David And Bathsheba: An Affair To Remember
Preaching
Shaking Wolves Out Of Cherry Trees
And 149 Other Sermon Ideas
Purpose Statement: There is much to learn from this story of loyalty, courage, sin, responsibility, punishment, and forgiveness.
2 Samuel 11 records one of the most despicable events in history, and chapter 12 follows up with one of the bravest. David lusts after Bathsheba, has an affair with her, she becomes pregnant, and he has her husband killed so he can have her. Her husband Uriah, in the middle of the episode, displays supreme loyalty to his king, his country, and his fellow soldiers. In the next chapter (12) Nathan, the prophet, condemns David to his face and David is punished, though the punishment falls more on his family than him. There are different ways to select lessons from this event.
First, one could develop the ideas: 1) We are all sinners. 2) Some sins are worse than others. 3) God forgives even the worst kind of sins.
Or one could use the principles and what their lives teach: 1) David sinned in a very wicked way. 2) Uriah sacrificed his own pleasures in order to remain loyal. 3) Nathan did an exemplary thing in scolding and shaming his king to his face.
Or one could focus on David in this way:
a. The Bible never glosses over the sins of its heroes. I really appreciate this fact concerning our scriptures. One could go through the Bible and learn of the faults of many of its heroes. That is rare in the sacred literature of other religions, and other literature as well. Wickedness of this magnitude is usually ignored or partially sanitized. Two other examples, among many in our Bible, of the shameless exposure of the sins of great religious leaders would include Abraham's offering his wife to Abimelech because he was afraid (Genesis 20, and the same sin is repeated by Isaac in Genesis 26), and Paul's shaming of Peter because of his racism (Galatians 2:11-14).
b. We cannot gloss over our sins because of the sins of the heroes. It is easy to excuse our sins in the light of the fact that the great Bible heroes were guilty of worse ones. But it won't work.
c. God's forgiveness did not gloss over the hero's punishment. David was punished in several ways.
2 Samuel 11 records one of the most despicable events in history, and chapter 12 follows up with one of the bravest. David lusts after Bathsheba, has an affair with her, she becomes pregnant, and he has her husband killed so he can have her. Her husband Uriah, in the middle of the episode, displays supreme loyalty to his king, his country, and his fellow soldiers. In the next chapter (12) Nathan, the prophet, condemns David to his face and David is punished, though the punishment falls more on his family than him. There are different ways to select lessons from this event.
First, one could develop the ideas: 1) We are all sinners. 2) Some sins are worse than others. 3) God forgives even the worst kind of sins.
Or one could use the principles and what their lives teach: 1) David sinned in a very wicked way. 2) Uriah sacrificed his own pleasures in order to remain loyal. 3) Nathan did an exemplary thing in scolding and shaming his king to his face.
Or one could focus on David in this way:
a. The Bible never glosses over the sins of its heroes. I really appreciate this fact concerning our scriptures. One could go through the Bible and learn of the faults of many of its heroes. That is rare in the sacred literature of other religions, and other literature as well. Wickedness of this magnitude is usually ignored or partially sanitized. Two other examples, among many in our Bible, of the shameless exposure of the sins of great religious leaders would include Abraham's offering his wife to Abimelech because he was afraid (Genesis 20, and the same sin is repeated by Isaac in Genesis 26), and Paul's shaming of Peter because of his racism (Galatians 2:11-14).
b. We cannot gloss over our sins because of the sins of the heroes. It is easy to excuse our sins in the light of the fact that the great Bible heroes were guilty of worse ones. But it won't work.
c. God's forgiveness did not gloss over the hero's punishment. David was punished in several ways.
