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Listen to sermons from Church of the Incarnation in Atlanta, GA.
Prayer:
Father in heaven, we would want to ask you this morning,
“Don’t you care that we are perishing?
Does it matter to you that the boat of my life is sinking?
Don’t you see this Giant!—who is too big for us to fight and who is threatening our safety and preventing us from becoming what we are supposed to be?”
And into our deepest fears and hopelessness this morning,
would you speak a word of faith?
Send your Spirit to remind us that we have a Savior, your Son,
who fights our battles and calms the storms of lives,
that we may go out from here,
reoriented with a renewed trust in your power to save.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
- - -
Let’s do an imagining exercise this morning (you can close your eyes if it helps):
You are in a small boat with Jesus and his disciples.
The storm is fierce and the waves are pouring over into the boat and it seems like there is only a matter of minutes before the boat sinks.
Put yourself in that place. What are you feeling? How is your body reacting as you prepare for imminent death? How is your breathing? What emotions might be racing through your mind?
{I grew up sailing with my dad in 19’ sailboat on Lake Pontchartrain; he seemed have a talent for attracting storms. And when we got caught in storm, it was scary, because suddenly—it was clear that we were not in control.
And at least once, we were rescued by the coast guard in the middle of storm.}
Similar situation, different place:
You are a solider the Israelite army. It is your job to protect the people against the Philistine enemies that threaten the flourishing your community.
And a large warrior who is almost twice your size is inviting you to fight him in hand-to-hand combat.
How do you feel, as you hear the roar of Goliath’s voice? As you see observe his greatly-superior anatomy, his strength, and his over-sized weapons? How does hit in your heart to come to the realization that he either wants you dead or subservient—and there is no apparent alternative forward?
Some of us here today are facing a real crisis.
There is a Giant in your life. Preventing you from flourishing. Threatening the well-being of your family. It seems clear to you that you cannot win this fight.
The boat that is your life is getting cap-sized by waves. (And yes, Jesus is in your boat, but if you were honest, you’d say, “Jon, I am not really sure how Jesus is helping.”)
And my prayer for you this morning is that God would use this sermon to restore your faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ. May God dispel all our fears and fill us with faith—so that we might have peace in the middle of the toughest challenges.
1 Samuel 17
Series: Searching for a King to Save Us
• Two weeks ago: “We are always searching for King to save us”
(it was a bad thing! )
• One week ago: God joined us in the search for King to us!
-he chose a boy, named David, and said this boy is going to be the instrument of salvation for my people. My “anointed king” (Messiah) – David points us to Jesus
-Drama of the story: God said he looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart—but we don’t yet know anything about the heart of David.
• This Week: we begin to learn about the Heart of the King
A Few Easy Misconceptions
David and Goliath is a popular story. Some of us have been hearing it retold since kids in bible story books. It’s possible that we have internalized a few common misconceptions over time.
1. - Everyone loves a good story about an underdog winning against all odds. (This isn’t about that).
I loved Ted Lasso as much as anyone in the room. But this isn’t iron-age Ted Lasso.
2. – Fairytale – (like Jack and the Bean Stalk).
Really tall people really exist. And in the ancient Near East, people were a little shorter than the average American today.
In hand-to-hand combat, size can really make a difference.
Pics:
1. Muggsy Bogues (5’3”) and Manute Bol (7’ 7”)
2. Muggsy Bogues and Yao Ming
(regardless of whether is particular story “actually happened,” there should be no doubt among sensible historians that Israelites living in this period were afraid of the people around them, some of them who were physically impressive).
3. – a Story about a hero named David.
In fact, “David and Goliath” might not be the best name for this story as we will see in a bit.
It is isn’t a story about how you can become a hero; it’s a story about how we can put our faith in God. How we are not without hope in the world, because God sent Jesus to save us from the power of sin and death.
So. Now that we’ve cleared the air a bit, let’s try to receive the story this morning on its own terms.
How to Respond to a Fearsome Giant.
The Philistine Army is pressing in on Israel’s territory, Saul and the Israelite army have come out to meet them. The Philistines are threatening the life of Israel—their vocation to flourish in the Land that God has given seems to be on the line. (The drama is always the same: will there be a future for God’s people?)
-scary enough – they have the superior military technology. But then to make matters worse…
They have someone on their team named Goliath.
Player Profile:
o Almost twice as big as everyone else.
o Wears a bronze helmet.
o Wears coat of mail weighs 125 lbs.
o His 15 lb spear tip is made out of the strongest metal available at the time.
(Not only is he taller, but he is strong enough to walk around with this kind of armor. This implies he outweighs and out-lifts everyone around him. And he is the mostly heavily armed).
The site of such person would be terrifying.
Goliath says, “Okay. Let’s save lives. Instead all of our men running out against all of your men in battle (and possibly incurring casualties of several hundred men on either side), let’s just do one-on-one, hand to hand combat.
Send one of your guys out to fight me. If he kills me, we’ll be your servants. If I kill him, you’ll be my servants.
What a nice, life-saving proposition!
You are a 5’3” Israelite. How would you feel about the proposition?
Verse 11 tells how the people felt:
“When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” (v. 11)
Today, I want us to consider two responses to a Fearsome Giant.
Response #1: dismay and fear
When was the last time you were dismayed and greatly afraid?
Fear.
Fear is prevalent to the human story.
So much our lives can be defined by our fears.
{relaxed – with levity }
What happens if I don’t make it?
What happens if my career doesn’t turn out the way I hoped it would?
What happens if I am alone?
What happens if I don’t have enough money to take care of my family?
What if I am driving on the 285 and I get stuck in snow storm?
What if all of the sudden water stops running in my neighborhood?
What if the Falcons make it to the Super Bowl and blow another lead?
What happens if Russia topples the Ukraine?
What happens to America after the election?
It seems that half of America is deathly afraid of what will happen if the government does not stop immigrants coming into the country without authorization.
And it seems the other half is afraid of what will happen if the government does stop immigrants coming into the country without authorization.
For some of us the “fear” is more existential. We worry about living a life that is void of meaning.
For others it’s more fundamental. We fear for our own safety, the safety of our family, or the lack of housing and adequate nutrition.
If we were to take the sum of human activity and ask the question, “How much of our activity is driven by fear,” how much do you think it would be? What percentage of our lives is driven by some seemingly imminent fear lurking on the horizon?
It doesn’t matter if you are 4 years old or 40. Rich/poor/progressive/conservative—
Fear is familiar to all of us.
Dismay.
Fear is familiar, but how about dismay?
Dismay is when you are so afraid, when your enemy seems so large and so scary and so powerful, that is no apparent way forward.
Dismay is when you’re stuck and you have no hope.
God has set Israel free from oppression under Pharaoh in Egypt—called them to a life of blessing and freedom and flourishing. But now Goliath stands in their way.
Goliath and the Philistines are ready to force Israel once again into servitude.
They were servants of Pharaoh, now it looks as if they will become servants of Goliath.
Just as the Israelites were paralyzed by fear in the face of Goliath, we too face giants in our lives that make us feel dismayed and hopeless.
I wonder what oppressive force in your life is bearing down-- threatening your freedom and flourishing.
Giants come in many forms.
Some of us battle addiction.
Others find ourselves in unjust working conditions. Maybe an unfair manager who is preventing your career from moving forward.
Maybe your Giant is a health crisis (chronic illness, pain, and disability).
Some of us are up against Financial Giants—struggling with debt and inadequate employment even as the cost of living continues to climb in our city.
Maybe you are afraid of Technological Giants—and how AI is going to disrupt your industry and the career that you trained so hard in.
Some of us are facing a Relational Giant—there is an unhealthy relationship that harming your well-being, and you are not sure how to move forward.
Giants are real. They are big. And they are scary.
But here is thing:
The author of I Samuel has taken great pains to describe the appearance of Goliath, but also in the previous chapter (the one about Samuel anointing David as king)
God had just told Samuel:
“ Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. (16:7)”
Dramatic Irony: And the reader of the story knows what most of the people in the story haven’t learned yet.
The Israelites—good folks like you and me—are so focused on the appearance of Goliath and the height of his stature, that they can’t think of anything else.
In the imagination of Israel there is no way forward because they cannot imagine anyone or anything bigger than this giant.
How to Respond to a Fearsome Giant?
Response #1 was fear and dismay from Saul and the soldiers
Now for Response #2 – David arrives on the scene:
David has come because his father sent him. He is too young to join the army. (Age 20+).
But his older brothers are on the front lines.
This is a “people’s army.” It isn’t well organized. There is no mess hall to feed hungry soldiers.
So David’s father Jesse has sent him to bring some food the Israelites.
The text tells us it’s a few loaves of bread and 10 cheeses.
{There is a giant threatening God people and Door-Dash David shows up with charcuterie board!}
I’d like to imagine it’s a few baguettes along with some manchego and maybe some camembert. (Probably feta and a little fried halloumi—cause it’s the Eastern Mediterranean). Definitely no prosciutto on that board!
And when Door Dash David comes on the battle scene, he sees Goliath come out and he hears him give his spiel.
And he sees all the Israelites fleeing when they hear Goliaths voice because they are was afraid.
But David’s response was not fear or flight—he was ready for a fight.
David keeps asking all the soldiers the question,
“What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (v. 26).
This is a story about Reality. About what is real. Is God, God? Will God be God for Israel?
Israel claims to believe in God. It thinks it is “religious.” But its religion does not seem to have application in everyday life.
That is, when faced with a giant, Israel acts as if God were irrelevant to the equation.
In theory, they are “religious” but in function they are agnostic.
Sure, maybe they worship together once a week and sure they pray their prayers daily and keep the covenant the best they can. And oh of course they teach their children the scriptures….BUT, when the “rubber meets the road,” when faced with “real life challenges,” when their national security is threatened…
they are functionally agnostic.
Agnostics believe that it’s possible that there is a god, but if there is that god probably has nothing to do with ordinary life and probably unknowable.
When faced with a giant, Israel doesn’t know a God.
All they know is what they have, their own weapons and their own height (or you might say the lack thereof).
How many of us are functionally agnostic?
We come to church every Sunday,
we worship the God of heaven and earth,
we receive the body of our Lord at the altar, and then we are sent out do the work He has called us to do,
only we go out and we live our lives as if we don’t know of a God to save us.
I don’t know about you—but so many times I come up against a Goliath, and the first thing I do is respond in fear and try to figure how I am going to do it in my own strength—instead of calling on the Living God who saves!
This is perhaps the biggest problem with modern Western Christianity.
Over the past 600 hundred years we have become increasingly agnostic.
In the first 1300 years of Christianity, Christians thought of all of creation as a gift from God. Every part of creation was purposed by God---that is it was full of his purpose. Nothing existed a part from his will.
Creation was full of intention and the earth was full God’s glory.
Indeed, Christians believed that Christ filled all things.
Little by little, over the last 700 years, we’ve been able see less and less of God’s glory in creation, less and less of God’s intention in all of life.
We have learned to relegate God to his place---Sunday morning, in the church building
We worship on Sunday, and then we get on with our lives as if there was no living God of Israel.
While Israel acts as if God were completely irrelevant to its current impasse,
David knows that the situation cannot be assessed apart from the rule of the living the God.
Essentially David is asking the question: is there still a living God in Israel?
Yes, we’ve heard those stories about how God delivered with mighty deeds from the hand of Pharaoh, but is that same God still alive and active now, today, in the midst of the giant we are facing?
David is prepared to act as if the answer were “Yes.” The rest of Israel is not. And there is the difference.
Door Dash David goes to Saul, like an innocent kid who doesn’t understand the dangers of the “real world” and tells him that he will go fight this giant.
Saul: “You’re just an inexperienced, untrained boy. And this warrior has been fighting since he was young.”
Then David responds with some stories about how he used to kill lions and bears with his bb gun whenever they would try to eat the sheep he was herding. It will be the same way with this giant:
“This uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.”
37 David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.”
And now we see where David’s confidence is. It is not a “self-confidence” developed over time as he gained skill with his weaponry (I’m really great with the sling).
David isn’t confident in himself—his confidence is in the Living God!
He saved me before. And he will do it again!
God teach us to look back. And remember how you saved us.
Remember how you came through for us.
Remember how you made a way.
Remember how you provided.
Remember how you protected.
And give us the confidence to know you will do it again.
David has faith in a God who lives and in a God who saves.
Two things I’m encouraged to do from this story:
1) Know the stories of God’s People (read the Bible; read church history; read missionary stories; remember how God has saved his people through the ages)
2) Pay attention to how that same God is at work in my life everyday
Often the problem isn’t that God isn’t showing up. Often, I’m not paying attention.
Saul cannot talk David out of the fight.
And David won’t wear Saul’s armor because it doesn’t fit (whole sermon there).
David goes out to the fight, essentially unarmed.
Goliath is naturally offended. Is this a joke? A little boy with a stick coming out to chase of dog?
44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” 45 But David said to the Philistine,
“You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This very 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 Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”
We’ve put all our confidence in appearance and size and in weapons and technolog—and we’ve come to think that the most powerful human rulers always have the last word.
But this morning God’s Word is telling us to put our hope in the name of the Lord, the Lord who does not save by sword and spear—the Lord who is always bigger than our enemies.
God and Goliath
What if we’ve missed it?
We thought this was the story of David and Goliath. But if we read the story a little closer, we see it’s the story of God and Goliath.
It’s God who fights our battles. It’s God who provides a savior.
The headline isn’t “You can be a hero like David.”
The headline is “You don’t have to be a hero. Because God himself will set you free!”
When you are up against the Giant, you have to preach the gospel to yourself.
The Heidelberg Catechsim put it this way:
Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
How to Respond to a Fearsome Giant?
Response #1 was fear and dismay from Saul and the soldiers
Response #2 put your faith in the Living God and trust that He will save you
You’re on the frontlines with the Giant Philistine.
You’re in the boat with Jesus.
How do you respond?
Maybe like me, you need to hear the gentle, loving rebuke of Jesus this morning from the Gospel.
We’re the boat, in the middle of the raging storm with his disciples.
We are frightened and calling to out to him, “Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?
And after demonstrating his power to overcome the forces of death, he turns to us says
“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Dear friends,
Your future is not in the hand of the giants.
Your life is determined by Christ, who rescued you from the slavery of sin.
Jesus Christ, the one who has overcome the power death and the grave, will preserve you and he will raise you up on the last day.
Amen.