Paul urges his Ephesian brothers and sisters to “be imitators of God.”
(Ephesians 5:1)
How? How can we, creatures of the creator God, be
imitators of God?
For the Armenian sermon,
I would like to introduce a situation from the Old Testament where King David
acted in a way that amazes us. It
illustrates how people can acquire the attributes of God in their lives.
Saul became the first
king of Israel. Saul had a problem with David
because God had chosen David to be the next king.
King David had many
enemies. Saul was one of them. Saul did not want to see David as king. Yet, David was a good friend of Saul’s son
Jonathan. He promised that he would not
destroy Jonathan’s life. When David
heard that Saul and his son Jonathan were dead, he and all the men tore their
clothes and mourned (Chapter 1).
Jonathan had been killed by the soldiers. David had a special love for Jonathan; he had
made him a promise and had not kept it.
After years from this event, David remembers his promise to
Jonathan. Therefore, he invites a
servant of Saul’s household called Ziba.
King David asks: “Is there no one still left of the house
of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
The Hebrew word that has
been used here is HASAD:
God’s kindness.
Imagine,
David is a king. He has everything. He does not need any favor from anyone. Such a man in such a position remembers that
he has promised to take care of Jonathan.
Ziba finds that only Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, who is
crippled on both legs, is alive.
Mephibosheth was brought to King
David. He was afraid. Of course, he will be afraid. I wonder what went into his mind. I am sure he thought that his life would be
taken from him too.
We read in II Samuel
6:9-10
“Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, ‘I have given your
master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to
farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master's grandson
may be provided for. And
Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always
eat at my table’” (2 Samuel 9:9-10).
This is the work of God
in David. David learned the word HASAD
(caring and loving) very well. One
cannot do such an act of love and service without God’s HASAD. This is God’s way of communication with us.
If Paul is asking us to
be imitators of God in today’s passage, he is asking us to learn from God’s
attributes and put them in action. David
kept his promise. David showed love,
concern and kindness to a person who felt he is like a “dead dog.” (2 Samuel
9:8)
God expresses his concern
and love to you whoever you are. The
problem is when we do not receive that love when we ignore His presence in our
life.
To be continued in
English