Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20021103.htm

1 AND 2 SAMUEL: GOD'S SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN OVERSIGHT
Part L: Effectively Communicating To Overseers Spiritually Corrective Insight
(2 Samuel 12:1-13a)
  1. Introduction
    1. When a party that is our superior in an institutional arrangement of a marriage, family, church, business or government realm does what is wrong, though the temptation may be to confront him in a disrespectful manner, Scripture commands us always to respect and honor the superior, cf. 1 Peter 2:17; Ephesians 5:22; 6:1, 5 regarding relationships in government, marriage, family and business respectively.
    2. The prophet, Nathan was led of God to approach king David about his heinous sins of adultery and murder in a way that still upheld the king-subject relationship between the two men. We examine that approach for insight on effectively communicating to overseers spiritually corrective insight as follows:
  2. Effectively Communicating To Overseers Spiritually Corrective Insight, 2 Samuel 12:1-13a.
    1. Step One - The Lord led Nathan, His prophet, to approach David about his sin, 2 Samuel 12:1a.
      1. The first step in effectively communicating to an overseer spiritually corrective insight is for the LORD to take the initiative in leading us to do that.
      2. God may use Scripture (cf. 2 Timothy 3:15-17) or circumstances that align with Scripture and His leading in our lives to date (Acts 16:6-10) or a strong desire to address the party (Philippians 2:12-13) or even some combination of these factors that still heed Scriptural guidelines for our actions.
    2. Step Two - The Lord led Nathan, the proper party Biblically established by God to deliver God's insight to anyone in Israel, even to the king, cf. 2 Samuel 12:1b with Deuteronomy 18:18-19, 20-22.
      1. When God directs us to approach a superior with spiritually corrective insight, the arrangement of the meeting itself will FIT the Biblical calling God has for us in that relationship.
      2. Two good examples on approaching a superior in one's proper role are given in Nehemiah and Esther:
        1. In Nehemiah's case (Nehemiah 2:1-4), the king saw Nehemiah's face was sad while he was in the process of fulfilling his acceptable calling of serving as the king's cup bearer (Neh. 1:11c). In that setting, the opportunity opened up for him to explain his sadness so he could put a request in for the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls.
        2. In Esther's case (Esther 4:1-7:10), she was not allowed to approach the king without being summoned by him unless, when she appeared, he graciously held out his scepter for her to approach to his throng, Esther 4:11. However, since the welfare of her people was at stake, Esther boldly appeared in the rear of the throne room to elicit the king's gracious extension of the scepter. When she did get a lawful hearing, Esther respectfully invited the king to a banquet honoring him before making her request regarding Haman's demise. Esther operated within her proper role.
    3. Step Three - When the Lord thus provided the opportunity to communicate with king David, Nathan took pains not to "preach at" David, but respectfully get David himself to admit his sin by way of an illustrated parable, 1 Samuel 12:1c-7a. Hence, when speaking to the overseer, we should gradually and respectfully seek to elicit his own realization of his evil!
    4. Step Four - Once David realized he had sinned, Nathan delivered all the facts of God's message to David about his sin in the same respectful, but candid way, 1 Samuel 12:7b-12. Leaders do not answer to as many superiors as their followers, so, when they realize they need correction, they need to know all the facts of their wrong so they can be corrected for the good of their subjects! Once Nathan delivered these facts, David confessed his sin, the desired result of Nathan's ministry unto him, 1 Samuel 12:13a!
Lesson: To be effective in communicating spiritually corrective insight to an overseer, we must (1) let GOD initiate our effort, (2) we should communicate with the superior WITHIN the FUNCTION of our assigned subordinate role, (3) and not pontificate, but gradually, gently reveal the wrong of the superior when the Lord opens up the door for him to listen to our appeal. (4) Once the superior realizes he is in the wrong, God wants us to lay out ALL the facts for the welfare of his subordinates.

Application: As the WAY we approach a superior for his correction is as important as WHAT we have to SAY to him if we would be effectively used by God, may we heed God in our METHOD of approach!