b. They wanted someone they could see and relate to. They wanted a symbol of strength that could be seen by the surrounding nations. They felt it woul

Transcription

1 1 Samuel 17:41-51 I. David and Goliath! It might be one of the most well-known stories from the Bible because of how inspiring it is. a. It is the ultimate underdog story. Good versus evil. The little guy overcoming the odds to take down the giant. It s fantastic inspiration and bulletin board material for sports teams, employees, and anyone who feels down trodden. b. If you re facing an obstacle, don t give up, David defeated Goliath. c. The only story that may be as famous is The Little Engine that Could. It has the same moral. Little guy, insurmountable odds, overcoming. d. But what is the difference between The Little Engine that Could and David and Goliath? There has to be something right? e. I think there s a huge difference, but to understand it, we must know the story better, and more importantly, we must know the context of the story better. II. III. David and Goliath is of course a story primarily about David. But I think we can only really understand its depth when we know about one of the seemingly minor characters from the story, King Saul. And to understand King Saul, we need to know about Israel. a. The Israelites were God s chosen people. Last week, Wallace talked about the importance of a covenant that God made with Noah, but that s not the only covenant that God made. b. One of the most important covenants God has made was with Abraham, when he promised him that his descendants would be like the stars, they would be their own nation, have their own land, and they would be blessed. And God kept that covenant, and Abraham s descendants became known as the Israelites. c. We hear lots of stories about these guys, including ones we considered for this series, like how they were enslaved by the Egyptians and freed by God through Moses when he parted the Red Sea. d. Then they were led out of Egypt and into the Promised Land by Joshua, where God continued to uphold his covenant with the Israelites as they conquered other nations and carved out their place in the world. e. They established themselves as a nation, had a land of their own, and God was with them and ruled over them. But in a twist common to the OT, the Israelites began to fall away from God. They grew fearful, jealous, and selfish. a. And though God had been faithful to the covenant he made with the Israelites as he led them, the Israelites decided that they wanted to be ruled by a king.

2 b. They wanted someone they could see and relate to. They wanted a symbol of strength that could be seen by the surrounding nations. They felt it would be easier to trust and follow a king than to follow God. c. So, not without warning, God promised them the king they asked for and raised up a man named Saul to be that king. d. And he gave Saul a legit shot to be a good king. God changed his heart, put his Spirit on him, and was with him. e. But after a promising smart, the whole absolute power corrupts absolutely thing started to happen. f. Saul started out trusting God and doing things God s way. But as the trials and tribulations started to mount up, Saul grew fearful he feared losing his power to outside nations, to God, and to those he ruled. g. And as his fear grew, he showed where his faith truly lied: on himself. The more adversity he faced, the less he relied on God and his way, and the more he relied on himself and what he thought was the best way of doing things. h. One of the biggest manifestations of this was on the battlefield. As he faced hostile nations like the Ammonites, Amalekites, and Philistines, defeating them in battle became paramount to keeping his power as king. And though God had told Saul that he would help him in these battles, instead of doing things God s way, Saul did what made the most sense to him instead, and in doing so, he relegated God to nothing more than a good luck charm or a figurehead. i. He said that God s way mattered, but his actions and attitude showed something different entirely. God was a backup plan in case Saul s way failed. Saul s faith was not in God as much as it was in himself. IV. So it s in this context where we meet David, King Saul s foil. a. While Saul s faith was truly in himself and he put his own glory above God s, David was a man who relied on God completely, stayed humble, and put obedience and trust above fear and vanity. b. And nothing exemplifies this faith more than the story of David and Goliath. c. David comes on the scene after God has finally lost his patience with Saul. God has removed his spirit from Saul and regrets having made him king. d. That means it s time to anoint a new king, so he sends the prophet Samuel to find the next one. God sends Samuel to Bethlehem in secret (foreshadowing!!!) to find the next king, who will be a son of Jesse, a local. e. As the oldest son stands before Samuel, tall strong and handsome, Samuel thinks this must be him, the anointed. But instead, as son after son passes by without the Lord choosing one, Jesse is forced to send

3 out to the fields to retrieve his youngest, David, who is the Lord s chosen. f. We don t yet know much about David except that he was likely a young teenager, healthy, and handsome. V. After David has been anointed, he is put into Saul s service as his armor bearer, and Saul grows to love David. Saul did not know that this teenage boy was going to one day be his successor. a. Some time later, the Philistines, an outside nation who worshiped other gods and a perpetual headache to Saul and the Israelites, came to gather their armies in battle against Saul. b. Then Goliath is introduced a giant of a man, 9 9 tall, described in a way that would make any man cower, sporting bronze armor and a helmet weighing 125 lbs, a javelin, and spear where the head alone weighs 15 pounds. c. And he offers his challenge: a one on one fight to the death. You beat me and we become your servants. I beat your man, and you become our servants. Pick your champion anybody and we ll settle this once and for all. d. He offers this challenge for forty days, and for forty days it goes unmet. VI. Meanwhile, David, who is still just a teenager, has been going back and forth between the battlefield and Bethlehem so that he could take care of his dad s sheep while his older brothers were off to battle. a. One day, Jesse sends David back to the battlefield to bring provisions to this brothers, and as he s there dropping them off, he hears Goliath speak his challenge. b. And though all the others have been afraid, when David hears the challenge, his first thought is basically, Who does this punk think he is? He thinks he s going to take on God? That s the Brad Inman Version of 1 Samuel 17:26. c. And that right there is really all we need to know about David. It exemplifies how he is different from everyone around him, especially Saul. d. Everyone else is seeing things logically. They are sizing up their disadvantage with their army, they are sizing up Goliath, and they are doing the logical thing: fearing death and defeat. e. As a pragmatist through and through, I sympathize. Their actions make complete and total sense because they are looking at themselves and the situation surrounding them logically, only with no thought of God s presence. f. Yet I bet if you went up and asked these guys, Yeah, but isn t God going to help? Isn t he like all powerful and everything and has promised that as his people, he will be with you?, they d say yes.

4 g. They d have all the right answers. They d admit it. They would speak the truth that they know, but it is not a truth that affects the way they see the world. It doesn t affect the way that they think and act. h. It is a fact that they know, but not a truth that they have fully believed and engrained into their hearts and minds. Do they believe? Sure, I guess. But do they have faith? I m not so sure. Their faith is like Saul s faith. VII. VIII. IX. But then there s David. He s young and probably a bit naïve, but the way this picture is painted, I don t think it s possible that David could be ignorant of the magnitude of the situation. a. I think his sees the situation just like everyone else does, but just with one added layer. Have you guys ever seen in the movies, or I guess this probably happens in real life too, but in movies it s super dramatic, where a hero is showing his plans to one of his buddies, maybe it s a map of an escape or a blueprint to a weapon or something, but each part is drawn out on a separate sheet of semitranslucent paper, and it s not until they dramatically flatten them all together that the full picture of the plan is revealed? b. I think that s what David s faith is like. Saul and his brothers and all the other Israelites have parts of the plan on different pieces of paper, but they don t have that last God layer that is needed to see that when the whole thing comes together, they have nothing to fear. c. They have their piece and their part, and it makes logical sense to them, but David has the layer that illustrates God s goodness, faithfulness, and power, and he has put that on top of the stack and swiped it flat. d. For David, God s sovereignty is not just a fact that he knows. It s a reality that he lives and sees and he s willing to bet his life on it. So that s what happens. David becomes Israel s champion. He meets Goliath out on the battlefield, and faces him with nothing but his shepherd s staff, a slingshot, and 5 stones. a. As Goliath comes toward him, he reaches into his bag, takes out a stone, and puts in through Goliath s forehead. b. But there are a few more details we need to take into consideration. First of note is David s speech to Goliath. a. When Goliath sees that his challenge has finally been answered, but by a pretty boy shepherd, he predictably talks some trash. He curses David and taunts him with threats. b. But David is not just the future king of Israel, but the king of trash talk. From the scripture that we read here this morning, David makes a few things abundantly clear that reveal a lot about his character.

5 c. First, he is coming against Goliath not for his own glory or because he feels threatened, but in the name of God. Goliath has defied the Lord, and that is what brings David forward, plain and simple. d. Second, he makes it clear that it will not be himself defeating Goliath, but God handing Goliath over to David. It will be God s fight, God s victory, and God s glory. David is just the tool. e. Again, think about how different that is from Saul s approach. f. Saul s motivation was self-preservation, his method was his own smarts, and the result was going to be his glory or shame. g. David s motivation, method, and result is God and his glory. h. And finally David raps up his speech by poetically turning Goliath s own threat about birds picking at flesh back on him with God as the victor. Like I said, David is the king of trash talk. After all, he is a poet who wrote a ton of the Psalms. How many of you knew David was the first battle rapper?! X. The takeaway here is that this story is not about the little guy overcoming odds. It s actually kinda the opposite. It s about the big guy following through on his promises, and using us to do amazing things, if only we have the faith to step out of fear to fight for his glory. a. The underdog story is nice, but that s still about you. It s Saul s faith. b. We often tell this story and ask what Goliaths are in your life: school, an obstacle at work, a relationship, sports, etc. But Goliath was not an enemy of David he was an enemy of God. c. So instead, I ask you, what are God s Goliath s today? What in our world is standing in defiance to God and his will? What mocks him? i. Where is there social injustice? ii. Where has hate manifested itself and gripped our world? iii. Where is the name of Jesus silenced? Those are God s Goliath s. d. If what you are facing is truly an adversary of God, then the fight is his, it s for his glory, and you have nothing to fear. Put simply, if your fight is like David s you re good. e. But so many times, the obstacles in front of us that we put the most energy into are not God s obstacles, but our own. Our battles are actually more like Saul s battles. f. We re worried about ourselves, our happiness, and our success more than we are consumed by the mission of building God s Kingdom and spreading the good news of his love for us. g. That order of concern has to change if our faith is going to reflect David s instead of Saul s. XI. Finally, I think we need to take note of David s actions once he recognized Goliath s challenge and took it on. a. First of all, he did think about it. He was a young man, but he wasn t a little boy. He had grown up protecting his father s sheep, and he had

6 killed lions and bears in the line of duty. He was a scrapper, but he was skilled. He didn t try to do something he had no business doing. b. He also didn t try to be someone he wasn t. King Saul offered David his armor to use in the battle, but it felt awkward on him and he wasn t used to it. He fought Goliath in the best way he knew how. c. And finally, though his faith in God was full, he filled that bag of his with five stones and he took his staff with him. He wasn t being foolish. He was prepared. d. God can and will use you to Goliaths in this world, and he has given you the precise gifts and talents needed to make it happen. e. David didn t just pick up a slingshot because it would be dramatic and cool. He used it because it was a skill he had been training to use his entire life. f. So, after you have identified one of God s Goliaths, what is your slingshot? i. How can God use your skills as a computer programmer to fight human trafficking? ii. How can God use your ability to empathize and facilitate respectful conversations to fight against Islamaphobia and homophobia? iii. How can God use your ability to cook to advocate for those with mental illness? iv. How can God use your social nature to care for the elderly, veterans, or prisoners? XII. XIII. We all have unique gifts, talents, and passions. And sadly, God has Goliath s everywhere, spreading hate, discord, and injustice. a. We are all Davids, ready and able to step up. But we need to be able to see the battle lines that have been drawn. b. To do that, we need to be pulled out of our apathy, fear, comfort, and selfishness. c. We need to see the world the way God sees it and fight for his causes, instead of for our own success and happiness. d. To do that, we need a faith that travels beyond our mind into our heart. e. The true Goliaths of the world are the things opposing God s holy character and will. f. And if it s God s fight, we must rely on him. Wisdom, skill, and experience are wonderful things given to us by God to be used for him. But we must rely on his strength and direction on how to use them. True faith is not knowing; it is doing. a. Back in the 1800s, there was a man named Charles Blondin, who in 1859, became the first man to cross Niagara Falls on a tight rope. He did this several times, each time becoming more daring. On one occasion, he pushed a wheelbarrow across the rope. Upon completing

7 one leg of the journey, he was met by a roar of cheers from the crowd. He asked, Who thinks I can cross with a man in the wheelbarrow? More cheers! Ok, who will volunteer?! Crickets. b. That s the faith of knowing verses the faith of action. We ve gotta get in the wheelbarrow. c. We ve got to step out on the field of battle to face Goliath. d. Not because of our own pride or abilities, but to serve God because we know that he is with us. XIV. I have a friend currently traveling in Wittenberg, Germany, for a Christian conference. Martin Luther was a professor at Wittenberg, so there is a monument to him there. My buddy posted a picture of it on Instagram this week with one of the inscriptions as a caption: a. If it be God s work, it will endure. If it be man s work, it will perish. b. Whose obstacles are you fighting against and for what? c. Are you relying on yourself or on God? d. Who do you really put your trust in? e. Is it your Goliath or God s Goliath that you re battling? f. Are you relying on yourself or on God s strength? g. What are you doing to bring God s love to this world? And if you re not, what are you waiting for? h. Let s find God s Goliaths. i. Let s size them up and see how God has empowered and prepared us to fight. j. And together, let s take them out. Let s spread the loving kingdom of God. k. I think I can, I think I can. I know God can. I know God will.