Sermon for 06/25/06

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Sermon for 06/25/06
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David: A Man After God’s Own Heart! – Every Crutch Removed

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN

Main Theme: This summer we will study the amazing story of David – a shepherd boy who became King! Today, in our 3^rd week, we are cautioned about looking at David’s hero defeat of Goliath, and deciding that David’s training was complete! Hardly! Unbeknownst to us, David is dependant on some “crutches” – that are not God! So God see that these 5 significant crutches are removed: 1) His good position. 2) David’s wife. 3) Samuel. 4) Jonathan. And 5) His own self-respect. This story brings three warnings to all who prefer crutches. First, Crutches becomes substitutes for God. Second, crutches keep our focus horizontal. And thirdly, Crutches offer only temporary relief! We must learn 1) There’s nothing wrong with leaning, if you lean ultimately and completely on the Lord. 2) Being stripped of all substitutes is the most painful experience on earth. Enshrine the Lord in you heart, and lean on Him only! (Based on Chuck Swindoll’s book “David” and other research.)

1) HAPPILY EVER AFTER? And David lived happily ever after! Well, that’s the way last week’s story should have ended. After all, the faithful, trusting, and obedient little shepherd boy had gone toe-to-toe with that Philistine giant (Goliath) and won! Israel is victorious! And a “nobody” become a “somebody” in this Cinderella tale of beating the odds! So shouldn’t David have Cinderella ending? …going off into the sunset with King Saul’s daughter as his new wife, riches, and a high-ranking commission in the army? Well… maybe in a perfect world! But ours is not a perfect world. Darkness always attempts to overcome the light. And the first dark spot to have a negative effect on David’s new life as a hero, is found in King Saul’s heart! Say goodbye to the idea that David is to live happily ever after!

2) WALK WITH THE LORD! Fact is: David’s King (Saul) did not walk with the Lord! Even so, one would think that since David had brought Saul’s army an amazing victory, that Saul would be pleased! But Saul was a broken, brooding, and jealous man! Though David’s motives were pure and his actions right, we learn in 1^st Samuel 18 (vs 6 ff) When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. That’s when Saul began a “slow burn” that kept him always in turmoil. As the fear and worry intensified, Saul became paranoid! Will this “Giant killer” become a “King killer?” Saul couldn’t stand to see David prospering, and the fact that God was on David’s side only made it worse! Why? Because it was obvious to all, Saul did not have such power! Jealousy is a terrible sin, but it was Saul’s because He did not walk with the Lord!

3) AFRAID! Now remember, David did nothing wrong to deserve what was about to happen to him! He had been a model of humility, dependability, and integrity! But Saul struck out at David anyway! (1^st Samuel 18:10-12) The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice. Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul. Notice - “Saul was afraid of David”– isn’t it ironic that the people who are out to get us are often afraid of us. (1^st Samuel 18:14-15) In everything he did he had great success, because the LORD was with him. When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. David would obviously forgive King Saul for this attack, for he went on to serve him and fight great battles for King Saul. But when Saul cracked again some time later and for the second time threw another spear at David with the intent to kill him – David knew what to do next. That night David made good his escape. (1^st Samuel 19:10) Suddenly the King who was afraid of David, now caused David to be afraid of the King!

4) GOOD POSITION! Those words “David made good his escape…” will show up again and again during this early part of David’s life. Our shepherd goes from being a “hero” to a “zero” - one who struggles to survive. During this confusing time in David’s history, we discover that God will remove 5 very significant “crutches” from David’s life! The first thing that David had leaned on that will now be removed from him was 1) the crutch of a good position! David’s good position as an army leader came to him because he had proven himself heroic and faithful! And now – it’s all gone in the flash of a spear! Never again will he serve in King Saul’s army! God removes David’s crutch of a good position and stable career!

5) WIFE! The second crutch God removes is David’s wife! We haven’t talked much about her, but remember – King Saul’s daughter had been promised to David as a reward for heroism! David humbly talked himself out of that arrangement with Saul’s oldest daughter Merab, but then a younger daughter fell in love with David. (1^st Samuel 18:20-21) Now Saul's daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. "I will give her to him," he thought, "so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." Obviously, Saul’s motives were not pure! He wanted to use his daughter as a pawn – and he asked David for a dowry of one hundred Philistine lives – hoping that He might get killed in obtaining such a dowry. David brought him 200! …safely and without being harmed. After blowing his top again, King Saul tried to kill David once again, but David’s wife, helped him escape. And yet, when the King confronts his daughter, she then loses her backbone and loyalty to David. (1^st Samuel 18:20-21) “Michal told him (the king), "He said to me, 'Let me get away. Why should I kill you?'" In order to save her own hide, David’s wife deliberately walked away from him, and never again would they live in harmony! The second crutch God removed from David was his wife!

6) SAMUEL! So our giant-slaying servant of God finds himself running through the hills a fugitive, trying to find someplace of refuge. As one might expect, he goes to the prophet Samuel who had anointed him as a young man. When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. (1^st Samuel 19:18) But someone ratted David out …and David was running again! Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan… (1^st Samuel 20:1) So David lost Samuel as a crutch to lean on!

7) JONATHAN! Now the Jonathan mentioned in that last verse is the King’s son. The two had become inseparable friends! Their story is a great example of “brotherly love” and “loyalty”. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the LORD call David's enemies to account." And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself. (1^st Samuel 20:17-18) I wish we had time to read all about this special relationship and how Jonathan saved his friend many times from his dad’s jealously, and hatred against David! The truth was; “King Saul really wanted David dead!” And a time came when this loyal brotherhood stood on the edge of pending death and faced the truth: David must go – far away. Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'" Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town. (1^st Samuel 20:42) David has lost a prestigious position, his wife, and Samuel – now the 4th crutch taken is his best friend Jonathan!

8) SELF RESPECT! Then comes the final blow: David loses self-respect! In the lowest time of his life, he makes a strange decision. (1^st Samuel 20:42) That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. Why is that a strange decision? Remember Goliath? …the Philistine giant David killed? Gath was Goliath’s home town! What was the David thinking? That he could hide among his enemies unknown? But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: "'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?" (1^st Samuel 21:11) Well, David wasn’t stupid – he realized this plan had gone sour, so… David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. (1^st Samuel 21:12-13) Imagine, David, the champion of Israel …foaming at the mouth, scratching on the gate, acting like a madman in an attempt to save his own neck. The plan worked, the Philistine king and the people laughed at his pitiful figure, and so even his enemy tossed him out of town! David had hit rock bottom. Even the crutch of self-respect had been taken from him!

9) CRUTCHES! Centuries have passed since David had all his “crutches” kicked out from underneath him – but that lonely human experience has not gone away. Who of us have cannot relate to what David went through? Maybe we did not lose a high position, or a wife, a wise counselor, or a best friend, or our self-respect all at the same time – but we have “leaned on” other people and things instead of leaning on God, only to have them painfully ripped away from us. David knew what it meant to have crutches stripped away, and so do we. As children we lean on parents. In school we lean on teachers and peers and even on our education itself. As we head toward some ideal or goal, we lean on our hope for the future! When adulthood comes we lean on our job or profession, our mate, or our financial security. The list of possible crutches is endless, but each can have bad effects on our lives …when they replace God! The scriptures bring us at least three warnings about preferring crutches to leaning on God.

10) SUBSTITUTES! First, 1) Crutches can become substitutes for God! Back in the Garden of Eden, the original plan was simple: God would ask us to trust, love and obey Him, and He would provide for our every emotional, physical, and spiritual need! It was great deal, but one we would blow big time when tempted to eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” so as to be “like gods ourselves” and not need to lean on God! We’ve been messed up every since. As self-centered humans we seem to perpetually seek new substitutes for God! We tend to forget what God has been telling us (Isaiah 41:10) So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God tells every new generation; I will hold you up and care for you, but as long as you keep choosing to lean on someone or something else – you can’t lean on Me! You cannot have substitutes for me and expect them to give you what only I, the Creator of the Universe, can give you!

11) HORIZONTAL! Secondly 2) Crutches can keep our focus horizontal. When you lean on others or things, the focus is always sideways – not vertical! You will constantly find yourself turning to and relying on that “person” or “thing”, and walking away from that which is spiritual! Focus horizontally on sleep or sports on Sunday morning – and you miss opportunities to worship God and be blessed in the Word. Focus horizontally on constant business, entertainment, hobbies, or become a work-a-holic – you miss out on the joy that comes from serving God and others through the use of your God-given spiritual gifts! Focus horizontally on comfort, avoidance of pain, and security in wealth – you forget about witnessing to the greatest treasure on earth: the love and light of Jesus Chris! …you miss out on the gift of Christian fellowship. …you miss out on the life-giving truth found in the scriptures, and in bible studies, and in devotions! Focus on horizontal substitutes for God, and you will miss out on the divine blessings that come from a deepening vertical relationship with your Lord and Savior!

12) TEMPORARY RELIEF! Thirdly, 3) Crutches can offer only temporary relief! Isn’t it ironic that we Americans, living in the richest country on earth, take billions of tablets and pills hoping to find a tranquilizing experience in order to endure the storms of life! What happened to the relief that TV, entertainment, power, fame, riches, and possessions promised to bring us? It seems like every other commercial promises to bring us some remedy that will sooth us, comfort us, or dull our pain. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not speaking against taking medicine or accepting help when it’s necessary, but when the Gifts of God become MORE IMPORTANT than “The Giver”, then I’m simply suggesting that we may be falling back on those substitutes regularly rather than leaning on the Lord! And that’s usually when things get worse! Fact is, God doesn’t give temporary relief, He offers a permanent solution!

13) A CHOICE! Some of you here today, are in the process of having every crutch removed from your life. This creates enormous pain and instability when the things you have been counting on are torn from your life! Perhaps it’s a broken romance. The man or woman you felt was God’s choice for you has now vanished, and it hurts deeply. Some of you are experiencing or have experienced a divorce - and the relationship you thought would last forever and ever – is going or gone! Maybe it’s the death of a dream – everything you hoped and planned for has gone up in smoke. Perhaps you lost your job, or the financial investment you thought would allow early retirement blew up! Maybe that healthy body that has served you so well in the past has fallen apart – leaving you without the freedom and independence you relied so heavily upon. But whatever crutch has been removed, you now have a choice! You can either look around for some other person or thing to rely on – or you can lean on God, and God ALONE! You have a choice! What will you choose? Another crutch, or your all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God?

14) PRAY/PRAYER! In his book “The Pursuit of God”, A.W. Tozer ended one his chapters with this prayer, “Father, I want to know you, but my cowardly heart fears giving up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from you the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that you may enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shall you make the place of your feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for You will be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus Name, AMEN” That prayer is the kind a man can pray when his wife comes home and says the doctor says the bump may be malignant. It’s the kind of prayer that a parent needs to pray when the word comes back, “It’s leukemia” or “It’s multiple sclerosis” or “It’s encephalitis”. It’s what you can pray when you come home with your pink slip and realize the company doesn’t need you on the job any longer. Or when a wife or husband says “I don’t want you anymore!” So let me ask you, what do you pray about when a crutch gets taken away? What prayer rises upward when the non-spiritual things you lean on fail you?

15) LEANING ON THE LORD! Friends, if you are A LEANER, burn these two lessons into your heart and mind: 1) There’s nothing wrong with leaning, IF you lean ultimately and completely on the Lord! In fact, being human you HAVE to lean; you can’t walk the life of faith alone! That’s why you have Christ! Being a leaner is built into your spiritual DNA. You have this place in your heart, an inner shrine, and no one should occupy that space but Him! There’s nothing wrong with leaning, if you’re leaning on the Lord!

16) PAINFUL! And secondly: 2) Being stripped of all substitutes is the most painful experience on earth, so enshrine the Lord in your Heart! If toys or idols fill your heart’s shrine – relieve yourself of them before God has to take them away. Love you mate and children, but don’t make an idol of them! Don’t make an idol of your job, or possessions, or money! Enshrine the Lord in your heart - lean only on Him! David needed to learn that all-important principle before God could hand Him the precious people of Judah and Israel to lead. It is an extremely painful lesson to learn, but the truth behind it must be embraced if we are to be used by God according to His life-giving will!

17) LEAN ON ME! If you sense that that you are a leaner, but what you are leaning on is not 100% Jesus Christ – He is here today, calling to you and saying “Lean on me!” He’s here to enter into all open hearts, to do for you, what you cannot do for yourself; He comes to spiritually “wean you off” the bad habit of leaning on other people and things, and to direct you how to lean on God instead! Christ is here to open your eyes to the ungodly idols in your life and to empower you to throw your crutches away before they are kicked out from under you. Jesus loves you too much to let you remain “leaning on other people or things” instead of God! Why? Because what these substitutes offer you is temporary and distracting. Jesus says, “Come lean on me – for I provide for all your needs and bring you that which is life-giving and divine!” Come receive the Holy Spirit’s love, faith, and hope that helps you lean on your Creator, as it was always intended to be!

Praise God!

AMEN

Sermon/Confessional Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we confess that too often we lean on everything and everyone but you. We count on ourselves, and others, and things to solve our problems and bring us meaning and joy. But they always fall far short of our expectations – their relief is temporary, and they fail to provide the inner peace, joy, faith, hope and love that we seek. Forgive us and help us not to be distracted or focused on the horizontal things but on what comes to us from above – from your heart alone!

Lord, forgive us when we get bitter when the crutches we have depended upon are taken away. And help us to understand your original plan – that we should lean on you and you alone for all we need! Forgive us for not wanting to face the truth – that we have created many substitutes for you. Empower us now to recognize the people and things we have turned into idols, and help us to remove them from our hearts shrine, that you and you alone may reign there!

And now Lord, although you know us better than we know ourselves, listen as we share in a moment of silence, those other parts of our lives that need to be forgiven, washed clean, healed, and recommitted to you! (made anew.)

(Silence)

Lord, your servant David experienced the painful lessons that had to be learned if he was to be able to lean on you alone when that time came to lead His people as a righteous King. Awaken in us that same understanding, before we have to learn those same lessons the hard way! And if that is too late, and the painful lessons are now a present reality – empower to turn to you immediately and obediently that we might experience the fullness and joyful blessings that come from leaning completely on your divine love, power, and wisdom! In Jesus Name We Pray. AMEN

Assurance of Forgiveness:

Friends, listen to the good news: The Lord, who removes our crutches that we might learn to lean on Him and truly live, …that Lord has mercifully heard your confession and eagerly forgives you all your sins. Go now, and remember: the crutches the world offers are temporary and unfulfilling! Lean on Jesus Christ, and Him alone, and you will experience an adventure of faith filled with joy and life-giving meaning! Praise God! AMEN

Opening prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we come here this morning having put our faith in many people and things this week that we had hoped would fill our life with joy and meaning. But what we received from worldly people and possessions and our non-spiritual experiences was again disappointing, temporary, and ultimately unfulfilling. So when your Holy Spirit called us into your Holy presence here this morning, we came, and now something deep inside is moving us to seek you out – and making us aware that you, and you alone have never failed us. We are slowly learning that you and you alone have what we are searching for. So we come humbly asking for forgiveness and eager to turn the burden of our sins over to you! While the world has tried to provide us with a substitute for the healing that only you can give, we return to you - knowing that you alone can mend our emotional, physical, and spiritual wounds. While earthly people and things have promised to lead us to meaning and fulfillment, it is only in your presence that lasting and eternal purpose becomes clear. So as we praise your name and sing of your unconditional love, draw us closer to you, and transform our hearts! Make us new creatures – spiritual in nature, and seeking to love and serve you! Teach us to lean on no one, or anything, but you! In Jesus Name We Pray! AMEN!

INTRODUCTION TO 1^st READING: (Acts 2:42-47)

Devoted! It’s a key word in the text we are about to read. Nearly everyone in the world is devoted to something or someone. But Christians are called to be different in our devotion – for everything we are called to do comes from our devotion to Christ! There are many voices, people, and things calling us to forget that, and to focus instead on that which does not come from God. In the text we are about to read, we read of amazing miracles and growth happening within the budding church. As we now celebrate the Fellowship of Believers, and seek to be a church that gives freely to “anyone” in need, let us read together about the blessings that come to a people are devoted to Christ and the things and people He directs us to. Listen now to Acts, the 2^nd Chapter…

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING!

(In the theme of unity, would you please grab the hand of someone besides you… and after I open the prayers, there will be an opportunity for you to give thanks out loud for (not specific names), gifts, ministries, blessings, etc.. that God has provided us in this church family.)

Lord, you are the master artist and Creator that loves His beloved children unconditionally and longs to see us grow. You desire to see us grow…

closer to you,

and closer to one another.

You desire us to grow spiritually in your Word,

and grow your church family!

And so we thank you for the diversity among us, for giving us unique and distinctive gifts, abilities, and resources. And we thank you for giving us a common purpose, for linking us together in service. We thank you for calling us into the body of Christ, and for the ability to work together as the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We are awed by the gifts you have given to this church family; and pray that you would lead us to expand this gathering of believers –by expanding our hearts to love others as you have loved us!

Listen now as we specifically give thanks for the special gifts and ministries found in those around us this morning. As we lift them up to you out loud, bless them and empower them with your spirit in order to grow your church….

Lord, you have blessed us that we might be a blessing to others. So take our meager offerings of time, talent, and treasures and combine them, multiple them, and empower us to use them to bring glory into the world. Inspire and enable this family to grow your Kingdom, to seek out those who feel unwanted and alone, and bring them into your loving embrace. We give you thanks for every brother and sister here today, and especially for those who are still to come. Join our hearts, minds, and souls together – and show us the way to seek, love, and encourage one another, as you have so graciously done to us! AMEN

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