How to be a Mouthpiece for Truth and Justice is the sermon theme for week 7 of Fruitfulness on the Frontline with Rev. Graham Crawford –

In today’s lesson on how to be fruitful on the frontline we come to a story which we all know so well.

Many of us have sat in the pew and had fingers pointed at us by ministers acting the part of the prophet, Nathan, as they pronounced: “You are the Man.”

Indeed, every commentary I looked at considered this from the standpoint of preaching on the wages of sin.

However, today I want to look at the passage from 2nd Samuel in a very different way.

Instead of me acting the part of Nathan and pointing the finger at you, I am asking how we all can be Nathans, pointing the finger at injustice in the world around us.

David and Bathsheba

If you remember, from the story of King David, one day – when he was on the roof of his palace – he saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, taking a bath.

He was filled with lust, sent for her, slept with her and, between them, they conceived a child.

This created a problem because, with Uriah being away on a campaign on David’s behalf, he would have been able to work out, when he got back, that he was not the father of the child.

David then sent instructions for Uriah to be placed in the frontline knowing that he was very likely to die in the first attack wave.

This, in due course, happened.

Bathsheba went through her period of mourning, gave birth to a son and became David’s wife.

Thus, by the time the events happened that we are considering this morning, probably about a year has passed since the initial incident – a year where things had gone well for David.

He might even have thought that he had got away with his indiscretion.

But then who should come knocking at his door but the prophet Nathan. Listen to what transpired

 

What Nathan said to David

Nathan rebukes David

12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, ‘There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 ‘Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.’
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’
7 Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.”
11 ‘This is what the Lord says: “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.”’
13 Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’
Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.

All throughout chapter 11 of this story David has been “sending”:

• He sent Joab.
• He sent messengers.
• He sent Uriah a note.

Here now, in chapter 12, about one year later, it is not David who sends. Instead, it is God who sends Nathan.

Up until this reading, David has acted like any other king or person who has power. He uses resources and people for his own ends. He is in control, while taking any necessary steps to cover up his own failings.

He soon learns, however, that he is not the one in control; that it is God who is in control. And God desires to get David’s attention and not to throw away all that God has done in and through him.

This is about God “bringing David back”, not about any notions of revenge or idle punishment.

Nathan as a mouthpiece for truth and justice

Nathan was incredibly courageous.

After all, David has already shown that he was willing to kill in order to cover up his misdeeds.

But Nathan, through wisdom, was able to get David to confront his own sinfulness by telling a story by which David condemned himself and, in this way, Nathan became a mouthpiece for truth and justice.

How we become mouthpieces for truth and justice

We are also called to be mouthpieces for truth and justice in our frontlines.

If we believe things are wrong, we need to stand up for doing what is right.

Some of the things you can do, starting tomorrow you will not even notice, but it will make an enormous difference to other people.

You can decide to stand up for truth and justice by making sure that the things you buy are bought through retailers which pay the producers a fair price for their products.

The Co-op, your own local store, is one of the largest purveyors of fair trade goods in the country.

It is not hard to make sure that coffee growers, tea plantation workers, sugar cane growers and others get a decent wage. You will not even notice the difference yourself, but people half a world away will notice an enormous difference.

Other situations are harder to resolve.

The co-worker whose promotion is blocked because of sexism or racism, the discovery that your firm is taking part in unethical business practices, a realisation that a nursing home is mistreating its patients or that there is neglect on a hospital ward.

On the other hand, you may not have known about conditions, someone else might have been the whistle-blower and you might see them being mistreated by managers as a result of pointing out failings.

One of the reasons I like reading Private Eye every other week is that it is a magazine which is constantly on the look out for injustice; it is always seeking the truth.

Whether it is MD and his attempts to protect those who are whistle blowers in the NHS or others, such as B Ching, who show evidence of corruption in the rail network, business or government, these people do a great job highlighting issues and trying to bring justice, where justice and truth seem to have been lost in the mire.

If we are not mouthpieces for truth and justice then what we do in here on a Sunday morning adds up to a big round zero.

Yes, it is important to praise God. It is important to pray to God. But, if what we do in here does not affect life out there, on our frontlines, in our mission fields, then we are not better than liars and thieves.

Remember what the prophet Amos wrote centuries ago:-

“I hate all your show and pretence—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.
I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.
23 Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,
an endless river of righteous living.

God hates hypocrisy.

He hates people who make a show of their religion in worship, while it is all external pretence.

If what we do in here does not lead to changes out there, on our frontlines, in our mission fields, then what is it all about?

Calls by secularists and humanists to keep religion private have no idea what our faith is about.

It is about the kingdom of heaven becoming incarnate here on earth: “Thy kingdom come”.

It means that worship and discipleship lead to truth and justice.

This is why I have such a problem with a para-church movement which meets monthly in this town.

They claim that they are here to fill you up to send you back into your churches. It is redundant because the aim of the church is to fill you up to send you out into the community.

Why we are all like bathtubs

How can I put this so that everyone understands?

Folks, we are all like bathtubs.

We get filled and we get emptied and, as long as we go back and forth being filled and emptied, we are carrying out our mission.

However, there are some in the church who feel empty.

They are so busy “doing” that they forget to get refilled.

It is a constant worry, for example, with those who teach Sunday School. They spend all their time teaching and not enough time being taught.

With others, however, you can sometimes hear them complaining: “Oh, I never got anything out of that service today.” They are on the other extreme.

They are not involved in mission, and they do not actively seek truth and justice, so they are like a bathtub that is full of water.

They cannot get anything out of the service because they are never emptying themselves in order to receive.

They need to get involved in speaking for truth and justice, doing mission, and moulding culture, if they are going to hear God afresh.

Nathan had to the courage to confront David, to speak up for truth and justice.

Do you have the courage, do you have the strength of faith to point out where injustice lies?

It is perhaps one of our highest callings be prepared to say to others: “You are the Man!” “You are the woman!”