THE RISE AND FALL

THE COVENANT OF THE KINGDOM

2 Samuel 7:1-17<= /b>

God’s steadfast love never ends.

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A sermon pr= eached by

Rev. Willia= m O. (Bud) Reeves

First Unite= d Methodist Church

Hot Springs, Arkansas

March 2, 20= 08

During= the 2007-2008 NFL regular season, New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady s= et the record for most touchdown passes in a regular season, paving the way for his winning the MVP award. Al= though the Patriots lost the Super Bowl last month, at the age of 30, Brady has already won three Super Bowls—an accomplishment that sets him apart as one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game.

In 200= 5, Tom Brady was interviewed by 60 Minutes journalist Steve Kroft. Despite the fame and career accomplishments he had achieved already, Brady told Kroft that it felt like something was still lacking in his life: “Why do I have three Super B= owl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would= say, 'Hey man, this is what [it's all about].' I reached my goal, my dream, my lif= e. Me? I think, 'It's got to be more than = this.' I mean this isn't—this = can't be—all it's cracked up to be."

Kroft = pressed Brady as to what the right answer was, and Brady added: “What's the answer? I wish I knew… I love playing football, and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find.”[1]

What is it that constitutes success in = life? Do you ever wonder about that? Is it a Super Bowl victory? Apparently not. Is it wealth or fame or power̵= 2;the usual denominators of worldly success?&nbs= p; Or does success have something more to do with the significance of a person’s life? Maybe our significance is found not in what we accomplish, but in what we receive as a gift.

Today we are going to talk about one of= the most successful and significant people in the Bible—King David of Israel, the Lion of Judah. He has been described as “a = man after God’s own heart,” and he had a tremendous impact on the history of the Hebrew people.

David came from obscurity as a shepherd= with a talent for poetry and music. He was brought into the court of the first king of Israel, Saul, to provide soot= hing music for the disturbed monarch. His gifts and his leadership soon elevated him to a position of riva= lry with King Saul, and the books of 1 and 2 Samuel tell the dramatic tale of h= is rise to power. Even after he ascended to the throne, there was always drama in King David’s court. It’s an interest= ing story.

Today’s Scripture finds David on = the throne of Israel, havi= ng moved the capital to Jerusalem= . For a change it is a calm moment b= etween conflicts. David brings up th= e idea with Nathan, the court prophet, about building God a house where the ark of= the covenant can be stored and God can be worshipped. After initially agreeing with Davi= d, Nathan got a word from the Lord that became a touchstone of Israel&= #8217;s hope. God told Nathan that he had never lived in a house and didn’t n= eed one now. He had taken David f= rom the pasture leading sheep and established him on the throne leading the nat= ion. God would make a great nation of David, and his successor would be the one = to build God a house in Jerusalem= . (That would be Solomon, David̵= 7;s son.)

The covenant God makes with David is to establish his family as kings over Israel forever and never to t= ake his steadfast love away from the king: “I will not take my steadfast love from [Solomon], as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.&nbs= p; Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; yo= ur throne shall be established forever.”[2]<= ![endif]>

Maybe that passage is not on your “greatest hits of Scripture” list. But it is tremendously significant= for the development of God’s people.&nbs= p; Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann calls it “the bold articulation of a new theological claim surpassing anything yet known in Israel.= ” He also says, “I judge this = oracle …to be the most crucial theological statement in the Old Testament.”[3] In other words, pay attention!

The covenant God makes with David is an agreement of faith, but it is unconditional. David didn’t earn it; he was chosen for this. He could do nothing to destroy his heritage; God promised to continue it forever. It was an unconditional promise, l= ike God’s love, like God’s grace.

This covenant became the source of Israel’s hope. The Davidic prom= ise became the taproot of the belief in the Messiah, the king like David who wo= uld come and make everything right. So the nation became a community of hope, and no matter what happened, they ne= ver lost faith that God would be faithful to his promise given in the covenant.=

The covenant had a historical reference. This was no “= ;pie in the sky” promise. The kingdom was to be established on the earth, in the nation of Israel,= by a human king who would be descended from David. As David sang in one of his songs, Psalm 27, “I believe t= hat I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”= = [4]<= ![endif]>

Politically, it didn’t happen as anybody expected. Within two generations, the kingdom<= /st1:PlaceType> of David was split = in two, and eventually both kingdoms were conquered and destroyed by invading armies. Israel ceased to exist for a = while, and then it came back as a vassal state, subservient to foreign powers until the time of Jesus. It was not= what they expected. But the dynast= y was not dead. Hope was still aliv= e, because God is always faithful to his covenants. Surely he would send the Messiah s= oon.

Then came a new Teacher. He made this proclamation: “The time is fulfilled, and the = kingdom of God has come near; repent, and bel= ieve in the good news.”[5]<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God and through him, the promise to David was fulfilled. The cove= nant was kept. The Messiah had arr= ived, and the Kingdom was inaugurated, not as expected—with a re-establishm= ent of the political sovereignty of Israel—but with a Christ who was crucified for the sins of the world. Jesus was a historical agent actin= g in unconditional love to bring hope to the people. That is significant!

But what does this covenant mean to us today? How can this promise m= ake our lives more successful or significant?

I think you’ll agree with me that= a lot of the stuff we call successful is pretty much meaningless. I read this week about a guy named= Rafael Antonio Lozano, who goes by the name Winter. He is a strange man with a strange mission. The 35-year-old comp= uter programmer from Plano, Texas, is on a quest to visit every company-owned Starbucks on the planet.&nbs= p; He began his mission in 1997, when there were 1,304 such stores worl= dwide. Today, there are over 9,000 in 46 countries. As of February 20,= 2008, Winter had visited 7,174 Starbucks in North America<= /st1:place>, in addition to 457 others around the globe.

As impr= essive as that is, Winter is realistic about the nature of his quest, saying, &quo= t;As long as they keep building Starbucks, I'll never be finished." He is also realistic about the impo= rtance of his mission. "Every time I reach a Starbucks, I feel like I've accomplished something," he said, "when actually I've accomplishe= d nothing."= = [6]

As much= as I love Starbucks, I think God has something more significant in mind for us.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> God’s covenant promise calls= us to engage the present in ways that make a difference in the world right here a= nd now. The Kingdom of heaven is= real, but so is God’s world, and we are called to be in ministry and missio= n in this historical context.

This we= ek I had another God-moment at the hospital. I ran into one of our Stephen ministers who has taken on as her mini= stry helping the chaplains visit patients a couple of days a week. She is a very positive, happy pers= on with a big heart, and when I said her name and asked, “How are you today?” I wasn’t expecting her to burst into tears. But she did. Of course, I asked “WhatR= 17;s the matter?” She had ju= st had a series of heart-breaking situations that she had visited: a man with no l= egs, a woman who had left her own hospital bed to visit her husband down the hall who had suffered a stroke, and it was their wedding anniversary. Sometimes the sadness can just ove= rwhelm you, and it did her on Thursday morning.

We talk= ed for a minute, and I put my arm around her shoulder, and we prayed together in the hallway. Then I told her to g= o take a coffee break. As I walked o= n down the hall, I realized that I had written the room number wrong for the perso= n I was going to see, and I didn’t have anybody on that floor. God had just given me a divine appointment! What a double blessing—to see a volunteer so engaged in ministry that she weeps for= the pain of God’s children, then to feel like God used me to support that ministry.

Charles= Wesley put it this way in his hymn, “A Charge To Keep I Have”: “= To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill; O may it all my powers engage= to do my Master’s will!”[7] We have a calling to ministry. We have a church to build. We have Kingdom work to do. We cannot be satisfied or complace= nt with the status quo. As long as there is a person walki= ng the streets of Hot Springs who does not know Jesus, as long as there is a child= or a youth that needs to know the love of God, as long as there is a lonely pe= rson needing a community of faith, as long as there is one hungry, one hurting, = one sick, one sad child of God on this planet, we cannot be satisfied with givi= ng less than our best to God.

Because= we know that one day we will be satisfied. We are a community of hope, and we know that one day our journey here will be over, our task will be done, and we will enter the Kingdom place God has prepared for us. We’= ;ll hear his voice say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Master.” We will know t= he fullness of his steadfast love, and it will all be worth it.

Bob Rus= sell, retired from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville= , Kentucky, buried his father on a cold, b= lustery day in Pennsylvania. The roads were too bad for ca= rs to go to the cemetery after the service, so the funeral director told Bob he w= ould take the body to the grave. B= ob couldn't bear the thought, so he, his brother, and their sons piled into a four-wheel-drive SUV and followed the hearse to the cemetery.

In his = own words, Russell says: "We plowed through ten inches of snow into the cemetery, got about 50 yards from my dad's grave—with the wind blowing about 25 miles per hour—and the six of us lugged that casket down to = the gravesite. We watched the body lowered into the grave, and we turned to leave. I felt something was undone= , so I said, 'I'd like for us to have a prayer.' The six of us huddled together, and= I prayed, 'Lord, this is such a cold, lonely place.' And then I got too choked up to pra= y any more. I kept battling to get = my composure, and finally I just whispered, 'But I thank you, for we know to be absent from the body is to be safe in your warm arms.'"= = [8]

For Kin= g David and the Hebrew people, hope was defined by the promise of the Messiah. Today, our hope is defined by the reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Either way, it all boils down to t= he steadfast love of God. We can engage the present age, and we can have hope for an eternal future, because= our God is a faithful God. He mak= es covenants, and he keeps them. No matter what else happens, he will not withdraw his love from us. When we are afflicted with the pai= n of illness or grief, when our enemies attack us on every side, he will not let= us go. As David sang, “All the p= aths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant.”[9]

As he p= romised to David ages ago, God wants to give us the Kingdom. The Messiah Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock,= for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”= [10]= That’s Good News!

*Brennan Manning, in his book Lion and Lamb<= /i>, tells a story about Arnold Palmer, at one time the greatest golfer in the world. Once he played a serie= s of exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia. The king was so impressed that he proposed to give Palmer a gift. Palmer humbly said, "It really isn't necessary, Your Highness. I'm honored to have been invited."

"I= would be deeply upset," replied the king, "if you would not allow me to give you a gift."

Palmer = thought for a moment and said, "All right. How about a golf club? That would b= e a beautiful memento of my visit to your country."

The nex= t day, Palmer had delivered to his hotel the title to a golf club: eighteen holes, clubho= use, driving range, the works!

The mor= al of this story, according to Brennan Manning, is this: In the presence of a Kin= g, don't ask for small gifts![11]

God wan= ts us to have his Kingdom. His promise= is unconditional. It starts here= and now as we engage in ministry. It lasts for all eternity. We can always have hope, because God’s love is always steadfast and faithful= . This is no small gift; it is the greatest of all! Amen!

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