“What Are You Good For?”
Part 4 – Culmination of the Whisper
VIDEO – Are You Equipped #1 (Available at SermonSpice.com)
David’s mighty men were misfits. Like most of us they were distressed, in debt, and discontent. However, they rallied around a common cause, rallied around one another, were willing to fight, and were willing to trust leaders. Therefore, they found their destiny and purpose. That is how we find our destiny as a body. It is also important for you to find out what you are good for. So over the last few weeks we have been examining the life of Abishai and learning principles that will assist us in find our destiny and purpose in life. We have talked about pursuing the whisper. You will remember that Abishai’s name means “The Father of a Gift”. It is important to hear the whisper of your father as He calls you the father of a gift. You have a purpose and a plan. We must tune in to the right voice. Second, I told you that Abishai was constantly pursuing that whisper by trying to give his gift. On 3 or 4 different occasions he attempts to fulfill his name. He tried something. He didn’t wait for someone to ask him he just stepped up and tried to give his gift. However, last week I told you to learn from Abishai that even though he was constantly trying to give his gift he also knew how to manage the whisper because he always asked before he struck. As little understanding as he had about timing he had great revelation about spiritual authority. So he asked before he struck. We must learn to ask before we strike and learn that refusal doesn’t mean something isn’t our gift it may just mean that our timing is off. Abishai knew how to manage the whisper because during the next 30 years of silence he is preparing. He wasn’t pouting or puttering around. He receives a promotion to captain of David’s army. He proves himself in battle by killing 300 men in one setting and 18,000 in another. He was busy. I challenged you to prepare in the quiet time. To allow God to hide you so that when your day comes you will be ready. If you fail to prepare for your chance your chance will only make you look ridiculous. God inhabits prepared places. So we have to learn to pursue the whisper and manage the whisper so today I want us to finish the story of Abishai and learn about the culmination of the whisper.
TEXT: II Samuel 21:15-17 is the text from which we find the culmination of the whisper. However, rather than read these two small verses if you will allow me I will simply conclude the part of my book that I have been reading from and tell you the story in my own words.
THE STORY ENDS:
This was not new. Year after year, decade after decade, the Philistines waged war against Israel.
David was not caught off guard. He was accustomed to these battles, and just as he had done so many times before, he dressed for war. He had fought when he was young, and the excitement of the clash of swords and sound of charging horses had caused him to walk with a spring in his step. Fear sprinkled with anxiety. Sweat from strain, but also from the constant threat of death. He lived for these moments. He had been favored by God and had always tasted the sweet savor of victory.
So, this seemed like any other year. David’s servant helped him strap on his kingly armor. He took up his royal sword and joined his valiant warriors on the battlefield. When he strode confidently to the front lines, a thunderous cheer erupted from his troops.
They were all there. Joab, Benaiah, Asahel and, of course, Abishai.
David and his mighty men gathered for battle again. Each year the result was the same. David and his mighty men walked away victors. This year, the pattern continued. Swords came together. Arrows were launched. Spears were thrust. Men fell. Philistine men fell. Confusion, discouragement, and horror overcame the Philistines as they realized that defeat would be theirs once again. The retreat began. Men turned and fled for their lives, as David’s army, tasting the familiar taste of victory, gave chase.
And therein lies the difference.
David was no longer young. Closing in on his 60th birthday, David still had the mind and determination of a much younger man. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he watched his men cut a path through enemy ranks. It was that same adrenaline that drove him to pursue the defeated and fleeing Philistines. He strained to catch up to them only to be ensnared by his age. Exhausted, overcome by weariness and overtaken by 60-year-old stamina, David could go no further. He was so tired he actually laid down on the battle field to catch his breath. However, a defeated army can still be a deadly army.
Tongue lolling. Chest heaving. Heart pounding. Waiting to regain strength. Limbs weak from exertion. Unable to move, David is helpless, unguarded, unprotected, and most importantly unaware.
His eyes stinging from sweat and clouded by fatigue, David fails to see him. And he was not easy to miss. He was not used to being overlooked. He stood out. His name caused fear. He was Ishbibenob. His size stirred awe. He was a giant. His spear head, weighing in at seven-and-a-half pounds, complimented his great size. He carried a new sword — perhaps engraved with one word: REVENGE.
This giant of a man towered over the weary king. He raised his sword ready to avenge the shame and embarrassment David had brought on his family. This old king was responsible for the death of Ishbibenob’s older brother, Goliath.
Once a giant killer, David is now simply an old, worn-out king. He braces for the impact of the blade. He readies himself for the taste of his own blood. He tries to speak but cannot find the words. No words were needed. They had already been spoken. Years before, repeated in the dark, the words were whispered. The whisper heard nightly by a little boy now comes to a giant-killing culmination. “His name is Abishai. He is the father of a gift.”
Where did he come from? It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he got there in time. Abishai steps between his fallen king and the giant. The giant had prepared for this moment. The sword was swung. One parried. The other lunged. The blade cut deep. The blood flew. A gasp. A groan. The man staggers. He swears. He stumbles. He falls.
He was prepared for this moment; but he was not prepared for Abishai.
Ishbibenob was larger and stronger than any ordinary man, but Abishai was no ordinary man. For years, this man had longed, desired, and prepared to give his gift. This was a man of destiny. He was the father of a gift.
David was spared.
Kings are men too and no one is indispensable. Years of opportunities to make a difference missed. No permission granted. Only to save a king who was coming to the close of his reign?
Was the gift wasted? David’s men would balk at that suggestion. Joab, Asahel, and others rush onto the scene to find an embarrassed but thankful king. Their brows are wrinkled in concern and then washed by relief as they listen intently as David replays each moment of the brief but brutal fight won by Abishai. David’s men instantly come to a unanimous conclusion: David will no longer join them on the battlefield. His fighting days are over. David protests, but the men insist. Abishai has saved the light of Israel and this light will not be risked again.
What difference did the whisper make? What difference did the gift make? David’s death would have had catastrophic consequences. Not until later did David make the rulings necessary for Solomon to succeed him as king. Solomon was not the next in line for the throne. The gift mattered to the prophesied lineage.
However, the most important implication was that David had not shared with Solomon his plans to construct a house for God. The temple David had dreamed of, planned for, and saved for would have been lost forever. Abishai’s gift saved the place of worship God had entrusted to a king named David.
What began as a whisper resounds as a prophetic declaration of destiny. Abishai . . . Father of a Gift.
THE APPLICATION:
There are several lessons that we can learn from this incredible story.
I have taught you four already.
1. Hear the whisper again.
2. Constantly try to give your gift.
3. Ask before you strike.
4. Prepare during the hidden time.
Now let me teach you several more lessons.
5. Lesson Five: Be decisive
When your day comes don’t hesitate. Act quickly. Act with confidence. Too many folks find their gift and then they don’t act. Once you discover your gift give your gift. Notice that Abishai didn’t have to ask permission this time. Notice that submission to spiritual authority doesn’t put us in bondage as so many of us think. What it does is it teaches us the how and the when! He had learned the lessons of timing. The day will come when it will be time to be Johnny on the Spot! You must be willing to act and act decisively. I find too many folks that we know have a gift and then they won’t act on that gift. They have figured it out, they have prepared, and then they hesitate. Get busy!
6. Lesson Six: There are battles you can’t win by yourself
Abishai’s interception of the giant teaches us that there are times when we need help. It doesn’t matter if we are the king or not. You may be a man or woman of faith and power, you may glow, people may fall out when they are around you, but there are still giants that we all face that require help from someone else. Don’t act like you are so tough. Don’t act like you never have a bad day. Let others come along side of you and help you in battle. Too many of us continue to be defeated because we continue to refuse to let anyone know about or assist us in our struggles. Some of you are standing next to your Abishai right now. They have been destined and purposed by God to help you, but unless you are willing to allow them into the fight they cannot give their gift and you will be defeated and they will be frustrated.
7. Lesson Seven: Focus on the right giant
Our gift may not be for us! Our gift may not promote us or get us attention or position us on the throne! We are too selfish. We are so self-centered in our focus and attention that too many of us think that our gift is all about us. Abishai teaches us that the giant you are destined to kill may not be your own. We need to get focused on the right giant. Some of us are trying to give our gift by fighting the wrong thing. Some of us are using up our gift fighting our giant when all along our gift was entrusted to us to rescue someone else from their giant. But let me assure you that what you make happen for others God will make happen for you! Focus on the right giant and your giant will fall as well.
8. Lesson Eight: Your gift matters
Too many of you underestimate the importance of your gift. You think that your gift really has no bearing on the body. You think no one will miss your gift if it isn’t given. Abishai teaches us that your gift is absolutely crucial and irreplaceable in the body.
Scripture teaches us that if Abishai had failed in giving his gift, Jesus’ lineage would have been messed up. Solomon would not have been the next king. Abishai’s gift had implications for a savior’s birth. Abishai’s gift secures the temple that had yet to be built. His gift mattered. His gift was important.
I want you to hear me and hear me carefully this morning. Your gift is extremely important. Your gift may be to preach to thousands, to sing to millions, to win neighborhoods, or to influence a city, or your gift may be to carry out the trash after service on a Sunday morning, your gift may be to take out the dirty diapers left over from nursery, your gift may be to straighten the chairs or hang out with the 5th grade boys. The truth is this, the size of your gift or the size of stage your gift is given on has no bearing on its importance or significance. Every gift is equally important even if every gift isn’t equally celebrated. Paul teaches us in Ephesians 4 that each member has been given a gift and each member must work to the measure that has been given us. We only cause ourselves problems when we begin to compare gifts. My gift is better than your gift. No every gift is vital to the function of the body.
Ephesians 4:16 says it like this, “16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Every part makes the body increase!”
Romans 12:4-6 says, “4In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, 6let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.”
And finally let me read I Corinthians 12:14-27 to you. “14I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. 15If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? 16If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? 17If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? 18As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.19But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. 20What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. 21Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? 22As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. 23When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. 24If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair? 25The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, 26the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. 27You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything.”
Hear me today. Your gift matters. However, it matters not because it is better than anyone else’s. It matters because it is connected to everyone else’s! WE NEED YOUR GIFT! DON’T UNDERESTIMATE IT!
Likewise, as a body, we must not overlook the gifts that are around us. Don’t just brag on the exposed gifts. Don’t just brag on the singers. Brag on those who are unseen! Those who are unapplauded. Those who are unnoticed – like Annora Potter who gets here early every morning to make coffee and then while you are worshipping sits in an office getting maps ready so that visitors can be followed up on. Like my Mom and Michele Chasteen who when no one is around bakes cookies so that visitors can have treat on us. Like a Danny Nix who is only noticed when something doesn’t sound right. Just as much as I am the father of a gift by standing up here and delivering God’s Word each week they are father’s of a gift!
How much difference can one person or one gift make?
In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.
In 1649, one vote caused Charles I of England to be executed.
In 1776, one vote gave America the English language instead of German.
In 1845, one vote brought Texas into the Union.
In 1868, one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.
In 1875, one vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.
In 1876, one vote gave Rutherford B. Hayes the Presidency of the U.S.
In 1941, one vote saved Selective Service just weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked.
One gift can make a difference.
“In the end, our worst fears are not that we cannot do something significant. Our worst fears are that we might actually be someone and have something to offer that could change this world. This represents such a weight to us that we choose not to bear it, instead, living at a level far beneath our potential.” - Nelson Mandela
You are an Abishai learn the lessons and discover, develop, deploy.
Prayer - Those who are struggling – wondering what they are good for.
