Untitled Sermon (4)

The Champion of Our Souls

In an article entitled, “what can Africa teach the North”, Peter Leithart makes this probing observation. “For Africans, Jesus is a liberator, a deliverer who delivers His people from real fears and dangers. Jesus is preeminently Christus Victor (Christ the victor), not only the Victor on the cross and in His resurrection, but throughout His life. Africans have no use for the pansy Jesus of modern liberalism. They want a savior with the testosterone to fight for them. No pale Galileans need apply. They sing about Jesus as ‘the grinding stone/ on which we sharpen our cutlasses, before we perform manly deeds.” African hymns and poems describe Jesus as ‘Man among men’, the ‘Lion of the grasslands’, the ‘fearless one’, the ‘chief of all strong men’ and ‘king of the valiant.’ Jesus tears the entrails of Satan, pulls the teeth of vipers.” 

One man, this author records, starts off every prayer with, “have you not Crushed Satan, then Lord, give me victory.” This prayer hinges and moves upon what Christ has already done. Since Christ has acted triumphantly, since Christ has won the day, since Christ has, by himself, defeated our enemy we now ask for victory in our everyday lives. But without Christ, we must understand, that we are all impotent cowards, standing on the other side of the valley shaking in our skin because we know that enemy that stands before is too great for us, unless, unless we have a champion on our side.

Turn to (read)

I wish, if I had to sovereign ability, to attach a spigot or faucet to the sides of each of our heads and drain out the stuff that has been poured into our minds concerning this passage I would. But it is my prayer that as we make our way through this treasure chest of a passage that we would seek to find the most glorious jewel therein, and that is Christ Jesus. 

Since this is a narrative we shall handle it as such. There is a plot. And if we are watching the trailer of this great narrative I imagine that the opening shot will be of this massive giant whose head reaches the heavens and the tagline would be, “who can defeat the enemy?” Or the tagline would be, in the words of the worst Christian movie ever produced, scratch that, not only the worst Christian movie ever produced, the worst movie period, Christian, pagan, Hindu, Budduhist, anyway, the tagline would be, “who can face the giant.” There is an enemy that wants to destroy and kill the armies of God, who can stand up to him? 

But like every good narrative there are characters. The first set of characters, besides the enemy, that we are introduced to are, lets call them the Cowards. Dress in all of their fine war attire they are hiding behind trees because they know that they are not able to defeat the enemy. So who is able to stand up against this enemy? Well, the second character, with whom we will grow very familiar, is the Champion. 

Lets dive into the plot a bit…

Page BreakTHE CHALLENGE

opens up and says (read vs. 1 and 2). Now I imagine that if we had not heard this story a million times before we were the age of 5, these first two verses would jump out at us and scream for our attention. Keeping in mind that this is a narrative, we have to take note of what the writer is trying to get across. Notice the location of this great plot. The writer says that this battle is taking place at Socoh. Don’t feel bad if you have no idea where Socoh is because I have no idea where Socoh is. I believe the writer presumes our geographical ignorance and wants us to be more concerned about whose Socoh is rather than where it is. In other words, the writer wants us to be more concerned about who owns Socoh rather than its location.

So the writer tells us, this great battle was getting ready to take place in Socoh, by the way reader, Socoh belongs to Judah. And if Socoh belongs to Judah, and Judah has no land which the Lord God did not give them, then this land belongs to God. And if this land belongs to God then the Philistines are standing on God’s territory taunting God himself. They have come upon his territory and challenged him to a duo. So, the writer, in a genius way of literary foreshadowing, hints to the reader, hint hint hint, they are not stepping up against Israel they are stepping up against God. This battle isn’t theirs it’s the Lord’s.

So the reader, who is reading this narrative, who hasn’t been brainwashed with thousand of kids books about Davy and Goliath, is saying to himself/herself, “oh this is a done deal. The Philistines vs. Israel and God and God has home field advantage. For just a few scenes earlier in chapter 14:47 the scripture gives us an account of Saul’s track record against the Philistines. The scripture records, “When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, t against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned he routed them.” Done deal right.

But as the writer of 1 Samuel goes to record, Saul is standing there with the armies of Israel, and that is all they are doing, is standing there. If we were able to do split screens at this point, in this screen we would have Saul with the armies of Israel getting ready to take on a huge enemy of God, but in this screen we would have a flashback to chapter 15. And in chapter 15 we have Saul deliberately disobeying the voice of the Lord.  For what God has told Saul to destroy he has not destroyed and Saul has loved sacrifice better than obedience. As a result the Lord, in chapter 15, rejected Saul from being king over Israel and his spirit left him. 

So, lets pan back over here to this screen and we have Saul standing there with the armies of Israel getting ready to take on God’s foe. What is going to happen? What happens when God’s man attempts to do God’s work without God’s spirit? 

So the sense of assurance that this war was a done deal we had a few moments we begin to question now. And again the reader is brought back to the plot line of the narrative, who is able to stand against this enemy? And as we look at Saul and as we look at this giant, the words of Martin Luther are playing in the background of this scene, “For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing.” And we look at Saul and we look at his rejection by God and the reader cant help but to cry out, where is God’s man? 

And like a great narrative this story is slowly and slowly building us toward the climax. Right now the writer is trying to get us to feel the tension of what is happening. Here is the enemy of God taunting God to his face on God’s territory and there is no one that we have seen yet that is able to stand up to this foe; where is he? 

And if Saul’s rejection wasn’t enough to get us worried as to how this victory was going to be won, the writer goes on to describe in unusual detail what this enemy looks like. Take note, for when the bible goes into great descriptive detail it is usually for a purpose. What does the writer say as he pans in and explores every detail of this enemy. Well, verse 4 says, he was six cubits and a span. In our English measurement he was just over 10 feet tall. He had on a coat of mail which was protective gear that weighed 125 pounds by itself. He had a spear, and just the head of the spear weighed 15 pounds. Just the mail armor and the spear weighed 350 pounds by themselves. Just his armor weighed almost twice as much as the men he was fighting against. He also had a shield. In ancient times the shield was designed to cover the entire body. The shield was so large and so heavy that the scripture records he needed a shield-carrier, a man designated for the sole purpose of carrying this man’s shield.

Why all the detail. I believe because the writer of this text wants us to understand, and sense and see that this enemy was no ordinary enemy. That with every detail the reader has no choice but to say, “there’s no way”, he’s 10 feet tall “were doomed”, he has on 320 pounds worth of armor, “we cant win”, he has a spear that weighs over 100 pounds, “this is impossible.” And when the reader is sitting there thinking to himself, herself “there is no one in the army of Israel that can defeat this man” and once we teleport ourselves back into this time and say to ourselves, “there is no way that I could have defeated this enemy”. When we are in this position the writer has you right where he wants you! Because when we are in this position when we are in this mindset the only response that should come out of our mouths is, “we need someone to fight this battle for us.” Where is your man, O Lord.

The writer had to describe Goliath this way because he had to show us that this enemy was too much for us. 

Page BreakTHE COWARDS

The writer then, as it were, pans out from the detailed description of the enemy to the point that we are now looking at the entire army. All of a sudden we hear a voice. The voice of the enemy calling out to the armies of the living God. Verse 8 (read vs. 8-10). 

The whole plot line thus far has been asking, “where is that man” and the enemy of the living God has nerve to say, “send me that man”. And lets not get it twisted, we are no longer asking for just a man, we are now asking for a representative for the armies of Israel, a representative for the people of God. Whatever happens to this man happens to all of Israel. One is not a liberty to say, “well, every man for himself.” The man who steps out and faces this foe places upon his shoulders the fate of the entire people of God. If he losses, they’re enslaved, if he wins, they’re free. One man will determine the outcome of this entire battle, one man will determine whether or not the people will go free, one man will be able to defeat this enemy. One man, one man one man. 

Enter stage left, the cowards. And as this enemy is taunting the people of God, as this enemy dares calling out this one man, the writer pans in on the faces of the armies of Israel and all you see is fear, verse 11 (read) verse 24. Fear on the faces of those who were to fear nothing because God was on their side? The enemy said it right in his taunting, “am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul.” Then, what’s the problem, send me a man.

And I imagine, with my spiritual imagination that if we had the ability to Photoshop the faces upon the faces of the people found in then I imagine that the faces wouldn’t look very different from ours. You and I don’t come into the story when David comes into the story you and I are already at the battlefields. You and I are the ones hiding in fear at this massive enemy. You and I are the ones in desperate need of a champion to come in and take down this foe; hes too much for us. (wait a second, this isn’t how the story goes. I am supposed to be David in this story). 

The scripture records in vs. 16 that for 40 days and nights the Philistine came and made his stand. For forty days the armies of Israel allowed this enemy to say whatever he wanted. Irritation alone was not enough to drive someone to say, “okay, I’ll fight, just to shut him up.” For forty days the children of Israel ran at the sight of this enemy. For forty days it seemed as if this battle was being handed over into the hand of the Philistines. 

Imagine that if you will. Every time this enemy of God raised his head the children of Israel would run away scared. One man caused confusion and chaos among the whole army of Israel. Now here is the question that has to be asked and answered, why did not this man with his army, knowing full well that everyone in the camp of Israel was completely fearful of him, why would this enemy not say, “you know what, I am tired of this, lets just go destroy this whole army.” If he knew, as Israel so cowardly demonstrated, that there was no one to stand against and he by himself caused fear among a whole army, why not just end the war right now and kill everyone who stands in your way? 

One commentator asked and answered the same question, he says, “surely the Lord overruled the desire of this giant, and somehow or other over ruled his mind, to restrain him from attacking Israel: otherwise he, and his army at his heels, would not have been satisfied with mere threats for forty days, but would have wanted something more.” The commentator goes on to conclude, “the Lord restrained this enemy until a Savior could come.” Have we never found, New Life Fellowship, the enemy advancing, threatening, ready to swallow us up…and yet, at the right time, at the fullness of time, deliverance has come, unexpected and unthought-of? But I am getting a bit ahead of myself…

Page BreakTHE CHAMPION

Continuing with the flow of this narrative, the tension is at its highest point. The enemy has taunted for days upon days, yea even 40 days. And at a point when it seems like its better for the army of Israel just to give in to this enemy thereby selling themselves into slavery, when it seems like all hope is lost; enter stage left, the champion.

Again we enter into a split screen mode. On this screen we have the giant Philistine enemy of the Lord, arrayed in all of his armor and weaponry, then in this screen we have the youngest of Jesse’s son, tending some sheep. And I am sure we all have and, if our minds had not be inundated with thousands of children’s books, we still might ask the question today, how in the world is this shepherd going to go against an enemy like this. I mean, if all the soldiers are afraid surely this shepherd’s boy will be afraid as well. And if we ask such a question, we have forgotten act 1 scene one where the writer has already told us that this isn’t going to be a fair fight. No, not on the side of the enemy but on the side of the champion. This isn’t going to be fair because this is God’s territory and these are God’s people and this is God’s fight.

It seems, in verse 17, as commentator observed, that at the height of the battle, is when Jesse sent his son. Verse 16 tells us that after 40 days, and in Hebrew literature, one scholar reminds, a 40 day period usually represents the inevitability of danger or destruction. It was at this time, a time when danger was sure to come, a time when the enemy had seemed to get the best of God’s army, that Jesse sends his son.

David makes his way down to the camp, and it only takes for this Champion to hear this Philistine one time, and that is enough for David to start asking questions. And it is interesting how the writer talks about Goliath. Again, the writer is attempting to say something. The writer has a tendency to talk about Goliath from the perspective of who sees him. Here’s what I mean, whenever we are given a glimpse of Goliath from Israel’s perspective he is given a name, Goliath. The chapter starts off with describing this man as the armies of Israel would have seen him, and the author calls his name Goliath. Then over in verse 23, when David is talking with the army, this giant is named again, Goliath, again, I believe from Israel’s perspective because as soon as they see him they start to run. 

Oh, but when the Champion enters the scene, no longer is this enemy given the privilege of a name, he is merely called the philistine. Only twice is the name Goliath mentioned while 27 times he is called the Philistine. What perspective the writer gives us. When you look at this situation through the lenses of the almighty God this champion isn’t looking at the great Goliath who is clothed in all this heavy armor, he is merely looking at another Philistine. 

VERSE:38-40 DAVID ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE: SAUL TRIED TO GIVE HIM HIS GEAR: THE WEAPONS OF THIS REJECTED KING IS NOT ENOUGH, NOR ARE THEY PROVEN TO FIGHT AGAINT THIS ENEMY…ONE WRITER COMMENTS: the smooth stone of the brook, which was of God’s own  creating, and which no human heart had NOT polished or worked upon, was a sweet type.” 

DAVID REMINDS US OF WHOSE FIGHT THIS IS IN VERSE 45…BUT I ALWAYS LAUGH WHEN I GET TO VERSE 48 AND 49…BECAUSE THE QUESTION IS, THAT’S IT…ALL OF THIS PREPERATION, ALL OF THIS ANTICIPATION, ALL OF THIS LONGING AND THE FIGHT ONLY LASTS BUT ONE STONES THROW. ITS LIKE PAYING TO SEE TYSON IN HIS GLORY DAYS FIGHT AGAINST SOMEONE AND THE FIGHT ONLY LAST 25 SECONDS.

OH, BUT WHEN GOD’S MAN ARRIVES ON THE SCENE, AND HE STEPS UP AGAINST THE ENEMY WHO HAS TAUNTED THE LIVING GOD HIMSELF, THE BATTLE WONT BE LONG.

GET TO CHRIST…

THE WHOLE OF SCRIPTURE IS TELLING US THAT WE ARE GOING AGAINST A GIANT THAT WE CAN NOT FACE. THIS GIANT HAS TURNED GREAT MEN INTO ADULTERERS AND MURDERS AND TURNED GREAT WORSHIPERS INTO IDOLATERS. AND ALL OF SCRIPTURE IS ASKING YOU AND I, CAN YOU TAKE ON THIS GIANT, ARE YOU ABLE TO STAND AGAINST THIS ENEMY

FROM GENESIS UNTIL CHRIST STEPS ON THE SCENE WE ARE ASKING, WHERE IS THE MAN, WHERE IS GOD’S MAN. EVERYTIME A DESCRIPTION IS GIVEN OF OUR SINFUL STATE WE STEP BACK AND SAY, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE, WE CANT WIN

OH, BUT AT THE RIGHT TIME, AT THE FULNESS OF TIME, WHEN ALL HOPE WAS FADING, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, THE CHAMPION, TO RESCUE US IN THIS BATTLE. 

WE DARE NOT THINK THAT THIS CHAMPION WAGES WAR LIKE THIS WORLD DOES. NO, HE DOESN’T FIGHT THE ENEMY OF OUR SOULS WITH JAVELIN AND SPEAR. THIS IS WHAT JESUS REMINDS US OF IN JOHN, WHY DO YOU CUT OF THIS MAN EAR, IF HIS KINGDOM WERE OF THIS WORLD HE WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU TO FIGHT

OUR CHAMPION DOES NOT USE THE REJECTED ARMOR OF THIS WORLD TO WAGE WAR. NO, AND YES WHEN HE DOES GO TO WAR TO DEFEAT THIS ENEMY HE GOES ALONE. SAYS “I HAVE TRODDEN THE WINE PRESS ALONE, AND FROM THE PEOPLES THERE WAS NO MAN WITH ME…I LOOKED AND THERE WAS NO ONE TO HELP, AND I WAS ASTONISHED AND THERE WAS NO ONE TO UPHOLD, SO MY OWN ARM BROUGHT SALVATION TO ME AND MY WRATH UPHELD ME.” 

FOR IT HAD TO BE HIM ALONE FOR ONE MAN HAS TO REPRESENT THE REST…ONE MAN ONE MAN ONE MAN

VICTORY IS GIVEN, ILLUSTRATION OF VEGGIE TALES…

AND THE SONG THAT IS PLAYED AT THE END WAS PLAYING THE BEGINNING. THE SONG STARTED OFF SAYING WHO IS THE MAN OF GOD’S OWN CHOOSING. “DOST ASK WHO THAT MAY BE, CHRIST JESUS IT IS HE, LORD SABOATH HIS NAME, FROM AGE TO AGE THE SAME, AND HE MUST WIN THE BATTLE.” 

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