Grace and Kindness in the Church

The second Samuel 3 verse 9. So here's what this is about. This is about Abner and Abner was Saul's commander. A commander of Saul's army and he initially was supporting Saul's son Ischbyshev when David was taking over his king after Saul's death. But this is about when Abner leaves the house of Saul to support David instead. David then forgives Abner and he receives him into showing his grace and kindness to Abner who had been fighting against him, fighting against David and fighting against David's troops. So this is God's word eternally true. Second Samuel chapter 3 verse 9. Abner said, may God deal with Abner be at ever so severely if I do not do for David with the Lord promised him on oath and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David's throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Bushiba. Ischbyshev did not dare to say another word to Abner because he was afraid of him. Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David whose land is it? Make an agreement with me and I will help you bring all Israel over to you. Good said David I will make an agreement with you. Now look down to verse 17. Same chapter just skipped down a few verses to verse 17. So this is chapter 3 verse 17. Abner conferred with the elders of Israel and said for some time you've wanted to make David your king. Now do it. For the Lord promised David by my servant David I will rescue my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies. Abner also spoke to the Benjamites in person. Benjamites for that Saul came from the Benjamites so this was especially significant. Then he went to Hebron to tell David everything that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin wanted to do. When Abner who had 20 men with him came to David at Hebron David prepared a feast for him and his men. Then Abner said to David let me go at once and assemble all Israel for my Lord the king so that they may make a compact or covenant with you and that you may rule over all that your heart desires. So David sent Abner away and he went in peace. Our second passage will be from 2nd Samuel chapter 17. So turn over to chapter 17 and this passage is about Absalom. You know Absalom was David's son and he rebelled against David and came with his armies against Jerusalem and David had to flee. Jerusalem because of his son Absalom attacking him and this pastor's 725 or 17 sorry 1725 is about Absalom appointing Amasa to be his armies commander in rebellion against David. So 1725 Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joe Ab. Amasa was the son of a man named Jethr in Israelite who had married Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Ziraya the mother of Joe Ab. Now just go down skip a verse go down to verse 27. Now this is about Barzalai. Barzalai was a Gileadite. He was probably a non-Israelite he is probably an Aminite. Some folks living in Gilead were Israelites and some were Aminites but he's associated with Aminites here and this is about him providing food and refreshment to David as David had fled from Jerusalem upon Absalom's attack. They get out to a city in Amin on the Aminite border called Malhanam and Barzalai provides for David and his men food and refreshment and new set of clothes all those kind of things. So verse 27 of chapter 17. When David came to Malhanam a shabby son of Nahash from Raba of the Aminites the Mekir son of Amiel from Lodabar and Barzalai the Gileadite from Rogalim brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought weed and barley, flour and roasted grain beans and lentils, honey and curds, sheep and cheese from cow's milk for David and his people to eat for they said the people had become hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert. Now let's go forward to chapter 19. We'll look at verse 13. So chapter 19 verse 13 and this is remember Amasa had been appointed as the commander of the troops of Absalom who were chasing you had chased David out of Jerusalem and fighting against David's army and now David has defeated Absalom and this is about how David deals with the commander of Absalom's army Amasa after his army had after Amasa's army had been defeated by David's men. 1913 and say to Amasa are you not my own flesh and blood Amasa was his nephew actually David's nephew Absalom's cousin say to Amasa are you not my own flesh and blood may God deal with me be it ever so severely if from now on you're not the commander of my army in place of Joab. Now look down to verse 31 this is about David blessing Barzalai the one who had supported him when David was in his dark hour having left Jerusalem and utterly exhausted with his troops having traveled all the way to the edge of Amin and this is David blessing Barzalai for the support that he had given him as David now is returning across in the Jordan River to return to Jerusalem. So 19 verse 31. Barzalai the Gileadite also came down from Rogalim to cross the Jordan with the king David and to send him on his way from there on to Jerusalem verse 32. Now Barzalai was a very old man 80 years of age hey there's another great guy he's 80 years old he had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanam for he is a very wealthy man the king said to Barzalai cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem and I will provide for you. Now our Gospel lesson text turned to first Kings chapter 2. Well look first is verse 1 chapter 2 verse 1 of first kings and then we'll look at our main text today which is chapter or verses 5 5 through 7. So first Kings chapter 2 first verse 1 this still is God's word eternally true when the time true near for David to die he gave a charge to Solomon his son now looked down to verse 5. Now you yourself know what Joab son of Ziraya did to me what he did to the two commanders of Israel's armies Abner son of Nur and Amasa son of Jethner he killed them shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and sandals on his feet deal with him according to your wisdom but do not let his gray head go down to the grave grave in peace but show kindness to the sons of Barzalai and Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table they stood by me when I fled from your brother absolute here and so reading there is a response of thankfulness that's printed for you in your bulletin or up on your screen the word of the Lord thanks indeed let's pray one of the easiest things to do is to hold a grudge right and you can think of as I can people who have been difficult to forgive people who have done things against me yeah yeah even last week I showed you a picture of me when I was little kid in fifth grade and you could see my two coaches there you know and that's the team I quit about eight months later after that picture because even though I was producing on that team I wasn't playing anymore and we deduced is that because they had realized I was leaving I was moving to Ohio and they were starting to develop somebody you know somebody else and in my place and I just wanted to play soccer wanted to score goals in play and so I quit the team and the coach called me our members on Sunday we're eating dinner after or Sunday well Sunday lunch and he called and and I'm sitting at the dining room table there and my dad or mom answered in the kitchen on the phone on a hook on the wall with the curly you know line there and it was you know the long kitchen cord you know you had those long cords in your kitchen so mom could fix food you know the block all over the kitchen corded and I remember they said well John they want to talk to you after you know my dad or mom it said well you know you're not playing him and he just wants to play and so for years you know I just thought you know that was that was it you know and that may have been that may have been it you know that was the end of that story as I joined the wreck league and got on the worst team and we didn't win any games that season because there's all the people who didn't know if they even won the play soccer so they signed up last they got put on the last team but but then I realized just you know like I within the last year you know you baseball season and soccer season were going on at the same time in May you know that year about seven months later and you know soccer was natural for me baseball I had to work at so I went to baseball practice one time when we had a conflict and didn't tell my coaches I told you my fellow players just tell the coach I'm at baseball practice and then and there was a Saturday we had a game like at 10 a.m. and I was at my friend Robert Schingam birthday party and we stayed up all night he had a real pinball machine in his split level basement and we watched Rocky a couple of times it was on HBO and so I was just exhausted I didn't show up for the game because I had been up all night and then so there was a game I went to on the soccer team where they didn't play me all game it was it was Rochester New York so it was cold and rainy and miserable I was on the sideline you know just cold and in my downcoat probably not the minute set of Vikings code you saw up there you saw that and I realized you know they may have not been playing me because I didn't show up for a game and the practice there too but that's you know it's not that I've been holding this huge grudge against them you know if you know the end of that story things that worked out really well there and they actually came and and when we were playing in the championship game with the Rec League they had had practice and they stopped to watch the rest of the game and you know I think they were probably well wishing me you know from the sideline to see see me play and and us do that but but sometimes it can be hard you know we want to hold grudges and some some of us that personality that are more toward that and some others but but it's something we're not supposed to do and we see a beautiful example here of David acting like his great son the great son of David Jesus would act like toward us how do we interact with other people and how do we interact with others in the church how do we treat each other in the church brothers and sisters and Christ and those who just come in and kind of from the outside still not a member yet kind of just interested maybe not even a believer yet but showing some kind of favor toward Jesus and some kind of interest in Jesus and Christianity how do we interact with them what's our attitude what's our demeanor toward them how do we speak to them do we you know when we're in a conversation with someone and see them you know come up toward us you know towards them that's tough isn't it but that happens to us but but there's a lot in these these verses and what David does with with Amasa and with Abner who aren't present here and they're not present here because of Joab and so what we chiefly see here is how David deals with Joab is he interacts with Solomon and you know that yeah I I love when people are strong we're talking about this and at the end of Sunday school you know David's strong here he says you know what he hates that expression don't don't give a sucker a break he tells guys that right before he went on the field I remember guys on the fellow soccer players that went don't let these guys breathe and David tells that the Solomon he says don't let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace nail this dude and so what do we think about that we'll talk about what we you know David doing this and and how it was the right and good thing to do we'll talk about that next week but this week we're talking about you know how David is dealt with these people Amasa and Abner who were two people who were against him fighting people who were David's friends fighting against David fighting to bring David down Abner was one who was chasing David around in the wilderness with Saul so if you like to fill up blanks in an outline here we go the point of this that we're looking at this morning is this is that grace and kindness rule in the church grace and kindness rule in the church they should be fully present to we'll call them here loyalist loyalist to Jesus whether they're long time believers in Jesus or they're new believers in Jesus or they're loyalist to Jesus but they've just come in from out of town and we don't know them that well yet or whether they're just people who aren't even believers in Jesus yet but they're not fighting against him and they come into the church to find out more about him because maybe they'll believe it's a grace and kindness should be fully present to loyalist to Jesus in the church and so we'll talk about that primarily because that's what David and his kingdom the promised land is the church that's where everybody's a believer in the one true God above and there's no dispute and there's to be no dispute in all the promised land over who is God and who's created the heavens in the earth and who is the real God and identification of all other gods is false so grace and kindness should be fully present to loyalist to Jesus in the church and we see this in verse seven we see this in verse in verse five we see this in David's actions and first a second Samuel 3 9 through 21 that we dealt with dealing with Abner David dealing with Abner 1725 which dealt with Amasa and then 1727 through 29 and 19 through 30 months through 30 through 40 talking with bars alive so we'll talk about this now so number one number one here was spelling out looking at grace and kindness fully present in the church number one in the church to the and here's a key distinction to the repentant in the church to the repentance read the repentant serving the King Jesus to the Christians that's what defines a Christian when he's repentant toward Jesus and when he's serving him because there can be people in the church who aren't serving him and that was Joab and there were people in the kingdom people in the promised land who weren't serving David ish Prashek and ish Prashek wasn't repentant toward the Davidic covenant in which God spelled out what what what had been declared here by by Abner as he goes to all Israel and says God has promised on oath to give the kingdoms of David and I know you folks have wanted to be under David now let's do it that's what Abner says is he gathers all of Israel for David see at the beginning David just had Judah his own tribe one tribe and twelve under him and so Abner helps to gather all the rest of the eleven including Saul's own tribe Benjamin under David but this is the parallel to this is now Christians those were repentance toward Jesus and those who were for him and serving him in the church and so first we we stopped there and we say so in the church toward Christians we showed grace and kindness it's abundantly extended to those in the church and so Bob read to us the words of Jesus John 13 verses 34 and 35 Jesus says here's how you act with your fellow Christians with those here your fellow church members with those whom you find our members in another church who are repentant toward Jesus and love him and are serving him he says a new command I give you Jesus says love one another don't be in competition with them one another we talked about this in Sunday school not a competition with other denominations around a competition with other with other church congregations who are preaching Jesus is the only hope for eternal life we rejoice with them as they grow and as people are added to the kingdom of God through them we're rejoicing because our king is Jesus and in poor people are coming under Jesus kingship we're glad for that and so Jesus says love one another as I have loved you that's a big path there as I've loved you so you must love one another by this all men will know that you're my disciples if you love one another so this is how we deal with each other in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ in the church we love one another grace and kindness toward those who are repentance unto Jesus and serving him in his kingdom or you'll Bob read to us as well from Colossians 3 12 through 14 this is how Paul put it these words of Jesus love one another this is how you know your fellow disciples may love love them it's how Paul put it in Colossians 3 verses 12 through 14 it's God's chosen people yes these are the elect the chosen ones the ones who are repentant unto God the ones who are serving Jesus holy and dearly loved close yourselves toward each other with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience bear with each other and forgive each other whatever grievances you may have with it one another you see David in here get good right for grievances with the love good right for grievances with with Abner bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another forgive as the Lord forgave you over all these virtues put on love which binds all those things together graciousness compassion humility patience it binds love binds all those things together binds all things together in perfect unity so even if you're fellow church member is a newly repentant person or newly repentant of being not for Jesus his fighting against the church recently not a believer recently even if that's the case even if someone was recently coming out of his read in our declaration the gospel recently coming out of being an enemy of Jesus which we all the Paul says we were all enemies of Jesus hostile engaged in evil deeds hostile to the Lord you know that's that's a massa that's Abner that's who we are in this passage in these passages that we read in second Samuel we're not David Jesus is David we're Abner we're a massa we're the enemies and so this is how we want to be treated we want to be treated like David treats these former enemies of his and then as those who have been under David a while we want to be like our king David and treat those who are just coming out of their enemy hood to our great king Jesus by treating them with grace and kindness so indeed these new testament directives to us from Jesus and John 13 from Paul and Colossians 3 are seen coming out of the Old Testament in these passages passages that we've dealt with as David handles his former enemies 2nd Samuel 1725 a massa was David's nephew who decided I'm not going to side with my uncle I'm not going to support David I'm supporting Absalom because man he's got great hair

what's that it describes him with no defect no blemish from the top of his head to the bottom of the souls of his feet he was he was one beautiful man and a massa goes with his cousin instead of his king and uncle David and so in 2nd Samuel 25 David forgives a massa and he goes on oath and he says you know far far bit for me he says a massa as David receives him in 1913 he says okay a massa you've been fighting against me you're fighting for Absalom one of the worst periods my entire life Jerusalem which I conquered which nobody could conquer for the Lord wrote a Psalm about it Psalm 24 and you forced me out of it I built no Jefferson airplane right I built that city I conquer that city nobody else could do it Saul could do it and I let us in they taunted me as we did and we we can and I brought the Ark of the Covenant in there and you forced me out of a massa but he says in 1913 but you're my own flesh and blood may God deal with me this is David bringing himself in oath calling a curse upon himself if he doesn't come through with forgiveness for a massa he says may God deal with me be it ever so severely that's that's oath taking God hold me to account on this may God deal with me be it ever so severely if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab amazing he takes the army that commander the army of his opponents and he makes him commander of his own army an a massa's repentance and he starts serving David yes so he's he's a convert you know who wouldn't want to be David should wipe them out and we'll talk about that next week but David should wipe them out and David shows him grace and kindness and favor who doesn't want to serve a king like that and then Abner first Samuel 265 Abner's Saul's commander David had served as young man along Abner when David was fighting for Saul before Saul turned against David so Abner and David were they were the key generals of Saul's army and then David comes to disfavor to disfavor from Saul and then Abner's alongside Saul chasing David through the wilderness and you know that that issue where David sneaks into Saul's camp during the night and and steals the jug and the spear you know and and then calls out afterward the next morning it's Abner and David calls out Abner from the cliff above the Saul's army it's his Abner he should have been protecting your king he's the Lord's anointed and look what I've got here I could have killed your king and you should have been supporting him that's Abner who's chasing David and the wilderness making David's life miserable David writes a lot of Psalms about his misery from Abner to but David likewise second Samuel 3 verses 19 through 21 David makes Abner take the Abner in Abner says he has a spat with Saul's house Saul's son isher chef and he says I'm done with you isher chef and he says David's really the rightful king over Israel and so he sends messengers to David and says David Abner's got to get all Israel under you if you'll come and covenant with him and assure him of your grace and your kindness your mercy toward him toward Abner and David is great I will make a covenant with you go do it and so David treats Abner with with grace and and mercy even though Abner's troops and David's troops at the front of second Samuel they've been in an awful battle with each other where they're their greatest men of their army just grabbed each other by their beards and put knives in each other and all these people are just dead around in a circle and in second Samuel 2 there so here's what for us and this is what you can write here and your line there this is what are king why do we treat why do we treat each other with grace and kindness in the church because this is what our king has done toward the people who are with us and this is what our king Jesus has extended to us Colossians 3 13 bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another forgive as the Lord forgave you so we look to each other in the church and we say you know what he may be a mosa to me he may be Abner to me he may have killed my best friend in battle but my king David has forgiven him and commissioned him to serve him to serve David now and so now we're we're brothers serving alongside each other for our great king David whom all his real agrees should be our should be our king and so we do the same in the church we treat each other with grace and kindness and we recognize that we used to be Abner fighting against Jesus alienated and hostile in mind toward Jesus his enemies and so we realize we've got no foot to stand on and so we forgive our brothers and sisters in the church as we've been forgiven by Jesus of course with this we have the the parable of Matthew 18 where he talks about the two servants who've been forgiven of the different levels of debt by their king and the one forgiven of the ones forgiven of little debt ones forgiven of debt that he could not possibly pay back in his lifetime and he goes out and he puts the screws on somebody goes on a tiny bit of money and Jesus declares not this is evil this is what people do who will in the end in eternity be weeping and gnashing their teeth that's what people act like that's what people are aren't Christians that's what people aren't following me act like they put the screws to they hold grievances against they hold grudges against those who have harmed them of these little tiny things that don't really matter that much when I've forgiven them of all their debts that they could never repay to me and so this is the message to us from Jesus prefigured from David we forgive our enemies especially as they come into the church and have become our brothers so that's number one in the church we extend grace and kindness to the repentance to those who are serving our king Jesus and we extend it abundantly not number two number two in the church grace and kindness is extended to those who come in from the outside and show favor to our king Jesus and so in the first point we're talking about those who come in and and and who've been aliens and and so we talk about this and those who've been hostile but we talk about those who also come from very different backgrounds and what the church is to be likened and this is this hopefully to you is one of the dog points but if somebody comes in from something you know atheism Buddhism Hinduism or whatever it is something not just somebody who's from a different church or somebody's just been out there in the unbelieving world but somebody who's been you know who's a part of a group that's against that's not part of the kingdom in any way shape or form and we see this in David's treatment of those who have helped him in his in his dark hour and one of those one of those people being bars lie but in the church number two grace and kindness is extended to those who come in from the outside from outside of the Christian realm from outside of the church in any sense and show favor to our king Jesus it's over seven this is talking about bars lie he comes and and probably an ammonite he's associated with an ammonite here and the second guy's probably a moa bite who helped David and his troops when they're exhausted having left Jerusalem and and their clothes are worn thin and they're famished but Ephesians 2 11 and 12 11 through 22 the Bob Red Force now in the church in Ephesus what was the issue for them well there were those covenant people Jews who had become believers in Jesus and so there was never day where they weren't willing to be under a son of David so Jesus the son of David comes along and they're like yes we believe Jesus is the son of David he's the anointed king we follow him and therefore we're Christians but then there were these others who had come from completely outside Romans and Greeks during the days of the first century and they were coming into the church as well with belief in Jesus and Paul says well how do you deal with them you Jews who are Christians now Jewish Christians are you separate is there a dividing wall between you should items of temple worship separate you and Paul says no they shouldn't Christ the tour now that dividing wall of temple worship of ceremonial Moses the ceremonial wall Moses stuff and Jesus has created out of the two men Jews and Gentiles one new man united with one with one king one foundation the Old Testament fulfilled in in Jesus and so that's Ephesians 2 or you have simply Matthew 28 19 which you know those you know officer's training and beyond what's Matthew 28 great great it's a great commission we're to make disciples of think about Jesus saying this to his Jewish disciples before they had ever shared the gospel with anybody in Matthew 28 make disciples of just the Jews now make disciples of all nations all ethnicities Romans Greeks and anyone else you can find go to Cyprus go down to Egypt disciples promises report have gone to India you go go to all all people all of the world and make disciples of them and so we should have no snobbery if we come from as most of us have some kind of Christian background even if it's nominal Christian background because this is the gospel pulls us together we're pulled together by our great king Jesus Christians are formed from all nations in all religious backgrounds and they're welcomed and we see this in bars alive here in this passage how does David treat this this foreigner of this 80-year-old he says hey I'm glad to help you when you're nearby I heard you know you're a great king he's like higher him king of higher he just knows David's the guy sounds like mom right he's the guy David's the guy and God it's always going to bless those who bless David and curse those who curse David so I'm going to bless David and so he goes and meets David and mahanam when David is tired and weary and he provides form clothes and pots and cooking stuff and and food so the David can get refreshed and it's that refreshment that it allows David and his troops to defeat Absalom and to win and to get back to Jerusalem so he does that and then the war goes on between Absalom and David meanwhile bars lia has gone back to his home but then when bars lie here is that David has won the war and gets to return back to Jerusalem David's coming is crossing back over from the east side of the Jordan River is crossing over at the low place in the Jordan River the Ford which I know now thanks Anna of the Jordan River and it's a great celebration and people who are loyal to David come and they're rejoicing here's our king crossing over the Jordan River and coming into his realm see Jesus in all this it goes into the Jordan River is anointed king heads off into his baptism in the wilderness which is where David is and mahanam and then he comes back in crosses over the Jordan and he declares hear the good news the king of God with a hand that's for Jesus Christ okay this is all pre-figured right he's anointed king long ago and he goes out into the wilderness and has this deep dark hour David does and as Jesus was assisted by at the end of the 40-day angels come and minister to him bars lia that guy now along with these two others calm and they they refresh Jesus son of David gets refreshed by the ministering spirits of the angels but David is refreshed by these bars like here's this and he comes to celebrate with David and I'm so glad and David offers to bars lie you know come coming with me you'll sit at my table which is the greatest honor in the ancient world the king could do for you that you were guaranteed day in and day out a place at the kings table to eat of his food the finest food in the nation the the the bakers the king the Jamie Oliver's the you know iron chefs and the meal or whatever that I don't watch this cooking shows I do the hamburger helper um and so you know but but you know David offers this to him it says come with me I will provide for you you see that in verse seven I'll provide for you now we we we find out you know bars lie says you know what I'm an old guy um I just want to go home and die you know where my family's lived but he gives him a servant he said I've got this servant um take him as my gift to you David we didn't read that as my gift to you David take this servant among you and let him you sit at your table too and David says great I'll do that so David does that he takes a servant with him as a gift from bars lie and and this servant gets to say to David's table all this time but this is how this is how our king treats those who properly haven't grown up with any kind of Christian background the church is always delighted to have somebody with no Christian background we love it in our church I love it as a pastor it means I don't have to program you out of a whole bunch of evangelical nonsense you know it's like you know I we just get you know because here we teach the scriptures you know and so it's just like you know that's what we love as a session hearing the testimony of faith as people come for communion church membership of the kids because the kids never say well I accepted Jesus in my heart blah blah blah blah you know what the kids say they literally say I'm a sinner and there's no other way to return alive but Jesus and we say to them but if you're a sinner you know don't you deserve God's punishment and they literally say I do we say well you shouldn't God punish you then they say but Jesus has taken my sins and we're like yes you got it it's just so beautiful right Carl I mean it's beautiful these kids that come to us who've grown up in the church and just hearing the truth of the scriptures right and they get it and we're so we're delighted whether somebody's coming from from the womb or somebody just coming from no Christian background at all and we've had that in the church as well people've grown up with nothing from Christianity and we get to bring them in and treat them with grace and kindness and as people come into the church we don't say well you know you should be around for a while and then maybe we'll start talking to you and include a few in our circle of people who are talking before the worship service now we bring people in right away and you folks are great at this you know we bring people in right away they're not believers and you know some of you come to faith in the church and had that you know no background at all or very little background and you come in and people are wonderful and nice to you you know you know Bob will talk to you about you know he came the second time in arts and sounds and remember his name you know didn't know Bob from Adam but met him the week before you know and it's grace and kindness it's like you know a mosque or an abode who wouldn't want to serve a king like David grace and kindness and David you know throwing up a feast for Abner when he comes in hot off his fighting you know and being killing some of David's best men and second Samuel 2 and second Samuel 3 their David is and he's giving up feast for Abner and so that's how we should be toward people who've come from varied backgrounds that aren't just nominal Christian or from other nominal Christian backgrounds or or other kind of backgrounds there David shows bars like kindness and that's an indicator to us of how we should treat people who are not who are not from a Christian background now three now three so that's how we deal with people as they come in our midst that's number two as they come in our midst whether they're from another church congregation whether they're from a nominal Christian Christian background or whether they're from number two no Christian background at all but just have some kind of loyalty and affinity or or sense that Jesus is good like bars the lie if David's good and so I'm going to help him I think his absolute is an interloper and that you're great word I'm not exactly what that means that sounds good interloper he's a he's a a he's a guy with a coup you know he's a rebelling against his own dad there's just something wrong with that and so you know if somebody comes you know with that some sense that Jesus is good grace and kindness to them too they don't have to work their way up to it you know from the get go you're coming in here you're sitting with us we're treating you well here you have some coffee or have a you know whatever somebody's brought for you this morning to eat but then number number three grace and kindness is the starting writing capital M capital L so starting M O and for those who you who are younger that means mode of operation mode of operation M O it means how you act okay how you act so it's your starting a certain way of how you act with people outside of the church when you're at school when you're in your neighborhood or when you're in your job around non non-christians this is how we this is how we interact with those outside the church who don't even have an interest in Jesus hopefully just yet so grace and kindness is the starting M O for you and for me toward those outside the church outside the church too we can understand this from Jeremiah 297 Jeremiah writes to Israelites who have been exiled to Babylon so the letter of Jeremiah the book of Jeremiah Jeremiah in the Promised Land still he hasn't been deported yet but the whole book is written to those who have been deported already okay so that's the book of Jeremiah and he writes to them because they have questions how should we interact with these pagans these Babylonians that were forced to live among now should we be fighting against them and holy war like we fight against people if they come into the Promised Land which God instructed us to do in Deuteronomy 20 wife amount unless they show some kind of affinity to our God and promise to be here without setting up foreign gods and worship sites the foreign gods how should we act toward the Babylonians that were out and amongst and that's our that's our you know what a great example for our M O in life we're Christians we're Promised Land dwellers and this is the Promised Land we're meeting right now in a meeting of the Promised Land and as we're gathered together this is the Promised Land where all our neighbors are believers in Jesus believers at the Son of David he is our king no one's disputing that here as we sit and as I say but as we go out into the world you know you travel out there in your job and in your neighborhood now you're in Babylon and this is why Peter first Peter 5 calls a Rome where he's writing the letter from Babylon it wasn't Babylon geographically but it was just he's out in society and so as we're out in society we do well to heed the words of Jeremiah as he tells God's people living in the midst of non-believers in Babylon how do I treat those who are non-believers in the midst of Babylon in the midst of me living in Babylon and he says in Jeremiah 29 verse 7 there pray for the peace and prosperity of the city to which God has carried you into exile pray for the peace and prosperity of that city you know that that that city and those people they had demolished Judah their home land they had deported them they were about to burn the temple down and and Daniel gets this letter Daniel who's in Babylon he follows it right and serves the king as well as he can't and grieves over Nebuchadnezzar's downfall because he gets this when you're a believer living in the midst of non-believers what's your MO how do you interact with them with grace and kindness you interact with them pray for them pray for the peace and prosperity part of that is that they come to know Christ that's ultimate peace that's ultimate prosperity but you also you're not wishing upon them harm well he's not a believer she's not a believer so I hope all these bad things happen to them God says no you know that the mandates of Jeremiah Jeremiah mandators we sometimes call it is that we treat with grace and kindness the non-believers we're living in this you're non-believing co-workers non-believing neighbors in your neighborhood you're non-believing classmates in school non-believing teammates whatever situation you're in that we pray for their peace and prosperity we see it acted out by Jesus and Matthew 8 a Roman centurion comes to Jesus and says I've got a servant who's sick but you come to my house and Jesus says fine I'll come to your house Pharisees were really happy about that but not right they because he's a Roman but Jesus says here's my son he never so make him talk to me not a part of the people of God not in his real light peace prosperity yeah I'll come to your house I'll heal your servant and the Roman you know shows more faith in the Israelites doesn't he says you don't need to come just say the word and Jesus okay and so we had that last verse there in that passage so he and the servant was healed that very hour centurion gets back and says when was he healed when it's healed you know two hours ago he says that's right when I was talking to Jesus and so this is our example from our King Jesus as it was our example from King David Jesus forefather um how do you interact with people who are part of the people of God what's your starting M.O with them it's grace and kindness now if they're not believers and they start to abuse you protect yourself okay defend yourself don't you know maybe there are people you need to not be not be around but you're starting M.O you're starting M.O is grace and kindness towards them not snobbery not pride but how can I how can I help you how can I help you um Jesus describes God the Father in this way in Luke 6 um verse 35 Jesus says love your enemies yeah this is lingo for those who aren't God's people those who are alienated and hostile mind love your enemies do good to them lend to them without expecting to get anything back vineyard reward will be great and you will be sons of the most high because he God most high is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked so that's our starting M.O the way we are with people in the church the way we are with those who favor David um even though they were enemies though the way we are in the church today with those who are showing some favor whether it's saving faith or just initial interest and actually come into our church setting here and sit alongside us and worship or whether somebody just who's out there a Roman centurion or somebody whether everyone would dispute their wicked or somebody that we know is ungrateful ungrateful to the God who gives them their breath while they sleep who causes their heart to be wicked and ungrateful why are we to be kind to them because God the Father is kind to them he's causing a heart to beat yeah he's causing them to breathe subconsciously as he as Paul said uh to the uh in uh x 13 he's the one he's filling their bellies full of food and giving them joy in their hearts even though they're not believers so be like your Father in heaven who's kind to the wicked and then grateful so we see the example and David here in this passage and we see the example in Jesus as it deals with the Roman centurion and then commands it to us verse 36 of Luke 6 be merciful just as your Father in heaven is merciful so our conclusion our conclusion um what is David's action here as it deals with bars alive and as he adelt with Amasta and as he adelt with Abner what that teaches as Christians looking to our king Jesus who does this even better than David did what's this teaches this teaches this in the church you and I are to be gracious where to be gracious a church should be a place of great graciousness a lot of times that you know the people we get in our church a lot of you have come from churches where you weren't dealt with graciously where there's a lot of judgmentalism where there's a lot of climbing ladders and chairman of this and chairwoman of that you know we don't have any positions in the church except those the Bible has described elder and bacon okay um there's no ladder there's no hierarchy we're having people climb or no getting in good or you have to be around here for a while before we all accept you like an orange peanut um but but we love you from the get go we accept you from the get go we're gracious to you from the get go this is how a church this is how all churches should be gracious and kind that's your second like gracious and kind and that's why we love coming in here right this is the place wherever it is gracious gracious and kind to us uh so we show graciousness and kindness to the humble who have come to favor our king Jesus they come to favor our king Jesus and secondly with those outside the church with those outside the church this practice we have of showing graciousness and kindness to those here that's where we start with everybody outside the church in our neighborhood in our job in our school so with those outside the church that is to be your starting point and hopefully you can just continue that as well let's pray