The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E34 - David & Goliath

Episode Date: May 27, 2020

Hey, church family, another very familiar passage for Devo Time, 1 Samuel chapter 17, David and Goliath. Now, even if you're new to Bible study, you have heard David and Goliath that the phrase has become a colloquialism in our language, meaning, you know, David, the underdog, can overcome all the odds and win big victories. And honestly, the way it's taught most often is not awesome. be careful reading yourself too much into the scriptures. And here's what. God is for you, but it's not about you. The whole thing is about Jesus. The whole thing is about Jesus.

And so after we read through it and unpack some of it, now again, there's for sure there are things that we can apply to our lives for sure. But the ultimate question is not to ask like, where am I in the story? the real question is to ask, how does God use me for his glory? So, a bunch of verses we're going to read. 1 Samuel 17. Now, the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Sokha, which belongs to Judah,

and encamp between Sokha and Azaka in Ephes Damim. Now, when you're in disciple group, and you don't know how to pronounce those words, nobody does. So they're just saying fast and with great confidence, and everybody don't think you know what you're saying. And Saul, this isn't Saul from the New Testament, this is King Saul, the first king of Israel. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Allah, and they drew up in line of battle against the Philistines.

And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley in between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath. Now here's the thing. neither army wants to give up their strategic position because if you're on top of the mountain,

you're at an advantage. And so to attack the other army, you would have to go down into the valley and then ascend to their mountain and give up great advantage. So neither one was going to do that. So they send out a champion, and what was very common in this day,

is that, and I pay attention to here, is that an army would send out one champion to fight on behalf of his people. Do you see how this thing is already pointing at Jesus and not just as what is happening here? And there came out from the camp of the Philistines, a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits. It's like nine feet tall and a span.

He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail. The weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze, and he had bronze armor. He had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders, and the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear weighed about 600 shekels of iron, and his shield bear went before him. Now, the reason there's all this mention of bronze is that the Philistines brought into existence the Bronze Age.

Now, I don't have time to go through it, but we find out in the book of First Samuel, all of Israel has like two swords, and this guy is fully decked out head to toe. and he stood and he shouted to the ranks of Israel, why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. And if he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.

Now part of the reason they would do this is because if you took over a people and you wiped them all out, then your workforce would be wiped out. So sometimes they would do this so that whoever won got the spoils of victory. And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. And when Saul and all of Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. So day after day after day, every time the Philistine, Goliath comes out here and says, send me a man, send me a man, send me a man. What man do you think all of the Israelites thought should go out and fight? I'm telling you, all the heads turned towards Saul. We found out earlier in verse Samuel that Saul was head and shoulders taller and like more athletic than everybody else.

And he had a sword and he had armor. Verse 12. Now David. David was the son of an Ephraithite of Bethlehem and Judah named Jesse who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul into the battle. In the name of his three sons who went into the battle were Iliab, the firstborn, and next to him, Abedad and the third Shama.

David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. Real quick. The Bible never says this. So again, this is a little speculation on my part, but I wonder what David was thinking when he's tending sheep,

which is a terrible job, the lowest of the low of all jobs. And his brothers are fighting battles. I wonder if he got to the place where he began to feel sorry for myself and say, why me, God, what am I doing? Why do you have me out here in the pasture, just wasting time?

You ever feel like that? You ever feel like you're not getting what you want, and everybody else is getting promoted? and you're stuck where you are, listen to me, don't ever waste your time in the pasture. David's going back and forth, tending sheep. For 40 days, the Philistines came forward and took his stand morning and evening, and Jesse said to David, his son, take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.

I mean, David is a pepperoni away from being a pizza delivery boy. All right, that's what his dad says. Hey, run some food to your brothers because they're doing important things. Also, take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well and bring some token from them. Now Saul, the king, and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Allah fighting with the Philistines. And by fighting, they got dressed up every day.

Goliath cussed at them and then they ran back into their tents. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with the keeper and took the provisions and he went, and as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle. Army against army, and David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, and he ran to the ranks, and he went out and he greeted his brothers, and as he talked with him, behold, the champion of the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name,

came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and he spoke the same words as before, David heard him. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, they fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. By the way, money is a terrible motivator. Notice, man, he gives him a tax-free house and the king's daughter. I don't know what she looks like, but whatever it is, the things of this earth are not a very good motivator because nobody is willing to step up. And David said to the men who stood by him,

What shall be done for the man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For whom is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? David is not personally offended. David is saying who in the world speaks like this to our God? and the people answered him the same way so shall it be done to the man who kills him now eliab the eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men and eliab's anger was kindled against david and he said why have you come down and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness i know your presumption and the evil of your heart for you have come down to see the battle let me warn you of something church anytime God calls you to do a big thing,

there will always be some backbiders and naysayers. Trust me. And sometimes they are the people that are closest to you. And David said, what have I done now? Can you see this is just like a typical brother spat? The big brother's like, kid, who do you think you are? And the little brother's like, are you serious? What have I done?

What have I done now? Was it not but a word? And he turned away from him toward another, and he spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before, and when the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul. And he sent for him. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him.

Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. Imagine what King Saul thought. King Saul hears a little chatter, hey king, got good news. There's one from our army that is willing to go out and fight against this Philistine. And Saul is thinking, first of all, he's really. leave. It doesn't have to be me. And he's like, maybe we have a chance. And then in walks David. By the way, in the first 16 chapters, we find out that one of the things that David did is he played the harp for Saul. So he's expecting a warrior, and then comes a harpist. I don't know how much

you know about harpist, but not necessarily like the MMA fighters of the day. And so I'm sure he's thinking, oh no. And Saul said to David, you're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for your buddy youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep the sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear, took a lamb from the flock. I went after him and struck him and delivered him out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears.

This uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. Think about this. While David was in the field, while David was out in the pasture, he could have had a pity party and said, why not me, God? Why not me? All I get to do is I get to sit out here and work with a sling because I got nothing to do. And I just sling these rocks at these targets over and over and over. And God seems like such a waste of time.

And while everybody else is out doing great things, I'm trying to protect these stupid sheep from these bear and lion. And I've got to fight that kind of stuff off. And God, when I'm sitting out here and just looking at the stars, all I do is play my harp and write poetry. Is anybody ever going to listen to my songs? And little did David know. Again, nowhere in the scriptures that it says

David was complaining like that. I just think we would. And little did David know what he saw his punishment keeping the sheep was actually God's provision for what he would call him to one day. Don't ever waste your time in the pasture. And David said,

the Lord who delivered to me from the Paul of the Lion, and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine, and Saul said to David, go, and the Lord be with you. And then Saul clothed David in his armor. Terrible mistake. Terrible mistake. God did not create you to be anybody but you. You need to be the you that God came up with when he came up with the idea of you. David put on the helmet of bronze on his head and he clothed him with a coat of mail,

and David strapped his sword over. his armor and he tried in vain to go for he had not tested them and then David said it's all i can't go with these or i haven't tested them in other words this doesn't fit me and the way god has called me to do ministry and so David put them off then he took his staff in his hand and he chose five smooth stones from the brook and he put them in his shepherd's pouch very important underline that five smooth stones we'll come back to him His sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine, and the Philistine moved towards him and came near to David

and his shield bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and he saw David, he disdained him for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Think about this.

This ain't Sunday school language. He's out here just cussing him out. And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beast of the field. And then David said to the Philistine, by the way, JP and I memorized this. We used to pray this every night before he would go to bed. We pray Psalm 1 and we would pray this.

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin and I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have to fight. You see, David is out here with the confidence of God. and he is staring down this giant that on paper ought to whip him but he's not fighting his own battle he's fighting on behalf of the Lord you come to me with sword and with spear

and with javelin but I come to you and the name of the Lord a host the God of the armies of Israel whom you have divided and this day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day

to the birds of the air and the beast of the earth and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that it is the Lord that saves, not with sword or spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.

And then you know what happens next. The Philistine arose and he came and he drew near to meet David, and David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag and he took out a stone. Remember, a smooth stone.

And he slung it, and he struck the Philistine. on the forehead, the stone stank deep into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. The next thing David does is he goes over and he chops off Goliath's head, and he wins. Now, what's the point in the story? Okay? First of all, I don't like to use word story, because it's not a story. It's an event.

Nobody made this up. This actually happened. I've been to the Valley of Allah. Did you know that in the brooks of the Valley of Allah are the most dense stones on the the face of the earth. So the point of the story, well, some people teach it like, hey, no matter what the odds are, if you try hard enough by faith, that maybe you can topple your giants, like your giant of fear and your giant of, you know, what the boss says about you or it's fourth down and you're the underdog, you can win.

I don't think has it. Or maybe it's, you know, don't bring a, don't bring a knife to a gunfight. You see, Goliath had a sword. He had to stand way off. David had a sling. He could sling it and kill him from a long way off. I don't think that's it either. Ultimately, ultimately, Jesus is the greater David. The ultimate giant in our life is sin and death. And Jesus came as our champion from heaven, dressed as a man, not dressed in the way that everybody expected him. a young shepherd boy out of nowhere in the lineage of Jesse, by the way, in the lineage of David.

And he comes up on the scene and what this indisputable, undefeatable sin and death stands before him and at the cross of Jesus Christ, he slings that rock, he plants it deep into the head of sin and death, and it is finished. So,

where are we in this account? My good friend Matt Chandler says, we are the Israelites that are up on the mountain afraid every day. That's fine. Here's the way I like to think about it. What if you and I are the five smooth stones that just like God did not waste David's time in the pasture,

but he was preparing him for such a time as this to be the greatest king of Israel until Jesus came? What if you've understood that God has been smoothing you out? Think about this. There are five smooth stones placed there by God. And over the entirety of their life, however long these stones have been there, God has been using all the bumps, all the bruises, all the chariots running over them, all the pressure of the water to shape them to be the exact shape that he would have them to be

and to be in the exact place he would have them to be so that when his champion, needed them, he can reach down and pick them up. What if you and I are the five smooth stones in the hand of our shepherd Jesus Christ? And when he wants to knock down a giant, when he wants to push back darkness, when he wants to share the gospel, when he wants to plant a new church amongst unreached people groups, when he wants to care for the widow, when he wants to visit those in prison, when he wants to make a difference in this world, he reaches down and he grabs me and you members of his church out of his pouch, and we willfully surrender ourselves to wherever

he would sling us. Church of 1122, may you know that Jesus came as our champion. He came down off the mountain as a shepherd. He defeated sin and death. And he wants to use us as tools in his hand to defeat the things that he came to conquer. May we be more. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for this account of David and Goliath. God, we do face Goliath in our life, like fear and anxiety and debt and finances and relationships and all of that. And God, I thank you that all of your promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that we would not waste our time in the pasture, that we would be obedient to you, even this time now as our world is beginning to reopen, that we would be positioned in such a way that we say, like Isaiah said,

Lord, here I am, send me. That you could reach down and grab any single one of us. And like a projectile, send us into what may seem like scary places, but knowing with your power, anything is wise. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.