I don't often post sermons here. Let's be honest, I don't often have proper sermon scripts that I can post! And I certainly don't usually post sermons in advance. But here's what I plan to say on Sunday 5th June at 10.30. If you have friends, family of neighbours that you feel would benefit from hearing this sermon, do please invite them along. I haven't found a way to include the artwork on this slides on this site - sorry about that. Andy.
A sermon on 2 Samuel 22.20
1. God brought me
That’s a long reading, and I’m only going to be preaching on one verse slide 1: it’s verse 20 -God brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
The whole long reading is David’s reflection on his life. slide 2 We’re not sure whether he wrote it in old age or middle age, but it’s been put in the Bible at pretty much the end of the David story, and it’s been given to us at the end of a series in Rolling Worship on David, so let’s look back at what God did for David. “God brought me”, he says.
slide 3 God brought him from being a shepherd to slide 4 being a court musician to slide 5 being a soldier and great military hero to slide 6 being an outlaw on the run earning a living from a protection racket – come to our evening services over the next three weeks if you want to know more about David’s Robin Hood period. And he brought him from being an outlaw to slide 7 being a king – the king, God’s great king – and at the end of 2 Samuel he’s still king but slide 8 he’s old and his kingdom has fallen apart a bit and he’s lost his energy and he’s cold at night and the courtiers have to pack servant girls into bed with him just to raise his dangerously low body temperature. But from David the young shepherd to David the elderly king, God brought him. slide 9
Now I have something to say to the older members of the congregation, and a different thing to say to the younger members, and I need to distinguish between those two groups. So, please stand.
If you made a grunting noise as you stood up, you are the older generation. Just so that you know. Right, everyone sit down.
Older generation, know that God brought you. In every wedding, we pray this prayer: may you reach old age together, and in the company of friends. For some of you, that prayer has come true in full. For others of you, God has brought you through the heartache of bereavement or separation, or on a path of singleness that he honours in full even when the world system sometimes considers it second best. He’s brought you. He’s brought you through joy, he’s brought you through sorrow, slide 10 and you may think this is a self-important thing for me to say but I reckon he’s brought you right here, right now, so that you can hear this message this morning.
Younger generation: he brought you here, too, and right now you are maybe at the beginning of a long obedience in the same direction. He’s brought you so far, and in the words of the baptism service “he promises to lead you safely through life and bring you home to heaven.”
2. God brought me out into a spacious place
And where’s he brought you? slide 11 God brought me out into a spacious place. My life used to be narrower, more confined than it is now, says David. In part that’s literally true (when he was an outlaw he used to live in a cave). But I guess he really means it as picture language. My life was narrow and selfish and cramped and mean and rushed, says David. I cared only for myself and my family, I was under pressure , I had tunnel vision for my own and my immediate friends’ interests, I just kept my head down. slide 12 And now, finally, he says, God has raised my eyes and given me space and time to breath deep and see the big picture.
And for us, the model is David’s descendent Jesus: never in a hurry, never hurrying others. Did you know that the only person Jesus ever hurried is Judas, when he said “what you have to do, do it quickly”? Those of us not planning to betray Jesus to the authorities can take our time. And the more time you spend with Jesus, the more his spaciousness rubs off on you: he’s always generous, always including, always open to others, always secure in who he is, always drawing circles to draw people in even if they try to draw a circle to keep him out. He never has anything to prove, and in his company you never have anything to prove either. There’s nothing narrow about Jesus. There’s a wideness in Jesus like the wideness of the sea, an old hymn says. For the love of God is broader than the scope of human mind, and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind. We make his love too narrow by false limits of our own ... If our love were but more simple we should take him at his word and our lives would be all gladness in the joy of Christ our Lord.
3. He rescued me.
slide 13 He rescued me. David’s life has been a series of rescues – slide 14 God rescued him from Goliath, and from Saul, and from various enemy armies, and from sin, and from despair, and from deep depression, especially after the death of his son.
Older generation, if we passed round the microphone this morning you could tell the stories of how God has rescued you. Rescue from that affair you nearly had, rescue from the power of alcohol when you were self-medicating with it, rescue from financial mismanagement, rescue from choosing the wrong partner, rescue from knife-crime, rescue from holding grudges. Jesus is into rescuing people. Even his name – Jesus – means “God to the rescue”. He’s like the search and rescue pilot risking his life to winch you to safety. Except that he didn’t just risk his life, he gave his life to rescue you.
And here’s the biggest rescue of all, whatever age you are: Jesus can rescue you from a narrow mean life today and from death in the future. He can rescue you today, right here, right now, for a spacious, generous life before death and then a life of joy beyond death forever and ever and ever. So at the end of this sermon slide 15 I’m going to pray this prayer:
Father, I’m in the wrong and I need to be rescued
I trust in Jesus, who died for me and rose again, as my rescuer
Send your Spirit to live in me so that I live for you as Lord. Amen.
If you pray that prayer or one like it for the first time today it will change your life. It will probably make your life a lot more difficult, actually! There’s a cost to be paid, because most of the world ISN’T living with Jesus as king and your friends and family may not like your new more spacious life. But you won’t regret it. It will be the start of a whole new journey.
4. He rescued me because he delighted in me
So here’s the last quarter of our verse: slide 16 he rescued me because he delighted in me. Now, let’s be honest: David doesn’t always get this right. I’ve been reading the Psalms of David for 25 years and I can tell you this: he’s often a self-righteous, arrogant prat. Even in this chapter he starts on about how it’s because of his righteousness and it’s because he has clean hands, and you want to shake him and say “come on David, have you not read your own story? You’re a self-obsessed misogynistic violent murderous adulterer, not to mention a rotten dad. God’s rescues cannot possibly be because of your performance!”
But at least in this verse, David gets it right. He rescued me because he delighted in me. That’s it100%. slide 17 And that’s the heart of the Christian message. You are much worse than you think you are, your hands are far dirtier than you recognise, you aren’t right with God through your performance – but you are more loved than you ever dared hope. slide 18
He doesn’t just forgive you...
He doesn’t just love you...
He doesn’t just like you...
He delights in you.
Every time he sees you, he can’t help smiling. He danced for joy at your birth, he’s got happy memories of your first steps, your first day at school, your first date, your first week of retirement. And I’m telling you, slide 19 if you pray this prayer of following Jesus, his joy will explode like popping candy across the universe. Now, I’m going to ak you to do something scary. If you’re going to pray this prayer for the first time, I’m going to ask you to stand. You don’t have to, but I think it would help you, because all the people around you will be able to support you and welcome you and will you on. Thank you. I’m going to pray it one line at a time – and whether you’re sitting or standing, echo it in your own heart if you want to make it your own.
Father, I’m in the wrong and I need to be rescued
I trust in Jesus, who died for me and rose again, as my rescuer
Send your Spirit to live in me so that I live for you as Lord. Amen.
A sermon on 2 Samuel 22.20
1. God brought me
That’s a long reading, and I’m only going to be preaching on one verse slide 1: it’s verse 20 -God brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
The whole long reading is David’s reflection on his life. slide 2 We’re not sure whether he wrote it in old age or middle age, but it’s been put in the Bible at pretty much the end of the David story, and it’s been given to us at the end of a series in Rolling Worship on David, so let’s look back at what God did for David. “God brought me”, he says.
slide 3 God brought him from being a shepherd to slide 4 being a court musician to slide 5 being a soldier and great military hero to slide 6 being an outlaw on the run earning a living from a protection racket – come to our evening services over the next three weeks if you want to know more about David’s Robin Hood period. And he brought him from being an outlaw to slide 7 being a king – the king, God’s great king – and at the end of 2 Samuel he’s still king but slide 8 he’s old and his kingdom has fallen apart a bit and he’s lost his energy and he’s cold at night and the courtiers have to pack servant girls into bed with him just to raise his dangerously low body temperature. But from David the young shepherd to David the elderly king, God brought him. slide 9
Now I have something to say to the older members of the congregation, and a different thing to say to the younger members, and I need to distinguish between those two groups. So, please stand.
If you made a grunting noise as you stood up, you are the older generation. Just so that you know. Right, everyone sit down.
Older generation, know that God brought you. In every wedding, we pray this prayer: may you reach old age together, and in the company of friends. For some of you, that prayer has come true in full. For others of you, God has brought you through the heartache of bereavement or separation, or on a path of singleness that he honours in full even when the world system sometimes considers it second best. He’s brought you. He’s brought you through joy, he’s brought you through sorrow, slide 10 and you may think this is a self-important thing for me to say but I reckon he’s brought you right here, right now, so that you can hear this message this morning.
Younger generation: he brought you here, too, and right now you are maybe at the beginning of a long obedience in the same direction. He’s brought you so far, and in the words of the baptism service “he promises to lead you safely through life and bring you home to heaven.”
2. God brought me out into a spacious place
And where’s he brought you? slide 11 God brought me out into a spacious place. My life used to be narrower, more confined than it is now, says David. In part that’s literally true (when he was an outlaw he used to live in a cave). But I guess he really means it as picture language. My life was narrow and selfish and cramped and mean and rushed, says David. I cared only for myself and my family, I was under pressure , I had tunnel vision for my own and my immediate friends’ interests, I just kept my head down. slide 12 And now, finally, he says, God has raised my eyes and given me space and time to breath deep and see the big picture.
And for us, the model is David’s descendent Jesus: never in a hurry, never hurrying others. Did you know that the only person Jesus ever hurried is Judas, when he said “what you have to do, do it quickly”? Those of us not planning to betray Jesus to the authorities can take our time. And the more time you spend with Jesus, the more his spaciousness rubs off on you: he’s always generous, always including, always open to others, always secure in who he is, always drawing circles to draw people in even if they try to draw a circle to keep him out. He never has anything to prove, and in his company you never have anything to prove either. There’s nothing narrow about Jesus. There’s a wideness in Jesus like the wideness of the sea, an old hymn says. For the love of God is broader than the scope of human mind, and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind. We make his love too narrow by false limits of our own ... If our love were but more simple we should take him at his word and our lives would be all gladness in the joy of Christ our Lord.
3. He rescued me.
slide 13 He rescued me. David’s life has been a series of rescues – slide 14 God rescued him from Goliath, and from Saul, and from various enemy armies, and from sin, and from despair, and from deep depression, especially after the death of his son.
Older generation, if we passed round the microphone this morning you could tell the stories of how God has rescued you. Rescue from that affair you nearly had, rescue from the power of alcohol when you were self-medicating with it, rescue from financial mismanagement, rescue from choosing the wrong partner, rescue from knife-crime, rescue from holding grudges. Jesus is into rescuing people. Even his name – Jesus – means “God to the rescue”. He’s like the search and rescue pilot risking his life to winch you to safety. Except that he didn’t just risk his life, he gave his life to rescue you.
And here’s the biggest rescue of all, whatever age you are: Jesus can rescue you from a narrow mean life today and from death in the future. He can rescue you today, right here, right now, for a spacious, generous life before death and then a life of joy beyond death forever and ever and ever. So at the end of this sermon slide 15 I’m going to pray this prayer:
Father, I’m in the wrong and I need to be rescued
I trust in Jesus, who died for me and rose again, as my rescuer
Send your Spirit to live in me so that I live for you as Lord. Amen.
If you pray that prayer or one like it for the first time today it will change your life. It will probably make your life a lot more difficult, actually! There’s a cost to be paid, because most of the world ISN’T living with Jesus as king and your friends and family may not like your new more spacious life. But you won’t regret it. It will be the start of a whole new journey.
4. He rescued me because he delighted in me
So here’s the last quarter of our verse: slide 16 he rescued me because he delighted in me. Now, let’s be honest: David doesn’t always get this right. I’ve been reading the Psalms of David for 25 years and I can tell you this: he’s often a self-righteous, arrogant prat. Even in this chapter he starts on about how it’s because of his righteousness and it’s because he has clean hands, and you want to shake him and say “come on David, have you not read your own story? You’re a self-obsessed misogynistic violent murderous adulterer, not to mention a rotten dad. God’s rescues cannot possibly be because of your performance!”
But at least in this verse, David gets it right. He rescued me because he delighted in me. That’s it100%. slide 17 And that’s the heart of the Christian message. You are much worse than you think you are, your hands are far dirtier than you recognise, you aren’t right with God through your performance – but you are more loved than you ever dared hope. slide 18
He doesn’t just forgive you...
He doesn’t just love you...
He doesn’t just like you...
He delights in you.
Every time he sees you, he can’t help smiling. He danced for joy at your birth, he’s got happy memories of your first steps, your first day at school, your first date, your first week of retirement. And I’m telling you, slide 19 if you pray this prayer of following Jesus, his joy will explode like popping candy across the universe. Now, I’m going to ak you to do something scary. If you’re going to pray this prayer for the first time, I’m going to ask you to stand. You don’t have to, but I think it would help you, because all the people around you will be able to support you and welcome you and will you on. Thank you. I’m going to pray it one line at a time – and whether you’re sitting or standing, echo it in your own heart if you want to make it your own.
Father, I’m in the wrong and I need to be rescued
I trust in Jesus, who died for me and rose again, as my rescuer
Send your Spirit to live in me so that I live for you as Lord. Amen.
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