So in the season of Lent, which I'm not terribly
liturgical, at Naples Community Church, we of
course recognize Advent and Lent, but otherwise
we're all over the place. But Lent is that time
where we commemorate the 40 days of Jesus in
the wilderness, suffering temptation. And as
has been said, he knows temptation unlike any
of us because he withstood it for 40 days, where
we cave in after 40 days. Minutes or four minutes.
And so we know only a little bit of what he knows
about being tempted. But then also, it is that
period of time when we acknowledge that Jesus
set his face for Jerusalem and the cross. So
Jesus, with his disciples, as he was approaching
that time, took them up to, of all places, Caesarea
Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was in the way northern
region of Galilee, and it had shrines to every
conceivable God in that entire region. And in
the temple, they partook of some of the most
vile behaviors and practices. And so Jesus takes
them there. It's kind of the Las Vegas of the
ancient world. I remember at UC Santa Barbara,
some of the guys talking, hey, we're going to
go to Las Vegas. And I never went with them because
I was like Brian. I didn't want to submit to
that kind of those bad influences. But Jesus
takes them to Caesarea Philippi. And it's in
that setting, after they have seen all of this,
Canaanite, Greek, Roman gods, that he says, who
do people say the Son of Man is? You know what
they say about those gods. What do you say about
who I am? And it was at that time, one of them
got it right. The apostle Peter said, you are
the Christ, the son of the living God. On the
basis of one confession of faith, Jesus goes
to the cross. If it were not for that confession,
Jesus could very well have perhaps taken one
step further north and stepped off the stage
of history. But instead, he goes and begins his
walk to the cross. Now, the anticipation was
that they would have a king like David, and there
were all kinds of messianic figures that were
claiming to be the son of David. that they would
be the next king like David. And all of these
so -called messiahs were political messiahs.
They were going to throw out the Roman government,
set up a first century state of Israel. But all
of them, one after another, claimed to be the
reincarnation of that kingship that David had.
When we think about David, what do we remember?
David was no perfect person. In what way was
David a man after God's own heart? It's often
difficult for us to discern what that really
meant. Hear the word of God as it comes to us
from 2 Samuel. In the spring of the year, when
kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab
and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites.
And they destroyed the Ammonite army and laid
siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed
home in Bethlehem. Late one afternoon, after
his midday rest, David got out of bed and was
walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked
out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual
beauty. taking a bath. He sent someone to find
out who she was and was told she is Bathsheba,
the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the
Hittite. Then David sent messengers to get her,
and when she came to the palace, he slept with
her. David. King like David? That's David. Up
to this point, David had had a remarkable career.
When Samuel was looking for the next king because
Saul failed, David was out working, watching
the sheep. All of the other boys were paraded
by Samuel, and Samuel said, is there anyone else?
David was out doing what he was supposed to do.
He was taking care of the sheep. They brought
him in and Samuel anointed him at that point
to be the next king. But that didn't really affect
him. Saul wanted him to come in and start playing
for him and writing poetry for him. But when
he wasn't there in the palace of the king, he
was back out watching the sheep. He was doing
what he was supposed to do. And then he was called
forth to the, field of battle where this awful
guy, Goliath, was taunting the people of God,
and David did what he did there. Then he went
back. Time after time, David was not affected
by what he had accomplished, and yet I begin
to wonder, when he killed Goliath, I wonder if
he really gave God all the credit, or he thought,
you know, I really am good with the slang. I
really am good at writing music and writing poetry.
I wonder what happened. At what point was there
a shift? And David then succeeds Saul, and he
starts gathering all kinds of things to himself.
He builds a huge harem to himself. He started
gathering money to himself. Now, he was still
going out and fighting the battles with the men
of Israel. But what happened that he stayed home?
What on earth was he so full of himself? What
had happened? Did he become prideful? Was it
all about him? Did he get to the point that because
he was the, we'll baptize that one again too.
Did he get to the point where he began to think
that because he was the king and because he was
so successful, he had the right to define reality?
Something happened. And then the men go off to
war again, and he says to Joab, his commander,
you know, I'm going to sit this one out. He stays
home, takes a nap, goes out onto his porch. and
stands as the Mediterranean air comes off the
sea. And then he sees this woman. And she is
beautiful. And he sends someone to get her. And
you know what happened. She comes to the house,
to the palace, and one thing leads to another.
Sometime later, two Hebrew words are carried
to the king. I'm pregnant. This set in motion
David's effort at covering up. Certainly it had
to be her fault. So often is the case. The men
blame the women. Always a way to squirm out of
this kind of a situation. So he calls, he sends
message to Joab to call Uriah back from the front.
Believing that Uriah, all he had to do is get
Uriah to come home exhausted from fighting that
war and go home and spend the night at his home.
And then when he's gone, everything will be...
above any kind of consideration or gossip. But
Uriah was a man of great honor. He was a man
of valor, a man who understood his relationship
with his men, and he would not enjoy such a time
when his men were out in the field. And so he
chose on his own to sleep just outside the palace
door. So David tried again. Next night, got him
pregnant. Got him drunk. And thought that maybe
then with his compromised state that he would
go home, but he didn't. Once again, he stayed
outside the palace door and then went back to
the field of battle. And so David prepared a
note. gave it to Uriah to carry back to Joab.
That note that he gave to Joab was Uriah's own
death warrant. And that was that he was to be
put in the harshest place of battle, right under
the wall, where he would most certainly be killed,
and he was. Sometime later, David, acting honorably,
brought this woman into his home to become his
wife. And certainly the people would think, oh,
what a good man he took this dear woman in. And
she gave birth to a little boy. And David loved
that little boy. He adored that little boy. But
then on the very day before that little boy was
to be circumcised into the people of God, he
died. And David's own conscience, world, sense
of self began to cave in upon itself. He realized
that what he had done was so wrong and so bad.
And I believe it was in that time that he wrote
those words that were shared with us earlier.
When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted
away. And I groomed all day long, day and night.
Your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength
evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally,
I confessed all my sins to you. and stop trying
to hide my guilt. You forgave me, and my guilt
is gone. But that was preceded by a visit from
the prophet Nathan. Nathan came in and told David
a story about a man, a poor man who had a little
lamb, and he loved that little lamb. And then
some rich, powerful guy came and took that lamb
from him and took that lamb for himself. And
David said, that man needs to die. And then with
two terse Hebrew words, Nathan pointed at him
and said, you are the man. You are the man. David
was convicted of his action. David isolated.
He wrote the 51st Psalm. He wrote the 32nd Psalm.
He tried to incorporate what he had done. He
had no way of dealing with what he had done except
that he be forgiven. And in the midst of it all,
the Lord God had communicated to him in some
manner that yes, he was indeed forgiven. But
still the consequences of his choice unfolded
and his family began to fracture and fall apart.
One of his sons raped the son's half -sister,
one of his stepdaughters. And then another son
tried to kill and ultimately did kill that boy.
And then the boy who killed that boy was killed
in battle by Joab the commander. And David saw
all of this, and he had no way of incorporating
it into his own sense of self. And the man became
profoundly, deeply humble. He became humble.
C .S. Lewis says, the essential vice, the utmost
evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness,
and all... and all that are mere flea bites in
comparison. It was through pride that the devil
became the devil. Pride leads every other vice.
It is the complete anti -God state of mind. And
so the question is, the Messiah was to be a king
like David. David pre -Bathsheba or post -Bathsheba?
All of those false messiahs were claiming to
be David the victor. But Jesus came as a king
like David, the humble king, the king that would
lay down his life, the king that would endure
much suffering on behalf of his people. A king
that I believe when that woman was dragged and
front of a crowd of people because she was caught
in the very act of adultery. And it was those
denominational officials that did this to her.
And there she is on the dust. And Jesus, I believe,
was in the dust with her, weeping with her, and
said to them, if you're without sin, throw a
stone. Get in touch with the reality of who you
are. The real you. If you're without sin, throw
a stone. And then Jesus said to that woman, is
there no one here to condemn you? Well, neither
do I. Go and sin no more. Was that Jesus who
was willing there with that woman to bear the
stones himself? G .K. Chesterton says that nothing
great happens without humility. We tend to think
the opposite, just humanly thinking. And when
we achieve much, when we rise to the highest
positions, etc., then we can do great things
and accomplish great things. Not if we're self
-satisfied. Not if we're happy with ourselves.
Just a quick account. I work at St. Matthew's
House as a, I'm on the board and it's a huge
nonprofit in Naples. And we were looking for
a new CEO and I was one on the search committee.
And the chairman of the group, as we were interviewing
with search firms, chairman of the group introduced
himself after I had and a couple of other people
had. And he said, yes, my wife and I split our
time between Naples and Bentonville, Arkansas.
And we love both communities. And I had done
some greeting at Walmart. He was a former CEO.
But that was his humility. That was a man, a
truly great man of faith, of humility, who was
the CEO of the largest retailer in the world.
But he didn't lead with that. He lead with that
which meant most to him, and that was the people
on the floor and the staff. He loved to go incognito
into the stores and greet people and just talk
to them. That's after the example of Christ.
So the example of Christ is an example of humility
that leads us to the truly great things of life.
Interestingly, he took then the disciples to
the Mount of Transfiguration. And there was Moses
and Elijah transfigured with Jesus. They were
there with a magnificent heavenly glow. And somebody
had asked me if that was the reincarnation of
Moses and Elijah. And the reality is, no, it
was the... pre -incarnation of what awaits us.
They got a glimpse of glory. They got a glimpse
of what God has in store for us. But that was
accomplished for us by Jesus going to the cross.
But that glorified consequence comes when we
put our trust and our faith in Jesus Christ who
gave himself up for us. So I went down to St.
Matthew's House a couple weeks ago. And St. Matthew's
House is known for its recovery programs, drug
and alcohol rehabilitation. And we just had a
graduation this week, about 60 men and about
12 women graduating after a full year of rehabilitation
and restoration from drugs and alcohol. And when
they enter this, they think that they are going
into exile of some sort. When in fact, when they
go in and after a while, they realize they had
been in exile all this time and now they're finding
their way home. And so I stopped, I cleared out
the garage of some stuff and stopped at St. Matthew's
house to donate it for their thrift stores. And
when the man came to my car window, I put it
down and I said, so are you going to the graduation
next week? And he said, I'm a graduate of the
program. And he was so happy. He was so thrilled.
And he was there working then for St. Matthew's
house as a man whose life had been made new.
And he said, I met God there. And I met myself
there. And I'm so happy. He was smiling from
here to here. And I was so impressed, I wrote
a note down to myself as soon as I got in my
car. That was the transformation. When we have
that one who was the king, like the real David.
Not a king like the prideful David, but a king
like the real David. The king who found himself
because he was confronted with the reality of
his brokenness and his sin. and came to realize
that the only way he could be made whole was
by putting his faith and trust in God. And so
it is for us. And when we have eyes to see, we
see the glory in the faces of our neighbors,
in the faces of one another. C .S. Lewis says,
you have never met an ordinary individual. next
to the Blessed Sacrament, nothing is more sacred
presented to your senses in all of life. Nothing
is more sacred than your neighbor for whom Christ
died. Will you join me in prayer? And so, Lord,
you came in a manner that we did not expect.
You came in a way that nobody was looking for.
You came not as a king to conquest and set up
a first century state of Israel. You came to
conquer the reality of sin in our hearts that
you might set up a kingdom that will last forever.
We give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name.