Jolts, Jams, and Joy

Jim Noble

Pre-Launch • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

2 Samuel 19:1–8

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A holy jolt from another may save you from a jam or amplify your joy

Notes

Transcript

Children’s Sermon

Hot water knob at home? Bring a knob? Have to adjust it EVER so slightly…any significant bump and you’re going to get burned! Be a knob that is hard to turn! And stay in control of your own knobs!

Scripture

2 Samuel 19:1-8 - Joab learned that David was weeping and mourning over the death of his son Absalom. So what was supposed to be a day of victory was instead a day of mourning for all the troops because they heard David was grieving. So, the soldiers entered the city quietly and sneakily, as they would do if they’d fled from battle. King David covered his face and wailed loudly, “Oh, my son Absalon! Oh, Absalom, my son! My son!” Joab came to where King David was and said, “Today you are humiliating all those who’ve saved your life, not to mention the lives of your sons, daughters, wives, and secondary wives. You are loving those who hate you and hating those who love you! The commanders and soldiers feel as though they are nothing to you because it seems that if Absalom were alive and the rest of us dead, that’d be fine with you! Get up now! Get out there and celebrate with those who love you! I swear to God if you don’t get out there, not a soldier will remain by nightfall and that will be worse than all your trouble up to this point!” So, David went and sat at the city gate. All the people were told he was there and they processed by him.

Engage

For a long time, those seeking ordination in the United Methodist Church have had to clear numerous hurdles. You are required to have a fairly high level of education, you are submitted to fairly extensive psychological evaluations and interviews, a large volume of written work is examined at several points during the process, and finally, once you’re commissioned, you enter a two (used to be three) year probationary process full of meetings, more writing, interviews, and such. In our conference, this process is called Residence in Ministry or RIM. I entered RIM in 2011 and completed it in 2013 at my ordination. For about the first half of my RIM process, I was very anxious. My nerves were getting the better of me…most especially in interview and discussion situations. Then, one of my mentors, Doug, who I’m eternally grateful for, asked me a question in a pizza place, I think it was, in George West, Texas. He said, “So what if you don’t get through and they kick you out.” Very un-emotionally, matter of factly. The statement kind of shocked me but something about it slapped me back to reality. Truthfully, so what? God’s been good to me, he is good to me, and he will be good to me. Some failure in some process of the UM Church does not define my worth to God. From that point on, I was much more myself and much more relaxed. I did really well in the second half of RIM, though some folks still held onto my earlier challenges…BUT, they saw fit to ordain me in 2013. And, frankly, we started with twelve and only five of us are left in full-time vocational ministry.

Encounter

As we looked at last week, sometimes jolts come directly from God or through the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, though, jolts come from God through a friend, family member, or other person in our lives. And, a holy jolt from another may save you from a jam or amplify your joy. When I say jolt, it may be a nudge, or a correction, an attitude adjustment, a suggestion. even a gift or a blessing…really anything that helps you take a fresh look at your relationships with God and other people.

These jolts can help us re-launch ourselves, our ministries, our relationships. I’ve titled this series pre-launch because I’m examining, mostly, stories of the Old Testament as illustrations. How did people thousands of years ago correct course, re-launch themselves, etc.

Our Scripture of the day is one of my favorite stories in Scripture. I look forward to meeting Joab someday, that man had guts in his earthly life! Many of you will remember how God called David a man after his own heart. In my estimation, one of the likely reasons for God saying this is on display right here. David is open. David is incredibly powerful at this point and has just overcome a coup attempt, by his own son no less. Not only is David very powerful, but he’s mourning deeply. Absalom was his son, after all, and anyone can understand David’s grieving, even though Absalom was trying to kill him and take over. Yet even in the state he’s in, he’s open to correction. From God, from Joab, probably from whomever. And so Joab courageously gives him the what for. Joab gives David a holy jolt that does, likely, save him from a jam and amplifies the joy of those around him.

As I was thinking of this passage, a helpful thought occurred to me. When Joab is giving David advice, or someone is giving you advice, you may find it helpful to evaluate it with three tests. Is it factual, is it faithful, is it fruitful. Factual, faithful, fruitful. Let’s apply this test briefly to David and Joab. Was what Joab was telling David factual? Yes, absolutely. He gave David the rock solid truth. Was what Joab told David faithful? Yes! No matter how difficult, we are to cast aside evil and embrace love. Nothing could bring Absalom back at this point, nothing could correct his ridiculously stupid scheme and actions…what is the most loving thing David can do here? Support the troops and people who’d help him defeat the coup. Thank them, love on them, console any who lost friends or family, etc. Finally, would what Joab was telling David lead to fruitfulness. Yes again. Spirits would be uplifted, victory celebrated, an evil had been thwarted, etc.

Let’s turn to an even earlier example in the OT. Moses and Jethro, his father-in-law. If you have your Bibles open, turn to Exodus 18:13ff. Jethro is visiting Moses and observes him working like a dog judging disputes as the ONLY judge at the time. Jethro advises Moses on doing things differently. In so doing, he sets the groundwork for the court system we have to this day. Moses listens and does what Jethro advises, greatly reducing his own burden and stress. Moses, like David, is open to advice coming through people but from God. Was is factual? Yes, Moses was working way too hard. Was it faithful? Yes, god intends us to work…but also to rest. God does not want us to stress out or overwork. Does it produce fruit? Yes, it results in the fruit of rest for Moses as well as the fruit of giving many qualified people a chance to help rule the nation.

Finally, look to Genesis Chapters 29-31 and the saga of Jacob and Laban. Really, Jacob’s whole life is full of examples of people accepting correction and changing course…even Jacob himself when it comes to his wife Leah, I think. Anyway, Jacob and Laban start off on good terms, then Laban radically takes advantage of Jacob numerous times…but finally, God and Jacob give Laban a holy jolt…and he relents and ultimately stops interfering so much and trying to run the lives of his daughter and son-in-law. In a way, he really lets go and lets God!

In these examples and many others in Scripture, a holy jolt from someone else on life’s journey saves people from a jam and/or amplifies their joy.

Empower

Now, hear a story not from thousands of years ago but only hundreds of years ago. A young man dreamed of joining the Navy and, perhaps, with the help of his older brother, an officer, being trained as an officer in the sailing forces. Yet, he needed to convince his mother. When he asked, she sighed heavily. He was a teenager, but she still saw him as her baby. She had lost her husband and the boy’s father five years prior, and was struggling to raise more than a half dozen kids by herself. Finally, she agreed. He could join. Fast forward to the boy dressed in a fine midshipman’s uniform, bidding farewell and about to board his first vessel. Good-bye, mother, he says, I’ll miss you. Then, her emotions broke. She sobbed. She pleaded with him to stay, be strong, help her, all while her older son was espousing the virtues of the Navy. Finally, the teenager spoke. He did want a Navy career, very badly. But not if it meant bearing the memory of his mother’s grief. Disappointed, he would turn in his uniform and have his belongings put back on shore. This same story may have played out many other times with many other boys and mothers. Yet, we owe that mother and that boy tremendously. Her 11th hour anxiety prevented him from joining the British Navy, likely rising through its ranks…A boy of 15 who later became something grand in a much different way, in a much different place. George Washington.

Will you open yourself to a holy jolt from time to time? Will you expect God to work through people…and bring what is unexpected or unusual? Will you examine if it’s factual, faithful, and fruitful? If you will do these things, I believe you can expect God to bring you blessings you never anticipated. He is so great!