2 Samuel 9:1-13 | Biblical Friendship Part 5

And that's what 2 Samuel 9 gives us a glimpse of. 2 Samuel 9 gives us an incredible picture of what covenant faithfulness looks like. So with our time as we look at 2 Samuel 9, that's what I hope to show you. I hope to show you the four truths about God's covenant faithfulness that ought to fuel our friendships in the church. Four truths about God's covenant faithfulness that ought to fuel our friendships in the church. And the first is this, covenant faithfulness is pledged. Covenant faithfulness is pledged. Look with me at verse 1.

And David said, Now, at this point in 2 Samuel, Saul and Jonathan are dead. David's the king of Israel. It's been about 15 years and he's at the peak of his reign. And in the moment of peace and reflection, David remembers his covenant with Jonathan.

This is the covenant that was made back in 1 Samuel 18, which was renewed in chapter 20, and again in chapter 23. A covenant that David and Jonathan would be loyal to each other. For David, this meant that he would continue to show the steadfast love of God to Jonathan's family. And notice what was pledged by David. And this is important because this is why we can take 2 Samuel 9 and use it to draw out certain principles about God's faithfulness. What was pledged by David was the steadfast love of God. Not a random act of kindness or because David was just a really nice guy and just wanted to help out a friend. The Bible says that David was acting out the covenant faithfulness of God. And verse one says that it was to the house of Saul.

You know, this would have been unheard of in the ancient Near East. Whenever a new king from a different family took the throne, the first thing he would do would be to kill off any remaining members of the family of the previous king. Because as long as they were alive, they represented a threat to the throne.

And in the case of David, even if people knew about this covenant, which likely the only people who did know about this covenant were David and Jonathan, and Jonathan's dead. But even then, no one would have expected David to keep it. It was against everything they knew and understood about the politics of the day.

And yet, David remained faithful because he loved Jonathan. It wasn't as if the covenant somehow, you know, forced David's hand to make him love Jonathan. David loved Jonathan before the covenant was made, and the covenant now demonstrates that love.

And did you know, if you are a Christian, God's covenant love for you works in the same way? The Bible says that before the foundation of the world, God set his love on you. He knew you, and he loved you, and he chose you, and in time he sent his son to come into this world to take on your sins and die the death you deserved. On the cross, Jesus bears the judgment for our sins and pours out his blood to inaugurate a new covenant whereby everyone who believes in him and enters into this covenant is not just saved, but can be confident that he will remain faithful to his promises.

God's covenant faithfulness is pledged. But there's a second thing we need to see from this text, and that is that covenant faithfulness pursues. Covenant faithfulness pursues. This covenant faithfulness doesn't remain in David's heart as some sort of abstract disposition. He's not putting it off for later or expecting anything to fall in his lap. Rather, his remembrance means he'll take concrete action. In fact, we see this in verses 2 through 5 as he begins his search.

Now, there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Zeba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, are you Ziba? And he said, I'm your servant. Notice even Ziba's afraid of being associated with Saul. And so the king said, is there not someone still of the house of Saul that I may show him the kindness, the chesed, the covenant love of God to him? Ziba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan.

He's crippled in his feet. The king said to him, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, he is in the house of Mekir, the son of Emiel at Lodabar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Mekir, the son of Emiel at Lodabar. There's still a descendant of Saul. the son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, but he's in anonymity.

He's in hiding. This place, Lo Debar, it literally means no pasture. There's nothing there. This is where you go if you want to disappear. And so notice, Mephibosheth isn't pursuing David. I mean, why would he? He wouldn't know about a covenant between David and his father, but he knows how the world's supposed to work, and he knows he's on borrowed time. His lineage makes him an enemy. His crippledness makes him helpless. For all he knows, a meeting with David can only mean death. And so David has to seek him out.

You know, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you ought to recognize something of God's grace here. God sent his son to establish the new covenant by his death and resurrection, and about 2,000 years later, you're born and you still hate God. You're still his enemy. It's not like one day you woke up and came to your senses and decided, maybe I should go to God.

The Bible tells us that all we're able to figure out on our own is that we deserve death. But God, in his covenant faithfulness, continues to pursue us. through the preservation of his scriptures, through the faithful witness of his church, through the preaching of his word. And as his word is preached, his spirit actively works in your heart to respond to that pursuit. He rips the veil off of our eyes so that we can see the glory of God and we can recognize I have sinned against this God. I know I deserve judgment and death, but I see Christ. And in Christ, I see a gracious Savior who pursues me and loves me even to death.

And so do you see how covenant faithfulness pursues? David doesn't wait for Mephibosheth, but he goes looking for him so that he can show him grace. And this leads to our third point. Covenant faithfulness provides. Covenant faithfulness provides. Look with me at verse 6.

And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, Behold, I am your servant. Can you imagine his fear in this moment? There's only one rational reason that he is before the king. But look at David's response. And David said to him, Do you see what David's doing?

This isn't just the bare minimum. You know, David could have just said, I'll spare your life. Just go back to Lodobar, the no-name podunk town you came from, and I don't want to hear a peep from you for the rest of my life. And that would have been more than Mephibosheth deserved.

But instead, David is lavish. I mean, Saul was a rich man, and David's saying, I'll give all that back to you. Oh, and by the way, you won't even need it, because you'll always be at my table. And so Mephibosheth gives the only appropriate response to David. Verse 8 says, And he paid homage and said, What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?

Mephibosheth knows he should be dead. And on top of that, he knows he has nothing he can bring to David. I mean, he's crippled. He can't offer labor. He can't offer military service. He's saying that he knows to David he is of no more use than the rotting corpse of a dog. And yet covenant love isn't based on the worthiness of the recipient, but on the character of the covenant maker.

In verse 9 through 11, the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, all that belonged to Saul and to his house I have given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall always eat at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king commands a servant, so will your servant do.

So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons. Do you notice that every time David is referenced in light of Ziba, the text refers to him as king? And every time he's referenced in light of Mephibosheth, the text calls him David. This provision of David, it's not just forgiveness, but he draws Mephibosheth near and he creates this personal, intimate relationship with him. He, in a sense, adopts Mephibosheth and not only provides for his every need, but even more than he needs.

And this is characteristic of God. His grace is lavish and extravagant. When God saves you, it is well within His prerogative to make you sit in a corner for all of eternity with your back to Him, and that would be far more than you deserve. And yet the Bible says that when this God saves you, when by faith you come empty-handed, knowing you are unworthy, I am nothing, I have nothing, and you by faith grab hold of Christ, God blesses you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He saves you into Christ to have this deep, personal, intimate union with Christ such that all that belongs to Christ belongs to you. His righteousness, his sonship, his spirit, his kingdom, his table. God adopts you as his own and draws you near to him so that you can partake even of his divine nature. You can participate in the fullness of all that Christ is such that all that he is, all of his grace, all of his wisdom, all of his strength, all of him is now accessible to you by faith. And I don't even have time to talk about how he also provides materially and physically, but that's all to say his covenant love provides lavishly. But there's one last truth we need to see from this text, and that is that covenant faithfulness perseveres. Covenant faithfulness perseveres.

Look at verse 12. And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micah, and all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. The author wants us to know that Mephibosheth had a household, and specifically that he had a son. This detail is intended to show us that David is keeping his promise that he would protect Jonathan's lineage. This kind of commitment is lasting. And verse 13 ends, so Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table.

Now he was lame in both his feet. This ending is a little strange. It has this turn. It's abrupt. It's almost jarring. The author didn't have to repeat this detail of lameness, and yet what he's doing is he's intentionally drawing our attention to the fact that Mephibosheth's permanent position, that he ate always at the king's table, is repeated three times. the author is emphasizing that his position is permanent despite his weak condition. Do you see how this only magnifies the grace of David? I mean, this isn't easy, and yet it's lasting. And this is the picture of God's covenant faithfulness.

When God saves you, he doesn't just save you and then leave you to your own devices to figure out the rest. That wouldn't be enough. There is no amount of human effort that could ever keep you in salvation. Rather, the Bible says that the God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. This God is your keeper, and what that means is that at no point in your Christian life can you boast about your own ability, or your own wisdom, or intelligence, or strength.

The only thing you can boast about is your weakness. Because in your weakness, God tells you, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. This is why Paul says, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The only reason that day after day we can return to the Lord's table is entirely because of the persevering covenant faithfulness of God. So we've seen four truths about God's covenant faithfulness, but this is a series on biblical friendship. So how can we apply these truths to our friendships in the church? Well, if you recognize that because of God's covenant faithfulness, God made a new covenant and then despite your unworthiness, he pursued you to unite you to his son so that he could give you riches upon riches in this covenantal union that endures forever. then you must also recognize that this is the same experience of every other believer in this church body. Every believer has been fully and equally been incorporated into the very life of God.

And because that's the case, do you see how this ought to radically reshape your friendships? Because if when God looks at you, he sees Christ, he sees you as in Christ, as belonging to Christ, as someone for whom Christ would die. How could I see you as any less? How could I see you any less than how God sees you?

And if I've experienced his covenant love as someone who's so unworthy, how could I not let that overflow into my friendships? This is why we pursue each other, why we pray for one another, why we endure with each other even when it's inconvenient. This is why we love and greet and forgive and serve each other, why we're hospitable and generous and give each other the best of our time and energy and resources. Because if God gives all of himself to you, How could I not? How could I withhold anything from you? But you know what? Because that is such a radical call to friendship, we can't even do that on our own. And this is what ultimately separates Christian friendships from every other friendship in the world. Because when you're in fellowship with your Christian friends, you are participating in the life of Christ such that you have access to things that those who are outside of Christ cannot have.

And what that means is that you can do the normal everyday activities of life. So you can watch football, go for a walk, have a fire pit, but you are drawing from divine grace so that as you share hardships and sorrows, you can bear each other's burdens by the power of Christ. You can rejoice at how God is working in your lives, share all the ways he's blessed you, and you can rejoice with each other by the power of Christ instead of becoming envious and trying to one-up each other. You can seek advice and open up to each other without the fear of embarrassment or hurt. You can have difficult conversations and be slow to take offense because you care more about holiness and unity more than your own ego and pride. You can steward your friendship to advance the cause of Christ without having this ulterior motive. You can worship together, pray together, do Bible study together.

You can do all these things by the power of Christ because in Christ you have access to divine grace for every season of life. You know, if biblical friendship is a covenant-shaped relationship between God's people, I pray that this series has been helpful, not just in answering, how can I be a better friend, but do I understand the covenant that ought to shape my friendships? Will you pray with me?

Father, we do thank you for your covenant faithfulness to us. We thank you for the friendships we have in this church. We pray that your spirit would constantly remind us of our union with Christ, that we might glorify you in all our relationships. And we love you, and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.