Hope for the Underdog
Hope is Here • Sermon • Submitted
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· 27 viewsDavid was only a young boy when he decided to go toe-to-toe with a Philistine giant. Everyone else was too afraid to fight because it seemed like more than they could overcome. They were right. The only way this battle would be won was by trusting God to intervene. On his own, David was an underdog, but with God, he was an overcomer. There is no enemy you can face in this life that God cannot give you the victory over. But you must trust in Him. When the Church comes together in great faith, there is nothing it cannot do. The Israelites were fearful until David stepped up in faith. Sometimes a community of believers needs someone to go first. That step of faith can ignite others to follow.
Notes
Transcript
Good morning, Church. I want to thank you for joining us this morning for the third week of our series called Hope Is Here. We have been discovering all the ways that God brings us hope in the face of a world that is hopeless. The first week we talked about how Jesus brings us hope when we are weary from the heaviness of life and how we do not have to walk alone. The second week we talked about the hope that comes from the grace of Jesus when we are broken because of sin, and how we can forgive because we have been forgiven. Today we want to talk about the hope that is given to us when we feel like we’re facing more than we can handle and we are the underdog.
Illustration: (Consider either showing some of these movie clips or a picture of the movie covers.) There is a reason that so many of us love some of the classic movies in our culture. Movies like Rudy, Rocky, Cinderella Man, and Cool Runnings are loved because they all have a common theme. They are all movies about underdogs. They are films about unlikely characters overcoming amazing odds. They are all told in different ways and all have their own unique outcomes, but they all tell a story of hope. Maybe these movies do something to us because we, at some level, all know what it feels like to face overwhelming circumstances that we can’t overcome on our own. We cheer for the underdog because, somehow, we feel like if they can win, so can we.
Main Teaching
Life is full of daunting situations, isn’t it? Parenting children can feel incredibly overwhelming. Navigating global pandemics can be more than we can handle. Juggling careers and family can be hard to do well. Growing in your faith and defeating sinful habits can be a challenge. I would argue this is because these things are not meant to be done alone.
The Bible is full of stories of characters who, against all odds, experience victory. There is a common thread in these stories as well. The characters are all fully aware that without God on their side, there is no hope of a favorable outcome. Left to themselves, they would face defeat. One of the classic stories of an underdog is the story of David. This account takes place long before David is King of Israel. At this point, he is just a young boy.
READ 1 Samuel 17:20-21
And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.
Just hours before David arrives at the front lines of a massive conflict between the Israelite and the Philistine armies, he is in the fields taking care of sheep. It is clear from the beginning of this story that David has found himself in a position that is above his pay grade. The first readers of this text would have been overwhelmed by the change of scenery.
From the fields to the fight.
POINT #1 – WE ARE RARELY PREPARED FOR THE FIGHT
The truth is that we’re hardly ever prepared to handle what life throws at us. It’s a phone call with a diagnosis. It’s a discovery of infidelity. It’s a temptation we did not see coming. No one asks to be placed in a position where there is no clear route to victory. This is where David finds himself within the first few verses, and it might be where you are today. When we find ourselves in this place, we need some kind of hope.
Story: (Try to relate to the congregation on what it is like to meet a challenge without being prepared with your own story or a story from your community)
It is at this point in time when we have to decide how we will respond. Do we give up and accept defeat, or do we trust in God to give us the strength to carry on?
David arrives at the front lines to check on his brothers who are fighting in the Israelite army. It is at that point that he gets the first real look at what the Israelite army was facing.
READ 1 Samuel 17:23-26;32-37
As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. 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.” And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 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, “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.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
You can hear in this passage the determination within David. Though he is just a boy, he knows someone has to stand up to this threat. This threat is a massive man named Goliath. Goliath was a decorated warrior from Philistine. He struck fear into the hearts of all who saw him. He was a giant. He was terrifying. The whole of the Israelite army was paralyzed with fear. No one was willing to take on this giant. However, someone has to do something, and David is willing to take that on.
What causes a young boy, an underdog, to take on such a mountainous task? Hope.
Hope that he will not fight this battle alone.
Hope that with God’s help there is nothing that is impossible.
Hope that what little he has to offer is enough.
David’s reasoning for this hope comes from God’s faithfulness in the past. God was with him when he was protecting sheep in the field from lions and bears, surely the Lord would protect him now as well.
POINT #2 – IF GOD IS FOR US, NOTHING CAN STAND AGAINST US
When we find ourselves in seasons of struggle, sometimes we have to remind ourselves of how God has been with us in the past. Hope is a derivative of trust. When we believe that something or someone is trustworthy, it gives us hope.
Story: It is like a child who plays with his father in the pool. I have watched as a little boy or girl will launch themselves from the side of the pool into the deep end as their parent treads water. There is no fear. There is no concern. There is only trust in the father or mother’s love to catch them as they have in the past. They are hopeful that they will splash into the water, and that their parent will keep their head above water. (Choose this or another story here that communicates the hope that comes from trust.)
David’s confidence comes from God’s faithfulness, and it is the drive he needs to overcome.
READ 1 Samuel 17:40-47
Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” 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.” 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.”
Saul, the King of Israel at the time, tries to fit David with armor and weapons to protect him in the conflict, but none of them fit. As if David being a boy did not make him disadvantaged enough, now he is going to fight Goliath with nothing but a slingshot and five smooth stones. After Goliath breathes out threats to this little underdog, David responds by telling him that though Goliath fights with sword, spear, and javelin, he is letting God fight his battles for him.
POINT #3 – THIS IS HOW WE FIGHT OUR BATTLES
Maybe you don’t feel equipped to overcome the things that you are facing. If that’s you today, then you’re in good company. Maybe you know that your trial is too much for you. This is a good place to start. It is only when we realize that our battles are not waged in conventional ways, but rather in the spirit, that we will begin to experience God fighting for us. For David, this is a spiritual battle, and it takes God’s involvement to experience a victory.
Paul speaks to this in Ephesians 6:12.
READ Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Paul reminds his readers that if our battles are not really about the physical world around us, then we can’t overcome them by physical means. It takes a spiritual approach. We fight our daunting battles by submitting to the will of God. We fight our most difficult circumstances by bringing them to God in prayer. We fight the evil that we come against by inviting God to intervene on our behalf. David calls upon God as he engages Goliath on the battlefield. With a single stone, a precise throw, and the power of God, David’s shot flies straight and true and connects with Goliath’s forehead. The giant falls to the ground, dead.
This single victory turns the tide of the entire war. The Philistines run, and the Israelites pursue.
READ 1 Samuel 17:51-52
Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 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.
Suddenly, the once frightened Israelite army is emboldened by a little boy and his sling. Because of David’s bravery and trust in God, they are all given hope that they too can be a part of the triumph of God.
POINT #4 – HOPE IS CONTAGIOUS
David’s hope in God spreads like wildfire. The entire story changes. The entire narrative takes a new tone. It is no longer about defeat; it is now about victory. There is something that happens within a fellowship of faith when just one person has the audacity to believe God for great things. The church benefits greatly from just one person with a little hope, because hope is contagious. It spreads.
Conclusion
It begins with one person in the congregation who believes that God can use them to lift others out of poverty.
It starts with one person who wants to see children in the community impacted in the summer by a Vacation Bible School.
It takes one person with a heart for overseas missions. It takes one person who believes that prayer changes things.
It could be the spark that ignites a whole congregation of hope.
That person could be you.
Ancient church father Thomas Aquinas said it this way, “Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not at hand.”
Even though you cannot see how God might come through, faith is believing that it is still possible. When a whole church begins to function in this way, that is when the world changes. What areas of your life can you exercise your faith into this coming week?
PRAY
(Pastor, be sure to mention that the Hope is Here series is concluding next week and invite guests to return for the final sermon)