|
 Mike
& Susan Neifert have been serving as pastors of Argonia Friends Church
since July 1998. They and their children love Argonia and plan to stay for
many years.
Mike & Susan were married in August 1987, a year
before they both graduated from
Barclay College (then Friends
Bible College) in Haviland, Kansas. Mike served as an intern
at Macksville Christian Church for two summers working with
the high school and college age youth before graduation and
then served as pastor of a Friends church in Indiana for ten
years before coming to Argonia.
(See Mike's mission and favorites below.)
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Mike's Message (Updated 3/3/2008) |
Dear Friends,
David welcomed Nathan
warmly. He was glad the man of God had come for a visit. Let's not forget,
David loved the Lord and the Lord loved David.
"God
gave [Israel] judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people
asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of
Kish
, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. After removing Saul, he
made David their king. [God] testified concerning him: 'I have found
David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want
him to do.'" (Acts 13:20-22, NIV)
Don't miss the love
in those words. God knew David's heart. He knew the king's desire was to
obey. He sent Nathan to David to bring his man to repentance.
Nathan told the king
a story.
"There
were two men in the same city -one rich, the other poor. The rich man had
huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one
little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him
and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank
from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.
"One
day a traveler dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an
animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor. So he
took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest." (2
Samuel 12:1-4, The Message)
David leapt from his
throne enraged as Nathan's tale came to a close.
"As
surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!" he
shouted. "He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a
thing and had no pity." (2 Samuel 12:5-6, NIV)
Nathan looked into
the king's eyes. He opened his mouth and spoke the most devastating words
David had ever heard. "You are the man!"
David's head spun as
the Lord's rebuke spilled from the prophet's lips. "I gave you the throne.
You despised what I gave you. You took another man's wife and had him
killed to cover up your sin."
Nathan spoke of the
lasting judgment that would rest on David. He would be shamed. His wives
would be raped by one from his own household. "You did it in secret, but I
will do this thing in broad daylight before all
Israel
."
At last Nathan stood
silent before David.
Imagine for a moment
you are in the king's shoes. What are you feeling? Shame? Guilt? Remorse?
Rebellion?
There are many in
this world who reject God's standards and balk at his rebuke. "You can't
tell me what to do!" they shout. "It's my life. I'll do as I please."
Can that kind of
defiance be found in your heart?
There wasn't any in
David's heart. He dropped to his seat. Quietly, sadly, the humbled, broken
king confessed: "I have sinned against the Lord." (2 Samuel 12:13, NIV)
David knew he was
guilty. He had no place to hide. Where could he run?
God had caught him.
Israel's ruler admitted his fault. The words
here don't tell the whole story though. They seem so cold. There's no real
sense the deep grief David felt.
For that we have to
go to the song he wrote about this incident - Psalm 51. The title says it
all.
For the director of
music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David
had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
"Have
mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your
great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and
cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always
before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in
your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when
you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother
conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me
wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let
the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot
out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a
steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your
Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me
a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your
ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O
Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not
delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in
burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and
contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. In your good pleasure make
Zion
prosper; build up the walls of
Jerusalem
. Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to
delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar." (NIV)
Can you hear David's
deep sorrow in this song? "Have mercy on me...Wash away all my iniquity...cleanse
me...Hide your face from my sins...Do not cast me from your presence...Restore
to me the joy of your salvation..."
David was filled with
remorse. He hated his sin. He was begging for mercy. God listened. He
forgave. His grace was greater than David's sin. He mercifully blotted out
his servant's iniquity. He honored the king's contrite heart.
There were
consequences for the king's sin. His baby died. A son would one day rebel
against him. But he was forgiven.
Do you hate your sin?
Does it grieve you when you sin against God? Do you recognize your sin as
an affront to his holiness? Are you quick to turn away from your sin and
run to God for mercy?
I'm afraid some of
you may have a far too casual attitude about your sin. When you fall you
are not grieved. You do not hate your sin. You do not go to God in prayer.
You just shrug your shoulders and say, "Oops! I did it again," and give
your offense not one more thought.
That, my friends, is
not the attitude of a child of God when they sin against their Father. The
child of God grieves when he breaks God's law. The child of God hates sin.
The child of God repents.
I've read and reread
James 4:7-10
over the past few months. Parts of this passage troubled me. I didn't like
it. I thought it was too strong. I have come to realize that it is the
proper response to sin.
Listen with your
heart as you read.
"Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you
sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and
wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (NIV)
Isn't that exactly
what David did? He submitted to God. He washed his hands and purified his
heart. He grieved. He humbled himself. And didn't God lift him up?
If you have sinned
against God, I urge you to turn from your wickedness. I urge you to
confess your sin to God, humbly admitting your offense. Take your ungodly
behavior and attitudes and words seriously. They are an affront to your
Father. They grieve him. He will rebuke you. He will correct. Listen to
him. Let your sin grieve you. Take your sorrow to God.
"Godly
sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but
worldly sorrow brings death." (2 Corinthians 7:10, NIV)
You will have no
regrets when you repent of your sin. Grieve your sin and hate it.
Paul did. In
Romans 7:15
we find these words: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do
I do not do, but what I hate I do." (NIV)
Let that be your
attitude. Seek God for the strength you need to conquer that which you
hate.
"What
a wretched man I am!" Paul confessed a little later in
Romans 7
. "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" he asked. And the answer? "Thanks
be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:25, NIV)
Salvation and
forgiveness are in our Lord Jesus Christ. Both are freely given to those
who confess their sin and turn from it. Let your godly sorrow bring repentance
and freedom today.
What sin do you need to turn away from? What sin do you need to hate? Ask
God, as we close, to give you his attitude toward your every sin and grant
you forgiveness.
Mike
To receive my once
or twice weekly message via email, send a blank email to webmessage-subscribe@associate.com.
Past messages are available at www.associate.com/groups/webmessage
and
To know the truth...to proclaim the
truth...to live the truth.
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