Scripture: 1 Kings 2:1-10
SERMON SUMMARY
Today, we come to the final message in part two of our “Royalty” series on the life of David. Our approach will be a departure from our regular study method of expositional preaching. Imagine yourself attending David’s funeral. What would a preacher say about the life of David, son of Jesse, Israel’s greatest-ever king? Truly, David is “an enigma wrapped in a riddle”—a terribly flawed “man after God’s own heart.” How are we to make sense of that? I count it a great privilege to have been asked to preach at his funeral, and I’ll do my best to unpack what the Holy Spirit wants us to teach us from his life. Since we all will eventually be the center of attention at a service like this, there’s an important “big idea” that we learn from the life of David that brings the Gospel to bear on how we all live out our relationship with God today.
SERMON KEY POINTS
Due to the unique nature of today’s message, the questions below will unpack the flow of this sermon.
*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMUNITY GROUP QUESTIONS
- Was it helpful for you to think through the life of David from the perspective of attending his funeral? If so, how so?
- Consider David’s growing up years in Jesse’s home—what might that have been like? How might a difficult home life shape someone for good and/or bad?
- How did God use David’s shepherding experience as a first step in preparing him to be King?
- What was the most important takeaway from David’s victory over Goliath?
- What do you think God wants to teach you as you think back on David’s decade-long exile in the wilderness while being chased by King Saul? How does having to wait patiently for God to work affect your faith?
- What was it about David that kept him from killing Saul when he had the opportunity? What would be a similar kind of circumstance in which we might find ourselves that would cause us to go our own way rather than God’s way?
- During his time running from Saul, David also acted in ways that were out of sync with his faith. What were some of those things?
- After David became King and peace and prosperity characterized God’s people, David gave into temptation and committed the terrible sin of adultery and murder. How can “good” times set us up for a fall?
- What were some of the “weed seeds” of undealt sin that contributed to his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah and, even later, led to his sin of census-taking?
- How is it possible that humble repentance can move God to forgive us and restore us? What’s the difference between just being “sorry” for your sin and truly repenting of sin?
- What do we see about David in his last words to his young son Solomon? (1 Kings 2:1-10)
- So, how do you make sense of David being “a man after God’s own heart” and yet being a man who messed up so badly?
- How does the end of Romans 7 factor into our understanding of David’s life?
- What does the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector add to our understanding of how God measures a life? (Luke 18)
- How does the fact that God doesn’t measure our lives by our worst moments mean to you?
- What’s our biggest problem with making David’s life sense?
- Discuss the statement—"To see David as he really was is to see yourself as you really are. And to see yourself as you really are is to be thankful that the Gospel is as good as it really is."
- What does the Gospel teach us about God’s love, grace, and forgiveness when we sin?