HEROES OF THE FAITH 7: ?DAVID---LOW, TOUGH AND TENDER! 1 SAMUEL 16:6-12
JOKE--- Deep within a forest a little turtle began to climb a tree.
After hours of effort he reached the top, jumped into the air waving his front legs and crashed to the ground.
After recovering, he slowly climbed the tree again, jumped, and fell to the ground.
The turtle tried again and again while a couple of birds sitting on a branch watched and laughed at his sad efforts.
Finally, the female bird turned to her mate. "That turtle is an idiot to think he can fly! she chirped, I think it?s time we tell him he?s adopted.
INTRO--- When I was a child, my mother always told me to aim high in life. So like that old turtle, I set my sights on the big blue sky above. There is nothing wrong with ambition, mind you, as long as it is directed and not blind!
My trouble was that I wanted to be a movie star or a high-powered salesman. And because I sought out to be something I am not, tragically, my aspirations never got off the ground.
My friends I have since learned that in life, everyone must start out at the bottom. I have learned that there is no substitute for hard work. And I now can say with some great confidence that unless you are content to be where you are, who you are, in what you are doing today, you will never be content with where you can go, who you can become, or what you will do tomorrow.
In case you didn?t know, the lesson I needed to learn was one of humility. Our Hero of the faith today, David, will teach us a lesson in humility, but also a lesson in strength and faith.
PRAYER
TRANS---Saul had been commanded of the Lord to punish the Amalekites for attacking them when they came up from Egypt. The punishment that the Lord ascribed was that Saul attack them and totally destroy everything that belongs to them and to destroy every one of them down to the last man, woman and child. Now Saul did attack the Amalekites but he took the King of the Amalekites alive, and then he spared an entire village in order to plunder its sheep, cattle and lambs.
This was the last straw! Because of his disobedience, God was finished dealing with Saul. And so our story opens with God calling Samuel to anoint another King to the throne of Israel. Now Samuel was about to learn a very valuable lesson: God?s judges people differently than man. Men look at the outside, but God sees our hearts.
When God looked upon David?s heart, He saw that it was LOW, TOUGH and TENDER, the three things a good servant and leader?s heart needs to be.
I. DAVID WAS THE LOWEST
A. Look at vs. 6---Eliab, Jesse?s oldest son, looked so much like a leader that Samuel said, ?Surely the Lord?s anointed is before Him.
1. But Look at God?s response in vs. 7!
a. God quickly and handly rejected Eliab and the
next 6 brothers all together outright!
2. Because David was the Last, the least, and the lowest of his brothers, he was left to do the smallest and the most humble job that no one else would do---tend to the sheep, a very humbling, and difficult task.
a. You see, like David?s brothers, too many times we mistake glamour for greatness. My friends...
ILLUSTRATION--- ?Let it never be forgotten that glamour is not greatness; applause is not fame; prominence is not eminence. The man of the hour is not apt to be the man of the ages. A stone may sparkle, but that does not make it a diamond; people may have money, but that does not make them a success.
It is what the unimportant people do that really counts and determines the course of history. The greatest forces in the universe are never spectacular. Summer showers are more effective than hurricanes, but they get no publicity. The world would soon die but for the fidelity, loyalty, and consecration of those whose names are unhonored and unsung.
- James R. Sizoo, Bits & Pieces, June 22, 1995, p. 11.
a. That is why In Luke Mark 9:35 Jesus ??called the twelve and said to them, ?If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."
3. You see, because David?s brothers all considered themselves far above such menial work, they all turned away from the very job that taught David to be king.
ILLUSTRATION---My friends, a sheep is one of the dumbest animals on the earth. It was David?s job to lead the sheep so that they wouldn?t arbitrarily walk off a cliff. It was David?s job to seek out and retrieve the lost sheep so that it would not perish. Many times a good shepherd would break the leg of the wandering sheep so that it would learn a lesson about straying. But the good shepherd would also then carry the maimed sheep on his shoulders so that it would learn his voice so that it would not stray again. And it was David?s job to fight against any beasts that would seek to devour the flock.
But you know people are also some of the dumbest animals on the earth as well. As a king it would be David?s job to lead the people so that they would not fall into sin and slavery. As a king it would be David?s job to keep all of the people disciplined and rounded up moving toward God?s voice Finally, it would be David?s job as king to defeat any army that would array itself against Israel.
a. Right here this morning we would be wise to remember Jesus words in Luke 16:10--- He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much!
I. DAVID WAS THE LOWEST, SO GOD RAISED HIM TO THE HIGHEST
II. DAVID WAS THE TOUGHEST
A. Look at vs. 12---The word Ruddy in modern English means red or healthy. However since the Monks who originally translated the KJV used mostly older translations from before the 12th century, the common understanding of the term ruddy meant intensive or: One, tending to give force according to the Miriam Webster Dictionary.
1. Right off the bat, Samuel notices that David is a very intense person.
JOKE--- A young fellow wanted to be a star journalist but lived in a small town (not much possibility). One day the dam upstream broke and the town was flooded. He got in a rowboat and headed out to look for a story. Finding a lady sitting on her rooftop, he tied up the boat and told her what he was after. (They both watched as various items floated by).
She says, Now there?s a story. But as he surveyed the sight he said, No, that?s not a story. Finally he watches a hat float by and then turn 180 degrees go back upstream a ways do another 180 degree turn, etc.
The fellow says, Now there?s a story. I have never seen a hat do that before!
Oh no, that?s not a story the lady said. That?s my husband Hayford. He said that he was going to mow the lawn come hell or high water!
2. We should learn a lesson in devotion from David, you see David was the sort that he was going to do his job come Hell or high water!
a. Scripture tells us he was so determined to do his job that as a young shepherd he killed both a lion and a bear with his bare hands.
b. Now that is one tough hombre!
3. Later, in Chapter 17, little David fought big ole Goliath and it had to be a most peculiar sight.
ILLUSTRATION---Now my mother, to this very day, still has a black-mail picture of me at the age of 4 dressed from head to toe in one of my father?s suits. And let me tell you, I wore his Frank Sinatra hat, suit jacket, clip-on tie, tie tack, trousers, and shoes.
There I stood when my father came in the door from work! Now I was so excited I started to giggle and squeal like a pig. I took about a step-and-a half, when I caught my foot on the pants leg and fell down so hard! We just about had to call an ambulance---my Dad was laughing so hard, we thought he was going to pass out!
a. Now with that in mind I want you to picture poor pitiful David in vs. 39, dressed in the king?s armor? he couldn?t even move!
b. So David quickly shed the armor and went out to face this giant with nothing more than a sling and some stones.
1) Was this boy out of his cotton picking mind?
2) Absolutely not, you see David did not need armor, had an invincible ally.
3) David had God fighting for him!
4. You know like David we all, young and old, face overwhelming challenges every single day.
a. There are giants in our path such as: Sin, Sickness, Abandonment, Bitterness, Pain, Sorrow, Life and Death, but with God?s strength we can slay every one of them!
I. DAVID WAS THE LOWEST, SO GOD MADE HIM THE HIGHEST
II. DAVID WAS THE TOUGHEST, SO GOD MADE HIM THE MOST FORMIDABLE
III. DAVID WAS THE MOST TENDER
A. Look at vs. 12 again---Samuel not only noticed David?s stature, and his intensity, but he also noticed David?s eyes.
1. A 16th Century Proverb says, The eyes are the window to the soul.
a. And David?s eyes revealed his soul!
1) Psalm 35:9--And my soul shall rejoice in the LORD; It shall exult in His salvation.
b. My friends, the fact is, the faithful heart of young David pleased God more than any of his physical qualities.
2. All the sacrifices and worship we may offer to God are worthless if they are not motivated by a pure heart.
a. David taught us that in Psalm 51:16-17---"For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; you do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart these, O God, you will not despise."
3. King Saul failed because he was self-absorbed, so he did whatever he pleased and put the blame on everyone but himself.
a. And you know, People are still that way today, the Devil made me do it! My parents were mean! He or she told me to do it!
4. Like you and I, David?s life was far from perfect; in fact, he committed nearly every sin in the book, but God loved him because?...
I. DAVID WAS THE LOWEST, SO GOD MADE HIM THE HIGHEST
II. DAVID WAS THE TOUGHEST, SO GOD MADE HIM THE MOST FORMIDABLE
III. DAVID WAS THE MOST TENDER, SO GOD MADE HIM A KING!
CONCLUSION--- Dr. Charles Garfield told the story of his encounter with a toll booth operator. Garfield claims to have been through every one of the 17 toll booths on the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge on thousands of occasions, but on one particular day, something amazing occurred.
It appears that he was approaching the booth on afternoon when all at once he heard loud music playing. It sounded like a big party was going on right there on the freeway. Garfield looked all around, but he saw no other cars with their windows open and no trucks. So he set his gaze on the toll booth.
As he pulled next to the booth, he noticed the man inside was dancing up a storm so he asked, What are you doing? I?m having a party! he replied. Dr. Garfield pointed over to the other 16 booths and asked, What about the rest of these people? They?re not invited.
Well there were a million questions that he wanted to ask this man, but the car behind him layed on the horn, so he pulled away vowing to find this kid again. Sometime later he did come across the kid again at the toll booth. The kid recognized him and said, I?m still dancing; still having a party!
Again Garfield asked him, What about the rest of them? The kid told him to stop his car and look down the line at the other booths. What do those look like to you? he asked the good Dr. ?They look like toll booths!? he replied. Nooooo imagination! He said, Vertical Coffins. What are you talking about? The kid said, Every day at 8:30 in the morning, live people get in. Then they die for eight hours. At 4:30, like Lazarus from the dead, they reemerge and go home.
Garfield was amazed at this borderline theology, so he asked, Why is it different for you? The kid looked at him and answered, I am going to be a dancer someday and my bosses in there are paying for my training, they just don?t know it.
There were sixteen dead people on the job that day, but the seventeenth, in precisely the same place, in exactly the same situation; he figured out a way to live.*
*Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen eds, et., al., A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit, excerpt above from the story entitled, A Place to Stand by Dr. Charles Garfield, (Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc., 1995), 175-177.
My friends, at this very moment the world is full of dead people walking around in a daze. Right now, they are speed headlong into an empty grave and an eternal abyss full of torment and loneliness.
Maybe you are one of them and didn?t even realize it until now?
Well I have good news, Jesus makes a promise to every single soul in this world (and that certainly covers each and every soul in this place today) He says, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die Today he wants to ask you Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26
Why don?t you walk down this isle right now and step out of the shadow of death and into the eternal party of Jesus Christ!
