went with him on the Odyssey to avoid being embarrassed. Or imagine if an American general had sacrificed an armored platoon to cover up some of his own shady dealings. How would that go over once it was discovered?
And that’s where our main text picks up the story. David thinks he got away with murder…literally. But there’s one person you can’t ever hide from… This is a bit of a long text, so try to hang with me.
Main Reading = 2 Samuel 12:1-25
12and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” 5Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 7Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. 12For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” 13David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.”
15Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became very ill. 16David therefore pleaded with God for the child; David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17The elders of his house stood beside him, urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us; how then can we tell him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, he perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20Then David rose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Lord, and worshiped; he then went to his own house; and when he asked, they set food before him and he ate. 21Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive; but when the child died, you rose and ate food.” 22He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ 23But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” 24Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba, and went to her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25and sent a message by the prophet Nathan; so he named him Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
Accepting the Rebuke
I was just on the outskirts of a small Texas town. I was parked on the side of the road. I rolled down my window with a grimace on my face. “Did you know that you were doing 55 miles per hour when the speed limit was 30?”
“Well, officer, I knew I was going 55. I didn’t know the speed limit was 30. I thought it was still 55. I must’ve missed the speed limit sign,” I said venomously.
Unmoved by my explanation, the officer replied, “I need to see your license and registration.”
At this point, I realized that my anger was being a bit misdirected. So I took a deep breath to calm down, and I told the officer, “I’m sorry that I’m coming across as angry. I’m angry at myself for missing the sign, I’m not angry at you for doing your job.” He nodded to me and said, “I appreciate that.”
Now a really great ending to this story would be that he converted my sizable speeding ticket into a warning. But that’s not my story.
He decided to only write me up for going ten miles per hour over the speed limit instead of 25. That’s a big difference on the fine, let me tell you! And if you ever find yourself in the car with me…don’t worry, this was not a recent event. I’m twice the age I was when this happened.
Have you ever been called on the carpet to answer for something? Maybe it was a traffic ticket. Maybe it was a botched project at work. Maybe you let a secret slip and a friend confronted you. Maybe it was a family conflict – those are the biggest powder kegs of all.
If you’ve ever been called on the carpet to answer for something, how did you respond emotionally? Did you lash out at the other person? Did you deny it? Did you accept it right away, or did it take some time like me interacting with the police officer?
When I was trained in restorative practices, I learned that there are generally four automatic, knee-jerk reflex reactions when we’re called out like that. Some of us attack others. Some of us attack ourselves. Some of us avoid the problem and try to sweep it under the rug. Some of us withdraw and try to get away from the confrontation. Since it’s a reflex, the definition of a “healthy” reaction is based on how long you spend in your reflex versus how quickly you can get back under control.
We don’t know what David’s face looked like when Nathan cried out, “You are the man!” We don’t know what David was doing while Nathan delivered his message of rebuke from God. Maybe David was reaching for his sword to cut down Nathan. Maybe he was looking around for somewhere to hide. We don’t know.
But we do know how he replied at the end of Nathan’s message. It’s simple. It’s direct. “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Now, let’s imagine that Nathan and David had lived inside of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. There’s a scene where Sampson bites his thumb at Abraham as a sign of disrespect. Abraham says, “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” “I do bite my thumb, sir.” It goes on like this for a while until they draw swords and fight each other over the “dishonor” of a rude gesture.
David could have done that to Nathan. But he didn’t.
How many rulers would accept that public criticism and admit their failure? How many kings would sit there and take it instead of killing the audacious prophet standing in front of them? How many bosses or co-workers or family members or friends have you had who would raise their hand and say, “You’re right. It was me. I’ve sinned against the Lord.”? Not many, I bet. Some would get there eventually, but that was David’s first reply.
So let’s give David a little credit here for being willing to accept the public rebuke. Most people aren’t quite that composed when they’re called onto the carpet to answer for their sins.
Has someone been trying to tell you something, but you haven’t been willing to hear it? Is God trying to tell you something, but you haven’t been willing to hear it? If so, I encourage you to listen as David did to Nathan’s message from the Lord.
Consequences
So we gave David his credit. But admitting your fault doesn’t usually get you out of adultery, abuse of power, misuse of the the army, callous disregard for the lives of soldiers, and – lest we forget – murder. In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the knight Lancelot charges into battle to rescue a supposed damsel in distress. In his wake lie dozens of people in their finest clothes. A man shouts at him, “This is a wedding! You killed eight wedding guests! You killed the father of the bride, that’s all!” And Lancelot replies, “Very sorry. You see, I didn’t mean to…Is he all right?”
Sometimes, “Sorry” doesn’t cut it!
And sometimes, even admitting, “I have sinned against the Lord” doesn’t get rid of all the consequences of our actions. Sometimes when God forgives us and restores us, God says to us, “I still love you, but I’m not going to save you from the dominoes you started knocking down.” Just as the police officer reduced my fine but didn’t eliminate all the consequences of my unintentional speeding, sometimes we have to face the music.
That’s what happens to David in our text today. Nathan summarizes it well, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.” And Nathan also shares that God will raise up trouble from within David’s own household, and violence will pervade his family.
If you remember last week we talked about the rebellion of David’s son Absalom. That rebellion essentially fulfilled much of what the Lord foretold today. David prevailed, but at the cost of several members of his family and he lost the respect of many in Israel.
In a similar way, I know families who have had to tell a child or a spouse with an addiction, “I love you and I’ll be there for you, but I can’t have you in this house. It’s too dangerous for everyone else to have you here.” That’s gut-wrenching for all involved, but sometimes it’s necessary. Love can restore a relationship, but it doesn’t always get rid of the natural consequences of someone’s actions. God demonstrates that with David in our text today.
Receiving Grace
So to recap, David gets a little credit because he accepted the rebuke and admitted that he “sinned against the Lord.” But, like Lancelot wiping out the wedding guests in Monty Python, sometimes, “I’m sorry” doesn’t cut it. God did not abandon him, but God also made David face the consequences of his actions.
Now for the good news part of this sermon. Are you ready for that switch? I am. There are two very big pieces of good news.
First piece of good news. When I was a child, I could have the greatest day. I could go to an arcade, get ice cream, and somehow convince my parents to buy me a cheap plastic sword at the toy store. But then when that plastic sword inevitably broke, I would bluster, “I’m just having a bad day!” All the good didn’t matter, because something bad happened!
In our text today, bad things happened. Lots of bad things happened. Let’s move our focus away from David and ask Bathsheba to recap her year. She had an adulterous relationship with the king. Her husband was murdered by that king. Her child born out of wedlock died. That’s a bad year for Bathsheba – even by our crazy 2020 standards!
But the bad news didn’t get the last word. The bad news – and it was very bad news – wasn’t the end of the story. Like Jesus’ death on Good Friday, Bathsheba’s terrible year wasn’t the end of the story. There was new life, new grace, to be experienced. God wasn’t done with her yet.
Her next child with David was Solomon. Out of David’s many, many children, do you know who became the next king? Solomon. This wasn’t grace toward David. This was grace toward Bathsheba, in my eyes. She who had been lowered so far was elevated in the end. That’s the first piece of good news. The bad news doesn’t get the last word with our God. Friday isn’t the end of the story, because Sunday is coming. You may be in the middle of bad news – real, very bad news. Your relationship with Jesus doesn’t make that bad news good somehow. Instead, your relationship with Jesus helps you see that your bad news doesn’t define you and it isn’t the last word on you or your life. Jesus defines you. Jesus gets the last word on your life. And that word is “Loved,” not “Condemned.” If you’re in the midst of bad news right now, hang on to that piece of good news for dear life.
Confession
Now for the second piece of good news. As a pastor, I pretty regularly hear from people that they don’t know if God can forgive them for something they did. I pretty regularly hear from people that they don’t believe that God will still want to hear from them or see them because of something they did. Maybe you’ve felt that way before. Maybe you know someone who feels that way.
Consider this. We see in our text today how God speaks to David through Nathan, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.” So David was granted forgiveness and even grace. The vast, vast majority of us have never done anything from a human perspective that even approaches what David did in our text today. I mean, David could be facing the death penalty in some states if he were to do these things today! I’ve messed up a lot in my life, but I haven’t done anything that could get me the death penalty. Most of us haven’t. But we see that even if our actions approach the level of David’s abhorrent actions, God can still restore us to right relationship with him.
The consequences usually don’t go away. But our relationship with God isn’t destroyed even by such terrible actions as David’s. As long as we can say, like David, “I have sinned against the Lord.” If we can admit that, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is available. That’s good news.
If you are willing to receive the Lord’s honest reply and the Lord’s unending love, if you have those two things, then you can’t out-sin Jesus’ forgiveness and grace. Let me sit there for a second. If you are willing to hear the Lord’s honest evaluation of your actions and you are willing to let Jesus love you, then you can’t out-sin Jesus’ forgiveness and grace.
So are you willing, like David, to receive God’s honest thoughts about your actions? Are you willing to say, “I have sinned against the Lord?” And are you willing to let Jesus love you? Are you willing to say, “I don’t understand it, but I trust that Jesus loves me?” If you are willing, God is willing. Your sins cannot outpace the love of Jesus Christ. So even if you are the source of your own bad news, Jesus still says, “Loved” instead of “Condemned.” That’s pretty good news.
Many years ago, I interviewed at a church where they didn’t have a time of confession and assurance of pardon during their worship services. I asked the pastor about that, and he told me that confession didn’t really gel with the culture of the area. That’s when I knew I couldn’t go to that church.
Because confession isn’t about what “gels” with our culture. And confession isn’t about ensuring that we feel properly bad about all of our mistakes. That’s a common misconception.
No, confession is about claiming the shocking freedom that is found in Jesus. Just about every other religion in the world requires people to earn their way into their god’s favor.
But Jesus takes our weakness and replaces it with his strength. Jesus takes our sin upon himself and replaces it with his right standing with God. Jesus takes our lies and our failings and our missteps and replaces them with his love. Confession isn’t about feeling bad about things so that Jesus will forgive you. Confession is about opening the windows of our souls and letting the love of Jesus blow in some fresh air. Confession is like ventilation. Confession is a cross-breeze. It’s a breath of fresh air – the very breath of God.
I was once working on a project in our basement. I was trying to figure out how to turn discarded plastic bottles into feed stock for my 3D printer. And I learned something that day. Some plastics have to be treated very carefully when they’re recycled. If you don’t handle them properly, they have this unfortunate tendency to explode and catch fire. After I learned this lesson, my entire basement smelled like burned plastic. The fumes were also very toxic, but who’s counting?
Would it have been useful for me to pretend that the fumes weren’t toxic? Would it have been useful for me to pretend that the basement didn’t smell like burned plastic? “No honey, I can’t smell that! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” When the basement stinks, you need to get some fresh air. That’s confession. In confession, we acknowledge what stinks so Jesus can bring some fresh air into our souls.
So to close today, I’m going to give all of us a chance to let in a little fresh air – to breathe some of the breath of God in our souls. I’m going to give you 30 seconds – it’ll feel like an eternity, but it’s just 30 seconds – to consider what stinks and ask Jesus to ventilate that part of your soul. What do you need to confess? Whatever it is, you can’t out-sin Jesus’ love. Take the next 30 seconds to bring in that fresh air.
[PAUSE 30 SECONDS]
Sisters and brothers, our bad news doesn’t get the last word. Jesus gets the last word. And he says, “Loved,” not “Condemned.” That’s the grace of God. And like David, we all need it. Receive it today. Amen.

Star Wars Fleet – Free Online Game

What do you do when you have a week of vacation with built-in grandparent babysitting? You make a Star Wars video game, of course! The vast majority of this game was created during a one week coding blitz. I’ve done a lot of minor tweaking due to observations and bugs found while playing the game with my son, but about 90% of it was written in that one week. This game was actually originally created as a card and dice fleet battle game that I made months ago. I thought it would be fun to port it over to the computer.
Basically, you tap one of your ships and then tap one of the mission icons that show your available actions.
- Attack – basic blaster attack. Each ship has different attack ranges for attacking fighters or capital ships.
- Strafe – a fighter can fly underneath the shields of a capital ship to cause direct damage to the hull. Or the fighter might get blasted by the capital ship while it attempts this mission.
- Attack Shields – a fighter can heavily damage the shields of a capital ship. Or it might get blasted by the capital ship.
- Attack Guns – a fighter can destroy a capital ship’s ability to shoot other capital ships. Or it might get blasted by the capital ship.
- Heal Self – a capital ship can repair damage to its hull.
- Heal Shields – a capital ship can repair damage to its shields.
- Repair Guns – a capital ship can repair damage to its guns that attack other capital ships.
There are four different AI characters you can play against, each with its own strategy. Sergeant Niles is pretty easy to defeat. Admiral Skeedl will surprise you sometimes!
The game also supports player-vs-player battles at the same computer. I didn’t bother to create an online multiplayer component for this game since my son and I just battled each other in-person. In a player-vs-player battle, you can select from a wider range of avatars for your player.
The Tech Side
This game was built with the Phaser 3 JavaScript and HTML5 game development framework, and I used the Webpack asset bundler and Babel to enable developing with newer features of JavaScript. The game is served with a simple NodeJS server app. This is my default setup for quick online games. When I made my last game, A-MAZE-ing!, I created a template full of the best practices I had learned. That came in handy for this one, so I’m going to say the template was worth the effort.
The Star Wars art was taken from various fan sites. The character avatars, sounds effects, and music loops were from various bundles I have accumulated from Humble Bundle over the years. The icons for the interface were from Kenney’s user interface pack.
Behind the scenes, each type of ship has a range of values. You can see what the original cards looked like in this image. The top row is attacking fighters. The second row is attacking capital ships. The third row is repairing the hull. And the fourth row is repairing shields. So you can see that most of the capital ships aren’t very good at attacking fighters. They will miss most of the time. I also incorporated some little details from Star Wars lore. For example, the Mon Calamari MC80 Cruiser is known for having a comparatively weak hull but excellent shields. So you can see that it has a much lower hull value than the Imperial Star Destroyer, but also much higher shields. Also, the MC80 can repair more of its shields per turn than the Imperial Star Destroyer can.
Fighters have additional options, as you saw above in the list of missions. The ability of starfighters to do special and unexpected things to capital ships has been a staple of the Star Wars universe ever since Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star in his X-Wing. Or if you remember the giant fleet battle in Return of the Jedi, two tiny A-Wing starfighters destroy the shield generator of the mighty Super Star Destroyer Executor. Then another A-Wing crashes into the bridge, causing major damage. With events like those in mind, I added the ability to fly in under the shields to strafe a capital ship (skipping the shields and causing damage to the hull). I also added the ability to target the shield generators (causing 5 damage if successful) and turbolasers (reducing the capital ship’s ability to damage other capital ships).
But those special fighter missions come with a price. They have a chance to succeed, a chance to miss, and a chance that the capital ship gets to blast the starfighter instead! Watch out! Underneath the hood, the main missions are resolved with the equivalent of a 6-sided dice roll. The special fighter missions have ranges of success and failure using the equivalent of a 20-sided dice roll.
Game Balance
I believe the most interesting aspect on the tech side of this project was how I determined game balance. Obviously I played it many times, and I learned a ton by watching my five-year-old play it without instructions from me. He understood it quickly, but whenever he asked a question or misunderstood something I took that as an opportunity to update the visuals and sound effects to try to make it more obvious what happened. He also found a lot of tiny bugs I never would have found. For instance, he discovered that you could click on the attack icon a bunch of times really fast and launch a ton of blaster bolts at the enemy instead of just one. Oops! Fixed that one at least 🙂
The primary way I determined game balance was through simulations. Underneath the hood, the computer has the ability to simulate complete battles against itself. So I pitted the various artificial intelligences against each other in thousands of mock battles. Then I made tweaks to the battles to make them pretty balanced. My goal was to have each battle be about a 50% chance when two smart players were battling each other. To simulate this, I used my most advanced AI (Admiral Skeedl) playing against himself. When Admiral Skeedl got close to 50/50 over a thousand mock battles, I called it decently balanced.
You can see a screenshot of some of the battle reports in the gallery below.
AI Strategies
I built the different AI characters with a combination of a query language and fuzzy logic.
So, at the low end, Sergeant Niles just queries a random available ship from his side and a random ship from the enemy side. And then he blasts it. That’s it. Totally random. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, so he’s pretty easy to beat.
At the high end, Admiral Skeedl uses personality-weighted fuzzy logic. His AI searches for his preferred mission in each type. He gathers…
- The strongest enemy capital ship + the best ship to attack it
- The most damaged enemy fighter + the best ship to attack it
- The enemy capital ship with the strongest shields + the strongest fighter to attempt an attack run on the shield generator
- The enemy capital ship with the strongest shields + the strongest fighter to attempt a strafing run underneath the shields
- The ally ship closest to death to attempt a repair
Each of these available choices are then weighted with Admiral Skeedl’s personality. For reference, he really likes to attack capital ships. He doesn’t mind repairing his ships. Everything else is only when the opportunity is too good to pass up. To choose between the available missions, a random number is generated and then the personality weights are added in. The highest total (random number + personality preference) is chosen as for this turn.
Screenshots

August 2, 2020 – “The Gospel According to David: Granting Grace” by Rev. Cody Sandahl
First Reading = 2 Samuel 4:4, 9:1-13
4Saul’s son Jonathan had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled; and, in her haste to flee, it happened that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
9David asked, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “At your service!” 3The king said, “Is there anyone remaining of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” Ziba said to the king, “There remains a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 4The king said to him, “Where is he?” Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” 5Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, “Mephibosheth!” He answered, “I am your servant.” 7David said to him, “Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always.” 8He did obeisance and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?”
9Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. 10You and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him, and shall bring in the produce, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat; but your master’s grandson Mephibosheth shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.” Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. 12Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants. 13Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he always ate at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.
Introduction
We are continuing our series looking at the Gospel according to David. In this series, we are looking at how David receives, grants, and desperately needs the grace of God – just like Jesus’ disciples. Last week we heard how David had a strong sense of calling – he knew his purpose as defined by God. This week we are watching how David responds when he has opportunities for vengeance. In our first text, we heard how he honored Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth out of his great friendship for Jonathan – even though Mephibosheth and his family could be seen as threats to his own rule since they were descendants of the previous king.
In our main text today, we are jumping way ahead in the story. David is returning after one of the darkest periods of his life. His son, Absalom, led a rebellion and David was forced out of Jerusalem and into hiding. As David was leading his loyal army out of town, various people took the opportunity to kick him while he was down.
One such heckler was Shimei son of Gera. He was from the same tribe as Saul, the previous king, and he was steaming mad that David had taken the throne. Shimei saw David’s retreat as evidence that God had turned against David. And, interestingly, David does not dispute this interpretation.
So we’ll watch Shimei give David some good old-fashioned heckling, and then we’ll jump ahead several chapters to David’s return. David eventually emerged victorious over Absalom, and the second half of our text is David’s return to power. He went right back up those same streets he had used to flee Jerusalem. He saw the same people, but now he was riding high instead of slinking away. Let’s see how David responds to Shimei in both instances.
Main Reading = 2 Samuel 16:5-14, 19:16-23
5When King David came to Bahurim, a man of the family of the house of Saul came out whose name was Shimei son of Gera; he came out cursing. 6He threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David; now all the people and all the warriors were on his right and on his left. 7Shimei shouted while he cursed, “Out! Out! Murderer! Scoundrel! 8The Lord has avenged on all of you the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, disaster has overtaken you; for you are a man of blood.” 9Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” 10But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” 11David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite!
Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord has bidden him. 12It may be that the Lord will look on my distress, and the Lord will repay me with good for this cursing of me today.” 13So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went, throwing stones and flinging dust at him. 14The king and all the people who were with him arrived weary at the Jordan; and there he refreshed himself.
[Now we’re jumping ahead to chapter 19 where David is returning to Jerusalem after defeating the rebellion.]
16Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite, from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the people of Judah to meet King David; 17with him were a thousand people from Benjamin. And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king, 18while the crossing was taking place, to bring over the king’s household, and to do his pleasure. Shimei son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was about to cross the Jordan, 19and said to the king, “May my lord not hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem; may the king not bear it in mind. 20For your servant knows that I have sinned; therefore, see, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.” 21Abishai son of Zeruiah answered, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?” 22But David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should today become an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?” 23The king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king gave him his oath.
Grace or Judgment
Well I have two main memories of my English literature class at the University of Texas. First, I got hooked on a 12,000 page novel series during that semester and decided to read my novels instead of the assigned readings for the entire semester. I read plenty of English literature, just not what the professor thought I should read. And second, I vividly remember this exercise in my breakout group.
We were each handed a series of short essays. Each essay was from a real student’s application to the University of Texas. Identifying information was removed, of course. And after we read the applications, the TA asked us to decide the fate of each student’s application based on their essay. And then we had to share our reasons with the breakout group.
I was willing to let all of them in if they met the other requirements for entry. Some of my classmates had a bone to pick with one or another of the essays. And then the last guy to share his thoughts told us in a very ominous tone, “I wouldn’t let any of them in! The University of Texas is a prestigious university, and I don’t believe any of these are up to our standards!”
I don’t think he would’ve liked my application essay, either. I tried to be funny. That’s not very prestigious.
What an interesting exercise, though, right? It reveals so much! Some of us were just making sure someone could clear the established minimum bar. Some had a few buttons that could be pushed. And then that guy, who clearly saw his role as a gatekeeper. A kind of judge on someone’s worthiness. “You get what you deserve! Good people like me get good things, and bad people like you get bad things!”
Let us contrast that mentality with what David does in our text today. I mean, you’ve gotta hand it to Shimei. He’s shouting and cursing David, who, even though he’s retreating, is still at the head of an army that includes a group known as “the Mighty Men.” Verbally attacking the Mighty Men seems…unwise. Shimei has some chutzpah for insulting the Mighty Men! And one of them, Abishai, wants to make that point. Literally. “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.”
But what is David’s reply? “Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord has bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on my distress, and the Lord will repay me with good for this cursing of me today.”
And lest we think that David is only showing grace when he’s afraid of God’s judgment, let’s see the exchange between Abishai and David on their triumphal return. When Shimei begs for forgiveness, Abishai says, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?” But David says, “Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?” And David gives Shimei his oath that he will not kill him.
Now, David’s no fool. When his son Solomon succeeds him as king, David gives him a warning to watch Shimei like a hawk. But given two very easy opportunities to take out his frustration on Shimei, who was absolutely tempting fate by insulting an army, David decides to grant him unmerited grace. He doesn’t just forgive him, David grants Shimei an oath not to kill him. That’s above and beyond. That’s not just forgiveness, that’s grace.
And the Mighty Men can’t believe it. “Shimei doesn’t deserve forgiveness, let alone grace! Shimei doesn’t deserve to live,” as Abishai makes clear. They have a hard time understanding David’s forgiveness, and they are completely dumbfounded by this extra step of grace.
The Gospel of Grace
This reminds me of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, during his betrayal by Judas. Peter grabs his sword and chops off the ear of one of the people who came to seize Jesus. But Jesus stops him and heals the ear of the man who has come to arrest him. Jesus didn’t just forgive those who arrested him, he went above and beyond to heal one of them. That’s unmerited grace.
That same Peter denied Jesus three times, and yet Jesus personally restored him after Jesus’ resurrection. That’s not just forgiveness. That’s unmerited grace.
Jesus on the cross prayed for those killing him, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And Stephen mimicked Jesus when a crowd was stoning him to death. He prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Praying for those who are killing you unjustly? That’s unmerited grace.
Next week we’ll talk about needing and receiving grace ourselves. But this week we’re talking about showing grace to others. This is at the very epicenter of our faith. Jesus told us that if someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek. If someone places a burden upon you for one mile, carry it another mile. Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute us, to bless our enemies. Jesus wants us to demonstrate the Gospel of grace, just as David did with Shimei in our text today.
Not just forgiveness, but unmerited grace and favor. This is hard to accept. This doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t feel proper for such a prestigious establishment as ours. We should be able to punch back, to get even, to take the Shimeis in our lives and let Abishai have his way with them! Bring on the sword for such insolence!
But that’s not the Gospel. That’s not Jesus. That’s not grace as Jesus showed us and taught us and expected us to demonstrate. If you want to follow Jesus, you’re going to run into this difficult concept of demonstrating grace.
D.A. Carson imagines this as our internal desire for our faith.
“I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies and cherish self-denial…I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those who are different from me – especially if they smell. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like three dollars worth of gospel, please, three dollars worth of gospel.”
You see, grace sounds great. Until there’s a Shimei hurling insults at us. Grace sounds great. Until we’re stuck inside for months and it’s starting to get on our nerves. Grace sounds great. But you won’t believe what he said…, or you won’t believe what she did…, or you won’t believe what I read today…
Grace sounds great. Until it demands more than three dollars worth of gospel from us. Grace is difficult in the best of times, and we are not in the best of times. And I’m using “we” here very intentionally. I need to hear this, too. My fuse is shorter. My patience is thinner. My awareness of shortcomings is much greater. Grace during this time takes far more than three dollars worth of gospel.
Summary
So here’s my challenge for all of us this week. Pick one person – just one person – to be your Shimei this week. No matter what they say. No matter what they do. No matter how they insult you. No matter what they deserve. Grant them unmerited grace. Unmerited favor. Like David to Shimei, like Jesus to so, so many, like Stephen to the crowd who were killing him, demonstrate unmerited grace to your Shimei this week. Who would that be? Think about that for a moment.
A quick side note, here. In our text today, Shimei couldn’t actually hurt David. David was a warrior surrounded by warriors. Shimei was basically throwing his shoe at a soldier. He couldn’t actually hurt David. So if there’s someone who’s actually hurting you, that’s not a Shimei. That’s a situation where you might need to retreat like David. Shimei couldn’t hurt David, so he showed him grace. Absalom could hurt David, and so he retreated. Keep that in mind. A Shimei isn’t someone who is physically hurting you. A Shimei is someone who annoys you or gets under your skin. Keep that in mind when you pick your Shimei this week to show unmerited grace.
Sisters and brothers, demonstrating grace to the Shimei’s in our lives requires far more than three dollars worth of gospel. How much gospel do you want in your life? And will you demonstrate that gospel – even to the Shimei’s of the world? Amen.