Our lesson from the Old Testament and our
lesson from the Gospel lesson are well known, indeed. There is enough residual Christianity in the
world around us that many non-Christians can recite the basic details of David
and Goliath and know the basic story of Jesus calming the storm. No doubt you
have sat in pews here or in other churches and listened to sermons that promised
you that God would slay your Goliaths or calm your storms. No doubt the sermons inspired you until you
ran into that next Goliath or that next hurricane in life. Truthfully, brothers and sisters, I struggled
a bit this week on this sermon. You have
all been very kind these first few months with respect to my sermons. I know a number of you live for the practical
application. You have told me that’s the
best part of my sermons and teaching. We
preachers do God a terrible disservice, I think, when we fail to bring His
wisdom, His instruction, into the world around us. When we fail to bring His instruction to bear
on our current situations, I think people in the pews are left with a “so
what! How is that supposed to help me?”
I say that because I had a horrible time
thinking of modern applications for the message I think I was being encouraged
to convey this week. We know from
experience that God does not always slay our Goliaths and that He does not
always calm the storms in our lives.
Each of us can point to Goliaths in our lives or storms in our lives
where we think we barely made it out, where God seems to have let an obvious
Goliath live or a terrible storm rage, no matter our fervent prayers. Collectively, of course, the big Goliath,
death, seems to have won the battle yet again, and one of our families, as well
as their close friends in the parish, are struggling in a storm of
mourning. I’m speaking, of course, of
George and Babs and the rest of the family.
All of us prayed to God to heal our beloved brother. God, by worldly measures, seems to have
turned a deaf ear to George, to Babs, to Georgie and Dee, and to anyone else
who interceded. Now, we are left in the
swirl of a storm. There is the pain of
George’s absence for some; there is the worry that maybe our faith impacted God’s
response; and there is the worry that we might not be up to the task of
ministering to George’s family, who are the ones really battling Goliath and
storms right now.
Even the news cycle seems to be testifying
against the idea that God slays the Goliaths and stills the storms in the lives
of His people. Unless you were
vacationing on Pluto this week, you probably watched coverage of the massacre
in Charleston. A Bible Study invited a
young man into their midst. After some
time in prayer and study, the young man opened fire, all the while shouting
horrible, hateful things at his intended victims. If God cares for His people like so many of
us believe and teach, if God slays the Goliaths in our lives, where was He when
this group of people needed Him? These
weren’t just “Christians” in name only, these weren’t just Christians who come
to church for worship on Sundays; these were brothers and sisters who took
seriously God’s command that they study His Word. They took it so seriously that they welcomed
a stranger into their midst to study Him and His Word more. And look what it got them.
By Thursday, of course, I was starting to
get worried about modern applications.
The Goliaths and storms dancing around in my head were defeats. No David had wrestled the gunman to the floor
saving lives; no Moses had interceded successfully with God on behalf of George
and his death. Even the illustrations my
colleagues suggested seemed impersonal.
One suggested I preach on William Wilberforce and his allies in the fight
against slavery. This colleague had
noticed I had not used much human trafficking imagery with you yet, but that
seemed a stretch comparing Wilberforce, a man with power, to a young boy named
David. Another was going to use Rosa
Parks and her efforts in light of this newest tragedy to preach about gun
limits. I liked the idea of Rosa, a
black lady in the South, as a modern fill-in for David. I obviously loved the idea for the need of
courageous people to change the world in significant ways. I cannot say, however, that I think the best
use of the deaths of those martyrs is gun control. There are far too many more significant
possibilities of redemption in their martyrdom, such as the press’ fascination
with their families’ willingness to forgive the young man who took their
lives. And yet, we all know there are
Goliaths and storms waiting around the corner to assault us. So, what shall we do? Trust that the Holy Spirit will speak
specifics into your heart and into your mind.
Our OT lesson begins with an interesting
scene. The armies of Israel and the Philistines
are facing one another for battle. A
giant of a man has come forth and proposed a battle of champions. The two chosen men will fight, thus sparing
bloodshed for the rest of the armies.
Unfortunately for God’s people, the champion of the army is so big that
his name will become synonymous with giant.
The bible gives us a great description of Goliath, his armor and
weapons, and his attitude. He is, to use
the words of the psalmist, a mocker of God and God’s people. Of course, he would seem to have reason to
believe that he should mock. Of all the
men standing before him claiming to serve in the Lord’s army, not one is
willing to come forth and face him in battle, not even its king.
Saul, you might remember from last week
and the week before, has had God’s Spirit taken from him. Saul has refused to obey God and, unlike his
successor, to repent when he has sinned against God. Saul is, as his cowardice before Goliath
demonstrates, king in name only.
Meanwhile, Jesse has been supporting the
commander of the squad of men that oversees his sons. From time to time, Jesse sends supplies to
the commander via his youngest son David, ensuring that his sons have food and
drink and anything else they might need.
However many times a week, David heads back home from the flock, gathers
the supplies from his father, and dutifully carries them to the
frontlines. This trip, of course, is
different. David, now anointed by Samuel
and full of God’s Spirit, hears the mocking derision of the uncircumcised giant. As the giant continues to mock the Israeli
army and, more importantly, God, David is incensed. We are told he finally chews out his brothers
and the men around them, asking why they don’t go teach this fool of a giant who
really is God. The brothers, for their
part, tell their younger brother to shut up.
If they listen to him, they will surely be killed. It is one thing to worship God; it is another
to rush headlong into one’s death.
David, furious at the dishonor being shown
before God, then decides he will slay this giant. David goes to Saul and says he will kill the
giant. Saul is so far removed from the
Spirit of God that he even argues with the boy.
You cannot do this. You are a boy; he is Goliath. He has been a soldier since his youth. Left unsaid is the “you are just a little shepherd
boy.” David, though, is having none of
it. He reminds the king that he has
fought lions and wolves and bears to protect his flock. The Lord who has protected him even as he has
protected his flock will let him see this victory. For Saul, such a rebuke should have stung
doubly-hard. The boy has taken up the
role the king was supposed to fulfill.
We then get this comical scene where Saul
dresses David in his army. In my mind,
this looks like that scene in the Lord of the Rings where Gimli tries on the
Elvish mail. The mail was made for
someone 6 and ½ feet tall. On Gimli, a
dwarf, it falls in a pile around him.
David realizes that the armor will encumber him more than help him, so
he has it removed. He chooses five
smooth stones from the wadi and strolls forth to meet the enemy.
Goliath is not impressed. He mocks David, the army, and God. David, of course, stands his ground. When the giant threatens him, David tells him
to prepare for his death. The very God
whom Goliath mocks will deliver him into the hand of David. As Goliath strides forward, we are told that
David hits him in the head with a stone from the sling. Once again, God has delivered as
promised. He told Israel that He would
deliver them without spear or sword.
Once again, He has kept His promise.
David has also kept his. He takes
Goliath’s sword and cuts off the giant’s head, leaving the dead body for the
birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth. If I am not going to promise you that God
slays all your Goliaths and calms all your storms, how are we to read this
story today? How does God’s Word inform
our lives these many thousands of miles and thousands of years distant?
It seems to me there are a couple lessons
we should take away from this Sunday’s readings. I have been here now nearly six months. Those of you who are bit braver have wondered
into my office or elsewhere to question calls on your own lives. I have had a few interesting discussions with
people stressing about perceived calls.
As people have bravely shared possible calls by God on their lives, they
have quickly followed those claims with the Goliaths that stand in their
way. I’m
not trained to do mission trips. I haven’t
studied the Scriptures like you? I’m not
good at public speaking? I don’t know
where to start? On days where I am
less tired, I have probably reminded you that God does not always call the
equipped, but He always equipped the called.
It is not so much that we need supernatural gifts and talents but to be
reminded of the skills that we have and to direct them to His service. How many rocks had David slung as a boy
shepherd? Our modern version might be
shooting bottles or cans off fence rails, but I am sure shepherds had their own
ways of practicing and of passing the time.
Plus, David had exercised this skill in the face of death. Before battling Goliath, he reminds us that
lions and wolves have turned on him, even as he sought to rescue his
lambs. David did not so much need
supernatural guidance as a new target!
Similarly, you and I are prepared for whatever it is that God calls us,
both individually and as a parish. Our
focus will be different, no doubt, but the skills are really just the skills. Some may be the important need in a ministry;
others may be the foundation for something far bigger, far greater, than we
ever could have asked or imagined. But
that is how God works. He delights in
making the worldly wise look foolish, the worldly strong look weak, and the
marginalized as near and dear to His heart.
If God is calling you to do something, you are equipped or you will be.
How do we know? His word and experience are certainly good
teachers, but think especially of the motivation of our David this
morning. What drove him to fight
Goliath? Was it the likely fame and
fortune? Was it the opportunity to go
live with Saul and be attended to day and night? It was not.
Pay close attention to what motivates David. He is consumed with zeal for the Lord. What motivates David is not his own glory,
his own well-being, but the honor and glory of the Lord whom he serves! It is a characteristic he shares with martyrs
and saints throughout the ages. Even our
collect today called upon us to have perpetual love and reverence for His holy
name. What if we considered whether
every action we took and every word that we said honored or dishonored God? They do, don’t they. We dishonor God when we give the universal
sign of respect to the guy who cut us off in traffic. We dishonor God when we sheepishly look away
as those men and women sell those papers on the side of the road at
lights. We dishonor God when we ignore
worship, ignore prayer, ignore those things to which we know He calls us. We dishonor God when we value ourselves and
our own lives more than we value and trust in Him. Thankfully, and mercifully, He has born the
price of our dishonor. Thankfully and
mercifully, He asks us only to repent, and He forgives us.
Brothers and sisters, I am not letting you
in on a little secret this morning. I am
reminding you of what you already know and of what God has shown you. There are always Goliaths and there are
always storms in our way when we serve God.
I often wonder if the giants don't get bigger and the storms don't get stronger the more important the work. No matter what it is you are called to do, you can bet that His Enemy
wants nothing more than for you to fail.
His Enemy will create Goliaths in your mind, and His Enemy will send
real Goliaths into your path. Sometimes,
God empowers us to overcome those Goliaths; sometimes, though, God uses our
seeming defeat to demonstrate His redemptive power. All we can do, all any Christian can do, is
that to which God has called us. The
real results, the reconciliation to God and to our neighbors, that’s up to
Him. But in the end, God will not be
mocked. He may show patient restraint
for a while; He may seem absent or uncaring to those who really desire a
thunderous slaying of giants; but in the end He promises that He and all who
serve Him will be vindicated and glorified in Him. What matters is our motivation; what matters
is our faith. Do we trust Him to rescue
us from the paws of those wild animals that turn on us? Do we trust in Him enough to face those
inimical giants in our lives, confident in our faith, that He will redeem us in
the end? The answer to that question, beloved
brothers and sisters, is to be found only in your heart.
Peace,
Brian†
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