2 Samuel 11:1-27     OT p. 277 or 389

[1] In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

[2] It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.

[3] David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, "This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite."

[4] So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house.

[5] The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant."

[6] So David sent word to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David.

[7] When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going.

[8] Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king.

[9] But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

[10] When they told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?"

[11] Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing."

[12] Then David said to Uriah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day,

[13] David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

[14] In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

[15] In the letter he wrote, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die."

[16] As Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant warriors.

[17] The men of the city came out and fought with Joab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was killed as well.

[18] Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting;

[19] and he instructed the messenger, "When you have finished telling the king all the news about the fighting,

[20] then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, 'Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

[21] Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbaal? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.' "

[22] So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.

[23] The messenger said to David, "The men gained an advantage over us, and came out against us in the field; but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.

[24] Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king's servants are dead; and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also."

[25] David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another; press your attack on the city, and overthrow it.' And encourage him."

[26] When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him.

[27] When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, [NRSV]

INTRODUCTION:

Thinking about all the things we've read here in First and Second Samuel, I decided to check out the TV Guide. did you know there are thirteen Soap Operas on television? And that's not counting what shows up on the Soap Channel where they show reruns of Soap Operas 24 hours a day. there are some I've never even heard of before, like Passions, Port Charles and Sunset Beach. And what happened to the one my mother used to watch, "The Edge of Night?" Where did it go? Anyway, Soap Operas abound and have a loyal following.

I've got to share a story I just read. It seems a particular woman was asked to teach a junior high Sunday School class. Everything went along fine until she reached the lessons on sex. This is not a subject that is easy for adults working with this particular age group to broach. Although the teacher worked out a well-balanced, Biblically-based lesson, her kids seemed pretty uninterested. That is, until one kid asked if there were sex stories in the Bible. The teacher assured them that there were both good and bad examples of sex represented in the Good Book.

Well, Now she had their undivided attention. For the rest of the class time, the kids feverishly searched their Bibles, looking for sex stories. For the next few days, parents called to congratulate this teaching on her teaching abilities. The junior high class seemed to develop a great love for Bible reading.

Of course, none of these parents knew WHAT the children were reading about. They just knew their kids were reading the Bible, and they were happy. Then came the call from the most overprotective mother at church. She was enraged that her son was reading about sex in the Bible. That Saturday night, the Christian education committee of that church had an emergency meeting to discuss the matter of the Junior High Sunday School lessons.

They decided that, because of the controversial nature of the material in the Bible, NO FURTHER SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS WOULD INCLUDE THE BIBLE. (1)

I guess that is ONE solution. But can you imagine, not studying the Bible in Sunday School. That would be like not mentioning the Resurrection on Easter. The real solution, of course, was for the parents to sit and talk openly with their teenagers about what the Bible has to say about human sexuality and what God expects in our lives. But that's hard to do.

To be real honest, the Soap Operas have nothing on the Bible. The Bible is filled with plot lines and stories that would make some of the writers of day time soaps blush in embarrassment.

Today's story of David and Bathsheba is one of those plots. "Passions" really would be a good title for this Soap but since it's taken how about "Jerusalem 90210." I've got a better idea, let's revive my mother's favorite and call it "The Edge of the Kingdom."

Actually I prefer to think of this story as "The Miss, The Kiss, The Mess, The Rest."

I. THE MISS:

A. The Bible is filled with stories about heroes, champions, leaders, judges and kings. And those stories tell us all about them. You would think that if it was about the greatest people in the history of our faith, it would only show the good stuff. We'd leave out all the negative stuff. As Animal in Kelly's Heroes said: "We don't need not negative vibes, man."

But the one thing about this book of truth, the book containing the Word of God, is that it is brutally honest about us. It leaves no foible unrevealed. It leaves no sin unidentified. Thus the story of this Miss.

This chapter almost starts out like a fairy tale or a tall tale. It begins like one of those epic tales of heroism and bravery. "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah."

See, it's starting out as one of those great stories to tell around the camp fire. A saga of bravery and victory that will be sung about by the conquering troops of Israel for decades. Can't you feel it? But then it takes this high speed turn, wrenching our stomachs and our sensibilities to a screeching slide into another kind of tale. One of sin and deceit. For the verse ends: "But David remained at Jerusalem."

B. What is this? David, the King of Israel, the champion of the little guy, who has been extolled by the writer as being the one whom "The Lord gave victory to . . . wherever he went." (8:6) The one who, "won a name for himself" because of all of his victories. (8:13) David, who "reigned over all Israel; and . . . administered justice and equity to all his people." (2 Samuel 8:15) David stayed behind? Why? Was he sick? Tired of war? Wounded? We really don't know but as it turned out, it wasn't a good thing.

Because it just so happened that one afternoon David was walking on the roof. Now don't think of our suburban homes. Think of Middle Eastern style structures with flat roofs. They used those roofs sort of like we use our backyard. So, there's David, minding his own business when all of sudden, boioioing his eyes nearly pop out of his head like the character in a Max Fleischer cartoon. His jaw drops, his tongue hits the floor and he is suddenly overcome with a severe case of Intelligence Deficit Disorder.

You see, at the very moment that Bathsheba caught his eye, he could have and should have turned away but he didn't. He let his curiosity and his lust get in the way of his good sense.

Now, there have been those who have tried to implicate Bathsheba as being the seductress, but there is no indication from Scripture that she was doing anything but innocently bathing on her roof. But at this point, in my opinion, to suggest otherwise is either male chauvinism or an attempt to let David off the hook for his own mindless actions.

In any case, this is where we see David Miss the mark and we meet The Miss.

II. THE KISS:

A. Meeting The Miss of course, leads directly to The Kiss. No plot twists to get there. It's pretty straight forward. David is the one with the power. He finds out who this ravishing creature is and sends for her immediately. That was his second mistake.

David would have been better off if he had listened to the advice of ten year old Regina who said, "I'm not rushing into being in love. I'm finding fourth grade hard enough."

I'm sure being the King was hard enough without all the complications that were about to happen. Don't you wish sometimes, you could just reach back in history, grab David by the collar, smack him upside the head and say, "What are you thinking?"

It probably wouldn't have helped. Because David wasn't in love, he was caught in the throes of lust.

Let me tell you about lust. Lust isn't about sex. Lust is about desire. It's about possessing some one or some thing. It grabs a hold of you and won't let go. It's the worse grass burr there ever was. You can't ignore it because it causes an itch that absolutely needs to be, screams to be scratched. It's worse than 10,000 mosquito bites or chigger bites. It's worse than poison ivy. It's worse than hives. And Calamine Lotion doesn't work. And it seems that the more you try to ignore it or the more you scratch it, the worse it gets.

B. You see, I know exactly how David felt and what he faced. A number of years ago I was coming home from a Conference meeting in our old brown Chevy station wagon. I was driving along minding my own business when all of a sudden, I saw her. She was absolutely beautiful, perfect in every detail. There she was just sitting out there for everyone to see, unconsciously showing off all of her beauty.

I'm sorry to say I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I drove past and then I did something I had never done before and will probably never do again. I turned around and drove back by that yard so I could look again. Of course, I had to turn around one more time, so I could go home. And this time, I slowed down so I could get a really good look.

For the next week, that's all I could think about. I found myself going out of my way to drive by to see if she was out there. And then one day I did the unthinkable, I stopped. And she was there. That was the biggest mistake I've ever made. I stopped and that lead to everything else. The next thing I knew I was at the bank taking out a loan to buy that used black Chevy short bed pickup.

When I drove it, I knew it was exactly what I wanted. And even though my better judgment told me I needed to have a good mechanic look her over, I was in the throes of lust and didn't pay any attention. Well, you know the rest of the story. About six months after the new had worn off I began to discover why I got her so cheap. After air conditioner repairs, front end, transmission and brake repairs, along with a new head gasket, I discovered that my beauty was actually at least three wrecked trucks put into one.

Yeah, somebody should have smacked ME and I think Mary tried. Because it was The Kiss that got me, just like it got David. He couldn't control his lust and it cost him dearly. And lust for that little black truck cost me, too. Thank heavens it was only a little bit of pride and the money for repairs.

III. THE MESS:

A. The Miss and The Kiss caused The Mess. The mess I got into only cost me money and a little personal pride. The Mess David got into cost him dearly.

You see, he not only fell, David plummeted into the depths of sin dragging everyone with him. He was so embarrassed by his actions and so taken with Bathsheba, that when he found out she was carrying his child, he began plotting ways to get out of the jam. There was a headline in a newspaper that read: "Robbers Hospitalized After Trying To Rob FBI Agent" (-- AFP headline.) David had to have felt just as stupid as those guys.

But rather than admit that he was wrong, he thickened the plot. When the first ploy of giving Uriah special leave to be with his wife, didn't work because Uriah was such an honorable leader; David had to come up with something else. And of course, just like in all soap operas, the first thing he thought of was murder.

David even got his most trusted General and friend involved. He ordered Joab to put Uriah in the front lines of the most dangerous offensive. Then like the hypocrites they were, David and Bathsheba mourned Uriah's death.

B. Oh, how the plot thickens. And oh, how the plot sickens. Carol Burnett had it right. This story is worthy of her parody soap opera that was called "As The Stomach Churns."

What a mess. David loses the trust and respect of Joab who has stood by him all these years. He loses one of his greatest warriors. His love for Bathsheba is and always will be tainted by its illicit inception. He loses favor in God's eyes. And together, he and Bathsheba lose their first born son as punishment from God. The Miss lead to The Kiss that caused The Mess. Is there any hope of redemption?

IV.THE REST:

A. And that brings us to The Rest. Or as Paul Harvey would say, "And now, for the rest of the story."

God was definitely not pleased. Had you and I been in God's shoes, we probably would have slapped David around a bit, maybe even treated him a lot like Job. I know I would have watched with glee as lightening bolts charred him to a crisp golden brown that even Colonel Sanders would have been proud of. But there was one thing I've discovered about God through reading the Old Testament. God is filled with more grace than I had ever imagined.

I had always read the Old Testament as a book of law and retribution. And if you get stuck in Genesis or in the laws and sacrifices I can see how that opinion is shaped. But if you study who God calls and how God treats those chosen for leadership, you find a God of Grace and forgiveness. You find a God who wants us to be the best we can be.

And in order to make us the best we can be, sometimes God let's us choose the worst things possible for us. God let's us make bad choices and live with the consequences. Then in the midst of the mess caused by those decisions and bad choices, we find out that the best way to go was really God's way and not ours. And then we really discover the best thing about our relationship with God. We discover that the best thing God offers, is God's Grace and Forgiveness.

B. (Use Disconnected String Trick) My Dad taught us that our actions have consequences. And that every time we did one thing, it caused something else to happen. It could be good. or bad. It could be big or little. But that the two were in extricable tied together. Science even says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

But in the Kingdom of God, that's not always true. Sometimes our actions do cause others things. We know what's right and wrong and we try to even things out. But most of the time, we find that God's grace takes care of the wrong and the inequality. And that they aren't really connected at all. We find out that one is not dependent upon the other.

Especially when repentance is involved. We know that The Miss and The Kiss caused The Mess. But Repentance was The Rest.

You see, David a had a change of heart. When Nathan confronted David with what he had done, David came under conviction and he realized what an idiot he had been. He realized how much he had disappointed God and how far he had strayed from God's will and purpose for his life. And in humble anguish for his actions and what his actions had caused, David fell to his knees in repentance.

And God forgave him. He and Bathsheba still had to live with the earthly consequences of their actions but God forgave David and was able to continue to use him. God grew David to become the greatest King Israel would ever see.

CONCLUSION:

While Rev. Bob Russell's church was under construction, he decided to go up and inspect the partially finished roof. On the roof, he saw something that took his breath away. The company that was insulating the church was the Grace Ice and Watershield Company. Every sheet of insulation had the company name printed on it in huge letters. So as Pastor Russell looked across the unfinished roof of his church building, he saw the word "GRACE" stretching out before him, covering everything he could see. GRACE, GRACE, GRACE, GRACE everywhere he looked. The church building was literally covered in GRACE. (2)

And that is the Good News both for today and every day. You see, it's not only Rev. Russell's church that is covered by grace. Every individual in the entire world is covered by grace. There is no one who is so bad, no one who is so perverted, no one who is so disillusioned or desperate that they cannot experience the Amazing Grace of God that we find in Jesus Christ.

(Use Lotta Bowl) Why? Because God is full of Grace. God is a God of second chances. God is a God of redemption who doesn't want us separated.

And just when we think that God doesn't have any more to give. Just when we think we've emptied ourselves and the well of God's grace has dried up

Yes, David did Miss the Mark and Kiss the Girl and Make a Mess of his life. But the Rest of the story is all about God and God's Grace, God's love, God's redemption.

We've all Missed liked David, We've all Kissed the wrong thing and made a Mess of it. But remember, if God's grace was sufficient for David, it will be sufficient for you, too. That's the promise of our Risen Savior, Jesus. Trust Him.

1. GET OUT THERE AND REAP!, (St. Louis, Mo.: Bethany Press, 1976), pp. 33-36.

2. "Preaching and Applying Truth," by Bob Russell, Preaching, July-August 2000, p. 12.

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