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Sermon for Sunday, September 20, 2009

The distance between yes and no is rarely wider than it was for David in this morning’s scripture from II Samuel. I have not read that passage in a long time, but it resonated with me when I read it again and thought of the different yeses and nos that people make. If David says “no” to his lust for Bathsheba, his life and hers go on as they are, but once David says “yes,” life begin to come undone in ways David would have never imagined.

That is the way of temptation. Fred Craddock says that temptation whispers to us, “Do this, it will be exciting” or “do this, No one will ever know.” You’ve seen the parody on television where the devil is sitting on one shoulder encouraging, tempting, “go ahead it will be okay, fun. No one will really be hurt.” You see, the one thing temptation never says to us is, “Do this, it will ruin your life.” If David had known what saying “yes” to his temptation was going to do to his life, if he had known the pain and sorrow his self centered choice would bring, he would have said “no.” But he said “yes” and the “yes” set in motion a series of events which left in its path bruised and wounded souls.

You heard the story. You’ve heard the story before, very likely. In a nutshell, David sees Bathsheba, David liked what he saw, he was in a position to get what he wanted and he took Bathsheba. The result of his decision was Bathsheba expecting David’s child, which prompted David to attempt to put into place an elaborate cover up which resulted in the death of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah; a death that David planned, schemed, and caused.

Yes, this is the same David that is one of our biblical heroes. This is the same David who wrote glorious Psalms that we use in worship every Sunday. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul,” “Lord, thou has been my dwelling place in all generations,” “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change.”  This is the same David who conquered the enemies of God and was once called the “Favorite of God” making David one in a very long line of wonderful people who have made terrible choices. I have preached sermons about David and his crucial and prominent places in the mighty works of God and have received emails which essentially said, “yes, but…”  When good people, strong people say “yes” to something they should have said “no” to, they are acting as David did; in a way that is contrary, different and less than their best selves.

There is a phrase for that. We like to give it names. It has been called the “compartmentalization of life.”  Maybe you have heard it when some fine, bright, gifted person is all of a sudden discovered in a situation that is dishonest and immoral. Someone will say that this person has been living a life where he/she has made a compartment of their lives.  It may have been a life that has been mostly thoughtful, truthful, caring, faithful life, but with a small compartment of that normally good life involved a reckless and careless behavior. You can rattle off some of those folks who are pretty well known in our society. You know the names Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, the governor of South Carolina and you may have your favorite sinner.  Said, “yes” when they should have said “No.” Not unlike David who served God and served him well, except for that compartment in which he acted thoughtlessly and sinfully.

The thing about putting our lives into this compartment category is that while a person can compartmentalize their actions, they cannot do that with the consequences of those actions.  Look at David. His sin may have been confined to a small corner of his otherwise wonderful, gifted, God centered life, but the consequences of his choices damaged his life, diminished Bathsheba’s life and ended Uriah’s life.  Buechner is right when in writing about this relationship, “that the cost would be exorbitant.” (pg. 15, Peculiar Treasures).

We may be able to put our actions into compartments, but not the consequences. Consequences bleed all over the place. I mentioned David as the writer of the beautiful Psalms. Psalm 51 is the psalm where David has been confronted by the prophet Nathan confronts him concerning his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. The confrontation of his sin has led him to plea, “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and (here it is) my sin is ever before me.”  Consequences bleed all over the place. David may have been only 10% foolish, reckless, sinful, but he was 100% ashamed.  Guilt, like consequences, bleed all over the place.

What’s the point? The point is that choices matter. Actions carry consequences. God has given to us a frightening gift. It is the terrible gift of freedom to say “yes” or “no” in the face of temptation. Temptation has all kinds of faces. Temptation to say “yes” to one’s attitude which becomes rude and inappropriate. The temptation to say “yes” to not worshipping with God’s people on Sunday morning; to say “yes” to not be in Bible study; to say “yes” to those thing which diminish us. I wonder if Ray Clark ever thought to say “no” when it appears he took the life of Yvonne Le in Connecticut.

For David, the difference between “yes” and “no” was the difference between joy and misery, peace and agony, innocence and guilt.

That is where it is for most of us. Once David said “yes” to something he should have said “no” to, his life began to spin out of control. His life was diminished as well as the lives of those that were affected by his choices. That doesn’t mean that his life was over or that his failure was unforgivable.  William Sloan Coffin said it best, “There is more mercy in God than there is sin in us.” Isn’t that marvelous?  “More mercy in God than there is sin in us.”  But the reality of it all is that just because David was forgiven doesn’t mean that his actions did not bring the consequences of pain and shame. And it could have all been avoided had he said “no” to what he ended up saying “yes” to.

Now all of this is difficult. I don’t preach many sermons like this so it is difficult to preach and maybe difficult for you to hear. I would much rather speak of the abundance of God’s grace and not the seriousness of sin, but both speak the truth about God and about life.

To those of you who are young…flee temptation. Run like the wind. Say “no” to what you need to say “no” to. Remember that the stakes are high. You may be able to put your actions into compartments and have them make sense, but you cannot do that with the consequences. The consequences of your worst choices, my worst choices, our “yes” choices to those things that needed to have a “no” will spin your life out of control and bring pain to you and those you love. That truth has been played out time and time again, in the Bible, in life, in too many lives that have been diminished and destroyed.

If you are in the situation where your life has been scarred and wounded by choices caused in the face of temptation, hear the good news of God, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” (Romans 5:20), “nothing in all of creation, not even our worst failures can separate us from the love of God.” (Romans 8) Good or bad, wrong or right, innocent or ashamed, we are the objects of God’s undying love and unfailing grace.

The distance between “yes and no” can be the distance between sin and shame, mercy and grace. Today maybe the last word on a sermon on sin should be the best word we know and that word is grace.  Let us leave here with the word that there really is more “mercy in God than there is sin in us.” And there is only one response to that, “Thanks be to God.” Amen.

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Address
First Baptist Church, Ashland
800 Thompson Street
Ashland, VA 23005

Phone
(804) 798-9014

Fax
(804) 798-9043

E-mail
fbcashland@verizon.net

Sunday Worship

  8:30 a.m. -  Worship Service
  9:45 a.m. -  Sunday School
11:00 a.m. -  Worship Service