Pastor Edgar Mayer;
For more sermons and other writings check out pastor’s homepage: http://www.geocities.com/mayeredgar
Better
Than We Think
For King David it was time to give
something back to God. He was settled in his career – prosperous – at peace – and now there would have to be some more time to spend on God. David had
always loved God and therefore his ambition was not to become a grey nomad for
himself or retire early at the coast. He wanted to give something back –
make a difference in the service of God – and
this was a good plan – even the prophet Nathan agreed – as it may be a good plan for some of us
here. Maybe God has also provided for you – career, health, finances and
family – and therefore now may have come
a time in your life to give back to him.
For David this thought was not an burdensome obligation but a passion. Only – he was in for
a surprise. I read from the Bible – 2
Samuel 7:1-3: “After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had
given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet,
‘Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a
tent.’ Nathan replied to the king, ‘Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do
it, for the Lord is with you.’”
The Bible says that David was a man
after God’s own heart but even he seemed to have looked after himself first
before he realized with a tinge of shame that: “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God
remains in a tent.” David –
finally – could no longer stand the way
God humbled himself before him – conceding to bless him and meet with him –
even though his tent was pitched in a caravan park while David visited him from
the cedar palace.
Again – maybe – to some extent – this
is also our reality. We may spend expensive cedars on ourselves but let God do
with tent cloth. Tithing – giving a tenth of our income to God – seems excessive but spending 90% of our
salaries on ourselves seems only fair. This is so obviously out of line that
the prophet Nathan said without much thinking: “Whatever you have in
mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
Only – both – Nathan and David – were in for a surprise. 2 Samuel 7:4-16:
“That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: ‘Go and tell my
servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell
in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of
David had not expected to hear from God.
He was not after more revelation or more favour from God. He was content. He
had rest from his enemies. He was established on his throne and therefore – after a brief chat with the prophet Nathan – he was now more than ready and eager to
start building a structure which was going to be more dignified for God. Yet –
before he could do anything – God spoke
when he was not expected to speak and he opened up the riches of his grace when
he was not expected to give anything. God had already done enough for this man
David but out of the blue – when nothing more was expected of him – God spoke and he dropped – at this time
– the equivalent of an atomic bomb of
grace. He said to David: “Are you the one to build me a house to dwell
in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of
Egypt to this day … I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to
be ruler over my people Israel … Now I will make your name great, like the
names of the greatest men of the earth … the Lord himself will establish a
house for you … I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come
from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom … I will establish the
throne of his kingdom forever … Your house and your kingdom will endure forever
before me; your throne will be established forever.”
God said to David: “No – don’t do anything for me. I will do even
more for you.” God surprised –
no: he stunned – David with grace –
not just a little undeserved kindness. This
was a tsunami of grace. “I
will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on the earth. I
will estabish a house for you – a dynasty – which will endure forever. Your
throne will be established forever.” This
was too much – more than David could even comprehend at the time. An eternal dynasty was great – a life of
eternal significance was great – and David
was grateful – but there was more –
so much more. Can we even now imagine
the honour that was bestowed on David when Jesus was called the “Son of
David” – the Saviour of the world – the one that came from heaven in
perfect holiness and humility – the one of whom the Bible says – Colossians 1:15-20:
“He is … the firstborn of all creation . by him all
things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by
him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together …
God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him … “
– how can David have the honour
that this Jesus (who was before all things) would bear his name and come as the fulfillment of God’s grace to him:
Jesus would continue his dynasty and be known to the whole world as the “Son
of David”? Who was David that God
drenched him in such a tsunami of grace? And who are we?
David did not have an easy life. There
were thirteen years of hardship until he finally became king but the grace of
God – the immense goodness of God – managed to overshadow all of that. Let’s
spend a little more time on God and his nature of grace towards us.
The other week I came across the
following testimony by a pastor from India – Dr Dhinakaran who died in February this year. Since the 1960s he did
some amazing ministry with evangelism, radio, TV, books, round-the-clock prayer
tower, healings, practical evangelism centre, Bible college
and even a residential Engineering College with 2800 students. This man reached
millions and then I read his testimony and was again stunned by God’s grace:
[Abbreviate and tell in your own words.]
February 1955 … Vexed by the stinging problems in my
life, I was walking towards the railway track to commit suicide; that was the
time our Lord stopped me and won me over for Himself. I prayed, crying bitterly
for four continuous ours, confessing my sins; my repentance was genuine. A
divine peace which the world can never give, filled my
heart. From the next day, I started proclaiming the love of Christ everywhere.
As days rolled on, I began to study the Bible
diligently and with acute concentration. I got a job in a Bank! Along with my
work, I continued to spend my time in an in-depth study of the Bible, night and
day, and in sharing the love of God with other people.
With the passage of time, I began to develop an
uncontrollable yearning to see and talk to our Lord face to face, as the
Biblical saints did. As I was groping about to find a way, the following verse
caught my eyes: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).
True! Jesus was the very Son of God. If He Himself
needed the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, how much more did I require
this experience? Realising this I started to pray intently and incessantly,
pleading with God: “O Lord, fill me too, with the anointment and power of the
Holy Spirit.”
On 9.10.1962, I immersed myself in prayer until
twelve, midnight. In the end, this was my broken-hearted prayer: “How long! How
long, O Lord, have I been pleading with You diligently
and with tears for the anointment of the Holy Spirit? You have not been
merciful to me: I am fed up with this lukewarm Christian life, which is
‘neither cold nor hot’ (Rev. 3:16). Please take away my life, if You don’t wish to fill me with the Holy Spirit today.”
Next day, I returned home only at 9.30pm in the night,
quite exhausted, as I had a heavy load of work in my Bank. After supper, as
usual, I knelt down for family prayer with my parents and two servants of God,
husband and wife, … who had come to pray for me. That
was the moment God had chosen to fill me with His Holy Spirit. The whole room
was flooded with God’s presence. A new sensation which the world cannot give
touched my body; fatigue fled; a divine ecstasy pervaded my heart. Unable to
control my exhilaration, I began to laugh aloud; I wondered within myself where
this great joy could be coming from!
The next moment, the Lord opened my spiritual eyes;
from Heaven a bright light flashed before me; I saw a majestic figure standing
in that light. He addressed me thus: “I am Jesus. Since you sought Me with your whole heart, I have Myself come down to bless
you!” These words were like nectar to my ears, sweeter than honey. I gazed into
His face and found that He was looking at me with great compassion, as a mother
would look at her child. The tenderness and affection in His eyes thrilled my
heart! The gentle smile on His face enthralled me and brought a divine joy into
my heart. Involuntarily, I broke out into a peal of laughter. The more He
smiled, the more I laughed and kept on laughing! Unable to control the
supernatural joy, my tongue began to stammer.
Then my mind posed a question to me: “All these years,
you have been searching for this Son of God. Now, He Himself has come down and
is standing before you! Should you not thank Him?” As soon as this thought
struck me, I began to thank Him. When I was trying to thank Him in my mother
tongue and English, my tongue started talking ‘other tongues’. Though this
experience surprised me, it appeared very pleasing to me, not strange. However,
I was a little baffled by the new tongues. Jesus, the Son of God, told me: “My
son, it is I who makes you talk in several tongues; this is the anointment of
the Holy Spirit” (Dr D.G.S. Dhinakaran: Gifts Of The
Holy Spirit, Tallakulam Madurai: Word Of Christ, p60-62).
Seven years earlier thoughts of suicide
and then desperation for God which was met by a smiling Jesus, holy joy –
laughter even, tongues of praise and blessings from heaven. This man already
experienced more than most but listen to more of his life. We may have already
been taken aback with this bold prayer that said: “How long! How long, O Lord, have I been pleading
with You diligently and with tears for the anointment
of the Holy Spirit? You have not been merciful to me: I am fed up with this
lukewarm Christian life, which is ‘neither cold nor hot’ (Rev. 3:16). Please
take away my life, if You don’t wish to fill me with
the Holy Spirit today.” But Jesus
met this kind of boldness with untold grace and there was more to come.
Yearning for the “Gifts” of the Holy Spirit, I was
praying for them, for several years. At first, God filled me with the Holy
Spirit immeasurably. I saw Jesus, face to face, for three hours. Continuing my
efforts, I kept on ‘wrestling’ with God, in prayer, for all the nine “Gifts”.
One morning, before leaving for my secular work, I knelt down to pray, as I had
a little time to spare. And lo! Quite unexpectedly the Holy Spirit filled me,
in an abundant measure, with a new kind of power.
As mentioned in Revelations 4:1,2,
I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, “Come up, here.” Then I saw a hand coming
down from Heaven. At this juncture, I received a strangely surprising
experience; I was conscious of my praying with great burden on my knees, while
simultaneously, I became aware of myself standing outside the kneeling figure
and looking at the physical body, praying on its knees. I was perfectly
conscious of both the states (Dr D.G.S. Dhinakaran: Gifts Of
The Holy Spirit, Tallakulam Madurai: Word Of Christ, p181). Cf. 2
Corinthians 12:3.
I was lifted, in Spirit, by the hand, across the
cloudy skies and the star-studded celestial regions up into Heaven. What I saw
there thrilled me! Millions of people were sitting under the shades of lush
green trees by the side of cool fountains, engrossed in singing sweet songs of
praises to the Son of God, Jesus. I saw thousands of angels passing along,
singing the praises of Jesus along with those people, and busily welcoming the
new souls of people who have ‘run their races faithfully on earth.’ Thousands
of other angels were there, praising the Son of God, standing before His throne
of glory; some were flitting down to the earth to carry out His commands (Rev.
5:11).
Then I found myself standing before the throne of the
Son of God. I was fascinated by the sweet smiling face of Jesus. Jesus asked
me: “What do you want?” Without any hesitation I replied, “Lord, I want all the nine ‘Gifts’ of the Holy Spirit.” The Lord just
smiled! He didn’t reply me. Taking a cue from my request, someone from behind
interceded on my behalf, as follows: “Lord, the harvest truly is plentifuly,
but the labourers are few, as you have spoken. This young man is prepared to
undergo any suffering for Your sake. All he needs,
according to him, are all the nine ‘Gifts’ only. Why
don’t you grant him his request?” The pleading went on and on, on those lines.
Jesus merely smiled, and said, “Well, let us go to the Father.” Then He
disappeared.
Again, I was lifted up, again in Spirit, to another
place. It was an entirely different place. It looked like a place surrounded by
snow-capped mountains; that ‘snow’ might have been the encircling glory of God.
Absolute silence, peacen and serenity reigned there. There was a very high
white throne. As revealed in 1 Timothy
The whole place rang with echoes of that question,
making me tremble. I replied softly, “Father, I want all the
nine ‘Gifts’ of the Holy Spirit.” For a short while there was a painful pause and
silence. Then the thundering voice echoed once again, “Do you want Me or My ‘Gifts’?” I was at a loss for a reply when I was
agitating myself about what to reply, the same voice which interceded with
Jesus for me earlier, gave me a counsel, “Say that you want Him.” Then only I
understood that my adviser was no one else but the Holy Spirit. How true the
experience referred to in Romans
I gave the same reply. I could see from the slight
shifting movements of the Figure on the throne, that He was extremely pleased
with my reply. All of a sudden there appeared the face of Jesus, the Son of God
portrayed on what appeared to be the bosom of the great Figure (John
From that loving face multi-coloured rays beamed
towards me and even pierced through me. The next moment, I opened my eyes; I
was on my knees in my house, yet. I was wet with sweating from head to foot.
The divine vision had turned my vigour to frailty in me (Daniel 10:8). My faith
and ideas about God underwent a tremendous change. How can my life not be transformed after seeing a vision of the mighty ‘Triune’
God! Neither can I ever forget that enchanting smile on the face of Jesus, as
long as I live!
Then onwards, all the nine ‘Gifts’ [tongues,
interpretation of tongues, prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, discerning of spirits,
faith, healing, miracles] started operating in my life. My ministry started
‘flaming up’ … (Dr D.G.S. Dhinakaran: Gifts Of The
Holy Spirit, Tallakulam Madurai: Word Of Christ, p189-191).
Again: Wow! God’s been so good to this
man and yet, after all of these great experiences and such favour from God, this
man dared to do the following and God was even more gracious to him.
… I was overtaken by a severe disease, life became
bitter to me. One day four friends of mine prayed with tears, for me. While
they were praying for me, the Holy Spirit descended on me. He took me to
Heaven, in Spirit. In Heaven, Jesus was waiting for me in a distinctive place.
In front of Him was a table made of gold. He asked me, “Will you come forward
to do My ministry full-time?” But I was thinking that
He would talk to me about my illness and heal me.
So I was very much vexed by this question and replied
to Him, “No, I have no desire at all to do full-time ministry.” He asked me,
“Why?” I told him, “In my country, You have called
many persons to do Your ministry. But all of them are languishing in hunger,
starvation and lack of many basic needs of life. They don’t have even proper
clothing to wear or proper footwear. It is pathetic to behold them. Today, I
have a good Bank job; I get sufficient food to eat, three times a day, at
least; I have proper clothing. Why should I come forward to do full-time
ministry, giving up all these?” He gave me a clarification for all my doubts.
Finally, with a sweet smile, He asked, “If I give My
word to provide all your needs unfailingly, will you come forward to take up
full-time ministry?”
This kind of discussion went on for a while between
Him and me. In the end I agreed to do His full-time ministry on certain
conditions. One of the terms was my request: “Lord, whenever I stand up to
preach, You must stand by me and perform signs and
wonders, as I desire.” He wrote down all my four requests, one by one, in a
beautiful scroll. Beneath that, He wrote with a feather like pen made of gold:
“I, Jesus, promise to grant all these to My son,
Dhinakaran.” Then He wrote “I, D.G.S. Dhinakaran hereby consent to dedicate
myself for full-time ministry for Jesus.” Underneath this He signed beautifully
in English, “Jesus Christ”. He made me also sign in that scroll.
According to this covenant, when I stand up, filled
with the Holy Spirit, to preach, I am able to see Him, in Spirit. That is why,
a divine faith begins to function in me, whenever I stand up on the stage to
preach … (Dr D.G.S. Dhinakaran: Gifts Of The Holy
Spirit, Tallakulam Madurai: Word Of Christ, p276-277).
This has been a long testimony from an
Indian pastor but with the help of his experiences can we begin to understand
more about the nature of God and his amazing grace to King David? Jesus made a
covenant with Dhinakaran and did not become angry with him for first saying “no” to
his call to full-time ministry. Dhinakaran – after having received so much
from God already – dared to place
conditions on his full-time service to Jesus. There were four conditions
including material provisions and the power to perform signs and wonders while
preaching. But Jesus kept smiling at him, drew up a covenant and signed it with
the result that Dhinakaran ministered in this grace for decades. [And by
the way there would also be plenty of suffering in his life because
discipleship is taking up our cross.]
God said to David: “I took you from the pasture and from following
the flock to be ruler over my people Israel … Now I will make your name great,
like the names of the greatest men of the earth … the Lord himself will
establish a house for you … I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who
will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom … I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever … Your house and your kingdom will
endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
What kind of God do we have? Only this
week I was reading again in the Bible how the apostle John was taken up to
heaven and in the midst of all the revelations which he was going to record for
other Christians to read, he also heard and understood things which only he – of all humans on earth – was going to know – Revelations 10:4 – I read: “And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to
write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders
have said and do not write it down.’”
God is capable of bestowing amazing
grace on us. Dhinakaran was not the first person that bargained with God. When
God had made plans to destroy the city of Sodom for her sins, the Bible records
– Genesis 18:17: “Then the Lord
said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?’” God revealed to Abraham what he was about
to do and then he allowed Abraham to argue with him until he said – Genesis
18:32: “ … [Okay] for the sake of ten [righteous
people], I will not destroy it.”
Do we begin to understand what God is
like – what God promised King David –
and how this was amazing.
We’ve heard stunning testimonies from an Indian pastor and from the Bible but
God is full of grace even in the little things. Let’s
watch an excerpt of a DVD session with Bill Johnson [27:45-35:50].
God is better than we think. David
Francis, David Challenor and I were at the conference when Bill Johnson gave
this talk and that night – after the
session – we wanted to go for a bite to
eat. We thought that maybe Subway would be where we wanted to go but it was
already late and a local told us on the phone that at this time of the night
only McDonalds would be open. So we stopped our search, admitted defeat and
made our way to the type of fast-food which we didn’t want. However, as we were
driving into the car-park of McDonalds, somehow we ended up right in front of a
Subway outlet which was still open. We didn’t think that our evening meal was
important enough to bother God with in prayer but God demonstrated to us what
we had just heard. He is better than we think. He is full of grace and favour
to his children.
God promised King David a royal dynasty
which would never end and he made this true when Jesus Christ came from heaven
to earth to be the heir of David –
the Son of David – who would reign for
ever and ever. What has this to do with us? Everything! We are taken up in this
promise of grace and we are taken up in this reign of grace and we experience
the same God of grace. I read from the Bible – Colossians 1:9-14: “ … you
… being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might … may have
great endurance and patience, and joyfully, giving thanks to the Father, who
has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of
light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into
the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins.”
From King David to the Son of David – Jesus Christ – in
whom we now also have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, life
in his kingdom (freedom from the dominion of darkness). We share in the inheritance of the saints
and therefore – praise God for what is already ours and then – be prepared for further grace which our God
may want to bestow on you. He loves you. You may even think that the time has
come to give something back to God (like David), but there is something in the nature of God that may say to you: “No
– don’t do anything for me. I will do even more for you.” God is better than you think. Amen.
More Sermon Thoughts:
Ü David did not see or taste the fulfillment of God’s promises which teaches us about adopting a generational perspective.
Ü Later David brought a curse upon his bloodline by committing adultery with Bathseba and then murdering her husband. Yet, the curse did not undo the promise of God but at the same time it may teach us vigilance because we can negatively affect the promises of God.