2 SAMUEL 9 PURSUE GODS HEART OF KINDNESS2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 9 Pursue Gods Heart Of Kindness

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 2018. We're going to be in 2 Samuel chapter 9 and looking at a really incredible account here with a guy named Mephibosheth.

And we might know Mephibosheth from Quint and Yoli Betts. Their son is named Mephibosheth because Quint loves this account. And it comes from here in 2 Samuel 9. And we'll get to see this amazing story. So let's begin. And it's a short chapter. So I'm going to go ahead and start by reading through the whole chapter. And then we'll talk about what the Lord has for us this evening. Verse 1 of 2 Samuel 9 says, Now David said...

And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, Are you Ziba? He said, At your service. Then the king said, Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God? And Ziba said to the king,

There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet. So the king said to him, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, indeed, he is in the house of Mechir, the son of Amiel in Lodibar. Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Mechir, the son of Amiel from Lodibar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, Mephibosheth,

And he answered, here is your servant. So David said to him, do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan, your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather, and you shall eat bread at my table continually. Verse eight. Then he bowed himself and said, what is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?

Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.

Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons. Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth.

So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table, and he was lame in both his feet. Here in 2 Samuel chapter 9, we read this account in the life of David of his interaction with this guy named Mephibosheth.

And in this, we get to see a cool part of David's character and nature and an example for us, but also an illustration of what God has done towards us also. And so I've titled the message this evening, Pursue God's Heart of Kindness.

Pursue God's heart of kindness. Now, I really appreciate the contrasts of things that we find in the scriptures. And last week, we talked about fighting, right? In chapter eight, we saw the conquest of David and I went on and on, probably one of the longest messages I've ever taught about how there are times we need to fight and we need to be willing to fight and to go to battle and be fierce. And then now in the next chapter, the Lord's gonna remind us

You gotta be willing to fight, and there are times to fight, but then also we need to be men and women of kindness. And both aspects are part of the character of God, that God is willing to fight, but God also loves to show kindness.

And there's a balance there. You'll see in chapter 10, as we go forward next week, there's, you know, the opportunity or another account of battle that's going to take place in chapter 10. And so in between these accounts of war, there is this, you know, moment, but it's not just a moment. It's a lifetime of kindness that David is providing for Mephibosheth. And it's a good reminder for us. Sometimes God wants you to be gentle.

Sometimes God wants you to be fierce. And this evening, I would encourage you to let the Lord remind you to pursue his heart in regard to kindness and pursue his heart in regard to the grace and the mercy and the love that he extends to us. And so we're going to look at David's example and learn from that how to pursue God's heart of kindness. We're going to start in verses 1 through 5 with the first point, and that is seek an opportunity to

to show kindness to someone. Seek an opportunity to show kindness to someone. And this evening, as we look at the example of David and his interaction with Mephibosheth, I want to encourage you to just, right now, just begin to talk to the Lord and ask the Lord who he might want you to show kindness to. And think about this as an example and model for us of how

the kindness that God wants us to show. In verse 1, it says, now David said, is there still anyone who is left in the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?

Here, David is on the throne, and I would remind you again, this isn't necessarily, you know, these chapters of Samuel are not necessarily chronological. It's not really a sequence of David's reign, but it's kind of a summary of David's reign. So at some point, he is now in Jerusalem. He's established as king. He probably has some things going on, but you know, not all of his reign has been accomplished yet. We're somewhere probably early in David's reign at this point. And

And now that he's on the throne, he begins to wonder...

If there's anybody left from the line of Saul and the line of Jonathan, and you remember that David and Jonathan had a close relationship and several times throughout their relationship, throughout their interactions with each other, David would promise Jonathan that he would take care of Jonathan's descendants because, well, it would not be normal for the next king to leave the family of the previous king alive.

But Jonathan knew that David was called to be king and made him promise, do good to my family, be kind to my family for my sake. And so now David is on the throne and he is thinking about that. And he says, I want to show kindness to someone in the house of Saul for Jonathan's sake. Is there anybody left? Is there anybody that I can just bless? Is there anybody that I can just be kind to and

in honor of Jonathan and in remembrance of Jonathan, that relationship that we had and those promises that were made. And so David is here and he is wanting to show kindness. Now this idea of kindness, it's

It's something that is done in goodness towards somebody without earning it, without deserving it. We might call it grace sometimes. It could be described as love or mercy. It is those acts of kindness and goodness that are done towards someone. And he says, look, I just want to be nice to someone. I just want to bless someone. I just want to show someone love and mercy because I remember Jonathan.

And I remember the relationship that we had and the promises that were made. And I just want to bless someone of the house of Saul. But there's no one obvious. There's no one just hanging around from the house of Saul because, well, they were killed because of Saul's rebellion against the Lord. And there's not much of the line of Saul left. And so David has to search. He has to seek out Saul.

And that's the first part of this point that I want to encourage us to think about this evening, and that is to seek an opportunity to show kindness. That as we think about, well, who might God want me to show kindness to, understand that

There is the general idea of, you know, be kind and let your gentleness be known to all, Paul says, right? There is the, you know, be kind to everybody you come across type of teaching and need for us as believers. But there's also a kindness that can be shown and perhaps the Lord would lead you to show that's not obvious and right in front of your face and just, it's easy, it's that person right in front of me, I'll be kind to them.

but that perhaps there is someone that needs to be searched out, that they're not an obvious person, like right in your direct line of sight, right? And you come in contact with them all the time. You know, maybe it's not that person as you pursue God's heart of kindness that God wants you to show kindness to, but perhaps there needs to be a search party, you know, a search that goes on, a seeking out, a trying to figure out,

where this person is that you would be able to show kindness to them. And so David kind of launches an investigation. In verse two and three, it tells us there was a servant in the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So David's like working through, okay, how do we figure out if there's anybody left of the house of Saul? Oh yeah, there was that servant of Saul's house, Ziba. And so he calls him in. Ziba, is there anybody left?

In verse 3, This son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, we learn from earlier in 2 Samuel that he's lame because when Saul died in the battle, he was lame.

that the handmaiden, the woman who is taking care of him, she was running away. She wanted to try to get him to safety because the Philistines were attacking and there was great danger. And so in running away, she stumbles and falls and his feet are injured in a way that's permanent. And so he's been lame ever since the death of his grandfather Saul. And so he survived. He's the only of...

Saul's descendants that has survived. Here is the son of Jonathan and Ziba says, I know where he is. He's hiding. Now it was the normal thing if you became king and you weren't the son of the previous king. If you were of a different family, the normal thing in that culture and in the society around them was to take out, to kill the rest of the previous king's family because you didn't want any threats to the throne.

And so here we find Mephibosheth, but we find him because David sought him out. Pastor Dave Guzik puts it this way. David could only learn that there was a descendant of Saul living and could only learn where he was through his servant named Ziba. This means that Mephibosheth was in hiding. And that's something to think about. David didn't know about Mephibosheth. He didn't know that he was alive. He didn't know the history of

this woman who fell and broke his, you know, he didn't know this guy. Mephibosheth is now older. He's an adult. He has a son, it tells us later on in the chapter. So he's kept himself out of contact with David. He's kept himself out of the limelight, you know, out of the public eye and just kind of stayed hidden away. He's in hiding.

Now, I don't know how much Mephibosheth knew, but he was young when his dad died, Jonathan died. And so he might not have known much about David and Jonathan and their commitment to one another and their love of God, you know, and their serving of God together. And he might not have known. We don't know what all of the details there, but the end result is he's hiding for his own protection, for his own safety. He's just keeping a low profile and

And he is hiding. And so in order for David to show kindness, first of all, he has to search. He has to seek for that opportunity. He has to go out of his way and find out and investigate. Is there someone that I can show kindness to? And so as you think about this idea of showing kindness this evening, I would ask you to consider that perhaps the person that God wants you to show kindness to is hiding.

That it's not going to be necessarily the person that's right in front of you. That doesn't mean you can be mean to the person right in front of you. But you get what I'm saying, right? That there are those times where God wants us to like go out of our way. Kind of how Jesus, you know, had to go through Samaria. Well, because he had a meeting, right? He had that meeting.

to search out the woman at the well. There was that deliberate choice that was made to seek out that opportunity to show kindness there. And in a similar way, I want to encourage you this evening to be thinking about it and be asking God about those kinds of opportunities that perhaps he wants you to seek out, to go out of your way to find a way to show kindness. In verse 4, the king said to Ziba, where is he?

So he is located on the other side of the Jordan. He's kind of, you know, as far away from David as he can get, basically, on the other side of the Jordan near Jabesh Gilead. So it tells us in verse 5 that David sends and brings him before him.

And as he does, he is going to now show this kindness, bestow this kindness upon Mephibosheth. But I think it's interesting in verse 3 how it describes it. As David is talking to Ziba, he asks him, As we talk about showing kindness, we need to remember that it's not about showing our own kindness.

showing kindness that we have or that we feel or that, you know, that it's not just about the kindness that we have to give, but it's the kindness of God. In other words, David here is saying, God's been kind to me and I want to turn around and show that kindness to somebody else. And that is what we ought to be doing as believers. We are recipients of God's love and his grace and his kindness and

And now God calls us to then turn around and show it to the people around us. And we can apply that to the one another as believers in Jesus and our relationships. And we can apply that to, you know, other types of relationships that we have in our lives and friends and family and coworkers. But this evening, I think the Lord wants to kind of just stir us up and ask us to think about, to invite him to share with us. Maybe we need to like go kind of beyond the obvious and to do a search.

to do a seeking out and to find someone to show kindness to. And I don't necessarily mean like anyone, just find anyone to show kindness to. Although that can be applied and that is appropriate. And as you pursue God's heart, God may lead you to that. But there's also that idea of there's that specific someone, that specific,

You can find need everywhere you turn, and you can find opportunities to show kindness. There's a lot of kindness that is needed all over the place. And yet at the same time, we are limited in our capacity to be able to show kindness. We can't show kindness to everybody who needs kindness individually. Collectively, as we all get together, then perhaps we can show kindness to everybody who needs kindness. But individually, there's only...

Well, a limited amount of time in the day. There's a limited amount of resources that we have. There's limits to the kindness that we can show. And maybe that sounds kind of strange, but I hope you understand what I'm saying, that we can't meet everybody's needs and do everything, but perhaps the Lord would have us to seek out someone specific to show kindness to. Think about what Jesus told his disciples in Mark 14, verse 7.

This is in that occasion where that expensive perfume was broken to anoint his feet. And there was some dispute among the disciples about whether or not that was a good move or not, and how it could have been sold and given to the poor. And Jesus said in Mark chapter 14, verse 7, for the poor you have with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good. But me, you do not have always. He says, look, the poor, you have the poor with you always. If you

Looking for opportunity to show kindness. I mean, there's always opportunity to show kindness. There's always people who need kindness. There's always opportunity to show kindness. If you're looking for a way to get rid of $5, I mean, there's a million opportunities, you know, of people who will take your $5. That is definitely true. And what Jesus said, he said it was true. You have the poor with you always. But then he said, me, you don't have with you always. Right?

Now, by that, he didn't mean that he was abandoning them because he says, I'm with you always. But the point was, you can only minister in that particular way for a limited, specific, certain time. There was a special, unique time that this woman could serve the Lord in a unique way only in this moment, only in this time, in this very short window of opportunity. And in a similar way, listen, like we can, you know,

go feed people. We can go mow people's lawns. We can go, you know, sit with people and talk with them. We can go love on them. But like, there's all kinds of good that we can do and kindness that we can show. And as the Lord prompts us and leads us, we need to do those things on a, you know, variety of different opportunities that are presented before us. But at the same time, I would ask you to consider and invite the Lord to show you if there's

Someone specific. Do you think there was other lame people in Israel in David's reign? Yeah, there was other people that he could have sought out and showed kindness to. But he was looking for this one specific person because, well, that's what the Lord had upon his heart. He was pursuing the heart of God and seeking to show kindness in this way. And the Lord said, here's who I want you to show that kindness to.

There would have been other people who would have gladly received what Mephibosheth is about to receive. But this wasn't for them. It wasn't for that specific thing. It was for this specific person. And that can be challenging for us to kind of navigate in our minds and in our hearts. But it is a reality. As we seek the Lord, as we pursue his heart, God may want you to say no immediately.

To some people, so that you can say, yes, I'm going to show kindness to this one that he has set upon my heart. Think about how Paul described Onesiphorus. I don't know if you're familiar with this or not, but 2 Timothy chapter 1, it's always kind of stood out to me.

As Paul is writing to Timothy in verse 16 of 2 Timothy 1, he says, Paul says, look, I was really encouraged and blessed by this guy, Onesiphorus.

I was, I mean, I can't tell you, Timothy, how much he really ministered to me, how much it meant to me that he was there for me. And it wasn't easy. When he got to Rome, he had to search for me very zealously. He had to go to different places. He had to talk to different officials. He had to find out. He had to investigate. He had to search and to seek. And he didn't give up when the first time

It wasn't the right place. It wasn't, you know, who he was trying to show kindness to. When he showed up and, oh, that's not where Paul is. He didn't give up, but he kept on going and he kept on seeking out to find where I was so that he could show kindness to me. And man, Timothy, that meant so much to me. That's what Paul is saying to Timothy here.

Now, were there other prisoners in Rome at that time? For sure. Other people that Onesiphorus could have sat with and, you know, spent time with and sought to encourage or evangelize? Absolutely. Many of other things that he could have done. But there was a specific someone on his heart from the Lord. And he made it his mission. He sought him out. And that's what I want to encourage you to think about and to just present to the Lord this evening. That maybe there's someone that

Specifically, he wants to show you. He wants to identify and kind of like put your sights, you know, on this person that you could just love them with the love of God. That you could just show them kindness. Now, in general, we need to be kind to all and we need to show the love of Christ to all. And yet at the same time, there are limitations to our time and to our expressions of love that

And so there are also those specific people. God says, this is a priority. You need to focus on this and show my kindness and show my love in a unique and special way and more than just a general we love everybody type of thing, but to really go out of your way to find and to demonstrate the love of God to them. Let the Lord show you someone specific as you seek an opportunity to show kindness to someone.

Well, moving on to verses six through eight, we get point number two, and that is show kindness by treating someone like family. So we learn from David's example, what does it look like? Okay, so I find someone's on my heart. Someone, the Lord's put them in front of me. He wants me to show kindness to them. What does that look like?

Well, what we see David do here is he treats him like family. He makes him a part of his own family. In verse 6, it says, So now they finally meet. And Mephibosheth bows down before David.

Again, we don't know all the details here. We don't know what Mephibosheth thought. We don't know if he was expecting to be put to death. That would have been normal treatment for other kings of other nations, but not David. He wasn't there for that. But instead, David says, Mephibosheth, and he says, here I am. I'm your servant. I'm right here. Yes, that's me. David said to him, do not fear. In verse 7, don't fear.

Why might David tell him not to fear? Maybe because he was fearful. Just thinking about that, you know, hey, it's reasonable. You would expect to be fearful in this kind of context. David says, Mephibosheth, I could see you shaking from here. You don't need to fear. I don't know how you envision this situation, but I kind of just, I hear this gentleness in David's voice. Mephibosheth, you don't need to fear. You don't need to fear.

I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not here to, you know, lash out at you. I'm not here for that. That's not why I've brought you here. I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan, your father's sake. The reason why I've brought you all this way is to show you kindness, to do something nice for you, to do something good for you. He goes on to say, I'm going to restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather's

And then you shall eat bread at my table continually. Now, when Mephibosheth was taken, you know, his caretaker, the woman fled, and then he's been living, you know, over across the Jordan. All of Saul's land was abandoned. Perhaps like Ziba, you know, they continued to maintain the land in Saul's absence. We don't know, but the rightful owner was gone.

And Mephibosheth, he was in hiding. He wasn't benefiting from the land that was rightfully his as an inheritance, you know, from his father, Jonathan, and from his father, Saul. He was missing out on all of that. And David says, I'm going to give back to you the inheritance that would have belonged to you, that you would have received had you not been in hiding all of this time. And not only that, but now...

You're going to eat bread at my table continually. This was an invitation for David to be part of his family. We'll see if you look, actually jump down to verse 11. Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons. David says he's like family. He's going to be treated as one of my sons now.

We're just going to adopt him into the family. He's going to sit at my table. He's going to be here like the rest of my sons, and he's going to be part of the family in that way. And there is this showing of kindness that comes as David just says, I'm accepting you. I'm taking you as part of my family. And Mephibosheth is overwhelmed by this. In verse 8, he says he bowed himself and said, what is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as

as I. Why are you paying so much attention to me? Mephibosheth here is saying, look, I'm nothing. I'm just like a dead dog. I'm just worthless. I'm just useless. My feet are lame. I have nothing to offer. And I'm the son of your former enemy, Saul, who tried to kill you. You know, like, like, why are you paying? And he's just overwhelmed by the kindness that David has

is expressing. And that is the kindness of God. When you think about what God has done for us, when you think about the way that God has treated you, I mean, if we understand it appropriately, we will respond to God like Mephibosheth responded to David, right? Like, Lord, who am I? Why would you look upon such a dead dog as me? Now, you might see all that God has done for you and say, that's right, God, why didn't you do more? Because I deserve more, you know? But

But that's not the right heart to have. And it's an inaccurate perspective on ourselves. When we realize who we are and what God has done, we stand with Mephibosheth. We bow with Mephibosheth and say, who am I that you should look upon me in that way? That you would do such a good thing for me. Now, it's great to receive that from God. But again, what the Lord is encouraging us in this evening is now to understand

express that same kind of kindness to somebody else. It kind of gives you an idea of the quality of kindness that we're talking about. Again, it's not just be polite, hold the door for somebody, you know, say please and thank you and, you know, that kind of thing. But there's this level of kindness that is being talked about here and demonstrated that is just the person receiving it is just overwhelmed. Like, why on earth would you do something so good for me?

And so as I call us to consider and pursue the heart of God's heart of kindness and think about maybe someone specific that God would have us to show kindness to, this is the kind of thing that we need to be looking to the Lord for and that how can we show kindness in a way that is just

overwhelming in the kindness that is shown, that there would be this kind of response, like, I don't deserve this kindness. I don't deserve to be treated in this way. This is the quality of the kindness that we're talking about and that God is calling us to. The

Language scholar Spiros Zodiades, he's an expert in Hebrew and Greek, and this is Hebrew as he's talking about kindness. He explains kindness a little bit. He says,

where no formal relationship has previously been recognized, the person exercising kindness has chosen to treat the recipient as if such a relationship did exist. This is what's happening with David and Mephibosheth. They've never met. They don't know each other. They have no pre-existing relationship. But David has decided, I'm going to treat you as one of my sons.

I'm going to relate to you. I'm going to show you kindness. I'm going to love you. I'm going to give you opportunity. I'm going to give you everything that I would give to one of my own sons. That's the kind of kindness that we're talking about. We're not talking about cordial things that just anybody would do for anybody or we would do for each other in polite society, but that you would do for your own family.

There's things that you will do for your own family that you won't do for just the random person here or there. That you won't do for your coworkers, perhaps, what you would do for your family. And that's not necessarily something to be ashamed of. I mean, that's part of the connections that we have and the family that God has given to us. What would you do for your family?

sons and daughters? What would you do for your spouse? What would you do for your parents or uncles or aunts or cousins? You know, that like you have those kinds of relationships and you will, you know, go out of your way and go to great lengths to do kind things for them and to give them opportunity and to put up with all kinds of, you know, nonsense and offenses. And you relate to family in, well, ways that may be very consistent with the kindness of God towards you.

And what God is saying, it's that kind of kindness that he's calling us to. Is there someone that God maybe wants to stir up within your heart to say, show them kindness, treat them as a member of your own family. Now that doesn't mean put yourself in a dangerous position and, you know, David could invite him to his table and it wasn't, you know, there was no danger involved. God wasn't asking him to like, you know, be risky or that kind of thing, but just showing kindness.

Treat them as you would a member of your own family. Can you take somebody who is not part of your family, who doesn't deserve to be treated that way, hasn't earned and hasn't treated you well, hasn't treated you like you're part of the family, hasn't behaved that way towards you, but you can, from the kindness that God has shown you, turn around and extend that kindness to

That's how God has treated us, right? He has treated us as members of his own family. Even when we were at enmity with God, he loved us. He sought us out. He has brought us in and made us his sons and daughters. And so this evening, as we talk about pursuing God's heart of kindness, I want to encourage you to show kindness by treating someone like family. That kind of quality, that kind of caliber of kindness. Yes.

Moving on now to verses 9 through 12, we get point number three, and that is show kindness by serving someone. So treating them like family, but also by serving and meeting needs. In verse 9, the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, I have given to your master's son all that belong to Saul and to all his house. You therefore and your sons and your servants shall work the land for him. And you shall bring in the harvest that your master's son may have food to eat and

But Mephibosheth, your master's son, shall eat bread at my table always. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord has commanded his servant, so will your servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons. Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah, and all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. Here, here,

David enlists Ziba. You used to be Saul's servant. Now you are Mephibosheth's servant. And you're going to serve him. You're going to provide for him. You're going to work his lands. And that's going to be the provision that he needs. Even though he's going to eat from my table, he's going to have abundance because he's also going to have what the land produces. Now, this was not a

like a hard thing or an unfair thing, you know, Ziba and his family would also be provided for in this setup. And so it was something that would, you know, take care of the house of Ziba and all of his sons and all of his servants. And that was a lot of people to manage and to take care of. But it would also take care of Mephibosheth and whatever provisions he might need, whatever, you know, so that he wasn't in a position of,

dependence and that he was like trapped, like he had to stay with David, you know, like David didn't put him in a position where, you know, he had no other options. He provided for him at his own table and

but also provided for him. Hey, if you don't want to hang out with me, well, you got your own food also. You can have your own food. You know, it was a free relationship. It wasn't a bonded relationship. You have to eat at my table and you're going to starve and you're helpless, you know, and you don't have any other option. David made sure he's taken care of. His needs are met. He served Mephibosheth in this way, by setting it up so that Ziba would work the land for him.

He ministered to Mephibosheth. He served Mephibosheth and made sure the needs were met. Now, a couple weeks back when I was away, Pastor David shared from John chapter 13 about Jesus washing the disciples' feet and the example that he set for us to serve one another. And it is an important example, an important thing for us to consider. And

the one another, you know, speaks of that relationship that we have between each other as believers. And so as we talk about serving this evening and in this point, I want you to think beyond just that one another. It's not just about serving at church or serving other believers, but what we're talking about is serving God.

someone that's maybe not right in front of you, but someone that just God's put upon your heart and says, show them my kindness, show them my love, show them my goodness. Let them see that. They don't deserve it. And maybe you're going to have to search them out. They're not like right next to you in service, you know, that they're somewhere else, that there's going to be some effort applied for you to find them, but go and meet them.

Go and meet their needs. Now again, we are limited in our capacity. We're limited in our resources. We can't meet everybody's needs. And if you look around, there's a lot of needs. There's a lot of opportunity, you know, and we can't handle all of that. But like Jesus said, you have the poor with you always, but there are some opportunities that are right here for this limited time. And maybe there's some way that you can serve them. You can serve this person. You can show them kindness.

to demonstrate and to model God's nature and character towards them. I would ask you to consider what Jesus talked about in Luke chapter 6. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus said, just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. Jesus, in talking about our relationships, he says, look, you know, here's how you should

your treatment of one another, you know, think about what you would want and treat people like that. Do that kind of thing to people. But keep in mind, Jesus says, that's not limited to just those who do that back to you. Well, I treat people the way that I want to be treated if they treat me the way that I want to be treated, you know? Like, if they're good to me, then I'm good to them, then we're all good. But if they're not good to me, then that changes the story. And Jesus is saying, remember,

Do to them what you would want done to you if you were in their shoes, even if they are not good back to you. And if you only love those who can love you, if you only show kindness to those who can show kindness back to you, what credit is that? He says even sinners can do that. You know, people who don't love God, people who don't know God, they can do that.

Jesus goes on in verse 33 and 34 of Luke chapter 6 to give a couple more examples, but then he kind of sums up his thought in verse 35 of Luke chapter 6, and here's what that says. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Who's God kind to? The unthankful and the evil. We talk about pursuing God's heart of kindness. Understand this is not like a easy like, oh yeah, sure, we can be kind to people. Like this is going to be challenging. If the Lord puts someone upon your heart and calls you to be kind to them, well, I think we're all praying for the easy people to be kind to, right? We're all praying for, Lord, give me someone easy to love. Give me someone easy to

Let it be Noah. We can all just like love on Noah and be kind to him and it'll just be great. It'll be so easy, right? But that, to be kind to the people who it's easy to be kind to doesn't actually demonstrate the kindness of God because God's kindness towards us, God's kind to the unthankful and evil. That's us. He was kind to us before we were thankful and while we were still evil. God was kind to us.

while we were enemies. God was kind to us when we didn't deserve it, when we didn't know him, when we wanted nothing to do with him. And so as we talk about pursuing God's heart of kindness, we need to understand that it might be someone who wants nothing to do with us that God calls us to be kind to. It might be someone who

would describe themselves as an enemy. It might be someone who is unthankful and evil, but God says, I want you to be kind to them and show them, treat them like a member of your family and serve them. Meet their needs and let them just be overwhelmed at my goodness demonstrated through you. Show kindness by serving someone.

By just meeting someone's needs and not for what you can get in return and not those who could, you know, pay back, you know, what you gave. But he says, just lend, just give, just bless, just do good because that's what God does. Pursue God's heart of kindness. And I think you could see that that could be pretty challenging to love like that, to be kind in that way. And that brings us to the fourth point and it's found in verse 13.

In order to be kind that way, we are going to need to be receiving the kindness of God to be able to pass it on. And so point number four is keep yourself in a place to receive God's kindness. And here in verse 13, I just want to look at the example of Mephibosheth and consider this for a moment. In verse 13, it says, So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table, and he was lame, but

in both of his feet. For Mephibosheth, his condition didn't change. He wasn't healed. He didn't, you know, miraculously start walking. His situation physically didn't change, but his life radically changed. Why? Well, this offer from David was extended to him. It illustrates really beautifully how God has invited us to be with him,

And what Mephibosheth does is a good example for us in that he moves to Jerusalem. You see that in verse 13? So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem. That means that Mephibosheth moved. He used to live in Lodibar, but he moved. He changed his address. He said, I'm not going to live there anymore. I'm going to live here where David is, where he has offered for me to be with him. I'm going to put myself in a place where

where I can continue to be a recipient of this kindness that is offered to me. Mephibosheth moved there to Jerusalem to be close to David, to be right where David is. And this evening, I want to encourage you to move to Jerusalem. Move to Jerusalem to continue to receive the kindness that God has for you. Move there. I'm not talking about physically changing your address.

But I'm talking about drawing near to God. James tells us in James 4, verse 8, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. That there is this opportunity on our part to respond to the invitation that God has given. Now again, David gave the invitation in a way that Mephibosheth had a choice to make.

It wasn't a requirement. It wasn't that he was so desperate that he had no choice that, you know, what else can I do but move to Jerusalem? I'm stuck there now in Jerusalem. I have no other options. He could have stayed in Lodibar and continued to receive from Ziba, you know, the shipments of food and be provided for. He could have moved to his grandfather's land, you know, live there on Saul's land. He could have lived there. He could have gone anywhere that he wanted, right?

David's offer was not conditional. It wasn't restriction. It wasn't you have to be here. But Mephibosheth voluntarily places himself there and says, I want to be right here near David, this one who has been so kind to me. And I want to encourage you this evening to draw near to God in that same way. Move to Jerusalem. But then we also see something interesting in verse 13. It says, so Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem for he ate continually at the king's table.

He ate continually at the king's table. And this evening, I would encourage you, eat at the Lord's table. Eat at the Lord's table. I was encouraging Russell on Sunday as he was talking about the upcoming cruise that him and Alex are going to be going on. And I was telling him, eat in the dining room every day. It's like the best experience you'll ever have. You know, it is the best part of the cruise in many ways,

Make sure you, yeah, there's the buffets. They're all good. You know, there's other opportunities. You could do all that stuff, but eat in the dining room. You're going to have a great experience. And in a similar way, here's Mephibosheth. What does he do? He eats continually at the king's table. Again, this wasn't required. He could have fed himself. He could have been provided for in other ways. This wasn't a mandatory thing, but here he voluntarily just accepts this offer of kindness.

Now, a few moments earlier, he's saying, I'm just a dead dog. What am I? I'm not worthy of all this kindness. But he doesn't let that attitude keep him from receiving that kindness. And he actually shows up for dinner every day with David. And he spends time in David's presence. And he receives from David the food that is set before him. He responds to the invitation. And I want to encourage you this evening to do the same thing. In order for you and I to show kindness like God has shown to us, we

we need to keep ourselves at the table of the Lord. Keep ourselves and continue to put ourselves in that close proximity with God so that we can be recipients of his kindness. Jude put it this way in Jude chapter one, verse 20. He says, but you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

He says, look, you need to be about building yourself up and pursuing the things of God and be keeping yourself in the love of God. Continually coming back to the Lord's table. That you would continually be a recipient of God's grace. That you would keep coming back for God's goodness. That you would keep on asking for the Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter 11? I say to you, ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. And

I'm sure you've heard the teaching, the tense of those verbs. It means to keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking. And Jesus is saying, keep it up, keep it up. Keep coming back to the table and asking. Keep coming back to the table and knocking. Keep coming back to the table and seeking and receiving all that I have for you. We know that passage in Matthew chapter 11, where Jesus says, come to me, all you who are labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And Jesus would say, keep on coming back and getting the rest that you need.

Keep on coming back and getting the kindness that you need, that I have for you. This evening, we need to keep ourselves in a place where we are receiving God's kindness continually, eating at the Lord's table over and over, day by day, that we would be feasting at all that God has for us. And as He bestows His kindness upon us, as He pours out His love in our lives and in our hearts, as we receive from Him, then...

we can turn around and demonstrate that same love, that same blessing that we have received from the Lord. We can pass that on to others around us and pursue God's heart of kindness. Seek an opportunity. Is there someone that God wants to stir up within your heart, put on your mind, kind of give you a target and like, this is the purpose of your life for the next few months. Like, just show them my kindness.

Maybe there is. Maybe there's someone specific that God just wants to really blow them out of the water, not with battle, but with kindness. There is a place for battle, and sometimes we need to fight. We talked about that. We'll talk about that again. Sometimes, though, God wants you to be gentle and just,

Be kind for no reason, with no expectations, with no prerequisites, you know, but just like God is kind to us, just bestowing the goodness of God on people's lives. Pursue God's heart of kindness and look for that opportunity. It might not be obvious and it might have some work and some searching involved, but seek for that opportunity and let the Lord show you someone specific.

And when he highlights that, when he puts that person on your heart and in your mind, treat them like family and serve them so that they can experience the love of God through your kindness toward them. And that'll be challenging. So keep yourself in a place to receive God's kindness that you continue to receive, that you continue to eat at the Lord's table, move to Jerusalem and keep yourself there so that you can then pass that on

to the people that God wants to put upon your heart and upon your mind, that you would show them the kindness of God. We want to spend some time in worship as we close out the service this evening. And as always, we want to have the opportunity to minister to one another. And so maybe there's an act of kindness that the Lord wants you to do tonight. And that is just to maybe pray for someone else or encourage someone else. But one thing we can do, we can all do for sure, is to

move to Jerusalem and sit at the Lord's table and just feast on what God has for us. And so Ronnie's gonna come up and close us in a time of worship. And as he does, I would encourage you to just receive from the Lord. If he ministers to your heart in a way and calls you to minister to somebody else and show some kindness, absolutely do that. But let's make sure we sit at the Lord's table and receive from him.

experience his love and be reminded of his grace and his goodness and have our, you know, rest from the Lord that we need, that we would come back to him. And I encourage you to keep yourself in a place where you can receive God's kindness as we worship him and as we go forth from here, that we would have the resources we need to be able to show his kindness to the world around us. Let's worship the Lord together as we seek him.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.