Sermon
Many of us suffered from shame. We can be ashamed of our looks, our past, our jobs, our children or spouses etc. Because of this shame, we want to hide. As we reflect, we will discover there is grace for both our shame and success.
When humans were first created, the naked soul is secure and feels no shame. (Genesis 2:25-Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.)
How does the word “shame” began? When we don’t listen to God and the naked soul is insecure and feels shame.
Nakedness= weakness=not approved by people=feels shame.
Shame= buwsh=to fail in hope and expectation. Embarrassed.
In order to feel no shame, we need to control the information about us in our surroundings. Do you know the story of Cinderella? She needs to get back by midnight as she changes into her old self by then. She needs to control the information or she will show her true shelf. In the story Frozen, the lyrics of the main theme song goes “Don’t let them in, don’t let them see. Be the good girl you always had to be. Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.” The naked soul needs to hide to deal with shame. If you know who I am, you may not like me. Why does the naked soul needs to hide?
It is because of “UNGRACE”. What is “UNGRACE?” Human society runs by ungrace. It ranks people, insist of giving and returning, fairness. Grace is actually unfair. There is a better way to deal with shame.
What is grace?
Grace is the gift of undeserved, unmerited, unearned favour of God.
‘Grace’ means there is nothing I can do to make God loves me more, and nothing I can do to make God loves me less. What does ‘Grace’ look like?
When we became grandparents, my wife said looking at our grandchild “he doesn’t need to do anything, I already love him.” A child needs a source to provide favorably upon them and love them. That’s how God loves us in Jesus’ name.
That’s why we must repent knowing that God’s grace is available for us when we repent.
2 Samuel 9:1-5
Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him [a]kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 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!”
3 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.”
4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?”
And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”
5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar.
David shown kindness to Jonathan’s son for Jonathan’s sake. God also shown kindness for Jesus’s sake.
The word God’s kindness= God’s grace.
Lameness in both feet is repeated throughout the story to emphasize his shame and weakness and God loves us despite of our shame/weakness.
In Lo-Debar (a dry place without grass)- it means that Jonathan’s son is in a bad shape.
What can we learn from these 5 verses? I see your shame and wouldn’t leave you in your shame. I will show kindness to you.
1) I care for you and will look for you to help you
2) I see your shame and won’t leave you in your shame.
Now when Mephibosheth[b] 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!”
7 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.”
8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”
9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. 10 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. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
11 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 [c]my table like one of the king’s sons.” 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.
What does Mephibosheth meant?
It meant “get rid of my shame”! Looks that he couldn’t get rid of his shame! Mephiboseth was afraid but David assured him as he has a covenant with Jonathan to be kind to his descendants. We also have a new covenant with God when Jesus died on the cross for us. When we entered the new covenant, we have a changed life and “be like King’s own son.” We are also adopted into God’s family and became the children of God.
Not just that, Mephibosheth will eat with David and will be taken care of. However, Mephiboseth was alarmed and replied using the word “dead dog”. Do you recall when Saul was chasing David and David also said to Saul “why are you chasing me, a dead dog?” Somehow, the word rang a bell for King David and he could empathize with him. So, whatever we went through-God can use it especially in your brokenness and weakness.
What God says to me about my shame:
I will care for you and look for you to help you.
I see your shame and won’t leave you in shame.
I still love you in spite of your shame
I will add my strength to your strength to help you change what you think of yourself.
I will take care of you like my family.
There is grace for my success. Luke 13:1-5. Repent(means change the way you think of God & your situation) or Perish(lost)
Luke 13:1-9
“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had [a]mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Romans 12 says “Do not conform to the patterns of the world..renewed your minds..” Repentance is to change the way you look at your God, yourself and your situation.
What is this story about? It is a warning to the troubled-free people. In this story, he sensed the hearts of these people as they commented and wondered about those people who died because of the tower which fell on them and the mass killings. They felt “lucky” or “blessed” and perhaps God favored them. We are uncertain about who God is. We judged God by our circumstances. This is a wrong thinking and this thinking will make you perish! (lost). We need to repent which meant we need to change our thinking. Our thinking about God, our circumstances and our situations. We need to repent daily, change the way we think!
How do we change?-Repent daily and say this to ourselves: We don’t deserve a good life from God, we don’t deserve anything. We need to be thankful and grateful to God.
Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
Whatever we have is the Grace of God. When we sad/glad-repent. I want to give you hope. God is committed to saving us from what we deserve.
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it [b]use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 [c]And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”
This is a picture of a gardener (who is Jesus) and he is always giving chances to us.
No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,- Psalm 25:3
“Fear not; you will no longer live in shame.
Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you.
You will no longer remember the shame of your youth
and the sorrows of widowhood
-Isaiah 54:4
Amen