You Are The Man

Enjoy this message from Pastor Tyler Schoenberger called "You Are The Man" on Sunday, January 11, 2026 at Reach Church in Bear, Delaware!

When the prophet Nathan approached King David with a story about injustice, David's response revealed something profound about human nature. The story was simple: a rich man with many flocks stole and killed a poor man's only beloved lamb to feed a guest. David's moral outrage was immediate and intense, declaring the rich man deserved to die. But Nathan's response changed everything with four simple words: You are the man.

David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged her husband's murder, yet he condemned another's wrongdoing with righteous indignation. This exposes our dangerous tendency to judge others' failures while maintaining the illusion that we would never do such things. We react with moral outrage not primarily because of the wrongdoing itself, but because we assume moral superiority over the wrongdoer.

The uncomfortable truth is that if our faith doesn't account for the fact that our greatest failure may still be ahead of us, we need to reconsider what we believe about ourselves. Jesus raised the standard when He summarized God's law: love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself. He defined this as giving your coat and shirt, going two miles instead of one, and being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. None of us meets this standard. The law's purpose isn't to provide a manageable to-do list but to reveal our desperate need for grace. When we understand the true height of God's standard, we realize we all desperately need grace, which should humble us toward others and fill us with gratitude for the incredible forgiveness we've received through Jesus.