CONQUERING YOUR GIANTS

I Samuel 17

Faith-based courage is the disciple’s armor.

A sermon preached by

Dr. William O. (Bud) Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot Springs= , Arkansas

August 17, 2008

If you are here today, that means you probably m= issed Elvis Week in Memphis. The highlight of this week was the unveiling of the Elvis and Priscilla Barbie and Ken dolls. Yes, they got divorced. And yes, he’s been dead for = 31 years. But if you’re an= Elvis fan, the dolls are available at a fine toy store near you. Whether you’re a fan of his = music or not, there is no denying that Elvis Presley is a cultural icon, a hero to many people, a larger-than-life personality whose influence has not diminis= hed over 31 years since his death. In fact, he may be more of a hero now than he was in the latter years of his l= ife.

One of the ways you can identify a hero is the personal connection that people make with the life of someone who is really significant. For example, I c= an tell you where I was when I heard that Elvis had died, and I wasn’t e= ven a big fan of his music. (I wa= s in the Wal-Mart in Stuttgart, Arkansas, where I was a youth director during one of my college summers.) Do you know where you were when Elvis died? Or the day John F. Kennedy was shot? Or when Michael Phelps = won his eighth gold medal? (Maybe= that one is not so hard.) Some peo= ple are just larger than life, and they stick in our memory.<= /p>

King David was that kind of hero to the Jewish people. He was larger than li= fe, the greatest King ever in the Jewish monarchy. Along with Moses and perhaps Abrah= am, he is one of the central figures in the Old Testament. And one of the biggest days in his history-making career was the day he battled the giant Goliath. This was the event that threw Davi= d into the national spotlight. If you’ll pardon the golf analogy, it was like Tiger Woods winning the 1997 Master’s at the age of twenty-one. From this day on, David son of Jes= se from Bethlehem was a household name. People = in Israel = could probably tell you where they were when they heard about David’s victo= ry over the Philistine monster. =

The truth is, David came into this contest by accident. He was the eighth a= nd youngest son of Jesse, and his older brothers had gone off to war against t= he Philistines. Jesse called Dav= id in from keeping the sheep and sent him to the battlefield with a picnic basket= for his brothers.

What David did not know was that the Israelite a= rmy under the leadership of King Saul was cowering in fear because of this giant named Goliath. He was about n= ine feet tall, and they had to rent a truck to carry his armor. His spear looked like a small tree= , and he carried with it a very bad attitude.&nb= sp; This Goliath had been coming out of the Philistine ranks and taunting the Israelites. “Pick a man—any man. Send him o= ut to fight me, and if he wins, we will serve King Saul. If I win we will rule over you.= 221;

It seemed fair enough; it would save all that bloodshed and war stuff. But = nobody volunteered to stand up for Israel. Everybody, from King Saul on down,= was shaking in his sandals. Nobod= y was brave enough to fight Goliath.

Young David happened to come into camp just abou= t the time Goliath made his usual morning speech: “Send me a man, if you’= ;ve got one tough enough to fight Goliath!”

David was incensed that this uncircumcised heath= en was making cowards out of the people of God.&n= bsp; He began to make noise about wanting to fight the giant, and that so= on got him called up before King Saul himself. He told the king that he would go = and fight the Philistine, and Saul’s response was, “You’re too young; you’re too small; you are not a trained warrior, and this Goli= ath has been fighting since he was a seven-foot 12-year-old.”<= /span>

David told the King, “I have killed bears = and lions with my bare hands; I think I can take this Philistine, with God̵= 7;s help.”

Saul said, “It’s your funeral.” Actually he said, “Go and may the Lord be with you.” But he mea= nt, “It’s your funeral.”

Before David went into battle, Saul tried to get= him to wear the king’s own armor. But Saul was a big man himself, and the armor weighed more than David did, so he left it behind. Al= l he took onto the battlefield was his shepherd’s sling and five smooth, aerodynamic, weapons-grade stones. That was his entire defense system.

The giant had never seen anything so pathetic as= the little shepherd boy with a pocketful of rocks. He cursed David and told him he wo= uld soon feed his carcass to the birds and wild animals.

Before David got down to business, he had a few = words for Goliath: "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I c= ome against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel,= whom you have defied. T= his day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the bi= rds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Is= rael! 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."[1] David wasn’t taking any trash= off of this Philistine!

Then David backed his words with action. He took a stone and loaded his sli= ng and whirled it around and fired that rock right between the eyes of Goliath. Goliath went cross-eyed for just a second, then the whole countryside was still as the giant began to sway and then totter and then tumble face forward onto the ground, like a big old tr= ee that had been cut down. Befor= e he could wake up, David ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword out of its sheath, and…well, I’ll spare you the gory details. Suffice it to say it was a great v= ictory for David, a catastrophic defeat for the Philistines, and a political relief for King Saul. From that day = on, David was on the fast track, until he himself sat on the throne of Israel.

So what lessons do we lear= n from this interesting if somewhat violent tale from the life of King David? How does this help us follow Jesus better?

The word for today is courage. David is a great exa= mple of courage. He was not going = to stand by while Goliath cursed his God and ridiculed his people. He had to act. He volunteered for service. Sure, the odds were not in his favor. Sure, the giant was tw= ice his size and had a bad temper. Sure, he was scared. B= ut David had courage. Courage is simply the ability to act on principle regardless of the outward circumstances. Courage refuse= s to be controlled by fear. Courage ignores popular opinion if that opinion is wrong. Courage does what is right regardl= ess.

I’ve seen courage in= so many of the everyday disciples I have had the privilege to pastor. Courage is a man battling cancer a= nd surviving it and using that experience to minister in the hospitals. Courage is a teenager with Down= 217;s syndrome training and competing in the Special Olympics. Courage is a husband dedicating hi= s life to taking care of a wife bedfast with rheumatoid arthritis. Courage is a young mother with four children, two of them severely handicapped, talking about how her life has = been blessed by her children. Cour= age is a young lady graduating from college and getting a call from God, giving up plans for a career in medicine to go minister in the garbage dumps of the <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Philippines, then in the deserts of Africa. I could name more, and so could you. I have known these people, acting on principle regardless of external circumstances. Their courage = has inspired me. Where does coura= ge like that, courage like David’s, come from?

This week, every person of compassion in Arkansas has been saddened= by the murder of Bill Gwatney, the chair of the Arkansas Democratic party. Gwatney was shot by Timothy Dale Johnson, in an unexplained act of violence. Johnson was later killed in a shoo= t-out with police. But after he sho= t Gwatney, Timothy Johnson went to the headquarters of the Arkansas Baptist Convention. There he ran into= Kirby Martin, the building supervisor, who routinely deals with unwelcome visitors. But Wednesday, the visitor had a gun. Martin fir= st ran away from Johnson to have someone contact 911. But then Martin realized other peo= ple were in the building and in danger. So in an incredible act of courage, Martin went up on the elevator a= nd invited Johnson to ride down with him—alone, in an elevator, with a disturbed man who held a gun. Fortunately, Timothy Johnson then walked out of the Baptist building without harming anyone. But w= hat might have happened without Kirby Martin’s intervention? He told the Democrat-Gazette, “Why did Bill Gwatney have to lose his = life that day, and why was Kirby Martin’s life spared, I’d don’= ;t know. It’s one of those mysteries that I guess, this side of heaven, no one will ever be able to explain. But I also told my w= ife and other people, if I had been shot and killed, God is still good.”= = [2]

Where did Kirby Martin get= his courage? Where did David get his courage?&= nbsp; Was it from his ruddy good looks, his wealth, his physical strength? He told King Saul, = “The Lord, who saved me from the= paw of the lion and the bear will save me from the hand of this Philistine.R= 21;= = [3] He told Goliath, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.”= = [4] Where did he get his cour= age? His faith! His trust in the Lord! In the power of the Name! Real courage is based on faith.

Charles Lyons is the pasto= r of the Armitage Baptist Church on the South Side of Chicago. Back in the 1980’s, when gang activity was rampant, the South Side was dominated by the OA gang. In = order to fight the gang activity, Armitage Baptist Church formed prayer teams of two men each, Christians who knew the language and t= he ways of the street. They would drive around until they saw gang members gathered on a street corner. Once the gang members put on the c= olors, they were not supposed to talk to anybody except other gang members and police. But these street-wise disciples would park their cars and walk right up to these gangs and talk to them: “I’m Al; this is Joe, and we’re from Armitage Baptist Church. We’re the prayer patrol. How ya doin’? Is there anything we can pray abou= t with you? Baby sick? Brother in jail? Can we pray for you?”

Then these prayer patrolmen would put their hands on the shoulders of these hardened gang members and p= ray for them, right there on the street. In time, they got to know the boys and they earned their respect. For twenty years the OA gang had r= uled that part of Chicago. They were the giants in the land. Today the OA is gone. Armitage Baptist Church is still the= re, and still praying.[5]<= /span>

Courage is powered by faith. If you’re going = to overcome the external circumstances of your life, then you have to have some internal fortitude from somewhere. <= /span>That comes from faith. Faith-based courage is the disciple’s armor.

When David went out to face Goliath, Saul offered him his own royal armor. He didn’t want the kid to go= out there with no protection at all. But Saul didn’t know the protection David had. David gamely tried to wear Saul= 217;s helmet and coat of mail and carry his huge sword. But he couldn’t even walk. So he shucked the armor and walked= out to meet Goliath with his own form of protection.

As we face the giants of o= ur lives, we have to wear our own armor. Somebody else’s armor won’t work. When you face the difficulties and obstacles that threaten to destroy you, you can’t depend on somebody else’s faith to pull you through.&nb= sp; Even if there is a whole church-full of people praying for you, the giant is going to step on you unless you have the internal resources of fai= th to stand. It’s not your grandfather’s faith or your mother̵= 7;s faith that will save you; it has to be your own, claimed and confessed and committed in your own heart of hearts.&nbs= p; That’s where your armor is.

Mike Breaux is a pastor who raised his kids in the faith, but his daughter Jodi always struggled to fin= d a faith of her own. She wanted = to make sure that all she had been taught was true. She was facing a giant of doubt. When she graduated from high schoo= l, she said, "I don't think God wants me to go to college right now. I want to take a year to go to Haiti, and I want to serve people in a medical mission down there."

Mike wasn’t sure he = wanted his 18-year-old to go 3,000 miles from home to the poorest nation in the he= misphere, where AIDS and voodoo religion were rampant. But Jodi felt a call from God, and= so Mike helped arrange a mission and put her on the plane, not knowing if he w= ould ever see his daughter again. =

One night Mike got an emai= l from Jodi. She had been called to = go alone to help deliver a baby. She had never done that by herself, but there was nobody else around, so she went. There she was, an 18-ye= ar-old American girl, helping a screaming, naked woman deliver a baby on the dirt floor of a hut in Ha= iti by the light of a flashlight.

Then the voodoo priestess = showed up. Dressed in her outlandish= garb, she began to speak spooky Creole incantations and to anoint the screaming w= oman with oil and salve. Then she = locked eyes with Jodi, staring hateful holes through this Christian missionary.

Jodi didn’t know wha= t to do. She knew the voodoo woman didn’t understand English, but she started singing, “Our God is= an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power, and love, our= God is an awesome God." Sudd= enly the priestess came completely unglued.&nbs= p; She grabbed all of her stuff and ran out of the hut. Jodi wrote, "That night I knew= that that baby was going to be born with the blessing of God and not the curse of Satan."

Mike Breaux’s father= ly mind thought, “You get on a pla= ne tomorrow! What are you doing = in a hut with a voodoo woman in the first place?” But then his pastoral heart said, “Way to go, Jodi! Way to m= ake a difference with your life! Way to put your life in the hands of God! Who knows who that little baby [you] delivered that night is going to grow up to touch and who that person is going to touch—all because of one courageous girl who said, ‘Okay, God, I want to put my life in your hands; I want to make a difference.’"[6]

Faith-based courage is the disciple’s armor. Put o= n the armor of faith, and you will conquer your giants. David wore the armor of faith, and Goliath shook the ground when he fell.&nbs= p; What giants are you facing today?&n= bsp; Physical illness? Host= ility and resentment in your marriage? Children who have strayed from the path? Economic hardship? Addiction to alcohol or drugs? Your own death or the death of some= one you love? Whatever the giant that stands before you, there is armor in your faith. You can live with cour= age. You can conquer your giants. God can give you the victory. Amen= !