B, Post Pentecost 9 Proper 11 - Psalm 89:27-29 & Ephesians 2:13-14, 15b-16 "Second to One"

Ephesians 2:13-14,15b–16 (ESV) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

In these days we have heard and seen hostility in speech and action, especially in the United States of America.  They don’t seem to be all that united at the moment.

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump and just days later his formal acceptance of nomination as the Republican candidate for the presidency, have been all over the media.

Joe Biden is also receiving much attention in the media, but for different reasons.  A couple of days ago he came down with Covid.  This follows hot on the heels of successive gaffs and the calling for him to step aside in the presidential race by senior Democrats.

Be it here in Australia, or hearing the hype from the USA, it’s easy to get caught up in the political rivalries of the day.  We all have an opinion on politics and politicians and with it measure the men and women who seek our trust.

Regardless of your political persuasion, leaders today seem to polarise society more so, than at any other time in history.  Possibly, this is because of the immediacy of the media disseminating information through mainstream and social platforms.  But an even greater cause for concern, is the social mindset of people today where individual opinion appears to stand “second to none”.

This “second to none” mindset is the same stealthy modus operandi in which the politicians work.  If you wonder why this is the case, it’s because their actions are reflections of us, in order to receive our recognition to be elected.  Then once they are elected, the “second to none” attitude sees them doing “whatever it takes” to stay in office.

As we’re carried along by the daily dramas of the political contest, we become more polarised in our own position.  Our standing, like that of the politicians who promote them, becomes unbendingly “second to none”.

Being Christians there’s a danger into which we can fall, regardless of the social or political positions in which we take our stand.  Like Biden and his Australian contemporaries, who appeal to a progressive social ethic, and Trump and his right-wing equals in Australia, who seek their support from those who hold a conservative work ethic, the danger is using God to glorify ourselves and our ethical ideologies.  When this happens, God is dethroned as the penultimate in our “second to none” ultimatums!

But there’s a leader that doesn’t do this!  He places himself “second to One” rather than “second to none”, the penultimate to the ultimate authority in heaven and on earth.  That man is King David!  

King David was chosen by God after he rejected Saul, his first chosen King, after Saul offered unauthorised sacrifices and didn’t devote the enemy and the spoil to destruction.  Samuel says to Saul, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”  (1 Samuel 15:22–23 ESV)

Saul like many leaders today, stood in leadership, out from under the umbrella of God’s ultimate authority.  Even with much pleading and confession King Saul was not able to continue as king.  (Read for yourself 1 Samuel 15.)  David was eventually made king after God abandoned Saul in battle and he died with his sons.  (Read 1 Samuel 31& 2 Samuel 2:1-4a, 5:1-5)

As children of God, you and I need to be vigilant in our watch that we don’t become children of politicians, making ourselves “second to none” like them and orphan ourselves once again from our Heavenly Father.  King Saul and God’s abandonment of him stands as a warning to all of us!

However, David’s leadership was a faithful leadership “second to One”.  That One was his Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Father!

With a conservative Christian heart, you might argue that David did just as bad or worse than Saul’s sin, by committing adultery with Bathsheba, murdering her husband Uriah, and ordered a sinful census of his army.  Or with a progressive Christian heart, you might dismiss the event as David being a victim of circumstances and thereby trivialising the gravity of his sin. 

But God knew David’s heart, as he knew Saul’s heart.  God saw Saul lead as “second to none”, whereas he saw David rule as “second to One”, despite the sin both of them committed.

Far from being rejected as king, God promises David’s rule will be kept by God in his steadfast love forever.

Of him it is said,  “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.  My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.  I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.”  (Psalm 89:27–29 ESV)

David’s leadership occurs second to his submission to God’s ultimate transcendent leadership. 

The sooner leaders and their followers come to this understanding the better it will be for all who linger in their lifespan! 

David was second to One, but not only in his day as he served and wrestled with his own sinfulness.  David was second to “the One who was to come”!  And he has come in the line of David, born at Bethlehem.

This man is Jesus Christ, the son of David, the Son of Man and the Son of God. 

Where all other leaders polarise their constituents against each other’s conservatism or progressivism, Jesus polarises each of us against our own sinfulness within each of us.

Throughout the Psalms David gives us an insight into his internal battle, the polarisation against his own sinfulness.  A battle that all of us know!  A battle that only Jesus Christ wins, and continues to win within you, when you trust him and allow his winning ways.

This battle is the hostility of sin within.  When you’re confronted with someone you deem as an enemy, the old sinful self, seeks to lead you in a “second to none” mindset, known as pride!  In our polarised pride we think we’re against the enemy.  However, our pride and the pride of the enemy can become one and polarise both against God in sin.  This is the conflict fighting within David, as he battles to be without enemies.

Jesus ultimately took on David’s battles and won.  He seeks to take on your internal hostilities too.  Like David, Jesus made himself “second to One”.  He placed himself under the will of the Father.  But greater than David, in his faithfulness being penultimate to God the Father in the way of the cross, he became “second to everyone”.

Knowing this, the battle of sin still continues within us.  The call to follow Jesus and become “second to everyone” riles the polarised prideful principles and power of our human spirit against the Holy Spirit.  You all sense this within as the Holy Spirit daily seeks to kill old Adam and his human spirit.

Know that as this goes on within, the Holy Spirit is further winning the deposit placed in you at baptism.  God seeks to daily break down the violence within, so that despite the hostilities there’s a peace that only God gives to the faithful repentant recipients of his forgiveness.

Paul reminds us of this, speaking of the two being made one, the old Adam and Jesus Christ, the new Adam, so we know that despite our sin, we have the peace of God, the Son of God victorious over your sin, worked by the Holy Spirit within.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.(Ephesians 2:13-14, 15b–16 ESV)

God has won the battle within.  God is winning the battle within!  And God will win the battle within!

Let being “second to none”, like politicians, be undone!  Like King David, let the Holy Spirit place you “second to the Son”.  He gives us Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who is the peace of God within.  So, like Jesus our Lord, we can be “second to everyone” glorifying our Heavenly Father as number One.  Amen.