OPEN DOOR POLICIES
One Stands; Everyone Sits
THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S
1. Don’t be _____________ by the battle.
2. Throw off both _________ ways and trust in ______.
3. The Lord fights the ________
and gives you the _________.
Welcome to worship today at Morrison Zion Lutheran Church. We exist to glorify God. We have set out to do this by gathering around the Gospel so that we may grow in the Gospel and go to others with this Gospel.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ, our Lord:
The story of David and Goliath you might argue is maybe one of the most famous stories in the world. It’s a story that is from the Bible, but if you’re not a Christian, pretty much if you’re any religion, for almost anyone, you know of David and Goliath. You know of this battle that was fought. But a good question is what has the story been reduced down to? As we look at this text today, it’s going to be important to see that there is a large section and we want to focus on the key parts of this, but also, maybe we need to re-tune our minds to what this is all really about.
What we are going to see is that the battle is the Lord’s. But I wonder if we are so used to this story being about the underdog. Think of every sports analogy. When March Madness is coming up and the sixteenth seed is playing the one seed—the David vs. the Goliath, or when someone is so overmatched. This is all we think about now for David and Goliath, but there is so much more. So there is so much more that we need to see for us, and for our Spiritual life, than just that there is an underdog that can have strength and not be afraid of facing someone when they are overmatched. For us, we need to see this truth—the truth that the battle is the Lord’s and what that means for us in our life, now and into eternity.
It’s important that we look at this because when we see the setup, we want to ask “Where should I be putting myself?” Where should you be placing yourself? If you think about the Sunday school stories and where you learned it, you’ve most likely put yourself in the place of David. God is going to help you fight your battle. Today I want to put ourselves more in the place of the Israelites—those who are watching this unfold, seeing this giant come up, and seeing how King Saul reacts and then how this young boy, without any armor, comes up. What are you thinking as this battle unfolds?
To begin with, what are the people thinking—we know very well what the people are thinking as we are introduced to a giant, this man who is described with weapons and armor that is something more than people could imagine. Think of the biggest person you have ever seen, maybe Shaq, André the Giant, but this was a large, large man. Not only was he large but who he was and his weapons were intimidating. He came with intimidating speech. He threatened them. It says that he was a champion. When we look at this, it’s important to know the culture back then wasn’t so much individualistic, but when a champion was fighting, it wasn’t like a duel where one guy kills the other and that’s it. Goliath kind of sets the stage. He says, “Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” He is mocking the Israelites and their God and we see how people respond. On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. They were afraid of what they were facing.
The first thing we need to remember and see is how people react to those battles in their life and how David reacts. David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul and the Israelites were petrified, afraid, and David says, “Don’t be afraid.” The encouragement for us is don’t be intimidated by the battle. There are so many things in life that feel like they are too overwhelming, that there is no way out, or it is never going to be solved. What happens then is we tend to go to the wrong things. We tend to be afraid and if they become too overwhelming, we just don’t know what to do. What happens then is what Saul did and what the Israelites did. They go to worldly ways.
The Israelites had wanted a king and they said “Give us a king like all the other nations. Give us what everyone else has. That will help us fight our battles.” And what do we see? That even though Saul, a foot taller than most of the Israelites and he was a strong man, he was afraid. He was fearful of going up. Who should have been the man to go to battle, to be the champion for the Israelites? It should have been King Saul. Not only was he their king, but he was one of their greatest warriors. That’s one of the reasons they made him king.
So we see that the Israelites had already gone to worldly ways and said, “God, we know that you’re there, but we want a king.” Then what has happened? That worldly way has let them down. We don’t want to be afraid or intimidated by the battle because we see what it leads to and we need to be reminded to throw these things off. What are those things? Throw off both worldly ways and trust in self. This is what Saul was doing, what the Israelites were doing. “How can we do this? How can we overcome this?” I think that’s the fear of when we put ourselves in the place of David in this. We begin to think “I can do it. I’ve got it. Yes, the odds are pretty rough, but you know what? I’ve got the strength to do it.” We begin to trust in our ways and we forget about something.
That’s what Saul and the Israelites had done. But notice, David did not. “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” But how was he going to fight him, and why? Because he knew that the Lord had delivered him. “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. The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” We see as he goes to battle then, Saul is saying “Use these things. Use my armor. This will help you. This will protect you.” And as David goes to battle, he throws off all of the things that Saul is suggesting. So he’s not only rejecting the clothes, but in a way he is rejecting Saul and the way he leads. They haven’t gone to God. They’re not trusting in God. They are letting the Philistine’s make a fool of God. So David says he knows that the Lord will deliver them. He knows what will help.
Then as he goes to battle, he says these amazing words to the Philistine. “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands…” Notice then he says in Verse 47: “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 Lord does not fight in the way that the rest of the world fights. Do not be dismayed at the battles. Do not be overcome by the ways of this world or leaning on self. But trust in the Lord.
Why is it important then to see that we are not David, but David represents someone else? David, in fact, as he is going to go and fight this battle, this is showing us that someone else is fighting that battle now for us and has fought it. Who is that? The Lord fights the battle for you. What this really is picturing is David’s Son—David’s Son, who came to defeat our greatest enemy, the greatest enemy of the devil, of sin, death and hell. The Lord has conquered it. Jesus came in our place, as we heard in Hebrews 4. “…we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” We saw that in our Gospel lesson, how He came to fight the devil and He did not use earthly ways but He used the Scriptures. He used all the things that God has given Him. He didn’t trust in Himself. He trusted in His Father.
So He goes to battle for you and for me and then He goes in a way that no one would have imagined. Again, imagine you are the Israelites and you see this young man go out to battle, not Saul, not the one who is expected, and then not wearing any armor but instead coming with a sling and you saying, “How is this going to do anything?” Isn’t this the picture that we think of when we see the Lord? One who was mocked and did not look special but went to the cross for you and for me—that in that suffering, He gives you the victory. We see that He fights the battle, and gives you the victory. The battle has been won.
When we are worried, when we are struggling, we see that it’s already been done. The problem with seeing it any other way is that we start to make it about us. We start to worry that even it’s the old way of the Sunday school lesson that says “You can fight all your enemies. You can do it. God will give you the strength,” are you going to win every one of those battles?
God is going to help you with the most important battle because He has won it, but maybe we lose heart when we don’t overcome these great odds because, “Did God promise me I was going to win that battle?” There are some battles we do not overcome because God didn’t promise you were going to overcome that personal battle, that personal thing. Or even if we say it’s more about “Just like David, you need to have faith and then you’ll overcome your battle. It’s not about fighting but just trust in the Lord.” But even then, we begin to make faith into this work. “If I just trust enough, then God will give me the victory. I can do it.” The Lord has already done it. The Lord has fought your battles and given you the victory.
He gives you this victory over what we really need—to give us true peace. He gives us the victory over sin and guilt and fear, so we can go into the world with peace. We can go into the world and forgive others in a way that the world cannot fathom. We can go into the world and work and forgive brothers and sisters. We can know that the Lord is with us and He has won that battle for us already.
Just like David, we can go after list after list of how God has delivered us. When you do that, what that should make you is thankful and full of gratitude. As I look at the struggles in the world and, if it’s the TV or the news or this struggle, the Lord has fought the battle that is the most important one. He has given you the victory, so He will continue to be with you through whatever struggle you have. But don’t think He’s going to give you a victory in one He hasn’t promised. But He has promised and He will deliver you from all of those spiritual issues because HE fought the battle for you.
That is such an encouraging thing for us because when we think it’s all about us, that “I have to do it,” it’s already done. Your guilt has been removed. Your sins have been forgiven. And the door to heaven is open because the battle is the Lord’s. He has fought the battle and given you the victory. Amen.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) Amen.
