“Your Grace is Enough” - 1 Samuel 30 (part 2)

Although we like to believe that beauty runs only skin deep, research shows that it pays to be good-looking. A 2010 survey by Newsweek concluded, "In all elements of the workplace, from hiring to politics to promotions … looks matter, and they matter hard." The research provided the following results:

Favoritism Happens: 57 percent of hiring managers believe an unattractive (but qualified) job candidate will have a harder time getting hired.Favoritism Continues: 68 percent of hiring managers believe that, once hired, looks will affect the way managers rate an employee's job performance.Your Looks Matter More Than Your Resume: 59 percent of hiring managers advised spending as much time and money "making sure they look attractive" as on perfecting a resume.It's Worse for Women: 61 percent of hiring managers (and 60 percent of them were men) said that women would benefit from wearing clothes that show off their figure.We Judge Overweight People: Although 75 percent of Americans are overweight, about 66 percent of managers said they thought some managers would hesitate before hiring someone who is significantly overweight.We Also Judge Old People: 84 percent of managers said their bosses would hesitate before hiring a qualified candidate who looked much older than his or her co-workers.We Think Favoritism Based on Looks Is OK: 64 percent of hiring managers said they believe companies should be allowed to hire people based on looks.

Life is not fair sometimes. We reap negative effects all the time for things we have no control over. Others reap positive effects all the time for things they had no control over. I think that we learned and have said many times in our lives… “thats not fair.” When we were kids we hear our parents saying life is not fair. But now that many of us are grown up we find that life continues to not to be fair and we despair. We look to all things in life to get more fairness, but is it fairness that we are looking for? Or is it really benefit. Because many times the things we want may be fair to us, but unfair for others… but we continue to demand fairness.

What is more, we continue to demand fairness even when it comes to our Lord. We demand justice, fairness, and equality. But do we really want the Lord to be fair… i think if we really think about it. We don’t. We want mercy not justice. This is why I think what we really want is benefits not fairness. We want what is best for us not necessarily what is best. Sound kinda self serving/selfish… well of course it does. Today we will see a situation that will illustrate how the best thing for us, was not fairness, but mercy.

Last week we witnessed the unfortunate event of the Amalekite raid. They plundered the family and possessions of David and his men and burned down the town. The grief was so great that they grieved till they had no more strength. The men turned against David, but David sought the Lord and strengthened himself. The Lord told Him to go and get it all back…and they did.

They went after the Amalekites with 600, but on the way 200 of them just could not pursue anymore so David continued with 400 men. They found an abandoned Egyptian slave of the Amalekites who just attacked Ziklag. David cared for him and asked if he could lead them to his former master. They found the Amalekites spread out all over the land dancing and celebrating for all that they acquired from their raids. David and his men rushed them and slaughtered them all through the night and all day the next day until evening. No one escaped except 400 young men on Camels. Could you imagine how huge the army was? David and 400 of his men did this. You need to see here how awesome David was in battle. They got everything back and nothing was lost. On their way back they met up with the 200 men they left behind. David went to meet them, but trouble makers complained that they should not get any of the plunder, give them their wives and kids but tell them to get out of here. Do not be selfish with what the Lord has given us. We all share and we share alike. David continued to give these gifts… a present taken from the Lord’s enemies.

1 Samuel 30:23–25 NLT

But David said, “No, my brothers! Don’t be selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of raiders that attacked us. Who will listen when you talk like this? We share and share alike—those who go to battle and those who guard the equipment.” From then on David made this a decree and regulation for Israel, and it is still followed today.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

The Pursuit

The Power

The Passion

The first thing we will look at is how David and his men pursued the enemy to retrieve their possessions and how they did it with a promise from God. The second thing is the display of power that will accompany the promises of the Lord. Finally, we will see the ultimate illustration of unfairness and how it will ultimately bring us salvation.

Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to be self-centered and confused as we seek what is to our own benefit knowing deep down inside that we deserve all the negative that happens to us, we can be confident that His grace is enough for us, he transforms us, loves us, and gives us the wonderful gift of faith to believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God and that by believing we will have life in His name.

I. The Pursuit

- We can trust the promises of the Lord. The question is… do we know what they are?

A. This is simply obedience to the Word of God. The Lord told David to pursue and He will get it all back. He headed out, but to where? It is assumed that someone at least pointed him in the direction the raiders left but where were they? They left anyway.

B. Sometimes we may not know the outcome of obedience and the promises of God. The direction we get from the scriptures may not apply specifically to our lives. “I want to obey the Lord, but I wish he would be a bit more specific.” Do we see that David said, “Ok Lord we will go, but can you tell me exactly where they are? David just obeyed believing that God will provide as we walk in obedience and hope in prayer. singing … Oh we’re half way there… Whoa oh living on a prayer take my hand we’ll make it I swear. And did He provide? Yes, but it was not in the way that they would have expected.

C. The Lord provided a slave of the enemy to point the way. His master left him on the path after the raid on Ziklag. After David and his men cared for him, he told them where the Amalekites were. Is this not a great example of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. He left the poor guy on the road and he actually became his undoing.

D. We also see the amazing grace of God here. It is the World of God in His way and in His time. We want specifics yes, but I wonder sometimes what we would do if we had specifics? We see the end, and we will do it our way. I think sometimes we don’t get specifics, because God is protecting us from ourselves. We trust in His Word; whatever Word we have. We cannot escape its importance. Pages after pages, we see this wonderful means of Grace. It is enough. All that we need for life and godliness. Wow… the very idea that our God the creator of heaven and earth would be mindful of us enough to care to think about us and to care enough to speak to us.

E. Even today…those of high status would not even speak a word to me if I said anything… I’m sure that Michael Jordan and Steph Curry have not nor are not thinking about me at all. But our Lord, Jesus the creator of heaven and earth does. He prays for us. He mediates for us. He works in us. He hears us. He died for us. And He spoke His everlasting Word to us. Again, is it true that we probably watch TV more than we read the Word? I’m just curious? Think about it… what in the world could be more important than the Word of God? What are we doing instead of reading and studying it?

II. The Power

- The promises of God comes with the power of God

A. It was not going to be difficult to surprise the Amalekites. They were partying and having a great time when David and his men caught up to them. They struck them down from twilight to evening the next day. It was so bad that the only ones who went free were 400 young men on camels. This must have been a huge raiding party. There was only 400 of them and the battle was over? David and his 400 men crushed them.

B. Can you believe it? David defeats his tens of thousands… This king was no slouch on the battlefield. Some of the exploits of the mighty men of David are incredible. Josheb killed 800 men with a spear in one battle. Abashai killed 300 men with a spear in one battle. Are you kidding me. With this in mind even if the other army had 3000 men, if David had 400 the other army would be outnumbered. They were awesome!

C. I don’t care if he was having a good day… Captain America is not killing 800 men with his shield. I know this for a fact… why? Cause the Captain America of the comics is not real!! Just in case you were wondering.

D. The Word of God made it clear that David got it all back. Nothing was lost… the author made it clear to point out that they lost nothing.

E. Here is where we see the grace of God displayed. Before David and his men met the Egyptian slave, 200 of his men we too exhausted to move on. So they stopped and 400 went forward. Now when David and his men came back to the stopping point with all of the plunder, we see something unfortunate.

F. Some of the trouble makers who fought, hid their greed by hiding behind justice. Let the lazy and lagging men have their wives but all of the plunder are for those who actually fought. Let them take their wives and children and get out of here.

G. But David said… My brothers you are not going to act this way with what the Lord has given us. His grace is enough… The Key words, “what the Lord has given us.”

H. Fairness is a curious thing. We talk of things being fair and unfair. We have done this since we were children…I can still hear the word’s and the tone… “No fair.” Now we like to talk about justice, our rights, our privileges, our space, our boundaries, and our right to have all of these things.

I. It is understandable to discuss justice and fairness for things in the world that consists of cause and effect between man and man. This is where our civil magistrate comes in… the police and judicial system. But fairness excludes Christians!

J. What if God were deal with us on the basis of justice… What if God gave us what we truly deserved? The good news today is that He does not give us what we deserve and that every breath we take and every move we make is truly a gift from the Lord. We as Christians do not live for the most part on the basis of worldly justice, we live because of grace! Christ told us that there will be injustice to us as Christians in this life, but we are to trust in Christ, trust that His grace is sufficient. His grace is enough.

K. In society today, we are blinded to this. We all have a tendency to focus on the wrongs done to us and lose sight of the wrongs we have done to God. We are upset and spiteful because we feel betrayed by a friend that should know better. And we forgetful about the times we have betrayed? We feel offended when a person lies to us. And do we not remember the times we have lied? We are offended when we are bullied by those full of pride. Do we remember the times we were the bully?

L. Most importantly, do we remember the times we have lied in pride as we in idolatry put our wants and desires before obedience and faith in Christ? We do all of this and when the spoils of war and the rewards come and the gifts of God are to be given out do we believe that we should be first in line? We need grace not fairness!

M. Do we find in life, times when we acted like David’s wicked men? Times we have done this to others in our lives even after all that Christ has done for us?

Matthew 18:23–34 NLT

“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

III. The Passion

- The Promise of God came not only with Power, but also with Passion.

A. We heard beautiful words from David did we not? He told his men that they should not do this… not with what the Lord has given us. You may have fought, but it was the Lord that gave. You did not get this on your own… they Lord gave it to us. What the Lord has given us? What has He given? His grace… His grace that is enough. These words from David seem to echo plan of the Kingdom of God. In our sin, we may think that there are things in this world that we are owed because of the things we have done. We decide in our lives what is right and wrong and what is just and unjust.

B. In sin we may think that there are things that we deserve that other people deserve. There are really evil people in this world, they deserve punishment for their sins. They don’t deserve heaven. “I know that I’m not perfect, but I am not like them. I worked hard in life to be a good person. I think I deserve it.” The Scripture says something different.

James 2:10 NLT

For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.

You need to be perfect. Were you? No, then you are as guilty before God as all of the wicked and evil people in the world.

C. It is only by His grace that we have anything at all. We may think that it is not. Like David said… all that we have is a gift from God. Your very breath is a gift from God. And in sin, we decided whether or not we should treat it as such. Our life is a life that we can do with what we please. It is sin within us. It is our desire to reject the will and word of God. We have been unfaithful in deceitful pride and arrogance and we deserve death. That is the truth for us today.

D. But I have good news. There is forgiveness for our sins. The Lord did not leave us to die on the road without any hope like the Egyptian slave that David found. Like David Christ gave us food to eat, the water of life to drink, and a promise not to deliver us to our enemy’s hell death, the grave, and our former master. Sin.

E. Rejoice today… like the Egyptian slave, you have been found. We once were lost but now were are found, we were blind, but now we see. Jesus came into this world to seek and save that which was lost. Who the son sets free is free indeed.

F. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and …

G. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came…

H. This is the Gospel of Jesus. It is the good news of the Kingdom of God! Salvation is here… all who call upon the name of the Lord. If you confess with your mouth and…

I. You today may feel like one of the 200 who could not make it. You are part of the family of God. We are here for you. And today you may feel like part of the 400 victors with strength, be there for the others. Remember, you may be one of the 200 one day.

J. Let’s all remember that we were all like the Egyptian slave. Let us be thankful that the king came to save us and promised us safety and lo! He will always be with us till the end of the age.