I want you to think back a few years ago to when you were three-years-old. If three is a stretch for you, how about thinking back to being five? What were you like at that age? Do you think you were more or less cynical than you are today? If you are anything like me, you don’t have to remember much about being three or five to confidently answer this question. I know I am much more cynical today than I was when I was three or five or thirty—even though I was thirty just a few months ago—two hundred and sixty-two months ago to be exact! (If you are thinking of using your cell phone calculators to figure out how old I am, shame on you. If you must, at least do it the hard way with pencil and paper.)
If we were to make a list of prevalent attitudes that are destructive to our faith and our joy, somewhere near the top of the list has to be cynicism. Cynicism: is an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others. Cynicism is, increasingly, the dominant spirit of our age. Cynicism makes us numb. Cynicism kills hope.
Cynicism has an unfair advantage in how it takes hold of our hearts because we are surrounded by cynicism and we equate cynicism with ‘being realistic.’ We have this thought that being cynical is what comes from knowing what’s “really going on.” It feels real. It feels authentic. It feels brave to look at our world and embrace the ugly, unsettling reality of our slow slide into the abyss.
We look at Greece’s economic melt-down and we’re not surprised. We look at the US’s inability to come back from its own economic nosedive and we shake our heads and know that we aren’t far behind. We look at the sad state of the family and the rise in crime and violence and put another checkmark on our “what else would you expect?” list. We look at how cruel, and crude and clueless people can be and we feel no shock or shame. We look at the increasing cultural hostility toward the church and we just accept it as the normal result of living in our morally relativistic age.
Paul Miller (A Praying Life: Connecting with God in A Distracting World) writes: “Cynicism is so pervasive that, at times, it feels like a presence. Cynicism is the air we breathe, and it is suffocating our hearts. Weariness and fear leave us feeling overwhelmed, unable to move. Cynicism leaves us doubting, unable to dream. The combination shuts down our hearts, and we just show up for life, going through the motions.”
Have you been affected by the culture of cynicism? If you answer “no’ to that question, I will do my best to believe you and not be cynical, but I am not sure I’ll be able to pull it off.
Today as we return to our Mountain Moments series, we are going to see how we can actually climb and conquer the mountain of cynicism.
Please turn with me to 1 Samuel 14:1-7
As you turn there, let me give you a bit of background. In 1 Samuel 13 we find that Saul was ruling as king of Israel. We also find out that Israel was at war with the Philistines. More than that, things were not going well for Saul. At the beginning of chapter 13 we are told that Saul had 3,000 men to stand against the Philistine forces made up of 30,000 chariots, 6000 cavalry, and infantry soldiers that were as numerous as the sands of the seashore. (13:5).
In verses 6 and 7 we get the Israelite’s reaction to the Philistine military buildup. "When the men of Israel saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.”
Many in Saul’s army, when they saw what they were up against, either ran away or hid, leaving the best of the best of the Israelite army to stand “quaking with fear.” You’ll also remember that a few weeks ago saw that Saul waited for Samuel seven days in order to have him offer a sacrifice before the Lord, but as he waits, those who are quaking with fear start to disappear. Skipping over the details of Saul’s sacrificial faux pas, Saul ends up with 600 men hold up in Gibeah. Meanwhile the Philistines camp at Michmash, but the Philistines don’t just sit there. They send out three raiding parties into Israel and demoralize the people even more than they already were.
Chapter 13 ends with these words: “So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.” (1 Samuel 13:22)
Things were not looking good for Israel. Who could blame them for being cynical—given their situation? They were outnumbered, outgunned and overrun.
Beginning with verse 1 we read:
1 One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, "Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But he did not tell his father. 2 Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, 3 among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left.
Let’s stop there for a second. Saul had moved away from the action about as far as he could. There he sat paralyzed with his 600 men. There were no plans, no activity, and most of all, no hope. This is exactly what the landscape of cynicism looks like. Then Jonathan decides that something has to be done. So he leaves with his armour bearer, without telling his father.
Why doesn’t he tell his father? After all, not only is Saul his father, Saul is King. He is commander and chief. Saul had a right to be consulted.
Well, I think it is pretty easy to understand why Jonathan leaves without taking to Saul. He already knew what Saul was going to say. He already knew how cynical his heart was. He knew his father would try to stop him, but as far as Jonathan was concerned, his father had been paralyzed by his ‘realistic’ assessment of the situation. His father offered no solutions. His father had no hope. His father had removed himself from the battle and did the best he could to ignore the enemy. His father was going to do nothing but discourage him.
As we talk about overcoming the mountain of cynicism, this is the first principle I want you to take home with you. If you want to overcome the sleep-inducing, mind-numbing influence of cynicism in your life,
1. Don’t stay in the camp of the cynic and certainly don’t seek the advice of the cynic.
The primary reason we need to come together each week to worship is that it is our only way of leaving the camp of cynicism today. Every day we are smothered in a multitude of cynical influences. So when we come together, we need to be intentional about removing the crude of cynicism that oozes into our hearts during the week and the best way to do that is by reconnecting with our God and our King.
Every week the spirit of cynicism acts like a slow leak in the tire of our faith. Each day, our connection to, and confidence in, God can easily start to deflate. We need to come together to have that connection and confidence pumped up by a fresh encounter with our God and God’s people.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
The writer of Hebrews tells us that we need to be intentional about how we can encourage one another to a more loving, active faith. His point gets even more urgent when he says, and I am paraphrasing here: “Now isn’t the time to skip church because we need the fellowship and worship to fight discouragement. So encourage one another and make sure the spirit of cynicism doesn’t rob you of your faith, particularly in these difficult, changing times.”
Jonathan runs from the camp of cynicism and he takes the only person he knows who, like him, hasn’t been swallowed up in a cynical spirit—namely his armour bearer.
Pick up the account with verse 4 we read: 4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez, and the other Seneh. 5 One cliff stood to the north toward Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba. 6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."
Let’s pause there for a moment. We look at Jonathan and we see a brave, and depending on your perspective, perhaps even a foolish risk taker. Is Jonathan one of these guys that’s overconfident in his abilities?—No, not at all! His confidence is in God’s abilities.
Notice the word ‘perhaps’ at the beginning of verse 6. Jonathan isn’t exactly sure what God is going to do, but doesn’t stop him from trusting that God could do anything. This is what we call a childlike faith. This is the opposite of a cynical spirit. Jonathan doesn’t have to know the plan—he just needs to know and trust His God.
Sometimes we get caught up in wanting to know what God’s will is and we end up waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting, just like Saul and the 600. Sometimes our waiting is really cynicism wrapped up in the guise of faith. We are afraid to step out in faith because we don’t have an answer and we aren’t confident that God is going to show up.
Sure, there are times in our lives when we really need to try and seek some guidance and direction before we make a decision, but I am convinced that, the majority of the time, God just wants us to stop waiting and do something with the attitude that perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Jonathan didn’t have a plan, but that didn’t stop him from seeing if God did.
Now look at verse 7: "Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul." Jonathan is impressive, but so is his armor-bearer. In some ways, his armour-bearer is even more impressive because he shares Jonathan’s faith and he trusts in Jonathan’s leadership. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” Who doesn’t want to have that kind of encouragement and investment in their lives? “Go for it!” “Do it.” “I have your back.” “I’m in it with you!” Here is a question for you: Would Jonathan have left the camp on his own? Would he have tried to do what he is about to do without the support of a faithful friend? I don’t think so.
Picking the story up in verse 8 we read: 8 Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands." 11 So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. "Look!" said the Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in." 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson." So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel."
Now I don’t know about you, but I would have picked another sign. I would have said something like. “Let’s go out into the open and show ourselves and if God pulls a Mount Sinai and brings an earthquake and lightening and zaps the Philistines into smudges, we’ll know that the LORD has given them into our hands. But that isn’t what Jonathan says. He sees the sign as them being asked to climb up a cliff, getting tired and winded along the way, only to reach the top where the Philistine army sits well-rested and waiting with swords in hand. This plan makes no sense, except for one thing: If the Philistines ask them to come up, they obviously are going to be overconfident. You don’t fear two guys climbing a cliff to get up to where you are, because you know you have every possible advantage. And neither do you invite anyone into your camp that you see as a threat. So Jonathan knew that there was a small window of opportunity to surprise them.
But before we go on, I need to remind you of something. You know what is about to happen. The enemy is about to be engaged and Jonathan has the only sword. I can almost hear the conversation going on as they were climbing up the mountain. The armour-bearer says to Jonathan, “So, OK, you have a sword, great! That’s really good, but ah, what should I use?” To which Jonathan replies, “Oh that’s easy. You can have your pick of any of the Philistine swords!”
We don’t even know Jonathan’s armour-bearer’s name, but when all is said and done and we are moved into our condos in the new heaven and the new earth, I plan on making it a priority to find out his name because I already know all I need to know about his faith and his willingness to follow Jonathan’s led and become part of God’s solution. We need lots and lots of armour-bearers in the church. You need to be someone’s armour-bearer! Without armour-bearers there would be no Jonathans.
Picking up the story in verse 13: Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. 14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. 15 Then panic struck the whole army--those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties--and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.
I’ll leave the rest of the story for you to read. Basically, God brings confusion and a panic and the Philistines start killing one another and then finally Saul notices something going on and he and his men get into the battle, but none of that would have happened if Jonathan hadn’t purposely stepped out in faith.
You almost wonder if he had Gideon in mind when Jonathan said, “Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." Of course Gideon won an amazing battle with only 300 men against a vast Midianite army. You can read about that in Judges 7.
And, just in case you are wondering about the parallel between Gideon’s testing of God with the fleece and Jonathan’s seeking of a sign, I want you to know they are completely different situations. Gideon wanted God to prove Himself before he would act but Jonathan wanted to see if God was with him as he acted. Gideon’s seeking of a sign showed a lack of faith. Jonathan’s looking for a sign showed an expectant faith. Gideon’s test is not something to imitate. Jonathan’s looking for God to work as He stepped out in faith should, most certainly, be imitated.
You know, when I look at this account of Jonathan, I see why Jonathan and David would become such close friends. They both had the same faith. They both had the same intimate trust of God. In 1 Samuel 17 we have the account of David and Goliath. Both accounts have a lot in common.
In the account of David and Goliath you have another standoff between the Israelites and the Philistines. You will remember that rather than both armies going to battle, Goliath challenged the Israelites to send one man to battle him. The problem was that Goliath was a rather imposing nine-feet-tall and he had a spear in which just the tip itself weighed fifteen pounds! In other words, he was a rather imposing figure.
So for forty days the Israelites were abused and mocked by Goliath and for forty days, they stood paralyzed by the reality that no one could stand against such a large and powerful enemy. Realistically they were right. It made sense to be cynical of their chances at success, but then David, a young shepherd boy showed up with some food for his brothers. And as he started to talk to people, he got drawn into the drama of the standoff.
In verse 28 we have this interesting comment from his brother. 28 When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." (1 Samuel 17:28)
Can you get any more cynical than that? David came to bring his brother’s food. He came at his father’s request, so why did Eliab respond to him in this way? Well, it’s simply because that’s what cynicism does. It clouds your judgment and you start to look at the actions and intentions of others and think they are just as phoney and just as self-seeking as everyone else, but Eliab was wrong.
2. Spend time with God—this brings us to the second way in which we can overcome the mountain of cynicism. We spend time alone with God. To put it another way: we allow God to be the overriding influence of our attitude. Here you have Israel camped in front of the Philistines and all that was informing them was the cynical ‘reality’ that no one in their army was big enough and strong enough to battle Goliath. Again, that is the problem with cynicism. It feels real. It seems authentic. It has an element of truth to it, but it is missing the key ingredient: faith that our God that can do all things.
So, David shows up to the stand-off and his perspective is entirely different. To him Goliath is no bigger than the bears he has already fought off while performing his duties as a shepherd. So it isn’t that David isn’t realistic. He sees the challenge of fighting an imposing enemy, but he sees it in the context of similar enemies that he has already had success against with God’s help.
David has been off by himself. He was separated from the current of cynicism that controlled his culture. And more than that, he had been spending time alone with God, in situations that required him to see that God could be trusted to show up in a time of need! In other words, David’s obscurity, as a shepherd, protected him from the cynical spirit of the age. Maybe that is why the Heavenly Host first appeared to shepherd’s when Jesus was born. They were also protected from the cynical spirit of their age. This should tell you something about cynicism. It may feel real, but it isn’t real because nothing is as hopeless as it seems, if you have faith in our God who is able.
But there is more going on here then just David’s experience of God’s presence in his life. This brings us to the next truth that will help us overcome the mountain of cynicism.
3. Know that the Battle is the Lord’s—in verse 36 David says: “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.”
Interesting! David doesn’t say that he can kill Goliath because he has experience killing big, viscous beastie type things before. He says he will be victorious because Goliath has defied the armies of the living God. In other words, his confidence is exactly the same as that of Jonathan. His confidence is in what God can and will do because God is invested in the outcome of the battle.
This becomes even clearer in verse 47 when David declares before fighting Goliath: “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands.” The battle is the Lord’s.
We get this picture in our minds that both Jonathan and David are valiant men of battle. We see them as brave and courageous. They are, but what makes these men great is the simple fact that they understand one truth above all others: “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or few.” (1 Samuel 14:6) “The Lord saves; for the battle is the LORD’s” (1 Samuel 17:47).
What makes these men great is their deep-seated belief that God has a plan and all they’re really doing is joining God in that plan. Both Jonathan and David understand that their lives are part of God’s Story. They aren’t trying to make God bring a victory for them—they are merely joining God as He brings about His own victory.
How cynical are you right now about what you can accomplish in Christ? How paralyzed are you? How defeated? How distracted are you by the spirit of the age? When was the last time you realized that you are part of God’s Story rather than Him being part of your story?
Do you really understand that God is invested in your victory because, in reality, your victory is His victory? Here are a few scriptures deposit in your overcoming cynicism account:
Paul in Romans declares: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) God is for us. He is invested in our victory.
And in Philippians he proclaims: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) Our victory is God’s victory. He began it and will finish it.
And a bit later in Philippians he also states: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13) Our victory is God’s victory. He is working in us to act according to his good purpose.
And finally, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
We are part of God’s Story. He is invested in our victory. So stop living like the victory of your battle depends on you—it doesn’t. And stop thinking that God is watching and waiting for you to fail. Or that He is keeping score. God had promised deliverance. He has promised victory. He has invited us into His battle. God has more invested interest in your victory than you yourself do. Do you believe that?
Let me close with a prayer that a friend of mine posted on Facebook this week because it is truly a prayer for overcoming the mountain of cynicism:
Dear God:
Please untie the knots
That are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
The can nots and the do nots
That I have in my mind.
Erase the will nots,
May nots,
Might nots that may find
A home in my heart.
Release me from the could nots,
Would nots and
should nots that obstruct my life.
And most of all,
Dear Lord,
I ask that you remove from my mind,
My heart and my life all of the ‘am nots’
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.
Amen
As we close, it is my prayer that we don’t let the cynical spirit of this age trick us into thinking that victory isn’t possible and hope isn’t real. Life has challenges. Our struggles are real and so is the enemy, but that should never make us walk away from the battlefield.
Neither should it paralyze us in fear and despair. God is just waiting for us to get up. He doesn’t care if you are certain about what He will do. A “perhaps”, just like Jonathan had is enough—if it gets you moving out of the camp and the counsel of the cynic. God can work with a “perhaps” because you are not asking God to enter your battle. God is asking you to enter His battle. He is battling to complete the work He began in you.
