The Giant

Intro

We’re continuing with our series

Last week, we were talking about how Jesus is the better Adam

Types and antitypes

But towards the end of last week, I suggested to you that Jesus is not in the business of making you better, he’s in the business of restoring you

Remember the dirty pants

Why is it important for us to remember this? Because it’s getting at an aspect of the Gospel that we so often miss living here in America, and that is this: The honor of God was tainted by Adam, and it was restored in Jesus

And tonight, we’re going to be looking at a story that puts on display for us the honor of God and the honor of man

Intro

Describe the message of the Gospel in one sentence. (Then describe the Gospel in one word)

Notice how all of your answers had one thing in common: they centered around your guilt and your sin and what God did about that sin

This is absolutely part of the Gospel, but it’s not all of it

I was talking to someone recently, and they were telling me about a story of someone from America who was sharing the Gospel in Asia. He was talking about the cross and how our guilt is taken away, but it was not connecting with the guy he was talking to

Why? Because people in Asia don’t live in a guilt culture, they live in a shame culture

Let’s say you did something really embarrassing, like pee your pants. What’s the first thought that’s going through your head?

The west: Something about me, I’m an idiot

The east: I’ve brought shame upon my family

3D Gospel book (put up chart)

While we here in the West center the Gospel on how we are brought from a place of guilt to innocence, Christians in the East center the Gospel on how God’s honor is restored

Even the way we look at the story of the Bible is different

West: Adam sinned and brought the desire to do bad things into the world. We do bad things and we can’t stop, and that sin and guilt separates us from God. But God sent His Son to pay for sins that we might be forgiven and be brought into new life with Him

East: God is a king full of glory and honor. He is strong, He is a provider, and He is a good Father. To magnify His glory, God created the world and identified Himself with Adam and Eve by creating them in His image. But Adam and Eve forfeited divine honor to pursue self-earned honor, and when they did so, they brought shame upon God. So God banished them from the Garden to maintain His dignity. We too have inherited this shame, and we try to cover up this shame by exalting ourselves through the pursuit of the vanities of this world, but we fail and only further dishonor God and ourselves in the process. But God sent Jesus Christ who lived an honorable life, but suffered a dishonorable death. But because he faithfully endured the shame of the cross and broke its power, the cross actually restored God’s honor and removed our shame.

The reason I want to belabor this point is not to try to suggest that the East has it right and we have it wrong. Both views of the Gospel are true because God knows us. He knows human culture, and He knows what will speak to the hearts of someone in Oregon and in Shanghai.

The reason why I want to belabor this point is because I think the story of David and Goliath can be better understood through the lens of shame and honor.

We’re gonna look at the honor of 3 parties today: the honor of God, the honor of the gods, and the honor of man

Let’s go ahead and take a look at the honor of the gods first

Honor of the gods

The Israelites are at war with the Philistines

The Philistines are on one side, Israel is on the other, but they’re not really fighting. They’re just facing each other

And out steps their champion Goliath, and he offers them a challenge 1 Samuel 17:8-9

Champion warfare

See which side the gods favored

“My God Dagon is stronger than Yahweh”

This was a challenge to God’s honor because every day the Israelites don’t fight him, they’re admitting that Goliath’s god is stronger

Who should be stepping forward to fight? Saul

He’s physically imposing

The Israelites had requested a king that could fight their battles for them (1 Samuel 8:19–20) “But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

So through Saul’s fear and inaction, he was bringing dishonor to God

By the way, Jesus is not this kind of king. Jesus never dishonored his Father because of his fear

Jesus went toe-to-toe with demons

He went into the desert and fasted for 40 days

He slept in the middle of a storm

And when he sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane asking if there was any other way, he said “not my will, but yours be done.”

God’s honor

Jesus is not that kind of king, and neither is David. 1 Samuel 17:22-26

Notice how David uses the language of honor and shame here: “who shall take away the reproach from Israel?”

By the way, notice how David doesn’t want any personal honor

Saul offers him a bunch of stuff

But David doesn’t point to the honor he would receive, he points to the honor that God has lost because of Israel’s cowardice

But notice something else he says in verse 26, he says “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

Notice what David is doing here, he’s confidently putting his hope in the honor of God

Goliath isn’t circumcised, which means he isn’t a part of God’s covenant people. And if he isn’t part of God’s covenant people, then he will be defeated

He’s essentially saying: “Why are we cowering from this guy who doesn’t have the covenant promise of the one true God spoken over him, and therefore doesn’t have true divine protection”

By the way, when was the last time you called on the covenant of God to assure yourself of your victory in Christ?

Remember, we live in a guilt-based culture. When was the last time the enemy whispered in your ear saying God could never forgive you and you said to him: “devil, I know the new covenant, Jeremiah 31:31 which says that God will forgive my iniquity and remember my sin no more

When was the last time the enemy said you can never change, that you’ll always stay stuck in your sin, and you answered him by saying “devil, I know Ezekiel 36:26 which says that my heart of stone has been turned into a heart of flesh.”

When the enemy assaults you with lies, call on the honor of God who has made a covenant with you and is determined to keep his promises

Man’s honor

So Saul is catching wind of this shepherd boy going through his camp asking questions about why they’re cowering in fear and not doing their job

What is David doing? He’s challenging his honor, and Saul can’t have that

So he calls David to his tent. 1 Samuel 17:32-33

What is Saul doing? He’s trying to shame him back

But look at how David responds 1 Samuel 17:34-37

So Saul tries to shame him back, but David responds by saying that God has protected him up to this point from lion(s) and bear(s), He’ll continue to protect him

And Saul has no comeback because David upped the honor challenge again. He’s saying the living God is on our side, why are you afraid? And Saul can’t refute that without admitting he doesn’t trust God

But Saul makes one last effort to save some of his honor, 1 Samuel 17:38-40

So Saul tries to give David his armor. Why?

Because if he goes out there and wins, then the soldiers would associate the victory with Saul himself or, at the very least, Saul’s house. So Saul was trying to claim the honor even if he won’t fight himself

I think it’s important for us to see this, because even though it isn’t our tendency as westerners to think of us bringing dishonor to God and ourselves, I think we all feel it deep down

We know deep down that when we give into the desires of the flesh and we act the fool as professing Christians, we bring dishonor upon the name of Jesus

So we achieve goals that we set for ourselves

We live moral and good lives

We obey the commandments

We accomplish great things

And all of these things are good, but be honest with yourself. Do you feel guilty about the dishonor and shame you’ve brought upon God because of the life you’ve lived, and that’s why you do these things?

Friends, we are like the Israelites, we are like Saul. Our actions and our fear have brought shame and dishonor upon the honorable name of God

Jesus

But I have good news. It doesn’t matter what you have done or will do, because honor has been restored because our greater David, Jesus Christ has conquered the enemy. Look at what David says in verse 45 (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

And you all know the rest of the story. David slings the stone at Goliath’s head, the giant topples, and David takes Goliath’s sword and cuts his head off

Friends, you don’t have to worry about the dishonor you’ve brought upon the honorable name of God because Goliath has already been defeated

Colossians 2:15 “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

You don’t have to try by the strength of your own might to win back honor for God because Jesus already has

The lies of the accuser have been silenced, Jesus already stands as the victor

(Comparisons)

David used Goliath’s sword to chop off his head, just as Jesus used the enemy’s weapons of sin and death to defeat him

David chopped off the head of Goliath just as Jesus crushed the head of the Serpent

And because of Jesus, you don’t have to be like Saul, desperately trying to win honor for yourself, you can be like the Israelites who rush the enemy seeing what their victor has accomplished for them. Go ahead and look at v51 (1 Samuel 17:51-52)

Be like those Israelites, take hold of the victory you have in Jesus, and take confidence in the honor He has restored to His own name.