As Christians, there will be times when we are running hard after Jesus, and there will be times when we feel like Jesus is nowhere to be found.  There will be times when we are valiantly killing off sin by the Spirit, pressing back the darkness in our lives and the world around us, and there will be times when it feels like the world around us is crashing in and we can’t escape our sin.  Some scoffers on the outside looking in at is during harder times and say, “hypocrisy, you’re not a Christian!”  A Christian shouts back, “it is only hypocrisy if we claimed perfection, rather than entrusting ourselves to the grace and mercy of the Perfect One, Jesus Christ.”

In the Bible, the King of Israel, David, was described as a man after God’s own heart:  Acts 13-21-22 – “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.  And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’”  Considering this description by God of David and understand that God says this knowing everything David would ever do as you hear of David’s actions in 2 Samuel 11.

In 2 Samuel 11, we are told a story of the same man David who sees another man’s wife, Bathsheba, has his men bring her to him, and he sleeps with her.  Bathsheba becomes pregnant and sends a note to David telling him that she is going to have a child.  In order to cover up his sin of lust and adultery, David tries to get her husband, Uriah, drunk to go sleep with her so he would think the baby was his.  When Uriah refuses to sleep with his wife while his men are at war and he chooses to be with them instead, David gives orders to have Uriah killed in battle.  After David gets notice that Uriah has been killed, he brings Bathsheba into his house to live with him.  For at least the next 9 months until after the baby is born David lives with his sin, unrepentantly.  We know this because it isn’t until after the child of Bathsheba is born that Nathan, the prophet, confronts David about his sin in 2 Samuel 12.  After this confrontation David pens what is written in Psalm 51, his plea of repentance for the grace of God to blot out his sin and renew in him a clean heart. 

If you read the Old Testament, you will see a picture of David, a man valiant for the Lord, pursuing joy in the Lord and extending grace and wisdom into his kingdom.  God put David in a position as a shepherd over the people of Israel.  In this period however, God used another man, Nathan to shepherd David, to bring him back to the Lord as a lost sheep.  Why is this important to us?  This is a picture of the Church, the people of God reaching out to one another in love to keep them pursuing joy in their relationship with God.  Look at the instructions of Jesus to Peter in John 21:15-17 – “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”  Each of us as followers of Christ have been called to look shepherd each other, to love one another enough to draw each other continually to the Lord.  Everyone, from the layperson to the pastor, will at times be a shepherd and at other times, a sheep needing to be brought back into the fold.  To think otherwise is arrogance, and to deny your calling to shepherd others is to deny your love for Christ and His love for His bride, the Church.  

I don’t often give specific applications, wanting instead to allow God to move in each person individually, but today I want to challenge myself and everyone else to consider 1 person that you have seen drift from the Church and reach out to that person.  It was 9 months before Nathan confronted David to draw Him back to God in repentance.  If you are David in this story, know that God is ever ready to receive you, jealous for your return – don’t wait 9 months for someone to come to you, but instead seek out someone to help you.  If you are a Nathan in this story (every Christian is), God has plans to use you to reach out to those who have drifted – answer His call. Take tangible steps to draw that person back in, by meeting up for a dinner or asking them to go to church with you or to your small group.  Do not simply resolve to pray for that person, but pray and take action.  Be encouraged and spurred to action from James 5:19-20 – “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”  Preach the gospel into their lives, watch out for your brothers and sisters in Christ and constantly encourage them, and again, preach the gospel.  In so doing, you will watch out for your own life and the life of others in a way that will build up the Church and bring glory to God.