I Samuel 14 Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Adrenaline Afficianado

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1 1 I Samuel 14 Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf Adrenaline Afficianado You may not know this about me, but I am quite the risk taker. In my college years my friends described me as insane. They introduced me to others as an an action addict. I preferred the phrase Adrenaline Afficianado. It had a certain classy feel to it. It started in 1989 on Killington Mountain. Devils Fiddle, a double black was closed off and I was with two friends who were bored of Outer Limits. A quick look around and we were under the yellow tape and gaining speed. It was closed off because they only open this slope when the snow is heavy. There are no snow machines up this high on the mountain. They need the snow because it s basically a slope filled with cliffs and rocks. When I felt the skis slide over the house sized boulder and then looked down to see nothing but air for at least 25 feet, I knew my life would never be the same. We took that slope 6 times that day and that was with a 30 minute gondola ride to the top. I fell more times than I could count falling down cliffsides, hitting trees. That night, we were sore and cut (two fingers I am sure were broken, but I never did see a doctor to find out); but we were happy. Over the next few years, I couldn t be satisfied. I got up early, real early to train. Pop the tape in my Walkman (Play Pour some Sugar on me). I wasn t into Maranatha music, sorry. I began training for my first Iron Man competition. To be honest, I was bored. I was pretty fit and a 26 mile run just wasn t that difficult. Even preceded by a 112 mile bike ride and a 2.4 mile swim. I didn t win, because some of these guys are more insane than I am in their fitness routine, but I was still bored. So I started Parkour. Climbing two story houses quickly became boring. I tried buildering (climbing office buildings on the outside, but didn t enjoy it as much, so I moved to what they now call craning. It didn t have a name when I was doing it, but me and a couple friends would break into construction sights and scale cranes. This excited me a bit, the risk of getting caught, the risk of touching the wrong wires, the risk of being several hundred feet in the air. When we weren t craning, we were elevator surfing. You know, stopping the elevator in between floors and sneaking into the shaft. Then you just bounce around the walls. If there are two elevators, then it s really fun, jumping from one to the other. I did train surfing twice, although it was harder because I never knew when the train was coming, just never took the time to check the schedules. When we had time to hike, we would do the regular adrenaline stuff, cliff jumping, repelling. On a hunt in Canada, I actually took down a wounded elk with my bare hands. Wounded elks are worse than healthy ones. I bungee jumped off a bridge, Filmed sharks from outside the cage completed 28 jumps, landing once in a tree, once in lake and once I ran into a stop sign. did a base jump with a wingsuit (only once, it was expensive), climbed Kilamanjaro (A five day climb with oxygen by the way).

2 2 All this during college AND I kept a 3.5 gpa. Okay, almost none of that is true I actually did go down Devils fiddle when it was roped off and actually did fall more times than I care to remember and sometimes from some pretty big heights, but I only went down it once. Why? What kind of an idiot wants that kind of abuse more than once? I climbed Buzzards point once in Tennessee and jumped a chasm on the point that was a couple feet wide but one wrong step meant you would fall further than I could see. I spelunked down into Hells hole with a light and a sandwich. I repelled down pretty high trees on a regular basis I saw Kilimanjaro from a plane and actually did try to make plans to hike it, but it didn t work out. I have ridden in elevators before and more than once I jumped up and down to see what would happen. I once saw someone in a movie do Parkour, I thought it was really cool. I never ran 26 miles and in my prime could have made it maybe 6. Brad Gularson is doing the Iron Man this year. John Volentine actually did kill a wounded Elk by breaking it s neck with his bare hands. Bill and Krista Beyers actually did make more than 28 jumps out of perfectly good planes and Bill did run into a stop sign. He also filmed sharks outside of a cage. Jaclynnette bungee jumped off a bridge. I don t know anyone stupid enough to do buildering or craning, but I am sure I will get an from someone this afternoon who is an expert at both. I don t know a lot about risk. I am more the spectator kind of guy. I can watch xtreme sports all day long. Show me a wingsuit video and I will be transfixed. I Love watching guys dropped in the middle of amazon rainforests and watching them live off the land. But we don t take a lot of risks in Poolesville. In fact, some of us chose Poolesville because there isn t a lot of risk. And to be honest, we are a little bit afraid of what s out there We don t know what is out there and fear is a horrible dictator. We are like the elephant in Disney s Tarzan dipping his foot in the water. It doesn t look sanitary to me. I wonder though, if we are so busy living our life of safety and ease that we are missing real life, abundant life. PBC risking it all I wonder what would happen if people in Poolesville started grabbing life by the horns and holding on for all it s worth. I wonder what Poolesville Baptist Church would look like if it risked everything to make a difference.

3 3 Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf I love the passage in 1 Samuel 14. NIV 1 Samuel 14:1 One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, "Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But he did not tell his father. 2 Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, 3 among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left. Perhaps you don t know this family, because you aren t living under a monarchy more than 3000 years ago. But Saul was becoming pretty famous. He had proven himself in battle. But now we find he is sitting under a tree with 600 warriors. I don t know how to think about that, but considering the contrast with his son Jonathan, I think the author wants you see Saul in pretty negative light. His merry group of super soldiers are doing nothing while the Philistine threat continues to grow. And here is Jonathan, lets go see the Philistines. The author of this passage has an agenda. Everyone who writes does. It s a political agenda actually. He wants his readers to support the house of David. How do I know this? It actually isn t too hard if you know a couple of basic things: Samuel and Kings tell you basically the same story that Chronicles does, but Samuel/Kings is written before the exile, while Chronicles is written after. So Samuel/Kings is interested in how you think about what king should be on the throne and whether or not certain kings were botching the job. Besides this, look at chapter 15 and 16 and 17. Chapter 14 is an introduction to David. In the very next chapter, the Saulide dynasty will be abandoned by God. The next chapter, the young shepherd named David will be anointed and the next chapter, that same shepherd will kill the Giant Goliath to the applause of an entire nation who will then sing songs about his war exploits. Saul will lose the kingdom. Therefore Jonathan will lose the kingdom. But Jonathan is the good guy because he sides with David. Even Saul s own son, sides with his fathers enemy guaranteeing a place for his name and his exploits in this chapter. And his exploits are awesome. Listen to this: 4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez, and the other Seneh. 5 One cliff stood to the north toward Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba. 6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." I want to camp here today

4 4 7 "Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul." I have a few things to say about this as well. 8 Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands." 11 So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. "Look!" said the Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in." 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson." So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel." 13 Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. 14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. 15 Then panic struck the whole army--those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties--and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God. (1Sa 14:1-15 NIV) Summarize story with Goth music in the background I want to jump back to this line in verse 6. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Are you listening? But todays Christians are exactly the opposite. There seem to be no foes to face, no action to take, no adrenaline. If the Lord wants to act, let him act. If he wants me to act, he is going to have to let me know in a pretty clear way. Because, lets be honest, we don t have a lot of time to listen. When was the last time you sat under the stars and asked God to direct you? When was the last time you hung out on Friday night at the Washingtonian and just watched people pass? You just watched life happen and asked God how he wanted you to make a difference? What risks could you take? When was the last time you picked up the bible and asked God to lead? I wonder if we can be Jonathans here? I wonder if we can t say Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. I don t know, maybe he won t, but perhaps. Maybe I should just do something. You know I am not a huge fan of the Willow Creek model of church. But at least they are taking chances and getting things done

5 5 I have a ton of problems with Rick Warren in regard to some sticky theological points, but he is in the world and making a difference and his church is following. I like the intellectual churches, who understand hermeneutics and live for heilsgeshicte, but they also tend to be churches that don t do much of anything. Just take the shot I don t want to be a church known in Poolesville as very intelligent. We have all the answers and no one else does. I want to be a church that is moving. A church that doesn t have all the answers and goes into the community with a heart for God and heart for people and tries as hard as they can. I don t care if we get it right every time. I coach a soccer team for 6 th and 7 th grade boys in Poolesville and I tell them over and over, just shoot the ball. They may not score 9 out of 10 times, but they will score once. If they wait for the perfect opportunity then they will never score. Just do it. Of course, train like crazy during the week so your skills will be better and you will have a game plan, but just shoot. We should be experimenting more and maybe even failing more. Where can you invest? I am talking about investing in things that seem crazy not just oil or single stock futures, but invest in loving people more. Invest time at that nursing home Invest time at the jail Invest time at Rockville Pregnancy Center But go further. Take a chance. Start a new ministry. Start a backyard bible club in your neighborhood. Advertise it with papers on telephone poles and give out free pizza and do some awesome games and have tons of fun and then share with them how much you love Jesus. I know someone here who has a vision for a community center of sorts that would purposefully engage people of different faiths in open dialogue. It would be eclectic and artsy and intellectual and a place people could learn to love one another, even despite differences. This is a huge investment and a huge chance, but why not. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego said much the same things when heading to the fiery furnace. Our God has the power to save us from the furnace, but even if he doesn t, we will not bow to your idols. In effect, they are saying, perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Esther said it approaching the Kings throne in fear of her life. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Joab and Abishai commit to help each other as they lead armies and in 2 Samuel 10:12 they say Be of Good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him. Basically, perhaps God will work in our behalf.

6 6 How do you determine the will of God? I don t know always what actions God will bless. I don t always know the will of God. But I think most people struggle too much with this question. What is the will of God, what should I do. Here is my answer: Love God and do whatever the you want. I used to say it differently before I took a Southern Baptist church ;) Do you hear this? Do whatever you want. If you are loving God. If you love him with heart and soul and strength and mind, then what you want will be to please him. Now just take a chance. Sure, you should get advice from elders, from parents, from spouses, from friends. But don t just stand there, do something. I don t think we should just be doing without a ground for the doing; without a belief. I may say, don t just stand there, do something. But I could also say, don t just do something, stand. Both are true, but right now I want you to do something. What can you do? Some things will be thrust on you; don t turn them away. We have a Kenyan family of four living in our little house right now. That wasn t part of the plan. It s risky I barely support my own family much less another one. But perhaps God will work on our behalf. Most of you know I have been ministering to a man in prison for over a year. It s cost me many hours every week and a sizeable amount of money and it s killing me. I am tired. But I just have to think, Perhaps God will work on our behalf. I like my life. It s easy. It s safe. Three kids, one wife, one cat, living in utopiaville. I work 50+ hours, I have time to read, I watch TV, I coach soccer, I play soccer with Kelly, I have time for prayer meeting. I sleep at least 7 hours every night. Life s good. So my wife and I have been thinking for the last 4 years about what is next. We have been thinking about going overseas and penetrating dark communities and that means no financial security. It means no college plan for our kids. It means trusting good people with good hearts to give like crazy even in an economy that makes them fearful. That s hard We have no plans to leave anytime soon perhaps I am not brave enough. We have also been talking seriously for the last 4 years about another child. Adopting from another country perhaps. But we don t want to get up in the middle of the night anymore. We are old. I don t want to change diapers. Plus we homeschool and that is really hard with a toddler. So we told God if he wanted to do it, that he should have some pregnant girl from the school come into the church looking for counseling on what to do with her baby. No one has. Maybe that is sufficient. But maybe it s time to start the process for real. Take some risks and make a difference in one child s life. I want to start playing ultimate Frisbee in the commons on a regular basis. Interact with the community. I wonder if Perhaps God will work on our behalf if we just do something. Maybe

7 7 it s as simple as enjoying other people I don t yet know; but perhaps someone might meet Christ. Both are good. I want to start a pizza and philosophy club some night. Where anyone of any faith or no faith can come and talk about stuff and we can all weigh in and enjoy each other and share our beliefs and our passions without fear or ridicule or hatred. Perhaps God will work on our behalf. Maybe you need to talk to your neighbor about the womens bible study; maybe you need to tell her about Christ. Perhaps the Lord will work on our behalf Maybe you need to go rake Mrs. Arthritis yard in prayer and perhaps the Lord will work on our behalf. Maybe you need to go up to that skate park and get to know the kids. They re not punks, they re kids and like most kids, they need someone to love them. Why not go up some Saturday with 50 gatorades. It will cost you, but if you buy 200 gatorades and do it every week for a month, it will cost less and people will get to know you and you will start conversations and who knows, Perhaps the Lord will work on our behalf. Perhaps he will add to your own blessing In fact, I can guarantee he will. Perhaps he will change someone elses life. Perhaps you will plant a seed in their life that someone else will water and one day they will become a leader in their community or their church or both. This isn t about salvation completely. We don t choose who gets saved. But we do choose who gets loved and shown mercy too and just doing that, in the name of Christ, may be enough. We only need a few But the community is so big. And we are so small. Wait, don t forget the second part of the verse. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf... Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." I want us to do all of these things as a church, because I think we will have a lot of fun teaming up, but feel free to go out with just an armor bearer. Let me add this, feel free to go out with just a Jonathan. Maybe you are an armor bearer We can t all be Jonathan s but perhaps we can be armor-bearers. Perhaps we can be the person who comes along side someone else and says, I am with you, heart and soul. You have the plan and the charisma, and I have the encouraging words and back up sword. I am with you, what can I do to make this happen? I am ready. I want to be a jonathan, but if not, I need to be at least an armor bearer. There is nothing to be gained from spectating. If you want joy in life, you have to get outside your comfort zone. John Muir

8 8 I so want to be like John Muir or at least the guy who tags along with John Muir he kayaked through glaciers, rode avalanches, chased bears, climbed mountains; you know the type. One day he was staying at a friends cabin in the Yosemite valley when a thunderstorm came over the sierra mountains, rain in sheets, wind blowing so hard, Some of the younger trees were bowed all the way over and touching the ground. He said they were bowing to the ground as if in worship. While most people would hunker down in their cabin and ride this out, he sprinted into the woods where he said he could hear and see the trees breaking every two or three minutes. I lost no time in pushing out into the woods, to enjoy it for on such occasions nature has something rare to show us and the danger to life and limb is hardly greater than one would experience crouching beneath a roof. 1 He climbed on a mountain ridge and found a bunch of douglas fir trees and found the largest because he figured it had endured the most storms. So he climbed it all the way to the top. The wind was so strong that the tree swayed in a 20 to 30 degree arch. He stayed in the tree, soaking in the storm, the sight and sound. Never before did these noble woods appear so fresh, so joyous, so immortal. Eugene Peterson said John Muir, stands as an icon of spiritual reality. He is a standing rebuke on being a mere spectator on life. Is life a spectator sport or are you really living? For a lot of people, life is spectator sport. We have a routine and we pretty much stick to it. We don t invest in oil, because the risk is too high. We don t have more than 2 children, because life is already hard enough We don t use our Fridays to do ministry in the slums because, well, it s dirty and there are AIDS infected needles We don t take vacation time to travel to Northern Uganda or Somalia or Pakistan, because they don t like White Christians. We don t tithe because we barely make it now and we need to save it all for the future We don t call people to account because they may not like us. So we just watch. John Muir is famous for saying Wild is superior. I don t know if he is right, but I know some of us need to find our wild side. We need to do something. 1 Muir, John (1916). The Story of My Boyhood and Youth. Houghton Mifflin Co.

9 9 How I want to die I would hate for you to be that person at 80 years old crying into his hands I ve wasted my life, I ve wasted it! I want a church full of people spent for a glorious cause; Loving God with all our heart soul strength and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourself. And this demands risk. I don t want to go out by heart attack at 85 years old picking up shells on a beach or sailing on the bay or watching the Price is Right. I want to go out like Nancy Davis who spent 40 years in Mexico ministering the gospel as a church leader and as a nurse. This year she and her husband were driving when a truck full of gunmen came up and tried to get them to stop and then opened fire in an attempt to stop the truck. She was shot in the head. (three other pastors have been killed in Mexico this year. Mexico? Not Pakistan) This is horrifying and it s beautiful Risk, for the right cause is safety. Anything less than risk for the white-hot glory of God is the exact opposite of safety. I am safest, doing what God has called me to do. I am safest doing something and saying, perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. I don t think God works with shells or the Price is Right, he works with people who are doing something. Resolved He works with people who make resolutions like these by Jonathan Edwards: 1. Resolution #5:Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can 2. Resolution #6: Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live. 3. Resolution # 17: Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die. 4. Resolution #22: Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of. We can make a difference even in Poolesville. I know it s a nice quiet suburb, far from the difficulty, but we can love people a lot more than we do. These kings (David, Saul, Jonathan) have a deeper meaning Can I add one more important part to this story? Really what I would call the crux of the story. All Old Testament stories are Christotelic. It s a big word, but it means all the history and all the stories of the Old Testament were designed to find their goal or their telos in Christ. Telos + Christ = Christo telic.

10 10 Jonathan was next in line for the throne. David took the throne and David was a man after God s own heart. This Jonathan story was meant to connect to the David story. Jonathan was getting something done. David also was getting something done. Both of them believed that by many or by few God works. He doesn t need superheroes are great armies, he needs one or two people who are willing to risk. He needs people who climb hand over foot up a mountain to destroy the enemy with only one armor bearer. He needs one shepherd to be willing to take on a giant warrior with a sling. For it is people like this, people with the spirit of kings, who will point to Jesus. David and Jonathan were kings/princes. They mediated between God and man. Just as prophets and priests do. But as great as they were, they were imperfect. We need a king that will mediate between God and man perfectly. One who will come and stand in the gap so that we might know God. And so the point of these stories is ultimately that this king came. Jesus stood in the gap and was lifted up between God and man on the cross. He was both God and man and he allowed himself, the king of all creation to be killed. I don t know how much risk was involved with Jesus. It seems there were things Jesus did not know while he was on earth. I know he struggled like crazy with the idea of going to the cross. I wonder if he knew with certainty what the end result was? Probably so, but still, he had to do something. He took risks every day by rebuking the religious leaders, by calling the people to account, by stating that he alone was the way to God, by traveling risky roads to get out the message. Maybe these aren t risks in the same sense we take risks, but he was one and he did make a difference. And scripture now says that we follow in his steps. We are resurrection children and follow him in advancing the kingdom. We complete the suffering of Christ. We are what people see in the world. We don t do what we do because love conquers all, but because our love shows that Christ conquered all. It s not because we are looking for peace in itself, we are looking for Christ to be glorified and he is glorified in peace. It s not just wanting some kind of hope for the future, it s because Christ is the hope of our future. I hope you see this, I am calling all of us to take risks, to do justly, to love mercy, but I am also calling us to walk humbly with our God. It is through the power of God, through the resurrection of Christ that we can make a difference in this world. By the power of Christ risk tithing By the power of Christ, risk adoption By the power of Christ, risk using precious time to cut your neighbors grass By the power of Christ, risk supporting a child via Compassion International. By the power of Christ, risk your reputation by attending worship instead of the ballet recital By the power of Christ, risk your 401 k to buy that property to house people in desperate need. By the power of Christ, risk your dignity by bringing some Gatorade to the skate park, or go take those limbs off your neighbor s lawn even though they can do it themselves or take a walk around your neighborhood even though you don t have time and pray like crazy for your

11 neighbors and hope they come out of their house and you can give them a friendly wave and a smile. By the power of Christ, get off the video game, and out from behind the tv or computer, or garden or sport or schedule or neighborhood and risk something. Perhaps the Lord will act on our Behalf. 11