For the next ten weeks or so, we’re going to embark on a journey through the life of David. The story of David’s life is so fascinating. We probably know more about David that any other person in the Bible, except for Jesus. And the thing I like about David is that he’s so much like us. God calls him a man after God’s own heart and yet David is certainly no picture of perfection. He commits adultery and murder; he disobeys God; his family is a mess.
So why would we want to study the life of David? David’s really not a role model to follow. And even if he was, I’m not sure how much value that would be to us. In his book Leap Over a Wall, Eugene Peterson has this insight into the danger of trying to emulate role models in our lives:
A common, maybe the most common, error in our quest to live well is to set up a model that we attempt to emulate. The model shows us what we can become, a perfection to which we can aspire. But it also continuously shows us what we aren’t yet, how far we have to go. After we try this for a while, it turns out most of us don’t have much good to say about role models.
And while we can certainly find some Biblical principles and theological truths in the midst of his story, I’m not sure that’s even the most valuable reason for examining David’s life. But the one thing that David does that all of us can relate to is that he lives out his spirituality in the midst of the real world – what Eugene Peterson refers to as “earthly spirituality.” Every part of David’s life is an encounter with God – even when he doesn’t know it.
One of the dangers we face as followers of Jesus Christ is that we tend to compartmentalize our lives. We separate the secular and the sacred. But when we look at the life of David we begin to realize that in a sense everything we do in life is an encounter with God. That’s why I’ve titled this series “Spirituality for the Real World.” It’s my prayer for all of us that as we examine David’s life we’ll recognize that God wants to be intimately involved in every part of my life and that maybe along the way we’ll also discover how we can do that just a little bit better and how we, too, can be men and women after God’s own heart.
David’s story begins in 1 Samuel 16, so let’s read the first 13 verses together.
Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13
I’ve titled the message this morning “So Long Status Quo”. That title comes from the song “Brave” by Nicole Nordeman. A little later on we’ll listen to that song, but just listen right now to the words of the chorus:
So long, status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
I’m convinced that those words are so appropriate for many of us. A lot of us would really like to live a life that serves God. We’d like to move beyond the status quo and step out in faith and take a risk and do something good for God, but we’re afraid. And there are many reasons for our fear. But when it comes right down to it, I think there are three basic fears that most of us experience:
• I’m just an ordinary person
We live in a world today where we entrust everything to the “experts.” We turn the responsibility for our health over to the medical experts. We turn the responsibility for our learning over to the educational experts. We turn the responsibility for our relationships over to the psychological experts. And the results aren’t always very encouraging. In spite of the advances in medicine, people are fatter and lazier than ever. We’ve raised up a whole generation of people who are ignorant of history and unable to think for themselves. And we have a much higher rate of dysfunctional families and relationships than we’ve ever experienced.
And yet, in the face of these disturbing trends, we’ve also chosen to entrust our faith over to the “religious experts.” And so this whole distinction between the religious experts – the clergy – and the ordinary people – the laity – has developed. And unfortunately many of us have gotten the mistaken impression that God can’t use us because we don’t have a seminary degree or don’t have all the answers. I know because I’ve been there. I’m just an ordinary guy who has gone through 4 or 5 different careers. I don’t have a seminary degree and I certainly don’t have all the answers.
• I’m just in an ordinary position
A lot of us feel we can’t really serve God all that well, because we find ourselves in what we consider to be such an ordinary position as well. We’re not in circumstances that seem to give us great power or prestige influence and so we figure we can’t really do much for God.
We look at people like Billy Graham or Rick Warren and think “Now, they’re in a position to do something great for God. But, not me.” I think that sometimes pastors of small churches especially struggle with that idea. There is a tendency to think that our ministry is not nearly as significant as what the pastors of these mega-churches are doing.
And for those of you who aren’t in “professional ministry” there is an even greater chance that you’ll look at your position and conclude that you just can’t do anything significant for God where you are.
• I just have ordinary power
Even if we believe God can use ordinary people in ordinary positions to serve Him, we’re afraid because we just don’t feel like we’re properly equipped to do whatever God calls us to do. Maybe we don’t have the proper training, the proper time or the proper resources.
Fortunately for us, the David story, and particularly this passage are the antidotes to this kind of fear. When we look at the life of David, it helps us to move beyond the status quo, to say the way it always was is no longer good enough.
I CAN MOVE BEYOND THE STATUS QUO BECAUSE…
1. God chooses ordinary people in order to serve His purposes.
When God instructed Samuel to go to Bethlehem and select one of the sons of Jesse to be the new king, I think Samuel had to be wondering what God was doing. Why was God sending him to the family of Jesse? Jesse wasn’t even a pure Jew. His grandmother Ruth was a despised Moabite.
And once he got there, he had to be even more confused. In the culture of that day, it was always the oldest son who inherited the positions of leadership. So it’s no wonder that when Eliab comes before him, Samuel immediately assumes that he is the one. But God lets Samuel know that he is not interested in what people look like or even whatever other people think. God chooses people with the right heart to serve Him.
After Abinadab and Shammah and the next four sons are also not chosen, Samuel really has to wonder what’s going on. You can almost hear the exasperation in his voice as he asks Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” I think Jesse is pretty confused, too. It’s almost as if he says, “Well, there’s the baby brother, but I’m sure he’s not the one you want.” In fact, David is so insignificant that his name isn’t even mentioned yet at this point in the story.
But God is in the business of choosing ordinary people in order to serve His purposes, so He chose David. It’s pretty obvious from this account that David is the most ordinary, insignificant person involved in the process of anointing a new king that day. After all, Samuel was a prophet of God. Even Jesse had significance as the father of 8 boys. David’s brothers were all bigger and stronger than he was. But God chose David.
I was reading through Hebrews 11 again this week. That’s what many would call God’s Faith Hall of Fame. And I was struck by the fact that none of the people mentioned there would have been considered to be prominent people in their culture. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses – all of them were just ordinary people that God chose to work through.
Or think about Jesus’ disciples. Jesus chose ordinary people like fishermen and tax collectors to follow Him and to establish His church once He went to be with the Father.
God is still in the business of choosing ordinary people to carry out His plans and purposes. God doesn’t care about your heritage, He doesn’t care about your intelligence, He doesn’t care how much money you have, He doesn’t care about how many people you know and how much influence you have, He doesn’t care about how ordinary you may think you are – He only cares about your heart.
If you love God and you desire to serve Him with your whole heart, then God can use you.
2. God chooses ordinary people in ordinary positions in order to serve His purposes.
Not only was David an ordinary person, he was also in a very ordinary position. He was out tending the sheep. That was the least demanding of all the jobs on the farm, the place where David could do the least damage. Even though God would later speak to David about shepherding His people and even Jesus would refer to Himself as the Great Shepherd, the work itself was considered to be menial, insignificant labor.
But one of the most extraordinary episodes in the entire David story occurs right after Samuel anoints David as king. David just goes back to tending his sheep. That just amazes me. It would be like some farmer getting elected to be President of the United States on the first Tuesday in November and then going back to farming until the inauguration in January. Only in David’s case, the period from the election to the inauguration was more like ten years.
One of the most amazing things about David’s life is that he is able to serve God’s purposes wherever he is. David never asked to be king. He didn’t campaign for the position. Even after he was anointed, he didn’t take any steps to take over the position. He just kept serving God right where he was. Even when his older brothers went off to fight the Philistines, David just spent most of his time in the fields with the sheep and he made an occasional trip to the battle lines to take supplies to his brothers.
Even as a fugitive from King Saul, David developed his relationship with God and served Him. He learned to turn to God when he was in trouble, and to trust God and rely upon Him in both good times and bad.
David is such an encouragement to me because he proves to me that God can work in my life and I can serve God regardless of my position in life. It doesn’t matter whether I’m the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a stay-at-home mom. It doesn’t matter whether I’m the President of the United States or a clerk at Circle K. And it certainly doesn’t matter whether I am “clergy” or “laity”.
God is much more interested in developing our character than in changing our circumstances. When I read the Bible, I find very few instances where people prayed and asked God to change their position and God answered that prayer. But I can find numerous examples where God chose to work in the lives of people right where they were.
When Paul wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth, he addressed those new believers that were trying to change their circumstances:
You must accept whatever situation the Lord has put you in, and continue on as you were when God first called you…
1 Corinthians 7:17 (NLT)
Now, there are some times when it is necessary to change our circumstances. Certainly, if we’re in a place where immorality is rampant or where we’re expected to participate in things that are contrary to our faith, we need to get out. But Paul was cautioning the people against spending too much time and effort in trying to change their circumstances rather than developing their relationship with God.
I know that there are some of us here today that can never move beyond the status quo because we’re waiting for perfect conditions. We’re waiting to serve God until we find the right job, or the right mate or until we have enough money, or until the kids get a little older, or until we retire…etc…etc…etc….
Here’s what the Bible has to say about your wait:
If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)
So why not serve God just as you are, right where you are?
3. God chooses to give extraordinary power to ordinary people in ordinary circumstances in order to serve His purposes.
If you still have your Bibles open to 1 Samuel 16, look at verse 13 again.
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.
When God calls us to serve Him, He doesn’t just leave us on our own – He gives us the power to do whatever it is He calls us to do. In the Old Testament, many times when God called a person to a specific task, He would pour out His Holy Spirit on that person for a specific amount of time in order to accomplish a specific task.
For instance, when Saul became king, God poured out His Spirit on Saul. But if you look in 1 Samuel 16:14, you’ll find that the Spirit of God had departed from Saul because Saul was no longer serving God.
So when God called David to be the king, He gave David the power He needed to serve God, not just when he became king, but in the midst of those ordinary circumstances that David experienced before he became king.
The good news for us is that the very moment we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to reside permanently in our lives. And at least one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to bring power into our lives. I can say that with confidence based on the words of Jesus:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…
Acts 1:8 (NIV)
Not only that, Jesus Himself will give us the power to accomplish whatever God calls us to do.
For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
Philippians 4:13 (NLT)
Our problem is that we try to serve God in our own strength and power.
We recently purchased a new gas grill for our house. But when we ran the natural gas line and hooked up the grill, some of the burners wouldn’t even light and the ones that would light had almost no flame, certainly not enough to cook on. So the first thing I did was to call the gas company to make sure our gas pressure was adequate. They tested the gas line and found that the pressure was just what it is supposed to be. Then I called the company that made the grill. They came out to look at the grill and discovered that the grill was assembled with orifices that were designed to work with propane gas, so they didn’t have a large enough opening to allow the proper amount of gas through. Once they replaced the orifices with the proper ones, the burners lit immediately and produced a very hot flame.
When we try to serve God in our power, it’s like trying to run a grill with orifices that are too small and then we wonder why nothing’s cooking. The truth is that I’m incapable of doing anything God wants me to do in my own power. Unfortunately, from time to time some of you are the victims of my own efforts. Whenever I try to bring you a message from God’s Word and I do it in my own power, then nothing’s going to be cooking, so to speak. Sometimes God in His grace, can still use that in the lives of others, but is certainly doesn’t have the power it should.
But when I rely upon God’s power, then it’s like cooking on a red-hot grill that’s getting plenty of fuel. And the results will show the difference.
If I want to move beyond the status quo and really serve God then I can take encouragement from David because:
God chooses to give extraordinary power to ordinary people in ordinary circumstances in order to serve His purposes.
Right now, we’re going to listen to the song Brave, by Nicole Nordeman. As you listen, think about how God wants to give you the courage to serve him, the ordinary person in an ordinary position who has the extraordinary power of God.
(Listen to song)
For the duration of this series of messages, I want to try something new that will hopefully be helpful to you in helping to apply these messages to your lives. You’ll notice that on the back of your sermon outline, there is a section labeled “Looking Back.” I want to encourage you to spend some time at the beginning of this week to use those questions to help you think about today’s message and how you can apply it to your life.
And then there is a section labeled “Looking Ahead”. Towards the end of the week, I want to encourage you to prepare for next week’s message by reading some scripture and thinking about it a little before we get together next Sunday.
Looking Back
1. How could Romans 12:1 help me to have the courage to move beyond the status quo?
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.
Romans 12:1 (Message)
2. What practical steps can I take to make my heart more pleasing to God?
3. What are some ways God might be able to use me right where I am right now?
Looking Ahead
1. Read 1 Samuel 16:14-23. Consider how this passage might apply to my work. Think about “work” in a very broad sense – basically anything that serves the needs of others.
