[current book: 2 Samuel]
The book of 2 Samuel begins with David's lament for Jonathan and Saul, slain in battle in the previous chapter.
It's easy to understand why David would weep for Jonathan, his dearest friend who "loved him as himself" (1 Sam. 18:1). But Saul was a jerk. Disobedient to God, murderous toward David, and moody besides, it is astonishing to read that David would grieve the man who had chased him into caves and stymied him from inheriting his rightful kingship promised by God.
So why the tears?
Because David, his heart after God's, saw Saul as God saw Saul. Saul was a slimeball. But he was also God's anointed, whose authority, however undeserved, had been given him from above. Hence in 1 Samuel 26, David rebukes Joab's brother Abishai for threatening Saul's life:
"But David said to Abishai, 'Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,' he said, 'the Lord himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed" (1 Sam. 26:9-11a).
David gets not only that justice is the Lord's but that he himself can bring no charge against him whom God has chosen—not because of Saul's merits but because of God's choice. Later, God would indeed judge Saul. But that's just it: God would judge. Not David.
My point is that David's attitude toward Saul should be ours toward our fellow believers. Just as Saul was chosen by God, so every believer is chosen by God. And in fact, this latter choice surpasses the former, in that whereas Saul was chosen to be sovereign, believers are chosen to be saved. How much more, then, could Paul, writing from the zenith of all Christian theology, later say, "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies" (Rom. 8:33).
Paul's point was that no matter how flawed and broken a Christian is, that person has been made righteous in God's sight. When God looks at him, he no longer sees sin. He sees a child of God, the righteousness of Jesus, a believer for whom Christ died. So often, we think that "Christian" = "someone well-behaved." But this is blasphemy. There is no one "well-behaved" (Is. 64:6, Ps. 53:2-3, Rom. 3:23). The definition of a Christian is: "GOD CHOSE YOU." And if God has chosen a man, there can therefore be no charge against him.
How dare we judge our brother. Jesus Christ is standing before the Father professing—I almost imagine him jumping up and down joyously shouting—the name of every single beloved believer written in the Lamb's book of life. When we accuse, when we judge, when we say even the tiniest tittle against a fellow sibling in Christ, what are we trying to do but tear down Jesus himself from his triumphant place of intercession before a holy God?
When Bonhoeffer lived at Finkenwalde Seminary, he made a rule that no one could talk about another person in that person's absence.1 Extreme? Perhaps. But I like this idea. It certainly guarded against gossip. For just as David said "the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed," so do I say, "the Lord forbid that I should blaspheme my brother."
1Renate Wind, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel, trans. John Bowden, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1992), 102.
"But David said to Abishai, 'Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,' he said, 'the Lord himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed" (1 Sam. 26:9-11a).
David gets not only that justice is the Lord's but that he himself can bring no charge against him whom God has chosen—not because of Saul's merits but because of God's choice. Later, God would indeed judge Saul. But that's just it: God would judge. Not David.
My point is that David's attitude toward Saul should be ours toward our fellow believers. Just as Saul was chosen by God, so every believer is chosen by God. And in fact, this latter choice surpasses the former, in that whereas Saul was chosen to be sovereign, believers are chosen to be saved. How much more, then, could Paul, writing from the zenith of all Christian theology, later say, "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies" (Rom. 8:33).
Paul's point was that no matter how flawed and broken a Christian is, that person has been made righteous in God's sight. When God looks at him, he no longer sees sin. He sees a child of God, the righteousness of Jesus, a believer for whom Christ died. So often, we think that "Christian" = "someone well-behaved." But this is blasphemy. There is no one "well-behaved" (Is. 64:6, Ps. 53:2-3, Rom. 3:23). The definition of a Christian is: "GOD CHOSE YOU." And if God has chosen a man, there can therefore be no charge against him.
How dare we judge our brother. Jesus Christ is standing before the Father professing—I almost imagine him jumping up and down joyously shouting—the name of every single beloved believer written in the Lamb's book of life. When we accuse, when we judge, when we say even the tiniest tittle against a fellow sibling in Christ, what are we trying to do but tear down Jesus himself from his triumphant place of intercession before a holy God?
When Bonhoeffer lived at Finkenwalde Seminary, he made a rule that no one could talk about another person in that person's absence.1 Extreme? Perhaps. But I like this idea. It certainly guarded against gossip. For just as David said "the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed," so do I say, "the Lord forbid that I should blaspheme my brother."
1Renate Wind, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel, trans. John Bowden, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1992), 102.
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