Will Smith's Skydiving Fear

Laurence Wagner Moody Bible Institute Preaching From The Old Testament Professor Howington Sermon Outline This Battle Belongs To The LORD 1 Samuel 17 Introduction – “God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror. On the other side of your maximum fear are the best things in life.” – Will Smith I. The Philistines and Israelites gather for battle. (17:1-3) A. The Philistines were already in Israelite territory. (v. 1) B. There was a valley in between each camp. (v. 3) II. Goliath challenges the Israelites to Representative Combat. (17:4-11) A. Goliath is dressed to intimidate. (vv. 4-7) B. Goliath defies the ranks of Israel. (vv. 8-10) C. Saul and the Israelites are dismayed and afraid of Goliath. (v. 10) III. Jesse sends David to the Israelite camp. (17:12-22) A. The narrator explains the relationship between Jesse and four of his sons (vv. 12-15) B. The narrator connects Jesse and his sons to the battle against the Philistines (vv. 14-16) C. Jesse instructs David to go to the battle. (vv. 17-18) D. David journeys and arrives to the Israelite camp. (vv. 19-22) IV. David hears Goliath’s challenge to Representative Combat. (17:23-30) A. Goliath defies the ranks of Israel again. (v. 23) B. The men of Israel are dismayed and afraid of Goliath again. (v. 24) C. David responds to hearing Goliath’s challenge. (vv. 25-27) a. David asks about a reward for the victor against Goliath. (v. 26a) i. David learns of the reward. (vv. 25, 27) b. David seems to speak without fear (v. 26b) D. Eliab confronts David, but David eludes him. (vv. 28-30) V. David volunteers to fight Goliath. (17:31-40) A. David’s inquiry reaches Saul’s ears. (v. 31) B. David gives a pre-game speech. (vv. 32-37a) a. If the LORD delivered David from lions and bears, He would deliver David from Goliath. (vv. 34-37a) C. Saul tries to bless David (vv. 37b-40) a. Saul speaks a word of blessing and probably does so out of superstition. (v. 37b) b. Saul tries to give David his armor, but David rejects it (vv. 38-40) VI. This battle is the LORD’s. (17:41-47) Big Idea A. Goliath disdains David for his appearance. (vv. 41-44) B. David informs Goliath the LORD would be delivering Goliath to David. (vv. 45-47) VII. David prevails over Goliath. (17:48-54) A. David sinks a stone into Goliath’s forehead. (vv. 48-49) B. David cuts Goliath’s head off. (vv. 50-51a) C. The Israelites chase down the Philistines. (vv. 51b-54) VIII. Saul inquires the identity of David’s father. (17:55-58) A. Saul asks Abner whose David’s father is, but Abner doesn’t know. (v. 55) B. Saul instructs Abner to find out, and Abner brings David to Saul. (vv. 56-57) C. David identifies his father. (v. 58) Conclusion – There’s something else missing from Will Smith’s theology. The people of God don’t overcome fear just to experience the best things in life. The people of God overcome fear because the battle belongs to the LORD. Narrative Sermon Manuscript O LORD of hosts, living God of Israel, we thank you that we can place our confidence in you. Make this more than a homework assignment. Let your people be changed, looking more like your Son, Jesus the Messiah. Amen. “God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror.” Let me say that again. “God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror.” This is a quote from Will Smith, one of my favorite entertainers. He said this as a conclusion on his skydiving experience. But when I heard it, I thought to myself, “That doesn’t quite seem right.” So, I searched for a list of people’s top fears. Many of the stereotypical things popped up: public speaking, spiders, heights, but I wanted to dig the way Jason Cantu digs for stuff, so I kept looking. And I found this list titled, “Forget Dying and Public Speaking: Here's the 47 Things Americans Fear More in 2017.” Now, I’m not going to read the whole list, but on it are some real relatable fears listed by Americans: • Corrupt government officials • Not having enough money for the future • High medical bills • The US being involved in another world war • Mass shootings • Credit card fraud and identity theft • Riots • Being unemployed • Break ins • Kids getting sick Now, going back to Will Smith’s quote, “God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror.” Why doesn’t it sound quite right? I think it’s because it’s too simple. He is only addressing a certain type of fear, and really, a type of fear none of us in this room are likely to experience. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a world famous entertainer who can just up and decide to go skydiving. This is not to discredit Will Smith’s experience. Certainly, there are things in life we are afraid of that actually turn out enjoyable. I’m saying certain type of people experience certain types of fear. Rich people have certain fears. Poor people have certain fears. Construction workers have certain fears… The people of God, also, have certain fears. If you would meet me in First Samuel, chapter seventeen, we are going to see the people of God experience some fear. First Samuel… chapter seventeen… and if you go to verse eleven… verse eleven… you will see these words written, “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” Why were they afraid? Take a look at the scene. The Philistines gathered their armies for battle on a mountain on one side. The men of Israel gathered for battle on a mountain on the other side. There was a valley between them. The Philistines were already in Israelite territory. According to Tsumura, the goal of the battle was to secure the Valley of Elah, as it was natural point of invasion into Israel. So, the battle lines are drawn. But then the people of God encounter the reason for their fear. This 9 foot,1 9 inch2 ancient near eastern version of Megatron steps out, and he is decked out in heavyweight champion armor. If you look with me at verse eight, we see that “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. If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.’ And the Philistine said, ‘I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.’” And because Saul and the men of Israel can’t see past the Philistine’s threatening words and menacing appearance, they are dismayed and greatly afraid. Now, David wasn’t with Saul when this all happened. He was back at the crib doing chores and taking care of sheep. And sometime after everyone went off to this battle, David’s father Jesse sent David to the Israelite camp with some food for his three brothers. By this point, Goliath had repeated his threat multiple times. David arrives to the camp. The Philistine gives his speech, and again, everyone is afraid, everyone except David. David hears it, and responds as if completely ignoring how big and intimidating this Philistine is! Look at what he says in verse twenty-six, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach for Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And the people only answer one of David’s questions. They tell him whoever kills this dude, the king will make him stupid, crazy rich, Will Smith rich, randomly decide to go skydiving rich! The king will let him marry his daughter, so he gets the pretty girl and all of the royal perks! And even mo’ betta ‘n that, his daddy’s house won’t have to pay taxes no mo’! And of course, Eliab, David’s older brother came down with some hatorade, accusing him of having evil in his heart and just wanting to see the battle. But David did as that great theologian Taylor Swift said and “shook it off.” So, we see in verse thirty-one Saul getting word that David is asking around about killing the Philistine, right? Sends for him. David volunteers to fight. Saul’s like, “Dude, you just a kid.” And I love David, here, because he’s not just a shepherd. He’s a preacher, breaks it down for Saul like he’s Tony Evans with an illustration and a main point. Read verse thirty-four with me – this is the illustration – “But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.’ And David said – now here’s his main point – ‘The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!” See, you need to understand something, King Saul! I’m gon’ go fight this battle, but this battle belongs to the LORD! You might be afraid of this Philistine, King Saul, but this battle belongs to the LORD! And you can tell Saul only kinda gets it. He gets the part that David’s going to fight, but he still don’t get that this battle belongs to the LORD. He never got it. That’s why he was dismayed and afraid when the Philistine first came out. So, even though he says, “The LORD be with you!” Saul still tries to give David his armor. But David hadn’t tested those. He took the armor off, gave it back to Saul, and went with his staff, stones, and sling. Now, the Philistine actually has the same problem the Israelites had. No, he’s not afraid of David. He sees David and disdains him. Why? Because of David’s outward appearance. He was clearly just a boy. Read verse forty-three with me. “And the Philistine said to David, ‘What are thooooooose?!’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” And man, like I said before, I love David here. David flips right back into preacher mode, but this time he on his Paul Washer status, straight judgment. Read verse forty-five with me, “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,” – why?! – “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!” See, you need to understand something, Goliath! Yea, you’re big! Yea, you’ve intimidated a whole army with your size and heavyweight champion armor, but this battle belongs to the LORD! David finishes his sermon, sprints forward with a stone, and slings it right into the Philistine’s forehead! And – this is the part they skipped over in Sunday school – David runs over to him, takes the giant’s sword, and decapitates him! Cuts his head off! When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran! They booked it! Just like how Lecrae says, “In high school, we tried to act all tough. I remember a couple times I couldn’t back that up. Like when I ran from them vatos, scuffing up my zapatos.” Then, the Israelites, with some newfound courage, chased after the Philistines, cut ‘em down, and plundered their camp. And the Word says, “David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.” What we didn’t know at first was, right after Saul saw David go out to fight the Philistine, he asked Commander Abner, “Whose son is this youth?” This seems to be Saul inquiring about David’s father, so he could make good on his promise to give the victor’s house tax-free status. And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” Kind of an extreme response, but aight then, so find out. And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite,” securing Jesse’s tax-free status. The people of God experience many types of fears. In this passage, the people of God experience a very specific type of fear. It’s not Will Smith’s skydiving fear, where all they had to do was jump out of the plane and pull their chute. This was the people of God’s unnecessary fear of man. They had no real reason to fear Goliath! They just couldn’t see past his outward appearance. What’s even worse is where this fear of man came from. You don’t have to turn there, but in First Samuel chapter eight, the people of God demanded to have a king over them, so they might be like the nations and that their king would go out before them and – catch this now – fight their battles. And Samuel warned them that this would happen! In his farewell speech in chapter twelve, he recounted their history of how, even though they turned away from the LORD their God, He still fought their battles. Yet, they still asked for a human king! And, look, he was just as afraid as everyone else. The human king they asked for was bold enough to take their sons to war, but too afraid to trust the LORD in the battle. But, you know what? Even though the people of God rejected God as their king; even though they preferred a human king to fight their battles; even though they feared man; even though they couldn’t see past the appearance of an uncircumcised Philistine; even though they were dismayed and greatly afraid, the battle still belongs to the LORD! Consider, too, the first group of people to receive First Samuel as a text. That would have been the Israelites in exile. And it’s as if the narrator is using the narrative of David and Goliath to tell these Israelites in exile, “You all acted like the Israelites who demanded Saul over God! But David is a better king than Saul because he’s got the reminder you need! See, y’all need to understand something! You may be in exile, you’re not at home, but this battle belongs to the LORD! You may have rejected God over and over and over again, and are, therefore, now living in fear, but the battle still belongs to the LORD! And, watch me now! It’s as if, dare I say it, God is telling Legacy Humboldt Park, “You been afraid!” Some of y’all go to work and are too afraid of man to tell somebody about Jesus even though the LORD told you to go make disciples of all nations! Some of y’all are so afraid, you use your gender as an excuse to not bless a homeless person, even though the LORD told you, “As you did not do to the least of these, you did not do it to me.” See, Legacy Humboldt Park, you need to understand something! You may be afraid, but the battle still belongs the LORD! Oh, I might could preach it better than you can say, “Amen!” How does the story of David and Goliath affect your every day life? Well, Legacy HP, the battle belonged to the LORD back then, and you can bet the battle belongs to the LORD now! I had an addiction. This is not the kind of addiction diagnosed by a doctor and carefully treated. This addiction is accepted by our culture as normal. But I had been trapped. Y’all know what I’m talking about. Every time I had the urge, it was like an itch, an itch small enough to ignore, but it grew. It grew and intensified, and I would tell myself I must scratch this itch. I was a slave to this itch for about eleven years. One day, a professor at school – he wasn’t even a professor at the time. It was a lesson he had to give in order to interview for the position – talked about being afraid of change. I don’t even remember exactly what he said, but the conclusion was, I was afraid to overcome my itch. I had grown so accustomed to fighting and losing and fighting and losing and fighting and losing, I was afraid of overcoming. But the battle still belongs to the LORD! And it is because of the Lord Jesus who lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead, that I am now dead to my itch and alive in Christ! And because the battle belongs to the LORD, I have not scratched that itch in over two years! So, believe me when I say, “This is not a rebuke!” This is a word of encouragement for the church! So, he who has ears let him hear! You don’t have to be afraid! The battle belongs to the LORD! You don’t have to be afraid to do what God has called you to do! You don’t have to be afraid to live as disciples of Jesus in a world that is hostile to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because the battle belongs to Him! The battle belongs to Jesus! Don’t you know the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you? Why be afraid of man? Why be afraid of sin? What can they actually do to you? Nothing! What is it that’s missing from Will Smith’s theology? He says, “God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror.” The problem with that is the people of God don’t overcome fear because, if they do so, they experience the best things in life. Your motivation and help for overcoming fear is more than just experiencing great things in life! The people of God overcome fear because the battle belongs to the LORD. The people of God overcome fear because the battle belongs to the LORD. Let us pray to Him. LORD of hosts, living God of Israel, the battle is yours and we thank you for this. We praise you that we are not in control. For, if that were the case, we would have reason to fear. But we’ve no reason to fear because the battle is Yours. Make this plain to us today. Help us understand this in a way that brings forth change in how we respond to the situations that normally make us afraid. In the mighty and precious name of your fearless son, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Bibliography Mack, Eric. 2017. “Forget Dying and Public Speaking: Here's the 47 Things Americans Fear More in 2017.” Inc.com. Inc. October 27, 2017. https://www.inc.com/eric-mack/forget-dying-public-speaking-heres-47-things-americans-fear-more-in-2017.html. Castle, Nathaniel. 2018. “Exegetical Insights In 1 Samuel 17.” Blackboard 9. August 17, 2018. https://blackboard9.moody.edu/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_28174_1&nav=group_forum&group_id=_21923_1&conf_id=_45804_1&forum_id=_156083_1&message_id=_1722808_1.