The Battle is the Lord's: What David and Goliath Taught us.

1st Samuel 17
40And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.41And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.42And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.43And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.44And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.45Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.46This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.47And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands.48And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.49And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.51Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

My carefully crafted sermon title is a little misleading although not intentionally. When I came up with it I thought it sounded cool and after all isn’t cool sermon titles what we’re after. Then after I ponder, prayed, and thought about it some I realized that there was no way to cover all the lessons of David and Goliath in one sermon. Well maybe in one really, really long sermon but probably not even then.

So we know the story. The army of Israel is set in array (I like that word) against the army of the Philistines and Goliath comes out every day and calls the Israelites a bunch of sniveling cowards and he isn’t far from wrong. Goliath is a big boy after all (over 9 feet tall) and he makes the Israelite army feel like a bunch of little grasshoppers. Goliath taunts the Israelites telling them that if one of them fights him and wins then the Philistines will serve Israel and if he loses Israel will serve the Philistines. 40 days of this and no one does anything and then David shows up at his fathers command to bring his brothers food and check on them. David is appalled to see the army of God cowering before the giant and tells them so. We know that David irritates his brother who calls him a trouble maker and then gets to see Saul, tries on Saul’s armor and rejects it as untested. David goes forth in the power of the Lord and defeats the giant. Here are some things David and Goliath can teach us.

1) We need men to step up in faith in the Kingdom of God. Yes I said men and I meant just exactly that. I have yet to hear of a church with a shortage of women but the vast majority of churches are short on men. Men have the desire to conquer, build, etc. etc. and we need tough men for tough jobs in the Kingdom. Just as Israel had plenty of men cowering in fear so does the Kingdom have enough men cowering in the complacency of this world afraid to leave what’s safe and take a stand. We have men engaged in career building, making money, accumulating things, and have hobbies but we need men who will engage in spiritual warfare for their families, churches, communities, and nations. Just as David having the faith to face Goliath spurred an entire army to victory so can one man dedicated to God above all else change a church, impact the Kingdom, and spur other men on to victory. Sadly however much like the Israeli army our men seemed to be bunched together on the fringes of the Kingdom waiting for someone else to take action. There are always people on the sidelines. We need men to take the lead and stop observing.

2) We walk by faith not by sight. The armor of Saul was good for Saul but unproven and therefore useless to David. The armor represents worldliness. We are trying all kinds of path to victory, new programs, music, books, all types of apostate stupidity but we need to get back to living by faith and preaching the truth of Jesus. There are some churches that are building big congregations through rock in roll music and sermons based off of worldly ideas but they make money and noise but they aren’t impacting the Kingdom. My personal favorite examples of apostasy are North Point Church in Springfield and Joel Osteen. 2 ministries that make big bucks off “Christianity” but who use little to no Bible in their church, create concert like atmospheres in the church, reject basic biblical truths (Joel wouldn’t admit on live TV that Jesus was the only way to heaven and North Point doesn’t believe in a literal hell and they play secular vulgar bands like ACDC). We need to reject everything not tried and proven by God and return to the great commission of teaching people about Jesus and making disciples of all men.

3) The Battle is the Lord’s. It would change the way we do church, conduct business, act with our families, in fact it would impact every area of our lives if we really lived like the battles belonged to God. If we truly understood that regardless of how today looks we win because HE has already won we would be bolder, fight harder, and see more personal victories. My prayer for myself, my wife and daughters, my church, and everyone else in the Kingdom is that we will start living like victors instead of slaves. The deal with Goliath was that if he defeated the Israelite warrior then Israel would be enslaved to the Philistines. The Israelite army was acting like slaves already but David recognized that God was the victor. The apostle wrote to the church at Galatia and said, “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Galatians 5:31) We need to start living like victors and not slaves then will we defeat our enemies (our weaknesses and temptations) and see more personal victories and people won to Christ. LORD TEACH US ALL TO LIVE LIKE THE BATTLE IS YOURS BECAUSE IT IS!!!

There is much more to learn from this passage of scripture but I’ll stop there for now. My prayer is that men and women, boys and girls will answer God’s call to a David like faith of living for Him, in Him, and because of Him. That we will reject all sin and compromise in our own lives and in the church and step up in victory to see enemies defeated, our own lives set free like never before, and souls added to God’s Kingdom.