The Great Sin
Here's a message derived from the writings of CS Lewis' "Mere Christianity."
“The Great Sin”
2 nd Samuel 11
Over the course of the past few weeks, we've been taking a walk through the book of Phillipians with Pastor Clay. We've been examining this book and learning about living in joy and about how God wants us to live a joy-filled existence. It's what He wants for us… what he intended for us.
In the midst of this, I believe it is important to realize that there are certain factors that can inhibit our experiencing joy the way God intended. Sin is, of course, the primary thing that can stand between us and the joyful life God has for us. And of those sins, God's laid a particular one on my heart for me to share with you this morning… the one that CS Lewis calls “the great sin.”
And in order to share it with you, I want to tell you a story this morning… a story about a man and the one time in his life when he fell and his sin was eventually exposed to the entire city. Now, for this man, this dark period in his life was the exception and not the rule, but like many other Biblical personalities, his sins and his life were laid bare for the entire world to see throughout history.
The man I'm speaking about is a man you've probably heard of… David. David once killed a giant and proved that he had courage. David was called a man after God's own heart… but he was not perfect. He was still a man. And the one time when David was less than what God wanted Him to be, was the one time that we'll look at today.
Our story starts in the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel, Chapter 11. And this morning, we're going to learn three dangerous things about – once again - what CS Lewis calls the great sin and that is… the sin of PRIDE.
Read 2 Samuel 11: 1 – 3
“In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful , and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said ‘Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
Now, here's the first of the three dangerous things about PRIDE… you ready for it? Here it is…
#1: PRIDE can make us think we DON'T need to be where we should be.
Now, David was a “ man after God's own heart .” He knew what he needed to be doing. And he knew where he needed to be. In this chapter we are specifically told that this entire chain of events occurred at the time when kings go off to war. And that is for a very specific reason… because David was not where he needed to be.
We know that David was a king, a leader, but yet here we find David back at his palace when his men are out on the battlefield. Now, we're not told why David is not with his men, but we know David is not where he needs to be. Immediately after this, we are given something of a CNN newsflash about what David's army has been up to without their king. The Bible says that “ they destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah .” So, they'd been kind of busy. You know, just a little busy.
And then again, we come back to David… “ But David stayed in Jerusalem. ” To most of us, this point might seem like a sort of “common sense” point… If you're not where you're supposed to be, then of course things won't go your way! But beloved, there are so many ways we can rationalize, that we can convince ourselves why we shouldn't be where we need to be. And every one of them can be fueled by PRIDE.
David could have said, “Well, I've been beatin' on the Ammonites for a while now… I'm tired of it. I'm bored with it. I don't feel like it.” But you know what? The “I's” have it! Every one of those possible excuses begins with the letter I, as in me, myself and I. As in, not God. As in PRIDE.
Today, we have much of the same thing going… one can say, “I should be talking on the phone to my friend because they're having a hard time right now instead of studying for that test!” One can say, “Well, I should go to that bar with those people from work because I can witness to them by not getting plastered!” One can say, “I should stay home and meet the needs of my visiting family members instead of going to church!” ( Laugh ) That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, but I digress. All those are only somewhat convincing… because they once again place us in places where we aren't supposed to be and keep us from being where we're supposed to be.
What it boils down to is PRIDE starts festering when we start thinking we know what's best for us. Rick Warren says it best in the 1 st Chapter of “The Purpose-Driven Life”… it's not about you!
Let's continue… (Read 2 Samuel 11: 4 – 17)
Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David saying, “I am pregnant."
Alright, so here we have Sins #1, #2 and #3 – Lust, Adultery and now, dishonesty… lying.
So David sent this word to Joab: ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite.' And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, ‘Go down to your house and wash your feet.'
So Uriah left the palace , and a gift from the king was sent after him. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house.
When David was told, ‘Uriah did not go home,' he asked him, ‘Haven't you just come from a great distance? Why didn't you go home?'
Uriah said to David, ‘The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house and to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!'
At this point, confronted with the honor and humility of this soldier, I can't see how this king could have not thrown himself onto his knees and begged forgiveness and said, “Uriah, I have committed adultery with your wife… do with me what you will.” But, that's not quite what happened is it? Let's see…
Then David said to him, ‘Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.' So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants; he did not go home.
In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, ‘Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is the fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.'
So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
And we have the culmination of David's many sins… Murder. Instead of being convicted of his sin and confessing and rewarding what was probably one his most loyal soldiers, Uriah, what does David do? He sleeps with his wife, gets her pregnant, tries to make Uriah sleep with her so it will appear to be his child, then gets him drunk and tries again and then finally has him murdered! Go figure!
And that brings us to our second point…
#2: PRIDE leads to other SINS.
As we see here, David started with PRIDE, but PRIDE was not content to be alone. PRIDE was soon joined by LYING, COVETING, LUSTING, ADULTERY and MURDER. Pride leads to other sins… it is the root for many other sins.
But, back to David… (Read 2 Samuel 11: 18 – 27)
Joab sent David a full account of the battle. He instructed the messenger; ‘When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king's anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelech, son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'
The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab sent him to say. The messenger said to David, ‘The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'
David told the messenger, ‘Say this to Joab: Don't let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.' Say this to encourage Joab.'
When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.
But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
@ Illustration: “My humbling experience at Encounter ‘98”
Should be noted that the experience was not humiliating, but rather humbling. God cared so much about me that He was willing to completely step away and allow me to fall flat on my face… simply so He could then lovingly lead me to where He wanted me to be. He left me because of this next point, because…
#3: Pride is the complete anti-God state of mind.
When I say this, many of you may feel a bit uncomfortable with that statement, however I would urge you to consider this… it was pride that made the devil the devil. It was pride that prompted Lucifer to attempt to ascend to equality with God. And it is pride that often fuels in humans a desire to be independent of God. Even moreso, PRIDE causes division amongst people… in fact, as CS Lewis points out, PRIDE is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man but between man and God.
You see, PRIDE in and of its nature is essentially competitive. PRIDE gets no pleasure our of having something, but rather out of having more than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich or clever or good-looking, but they are not. Instead, they are proud of being richer, or cleverer or more good-looking than someone else. It is comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.
For David, his pride made him believe that his wants were more important than Uriah's needs and that he was important enough and more than Uriah… so much so that he could murder a man because he had an affair with that man's wife and got her pregnant. David had everything… but PRIDE made him want more, including what he was never meant to have. And because he falsely believed he was important enough to warrant it, because he believed he
Now, as most of my sermons, this particular sermon began as a Bible study that we did during our Sunday night youth activity… FATHOM. FATHOM is a time of topical life-application Bible study where we see what God's Word has to say about the many issues that teenagers deal with and are curious about.
And the series on PRIDE prompted the most responses I have gotten on a series since we did a study on Spiritual gifts. Teenagers, college students and adults all had numerous questions for me after teaching that and I remember them asking about various things in their life and if those things would constitute PRIDE. And at first, I tried to evaluate each and every specific thing that I was told. And I found that it was consuming my thoughts… trying to avoid pride, to avoid being prideful was becoming my focus.
And then God spoke to me during the preparation of this message with a still, small voice. He told me exactly how we can defeat the pride that entangles us. He said, “Carlos, why focus on the sin? Why start with trying to not do something wrong rather than striving towards that which is holy?”
And you know what God's answer to PRIDE is? How to combat it?
Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
Humility. By embracing humility. And, how can we embrace humility? Here's three ways to start, keeping in mind that all these are done within the context of pursuing God and His holy will for your life… you ready? Here they are…
A. Learn to love.
And I don't mean just saying “I love you.” Talk is cheap… it's got to be backed up by actions. It means putting someone else's needs before your own.
B. Learn to serve.
Once again, putting others' needs before your own is a guaranteed pride-killer. It reminds us that we're not alone in the world and that the rest of the world doesn't exist just to serve us, which is something we often have the tendency to think. Jesus took on the mantle of servant when he wrapped a towl around his waist and washed the disciples' feet… can we do any less than follow his example?
C. Learn to be authentic.
Learning to be authentic, to be real and to be honest with yourself, with God and with others is another pride-killer. All it would have taken from David would have beena just a little bit of honesty, of authnticity. If he had just sat Uriah down and explained what he had done… things would have been drastically different.
And this brings us to our time of invitiation… it's about being real… about being authentic… about being honest. How many of us over the past week alone have shunned humility for the seeming glamour of PRIDE?
The challenge is simple… humility is required to fully enjoy the joyful existence God has for us… PRIDE can kill our joy. But we can kill PRIDE by seeking after humility.
For some of us, it could be a completely new thing. For some of us, something we've strayed just a bit from. Whatever your case, wherever you're at in your walk with Christ towards a joy-filled life… there's room at this altar, this morning for you to come and pray for humility… and to pray against PRIDE.