1. Godly leadership encourages commitment
a. 1 Chronicles 11: 1-3 says, “Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2 In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’” 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.”
b. “By this time, David had reigned as the king of Judah for more than seven years. His capital was Hebron, located squarely in the middle of Judah. Hebron was a city with a long and distinguished history. The patriarchs were buried here. This was the city that Caleb had claimed many years before as a reward for his faithfulness.
c. “After Saul’s disastrous time on the throne, the tribe of Judah was not about to submit to the rule of any other tribe’s leader, so they made David their king. The other tribes were not ready to follow suit. But now, they found themselves in serious need of leadership, and they turned to David.” (Holman OT Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicle, p. 90)
d. A godly leader is able to bring community where there was once disunity.
e. Often, when there is disunity or a lack of community, there is a lack of leadership. Often, when there is indecision, lack of coordination, and an absence of decisiveness, it is because there is a lack of leadership.
f. The people realized that David was filling a void that Saul had created. They realized the failures of the reign of Saul.
g. Saul had been made king because he was head and shoulders above the rest of the population. But he ended his reign after losing his head to a Philistine sword. The people were afraid, forsaken, and scattered. Listen to 1 Samuel 31:7: “And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came and lived in them.” They were without a leader.
i. Without any leadership, community is difficult
ii. With worldly leadership, community is possible
iii. With Godly leadership, community is natural
h. The people of Israel said, “We are your own flesh and blood….” The people literally were saying, “David, we unite under your leadership.” How do we know it was godly leadership?
i. Psalm 78: 70-71 records a simple, yet beautiful analysis of the rule of King David.
i. 70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
72 With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.
j. “With upright heart he shepherded them.” David led with a godly heart.
k. For the first fifty years of his life, David was a man of integrity. He was a man of purity. He was a man after God’s own heart. Unfortunately, the last 20 years are marred with poor choices. But at the start of his reign, he was a godly leader.
l. A man who walks with integrity in all that he says and does will attract a crowd. Once the crowd has gathered, they will follow him. Once they follow him, he is a leader. As that person continues to walk in integrity, the crowd will grow in their commitment to their leader.
m. Now think about this for a moment.
i. David had slain a bear and lion as a boy.
ii. He had defeated the giant no one else was willing to face. “Shortly after he killed Goliath, David became the most outstanding military commander in Israel, giving rise to the chant, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1Samuel 18:7). Furthermore, David had been able to inflict significant losses on the Philistines.” (Holman OT Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicle, p. 90). But it was his upright heart that led people to follow him.
iii. He had survived 13 years on the run, and spared the life of Saul not once but twice
iv. But that is not what encouraged people to commit to him.
v. It was that David had been chosen by God and had followed after God. “
2. Commitment brings about victory
a. 1 Chronicles 11:4-9
b. The fortified section of Jerusalem, called Jebus, had been a thorn in the side of the Israelites during the entire time they had lived in the holy land. Jerusalem was located in the mountains of Judea, right at the southern edge of the territory allocated to Benjamin. At Jerusalem, the settlement surrounding the city was highly vulnerable and had, in fact, been taken over by the tribe of Benjamin. Already in the earliest years of the conquest under Joshua, the king of Jerusalem had been killed. Nevertheless, the Jebusite fortress overlooking Jerusalem, the last stronghold of Canaanite power, had never been captured.
c. In a very brief, matter of fact account, the chronicler summarizes how David conquered the Jebusite citadel. Despite its occupant’s taunts, David was able to take the fortification, possibly by sneaking in and climbing up the water channels.
d. Despite the taunts of the enemies of God, despite the strongholds and tower, despite all the obstacles, victory is possible if we are committed to the cause that Christ has set before us!
3. Victory encourages heroic deeds
a. They are all carefully listed in 1 Chronicles 11, an amazing group of warriors
known as David’s "mighty men"
b. The Holy Spirit thought they were impressive enough to have every last
one written down, because "they, together with all Israel, gave [David’s]
kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the LORD had
promised"(vs.10).
c. These are people who applied their strength and courageous action toward what
God had promised. It was not enough for them that the prophet Samuel had anointed David king-in-waiting back when he was a teenager.
d. Much more recently the elders of Israel had gathered in Hebron to declare
David the new monarch. But out in the villages, and especially on the borders of the land, not everyone was convinced.
i. The picture was still unclear.
ii. The rule of God’s king was yet to be established.
iii. Foreign enemies were still living inside the land promised to God’s people.
e. These heroes did not just sit back, as many do today, saying, "Well, God
promised, and I’m sure He will fulfill His word."
i. They stepped up and took action to make the promise become reality.
ii. They understood that God’s work in the world is usually a joint project; He
works with us as we yield ourselves to work with Him. So these men risked their lives.
iii. They left their families and headed for dangerous territory. The Bible uses a special word three times to describe what they did: "exploits".
f. Similarly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be planted today in hostile cities and
territories and nations only by mighty men and women who dare to take risks.
g. Apathetic churches across the land will be revived only by people of deep spirituality who refuse to accept the status quo.
h. Wayward children and broken marriages will be touched by the hand of God only as someone stands in the gap and fights valiantly in the power of the Spirit. You and I have had the opportunity to become some mighty warriors of the faith. Their determination is like the kind we see in 1 Chronicles 12:18, where it says, "The Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said: ’We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Success, success [or "peace and prosperity"] to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you."
i. Once again, the merging of divine and human effort is clearly shown.
j. Oddly, two people on David’s list weren’t even Jewish. They would never have been allowed to worship at the holy tabernacle.
i. Zelek the Ammonite and Ithmah the Moabite were definitely from the
"wrong" nationalities.
ii. Their countrymen harassed the Israelites continually and tempted them
toward idolatry.
iii. Yet Zelek and Ithmah ended up being honored because they fought and
risked their lives for God’s king. All these were common people who did uncommon things for God.
k. David’s thirty mighty warriors were not royalty.
i. They were not graduates of a military academy.
ii. They were just regular people from small places who set their hearts to do exploits for God’s anointed one.
l. What we desperately need in our own time are not Christians full of posturing.
m. We need men and women who will step out to turn back today’s slide toward godlessness, prayerless churches, family breakup, and a "hap-hazard" heart for evangelism.
n. The first person on David’s list, Jashobeam, "raised his spear against three
hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter" (1 Chronicles 11:11).
o. That sounds impossible. There is no way he could pile up that kind of body count without the overshadowing presence and power of God.
p. Human bravery alone is not enough when the odds are 300 to 1.
q. When it comes to spiritual matters, you and I will never know our potential under God until we step out and take risks on the front line of battle.
i. We will never see what power and anointing are possible until we
bond with our King and go out in His name to establish His Kingdom.
ii. Sitting safely in the shelter of Bible discussions among ourselves, or
complaining to one another about the horrible state of today’s society,
does nothing to unleash the power of God.
iii. He meets us in the moment of battle.
iv. He energizes us when there is an enemy to be pushed back.
v. In verses 12-14 we meet Eleazar, who accompanied David into a major battle with the Philistines.
r. We get an idea of how tough the enemy was when the Bible says, "At a
place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the
Philistines."
s. This was no minor skirmish; this was all-out combat against a
superior opponent. Many frightened Israelite soldiers saw the coming horde and ran for their lives.
t. But not Eleazar. He and David "took their stand in the middle of the field. They
defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought
about a great victory."
u. Once again we see the combination of human and divine efforts.
i. God did not act alone.
ii. He didn’t unleash a lightning strike from Heaven to fry the Philistines.
iii. Instead He was looking all across the horizon that day to see who would stay in the barley field and thus receive His supernatural aid.
iv. While others left in fear, these two- David and Eleazar- stood firm.
v. The account in 2 Samuel 23:10 adds even more detail about Eleazar. He "stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword."
vi. He swung his weapon with such grit, such adrenaline, that his
muscles locked up on him; he couldn’t let go.
vii. Talk about a mighty warrior for God!
v. The world’s situation cries out for today is this kind of determined and
desperate faith that grips the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and won’t let go until victory comes.
w. This list of David’s mighty warriors in 1 Chronicles 11:22 introduces us to
Benaiah, whose exploits included overcoming two of Moab’s best men.
i. He also killed a lion in a snowy, slippery pit.
ii. Perhaps most amazingly, he took on an Egyptian that was 7 1/2 foot
tall that was carrying a spear with a huge shaft while Benaiah had
only a wooden club.
iii. Even so ... Benaiah "snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and
killed him with his own spear. Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of
Jehoiada... He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty"
(vs. 23-25).
iv. It was not a Ph.D. degree that brought honor to a person in those days.
a. Honor did not necessarily flow to the person with money or leverage
or media access.
b. Honor came as a result of doing exploits for the king.
B. Who is doing exploits for God today?
1. Where is the enemy being driven back?
a. That is the great desire of all spiritually minded people.
b. They are not enchanted with polished sermons and slick
organizational technique.
c. Where are the mighty men and women anointed by God to truly make
a difference?
4. Heroic deeds bring about sacrificial acts
a. 1 Chronicles 11:15-19
b. This incident illustrates the contributions of the three. This was back during the time when David and his troops were living as outlaws, hiding from Saul in the wilderness. They were caught without an adequate water supply, and David sighed that he wished he could get some of the clean, fresh water from nearby Bethlehem.
c. Soon, there stood the three heroes, grins all over their faces, presenting him with a skin of water that they had filled by sneaking into Bethlehem at the risk of their own lives. How they must have anticipated the look on David’s face while he thanked them and gulped down the water.
d. David was overcome with gratitude, but he could not bring himself to drink any of the water. This water, he declared, procured at the potential cost of people’s lives, was too sacred just to gulp down to satisfy human thirst. So David poured it on the ground as an offering to God.
5. Sacrificial acts lead to worship
a. This is the very heart of worship. Pouring out that which is most precious to you before God.
