David 2

Spiritual Leadership

Saturday Morning, Session 2

If you remember from last night, David was the one whom God “Saw.”

But there was already a king in the land it was king Saul…And the way the Biblical authors tell the story make us ask a question…It's a question that you’re supposed to ask while reading…

See there is a question that you’re supposed to ask while reading about these two characters…

Core questions:

Who am I? What is my core ethic? Am I a David or am I a Saul?

Deep in the root of who I am, do I respond to situations like a David…or am I more like a Saul?

Someone asked my a while back, what is like the chief win as a pastor, my response was, to get people’s knee-jerk reactions to be Jesus’ knee jerk reactions…

So today we are diving into the knee-jerk reactions of these two men, and the question is…WHO ARE YOU BECOMING?

I think what we do instantly and unintentionally shows a lot about how we have been shaped

Are you shaped by a Saul or by David???

There is this interesting thing that happens all through the Bible.

God allows life to get tough and when that happens…when you go through the difficult times then your true ethics come out…Who you are at the core is revealed!

We could literally list a hundred examples in the Bible

Here are just a few…

Moses is gone for 40 days on the mountain top with God and the people begin to grumble and say make us a God…So Aaron rolls over and makes them a golden calf…

When it was tough….Their true allegiance was shown!

The book of Job…Is this strange wisdom book in the Bible and the entire premise is…If you were taken through a hellish time would you still love God…Do you love God for who he is? Or do you love God for the good stuff he gives you? And Job was taken through that time and he did Love God…His true ethic came out

Jesus was agonizing in the garden, he was betrayed and arrested. His disciples started pealing off and eventually a little girl says to Peter. Hey! I recognize you…You’re one of Jesus’ disciples…

And Peter says nope…not me…His true faith was revealed

So in the Bible there are all of these stories about life getting tough…going through trials…Going through hard times

And the question is….I know you’ll follow Jesus when its easy…I know you’ll serve him when finances are spot on…

I know you will honor God in your life when you are getting the big promotion or when new babies are born…

But what will you do when you’re getting attacked at work?

What kind of person are you going to be if it all comes crashing down?

What sort of ethic will be revealed in your life?

So last night if you remember we went through about 17 chapters of 1 Samuel because there is this key word “See”

The world saw Saul…He should lead because he’s tall, handsome “None like him” he saw a giant…He saw Saul

But God saw David …The runt of the litter…The a man after his own heart! God saw David

And you know the story…

A giant Philistine challenges someone to come fight him.

The only giant among the Israelites is their king, Saul, who is a head higher than everyone…and he is paralyzed with fear…and interesting side note.. Saul was in the tribe of Benjamin…Judges 20 tells us that the tribe of Benjamin was trained to be experts with the sling and stone so they can aim at a hair and not miss…

But Saul the giant…the Benjaminite…who was probably trained with a sling and a stone…Was paralyzed in Fear

But the small, young shepherd was not only fearless….he was disgusted that this “uncircumcised philistine would challenge the army of the Lord!

So after this moment, David the Giant slayer was hailed as a hero…

1 Samuel records the trip home after David killed Goliath…

1 Samuel 18:6-9

6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. 7 As they danced, they sang:

“Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

8 Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 9 And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.

Did you catch that question Saul asks:

“What more can he get but the kingdom?”

Do you know people who are always jumping to extreme conclusions? Literally one battle…and a few women cheer on the champion and Saul is like I’m finished!

Saul’s knee Jerk reaction was paranoia!

This is a question that was really informed by something that was said to him much earlier…

A while before the match between David and Goliath Saul was fighting the philistines and he was waiting for Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice so they can go and fight

Samuel was a little late, so Saul took it upon himself to act as the priest…which was a big problem

And when Samuel showed up…he saw what happened and this is what he said to him:

1 Samuel 13:14

14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

So Saul knows that he is in trouble!

He must be thinking…Oh Shoot..>Samuel said I would lose the kingdom…Could this David be the guy?

Is he the guy that I will lose the kingdom to?

So Saul tries to get rid of him by marrying him off to his daughter and setting the bride price at 100 Philistine foreskins…

Saul thought…maybe David will die at the hands of the philistines and my problems will go away (By the way, when David gets into trouble, & he needs to cover up his sin, he repeats this with Uriah…)

David came back with 200…

So then later

1 Samuel 19:9-10

9 But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

Sometimes life gets really tough…Maybe it gets hard at work…Maybe its tough in your marriage

Either way you hit the point of stress and your true colors start to show…

Are you a David or are you a Saul?

A “Saul” throws spears

And see if you are a “David” and you’re a person who is concerned with God’s heart then there are three ways to avoid getting hit with those spears

1.David never learns anything about the fashionable, easily mastered art of spear throwing.

It is so easy when someone throws a spear at you to just pick it up and throw it right back…But if David did that, wouldn’t he become a Saul?

This the ethic that Jesus teaches the church in

Matthew 5:38-42

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

What Jesus was not saying here…is just be a doormat and take the punch…

What he was saying was do not engage the way the world engages…. lest you become like one of the world…

If someone strikes you on the right cheek then make sure to offer them the other cheek, because in the world of the first century, you only hit someone with your right hand…And if you were struck on the right cheek then it would have been a back-handed slap….

The backhanded slap was a way of communicating that you are lower than me, you are worthless…When you show them the other cheek you are saying, hit me like an equal!

Of if you are sued for your shirt give them your coat too! Expose their greed by standing there naked in court!

I think Jesus would totally agree…While spears can be thrown at you all day long…That is an easily mastered and fashionable response…Anyone can do that!

See if David picks up that spear, he ceases to be a “David” and he transforms into a “Saul”

2.David stayed out of the company of spear throwers.

David runs away! He says I’m out of here I am not –going to get killed by this guy.

In our own masculinity, running away doesn’t seem like an option. But it seems like David just knew if he stayed, he would become one of them

Its funny…Little kids learn spear throwing so easy. They learn it from their parents or from other kids…

And so my kids have come home from school before and said..so and so was mean to me…so and so pushed me…

I remember when Jake was 4 years old we had to move classrooms because he was being constantly bullied by another 4 year old. And the school did nothing about it.

We moved him because even back then we knew our son…We knew that he would be shaped by the bully

But Jake kept telling us that he missed the kid who bullied him…

Many times we don't leave the company of the spear thrower because we like them…so we overlook it because we don't want to rock the boat. But Jesus ethic was never to “overlook it” it was to expose it! Why, because its not only the best thing for you but it's the best thing for the person throwing the spear!

But if you overlook it you will eventually be shaped by the spear thrower and eventually turn and pick up the spear

Right after this, he doesn't keep company with Saul. Now some of you might have spear throwers that you have to work with

So I think its fair to ask, what did Jesus say about this sort of thing?

Matthew 18:15-17

15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

See Jesus’ point was always for the reconciliation of brothers and sisters in Christ. It was always to live in peace!

3. David kept his mouth tightly closed.

Think about this: David was anointed by God to be the next king. Saul was told he would lose the kingdom…

David had popular support…

All he had to do was hang out at the town gates and say, hey, did you hear about the other day?

Did you hear about what Saul did to me? Yeah I mean I got away and I’m fine…But crazy right?

David had so much popular support that he could have divided the kingdom with a few words…

But he always kept in perspective that the kingdom wasn't Saul’s, it wasn’t his, and it was God’s kingdom…

Therefore he refused the gossip!

David gladly sacrificed his position for God’s kingdom.

Why? Because he was a spiritual leader. He knew that authority comes from God

Well as the story continues, David spends the rest of the time that Saul is alive running from Saul

There would be two times that David would sneak up on Saul. And both times he refused to harm him.

One time Saul was camped out and David was able to sneak right up on him with his chief “mighty man” Abishai

1 Samuel 26:7-11

7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

Did you catch that? His spear was right there! The author of 1 Samuel is giving you a huge nudge and a wink! Don't you think David would have had memories of that spear…memories of dodging it…memories of Saul trying to kill him…

There is this scene in movies usually revenge or action movies called an establishment shot…The camera focuses on something early in the movie…You know its important but you don't know why….and then later on you see that same object and the main character comes unglued….

This is what the author of 1 Samuel did to all of us…He showed us the spear earlier….But now the shoe is on the other foot. David can just grab it and kill Saul!

But he doesn't do that…Lets keep reading

8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”

9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? 10 As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. 11 But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

Did you catch that? Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed? Don't strike him….

Here is another truth about spiritual leadership

Spiritual leaders know who they are and who they are not

David knew that the only way to stop Saul was to become him

Instead what did David tell Abishai

As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

Spiritual leaders live with the faith that God will move!

I mean so many times we approach all of our problems with all of our own lists of solutions and I think God is like, that’s cute, have you left space for me to move here or do you really truly have this handled…

David could have acted in revenge..>He could have solved his problems with one jab of the spear…

But he said instead of solving this myself…I will continue to live in exile…I will continue to be on the run…Because its better for me to be uncomfortable or even killed than to learn the ways of Saul.

This reveals my last point about spiritual leadership

Spiritual leaders desire the will of God more than they desire personal power.

Saul sleeping before David that day, was an invitation and a temptation for power…To become immensely powerful and to run the kingdom…

And yet David took the spear and did nothing with it! He used it as a symbol to Saul that he was not as wicked as Saul was…

So I want to leave you with this question today

When moments of stress come. When life gets difficult…

When you envision how you would tell someone off in the space of your mind…

Before all of that happens. You have to ask yourself…

Am I a Saul? Or am I a David ?

Maybe you’re here today and you listened to this sermon and said, oh shoot! I’m a Saul and I know it…

We learn about this character in the New Testament who was a lot like the Saul of the Old Testament. Just like OT Saul Persecuted David, NT Saul Persecutes the church….

But he meets Jesus…he gets knocked off his donkey…he is transformed…

Challenge

Maybe there is a spear in your life that is shaping you...