2 SAMUEL 16-19 HOLD ON TO UNITY2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 16-19 Hold On To Unity

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. This morning as we look at this passage here in 2 Samuel chapter 16, I'd like to start out by taking you back to a game perhaps you played when you were young.

That is the game Red Rover. You guys ever play Red Rover? You remember that game? You line up side by side, link arms together, and then there's another team across from you lined up with their arms linked together. And then you say, Red Rover, Red Rover, send Adam right over. And then the other side goes, oh no, Adam's coming. And you hold on tight, and the objective is--

to break through the line between the people as they're holding hands together. And that illustrates today the message that God has for us. And that is to hold on to unity.

that we are to hold on to one another tightly because there are going to be attacks. There are going to be things that happen that try to divide us as believers in Jesus Christ. And there needs to be an effort on our part like the line. And I almost said Red Robin, and I probably will do that a couple of times this service. But Red Rover, like the line in Red Rover, you hold on to hold against that attack to make sure that you're not divided. Right?

And this morning, God wants to remind us to have the same attitude and heart towards our relationship with one another, that we are to hold on to unity. You need to know that God loves unity. It's something that God desires in us. It's something that God desires for us. And because God loves unity so much, we also understand then that Satan loves division.

If God loves unity, Satan loves division. He loves to bring these things between us and against us. And I got to say for us as believers, historically, it is way too easy to divide us.

We have a long history as a church, but also, you know, as Christians throughout the history, throughout the generation since Christ, it's been demonstrated over and over again, it's way too easy for us to be divided. All it takes, many times, is division.

a Ziba. That is a man like Ziba who will come with an accusation and then that accusation will cause division within the church and between brothers and sisters in the Lord. And so there you are lined up. You say, Red Rover, Red Rover, send Ziba right over. And he punches right through the line. He brings a division and he separates those who are called to be together. And

Now, in the case of the passage we're looking at this morning, the separation occurs between King David and a man named Mephibosheth. Now, David and Mephibosheth had a really cool relationship. It started back in 2 Samuel 9, where David, as he becomes king, he desires to show kindness to the descendants of Saul, who was king before him.

Now this was pretty unusual. Typically, kings, as they came to power, would take out the relatives of the previous ruler so that there was no, you know, claim to the throne or no challenge to the throne that could be brought. But David instead seeks out from the household of Saul who he might show kindness to. And there was only one man left. His name was Mephibosheth.

And so David brings him in and shows him kindness. He gave to him the land, everything that belonged to his grandfather Saul, and that now all was transferred to Mephibosheth. And so he blessed him with great land. He gave him servants, which was,

Ziba was the head of those servants, and so he was to work the field, and Mephibosheth would reap the benefits of that field. But then also, David said, not only all of those things, but you're going to sit at the table and eat with me. You're going to be part of my family. And so David brought him in and treated him with great kindness and made him part of the family. And it's a cool...

relationship. It's a cool beginnings. We often look back to David and Mephibosheth and those who know the account. You know, it makes us smile a little bit. It's just like this kindness that was demonstrated and reminds us of the kindness that God demonstrates to us.

And yet, as they had this cool beginning, as they had this awesome relationship to get started, we can see here in this passage that it's so easily broken. That easily and quickly, there is a break in their trust, a break in their relationship together. And that should not be the case for us. That even though we might have good relationships or strong relationships, that they're so easily broken.

In John chapter 17, as Jesus was headed to the cross, he kind of gave this one last prayer to the Father. And he prayed for his disciples. He prayed for all who would believe in him. And one of the primary thrusts of his prayer is that they would be one. That we would be one. That we would be united together. To such a degree, Jesus said, in the same way that Father, you and I are one, we are one.

that they would be one, that there would be this strong bond, this strong unity between us. And that's what God desires for us. That's what God desires from us. David tells us in Psalm chapter 133 verse 1, "'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.'"

When we have the unity that God desires for us, when we have those strong relationships, it's good, it's pleasant, it's enjoyable. It's a great blessing to have those kinds of relationships. Although it's good, although it's pleasant, we need to understand it's not automatic. It's not our nature to have united relationships. And I would suggest to you this morning that unity must be fought for.

We have to fight for peace. We have to fight and endeavor and work hard to remain united together. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 4.

As he tells us our position in Christ in Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3. Now he gets to the application. He says, Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, I, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with all longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, notice verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And so he says we're to have this lowliness, this gentleness, long-suffering, putting up with each other for a long time, bearing with one another in love. Because we love one another, we bear with

Each other's mistakes, each other's hardships, each other's difficulties, we bear with one another because we're endeavoring to keep the unity. Because we are working hard, we're laboring, we're fighting, we're struggling to keep the unity. And again, it brings us back to that Red Rover picture. You know, you're holding on with everything you got. It's on purpose.

If you're just kind of there, you know, the line's gonna be broken. The division will be easy, but we need to work hard. God wants you to work hard to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And so again, the title of the message this morning is Hold On to Unity. And we'll see three points on how to do this, how to hold on and keep these relationships together in the way that God desires for us to. And so the first point, we'll begin looking at

Chapter 16 here in 2 Samuel, verses 1 through 3. And point number one is do not easily believe an accusation. If we're going to hold on to unity and remain together as brothers and sisters in the Lord, we need to learn to be slow in believing an accusation. Look again with me at verse 1.

It says,

So David comes in contact with this man named Ziba here. Now, the context, what's happening here is David's son Absalom has revolted against David and is attempting to overthrow David and become king.

And so he's had this conspiracy that he's been developing for a couple of years and it's become strong and he's announced himself as king. And so as he does that, David, in order to protect himself and his family, flees from Jerusalem.

And so they immediately leave the capital. They immediately abandon their home and they're crossing the Jordan. They're heading out to the wilderness in order to preserve their lives as Absalom tries to take over the kingdom.

And so you can picture David here as he's, in a sense, running for his life, taking his family and some of his servants and followers with him. And they're running out of Jerusalem. They're heading out into the wilderness. They didn't have time to make a meal plan or to pack their bags and get things ready. It was announced that Absalom was taking over the kingdom, and they took off as quickly as they could. And so they had very little in terms of preparation.

But as they come across and they come to the top of this mountain, there is Ziba. And Ziba has some supplies for them.

This is the servant of Mephibosheth that David had this great relationship with. And so here's Ziba, and he's got donkeys for them to ride on. He's got bread for them. He's got raisins for them. He's got wine for them to refresh them. He has these supplies for them to help carry them, to help meet their need as they flee into the wilderness. And so Ziba shows a kindness in bringing these supplies for David. Verse 3.

And so David is encouraged. He's strengthened by Ziba. But then he asked the question, hey, where's your master? Where is Mephibosheth? Why isn't he here with you showing his support?

And here's where the problem begins. As David inquires about Mephibosheth, Ziba gives this answer that, well, Mephibosheth has stayed behind because he's thinking this is his opportunity to take the throne.

He's thinking, you know, maybe you and Absalom are going to take each other out. And so then Israel will look to him because he's from the line of Saul. And maybe in that way, he'll be king or, you know, maybe some other circumstance. So Ziba says he wants to be king. He wants the throne. And so he's hoping that, you know, you don't succeed in escaping from Absalom. He's hoping that you fail. He's hoping that you fall so that he can be king. Okay.

saying, today the house of Israel will restore the kingdom of my father to me. And what we see take place now is that David believes this account. Ziba declares these things about Mephibosheth and David says, well, that's just terrible. I can't believe he would do that to me. But he believes that this is accurate in regards to where Mephibosheth is at.

They had this cool relationship. They had this grace and this love that was extended. He was part of the family, but that cool relationship now is broken so easily. Red Rover, Red Rover sends Ziba right over and boom, he punches right through. The division takes place. David believes this accusation that's brought against Mephibosheth. We need to be careful and learn from the example here. Do not easily receive an accusation.

Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 5, verse 19, do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Now here, Paul is talking about elders, which is a position of authority within the church. And so those who have these roles and positions of authority, he says, don't receive an accusation against them unless there is sufficient evidence, unless there's two or three witnesses. Now,

We could consider this, of course, for elders, but I would also just point out this is not meant to be for elders only.

So, you know, if it's anybody else, you know, go ahead, entertain accusations, listen to what everybody wants to say about this person. And yeah, it's okay for that. But if it's an elder, okay, well, no, no, no, there needs to be two or three witnesses. No, that's not what Paul is saying. In the same way as a couple of chapters earlier in 1 Timothy 3, when he gives the qualities of elders and he says, you know, elders have to be a husband of one wife and they have to be above reproach and they have to have this maturity and this characteristic.

He doesn't say then, well, any other believer can live in sin and do whatever they want. No, no, that's not the point. In the same way here, he's not saying this is only for elders, but he's saying this especially for elders. They need this type of protection, but this is the way that God would want us to handle accusations against anyone, that we would not receive that accusation against

except from two or three witnesses. That we wouldn't entertain the accusations, the evil reports that are brought against people without the proper support, without the appropriate witnesses and establishing of the truth for us to understand. And so there is a special protection for elders, but it's the right thing to do for everyone. Now, this is important for us to understand because again, as Christians,

Oftentimes, it is too easy to divide us because we too easily believe accusations that are brought against our fellow believers. It happens all the time. It's a common problem, and it causes lots of difficulties and divisions. And the root of it is because, well, the reality is we don't love one another the way that God has called us to.

Remember that Jesus said in John 13, 35, the world will know that you're my disciples by your love for one another. That's to be, you know, the defining characteristic, the hallmark that people could recognize we are believers in Jesus because we love one another. But oftentimes we don't have this love for one another.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul describes what the love of God looks like, and he goes through all kinds of different things, but I'd like to pull your attention to verse 7 of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, where Paul says, "'Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.'"

One of the aspects of love, it's one of the many aspects of love, but it's an important one. Love believes all things. Now, this doesn't mean that we are to be gullible in our love for one another, that we just, you know, believe whatever line is fed to us.

But the idea here, the sense of what it means to believe all things is, you could also say, love believes the best. That is, we're in this position of looking for an excuse to believe the best about a person or a situation. I like the way that the commentator John Gill describes it. He says, a man of love is willing to believe all the good things reported of men.

and is unwilling to believe ill reports of persons unless it is well supported and there is full evidence of it. The idea here is we're to be willing to believe all the good things.

So it's a good report. You don't need two or three witnesses. You don't need to establish, okay, well, you say Pastor Dave was ministering to somebody and witnessing on the streets. Well, I don't know if I believe you. You know, where's the witnesses? Bring in the witnesses. Let's see if for sure, you know, he was doing something good and ministering to somebody. We don't need that. Love believes the best. You hear a good report, something good about someone? Absolutely. Yes. Great. Praise the Lord. That's awesome.

but then be unwilling to believe bad report and accusation. You don't receive that as easily as you receive the good report. Well, I don't know if that's true. I need some extra documentation. I need some extra evidence. And we do this backwards so many times. So-and-so did something good. I don't believe that. I need some proof. Show me the video. Send me a picture. I need proof. Where are the witnesses?

Someone did something bad? Oh, I believe that. I've been suspecting that guy's a scoundrel for a long time, you know? So for sure, you know, yeah, they did that. We've got it backwards because we don't love one another the way that God has called us to. We need to flip it around and learn to love, to be committed to love one another the way that Christ has loved us. To easily believe good reports, but to be slow to believe evil reports. Isn't that how you would like to be treated? Wouldn't you like to

To know that people believe the good things that are said about you and that they are skeptical of the things that aren't so good that are said about you. That's how you want to be treated, right? That's how we're called to treat one another as well. David Guzik says, we're never to believe the lie, but we are, and we're never to believe evil unless the facts demand it. Instead, we choose to believe the best of others. There is evil. And so sometimes, you know, it's necessary to understand and recognize that there is evil sometimes.

but we need to hold off and not jump to the conclusion, to not jump to that so easily, unless the facts demand it, unless it's proven, unless it's glaring and open. Instead, when that's not there, then our choice is that, well, we must choose to believe the best in others. If we're to hold on to unity, to be united together, to hold the line and love one another the way that God has called us to,

then we need to learn to not easily believe an accusation. I would ask you to consider, can your relationships handle a Ziba being thrown at them? Can your relationships handle, you know, someone coming along and bringing an accusation against those who you are friends with, those who you relate to in the body of Christ? Do you easily believe good and are you slow to believe evil? Now, let me just add one other point before we move on.

This, of course, I'm talking about those accusations that are brought by the people like Ziba. But I would also add that you need to be careful not to believe all the accusations that you come up with in your own mind. Because, well, many times we don't need someone else to accuse someone for us. We've got plenty of accusations in our own imagination, in our own thoughts. And we need to take that same standard and apply it, that we are slow to believe accusations that

And even or perhaps even especially the accusations that we come up with, that we're thinking about, and we can easily look at someone and we have this distorted, perverted view of them because, well, we've come to conclusions about them based on our accusations of them.

And so they meant something good. And you're convinced, no, you meant evil. Your heart is wrong. And you're terrible. And I can't believe you would hate me that much. And so we have these accusations that we think. And we need to recognize that's not loving one another the way that God has called us to.

Now, of course, you can apply this in all kinds of ways, but also I would say, especially as we relate as husbands and wives, we need to learn to love one another, to be committed to loving one another the way that God calls us to. Don't believe the accusations that are brought against, and don't believe the accusations that you make up in your own mind. Require more than that. Require more that it wouldn't be so easy to break that fellowship, to break that relationship.

Instead, work, commit to believing the best about those around you. Well, moving on now to point number two, we're going to look at verse four here in 2 Samuel 16. And here the point is, do not make decisions wrongly.

before hearing both sides. This is now taking it to the next step. It's one thing to believe just based on someone's declaration or statement, but then to, on top of that, begin to make decisions based on that information, based on what you now believe, well, the damages are furthered and there can be lasting consequences to those decisions that we make before we've heard both sides. Verse 4 says...

So the king said to Ziba, here, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours. And Ziba said, I humbly bow before you that I may find favor in your sight, my lord, O king. David believes Ziba. He's convinced. Mephibosheth is out to get me now. He's against me. And so he makes a decision. They're on the spot immediately. Ziba, everything I gave to him, now I give it to you.

It's yours. You can have it. I can't believe that guy would turn on me like that. He believed the report. He made the decision. He's done. Okay, let's move on. And what David provides for us here is an example of how not to make decisions. David, although he's a great man, he's a man after God's own heart, like the rest of us, he makes mistakes, and this is one of them. He makes a decision before he's heard both sides. He doesn't know the whole story yet.

Now, on top of that, this is a very bad time for making decisions. I mean, it was really stacked against him. It would have been very difficult for David to make a good decision in these circumstances because he had limited information. He only had one side of the story. He was also pressed for time. He's in the process of fleeing for his life.

This isn't the time to make these kinds of decisions. On top of that, he's incredibly stressed. He's got the stress of, you know, the provision and support and getting people over and keeping people safe and trying to work out what he's going to do and how they're going to survive and

And so there's all this stress that's going on, all these things that are on his mind and he has to take care of. And on top of that, he also is full of emotions at this point because remember the revolt that's happening is led by his son, right?

The betrayer, you know, the one who's trying to throw him out and kick him out of the kingdom is his own son. And so he's an emotional mess. He's stressed out. He's got limited time. He's pressed for time. He's got half the story. There's no way he could have made a right decision in those contexts or in this context. And I think we could all relate, right? We've all made bad decisions in times like this.

Because we are faced with similar times where there's, you know, the pressure for time. There's the stress. There's all the things that have to be taken care of. And it can be very easy to want to make a quick decision because, well, it's such a relief to have one less thing to worry about, right? One less thing to deal with. It's so nice. Yeah, let me just make a decision, get that done, get it off the board, and now I can move on to more important things.

But I would suggest to you that we need to be careful to slow down in making decisions, slow down to make sure that we don't make these decisions before we've heard both sides. The Proverbs tell us in Proverbs 18, verse 17, the first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. The first one to plead his cause seems right. It's so easy for us.

To hear the one side and to be absolutely convinced. And to be so convinced that you can't even imagine, I can't even imagine a way that someone could come back and say something different that would make me think otherwise. I mean, for sure, this is right. This is what he said. Yes, absolutely. We're convinced. And that's the way that David was. He was convinced. Ziba sounded right. For sure. Absolutely. Mephibosheth has rejected, abandoned, and betrayed him.

And not only that, but here's Ziba. He's showing support. He's got supplies, you know. And so he's kind of like buttered him up a little bit, flattered him and said, you know, he's got him in. Oh, Ziba, you're so good and kind and wonderful. Yeah, what's up with the scoundrel Mephibosheth? I can't believe he would do that. So David's convinced. How could he be wrong? This is the truth. This is the reality. And so he makes the decision right there. But he hasn't had an opportunity to hear the other side.

In Proverbs 18, verse 13, it says, he who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him. And that's what we see happening here. David answers the matter before he hears it. And it's foolishness. It's shameful. He hasn't heard the whole matter. He hasn't heard the whole story. He's only heard one piece. He's only heard one side. And so it was not the appropriate time for him to make the decision.

It was rash. It was in haste. It was under pressure. And we can relate. We have those kinds of decisions before us all the time. But most decisions can be delayed until the appropriate time. Most decisions can be delayed. A lot of times we just want them off our plate. We just want to make the decision and get done with it. But

But most decisions can be delayed for us to gather the right information, to understand the whole story before we begin to make decisions and destroy relationships based on that misunderstanding that we have. The commentator Adam Clark says, he who is in the habit of obeying the first impulse of his passions will seldom do a right action and will never keep a clear conscience.

If we just answer, first impulse, make that decision, he says, seldom will you do a right action. You're seldom. It's rare that you're going to have the right decision, and you'll never have a clear conscience because you'll be doing things that are wrong because, well, you've just reacted, and you haven't given the proper time to consider the truth of the matter.

We need to make sure that we give opportunity to hear the other side, to gather the evidence before we believe the accusation, but then begin to act on that accusation and make decisions as a result. In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 1, Paul says to the Corinthians, this will be the third time I'm coming to you.

And then he says, by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. Now here's what's going on there in 2 Corinthians. Paul is writing to the church because there are these guys who have come up within the church and they're bringing false accusations against the apostle Paul. And they're attacking Paul. They're discrediting Paul. They're trying to, you know, take over in place of Paul as an authority within the church.

And so here Paul says, look, I'm coming. This is going to be my third time coming to you. I'm going to be there. And here's what's going to happen. We're going to establish the truth by the mouth of two or three witnesses. And those who are bringing these false accusations, they're going to be called to account and they must produce their witnesses. And if they don't have their witnesses, we're going to reject that. That's not the truth. If these accusations they bring against me, they don't have the witnesses. But then also the point is Paul saying, I'm going to be there.

So you're not just going to hear one side with their witnesses, but you're going to hear the other side. You're going to hear my side of the story, and you must hear from me in order to get the full picture, to get the full understanding of what's going on. Now, if you've ever been participating in jury duty, you understand, you know, this is very similar to what our court system is like, right? And we can relate. If you've been on jury duty, I have. They give you instruction. Okay, you're going to

Listen to all the facts of this case. And as you listen to all the facts, you got to be very careful and be diligent. You're going to have to do it on purpose because if you don't do it on purpose, you're going to make a decision before the case is over. And we recognize that's your natural tendency. You're going to start believing something. You're going to make a decision before the case is over. And so on purpose, you have to set aside your decision.

Make sure you hear all the facts. And then at the end, you can make a decision as you understand all the facts. But the instruction is given like that because, well, we all recognize that

The first witness takes the stand, and you're like, all right, yeah, I believe it. This guy is true. You know, this is the truth. This is what happened. Maybe even before that, it's just the opening statement of the lawyer, and you're like, guilty. That guy's guilty. Send him to prison or whatever. Or, you know, sometimes the other way. That guy's innocent. There's no way, you know, he did that. But we're coming to conclusions. We're making decisions before we have all the information. And that is not what God wants us to do.

As we have relationships with one another, as accusations are brought, as the zebras try to puncture, punch through our lines, our relationships and division is sought to be brought against us, we are to resist that. We are to fight against that, to endeavor to keep the unity by insisting that accusations, that decisions be made with the proper information, with the proper understanding of the facts of what is going on.

And so as believers, we need to hold on to unity, to hold on, to hang tight, to grip hard, to make sure. It's very difficult to separate us. It's very difficult to break us apart. And we do that by not easily believing an accusation and by not making decisions before hearing both sides.

I'm sure you've experienced divisions. I'm sure you've experienced a break in relationships with others. And many times those types of divisions and breaks are pushed for in our most difficult times. Often under great pressure, we have these kinds of attacks because understand God loves unity and Satan loves division. And the enemy is smart. He's strategic. He's

He's not trying to divide you when everything's nice and cozy and comfortable and we're all holding arms and singing kumbaya and it's like, oh, everything's wonderful. No, he is waiting for the crisis. He's waiting for you to be emotionally at your end. He's waiting for you to be stressed out and worried about how you're gonna pay the bills and how this is gonna happen and overwhelmed by different aspects of life. And then in that moment, he sends a Ziba and tries to break you apart from those that God has surrounded you with.

Understand, this is the strategies, the workings of the enemy. And we got to build now while we're not in those circumstances, while we're not in that moment, we need to build now and teach ourselves now to love one another the way that God has called us to. To hold on to unity, to be slow in believing an evil report, an accusation, and to be slow in making decisions until we've had the opportunity to hear both sides.

Damien Kyle says, haste is the enemy of good decisions. A lot of times the decisions that we make against one another, if they're made in haste, well, it's almost guaranteed it's not a good decision. It's the enemy of good decisions. When we're pressured, when we're pushed, you got to make a decision. You know, if it's made quickly, it's very easily going to be the wrong decision. Now, something to consider. What if you really trust that

the person who's delivering the accusation. What if it's me? And I come to Harvey and I say, you know, Harvey, I've got some things to share with you about Elsa. I don't, but let's just say I did. What if it's me? And I bring an accusation. Because Harvey trusts me, should he just accept what I have to say? Absolutely not. What if it's published in the news? Should you just believe it because it's published in the news? Well, they must know what they're talking about. Should you believe it because it's on Facebook? No.

If it's on Facebook, automatically don't believe it. It's not true. Just let that be the default. The Russian proverb is appropriate. Trust, but verify. You might trust the person who's bringing you the information. But here's what you got to understand. Even if the person doesn't intend to malign or misrepresent, even if there's not bad motivations involved, they still might not have all the information, right?

And so we have to be slow to make decisions before we've heard both sides. Don't just listen to what someone says, even someone you trust, about someone else. In doing so, we will have divisions among us. We will not be holding on to unity. We'll have zebras that just go right through because we're believing someone else without taking the opportunity to hear the other side.

Believe the best. Require more than someone else's word, even someone that you trust. Require more than your own thoughts. And hold off your decisions until you have an opportunity to talk to the others involved. Well, finally, point number three. Now we're going to jump to 2 Samuel chapter 19, a couple chapters over, to get the other side of the story or kind of the ending of this account. Here we see David now after the battle, after battle.

He's victorious and Absalom is defeated. He's heading back to Jerusalem. And as he does, he has an encounter with Mephibosheth. And so here we have point number three, make reconciling a priority. In order for us to hold on to unity, to be united together, to love one another the way that God has called us to, we need to make it a priority for

to make it urgent in our hearts to reconcile with those that that fellowship has been broken with. When there is a break in a relationship, whether the accusation is true or false,

We need to make it a priority to reconcile. Whether there is actual harm or just, you know, the potential for harm, we need to make it a priority to reconcile. Here we are in 2 Samuel chapter 19. Here's what verse 24 says.

Now Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king, and he had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace. I'd like to point out here, notice the first part of verse 24. Now Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king. Mephibosheth came to meet the king. David's on his way back.

He's headed back into Jerusalem, retaking the throne, reestablishing the kingdom. And in the midst of that, Mephibosheth meets him on the way. Now, you could look at this account and understand accurately, Mephibosheth is the one who has been slandered. He's the one who's been injured. He's the one who has been harmed. He's the victim of this event that has happened. And yet, Mephibosheth goes to meet David.

He initiates this exchange, this discussion. He initiates the reconciliation. It's very easy for the injured person to make just as a rash response as the other person did. Well, you thought that about me? You decided that against me? You believe that report about me? Well, write you off and I'm out of here. You know, I don't want to hear anything. I don't want to talk to you ever again.

And it's very easy, you know, again, if you're talking about Red Rover, you know, each side is holding on. We have to hold each other. And so it's very easy. Well, how could you believe that about me? And you just let go. Forget it. Let's end that relationship. But Mephibosheth, the injured party, the victim, he's the one who initiates this reconciliation.

And this is something that God calls us to do. Remember what Jesus taught in Matthew 18, verse 15. He says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. Notice what Jesus says. If your brother sins against you, it's not imagined, it's not fake, but there's actual harm. They've actually sinned against you. Jesus doesn't say, write them off, never deal with them again. He says, go talk with them.

Go meet with them. Have a private discussion about the situation, about the issue at hand. Yes, you're the victim. In an ideal world, nobody would ever harm you. In a slightly less ideal world, when people harm you, they would recognize it. They would feel sorry for it. They would come to you and apologize and it would be all on them to initiate and make things right.

But we don't live in that world. We live in a sinful world. We live in a world where the enemy is wanting for us to be divided and remain divided and never be restored back together in relationship. And in that kind of world, God says, here's what I want you to do. Yes, you're the victim. Yes, you're the one harmed. You initiate the reconciliation. You go talk to them. You go have a discussion. You go attempt to make things right. This is what God desires for us. And so we see Mephibosheth here arguing.

Model that for us. He goes to meet the king. He knows what Ziba said about him. He knows that David's believed the accusation against him, but still he goes to meet David to attempt a reconciliation. And so we need to make reconciliation a priority. But we also see David makes it a priority in the following verses. Look at verse 25 through 28.

So it was when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king that the king said to him, why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth? And he answered, my lord, oh king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, I will saddle the donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go to the king because your servant is lame. And he has slandered your servant to my lord, the king. But my lord, the king is like the angel of God. Therefore, do what is good in your eyes.

For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your own servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore, what right have I still to cry out any more to the king? So Mephibosheth initiates this exchange. He meets David on the way. And David gives him opportunity to explain. Although David was

rash and making the decision earlier with Ziba, he takes a moment here to hear an explanation. Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth? I wonder, would you have given that opportunity for Mephibosheth to explain why he didn't go with you? Would you have given that opportunity for an explanation for the harm that was done?

Think about where David's at. Similar to when he first made the decision, he was running for his life, getting out of Jerusalem. Now he's on his way back into Jerusalem. He's still an emotional mess because, well, not only did this revolt happen with his son, but now his son is dead. He's still stressed out because now he's coming in. He has to reestablish the kingdom. And there's probably a thousand things on his mind that he has to, you know, take care of and get in order. But David says, you know, let's pause all of that for a moment.

Let's pause the journey for a moment. Let's pause all those details. I want to take a moment, Mephibosheth, to hear what happened. Why didn't you go with me? And so David makes it a priority as well. He makes time. He carves out time. He pauses all that's going on to say, you know, maybe I acted too quickly. Maybe I heard I didn't get to hear the whole story. I want to take time now to hear the whole story. And so Mephibosheth gives him the testimony. Here's what happened.

And Mephibosheth, being lame, said, Ziba, would you saddle up a donkey? I want to go with David. I couldn't walk with you, David, like the rest of your servants. Otherwise, I would have been right there with you. But instead, I asked my servant to saddle up a donkey so I could go with you. And instead, he took it, he loaded it up with food and brought this slander against me.

Now, it's interesting because in verse 17 of 2 Samuel 19, it tells us that Ziba was there as well. So at this time, as David is hearing this account, both parties are present. It's different than when Ziba was just there slandering Mephibosheth. Now, as Mephibosheth brings accusations against Ziba, Ziba's there. He's there, part of the group. He's there in the mix. And so both parties are present and, not president, present. And David is able to

Get an understanding of the facts, of the truth. And Mephibosheth had evidence for his testimony. His mustache was not trimmed.

Now, that may not seem like a big deal for us, right? Well, so what? You didn't shave, you know, for a week or two. What's the big deal? But also his feet were not cared for. Now, whatever condition was happening with his feet, we don't know exactly, but they needed some type of care. And it was evident. He was able to look at, point to his feet and say, look, see my foot? Like, I haven't taken care of it, you know? And so maybe there was, you know, some type of wound or something that had to be cleaned or whatever. But he didn't shave.

It also says he hadn't washed his clothes. So just take a whiff, David. You can smell that I'm telling the truth. I've been in mourning while you were gone. I wasn't rejoicing or celebrating. I wasn't trying to obtain the kingdom. I've been in mourning while you were gone.

And so he brings out the truth as he gives his testimony to what happened. In verse 29, so the king said to him, why do you speak any more of your matters? I have said, you and Ziba divide the land. Then Mephibosheth said to the king, rather let him take it all in as much as my lord the king has come back in peace to his own house.

David, it seems, again, under the pressure of the time and the things involved, says, okay, stop talking about this. Why do you talk about this anymore? I've said, I've made a decision. You and Ziba divide the land. Now, this probably was not the best decision. Probably he should have dealt with Ziba and the lies and the false accusations that were brought against Mephibosheth.

But again, it seems like for expedience, okay, let's just be done with this issue. It's not a big deal. It's not that important, you know, David might think. And so, well, first it was Mephibosheth, then he gave it to Ziba. Okay, well, you guys just split it. Just divide it and you can have half and he can have half and then that'll be it. Again, it seems like for expedience, he makes this decision. Haste is the enemy.

good decisions. But despite that bad decision, that wasn't important to Mephibosheth. The important thing to him was that the king was able to return in peace, in which he did. And so the good aspects of this is that they both, Mephibosheth and David, made reconciling a priority. Even if the end result wasn't exactly fair, it wasn't exactly maybe, you know, what maybe you would have done in his shoes or something like that. But

But they made reconciling a priority and that's the key and that's what's important here.

We will have difficulties because you're sinful, because I'm sinful, because everybody around us is sinful, and because we have an enemy that seeks to divide us, we're going to have problems. We're going to have issues with one another. We're going to have dramatic things. We're going to have minor things. We're going to have all kinds of issues that we face. And here's what you need to understand. When something is wrong in a relationship, it's for one of these reasons. Number one, you might be wrong.

We would never think that, right? But that's why I put it as number one. The first thing we need to understand, when there's something wrong in a relationship, it might be me. I could be the guilty party. I could be the problem in this situation, right?

But another option is the report might be wrong. You might be hearing from Ziba bad information. And so you've heard this, you've heard that. It might be a lie. It might be intentional. It might be, you know, good intending, but just not having all the information. You just might not have all the details. You might not have all the facts. And so when something's wrong in a relationship, you need to understand, well, it might be you or it might be the information that you have. The report might be wrong.

Or thirdly, it might be that they are actually wrong, that there is a break in the relationship because, well, they did do something wrong. They did intend harm or they didn't intend it, but it happened anyways. And both are possible and both cause problems in relationships.

Option four, which I would say is probably the majority of the time. All of the above. You're wrong. Your information is wrong. The other person is wrong. We're all wrong. And so it should give us great grace in ministering to one another, in bringing reconciliation back into our relationship, that we hold on to unity. Because yeah, a lot of times I'm wrong. My heart's wrong in the matter. I don't have all the information. And yeah, maybe the other person was wrong.

But even if the other person was wrong, that doesn't change the story. So if Ziba had been accurate in his report of Mephibosheth, what changes in this story? If Mephibosheth then comes to David and he's repentant and he's saying, yeah, what he said was true, I'm sorry. I would suggest to you, really, not much should change. Even when people do, actually do wrong. It's not just a report. Someone said something about someone and they weren't telling the truth.

where they didn't know the truth. But even when someone who is close to you, a friend of you, another believer actually does wrong to you, we're still called to make reconciling a priority. Paul tells us in Colossians chapter three, verse 13, he says, "'Bear with one another in love, "'or bear with one another and forgive one another, "'if anyone has a complaint against another, "'even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.'" He says, here's how we're to relate to one another. We're to bear with one another.

You know what that means? That means people are going to hurt you. They're going to cause difficulty. They're going to cause you pain. And we're to bear with that. We're to put up with that and forgive. Not just put up, but forgive. Let it go. Let go of your right to pay them back. And if you have a complaint against someone else, hey, even as Christ forgave you, he says, so you also must do. And so he points us back to the Lord and says, look, this is how God is related to you.

He has forgiven you. Even though you've done actual wrong, even though you've done actual harm, Christ has forgiven you. He's shown you grace and mercy and forgiveness. And now you're called, as you receive that from the Lord, to turn around and extend that to the people around you. Make reconciling a priority. There will always be relationship problems.

There will always be the enemy sending out the Ziba. Red Rover, Red Rover sends Ziba right over, and boom, he's going to try to divide. And our job is to hold on to unity, to grasp hold of one another, to not easily believe the accusation, to not easily believe the evil report, to be slow, to be quick to believe the best, but slow to believe the worst, and to be slow in making a decision based on that information.

I haven't heard both sides. I haven't heard all the details. There's not the two or three witnesses. This truth is not established. I can't make a decision based upon it. And even when Ziba does break through, even when there is the break, that doesn't mean it's over. We need to make reconciling a priority, whether you're the victim or not, whether you are the one who committed the harm or not. Make reconciling a priority.

Now, this isn't always possible. Reconciliation is not always possible. Paul tells us in Romans 12, if it's possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. So he says it's not always possible, but as much as depends on you for your part, make reconciling a priority.

He's not saying put yourself in a harmful situation and, you know, continue to keep yourself in that. No, be wise. And if there is a situation like that, we invite you to come and talk to one of the pastors or leaders that, you know, don't put yourself in harm's way. That's not what this is talking about. But for the majority of our problems amongst one another and between one another, reconciliation is possible.

And it's what God wants. And it's what needs to take place if we're gonna be committed to loving one another the way that God has called us to. And so let's hold on to unity. Let's be resilient against the hurts, the harms from one another, the attacks of the enemy. Let's hold on, stay the course, stand the line, and love one another the way that God has loved us. Amen.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you, God, for this encouragement. And I pray, God, that you would do a work in our relationships. I pray, God, for those relationships that are good and standing. I pray, Lord, that you would strengthen them, that you would help us to commit to loving one another, to believing the best of each other, Lord, to be holding fast to that. And Lord, where relationships are broken,

Maybe the trust is just shattered. Maybe there's been great harm or difficulty. Lord, I pray that you would bring restoration to those relationships. Lord, that there would be a healing and a forgiveness, Lord, in the same way that you forgive us. I pray, Lord, that you would put it upon our hearts, Lord, those areas where we need to initiate. Lord, we need to make reconciling a priority. I pray, Lord, that you would speak to us, that you would lead us, and that you would help us to be bold and obedient to

to reach out to those who are involved. Lord, to mend fences, to bring healing, to bring restoration that we might accurately represent you and experience the unity, Lord, that is so good and pleasant, that is what you desire. And so, Lord, bring healing in relationships, I pray. Restore, in Jesus' name, amen.

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