Don't Just Do Something - Sit There! (sermon, July 19, 2009)

2 Samuel 7:1-17
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

As many of you know, last week my friend and colleague George Anderson gave two talks on the Gospel of Matthew at Westminster Presbyterian Church. For those of you who weren’t able to attend, I wanted to share with you one particular insight from his talks which stuck with me. It also happens to relate nicely to today’s episode in the story of David.

George started out talking about the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew chapter 5. The first thing Jesus does in this sermon is pronounce blessings, and the first blessing is this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This is the translation most of us are used to hearing, but George spoke of another translation which renders the first blessing as this: “Blessed are those who know their need for God.”

What follows this beginning is a litany of other blessings and then a list of commands, all of which underscores the keyword of Matthew’s gospel: obedience. Those who are blessed with an awareness of their need for God and of God’s grace are likewise blessed with the expectation that they are to show grace to others, since all of us are in need of God whether we know it or not. In the Gospel of Matthew, God’s freely-given grace and God’s high expectations go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. (1)

Of course, this isn’t just true in Matthew, or the New Testament, for that matter. In today’s episode from the life of David, God lets David know that along with the promises of God’s favor and grace, God also has high expectations for David and his offspring.

The passage we read today is a critical moment in the salvation history of Israel and the world. (You know, I feel like every week during this sermon series we are covering an critical moment in Israel’s history, but I guess that’s why David is worth preaching seven straight sermons on!) In this passage we hear a speech from God through the prophet Nathan, a speech in which God responds to David’s idea to build a house -- a temple -- for the Lord.

Before Nathan pronounces God’s oracle to David, we find David finally enjoying a moment of peace. After his boring childhood full of nothing more exciting than hanging out with the sheep, David’s life was nonstop for a while -- first he was living and working in Saul’s court, then he was trying to escape Saul’s murderous rages; after Saul died he was caught up in leading battles as the ruler of Judah and then as the king of all the tribes of Israel. For the moment, though, the Philistines were defeated, the capital city of Jerusalem was established, the ark was in its rightful place in the city of David. At last, things were settled and David had a moment of peace. And where most of us would probably have settled into the hammock with a good book and a glass of lemonade or zoned out in front of the TV with the remote and a strong drink, trying not to think about anything, much less God, what does David do? He immediately starts thinking about what he can do for a God who has clearly shown him great favor.

Looking around for some way to say thank you to God, David realizes that even though he has brought the Ark to Jerusalem, it is still housed in a tent, a temporary dwelling. David, on the other hand, lives in a rather nice house of cedar. When he points this out to the prophet Nathan, Nathan doesn’t even wait to hear the rest of David’s plan; obviously, David has in mind to build God a permanent house, a temple worthy of the true King, the God of Israel. Without even stopping for a moment of discernment, Nathan says, “Absolutely, fantastic idea. Clear the site and let’s start tomorrow!”

Well, in spite of the fact that no one actually asks God’s opinion, God interrupts Nathan’s sleep that night to make sure David gets the message. As admirable as it might be to us that David’s first thought in his moment of peace was what he could do for God, it turns out that isn’t what David’s story is about. This story of David isn’t about what David can do for God but what God can and would do through David and through his offspring.

This speech that God gives to David through Nathan is also known as the Davidic Covenant. It contains a play on the Hebrew word for “house” which can mean, as can the English word, both a dwelling place and a family or a dynasty. God doesn’t need David to build God a house; instead, God is going to make of David a dynasty. God makes an unconditional commitment here, a promise which one commentator calls “a crucial theological innovation in Israel” because this Davidic Covenant is truly unconditional: “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever,” God says. (2) This is in contrast to the Sinai Covenant, the promise God made with the Israelites when God gave them the Ten Commandments, because that covenant was conditional in nature. “I will be your God if you will keep my commandments,” God told the people.

But that kind of conditional covenant was over now. From now on, David and his offspring would be the ones God would raise up to rule and save the people -- all people. This Davidic Covenant plants the seed in Israel that from the lineage of David will come an ideal king, a Messiah.

This passage is important for us because it shows us exactly where the idea came from -- the idea that is witnessed to in the prophets and the psalms -- that from David will come a Messiah who will be the Savior of Israel and of all the world. Those wonderful prophecies from Isaiah that we read during Advent, the time leading up to Christmas, are all based on the promise God makes to David here. The Gospel of Matthew makes such an effort to trace Jesus’ lineage back to David because of this speech, this covenant God makes with David, this unconditional promise to establish the throne of David forever.

God makes this promise to David when David seeks to take control of his story, to do what he thinks needs to be done for God. As important as it is to praise and worship God, as crucial as it is for our faith to put into action what we believe, to express our gratitude to God through our service to others, there are times when we need to remember: a life of faith is not primarily about what we can do for God. The life of faith is first and foremost about what God has done for us. Everything else flows from that.

Have you internalized what God has done for you? Are you wondering what that would even look like? Well, let’s start with this. Most of you are dedicated, devoted members of this particular faith community. You come to worship Sunday after Sunday -- even last week, when I told you to go hear George Anderson preach, you faithfully came here! You visit, take meals, send cards, and make phone calls to support each other in times of crisis. You meet for Sunday school and Bible studies. You sing in the choir. Through the various mission projects of this church, you serve the community in a number of different ways. All of these are wonderful things. All of these are things you are doing for God. My question to you is, do you know why you do them? Is it because you think it’s what a good Christian should do or is it because you have received the love God has for you in such a way that that love can’t help but flow out to others?

For all of us there are times we get so busy, so settled in the routines of our lives that we forget why we do what we do. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be doing all of those good things, but it does mean that it might be time to stop and reflect, at least for a few minutes, on why.

In today’s reading from the gospel of Mark, when Jesus encounters a crowd of people who looked lost, he has pity on them because, “they were like sheep without a shepherd.” They had lost their sense of direction. They did all the things sheep do -- eat, sleep, wander the hillside, but they did it aimlessly. And what did Jesus do? He taught them. He gave them direction. In a sense that is exactly what God does for David when God makes the covenant with him. God tells David, “this is what your life is about, this is how your kingdom is defined.” And it wasn’t defined by what David could do for God but by what God would do for David.

Preacher Fred Craddock tells a story of going to lunch one Sunday after church to the home of one of the long-time members of the church. This woman was a widow and had lived alone for many years. When they got to the house, the woman told Craddock to sit in the den and read the paper or watch TV while she got everything ready. He saw her put an apron on and go into the formal dining room. He followed her and told her, “Now, don’t fix up all this. We eat in the kitchen at home.” She pulled out a drawer of the sideboard and took out linen napkins. She put the tablecloth and napkins on the table and then took out stemmed glasses from the china cabinet. Craddock said again, “We eat in the kitchen at home.” She went right on preparing the table. He said, “Look, it’s just the two of us. We eat in the kitchen at home.”
The woman turned around, looked him in the eye and said, “Will you shut up and sit down?”
Craddock responded, “Yes, I suppose I will.”
She said to him, “Do you have any idea what it’s like fixing a meal for one?”
And they ate their meal in the formal dining room with stemmed glasses and candles and linens. (3)

Do we have any idea what it’s like for God to be God? David thought he did, and he wanted to make sure God had a fancy dwelling place on earth. God told him to shut up and sit down and receive what God was doing for him and through him. This story reminds us that when we resist always trying to do something to show our gratitude for God and instead just sit there, if only for a few moments, just sit and receive what God has done and is doing for us and through us, then we might just gain a clearer sense of how we can faithfully follow God.

There is also an added benefit for the church when we do this. When we have clarified in our own minds what God has done for us through this particular community of faith, then we are in the best position to articulate to others what this church has to offer them. We don’t need to bend over backward to offer people what we think they want in a church. David’s instinct is to build God a fancy, permanent dwelling for the ark and God makes crystal clear that isn’t necessary. Likewise, we shouldn’t get distracted by the mentality that “if we build it, they will come.” God is already here, blessing us, loving us, working through us for the sake of this community. And the most important thing we can do to attract people to this community is to sit down and shut up and receive God’s gifts for us. Then we will be able to show and tell others about this God who prepares a table for us -- for all of us, before we have done anything to deserve it -- a table of fine linens and the best crystal, a table where we can sit and receive this blessing that, when we have truly received it, will flow right through us into the world, inspiring others to come and meet this God who so graciously cares for all people.

Endnotes:
1. Anderson, George, from a talk given at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Akron, OH, July 12, 2009.
2. Brueggemann, Walter, An Introduction to the Old Testament. Westminster John Knox, 2003, pp. 138-9.
3. Craddock, Fred, Mike Graves, and Richard F. Ward, Craddock Stories. Chalice Press, 2001.