Take your Bibles with me and turn to 2 Samuel 20. 2 Samuel 20.

We got a little bit of a break last week from the stories of the Bible with the Crown College group that was here - but we are right back in the middle tonight of the story of David.

If you remember, David was on the run from his son Absolom. The country backed Absolom in a coup and David was forced to run for his life. Even David's best advisors backed Absolom.

In the last story, Absolom was killed and David is returning to Jerusalem. Returning back to power. But it isn't a smooth transition.

Remember - a lot of people in Israel backed Absolom. You could say that Absolom was democratically elected. That doesn't mean it was right - but that is what happened.

That means that a significant portion of the people of Israel were dissatisfied with David. And now David is going back to the throne - back to where God wants him - but what about those people?

Are in you in 2 Samuel 20? Look at it with me. Let's read the first two verses to kind of set the stage:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 20:1-2 - KJV

1. And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
2. So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.

So David is back to Jerusalem. He's back to being king. But in the aftermath of everything this guy named Sheba - who the Bible calls "a son of Belial" - he's a wicked man and he takes the opportunity to stir things up.

He blows the trumpet - which was either a call to war or a call to retreat. He blows the trumpet and he says to the people "We have no part in David, we don't have an inheritance with this son of Jesse, every man too his tents."

What is he doing? There are three things Sheba does here that are common with all rebels:

First, he denies David's sovereignty. He says "we have no part with David." He's basically saying "You ain't my king, you aren't the boss of us. You are illegitimate."

Second, he attacks David's character. He calls him "the son of Jesse." Now, that is who David was - but said like this it was to point out that David came from nothing. He was a nobody. So it is like David is saying "We don't have to follow this nobody."

Finally, he calls people to separate - he says "every man to his tents."

And do you know what? Even though this man is a son of Belial. Even though we haven't heard of him before - verse 2 tells us that everybody from Israel - everybody from the ten tribes - stopped following David, they left David and they joined hands with this worthless Sheba character.

And so what you have here is yet another civil war. Yet another splintering of God's people.

David has just finished a war with his own son. Years before, he had to deal with another civil war as his Judah fought against the ten tribes of Israel. There is no rest for the weary. Just as soon as David gets home, another battle is breaking out. Another division has to be dealt with.

And so I want to talk tonight about division among God's people. Division among God's people.

One of the themes of the New Testament is unity. God loves it when His people are unified. I could literally read verses about this ofr the rest of the evening - but let me read just a few of them.

In John 17 - in one of Christ's last recorded prayers - this is what He prayed for:

[!bible] John 17:20-21 - KJV 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

It is the heartbeat of Jesus that His followers be unified. And as you read the letters to the churches, a common theme in them was that God wants churches to be places of unity.

For instance, we just started studying 1 Corinthians, and 1 Corinthians kind of starts in earnest with Paul saying this:

[!bible] 1 Corinthians 1:10 - KJV 10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

1 Corinthians, for the most part, is a book urging unity in a church.

It's not the only one. Listen to Ephesians 4:3

[!bible] Ephesians 4:3 - KJV 3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We could read on and on - but you get the idea. God wants his people to be unified. God wants churches to be unified.

But unity is not the default. Even in the New Testament times, even in those early church times - there were divisions. You don't get too far in the book of Acts before you run into divisions. You can hardly read the story of any church without seeing divisions.

When James wrote his book, one of the things he said was:

[!bible] James 4:1 - KJV

1. From whence come wars and fightings among you?

Notice - that isn't hypothetical. He didn't say "if you ever have wars and fighting among you - where would that hypothetical fighting come from?" No, it was already there. James was just pointing out where it comes from "from your lusts."

And so, today, as in David's time, God's people are prone to splintering. They are prone to dividing. And I think you can look at this story and you can see three reasons in it why God's people tend to divide.

Then, at the end of this story we will see what God used to stop the division.

Let's pray and we'll jump into those three things.

The first thing reason we can see in this story why God's people divide is...

1. Pride causes God's people to divide.

What was this rebellion really about? If you look at verse 1 again, you can see the hints of it when Sheba says "We have no part in David...O Israel."

If you look back at the very end of chapter 19 here is what happens:

David is being led back to the throne by Judah. (Judah, by the way, were the leaders of the rebellion.) But they are now leading David back to the throne and the rest of the tribes get hurt by this. They essentially say "what makes you so special? You have one part in the king - we have ten parts."

And then if you look here at chapter 20, you have Sheba saying "well, we have no part in David then."

It's just pride. It's just prejudice. It's a bunch of people who got their feelings hurt over basically nothing and so they splintered into groups. Into us verses them. My people verses your people.

It's just a bunch of guys with fragile egos - and one wicked man who steps up to take advantage of it. He selfishly fans the flames of division because he thinks he will get something out of it.

Again, James 4:1

[!bible] James 4:1 - KJV

1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

This comes right after the end of James 3 - where James talks about "bitter envying and strife." Wanting what others have - putting yourself in a competitive

Pride. Pride divides.

There is a second thing we can see in Sheba's rebellion that causes division and that is...

2. Rebellion brings division.

You see, Sheba wasn't just a representative of the people, doing the people's bidding. He was a rebel, rebelling against God's chosen authority in King David. David was anointed of God. David was God's man. And that means that Sheba wasn't just rejecting David's authority - he was rejecting God's authority.

Notice that when Sheba rebelled - the people rebelled with him. He was a leader - but he led the people away from what God wanted.

Church, God is not anti-authority. God has given us authority for our benefit and, for the most part, God's plan is that we obey authority and follow authority.

We can sympathize with the people. David is a far cry at this point from the great king who danced before the Lord and brought unity and prosperity to the kingdom. His flaws have been exposed. The cracks in the foundation are apparent.

But, here is the thing, he was still God's man and as long as He wasn't leading the people to sin - they were duty bound to follow him.

Can I tell you a little secret about leaders? Listen carefully. They are all flawed. Every single one of them. The perfect leader does not exist.

• You want a perfect government? It's not going to happen. There never has been one and never will be one. We thought when we threw off King George we'd have the perfect government - but the problem is the only people who can fill the roles are fallen men.
• You want a perfect pastor? Just never get to know your pastor. Because the perfect pastor does not exist. Every one of us has flaws.
• You want a perfect boss? They are not there. No matter how good your boss is - he's going to disappoint you.
• Ladies, you want a perfect husband. You want Mr. Right. He's not out there. You may have a great husband - but I guarentee you he isn't perfect.
• Kids, you want perfect parents. Every single parent who has ever lived has made mistakes. Every single one has fallen behind in one way or another.

But here is the thing - God does not command you to obey authority if its perfect.

• God doesn't call you to obey your government - if you agree with every way your tax dollars are spent.
• God doesn't call you to follow your pastor - if there is no part of his life that you don't think could be better.
• Ladies, God doesn't call you to submit to your husband - if he is the perfect man.
• Kids, God doesn't call you to obey your parents - if they are absolutely perfect.

God calls us to obey authority here and now, which means God calls us to follow imperfect authority.

And when we reject the authority God has given us - we can call it whatever we want - but God calls it rebellion, and rebellion is as the sin of witchraft.

David rightly stood up in this story and realized he had to take care of Sheba - because if he didn't it would destroy the kingdom. Rebellion is a destructive force.

Let's keep reading and find out what happens next. Back in 2 Samuel 20? Look at verse 3:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 20:3 - KJV 3. And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.

Remember David's 10 concubines had been raped by Absolom. When he got back, he had to take care of them.

There are two ways to look at this:

• You can read this and think "this is so mean of David. He's locking these women up. It isn't there fault."

But I think that is the wrong way to read this. I think the right way to read it is:

• Look at David, these women have been traumatized, and so He's making sure they are protected and taken care of, and he isn't going to use them as his personal play things anymore.

We could talk a lot about that. But let's move on. Verse 4:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 20:4-7 - KJV 4. Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. 5. So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. 6. And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us. 7. And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

Remember, Joab had killed Absolom, against David's direct orders. Because of that, David had demoted him. David gave his position to Amasa - who had led the armies for Absolom.

And here he says to Amasa - go take three days and get an army together. But apparently, Amasa isn't particularly good at his job. (After all - it was Amasa who led the huge army that got whooped by David, Joab and a much smaller force a few chapters back.)

So when Amasa fails, David calls up Abishai - Joab's brother and says "you got take care of him. Go get him before he gets a bunch of fortresses and we can't get him."

So so Joab goes with his brother Abishai. He's probably really still the one that people are following.

And that leads me to the third things that causes division in our lives:

3. Jealousy leads to division.

Let's keep reading:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 20:8-10 - KJV 8. When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out. 9. And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. 10. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.

Do you see what happens here? Joab is so jealous of Amasa that he kills him in cold blood.

He comes up to him, pretends to drop his sword, pretends to give this man a hug, and then guts him like a fish.

He was so jealous - he was so unable to see someone else rise - that he killed this man in cold blood. And he almost derailed the whole mission. Instead of chasing after Sheba, the army is stops to rubber neck and look at Amasa's corpse. Someone has to pull him off the road and cover him up with a blanket so they can get back on their mission.

Jealousy, envy, it's a cancer and it is absolutely divisive.

• Many a family has been destroyed by unchecked jelousy in siblings (actually the very first siblings went to murder over jealousy.)
• Many a marriage has been destroyed because a wife looked at another wife's husband and thought - why can't I have that? Or a man looked at another man's wife and thought "why can't I have that?"
• Maybe you are today looking at other people's lives and thinking "Oh, if I could only have that - then I would be happy" and you don't realize that there is someone who is looking at your life and wishing they could just have what you have.

Jealousy destroys marriages, it destroys families, it destroys churches and it destroys nations. If you let envy live in your life, it will destroy you too.

Do you know what jealousy really is? It is a willful blindness to the blessings that God has given you. It is like a poison pill that makes you forget your blessings. Jealousy is really saying to God "You haven't been fair to me" and when you go down that road - you are walking towards destruction.

So there are three sources of division we've seen here:

• pride
• rebellion
• jealousy

But I told you at the end of the story we see...

What it takes to end division.

Let's keep reading. Pick up in verse 14

[!bible] 2 Samuel 20:14-15 - KJV 14. And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. 15. And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.

Joab and his men chase Sheba all the way to the very top of Israel. And Sheba takes refuge in a walled city called Abel.

And so Joab and his men do what ancient armies normally did in those scenarios. They encircle the city and choke out the people and they start tearing the wall down or getting in however they can.

It's a terrible thing for the people of that city. Very likely, many of them are going to die - either of starvation or by the sword. Their whole life is going to be destroyed.

And that is where a wise woman steps up. Look at verse 16:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 20:16-20 - KJV 16. Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. 17. And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. 18. Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. 19. I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD? 20. And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.