Heroes of Faith: David - Dare to Live
Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:1-54
We are going to continue with our Heroes of Faith theme. This week it’s David. I'm not sure I can just spend one week on David. So this week we will look at the outer giant. Next Week we will look at the inner giant David faced.
Size Up Your Giant:
David is young. Possibly around 16 or 17. He's a kid with no real life experience, no great reputation, not even known beyond his family.
Then there’s Goliath. A big man (verse 4-7).
Bible says he was six cubits and a span which means, he was 9 feet tall.
His scale armour weighed 5000 shekels, which is about 125 pounds or about 58 kilograms.
He has a spear and the head of which weighed 600 shekels which is about 15 pounds or about 6.9 kilograms. That’s about the same as a shot put that you see athletes through in the Olympics.
He thought in that moment that he was the champion. He is undefeated. He is intimidating.
How intimidating is the giant facing our nation this morning dear Christian?
Outer Giants Intimidate a Nation, not an Individual.
The thing about giants is that we personalise them We will talk about the inner giants next week. Too often I hear people talking about the giant that faces them - their Goliath - but in truth a Goliath is something that intimates a nation, not an individual.
8-11: 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
A friend of mine, who is not from the UK, described to me that the UK is like a docile guard dog. You can step over it all the time and burgle the house as long as you do so in a soft voice. Wake it up and then you're in trouble.
What is really intimidating our nation at the moment? If we took a straw poll we would discover all kinds of things and little agreement. We would discover that some think Brexit is the worst or best thing, that the recent election is the worst or best thing, that the NHS is the worst or best thing, that social decay is the worst thing.
You know why we are struggling as churches in the UK? It's not that there are not enemies to our existence, it is that we have been fighting the wrong battle. We have not clearly identified what is standing against this nation.
Oh, we identify all kinds of causes and it's right to follow the conviction of our heart on social action issues. Those things though are like parrying the blows of the giant or the echoes of his voice.
I have never known a time when the Church in the nation has pleaded for unity and yet is so divide by politics, opinion, and strategy.
The thing we need to conquer is fear, division and disunity in the Church. We live in a polarised nation right now. Recently at the Christians Together AGM (which I chair) I gave an address. I said at that time that in a divided nation more than ever we need a together Church.
So what is the giant against our nation (and others, but not all)? Goliath’s voice in our nation is secularism.
Secularism is the idea of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. It purports to be fair and religiously neutral. Well my friends, when you stand for nothing you’ll fall for everything.
Secularism is more than this though. It has principles of its belief system and fruits of that system are evident today.
If secularism is Goliath’s voice, then these are his weapons!
Narcissism: Narcissism is one of secularism's false values. It says, “Me first.” It says, “I'm number one.” The narcissist is in love with himself. He or she is a “me first” kind of person. He is in love with the self-esteem, self-love, pull-your-own-strings, put-yourself-first.
Fruit: selfishness. The poor get poorer and the rich richer. It affect us politically. Whether your capitalist or socialist a godlessness in government leads to a narcism in motivation - no political party is truly the servant of the nation for they are not the servant of God. Abortion becomes used as contraception because the rights of the woman outweighs the rights of the inborn. Assisted dying enters nation - see as “humane,” but the truth is narcism ultimately devalues life and makes the vulnerable feel a burden to their families and society who just want to live their lives.
Hedonism: Closely related to narcissism, hedonism says that life ought to be lived solely for pleasure.
It fans the flames of pornography, homosexuality and promiscuity as it promotes anything and everything that supposedly gives “pleasure.”
Fruit: the redefinition of marriage, gay rights, clubbing culture, no such thing as sin, gluttony, binge cultures.
Materialism: Materialism says, “I am what I have.” Instead of concentrating on the spiritual and eternal things, materialism seeks after those things that can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, and possessed.
Fruit: from the economy down to having a lavish lifestyle, individuals in society want what’s best for them. Building this on credit. A “you owe me” mentality.
Pluralism: Pluralism is modern culture's belief that there are many different right ways to live and believe. Find whatever works for you. If it's Jesus and Christianity, fine. If it's Hinduism, great. Whatever you want to believe is just fine. Find the church of your choice. Dogmatism is out. Absolutes are out. All paths lead to the same god. God wouldn't turn away sincere people. All this nonsense is pluralism.
Fruit: No religion leads to God or all do, but it doesn’t matter. As long as you do not claim any absolute truth you are tolerated. This has meant the lack of spiritual direction in the nation. The nation has no moral anchor or spiritual compass.
Church we need to unify. We need to understand that the Gospel - that Jesus is the only way to Father, that His death covers and brings forgiveness for all sins, that there is new life in Jesus - that it is the gospel that is the hope for our nation.
The Goliath in our nation has muted the Christian voice. By this I don't mean our social action, the Great Compassion as David Campbell called it last week, but our Great Commission.
We now are living in the times when: … everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17: 6 - NKJV).
Sadly this has infiltrated and affected the Church and the local churches in the UK. We all just do what is right in our own eyes. Our opinions and behaviour must come under the Word of God. We are not a people who just do what’s right in our own eyes.
Because we have wondered from God we do not clearly see the giants affecting our land - just Goliath's influence. As Goliath's voice echoed around the valley it is unlikely that everyone heard the same thing. Everyone heard something!
Church let this be the clarion call for unity!
You see the battle could have been won differently. It is said this type of champion vs champion combat was common in those days. Yet this is the only biblical account of such a battle. Israel's track record was not this kind of fighting. It was the army of God standing and taking great victories.
Why fight on the enemy’s terms? Why didn't the Israelite army just overrun Goliath together. Yes, he’s big, but thousands would overpower him and immediately gain the upper hand.
David has a Divine Naivety.
Nothing will change but then the kid with the Divine naivety turns up. Someone who actually questioned the way things were and how they could be in the future.
That’s when the faith crushers will step in. The closest to you, the family of God, who will pour cold water on you because of their now sense of unfullfillment.
28-29: When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” 29 “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”
You can just hear the brotherly angst: now what have I done?
The truth is the Eliab was the eldest. He had experience. He was part of the army. And for forty days had been wetting himself because of the intimidation of Goliath. So what does he do? He tries to crush the nagging voice of his little brother who is asking, “How long will you put up with this?”
When you have an un-dealt with inner giant in your life it is often shown in the criticism of others. It comes out as angry statements, frustration, and critical words. It will follow you wherever you go. Your inner giant will keep calling out across the subconscious and demanding that you fight.
The truth is though the giant in your life is happy with the status quo. It will be happy for you to do nothing, to run away sacred, to be intimidated. Why? Because as loud as your Goliath is, it knows if you do nothing it will contuse to rule, occupy your ground, keep you trapped.
Dare to Be Ludicrous
38-40: 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armour on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
David approaches with a sling. Now you've read the end of the account, you know he wins. Here’s the point: the enemy will alway bring the wrong weapons to the fight. That's why he demands you fight on his terms.
As Gladwell puts it: [A] sling has a leather pouch with two long cords attached to it, and ... a projectile, either a rock or a lead ball. ... It's not a child's toy. It's in fact an incredibly devastating weapon. ... If you do the calculations on the ballistics, on the stopping power of the rock fired from David's sling, it's roughly equal to the stopping power of a [.45 caliber] handgun. This is an incredibly devastating weapon. ... When David lines up ... he has every intention and every expectation of being able to hit Goliath at his most vulnerable spot between his eyes. (https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/3-things-people-get-wrong-about-david-vs-goliath.html).
The giant has brought a spear to a stone fight.
God can use you to change the community in which you live, even the nation, if could just accept that you need to be a little bit ludicrous.
1 Corinthians 1:27: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Bring the Cause to the Chaos!
If you mull it over you know that this is a chaotic scene. There is confusion in the camp. The Israelites are afraid. They don't know what to do.
It's clear that King Saul - who was the tallest in their nation (1 Samuel 9:2) was not going to go and fight the giant. It's also clear that the boldness Saul once had has waned. Why? The Bible tells us that the Lord had left him (I Samuel 16:14).
It's clear and impasse has been reached.
David realised that there was personal gain to be made. He new that the natural reward for slaying the giant was going to be great (verses 25-27).
But David also knew His God!
34-37: But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
He’d been training for this moment but didn’t realise it. He has dealt with lions and bears. He knows he is accurate enough with his sling to not have to get close the the giant.
But above all else, he took the cause to the chaos:
45-47: David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
You know what we have to offer the world? Not our own take on society but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our nation is in some form of chaos yet we are armed with slings - the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).
We may feel insignificant but we are the most significant people in the country right now.
We have weapons that need to be used in the UK today. Not weapons of hate or violence. Not weapons of criticism or hate speech. Not weapons of division or destruction.
Weapons not of this world:
2 Corinthians 10:3-5: 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
- Weapons of prayer and intercession (2 Chronicles 7:14).
- Weapons of unconditional love (Ephesians 5:1-2).
- Weapons of discernment of what is needed to be done (1 Chronicles 12:32)
- Weapons of faith (2 Corinthians 5:7)
- Weapons of spiritual sight (2 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Kings 6:15-17).
Are you ready to take the weapons of heaven to the fight for our nation?
Remember the Goliath’s are giants that come against a nation. Our nation is in crisis. You’re the hope bearers!
Qualifications of a Giant Killer
Look in a mirror! That’s about it!
You know God is on your side to change the nation. I dare you to do better than the previous generation!
Illustration: I dare you to do better! In the first movie reboot of the Star Trek franchise Admiral Pike seeks out a young James T. Kirk. Kirk has just lost a bar fight and looks terrible. Pike reminisces about how Kirk's father had inspired him. But Kirk had never known his father. He died saving the lives of his crew when they were under attack. Here's what Pike says to Kirk:
"Your father was a Star Fleet Captain for 12 minutes.
He saved 800 lives, including your mother's and yours. I dare you to do better!"
David accepted the challenge to do better than his generation and the generation before him. It is said of him that he served the purposes of God in his generation (Acts 13:36).
Will you?
—————-
Blog Bonus:
For an interesting article about how secularism is affecting the USA and the church there go to: http://allanturner.com/secular.html
No comments:
Post a Comment