Courage: David and Goliath

Introduction: What the Problem is; our contemporary cultural context: Here is what we face

Our world is a scary place

Kids, there used to be a time when kids were not only allowed to play outside, but they could hop on this metal structure called a bicycle and ride it all over the city; without a helmet.

There are new threats and new reasons to be afraid that show up every single day.

The burning question that we all have, what we all need in the face of our fears is — courage

Adults, you need courage not only for yourself and the things you face, but if you have grandkids or kids, you need courage in raising them.

Will you merely assimilate to the world and compromise God’s way of following Him?

Or will you be courageous and say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD?”

One of the most popular stories in the entire Bible is the story of David and Goliath. What were the Israelites lacking as they listened to the enemy, Goliath came to the top of the hill and shouted for them to send a contender? Let’s look at it again...

What the Bible says; the original readers’ cultural context: Here’s what we must do

DAGON vs. YHWH

Israel had already met these same Philistines for battle four times before this battle

And they were at war together because not only did the Philistines live in Canaan, the land God promised to the Israelites, but because the Philistines were very a violent people.

They were also a courageous group of people:

1 Samuel 4:9–10 ESV

Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.” So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

1 Sam 4:

Their primary god, DAGON, was a longtime enemy of YHWH. After the Philistines had defeated the Israelites, they stole the Ark of the Covenant (which represented God’s presence with His people) and set it in DAGON’S temple.

The next morning the Philistine people woke up, the image of DAGON was lying face down

The next morning they arrived again to see the image of DAGON not only lying face down, but it had no head, hands or feet

The Philistines recognized that the Ark had to go, so they sent it away, but the Philistines still wanted to defeat the people of YHWH, so they constantly attacked them

Goliath the Champion

But this time it was a little different, you know why?

The Philistines had a secret weapon this time, they had a Champion

Not only was he a warrior from the time he was a child, he was somewhere between 8-9 feet tall

He had the latest in military technology — the best weapons, the strongest armor

You know what else Goliath had? He had courage!

He called out Israel’s King, by name!

1 Samuel 17:8 ESV

He stood and 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.

1 Sam 17:

1 Samuel 17:10 ESV

And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.”

7:10

Was Saul a champion? Why didn’t he fight?

1 Sam 14:

1 Samuel 14:47–48 ESV

When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned he routed them. And he did valiantly and struck the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.

Saul was a champion! We learn earlier in the Bible that Saul stood head and shoulders taller than any other Israelite

Some scholars have believed that Saul stood around 7 feet tall

Saul seemed to have a similar courage to match the courage of Goliath, but what happened?

What Prevents Us; current listeners’ inward heart context: Why We Can’t Do It

Counterfeit Courage

Everyone needs to be courageous in order to live in the world we live in

Courage to get up and face difficulties at home, at school, at work, and in the Church

How many of you are going back to school this month? You are going to need courage to wake up every day, go to school, interact with your friends (and those who are not friendly), your teachers, your school work, homework, you are going to need courage.

And there are really only two ways that people go about seeking for courage.

The Way of the Philistines

How did Goliath find courage? He found courage in building himself up, tearing other people down, collecting the very best armor, etc...

This way is not just the way of the Philistine, it’s the way of the world

Teach your child simple strategies to be brave. You might encourage positive self-talk, such as saying, “I can handle this” or “I have courage to do this.” Or teach your child to take slow, deep breaths to find courage. Psychologist from US News

The most popular teachings on overcoming your fears and being courageous have much to say about “Doing what feels right to them” and “Envisioning yourself being successful”

Even very popular teachings about this story of David and Goliath end up sounding very much like the way of the world, “The giant represents the fears in your life, take up five stones which represent five strategies (even if it’s read your Bible, pray, go to church, tell the truth, listen to good music) and watch your giants tumble to the ground...

The underlying message (that’s damaging) is that ultimately we need to conquer our fears with the courage of David and we just need a few solid stones to do it...

That was the way of Saul, that’s the way of Goliath, that’s the way of the Philistines, and that’s the way of the world, but that’s the opposite of the Gospel!

The Way of the Gospel

Stories in the Scripture are meant to push us to find ourselves in the characters that are represented.

I don’t think many can relate to Goliath and the Philistines

And I don’t think that many can really relate to David

But it’s more likely that all of us relate most to the Israelites - dismayed and greatly afraid

1 Samuel 17:24–25 ESV

All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, 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.”

1 Sam 17:24-25

Fear is sometimes paralyzing, fear can turn an entire army to act like a group of toddlers hoping that someone will look under the bed and in closet to make sure there are no monsters

Fear can make our hands sweat and our stomach’s queezy

Fear (as much as I wish it were true) is not an emotion that you can completely conquer. And it’s also not an emotion you can ignore, it’s a part of the human experience

What this story teaches us is that ULTIMATELY what our greatest need is, it not just courage (although we do need courage) our greatest need is to be rescued

But like the Israelites, we lack what it takes to rescue ourselves

We, like the Philistines NEED a Champion

So who comes on the scene? David does...

Is David bigger than Goliath? Does he have better weapons? Do he have stronger armor? NO, what does David have that the Israelites lacked?

David had Authentic Courage

1 Samuel 17:45–47 ESV

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a 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. 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 to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

1 Sam 17:45-

How Jesus Fulfills the Biblical Theme and solves the heart issues: How did Jesus do it?

Let’s pause for a second and remember, who is David?

The prophet Samuel (who wrote this story) doesn’t even mention David until the 16th chapter

And how does Samuel find David?

God leads Samuel to a man’s house named Jesse and inside of Jesse’s house is the next King of Israel

And that’s because YHWH had rejected Saul because of Saul’s disobedience and pride

Samuel the prophet entered Jesse’s house, told him that one of his sons was going to be the next King of Israel, so Jesse lined up his sons before Samuel

Samuel knew which one would be King right away, why was Samuel so certain of this? Because Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab was warrior-like, and strong, and broad, and tall...

But YHWH told Samuel to stop looking at the outward appearances because God looks beyond the body and into the heart — the character

And one by one Jesse’s seven sons were passed over and Samuel said, “Are all your sons here?”

Jesse overlooked David because David was young and inexperienced and all he’s really good for at this point is keeping the sheep

Samuel said, “Go get him” - they brought David in and Samuel looked at him and David wasn’t much to look at (being that he was either a pre-teen or a very young teenager) but got past the baby-face and said, “Anoint him for this is he.”

In that moment, YHWH anointed David, king of Israel

David, the shepherd, David the musician, David the errand boy that’s all we know about David up to this point

But YHWH does not see David the way we see David, YHWH sees David and says I’m choosing you to be my champion

Now we know David slung the sling and slew Goliath, but what we often forget is that God used David’s despised and overlooked occupation of sheep keeping to prepare him for this day

When David is pleading with Israel’s so-called champion (Saul) to allow him to fight Goliath he says, “I’ve fought and killed a lion and a bear before while keeping the sheep. I can fight this giant too.”

We all know the rest of the story, David picked up the stones and sling and knocked the giant down and then finished him off with Goliath’s own sword.

In that moment who was saved? Remember what was at stake, Goliath said, “You kill me, we serve you. I kill you, you serve us.”

In that moment Israel was rescued from bondage. The entire nation was (without knowing it) IN their newly anointed king

He didn’t have a throne, a kingdom to speak of, a people supporting and following him, but he had a steadfast courage and trust in YHWH

And through David’s weakness, YHWH defeated the enemy

Awesome story, one we should remember, but it’s not our story… we are to look further in order to see our story

The author of the book of Hebrews lists stories of people who had a strong faith in YHWH and we should remember those stories, but then he says this:

Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb

Remember the great group of faithful witness, but look to Jesus

Who is Jesus here? The author says the “founder and perfecter of our faith”

That word “founder” could be interpreted a few different ways and they carry a little bit of a different picture. One translation translates it this way:

New Living Translation Chapter 12

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

The real meaning of the story points us to the true champion of our faith; Jesus

Jesus was despised by his own relatives, he had no earthly kingdom to speak of, when he was arrested he lost all but a few of his followers and supporters, but he had courage and faith in YHWH

The author of Hebrews tells us this, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame...”

Jesus, unlike David, wasn’t just willing to go to face the enemy, Jesus knew that he would literally lay down his life for the sheep and he did.

And when Jesus laid down his life for those who would believe in him, he became the champion of everyone who puts their faith in him.

And just like all of Israel was IN DAVID and what was true of DAVID when he slayed the giant was true of Israel, so now all that is true of JESUS is true of those who have faith in CHRIST the anointed KING!

And just like David took the fears of the people upon himself when he went to the valley of Elah and fought Goliath, Jesus took the sins of the people upon himself and tasted death, the penalty of sin upon himself.

How through faith in Jesus you should live now

You know what’s even more awesome? The way the men of Israel responded.

:

1 Samuel 17:52 ESV

And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.

What did they receive when their champion defeated the real enemy? Courage!

Before David defeated Goliath they were hiding in their tents, now they’re emboldened with courage to finish the job

The way to become courageous is not in telling yourself you’re awesome so you’re puffed up enough to go for it… that won’t last forever.

Goliath had plenty of that and he lost. Saul had plenty of that and he was removed from being king and lost all courage.

Courage comes to us when in our weakness we acknowledge our need for a champion, remembering that our champion has already won the big battle, and then doing what is right - believing that GOD is in control.

Communion