Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / A Man Who Rose Too High for His Own Good - Minister Max Lucado

Transcript

A Man Who Rose Too High for His Own Good - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Hi friends, I'm Max Locato and welcome to Fresh Hope.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I am so glad you've joined me. We continue our
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: study on the life of David based on a book
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I wrote called Facing Your Giants. Now you may be
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: wondering what God saw in David. He fell as often
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: as he stood. He stumbled as often as he cockled.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: But God never abandoned David and David never gave up
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: on God. I've learned the hard way that you can
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: climb too high in life for your own good. Linger
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: too long at the high altitudes. And two of your
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: senses suffer. First, your hearing dulls. You know, it's hard
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to hear people when you're higher than them. And your
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: eyesight dims. It's hard to focus on people when you're
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: so far above them. They can appear so small. And
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you can hardly distinguish one from the other. You don't
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: hear them. You don't see them. You're above them. Which
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: is exactly where David is in our story today. At
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: age 50, he's never been higher. Israel is expanding. The
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: country is prospering. In two decades on the throne, David
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: has distinguished himself as a warrior, a musician, a statesman,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and a king. His cabinet is strong. His boundaries stretch
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: for 60,000 square miles. No defeats on the battlefield. Love
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: by all the people. David is at an all-time high.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Quite a contrast to how we first found him, do
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: you remember, in the valley of Elah? Kneeling at the brook,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: searching for five smooth stones. All others stood. The soldiers stood.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Goliath stood. The brothers stood. The others were high. David
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: was low, belly down in the lowest part of the valley.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Never lower, yet never stronger. Three decades later, his situation
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: is reversed. Never higher, yet never weaker. David stands at
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the highest point of his life, in the highest position
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: in the kingdom, at the highest place in the city,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: on the balcony overlooking Jerusalem. He should be with his
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: men at battle, but he isn't. 2 Samuel chapter 11
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and verse 1 says, In the spring... When the kings
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: normally went out to war, David sent out Joab, his servants,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: and all the Israelites. They destroyed the Ammonites and attacked
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: the city of Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. It's
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: springtime in Jerusalem. The nights are warm. The air is sweet.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: David has time on his hands and love on his
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: mind and people at his disposal. His eyes fall upon
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: a woman as she bathes. He looks and likes what
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: he sees, so he inquires about her. A servant returns
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: with this information in verse 3. That woman is Bathsheba,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: daughter of Eliam. She is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: The servant laces his information with a warning. He gives
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: not only the woman's name, but her marital status and
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: the name of her husband. Why tell David she is
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: married if not to caution him? Why give the husband's
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: name unless David is familiar with it? Odds are David
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: knew Uriah and the servant hopes to dissuade the king.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: But the next verse describes David's first step down a
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: greasy slope. So David sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: When she came to him, he had sexual relations with her.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Verse 4. David sins many times in this story. He
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: sins Joab to battle. Verse 1. He sins the servant
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to inquire about Bathsheba. Verse 3. He sins for Bathsheba
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: to have her come to him. Verse 4. When in
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: verse 6, David learns of her pregnancy, he sends word
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: to Joab to send Uriah back to Jerusalem. David sends
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: him to Bathsheba to rest, but Uriah is too noble.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: David opts to send Uriah back to a place in
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the battle where he is sure to be killed. Thinking
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: his cover-up is complete, in verse 27, David sends for
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Bathsheba and marries her. We don't like this sending, demanding David.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: We prefer the pastoring David, caring for the flock, the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: worshiping David, pinning the Psalms. We aren't prepared for the
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: David who has lost control, who sins as he sins.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: What has happened to him? Simple. Altitude sickness. He's been
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: too high too long. The thin air has messed with
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: his senses. He can't hear as he used to. He
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: can't hear the warnings of the servant or the voice
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: of his conscience. Nor can he hear his Lord. The
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: pinnacle has dulled his ears and blinded his eyes. Did
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: David see Bathsheba?
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: No.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: He saw Bathsheba bathing. He saw Bathsheba the conquest. But
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: did he see Bathsheba the human being, the wife of Uriah,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the creation of God? No. David had lost his vision.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Too long at the top will do that to you.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Of course, who among us could ever ascend as high
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: as David? Who among us is a finger snap away
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: from a, Rendezvous with anyone we choose. Presidents and kings
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: might send people to do their bidding. We're lucky to
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: send out for Chinese food. We can understand David's other struggles,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: but David is high and mighty. David's balcony is one
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: place we've never been. Or have we? I wasn't on
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: a balcony, but I was on a flight. And I
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: didn't watch a woman bathe, but I did watch an
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: airline attendant fumble. She couldn't do anything right. Order soda
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and she'd bring juice. Ask for a pillow and she'd
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: bring a blanket. And I started to grumble. I was
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: feeling a bit smug. I'd just been a guest speaker
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: at an event and people told me how lucky they
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: were that I had come. I don't know what was crazier,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the fact that they said it or that I believed it.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: So I boarded the plane feeling cocky. I took my
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: seat knowing the flight was safe since heaven knows I'm
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: essential to the work of God. Then I asked for
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the soda, the pillow. She blew the assignments and I growled.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Do you see what I was doing? Placing myself higher
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: than the airline attendant. Now don't look at me like that.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Haven't you felt superior to someone? A parking lot attendant,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the clerk at the grocery store. You've done what I
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: did and we've done what David did. We've lost our
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: sight and hearing. When I looked at the airline attendant,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I didn't see a human being. I saw a necessary commodity.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Imagine my surprise when the flight attendant knelt beside my seat. Mr. Locato,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: she asked, are you the one who writes the Christian books?
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Christian books, yes. Christian thoughts, that's another matter, I said
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to myself. as I descended my own little balcony stairs.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Her eyes misted and her heart opened. Divorce papers had
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: arrived that morning, she told me. Her husband wouldn't return
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: her calls. She didn't know where she was going to live.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: She could hardly focus on work. Would I pray for her?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: I did, but both God and I knew she was
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: not the only one who needed prayer. Perhaps you could
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: use a prayer too. How's your hearing? Do you hear
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the servants whom God sends and your vision? Do you
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: still see people or do you see only their functions?
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I think the story of David and Bathsheba is less
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: a story of lust and more a story of power.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: A story of a man who rose too high for
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: his own good. A man who needed to hear these
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: words from Proverbs 16, 18. First pride, then the crash.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: The bigger the ego, the harder the fall. This must
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: be why God hates arrogance. He hates to see his
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: children fall. He hates to see his day seduce and
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: his Bathshebas be victimized. God doesn't dislike arrogance. He hates it.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Could he state it any clearer than Proverbs 8 13?
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: I hate pride and arrogance. And then a few chapters later,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: God can't stomach arrogance or pretense. Believe me, he'll put
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: those upstarts in their place. Chapter 16 and verse 5.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: You don't want God to do that. Just ask David.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: He never quite recovered from this bout with this giant.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Want to fight your own giant of pride? Here's how.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Pursue humility. Humility doesn't mean you think less of yourself,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: but that you think of yourself less. As Romans 12
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: 3 says, don't cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: by the light of the faith that God has given
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: to you. What would happen if everyone took on the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: role of a servant? How many marriages would be blessed?
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: If politicians set out to serve their people more than
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: serve themselves, would the country benefit? If churches were populated
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: by sincere servants, how many people would hear the invitation
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: of a lifetime? In the hallway of my memory hangs
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: a photograph. It's a picture of two people, a man
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: and a woman, a couple in the seventh decade of life.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: The man lies in the hospital bed But the hospital
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: bed is in the living room, not the hospital room.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: His body, for all practical purposes, is useless. Muscles have
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: been so ravaged by ALS that they're stretched from bone
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: to bone like the taut fabric on the spokes of
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: an umbrella. He breathes through a hose attached to a
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: hole at the base of his throat. And though his
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: body is ineffective, his eyes are searching. They can't scan
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the room for his partner, a woman whose age is
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: concealed by her youthful vigor. Though her hair is gray,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: she's vibrant and healthy in contrast to the figure lying
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: in the bed. And she willingly goes about her task
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: of the day, taking care of her husband with unswerving loyalty.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: She does what she's been doing for the past two years.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Not an easy assignment. She must shave him, bathe him,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: feed him, comb his hair, brush his teeth. She holds
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: his hand as they sit and watch television together. She
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: gets up in the middle of the night and suctions
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: his lungs. She leans over and kisses his feverish face.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: She serves him. By the time my father took his
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: final breath, the two had been married for over four decades.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And on the day we buried him I thanked my
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: mom for modeling the spirit of Christ. Quiet servanthood. Let's
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: follow her example. Let's seek not to be served, but
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to serve. Resist the place of celebrity. Luke 14 10 instructs,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: go sit in a seat that is not important. When
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the host comes to you, he may say, friend, move
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: up here to a more important place. Then all the
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: other guests will respect you. Wouldn't you rather be invited
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: up than put down? You know, God has a cure
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: for the high and mighty. Come down from the mountain.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And when you do, you'll be amazed at what you
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: hear and who you see. So fight the giant of pride.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Don't lose sight of who you are in God and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: who others are in Him. Our God will help you
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: on this because God still does the impossible.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: You don't have to stay close, as long as you're
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: somewhere out there, that's enough for me. I don't need
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: to hold you near me, don't need promises to keep.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere in this
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: world I see Even if I'm not beside you Even
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: if you never know There's a quiet kind of comfort
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Just in knowing you still glow I don't need forever
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: I just need you to exist.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: out there.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Calling softly through my days You don't have.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: To look my way.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: You don't have to be my home It's enough to
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: know you're living In a world I'm not alone.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: I won't chase you through the distance. Won't disturb your
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: chosen life. I'll just keep you in my silence like
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: a star that shines at night. Through the dark and
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: through the blue.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: I still think of you. You don't have to be
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: my home It's enough to know you're living In a
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: world I'm.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: Not alone I don't need to be your light I
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: don't need to cross your mind All I need is
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: just the truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: to feel the.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Same Just as long.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: As you're still out there Calling softly through my days
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: You don't have to look my way You don't have
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: to be my home It's enough to know you're living
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: In a world I'm not alone.