April 14, 2025 • 28 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches
special Monday Morning Coffeepodcast on this podcast, our
preacher Mark Roberts will helpyou get your week started
right. With look back atyesterday's sermon so that we
can think through it furtherand better work the
applications into our dailylives . Mark will then look
(00:28):
forward into this week's Biblereading so that we can know
what to expect and watch for.
And, he may have some extrabonus thoughts from time to
time. So grab a cup of coffeeas we start the week together
on Monday Morning Coffee withMark.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday
Morning Coffee podcast forMonday, April the 14th. I'm
Mark and I am holding somereally good coffee. A young man
at Campbell Road last week. Heworks in a coffee shop, brought
me a bunch of coffee. How greatis that? Really appreciate
that. Really enjoyed being atCampbell Road. That's a
wonderful church. But of courseit was just a amazing to be
(01:15):
home yesterday. So good to beback where I belong and I trust
the preaching yesterday. Helpedall of us to give some
consideration in a better way,the 9:00 AM hour, some better
consideration to our marriageand taking care of that. And
then to think about theauthority of Christ. That's
where we are in the preachingnotes, which I want to give you
in just a moment. And we'regonna think a little bit about
(01:36):
kings and and the authority ofkings even in our Bible reading
as we move forward in SecondSamuel chapter 13. So buckle up
lots to go on. Pour that cup ofcoffee, get ready, get set.
Let's go. Yesterday's sermon inthe 10 40 was about bowing and
sovereignty, bowing to theking, the reasons we kneel
(01:57):
before Jesus. That sermon wasset off, and I've been thinking
about it probably since then bya comment that a man made in
Oxford. We were touring therewhere CS Lewis did his life's
work and all the things thatwent with that. And we got to
talk a little bit about theking. They had just gone
through all the coronationfalderal in celebration for
(02:18):
Prince Charles becoming KingCharles. And I just asked, Hey,
what do you think of this guy?
What do you think of the king?
And he made some verydeliberate comments about the
king being the head of theChurch of England and some of
his behavior and that that didnot seem like that actually
went very well with being thehead of the church. And then he
said, why do I need to bow tothis guy? He's just, he's just
(02:40):
a man. And I have thought a lotabout that since then. And I
hope the sermon yesterdayhelped you to think about
kneeling before Jesus. For mostof us, bowing to a king is
pretty foreign territory. AsAmericans, we don't do that
kind of thing. But of coursethat's a fundamental concept in
Christianity. Jesus is the kingand he is our sovereign. We bow
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to Jesus because Matthew 28 18tells us, Jesus said, all
authority in heaven on earthhas been given unto me. We bow
before him because we recognizehe has all authority over
everything, including our verylives. So bowing is much more
than just a physical posture.
It is an act of submission.
It's about doing what the kingcommands not out of force, but
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out of recognition of hisrightful place as the king.
Now, oftentimes , I've spokenabout Bible authority and how
we need to have Bible authorityfor what we do as Christians.
And you know what? At its corethat's really just asking, do
you respect the authority ofthe king? Do you submit to the
sovereignty of the king? Do youbow to King Jesus? So today I
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want to leave you with thisthought. Every choice we make,
every action we take canreflect our answer to that
question. Will we submit to theking's authority acknowledging
he is Lord over everything, ourdecisions, our time, our lives?
That's that's really nothingmore than asking, do you
respect the authority of theking? Do you bow to King Jesus
(04:10):
Hope that helps you from thesermon on Sunday. Let's keep
that spiritual momentum movinginto the week. And now let's
find second Samuel as we beginto talk about another king,
king David in second Samuel 13.
(04:40):
Welcome to Monday and Monday'sreading is Second Samuel
chapter 13 verses one to 22.
Trigger warning. Of course,here this chapter involves
sexual violence and sexualassault. It's just dreadful.
It's just awful. And it comesoff of what happened with David
in Bathsheba. When Nathan comesand pronounces God's word to
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David, he tells him the doublepunishment will be, the sword
will not depart. And what hemeans there evil in your house
is that there will be adversityin bloodshed in the royal
house. And then he also saysthat God has decreed, his wise
will be taken from him. Andwhat happens then after chapter
12 is that immediately thesethings begin to come to pass.
(05:21):
God's word cannot be broken.
God's promises cannot bebroken. And particularly, and
especially here, we see thatyes, you do reap what you sow.
And as we begin chapter 13, andwe're talking about Amin here,
I do think it is significantfor us to get a birth order
going and make sure that we aretracking the suns . Amon is
David's firstborn while Salm ishis third born , but there's no
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mention at all of chili doesn'tseem to be on the scene.
Perhaps he is dead. So Amin andAbsalom would've, yeah, they
appear to be the chiefcontenders for the throne. We
would call Amon the crownprince or the heir apparent.
Verse two is very difficult inthe Hebrew, the idea, and
there's different translationsof this, it seemed impossible
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for him to do anything for heror to her, is that he's just
love struck . He is. He's justTwitter paid . He doesn't know
how to handle or conducthimself around her. But there
is no doubt that what he isasking for is sinful and wrong.
This is not to be done. It isforbidden in the law. But verse
four in the Hebrew is just fullof a lib of a liberation . How
(06:27):
about that? A lit ? I need morecoffee. Hmm , literation. It
would be sort of like sayingI'm totally taken with
tremendous Tamar and many waysthis just seems like a spoiled
son of a king who is used togetting his way and taking what
he wants. Wow. Where would helearn that from? Unfortunately,
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Tamar falls into his trap.
Verse eight, the Hebrew thereseems to indicate that he may,
she may have been preparing himsome kind of special food for a
sick person. And so then hegrabs her and makes clear what
he wants to do. And in verse12, she gives a beautiful and
powerful answer in verses 12and 13. She says, do not
violate me for such a thing isnot done in Israel. Do not do
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this outrageous thing for wherecould I carry my shame? And you
would be as one of theoutrageous fools in Israel Now
therefore, please speak to theking. He'll not withhold me
from you. Let me deal with theend of that verse first. I
don't think the king would'veallowed them to marry. I think
she's just grasping at strawsand trying to say anything in
this awful situation. Butplease notice why we don't sin.
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First verse 12, this is notdone in Israel. We are God's
people. We are God's people. Wedon't act like this. This is
not what we do. We're not likethe pagans who are involved in
every kind of sexualimmorality. Then verse 13,
where could I carry my shame?
You need to be concerned forothers. Sin is just
selfishness. It's just allabout me. Don't be all about
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you. Think about me. And thenyou'll be like a fool. Be
concerned for yourself. What'sgonna happen to you if you act
in this perverted and sick sortof way? So then verse 15, Amon
hated her with a very greathatred. So the hatred with
which he hated her was greaterthan the love with which he had
loved her. And he said to her,get up and go. But she says,
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verse 16, no I I , I wanna staywith you. And that well
indicates this is a great placeto talk to our young people
about the different perceptionsoftentimes between men and
women about the sexualrelationship. Oftentimes men
can view the sexualrelationship as little more
than notches on their belt,whereas women see that as
something that ought to bebonding them to someone for a
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permanent relationship. That'swhy one of the many reasons why
premarital sex is forbidden inthe Bible , it just causes
confusion, hurt and heartache.
And that's exactly what's goingon here. One scholar said in
verse 15, at this point, Tamarprobably felt she now did
belong to Amon. She was nolonger a virgin and she
couldn't be married to one ofher father's potential allies.
(09:00):
Rather than loving her andclaiming her for his Os once he
had assaulted her, thescriptures recorded that Amon
hated her now more than he hadloved her before. It's just
dreadful and awful. And thereally worst part of it is
verse 21. When King David heardof all of these things, he was
very angry. But please checkthe marginal note at the bottom
of the page or in the centercolumn reference if you have an
(09:23):
ESV , it says the Dead SeaScrolls and the Sept ad. But he
would not punish his son Amin'cause he loved him since he
was his firstborn. Now that iscontained in a scroll from
Kuron , the Dead Sea Scrolls.
And it is not yet, there's notyet enough manuscript evidence
to write it into the text, butit says something about David
as a father and that he'sfailing as a father. He needs
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to do something about this. Butthink about it, what could he
do? He had done exactly thesame thing. He had taken a
woman, he had no right toAmman's just acting like his
father. And that causes Davidto be powerless or at least to
feel like he's powerless to doanything about it. This is just
(10:06):
dreadful and we'll see more ofhow it falls out because David
doesn't act. That doesn't meanno one is going to act. Absalom
is about to come center stage.
Our reading for Monday, secondSamuel 13, one to 22. It is
Tuesday. It is Tuesday. Andtoday we're finishing Second
Samuel 13. Our reading forTuesday is Second Samuel, the
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13 chapter verses 23 to 39.
This is a prettystraightforward reading, not a
lot of complications here. Whatwe get now is Absalom deciding
to take care of this Aminproblem. And so in verse 23,
they're gonna go to Baal Hazel, which is about 15 miles
northeast of Jerusalem. And theidea seems to be that Amon
verse 26, since he's the crownprince, he should stand in as
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David's representative. I dowonder if David has some
suspicions and worries aboutAbsalom because in verse 27,
Davidsons all of the sons.
Surely Absalom wouldn't dareattack Amon with so many of the
sons present. But Amon istrapped. He is ambushed in the
servants of Absalom. Verse 29did to Amon as Absalom had
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commanded, Amon is killed here.
There's a false report thateverybody got killed, but
that's not the case at all.
It's just Amin. Absalom has aplan. His plan works flawlessly
except he then is not welcomein the royal court anymore. He
ends up fleeing verses 34 to39. He runs verse 37, about 80
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miles northeast to the home ofhis maternal grandparents in
Geisha where his grandfatherTalai is the king. And probably
the only difficulty in ourreading today is verse 39, the
spirit of the king longed to goout to Amsm because he was
comforted about Amin since hewas dead. Well, what exactly
does that mean, particularlygiven the fact that David does
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not speak to Absalom for twofull years. As we'll see in
chapter 14, verse 24, chapter14 and verse 28, if he longed
to go out to him, what's thedeal? Why didn't he bring him
back to the royal court? Thetranslation here turns on the
meaning of the verb co law .
Does it mean David longed forAbsalom? Or it could mean that
David was spent in the sensethat he no longer felt a need
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to pursue Absalom. David wantedto bring him to justice, but
after he was comforted about amand he decided to just let it
go, all of this still sayswherever you are out of verse
39, that David just continuesto be a weak father. He's not
doing anything about someterrible situations in his own
(12:39):
household and that is going to,mm-hmm that's
gonna come back around and bitehim. That is absolutely going
to cause him a lot of problems.
Don't forget Westsiders. We dohave Zoom tonight. Really nice
to have the zoom call when wedidn't get to have it last
week. Look forward to seeingyou on Zoom tonight, Westsiders
at seven o'clock. Those of youwho are not members of the
(13:00):
Westside Church, we'll see youon the podcast tomorrow when
we're reading further in secondSamuel, our reading then for
Tuesday, two Samuel 13 verses23 to 39 . Welcome to
Wednesday. Our reading today istwo Samuel the 14 chapter. And
this is quite a lengthychapter, so let's get right
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into it. Remember again, twoSamuel 12 verse 10. Nathan
warns David is part of thepunishment for his sin with
Bathsheba, your house will betroubled and here comes
trouble. Some of that troublecomes in the person of Joab .
We get a lot about Joab in thischapter and it is fair to ask
why Joab is so interested inbringing Absalom home. The text
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does not tell us why Joab is sointerested in why he intervenes
so much. It just may be that heexpects Absalom to be the next
king and he's trying to pavethe way for him to have a job
in the new administration.
We're not certain about allthat. Maybe he's just being
loyal to David and he knowsthat David's heart hurts with
his son being out of kilter andout of place. But there's a ton
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of schemes and counter schemesgoing on in all of this. So
Joab knows first one that theking's heart went out to
Absalom. And once again, thisis just like yesterday in 1339.
There's a ton of difficultywith this. Heart goes out or
yesterday it was the king longto go out, especially because
there's no Hebrew word for goout or long for in 14 one. So
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the translators are trying tofigure out how to smooth the
text and what the intent of thetext is. The new King James
has, his heart was concernedabout Absalom. The NIV has
heart longed and the ESV hasheart went out. Lots of
different ideas here. And itseems to me that this is a
place where rather thandebating the nuances of the
Hebrew, we just get a sense ofit from the context. From the
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context. If David's heart wastoward Absalom, why this
scheme? If David is sointerested in bringing him
back, why does Joe have to comeup with a wise woman of Koa ? I
think this passage is sayingthat that David was done with
Absalom , that he's notinterested in bringing him back
at all. So the koan womanarrives per Joe Abs orders and
(15:14):
she tells this long story versefour to 12. And mostly her
story is about if we fulfillthe law, it's really gonna
create a big hardship. Shewants the king to overrule the
decisions of her clan and toshow some flexibility because
of the extenuatingcircumstances. Nobody saw the
crime. It appears to beunpremeditated. She would be a
(15:35):
widow. Um , she is a widow. Butthen as a result she would've
no one to depend upon. Andthere, there seems to be a
tone, verse seven, that this isjust a bunch of, this is just a
bunch of land grabbers who aretrying to get her inheritance.
So she gets the king to admitand agree to make an exception
for her. And so the king does.
(15:56):
So verse 11, and then she makesapplication of the story. She
is not content with hate. Okay,okay, okay, whatever lady, I'll
see what I can do about this.
No, she then goes on to say,life is brief. Verse 14. We
need to do something now. And Isee that you're willing to do
something for my son, but youdon't do anything for your son.
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And in verses 15, 16 and 17,she sort of jumps back into her
story to sharpen the point. Shebrings up her own situation
again. 'cause she doesn't wantDavid to think that her main
point is the main point. No,it's not really about me, it's
about you. And that you need torestore Absalom. So Joab then
is singled out. Verse 19. Davidknows immediately he's been
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tricked. This is kind of likeNathan the prophet in chapter
11 with his parable. And Davidsays, joy , I put you up to
this. And she says, yes, hedid. So Absalom is brought back
to Jerusalem, but there's noreconciliation verses 21 to 24.
That's a great message toparents about alienating your
children, giving them thesilent treatment when , when ,
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when children do wrong. We needto take care of that. We need
to deal with that. There needsto be teaching, there needs to
be instruction, there needs tobe discipline, and then needs
to be over. Don't let kids sulk. Look what happens to Absalom.
He ends up mad at his fatherand will ultimately even
attempt to murder his own dad.
So finally, Absalom isreconciled verses 25 to 33. And
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we get some more informationhere about Absalom. We know
already that he is ruthless. Hewill murder people or order the
murder of people. In chapter13, he orders the death of Nan
. But now we get that he's justvain. He is completely vain,
but he's in Jerusalem for twofull years without coming into
the King's presence. So hesays, Hey Joab, why? Why aren't
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you helping me anymore? Andmaybe by now verse 29, Joab has
perceived that the winds havechanged and that he does not
need to back this horse in therace. But Abso says, I want
your help and if you're notgonna help me, I'll burn your
fields down. So moreinformation on the kind of
person that Absalom is. He isnot to be trifled with. He's
used to getting his way. Heexpects to get his way. He
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looks like a king. He's vainand beautiful and handsome and
all of that. This is a spoiledrich kid and you better pay
attention to him. But David didnot pay attention to him. It
seems then that Joab verse 33finally arranges some kind of
reconciliation. But it's beenfive years that Absalom and
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David have been angry and beenapart. And that's too long. As
David's about to learn. Ourreading for Wednesday is second
Samuel 14 . Welcome toThursday's reading for
Thursday. We read Second Samuelthe 15th chapter. And this is a
brutal chapter. This isprobably without any doubt,
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David's worst day. It's beenapproximately nine to 12 years
since he sinned with Bathshebaand he just keeps reaping what
he has sown in his ownhousehold. All of his
mismanagement just comes to ahead. He should have dealt with
Amon for raping Tamar. Heshould have dealt with Absalom
for the revenge murder of Amon. He should not have alienated
Absalom with half forgiveness.
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And it all blows up in his faceright here. So Absalom steals
the hearts of the men of Israelin the first six verses. Notice
he does a couple of things. Heprepares a royal looking
procession so that he looksimpressive and important. He
complains about governmentbeing inefficient and not
taking care of people. That'salways so easy to do. People
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are still doing that. When yourun for office, you don't say,
my opponent's doing a decentjob, but you know, I think I
could do a better job. No ,what you say is he's doing a
terrible job. Oh my, nobody'sgetting justice here. And then
he kisses men when they comeinstead of asking them to bow,
what a thrill. Here's the crownprince treating me like I'm a
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peer and he really works onhis, I'm the common man. Look.
And again, we just see that inpoliticians all the time today.
How often do you see apolitician out on the campaign
trail and he takes off hisjacket and loosens his tie and
rolls up his sleeves like he'sa regular Joe. Those people are
, they're not regular joes.
Okay? Enough about that.
Absalom is not a regular Joe.
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And one writer just gave anexcellent commentary on people
like Absalom. And Absalom isone who advances his own
interest by pretending a deepdevotion to the interest of the
people. Bingo, that's Absalom .
And so the rebellion begins inverse seven. There's a scribble
question there. Is it four or40? It has to be four because
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David was only king for 40years in total. And Absalom
goes to Hein and of course hegoes to Hein because that's
where David was anointed king.
It is the religious center ofthings. It is the place to
anoint kings. He wants to looklike a king. And he takes a lot
of men with him, which makesthe rebellion appear to be a
lot stronger than it really is.
But part of the rebellion is aoph , a heel's son is Elam
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Bathsheba's father. Chapter 23verse 34. So there's another
link to the second Samuel 11Bathsheba sin. The result of
all of this, of course, is thatDavid has to evacuate the
capital . He does not know howstrong the rebellion is. He
does not know who is for himand who is against him. And the
answer is to get out of Dodge.
And David acts decisively andhe acts at once , verse 13,
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which is very characteristic ofDavid. He does not sit on his
hands and get caught. He movesout. And as he's moving out,
some things happen that arereally, really impressive. It
tied the getti verse 21, superloyal . That's a great contrast
with Absalom and especiallywith a hit Tre treachery. And
then in verse 25, David has nosuperstitions about the arc.
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If, if I'm not serving God, ifI'm not doing right, carrying
around the gold box isn't gonnachange anything. Don't bring
the ark. If God wants me, ifGod wants me to triumph, he'll
bring me back. Having thegolden box won't make the
difference. Such a hugecontrast to some earlier times
in Israel's history when theyaren't serving God. But hey, if
we just bring the arc of Godinto battle, we'll triumph
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'cause we have this big luckycharm. No, no, no. First Samuel
four , by the way, has thelucky charm story, not the
serial, the Ark of theCovenant. And then I really,
really love verses 31 to 34because here is the consummate
example in David's life ofprayer and action. He prays in
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verse 31 and then Hai , thearchive comes sailing out and
David says, Hey, you'd be aburden to me if you're
traveling with me. Maybe. MaybeHai is old. You go back in
there and you mess up Absalom'splans, he'll trust you. Give
him bad intel, give him badadvice. You can do it. So David
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has prayed for God to destroythe rebellion of Absalom and
then gives God something towork with. Sometimes when we
pray, we we imagine now we canjust sit on our hands and do
nothing. Or we run to the otherextreme and we think we have to
do everything we pray. But Godisn't really going to do
anything. No planning andprayer go together. Prayer and
activity go together. By theway, that's a risky mission for
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Hy . That is a risky missionfor Hui . But verse 37 ends
this dramatic chapter. David'sfriend Hy came into the city
just as Absalom was enteringJerusalem. Woo . Hard to stop
reading the story now. It'sreally getting good. But
tomorrow will be in the Psalms.
Today's reading, Thursday'sreading second Samuel 15.
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Welcome to Friday, our Biblereading today. Psalm three.
Always a good feeling to get toFriday, isn't it? Many things
done during the week. Lotsgoing on. We're looking forward
to worshiping together onSunday. Lots of things
happening of course thisweekend. But before we get to
all of that, we're gonna thinkabout the third Psalm. Psalm
three is our reading forFriday. This Psalm is a notable
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Psalm for a number of reasons.
It has many firsts to itscredit. It is the first Psalm
in the collection of Psalmsthat is as described to David
Psalms three to 41. It's thefirst of 13 Psalms to bear a
super prescription that givesus historical data about the
Psalm. And it is the firstlament Psalm, a cry for help.
And it is the first time thepsalmist uses the term se law
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S-E-L-A-H, which is probably amusical notation that perhaps
means pause. But we do not knowfor sure. The setting here,
according to thesuperscription, is the revolt
of Amala. And I would remindyou as we read yesterday in two
Samuel 15, that David has toflee Jerusalem. He is pushed
out of his capital city. And weought to think about that a
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little bit because if you'rebeing attacked by a hostile
army in biblical times, whatdid you do? Yeah, you fled to a
city to get behind walls. ButDavid had to leave his city. He
doesn't know the size andstrength of Absalom's
rebellion. He doesn't knowwho's on his side and who is
not. He could be, he could bemurdered in his own bed. So the
best thing to do is to get outof town and that is what David
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has to do. But that leaves himin a very vulnerable position.
And he may well have writtenthis psalm after all of that
was over. But a lot of thisjust sounds like David's on the
run and David's trying to trustin God. So the first couple of
verses, verses one to two, hetalks about how his enemies are
circling him. And then in verse3, 4, 5, and six, we get God
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being a protection, a circle ofprotection around David and I
especially like verse threebecause we sing this You all
Lord are a shield about me, myglory and the lifter of my
head. David needed that shieldbecause he is outside of the
walls of Jerusalem. And I lovethe expression lifter of my
head. When we get depressed anddespondent, what happens to our
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chin? Mm-hmm .
Chin goes down onto our chest.
David says, God lifts him up,lifts his head up. It's gonna
be fine. I'm gonna take care ofyou. Don't be down. You are the
lifter of my head. And I thinkas you're reading this center
section here, you can see howDavid moose his eyes from the
enemy to God and that changesDavid's tone. It then ends
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verses seven and eight with Goddelivering. David and I
particularly like verse eight.
There is supreme confidencethere, and it's not just about
David. David moves to includeall people. Well, there you go.
That's a short psalm, butthat's a powerful and wonderful
Psalm. Our reading for Fridayis Psalm three. That concludes
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then the podcast for the week.
I certainly do appreciate youreading the Bible with me and
thinking about our sermon fromlast Sunday. Just an absolute
joy to be together as we thinkthrough the word of God.
Looking forward to Sunday,probably need to get my bunny
suit out and get it to thecleaners so that I'll be ready
to hop around on Easter Sunday.
And I hope you understand thatwas extremely tongue in cheek.
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I am looking forward to seeingyou on Sunday. Do appreciate
you listening to the podcastand the encouraging things that
you say to me. Email message meabout the podcast. If it's
helping you, it'll help others.
Tell somebody about thepodcast. Leave a rating. Leave
a review. So until next weekwhen we'll be in the word of
God again, I want to remindyou, I'm Mark Roberts and I
(27:20):
want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come to see you
Monday with a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of
Christ Podcast. Monday morningCoffee with Mark. For more
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Of course, on next Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches
special Monday Morning Coffeepodcast on this podcast, our
preacher Mark Roberts will helpyou get your week started
right. With look back atyesterday's sermon so that we
can think through it furtherand better work the
applications into our dailylives . Mark will then look
(00:28):
forward into this week's Biblereading so that we can know
what to expect and watch for.
And, he may have some extrabonus thoughts from time to
time. So grab a cup of coffeeas we start the week together
on Monday Morning Coffee withMark.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday
Morning Coffee podcast forMonday, April the 14th. I'm
Mark and I am holding somereally good coffee. A young man
at Campbell Road last week. Heworks in a coffee shop, brought
me a bunch of coffee. How greatis that? Really appreciate
that. Really enjoyed being atCampbell Road. That's a
wonderful church. But of courseit was just a amazing to be
(01:15):
home yesterday. So good to beback where I belong and I trust
the preaching yesterday. Helpedall of us to give some
consideration in a better way,the 9:00 AM hour, some better
consideration to our marriageand taking care of that. And
then to think about theauthority of Christ. That's
where we are in the preachingnotes, which I want to give you
in just a moment. And we'regonna think a little bit about
(01:36):
kings and and the authority ofkings even in our Bible reading
as we move forward in SecondSamuel chapter 13. So buckle up
lots to go on. Pour that cup ofcoffee, get ready, get set.
Let's go. Yesterday's sermon inthe 10 40 was about bowing and
sovereignty, bowing to theking, the reasons we kneel
(01:57):
before Jesus. That sermon wasset off, and I've been thinking
about it probably since then bya comment that a man made in
Oxford. We were touring therewhere CS Lewis did his life's
work and all the things thatwent with that. And we got to
talk a little bit about theking. They had just gone
through all the coronationfalderal in celebration for
(02:18):
Prince Charles becoming KingCharles. And I just asked, Hey,
what do you think of this guy?
What do you think of the king?
And he made some verydeliberate comments about the
king being the head of theChurch of England and some of
his behavior and that that didnot seem like that actually
went very well with being thehead of the church. And then he
said, why do I need to bow tothis guy? He's just, he's just
(02:40):
a man. And I have thought a lotabout that since then. And I
hope the sermon yesterdayhelped you to think about
kneeling before Jesus. For mostof us, bowing to a king is
pretty foreign territory. AsAmericans, we don't do that
kind of thing. But of coursethat's a fundamental concept in
Christianity. Jesus is the kingand he is our sovereign. We bow
(03:03):
to Jesus because Matthew 28 18tells us, Jesus said, all
authority in heaven on earthhas been given unto me. We bow
before him because we recognizehe has all authority over
everything, including our verylives. So bowing is much more
than just a physical posture.
It is an act of submission.
It's about doing what the kingcommands not out of force, but
(03:26):
out of recognition of hisrightful place as the king.
Now, oftentimes , I've spokenabout Bible authority and how
we need to have Bible authorityfor what we do as Christians.
And you know what? At its corethat's really just asking, do
you respect the authority ofthe king? Do you submit to the
sovereignty of the king? Do youbow to King Jesus? So today I
(03:47):
want to leave you with thisthought. Every choice we make,
every action we take canreflect our answer to that
question. Will we submit to theking's authority acknowledging
he is Lord over everything, ourdecisions, our time, our lives?
That's that's really nothingmore than asking, do you
respect the authority of theking? Do you bow to King Jesus
(04:10):
Hope that helps you from thesermon on Sunday. Let's keep
that spiritual momentum movinginto the week. And now let's
find second Samuel as we beginto talk about another king,
king David in second Samuel 13.
(04:40):
Welcome to Monday and Monday'sreading is Second Samuel
chapter 13 verses one to 22.
Trigger warning. Of course,here this chapter involves
sexual violence and sexualassault. It's just dreadful.
It's just awful. And it comesoff of what happened with David
in Bathsheba. When Nathan comesand pronounces God's word to
(05:01):
David, he tells him the doublepunishment will be, the sword
will not depart. And what hemeans there evil in your house
is that there will be adversityin bloodshed in the royal
house. And then he also saysthat God has decreed, his wise
will be taken from him. Andwhat happens then after chapter
12 is that immediately thesethings begin to come to pass.
(05:21):
God's word cannot be broken.
God's promises cannot bebroken. And particularly, and
especially here, we see thatyes, you do reap what you sow.
And as we begin chapter 13, andwe're talking about Amin here,
I do think it is significantfor us to get a birth order
going and make sure that we aretracking the suns . Amon is
David's firstborn while Salm ishis third born , but there's no
(05:45):
mention at all of chili doesn'tseem to be on the scene.
Perhaps he is dead. So Amin andAbsalom would've, yeah, they
appear to be the chiefcontenders for the throne. We
would call Amon the crownprince or the heir apparent.
Verse two is very difficult inthe Hebrew, the idea, and
there's different translationsof this, it seemed impossible
(06:06):
for him to do anything for heror to her, is that he's just
love struck . He is. He's justTwitter paid . He doesn't know
how to handle or conducthimself around her. But there
is no doubt that what he isasking for is sinful and wrong.
This is not to be done. It isforbidden in the law. But verse
four in the Hebrew is just fullof a lib of a liberation . How
(06:27):
about that? A lit ? I need morecoffee. Hmm , literation. It
would be sort of like sayingI'm totally taken with
tremendous Tamar and many waysthis just seems like a spoiled
son of a king who is used togetting his way and taking what
he wants. Wow. Where would helearn that from? Unfortunately,
(06:49):
Tamar falls into his trap.
Verse eight, the Hebrew thereseems to indicate that he may,
she may have been preparing himsome kind of special food for a
sick person. And so then hegrabs her and makes clear what
he wants to do. And in verse12, she gives a beautiful and
powerful answer in verses 12and 13. She says, do not
violate me for such a thing isnot done in Israel. Do not do
(07:12):
this outrageous thing for wherecould I carry my shame? And you
would be as one of theoutrageous fools in Israel Now
therefore, please speak to theking. He'll not withhold me
from you. Let me deal with theend of that verse first. I
don't think the king would'veallowed them to marry. I think
she's just grasping at strawsand trying to say anything in
this awful situation. Butplease notice why we don't sin.
(07:34):
First verse 12, this is notdone in Israel. We are God's
people. We are God's people. Wedon't act like this. This is
not what we do. We're not likethe pagans who are involved in
every kind of sexualimmorality. Then verse 13,
where could I carry my shame?
You need to be concerned forothers. Sin is just
selfishness. It's just allabout me. Don't be all about
(07:55):
you. Think about me. And thenyou'll be like a fool. Be
concerned for yourself. What'sgonna happen to you if you act
in this perverted and sick sortof way? So then verse 15, Amon
hated her with a very greathatred. So the hatred with
which he hated her was greaterthan the love with which he had
loved her. And he said to her,get up and go. But she says,
(08:16):
verse 16, no I I , I wanna staywith you. And that well
indicates this is a great placeto talk to our young people
about the different perceptionsoftentimes between men and
women about the sexualrelationship. Oftentimes men
can view the sexualrelationship as little more
than notches on their belt,whereas women see that as
something that ought to bebonding them to someone for a
(08:39):
permanent relationship. That'swhy one of the many reasons why
premarital sex is forbidden inthe Bible , it just causes
confusion, hurt and heartache.
And that's exactly what's goingon here. One scholar said in
verse 15, at this point, Tamarprobably felt she now did
belong to Amon. She was nolonger a virgin and she
couldn't be married to one ofher father's potential allies.
(09:00):
Rather than loving her andclaiming her for his Os once he
had assaulted her, thescriptures recorded that Amon
hated her now more than he hadloved her before. It's just
dreadful and awful. And thereally worst part of it is
verse 21. When King David heardof all of these things, he was
very angry. But please checkthe marginal note at the bottom
of the page or in the centercolumn reference if you have an
(09:23):
ESV , it says the Dead SeaScrolls and the Sept ad. But he
would not punish his son Amin'cause he loved him since he
was his firstborn. Now that iscontained in a scroll from
Kuron , the Dead Sea Scrolls.
And it is not yet, there's notyet enough manuscript evidence
to write it into the text, butit says something about David
as a father and that he'sfailing as a father. He needs
(09:46):
to do something about this. Butthink about it, what could he
do? He had done exactly thesame thing. He had taken a
woman, he had no right toAmman's just acting like his
father. And that causes Davidto be powerless or at least to
feel like he's powerless to doanything about it. This is just
(10:06):
dreadful and we'll see more ofhow it falls out because David
doesn't act. That doesn't meanno one is going to act. Absalom
is about to come center stage.
Our reading for Monday, secondSamuel 13, one to 22. It is
Tuesday. It is Tuesday. Andtoday we're finishing Second
Samuel 13. Our reading forTuesday is Second Samuel, the
(10:27):
13 chapter verses 23 to 39.
This is a prettystraightforward reading, not a
lot of complications here. Whatwe get now is Absalom deciding
to take care of this Aminproblem. And so in verse 23,
they're gonna go to Baal Hazel, which is about 15 miles
northeast of Jerusalem. And theidea seems to be that Amon
verse 26, since he's the crownprince, he should stand in as
(10:50):
David's representative. I dowonder if David has some
suspicions and worries aboutAbsalom because in verse 27,
Davidsons all of the sons.
Surely Absalom wouldn't dareattack Amon with so many of the
sons present. But Amon istrapped. He is ambushed in the
servants of Absalom. Verse 29did to Amon as Absalom had
(11:12):
commanded, Amon is killed here.
There's a false report thateverybody got killed, but
that's not the case at all.
It's just Amin. Absalom has aplan. His plan works flawlessly
except he then is not welcomein the royal court anymore. He
ends up fleeing verses 34 to39. He runs verse 37, about 80
(11:34):
miles northeast to the home ofhis maternal grandparents in
Geisha where his grandfatherTalai is the king. And probably
the only difficulty in ourreading today is verse 39, the
spirit of the king longed to goout to Amsm because he was
comforted about Amin since hewas dead. Well, what exactly
does that mean, particularlygiven the fact that David does
(11:55):
not speak to Absalom for twofull years. As we'll see in
chapter 14, verse 24, chapter14 and verse 28, if he longed
to go out to him, what's thedeal? Why didn't he bring him
back to the royal court? Thetranslation here turns on the
meaning of the verb co law .
Does it mean David longed forAbsalom? Or it could mean that
David was spent in the sensethat he no longer felt a need
(12:19):
to pursue Absalom. David wantedto bring him to justice, but
after he was comforted about amand he decided to just let it
go, all of this still sayswherever you are out of verse
39, that David just continuesto be a weak father. He's not
doing anything about someterrible situations in his own
(12:39):
household and that is going to,mm-hmm
gonna come back around and bitehim. That is absolutely going
to cause him a lot of problems.
Don't forget Westsiders. We dohave Zoom tonight. Really nice
to have the zoom call when wedidn't get to have it last
week. Look forward to seeingyou on Zoom tonight, Westsiders
at seven o'clock. Those of youwho are not members of the
(13:00):
Westside Church, we'll see youon the podcast tomorrow when
we're reading further in secondSamuel, our reading then for
Tuesday, two Samuel 13 verses23 to 39 . Welcome to
Wednesday. Our reading today istwo Samuel the 14 chapter. And
this is quite a lengthychapter, so let's get right
(13:21):
into it. Remember again, twoSamuel 12 verse 10. Nathan
warns David is part of thepunishment for his sin with
Bathsheba, your house will betroubled and here comes
trouble. Some of that troublecomes in the person of Joab .
We get a lot about Joab in thischapter and it is fair to ask
why Joab is so interested inbringing Absalom home. The text
(13:42):
does not tell us why Joab is sointerested in why he intervenes
so much. It just may be that heexpects Absalom to be the next
king and he's trying to pavethe way for him to have a job
in the new administration.
We're not certain about allthat. Maybe he's just being
loyal to David and he knowsthat David's heart hurts with
his son being out of kilter andout of place. But there's a ton
(14:04):
of schemes and counter schemesgoing on in all of this. So
Joab knows first one that theking's heart went out to
Absalom. And once again, thisis just like yesterday in 1339.
There's a ton of difficultywith this. Heart goes out or
yesterday it was the king longto go out, especially because
there's no Hebrew word for goout or long for in 14 one. So
(14:29):
the translators are trying tofigure out how to smooth the
text and what the intent of thetext is. The new King James
has, his heart was concernedabout Absalom. The NIV has
heart longed and the ESV hasheart went out. Lots of
different ideas here. And itseems to me that this is a
place where rather thandebating the nuances of the
Hebrew, we just get a sense ofit from the context. From the
(14:52):
context. If David's heart wastoward Absalom, why this
scheme? If David is sointerested in bringing him
back, why does Joe have to comeup with a wise woman of Koa ? I
think this passage is sayingthat that David was done with
Absalom , that he's notinterested in bringing him back
at all. So the koan womanarrives per Joe Abs orders and
(15:14):
she tells this long story versefour to 12. And mostly her
story is about if we fulfillthe law, it's really gonna
create a big hardship. Shewants the king to overrule the
decisions of her clan and toshow some flexibility because
of the extenuatingcircumstances. Nobody saw the
crime. It appears to beunpremeditated. She would be a
(15:35):
widow. Um , she is a widow. Butthen as a result she would've
no one to depend upon. Andthere, there seems to be a
tone, verse seven, that this isjust a bunch of, this is just a
bunch of land grabbers who aretrying to get her inheritance.
So she gets the king to admitand agree to make an exception
for her. And so the king does.
(15:56):
So verse 11, and then she makesapplication of the story. She
is not content with hate. Okay,okay, okay, whatever lady, I'll
see what I can do about this.
No, she then goes on to say,life is brief. Verse 14. We
need to do something now. And Isee that you're willing to do
something for my son, but youdon't do anything for your son.
(16:20):
And in verses 15, 16 and 17,she sort of jumps back into her
story to sharpen the point. Shebrings up her own situation
again. 'cause she doesn't wantDavid to think that her main
point is the main point. No,it's not really about me, it's
about you. And that you need torestore Absalom. So Joab then
is singled out. Verse 19. Davidknows immediately he's been
(16:44):
tricked. This is kind of likeNathan the prophet in chapter
11 with his parable. And Davidsays, joy , I put you up to
this. And she says, yes, hedid. So Absalom is brought back
to Jerusalem, but there's noreconciliation verses 21 to 24.
That's a great message toparents about alienating your
children, giving them thesilent treatment when , when ,
(17:05):
when children do wrong. We needto take care of that. We need
to deal with that. There needsto be teaching, there needs to
be instruction, there needs tobe discipline, and then needs
to be over. Don't let kids sulk. Look what happens to Absalom.
He ends up mad at his fatherand will ultimately even
attempt to murder his own dad.
So finally, Absalom isreconciled verses 25 to 33. And
(17:26):
we get some more informationhere about Absalom. We know
already that he is ruthless. Hewill murder people or order the
murder of people. In chapter13, he orders the death of Nan
. But now we get that he's justvain. He is completely vain,
but he's in Jerusalem for twofull years without coming into
the King's presence. So hesays, Hey Joab, why? Why aren't
(17:49):
you helping me anymore? Andmaybe by now verse 29, Joab has
perceived that the winds havechanged and that he does not
need to back this horse in therace. But Abso says, I want
your help and if you're notgonna help me, I'll burn your
fields down. So moreinformation on the kind of
person that Absalom is. He isnot to be trifled with. He's
used to getting his way. Heexpects to get his way. He
(18:12):
looks like a king. He's vainand beautiful and handsome and
all of that. This is a spoiledrich kid and you better pay
attention to him. But David didnot pay attention to him. It
seems then that Joab verse 33finally arranges some kind of
reconciliation. But it's beenfive years that Absalom and
(18:37):
David have been angry and beenapart. And that's too long. As
David's about to learn. Ourreading for Wednesday is second
Samuel 14 . Welcome toThursday's reading for
Thursday. We read Second Samuelthe 15th chapter. And this is a
brutal chapter. This isprobably without any doubt,
(18:59):
David's worst day. It's beenapproximately nine to 12 years
since he sinned with Bathshebaand he just keeps reaping what
he has sown in his ownhousehold. All of his
mismanagement just comes to ahead. He should have dealt with
Amon for raping Tamar. Heshould have dealt with Absalom
for the revenge murder of Amon. He should not have alienated
Absalom with half forgiveness.
(19:20):
And it all blows up in his faceright here. So Absalom steals
the hearts of the men of Israelin the first six verses. Notice
he does a couple of things. Heprepares a royal looking
procession so that he looksimpressive and important. He
complains about governmentbeing inefficient and not
taking care of people. That'salways so easy to do. People
(19:40):
are still doing that. When yourun for office, you don't say,
my opponent's doing a decentjob, but you know, I think I
could do a better job. No ,what you say is he's doing a
terrible job. Oh my, nobody'sgetting justice here. And then
he kisses men when they comeinstead of asking them to bow,
what a thrill. Here's the crownprince treating me like I'm a
(20:01):
peer and he really works onhis, I'm the common man. Look.
And again, we just see that inpoliticians all the time today.
How often do you see apolitician out on the campaign
trail and he takes off hisjacket and loosens his tie and
rolls up his sleeves like he'sa regular Joe. Those people are
, they're not regular joes.
Okay? Enough about that.
Absalom is not a regular Joe.
(20:22):
And one writer just gave anexcellent commentary on people
like Absalom. And Absalom isone who advances his own
interest by pretending a deepdevotion to the interest of the
people. Bingo, that's Absalom .
And so the rebellion begins inverse seven. There's a scribble
question there. Is it four or40? It has to be four because
(20:43):
David was only king for 40years in total. And Absalom
goes to Hein and of course hegoes to Hein because that's
where David was anointed king.
It is the religious center ofthings. It is the place to
anoint kings. He wants to looklike a king. And he takes a lot
of men with him, which makesthe rebellion appear to be a
lot stronger than it really is.
But part of the rebellion is aoph , a heel's son is Elam
(21:07):
Bathsheba's father. Chapter 23verse 34. So there's another
link to the second Samuel 11Bathsheba sin. The result of
all of this, of course, is thatDavid has to evacuate the
capital . He does not know howstrong the rebellion is. He
does not know who is for himand who is against him. And the
answer is to get out of Dodge.
And David acts decisively andhe acts at once , verse 13,
(21:30):
which is very characteristic ofDavid. He does not sit on his
hands and get caught. He movesout. And as he's moving out,
some things happen that arereally, really impressive. It
tied the getti verse 21, superloyal . That's a great contrast
with Absalom and especiallywith a hit Tre treachery. And
then in verse 25, David has nosuperstitions about the arc.
(21:53):
If, if I'm not serving God, ifI'm not doing right, carrying
around the gold box isn't gonnachange anything. Don't bring
the ark. If God wants me, ifGod wants me to triumph, he'll
bring me back. Having thegolden box won't make the
difference. Such a hugecontrast to some earlier times
in Israel's history when theyaren't serving God. But hey, if
we just bring the arc of Godinto battle, we'll triumph
(22:15):
'cause we have this big luckycharm. No, no, no. First Samuel
four , by the way, has thelucky charm story, not the
serial, the Ark of theCovenant. And then I really,
really love verses 31 to 34because here is the consummate
example in David's life ofprayer and action. He prays in
(22:36):
verse 31 and then Hai , thearchive comes sailing out and
David says, Hey, you'd be aburden to me if you're
traveling with me. Maybe. MaybeHai is old. You go back in
there and you mess up Absalom'splans, he'll trust you. Give
him bad intel, give him badadvice. You can do it. So David
(22:56):
has prayed for God to destroythe rebellion of Absalom and
then gives God something towork with. Sometimes when we
pray, we we imagine now we canjust sit on our hands and do
nothing. Or we run to the otherextreme and we think we have to
do everything we pray. But Godisn't really going to do
anything. No planning andprayer go together. Prayer and
activity go together. By theway, that's a risky mission for
(23:19):
Hy . That is a risky missionfor Hui . But verse 37 ends
this dramatic chapter. David'sfriend Hy came into the city
just as Absalom was enteringJerusalem. Woo . Hard to stop
reading the story now. It'sreally getting good. But
tomorrow will be in the Psalms.
Today's reading, Thursday'sreading second Samuel 15.
(23:41):
Welcome to Friday, our Biblereading today. Psalm three.
Always a good feeling to get toFriday, isn't it? Many things
done during the week. Lotsgoing on. We're looking forward
to worshiping together onSunday. Lots of things
happening of course thisweekend. But before we get to
all of that, we're gonna thinkabout the third Psalm. Psalm
three is our reading forFriday. This Psalm is a notable
(24:02):
Psalm for a number of reasons.
It has many firsts to itscredit. It is the first Psalm
in the collection of Psalmsthat is as described to David
Psalms three to 41. It's thefirst of 13 Psalms to bear a
super prescription that givesus historical data about the
Psalm. And it is the firstlament Psalm, a cry for help.
And it is the first time thepsalmist uses the term se law
(24:25):
S-E-L-A-H, which is probably amusical notation that perhaps
means pause. But we do not knowfor sure. The setting here,
according to thesuperscription, is the revolt
of Amala. And I would remindyou as we read yesterday in two
Samuel 15, that David has toflee Jerusalem. He is pushed
out of his capital city. And weought to think about that a
(24:46):
little bit because if you'rebeing attacked by a hostile
army in biblical times, whatdid you do? Yeah, you fled to a
city to get behind walls. ButDavid had to leave his city. He
doesn't know the size andstrength of Absalom's
rebellion. He doesn't knowwho's on his side and who is
not. He could be, he could bemurdered in his own bed. So the
best thing to do is to get outof town and that is what David
(25:07):
has to do. But that leaves himin a very vulnerable position.
And he may well have writtenthis psalm after all of that
was over. But a lot of thisjust sounds like David's on the
run and David's trying to trustin God. So the first couple of
verses, verses one to two, hetalks about how his enemies are
circling him. And then in verse3, 4, 5, and six, we get God
(25:28):
being a protection, a circle ofprotection around David and I
especially like verse threebecause we sing this You all
Lord are a shield about me, myglory and the lifter of my
head. David needed that shieldbecause he is outside of the
walls of Jerusalem. And I lovethe expression lifter of my
head. When we get depressed anddespondent, what happens to our
(25:50):
chin? Mm-hmm
Chin goes down onto our chest.
David says, God lifts him up,lifts his head up. It's gonna
be fine. I'm gonna take care ofyou. Don't be down. You are the
lifter of my head. And I thinkas you're reading this center
section here, you can see howDavid moose his eyes from the
enemy to God and that changesDavid's tone. It then ends
(26:14):
verses seven and eight with Goddelivering. David and I
particularly like verse eight.
There is supreme confidencethere, and it's not just about
David. David moves to includeall people. Well, there you go.
That's a short psalm, butthat's a powerful and wonderful
Psalm. Our reading for Fridayis Psalm three. That concludes
(26:37):
then the podcast for the week.
I certainly do appreciate youreading the Bible with me and
thinking about our sermon fromlast Sunday. Just an absolute
joy to be together as we thinkthrough the word of God.
Looking forward to Sunday,probably need to get my bunny
suit out and get it to thecleaners so that I'll be ready
to hop around on Easter Sunday.
And I hope you understand thatwas extremely tongue in cheek.
(26:58):
I am looking forward to seeingyou on Sunday. Do appreciate
you listening to the podcastand the encouraging things that
you say to me. Email message meabout the podcast. If it's
helping you, it'll help others.
Tell somebody about thepodcast. Leave a rating. Leave
a review. So until next weekwhen we'll be in the word of
God again, I want to remindyou, I'm Mark Roberts and I
(27:20):
want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come to see you
Monday with a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of
Christ Podcast. Monday morningCoffee with Mark. For more
information about Westside, youcan connect with us through our
website, just christians.comand our Facebook page, our
music is from upbeat.io. That'supbeat with two P'S
(27:53):
U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creatorscan get free music. Please
share our podcast with othersand we look forward to seeing
you again with a cup of coffee.
Of course, on next Monday.
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