The Story: Unit 3 -- Strange Choices Chapter 11: From Shepherd to King November 16, 2014

Transcription

1 The Story: Unit 3 -- Strange Choices Chapter 11: From Shepherd to King November 16, 2014 Good morning! Welcome back to The Story. We are 1/3 of the way through, isn t that cool? I hope you are reading one chapter each week, and I hope you are finding ways to talk about the chapter as a family. We had our Starting Point lunch last week, for people checking Capital City out. One family told me they were loving The Story, because their kids were studying the same stories they were, and they were able to talk together about them each week. That is great stuff! That s one of the big reasons we are doing The Story. Now this week we are on chapter 11, it s about a guy named David. Now David has a huge role in this Story. In fact the only guy mentioned more often in the Bible than David is Jesus. David is number two, even ahead of Moses. And David is called a man after God s own heart. I d love that to be said about me. It s an incredible compliment! And what makes it extra cool is that David is one of the biggest sinners in the Bible. He was a mess, his family was a mess, he sinned big sins, he was twisted and broken like me and he is still called a man after God s own heart. I love that, because it gives me hope and it ought to give a lot of you screw-ups hope. Okay, the big question I m going to explore this morning is this: How big is your God? How big is your God? Now Julie and I have moved a lot in the last 40 years. I think we have lived in about 13 different houses, or apartments. I know that s no record. Some of you military guys only wish you would have moved so little. But we have packed our stuff in boxes many, many times. Now Julie likes those big boxes, because she can get a lot of stuff in them. I didn t use to mind. But as I have gotten older, I don t like the big boxes any more. They are heavy! Have you ever reached down for a big box and discovered that it is chock full of magazines, or books? That can make you think some evil thoughts. I like smaller boxes, because they are more manageable. Well, we kind of do that with God. We want to stuff him in a manageable box. God, this is where you fit in my life. God, this is where I need your help. God, this is what I need you to be, this is what I need you to do. 1

2 God is safe, when he s in a box The problem is, the real God doesn t fit in a box, any box. And here s why it makes a difference. Listen guys: If your God is small enough to fit in a box, you will inevitably battle fear, and stress, and pressure because your God isn t big enough to help you. Your God isn t big enough to talk to about your problems, to take them off your hands. If your God is small enough to fit in a box, I expect your life will seem rather boring sometimes, rather mundane, predictable. Because, your God isn t big enough to challenge you to do things too big for you, your God isn t wild enough to challenge you to take some risks. A God in a box doesn t do much for you, and he doesn t expect much from you. So how big is your God? Guys, the real God doesn t do boxes. We ve been tracking the real God in these first ten chapters of The Story. Sometimes he seems to wait until the problems seem impossible big, and then he grins and says, Watch this! Sometimes he seems to pick people who are just too messed up, too broken, and then he says, Watch me fix them, and watch me use them. One of our goals in studying The Story is to blow apart any box you try to stuff God in. The apostle Paul puts it like this: God can do anything, far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! (Eph ) Do you believe that? Do you live like you believe that? Okay, last week, in chapter 10, these Israelites asked God for a king, and God gave them Saul. And even though God gave Saul every chance to succeed, Saul didn t do well as king. God gave him explicit instructions, and Saul pushed back. He d do some of what God wanted, but then he d compromise and rationalize. So at the beginning of chapter 11 God gives a message to Samuel, the prophet. Samuel was the one who had anointed Saul as Israel s first king. And even though Saul is still on the throne, God tells Samuel to anoint a new king for Israel. Now that s going to cause some problems. So God somehow directs the prophet Samuel to the house of a guy named Jesse, because God has already chosen one of Jesse s sons David to be the next king. Now let me tell you a little about David. At this point he is really young, the youngest of 8 boys -- maybe the age of 2

3 one of our Middle School or Junior High boys. And at this point he is working as a shepherd for his dad. Now you need to know that being a shepherd was not a job most boys wanted. It was kind of lonely and boring, it was smelly, and it was kind of dangerous. The description was pretty simple: Watch the sheep. And so to keep himself busy he would do two things that we know of: he would sing, and he would sling. He d compose music and sing, and he d sling rocks. And he wasn t using one of those wristrockets you may have played with as a kid. David s sling was made of leather straps, with a pouch in the middle, and they would whirl it around and fling rocks as large as a baseball at incredible speeds. So David was out there watching sheep, singing, and slinging. And he had no clue that God was getting him ready. Well, when the prophet Samuel gets to the house of Jesse, in a town called Bethlehem Guys, that little town of Bethlehem, just a few hundred residents probably has a huge part in The Story. Anyway, once Samuel gets to Bethlehem he tells Jesse that one of his boys has been chosen by God to be the next king. Now this is a big deal, guys. We re beginning to track one of the most important threads in The Story. Do you remember a lady named Rahab? We read about her a few weeks back. She was a prostitute in Jericho. When Joshua marched around Jericho and the walls fell down, Rahab and her family were the only ones spared, because they had helped Joshua s spies. Well here s how this all fits together. (Mt on screen) Rahab marries an Israelite named Salmon, and they spawn and have a kid named Boaz. Boaz marries a Moabite woman named Do you remember her, from two weeks ago? Yeah, Ruth. And Ruth and Boaz have a boy named Obed, and Obed had a boy named Jesse the father of David. Rahab Ruth David. And if you keep following the genealogy on down, eventually you get to a guy named Joseph, the husband of Mary. And they go back to that same town of Bethlehem to bear a child they named Jesus, a son of David, the great king. It all connects, guys. It all leads to Jesus. It s really cool! Anyway, when Samuel gets to the house, Jesse starts calling his boys out to see which one God has chosen. He brings out his oldest boy Eliab, and Samuel is impressed. Apparently Eliab was an extraordinary young man, exactly what Samuel thought God wanted. And God says to him, Uh uh, 3

4 he s not the one. And then God tells Samuel, Don t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Sam 16.7) That s huge! I ve made that mistake a few times, judging by outward appearances. Haven t you? I ve judged people by how they look on the outside, only to discover that what really matters is on the inside. So Jesse starts bringing out his other boys and they were an impressive bunch, seriously! Fine young men: Abinadab, and Shammah, and Nethanel, and Raddai, and Ozem weird names, but great young men. And same thing every time. As impressive as they were, God keeps telling Samuel, He s not the one. And he s not the one; and he s not the one. And he s not the one I have chosen. Which, I guess, leads to a pretty awkward moment, when Samuel turns to Jesse and asks, Is that all you ve got? You got any more boys around, maybe in the bathroom, or out in the barn?. And dad says, Well there is still one more, There is the youngest, but he s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats. The Message actually captures it better. Jesse says, Well, yes, there s the runt. But he s out tending the sheep. And God tells Samuel, I want the runt. (Get Steven) And Samuel is like, Seriously?! And God says, I m serious; I choose the runt. And Jesse is looking at his boys like, Seriously!? You want David? And Samuel says, I guess so; God says he wants the runt! Because God can see things we don t; and because God can use anybody, if that anybody will let him. Did you hear that? Because God can use anybody, if we anybodies will let him. You see, being used by God is not about how amazing we are; it s about how amazing he is. But we anybodies make all these excuses when God nudges us. We say things like, I m too old. I m done, I m tired, I m scarred. It s their turn to do the work, to do the heavy lifting. It s my turn to coast. But remember Abraham and Sarah? When God wanted to build a nation, he calls an old man and his old wife, and he says, I choose you! Because God can use anybody, even those who think they are too old. And we anybodies say things like, But I m too guilty. I ve done too much wrong. You need to find someone else, God. Well Do you remember 4

5 Rahab, the prostitute, the great-great grandmother of David? How God used a prostitute to save his people? Because God can use anybody, even those of us who don t feel worthy. And we anybodies say things like, But I m too scared. I kinda want to do what God wants, but it might go so badly, it could go so wrong, and I might get hurt. Well, do you remember Gideon, the coward, the one God calls Mighty Warrior at the moment he is hiding in the rocks from his enemies? Because God can use anybody. Because it s not about how courageous we are; it s about how amazing he is. And we anybodies say things like, But it s just too hard, it ll cost too much, I can t do it, God. And God whispers, I can, through you if you ll just let me use you. Do you remember Joseph sold into slavery, thrown into prison; and God makes him the Vice President of Egypt, and the savior of his family? Because God can use anybody any one of us, any one of you, even when what he asks seems way too hard. And we re going to keep seeing how this works in the story. He going to pick an unmarried teenage virgin, a peasant girl to bear his Son. Really?! He ll choose tax collectors, and fishermen, and assassins to be part of Jesus team. Really?! He d choose a man who hated Jesus and who hunted Christians to write a huge chunk of the New Testament. Really?! Because God can use anybody he can use any one of us, he can use any one of you, if you let him. If you ll just go when he nudges. And he s going to nudge you. Because it s not about how amazing we are; it s about how amazing he is. You see, God can use anybody; and God can do anything. Now all this had to have been very confusing to David. Here s Samuel the prophet the famous Samuel; everyone in Israel knew who Samuel was. And this Samuel tells David he s the next king; and the next thing you know, he s back out with the sheep, watching, and singing, and slinging. He had no clue that all that singing and all that slinging was preparing him for what was coming. From God s Point of View, this was prep time. From David s point of view, it was mystifying. You chose me, God? And if you really did choose me, why am I back with the sheep? 5

6 Well not too long after Samuel anoints David, King Saul was going through a period of deep depression. And his attendants figured that some music might lift his spirits. Well they had heard of this son of Jesse, of his ability to write music, and to sing, and play some kind of harp. So they brought David into the king s court to sing for Saul whenever he got really depressed. You see, God is preparing him. Well the next scene in The Story is one of the most famous. The Philistines were enemies of Israel. They lived along the coast where the Gaza strip is right now. That stretch of land has been in the news for millennia. Well the Philistines sent an army against Israel led by this stunningly big dude named? Yeah, Goliath. And the Philistines are lined up on one hill, and the Israelites are lined up on another hill, across from them. They would do that back then. They d line up and they would taunt each other for days, talking smack, yelling insults, shouting Yo Momma jokes, stuff like that. And every day this giant of a man would come down into the valley and taunt the Israelites. He d try to get them to send down just one guy to fight him: cage match to the death, one on one, winner take all. But all the Israelite soldiers were scared, including 3 of David s brothers, who were there. (Stand Steven up) Meanwhile, David, who was still too young to be a soldier, was sent by his dad, Jesse, to take some pizzas to his brothers and see how there were doing. Well, when David saw Goliath, and when David heard Goliath talking smack about his momma and insulting Israel s God, he got fired up. Remember, he s still a kid though probably not this young. And David says, I ll go! I ll fight him. He had no clue that God had been preparing him for this fight for years. All that singing getting close to God. And all that slinging learning how to fight. Well king Saul thought that David was being stupid. He says to David, Don t be stupid! You can t fight this giant! Well, actually you can, but he ll squash you like a bug! You re a kid, and this Goliath has been a warrior since he was your age. He ll gut you and take your head! Well David was pretty scrappy. He says, I ve killed lions, and I ve killed bears, and I can kill this impertinent pagan who has defied the armies of the in the beginning God. 6

7 And since Saul had no good alternatives, he gave in. (Give jacket to Steven) In fact, he gave his own armor to David. Now remember, Saul was head and shoulders taller than most Israelite men, and David was still a boy. So David says, I can t use this stuff! (Take jacket off) All I need is my staff, and my sling, and 5 rocks (which is really 4 too many). Well, we re pretty lucky to have Goliath here this morning. Actually this is Deon, but he is as close as I could get. Deon is a Mixed Martial Arts fighter, super-heavyweight division. He s a big boy, and he knows how to fight. In fact I put up a couple pictures of Deon in the ring with Butterbean. But believe it or not, Deon is tiny compared to Goliath. (Reveal Goliath poster) I found this poster you could put together that shows how big the real Goliath was. And it s actually a bit small. The Bible says he was about 9½ tall. It says his armor weighed about 200 pounds. So even though Steven is a bit smaller than David was, and Deon is a bit smaller than Goliath was, this is about what they looked like David against Goliath. You know the rest of the story. The Bible says, Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. Am I a dog, he roared at David, that you come at me with a stick? And he cursed David by the names of his gods. Come over here, and I ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals! ( ) And David replied to the Philistine, You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven s Armies the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! ( ) Big talk from a little guy. And then, David attacks! That s what it says! David ran at Goliath I love that part. And David pulled out a stone, and he slinged it (is that a word?), he slung it at Goliath. And Goliath said those famous last words: Nothing like this has ever entered my mind before. And right then you knew that David would be a great leader, because clearly he knew how to get a head. 7

8 Listen guys, six times David says -- six times he says, The battle is the Lord s. It s not about how strong I am, it s about how big God is. Because the in the beginning God can do anything. He can use anybody, and he can do anything. Do you believe that? Do you really? You see, David did. He was a little g guy, with a big G God. Now, king Saul, and all the rest of his army had God in a box. And when they looked at Goliath, all they saw was a giant way too big too hit. Back in verse 11 it says they were terrified of Goliath, they were deeply shaken, they were scared. Because, when you put God in a box, he becomes small, and your problems become big. All those what if questions start gnawing at you. What if Goliath wins? What if these Philistines kill us, and then our families, or worse? What if it s cancer? What if I spend the rest of my life alone? What if I can t find a job? What if the economy tanks, again? What if the terrorists strike, or what if more of our own crazies join them? What if we just don t have enough to retire on? What if my kid doesn t come back to God? And guys, if your God is stuffed in some box, those what ifs can take over your life. But David isn t consumed by those what ifs. He is smitten by who is. Who is God, really? And who is this impertinent giant who dares challenge the in the beginning God? The other guys saw a giant way too big to hit; David saw a giant way too big to miss. Because giants don t seem so formidable if your eyes are fixed on God. Because God can use anybody, and God can do anything if we let him. (Deon sits down) And did you know that if you believe that, and if you live that way, it can rub off on the people around you? We read about the cowardice of Saul and his soldiers. Over in 1 Chronicles it tells you about some of David s men, when he led an army. It says, War broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. As they fought, Sibbecai (one of David s men) from Hushah killed Saph, a descendant of the giants, and so the Philistines were subdued. You see, courageous leadership builds courageous men. It says, During another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of Lahmi s spear was as thick as a weaver s beam! Huge! It says, In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants. But when he defied and taunted Israel (like Goliath had done), he 8

9 was killed by Jonathan, the son of David s brother Shimea. You see, David s guys were amazing! It says, These Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them. (1 Chron ) Listen! Do you want your kids, do you want your grandkids to be men and women of courage, and honor? Well, God can use anybody, and God can do anything if you let him. Don t just know that to be true, live it. And let them see you live it. When we live by a higher standard, it is not just our life that is changed. So, how big is your God? Does he fit in a box? Even a big one? If he does, he is not the in the beginning God. Do you really believe that God can use anybody to do anything if you trust him? You see the biggest problem the church has, the biggest problem we Jesus followers have is our unworthy concept of God. Too often, our God is just too small. If you think God s job is to make your life more comfortable and more convenient, then your God is too small. If you think your God wants you to play it safe, to avoid risks in your life with him, then your God is too small. If you think God ought to do what you want him to do, when you want him to do it, if you think your God is kind of like a cosmic genie who grants your wishes, then your God is too small. If you think God should honor your timetable, that he should accept gratefully whatever time, whatever energy you decide to give him, then your God is too small. If you think God likes the people you like, and hates the people you hate, then your God is too small. If you think God loves us Americans more than he loves those Chinese, if you think God loves us white people more than those black people, if you think God loves rich people more than poor people, or poor people more than rich people, or Republicans more than Democrats, or UK fans more than Louisville fans then your God is too small. I m serious guys! If you think God needs your man in office to accomplish his purposes, if you think God needs your men to lead his church, then your God is too small. 9

10 If you think God would never mess with your schedule or interrupt your precious plans, if you think God would never ask you to give something that isn t in your budget, then your God is too small. If you think that God is just fine with your giving him an hour or two a week, and a token in the offering box, then your God is too small. If you think God s dream for you is that you retire and spend a couple decades coasting, then your God is too small. If you think God will accept that you have worked hard enough on your marriage, that he just wants you to be happy now, then your God is too small. If you think that God sees your greed, or your gossip, or your laziness, or your lust and passes it off as no big deal, then your God is too small. If you think God believes your marriage is too messed up, your family is too broken, that you are too young, or too old, or too guilty, or too weak to give you a job to do, then your God is too small. Guys, he can use anybody, and he can do anything if you let him. If your God has never filled your eyes with tears because of his grace, or taken away your breath with his beauty or his power, then your God is way too small. If your God fits in a box any box then he is not the in the beginning God. He s a fantasy, a myth, not worthy of your devotion. Guys, blow open your box, and you ll discover that God s not in there. Because our God doesn t do boxes. We re going to worship the real God, the in the beginning God. Just get an inkling of how big, how grand, how good he is, and give him the honor, and the gratitude that he deserves. 10