Giving Your All – David’s Mighty Men: Stories of God’s People
2 Samuel 23:8-17 June 11, 2006
Intro:
A small church was having a reunion. A former member who attended the celebration had become a millionaire. When he testified about how God had blessed him over the years, he related an incident from his childhood.
He said that when he earned his first dollar as a boy, he decided to keep it for the rest of his life. But then a guest missionary preached about the urgent need on the mission field. He struggled about giving his dollar. “The Lord won, however,” the man said. Then, with a sense of pride he added, “I put my treasured dollar in the offering basket. And I am convinced that the reason God has blessed me so much is that when I was a little boy I gave Him everything I possessed.” The congregation was awestruck by the testimony—until a little old lady in front piped up, “I dare you to do it again!”
2 Samuel 23:8-17
This morning I want to introduce you to three men – Josheb-Basshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah. Their story is in 2 Samuel 23:8-17.
“8 These are the names of David’s mighty men:
Josheb-Basshebeth, [b] a Tahkemonite, [c] was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed [d] in one encounter.
9 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim [e] for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, 10 but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.
11 Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. 12 But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.
13 During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. 15 David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" 16 So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. 17 "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it.
Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.”
Just A Cup Of Water?
We don’t know when this story takes place, but there is a good possibility that David is not yet king. He is in hiding, in a cave near Bethlehem. The water has run out, the conditions are miserable, the enemy is all around, and David knows that his hometown of Bethlehem is occupied by the vile Philistines. And in a moment of longing, perhaps of despair, David utters the words of longing for “a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” It is not a command, it is not a selfish desire, instead I believe it is a deep longing not just for the water but for the freedom to be out of this cave, to be home, to live in a land that is free and safe and good. It is a longing for wrongs to be put right, for captives to be released, for God’s people to be victorious.
The “mighty men”, as Scripture calls them, hear this longing – and they go into action. They travel 12 miles from the cave, they fight their way through the Philistine lines, fight their way to the well, draw the water, fight their way back out and then carry that water the 12 miles back to the cave to David.
Why did they do it? They weren’t commanded to, they weren’t required to, they weren’t even asked to. So why? Because they loved their king. David may not yet have become the King of Israel, but he was their king. They heard their king’s longing, and then gladly risked their lives to bring him back that drink. I think they knew that the real longing was for freedom, and that the three of them might not accomplish that, but they knew that this would be a powerful act of courage that would inspire others, that would rally them around their king, that would show them that it was possible, it was within their grasp, and they could be victorious. Even more, they saw this as an expression of love for their king.
It is amazing – they risked their lives for a cup of water. They were willing to lay everything on the line to express their love for David.
How does one receive such a gift? How does one honor a gift given out of such selfless love, earned at such great risk? David’s response is this: “he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. 17 "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it.”
David accepted the gift, but not for his own needs. It was too sacred for that – bought at too great a price. Instead, he did the most noble thing he could – he gave the water as an offering to the Lord. He made it an act of worship, sacrificing his own desires so that God would be honored and so that the men who brought this back might be honored.
Applying the Story:
These “mighty men” joyfully chose to put a relationship of love ahead of every other consideration – their love for their king came ahead of their safety, their comfort, their ease. Their gift was not an inconvenience, it was not grudgingly provided, it was not reluctantly offered – it was a deep expression of love.
I want to frame that as a standard for our expression of love to our King – Jesus. This morning we have had an opportunity to express our love for our King through our participation in worship. How does it compare? Has it been an inconvenience? Grudgingly or reluctantly offered? Or has it been our great joy to fight through whatever discouragement or illness or frustration or distraction or opposition to come, and bring an offering of worship to our King? To stumble into the cave, wipe the sweat and dirt and blood from our brow and say “My Lord! I’ve brought you something… I hope you are pleased!”
I know that is a challenging standard. It challenges our selfishness, our familiarity, our “preferences”, our comfort levels. I hope it lifts us out the natural predisposition to judge “worship” by the things we like or don’t like. You see, we have a King – we have a Lord Jesus – who came to us while we were yet sinners, who was the very demonstration of the depth of God’s love for us, who heard our cry in our cave of despair, who saw our need to be free from misery and hopelessness and our self-destructive sinful nature, and who went out into the enemy territory and fought through the lines and was victorious and who comes back to us in our circumstance and says, “my child… I’ve brought you something…” And we look into the bruised, beaten, bloodied face of Jesus, we see the gift in His hands – in His nail-pierced hands – we see the love in His eyes, we look down and see that the gift is forgiveness – the gift is freedom – the gift is new life, real life, abundant life!! and we get to respond. We get to love Him back.
Let us never selfishly take that gift and turn away, back to our comfortable emptiness of sinful living. Let us never lightly take that gift and abuse it. Let us instead allow ourselves to be moved by the love of Christ for us, let us instead be inspired to receive that love and multiply that love and live that love and pass that love freely and unselfishly to those around us.
One Step Deeper:
As I talk about our expression of worship, I am not talking about “singing songs”. I am talking about how we live our lives. What our priorities are. Whether we are pursuing our good or the good of those around us. Whether we are living for God, or for others, or for ourselves. David’s mighty men did not return with their gift and then say, “ok David, see you next week – we’re off to fight our own battles, maybe make a bunch of money as professional mercenaries, we’ll be back next week if we’re in the neighbourhood and not so tired that we want to sleep in.” That is not the relationship of love that we see in this story!
Let me take this one more step: I am talking about how we live our lives in relationship with each other. That is where we start to understand what true worship of God is – what Paul means in Romans 12:1-2 when he writes, “1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Do you know where the entire book of Romans goes from that point on? To talking about how we must live in loving relationships with one another. The next passage is about how we all are part of the same body, with different gifts, but for the good of the whole. And then Paul gets even more specific in describing what our “worship” needs to look like: “9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge…”
This is what it means today to worship – this is our call. This is what it means to “joyfully choose to put relationships of love ahead of every other consideration.” To break through the lines of selfishness and individuality and independence of our culture, to fight against the “me first, me only” message which surrounds us, to fight to the well and draw some water and then take it to those who are in great need. Because Jesus said this:
“31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37"Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40"The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41"Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44"They also will answer, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45"He will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
