Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Unlikely, Part 1: The Story Of Mephibosheth

Episode Date: November 29, 2014

Broken, vulnerable, and in need of compassion—we can find ourselves in places we didn’t expect. But that doesn’t have to be the end of our story. Learn how God uses the Unlikely to do great things. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving week. I want to tell you next week I'm starting a brand new message series called Come to Worship. Just as the wise men came to worship Jesus, we're going to turn our hearts toward Christ like never before to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. In doing so, we're going to look at four different postures of worship, one each week. We're going to learn why we lift up holy hands to God to reach out and experience Him. We're going to talk about bringing our gifts to God in an act of humble worship. We're going to learn about kneeling our knees and bowing before God in an intimate, sacrificial cry of praise. And we're going to learn to pour out our hearts, bring our gifts, lift our hands, pour out our hearts, and kneel our knees.

I cannot wait to share with you what God has put on my heart. That starts next week. Today, though, you're going to hear from one of my best friends, Pastor Sam Roberts. He oversees all of our life church campuses, and he has a powerful message. called Unlakely. Would you please join me in welcoming Pastor Sam Roberts? Well, I want to welcome everybody out at all of our Lifechurch.tv locations, those of you at our network churches. And of course, from across the globe at Church Online, it is always a pleasure to have you with us. Now, my name is, as Pastor Craig said, Sam Roberts. I'm one of our

directional leadership team members, and I am acutely aware of the pressure that comes from standing up here. In fact, last week at 1057.8. Central Standard Time. I got a text from my mama. And she said, hmm, I hope you're bringing your A game next week because Pastor Craig's on fire with this love song thing. Like, man, okay, now look, I don't have any palm trees we're going to be talking about. No fonds, no pomegranates, no mandrakes.

So don't have anything like that today, but we do have a very special message. But before we get to that, I do want to say, as Pastor Craig just said, he is going to be back next week. He's bringing an amazing series entitled Come to Worship. I don't know about you, but for me, as you move into this busy season, as the holidays descend upon you, there are so many things that can distract us from the goodness and the best that God has intended for us. And these messages that he has created are specifically designed to keep our hearts centered

on the real purpose behind why we celebrate this season. So, man, make it a commitment in your heart and an absolute priority for you and your family to be here every single week during this series, keep your heart centered on the real reason for this season. That's Jesus and him crucified, and I'll guarantee you that if you do that, it will make your holidays much, much better as we learn how to come to worship. And it starts next week today, though. We are going to hear a message entitled, Unlakely. Now, this message is of the story of a biblical character in the Old Testament named Maphibishath. Now, many of you are like, Maphibah, what?

Was he making stuff up? What's he doing up there? And now let me tell you, this is a great story. And many of you may come to church sometimes, and you think to yourself, you get a little insecure. You feel like maybe you don't know Bible stories as well as the person next to you. But understand this. Today, you're pretty much almost all on the same field because Maphibisheth's story is an unlikely one, one that's not taught a whole lot, but one that has a beautiful, beautiful truth.

But before we get there, I want to see by show of hands across all of our locations, you've got to participate. Those of you down in Florida up in Albany, you got to participate. No fun if you don't. How many of you would say that, you know what, in life, there are many times that unlikely events happen to me. How many of you say that's, yeah, I have every single one of us, right? Now, I've got a theory. For those of us who have children, for every child you have, the likelihood of something unlikely happening to you increases by at least tenfold for each kid. I've got five, which means at least every hour something completely bizarre happens to me. Case in point.

A couple of months ago, I'm out and I'm on the tractor, brush hogging a field next to my house. My son Benjamin, who is nine, here's his picture. Yes, this is what he wears all the time. I can't get him off of him. I'm just glad that that's that scent blocking technology and that clothing because I don't want to smell what he smells like because that's all he ever wears. But he comes up and he calls me over. Now, the thing is, you've got to understand about Ben.

He's really into survival and all that kind of stuff. He loves hunting. Me? I'm not exactly a survival expert, so I figured, what could I do? Oh, well, I'll send him under the tutelage of Bear Grills, you know, Man versus Wild, the big survivalist guy, right? And let him learn from him. So I said, I just watch Bear Grills. You'll figure it out.

Yeah, that wasn't a good idea. So he calls me over, and he's got a grasshopper in his hand. He says, Daddy, you see this? That grasshopper was pretty good size. It's about that big. I was like, yeah? He goes, watch you. I was like, you shouldn't do that to that grasshopper.

That's wrong. That grasshopper can't get away from the birds now. He didn't even pay attention. Daddy, Bear Grill says, Now, I should have known when he said that, that whatever was about to come forth from his mouth would have been disgusting. And it was. He says, if you just take your head.

head and you just pull it out like this, all the intrals come out. Sure enough, they did. And he looks right at me, he says, and all you're left with is pure protein. Now, I don't know why he assumed a fighting pose when he started eating it, but he was just looking me down. And then he got to that point where he's going to have to swallow. He's like, I look right back at him. I'm like, well, how was that?

He says, terrible. I bet it was, buddy. I said, but I'll tell you something. Ben, listen, if we ever have like a zombie apocalypse or something and we can't get to have the store to have food, I just want you to know one thing. Listen, you take good care of your mama, okay? Because Daddy going to be dead, because I'm not eating grasshoppers and briar leaves that you pick out and eat.

I'm not eating all that stuff. So unlikely. I was just trying to get some chores done in an unlikely moment all of a sudden happened where I began to learn how to survive from my nine-year. year old son. Well, today we're going to encounter an unlikely and beautiful truth from a biblical character named Maphibishe. Whose story starts for us in 2nd Samuel, chapter 4, verse 4. If you have your Bibles turn there, follow along in your talk notes or on your U-version live event. Any way you like, we're going to be in 2nd Samuel, chapter 4 verse 4. The Bible says, Saul's son Jonathan had a son named

Maphibish. who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when the report came from Jezreal that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. Let's pause for just a second. It's very important to understand the power of this story that we get the context of these characters who are in it. So we're going to go back here and we're going to take a look at this.

First thing that we have is King Saul. So King Saul is obviously, for real, guys. Y'all got the B team up here so y'all can play around. and put all these little, you can't even spell it right, guys. Come on, I guarantee you y'all I'm going to be doing this next week when the boss is back, are you? Playing right, get this stuff off the screen. Okay, so King Saul, right? He's the king of Israel. He is the current king, King Saul. His son is Jonathan. It's important to know that. Then we got our character, Maphibishev, who is Jonathan's son, Saul's grandson, and then we're going to have David.

David is going to succeed Saul as king and become king after Saul. Also to note, this is David, as in David and Goliath, the guy who kills the giant. That's David, okay? So these are our characters. We're going to leave this up here for you as a reference point as we walk through this story. Imagine five years old. You're just simply out playing in the courtyard, having a fun day, doing whatever royal kids do, eating grasshoppers, probably not, whatever, just hanging out, having a good time. the palace doors bust open.

People go into pandemonium, screaming, hollering, yelling. All you know is you're like, what's going on? And they say that your dad and your granddad have been killed in a battle. That's a bad start to a day for a five-year-old kid, for anybody, much less five years old. But it gets worse. They're all in a panic because you see, David was on his way to the palace to assume power. Now that would have been a problem in this monarchy because any time in a monarchy that family lines change, what happens to the old family? They become eradicated. They kill them off. Why? Because you do not want a potential heir to the throne to be alive.

So everybody's freaking out in the palace thinking they're going to get killed, including Maphibishat. Why? Because his dad had been killed and his grandfather, which would have put him next in line. Therefore, he would have been number one to go, right? So, Mephish that's there. He's five years old. My grandfather, my dad are both dead. And then, well, David's coming. Now, understand the context for this five-year-old kid. David was iconic.

Chronologically speaking, when this occurred in Scripture, David had already killed Goliath. In fact, David had had many escapades as one of Saul's top generals, and had gone out and slain many of Philistines for him. In fact, there was a scripture in the Old Testament where people sang a song and said, Saul, he's killed his thousands. But David, who, his tens of thousands. David was iconic.

So David and Jonathan also were really good friends. Therefore, it's almost as if David could have been like this hero to Maphibibish. In modern day times, he may have even had a poster on his wall of him. And David, because of his... relationship with Jonathan, he could have even been like a family friend of Maphibishev. I mean, he was just like, almost like an honorary uncle. So Maphishath is understanding my dad is dead, killed in battle, my grandfather's dead, and now David, it's going to be okay because David's coming and they're saying, no,

he wants to kill you. What do you mean? I don't understand. It's a lot for a kid to try to take in, for anybody. And all of a sudden, they're in this panic, right? Well, in the panic, the nurse picks him up and begins to run as they continue in verse four, and she drops him. And he breaks both legs and becomes crippled.

Five years old. They pick him back up. They don't have time to set a splint. They don't have time to do anything. They just run with him. Out to a place called Lowe-de-Barre, which we'll talk about in a little bit. His dad passes. His grandfather passes.

David, who he thought he could trust, is now going to kind of come killing, and both legs get broke, and they just pick you up and whisk you away. His whole world at five had been flipped upside down. If you ever had a Maphibbushv moment in your life where you're sitting there and everything's just fine, you're hanging out in the past, everything's good, and then all of a sudden a doctor gives you a report that you did not expect. One day you felt healthy, next day you feel like everything has been turned on in. Maybe it's that someone who you thought you could trust violated that trust. Maybe it was a relationship that you thought would go the distance, but it's crumbled down around you in seeming so short of time that it's just put your

whole world on end. And in that emotion, you begin to understand where Maphibh is. And for him, years go by and nothing happens. He doesn't get healed. He doesn't get helped. He's just broken. The story of Maphethishah. But one day, one day, he doesn't get helped. But one day, the Bible says, in 2 Samuel, chapter 9, verse 1. One day, the Bible says, King David, he says, is there anyone left in the household of Saul to whom I can show kindness to for Jonathan's sake? Now, based off what we know about the killing off of a monarch, that's, that's a weird statement, right? It's kind of interesting. Unless you understand context, you see, as we talked about, Jonathan and David were actually very, very good friends.

And one point in Scripture, what had happened was David had been an ointed by an Old Testament prophet named Samuel. Jonathan was aware of this. The anointing was that David would be the king of Israel. Jonathan believed it. Therefore, he talked to David and said, listen, when you become king, would you show kindness to me and my family? Because remember, it wouldn't be a good thing for Jonathan if the royal line changed.

He said, would you show kindness to me and my family? And David says, as surely as the Lord lives, I will show kindness to you and to your family. That he had made this promise, this covenant with Jonathan, that he would do this. And the Bible records in 2 Samuel 9 that one day, I don't know why. Perhaps it's the same kind of year, the same time of year where David had lost Jonathan. Maybe it's that they were out doing something that he and Jonathan used to love to do together. and for whatever reason it brings to mind for David this promise, this covenant, his love for his dear friend whom he has lost. And he says, is there anyone left whom I can show kindness to for

Jonathan's sake? Anybody left? So they summoned this guy named Ziba, who was one of Saul's servants, and they ask him this question. And Ziba replies to King David and says, well, yes, there is one of Jonathan's sons still alive, but he's crippled in both feet. He just kind of pushes him aside as if, well, you don't really want him. Why would he do this? Because you see, in this day and age, and in this culture at this time, to be broken in your legs, you understand, there's no ADA compliances, there's no handicap ramps, there's no wheelchairs, there's nothing for him. So this society would in many ways push him aside and consider him like a burden and he's kind of worthless. Now, in our point today, in our culture, we understand this to be absolutely absurd and quite

ridiculous because we know that any physical limitation placed upon you has no bearing on God's ability to work through you. And in fact, many times he works through you in a greater way and in a greater sense. So we understand it to be absurd. But in the context of this story, It's important to note how quickly Ziba just brushes him aside. He's like, yeah, but, you know, there is one, but you don't want to mess with him. This is not the response that David gives, though. He says, well, where is he? I want this kid.

Ziba replies, well, he's out in Lodabar. The house of MacKir is where he is. David says, go get him. Lodabar was a place that meant a place of no bread. It's considered like an arid, dry, like a desolate place, a place way out. You would almost say that Mapheth had been placed in the witness protection program, right? Because they wanted to kill him, so they pick him up and they take him out to this place, this distant place, a place of no bread.

In fact, in First Chronicles chapter 8, it's important to note that in the genealogy of King Saul, Mephisheth was not even actually his name. His given name was Mirabelle, which meant an opponent of Baal. Bell was an Old Testament false God. So it's as if his father, Jonathan, named his son, Mephibis, Mirabelle, saying, you are of royal lineage, you are an opponent of false gods, you are stating, you're royal, and you are my son, Mirabal. But his name got changed to Mapheth, which means

son of shame or shameful thing. So could you imagine five years old, you lose your father, your grandfather, your legs become broken, those whom you thought you could trust, you can't. You're taken away from a palace left out in some place called Lodabar, and your name is changed from an opponent of bail and Mirabelle to Bibisheth. You son of shame. So, Maphibisht has lived many, many years out in Lodabar.

We do not know how many years. The Bible is not very clear on this. We do know that he's grown at this point. He's not a little kid anymore, and he's grown, and he's out there, and Ziba comes to the door and knocks. And he says, hey, it's Ziba. I'm here from the palace. King David wants to see you. Now, for Mapheth, is this like a good day?

Is he like, well, sweet. I've been waiting on this moment. No. It's like the incarnation of all the fear and the worry and the terror that it haunted him for years is coming to his door because he had to have grown up hating David because it's David's fault that I am out here in this desolate place. It's David's fault that I'm a fugitive. It's David's fault that my legs got broken.

It's David, and now he wants me dead. I knew it's been coming. They've been telling me it's been coming for years. And now the time is here. Had it been what he felt. But this is where the story takes an unlikely turn. We see David's response be quite different than what Maphethivish had thought. We're going to pick up here in verse 7 in 2nd,

Samuel 9, where the Bible says, don't be afraid, David said, because Mapheth had been brought before him. He says, don't be afraid. I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan. I will give you all of the property that once belonged to your grandfather, Saul, and you will eat here with me at the king's table. Maphibibovith bowed respectfully and exclaimed, Who is your servant that you should show such kind of? to a dead dog like me. What a terrible thing to say about yourself. I'm a dead dog.

But then we almost see why. Right here in the next verse. It says, all these years of hiding had made Mephibisheth think of himself as worthless. You ever found yourself at a place where you kind of felt like you'd become worthless? Maybe you weren't worthy of something. or maybe you felt inadequate for the task that's been put before you? You see, for Maphibishev, in this moment, as he's receiving this blessing from King David, everything that he had believed, everything that he had known,

everything that he had internalized about David had been wrong. He had to be confused, trying to figure out what it's going. on. He had to be bowing, waiting, knowing, coming to the palace, just waiting on the sword to come across his neck. But it didn't happen. Everything that he had thought, everything that he thought was about to happen, everything that he knew David stood for, everything that he knew David wanted to do to him was wrong. And in the same way, many of us find ourselves pushing ourselves spiritually out to a place like Lodabar, a desolate place spiritually, where we begin to believe in internalize these things that we think about God.

We think, oh, he's mad at me because, well, I haven't been doing what I know I probably should be doing for him. Or, you know what, he's mad at me, and I know he's upset, and he's just waiting to drop a hammer on my head. He's just waiting. I know that it's just coming. Or maybe it's that you've carried guilt for years for something that wasn't even your fault. But for some reason, you carry this guilt, and you think God is upset or angry in some way.

And what I'm here to tell you is that that's just wrong. You see, in the same way that David had an unlikely and a different outcome for Maphibibcheth, God's desire for you is to bless you and to bring you a hope and a future. It's a twist in the story all of a sudden for Maphibishevah. Now, it's important to know then at this point, David, says to Ziba, Ziba, come here. I'm going to give Maph your master's grandson all of his land. I'm going to give king all.

So think about this. He gives Maphabushchev all of King Saul's land. Not like a little garden over here to the corner. He gives him everything that had belonged to his grandfather, who was king. Therefore, he gets a vast amount of property. Then David says to Ziba, oh, you and your household? all 35 of you and your service, you're going to actually now serve Mapheth. And so they all have to serve Maphibibisheth. And then I love this

in verse 11. The Bible says, and Mapheth ate regularly at the king's table like one of the king's own sons. How about that? This kid from five having all of this stuff happened to him, all these terrible things, all of these years, all of the sudden get flipped on in in like this beautiful story of restoration and David bringing him to a place of honor and power. We love the ending of this story. We love it when we see somebody who really didn't deserve that and gotten dealt a hard deal. All of a sudden end up being restored and almost like vindicated like, yes, we want to just stand up and shout and fired up. Why? We love seeing things like when somebody who,

who never got that chance, but yet had a great voice. And then they get to jump up on a stage and sing in front of a few judges, get a couple chair turns, and next thing you know, they're the next pop icon. And we step back and hug, five, five each other, and like, whoa, did you see them? They were so good and all that. And we love this, right? And we cheer them on because we love to see the underdog.

Or like when maybe some tragedy strikes and you see a family lose a father, and all of a sudden the mom's doing everything she can to keep things together and the house starts to fall down around them and it's in disrepair and they don't have the money and these people swoop in and they just take this broken down shanty and they create a castle out of this thing in one week and then they stand in the street and say move that bus and people are crying in the street and we're all crying on the couch why because we love these stories of mercy and redemption and we love it why because these types of stories. This story of Maphishab and this little boy who had had this terrible

beginning yet ends up with this beautiful ending, that type of a story is etched on the very DNA of our souls because you've got to understand that we are Maphishath. You see, the story of Mephisheth is a true story from the Old Testament that also is an allegory of what Christ has done for you and for me. What do you mean? I'm Maphishev. Well, if you're taking notes, this is important. Write all this down. Right here, we're going to fire through this. How are you Mapheth? Well, first, we are fallen and broken. Oh, perhaps you are not fallen and broken physically, but every single one of us are fallen and broken spiritually. You see in Romans chapter 3, Verse 23, the Bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of God's standard in the same way that Maphibishath had fallen and was broken.

We too are fallen and broken. Second, but the great thing about this story is Maphisht wasn't just left there. We are pursued by the king. Just as Mephisheth was pursued by King David, we're pursued by the king. Not a king that's here on earth that can grant us land or some kind of wealth or material possession. We are pursued by the king of king and the Lord of Lords. We're pursued by Jesus Christ. In John chapter 3, verse 17, the Bible says, oh, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world to condemn the world.

Oh, no, he had something unlikely. He didn't send it to condemn the world as the world may think. Oh, no, he sent it so that he could save the world through him. an unlikely twist to the story. And the same truth is true for us that, you know, as Maphibishe was pursued by King David, we have been pursued by the King of Kings. So we were fallen and are broken.

But we were pursued by the king. And then last is that the king's table covers our sin. Let me explain it this way. Back here we have a table. Now, perhaps if you live in the United States, this last week at Thanksgiving, you sat at a table similar to this, or for those of us across the globe, different places, maybe it's at Christmas dinner that you sit down at a nice table or whatever event. And we sit at a table with family and friends and different people. And when

Maphibishevishath, remember verse 11, the Bible says that he ate regularly at the table, the king's table, like one of the king's own sons. When he says, he said, he ate regularly at the table, the king's own sons. When he sat at the king's table, it's important for us to know that when he sat there, his crippled, broken condition in his legs was covered by the king's table. And when people looked on at Maphibibishath, they didn't see a broken young man. They saw someone who was of power, who was a position, who had been granted access by the king. And they saw someone who sat there like one of the king's own sons. In the same way, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and his blood that was shed for us

covers our spiritually broken condition. And we are made whole and complete at the king's table because the sacrifice of Jesus covers our sins in the same way that the table covered Maphibishas broken condition. You see, we're made whole, we're made complete underneath the power of Jesus's sacrifice and forgiveness of our sins. We, too, are made like one of the king's own sons. You see, you may think that you are broken and useless, but God says that you are chosen and invited to this table. In Luke chapter 22, Jesus said these words.

He said, I now grant you the right to eat and drink at my table and in my kingdom. Verse 13 in 2 Samuel 9. It says that in Maphibishev, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem, and ate regularly at the king's table. we knowing that we are Maphibibisheth. You could just insert your name in there. And you say then, well, and you, who were broken, now eats regularly at the king's table. Because you see, we were fallen and are broken,

but we were pursued by the king and the king's table. Oh, it covers our sin. even though we may think that we are broken and useless, oh no. God says that we are chosen and invited. And that is something to be thankful for. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for the truth and the beauty of the stories that come from your scripture. and we pray that these truths would permeate our hearts and souls today. As you're praying today in an attitude of prayer, maybe you're here and you find yourself at a place where your world's been turned a wee bit upside down,

like Mithubisht's that one day. And maybe you've had some bad news or there's a relationship or maybe you have a friend who's going through some really difficult times. And you just need God's assurance that in the very midst of this trial that he's there, and he's working things out. I'd love and be honored to pray for you. Those of you say, man, yeah, I find myself there or a friend's there. I just want some prayer.

Just lift up your hands and say, yeah, that's us. That's me. There's hands going up all across this place. Father, there's so many different things that can happen. And God, I pray that even in the midst of these things where we don't understand all of your plans and your purposes, I pray that we would receive that peace that comes from you, that peace that surpasses all understanding that in the midst of these trials and these trying times that we will see that you are working all things out for the good at those who love you

and are called according to your purpose. Still praying today with our heads bowed and eyes closed. There's others of you who you hear this beautiful story and it stirs something inside of you and you wonder to yourself, could it be true? Yes, it is true. Why is that? It's because we begin to understand that we are fallen and we are broken. But the beautiful thing is that we are pursued by the king and he can bring Jesus, King Jesus alone can bring us forgiveness because of the sacrifice that he made on our behalf. Here's a beautiful truth from this story. You see, Maphibcheth could not do anything to earn David's favor. and this blessing that David had given to him.

And in the same way, there's nothing that we can do to earn God's goodness and forgiveness in our lives. Ephesians 2 says, you know what? Even when we were still sinners, Christ came and he died for us. You see, it's the free gift of God. He pursuing you right now. That thing that's stirring on the inside of you at this very moment, that feeling of, man, could this be? this need for purpose, this need to feel forgiveness, that is the king pursuing you.

And when you say yes to Jesus, man, his sacrifice covers our sin and makes us whole and makes us new. And there are those of us across all of our locations who need to say yes to a relationship with Jesus to find forgiveness and to find purpose, to find meaning and truth and to find completeness and wholeness in the king. who is pursuing you so that you can be made new. Those of us today who that's the decision that you're here to make across all of our locations, lift your hand boldly right now and say yes to Jesus. Jesus, come in, be my Lord and be my Savior. Right here in the middle section, welcome into God's family.

Back over here to my left. Welcome into God's family. Those of you at church online, click right below me. Say yes to a relationship. Find wholeness today. Completeness in the king who pursues you at the far back right over here. Yes, welcome into God's family. Understanding today, people are finding wholeness and completeness

as people's hands are continuing to go up. With those who are making this decision today, let's just lift our voices and pray this aloud together. Pray along with me. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place. Even when I was broken, you sent him to be my sacrifice. I receive your forgiveness. and I believe your truth that I can be made new, that I can be made whole, and be made complete in you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, and everyone said, amen. Amazing story of God's truth, grace, and mercy today.