Wednesday, March 26, 2014

How's Your Fruit Tree?


(Audio Version)

Introduction

           I love springtime in Colorado. All the ugly gray and brown gives way to an explosion of colors as trees and flowers begin a new season of life. One of my favorite things is sitting on by back patio early Sunday morning praying beneath the crabapple tree that blooms with white blossoms every spring. At peak blossoming season, the tree looks like a giant white cotton ball. While the other trees are dark green and the sky is so blue it hurts my eyes, that tree takes my breath away sometimes. If you’ve experienced something like this, then you know what I’m talking about. This seasonal beauty is common especially among fruit trees. While non-fruit trees produce fresh, new, green leaves every year, fruit trees first regale us with their magnificent beauty before they begin to bear fruit. However, once a tree begins to produce fruit, the growth process can be precarious until the fruit becomes ripe enough to harvest. Drought, cold temperature, insect infestations, poor soil, or any number of other conditions can be a detriment to the growth of healthy fruit. Nature’s process made me think of Paul’s teaching about life according the sinful nature as compared to life that is lived by the Spirit. Paul presents a stark contrast between the dead fruit produced by the sinful nature as compared to the magnificent fruit produced by the life of the Spirit. Here’s something interesting though—Not each piece of fruit, even on the healthiest tree, will be perfectly healthy; some of the fruit, maybe even most of the fruit, will be exceptional while some of it won’t be very good and maybe even rotten. A fruit tree might be very healthy even though some of the fruit might not be very good. But how is this possible? Remember that sin hasn’t just affected humanity. Sin has impacted all of creation so that what was once perfect has now been distorted by sin. Humanity is like this as well. Our spiritual lives can be generally healthy while at the same time our lives are impacted by sin—our own and that of other people. The question is: What does healthy fruit look like in our lives and what does rotten fruit look like? Once you know the difference, you’ll be able to answer the question: How’s Your Fruit Tree? And hopefully you’ll do something to insure that your tree produces the healthiest fruit possible.

Subject Text

Galatians 5:13-26
            13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Context

            The inability to reconcile Old Testament theology with New Testament theology is nothing new. Let me see if I can make it at least a little bit easier—Try to think of New Testament theology as a continuation of the story of God that began in the Old Testament. Just like any story, the second part of the story is not the same as the first part of the story. However, without the first part of the story, the second part doesn’t make sense. And without the second part of the story, the first part is incomplete. And like any good story, not all the elements of the first part continue into the second part of the story. Similarly, new elements are introduced into the second part of a story that would be out of place in the first part of the story. It’s like this with the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It’s like this with the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. It’s like this with the relationship between the Mosaic Law (“Law”) and Grace. This is the context for Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The Judaizers were teaching the Gentile believers that grace was not enough for salvation; they also needed to follow the Law. When Paul founded the churches in southern Galatia during his first missionary journey, he taught the new believers that they were saved by grace alone and were set free from the slavery produced by trying to follow the Law and trying be justified by following the Law. However, some Judaizers entered their group and were confusing them with the added burden of needing to follow the Law in order to be saved. In the verses that immediately precede our Subject Text, Paul calls those causing the confusion, “agitators.” Paul is very angry because of the conflict these agitators are causing in the church in Galatia. Paul wanted the believers to understand that they were free from the yoke that the Law places on people; the yoke that we can somehow earn our salvation through the meticulous keeping of religious rules; The yoke that salvation by grace removes—true freedom that is only possible through salvation by grace. However freedom from the obligation to obey the Law as a means of salvation does not mean the freedom to live life without restraint. This is where Paul dives into the teaching we find in our Subject Text.

Text Analysis

            Paul recognizes in v. 13 that with freedom comes opportunity; opportunity to indulge in sinful behavior or the opportunity to give ourselves to the service of others out of love. Paul knows that there is a battle that rages inside every believer; a battle between good and bad; right and wrong. A battle between the sinful nature that is part of every human being and the Holy Spirit that rides within every believer. The dichotomy between the two is represented in opposing lifestyles described as “indulge” and “serve.” “Indulge” obeys the sinful nature and nurtures selfishness while “serve” obeys the Holy Spirit and nurtures selflessness. “A warning is added that freedom, essential as it is to spiritual life, is open to abuse by carnal men, and that it is subject to the demand of the higher Law of mutual love…Christians are freed from the trammels of outward Law, not that they may please themselves, but that they may become slaves to the Law of mutual love. The true ideal of the Christian is not freedom, but unfettered service to the love of God and man, which annihilates self, and subordinates all selfish desires to perfect love.”[1]

            Paul reminds us of something that Jesus taught when a Pharisee, an expert in the law, tried to outsmart Jesus by asking Him a question that he thought would surely trap Jesus into giving a wrong answer (Mt 22:34-40). The Pharisee asked Jesus which command was the greatest. In other words, God gave ten commands and the Pharisee wanted Jesus to identify which one was the best as though the other nine that came directly from God as well were not as good as the one he was evidently expecting Jesus to identify. Jesus’ answer was, of course, brilliant as he summarized the first four commandments with the command to love God above all else and with everything we have (Deut 6:5). Thereafter, He summarized the final six commandments with the command to love others as oneself (Lev 19:18) which Jesus taught is just as important as the former command to love God. These two commands, Jesus said, summed up the entire teaching of the Law and the Prophets. So why is it that Paul says that the entire Law is summed up in the command to love one another as oneself? We can find the answer to that question in v. 15 where Paul warns his audience that they will destroy each other if their division between the requirements to follow the Law and their freedom offered by Grace continues. Paul is not contradicting Jesus. Instead, Paul was addressing a specific problem in Galatia that was causing division and dissention in the church there. Paul was trying to demonstrate that those who were insisting on following the Law were actually breaking the Law because they were causing anger, division, and dissention within the church. Those causing trouble failed to fulfill the one thing the Law required—to love others as themselves. Let me try and explain it this way: The Judaizers expected the people to “do” the Law while Paul expects the people to “fulfill” the Law. It’s a subtle distinction, I know. However, one is concerned with external appearances while the other is concerned with internal transformation. As always, it’s about relationship. For example, when we serve our neighbor because it is required, we are in a legal relationship with them—We’re “doing” the Law. When we serve our neighbor because we want to, we are in a love relationship with them—We’re “fulfilling” the Law. “The Galatian readers of this letter wanted to be under the law as a way to attain spiritual perfection. But their preoccupation with keeping the law did not lead them to spiritual perfection. On the contrary, their bondage to the law produced a competitive, angry, judgmental spirit…Paul knew from his own experience that zealous devotion to keep the law can accompany and even intensify destructive attitudes toward the church. When he saw the Galatian believers biting each other in their criticism and chewing each other up in the negative reports, he was reminded of his own attacks on the church during the time in his life when he was most zealous to keep the law…The tragic irony of the Galatians’ situation was that the more they came under the bondage to keep the law, the more they violated the basic moral standard of the law: love your neighbor as yourself. Paradoxical as it may sound, that standard is only fulfilled in the lives of those who resist slavery under the law and serve as slaves in love to others. Freedom in Christ is freedom to love.”[2]

            Paul sets the stage for the battle between opposing human tendencies in vv. 16-18. On one side of the battle line is humanity’s sinful nature and on the other side is life according to the Spirit. Although you will often find the two together, they are always in conflict with each other; they never exist in harmony with one another. One is always attempting to vanquish the other. The sinful nature prevents the man or woman from fully living a life according to the Spirit. The sinful nature seeks to keep the Law in order to maintain a Godly outward appearance but fails to transform sinful lives trapped by sinful behavior while the Spirit sets us free from the Law and allows us to be transformed into men and women with Godly character. The sinful nature does not war against sinful behavior. Instead, it invites sinful behavior while focusing on external performance. Conversely, life according to the Spirit is constantly at war with sinful behavior while focusing on internal transformation. True believers are not ruled by the sinful nature even while our minds and bodies remain distorted by sin. When we became believers, we became new creations in spirit now and we will become new creations in mind and body as well after Jesus’ second coming. For now, our minds and bodies are still prone to rebellion when enticed by sinful desires. “The claim of Judaizers must have been that the law identified matters contrary to God’s will, provided the ethical standard for God’s own, and incited the believer to achieve ethical perfection. Undoubtedly the Judaizers also referred to the Spirit, but probably as an auxiliary to the law given by God to aid men and women in their obedience. For Paul, however, the Spirit not only brings the believer into a new realm of spiritual existence but also (1) sensitizes the believer to what is contrary to God’s will, (2) gives to the believer an intrinsic standard of values, and (3) enables the believer to do what is good, with expression of that goodness being for the benefit of others. The Spirit alone is able to overcome the flesh [the sinful nature] by imparting the new life opened up by the work of Christ. And where the new life in Christ by the Spirit is present, no law is required to command it. It is the Spirit himself who fills the believer’s life with rich content. For the one ‘in Christ,’ therefore, relationship with God and life lived as a Christian are begun, sustained, directed, and completed entirely by the Spirit.”[3]

            Paul says in vv. 19-21 that the acts of the sinful nature are obvious as he provides a general list of sinful behavior as symptomatic of a life controlled by their sinful nature. Nothing in the text should lead us to conclude that the list is exhaustive. Instead, Paul lists these sins probably because his audience would likely recognize them as existing within themselves and their community of believers. What is unclear from the text is whether or not the sinful nature still exists within believers. The text seems to indicate that believers can still be controlled by the sinful nature as is evidenced by the sin in their lives. But before I tell you whether or not I believe the sinful nature still exists within Christians, it’s probably a good idea for us to understand what the sinful nature actually is.

Sinful Nature

            We can find the origin of sin right at the beginning of the Bible when Adam and Eve disobey God’s command not to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the Garden that was forbidden. Adam and Eve had the free will to choose obedience or disobedience and they chose not to obey God. As a result, sin was introduced into God’s created order. And from that point forward, all aspects of humanity—the mind, body, and soul have been distorted by sin and no one is immune to its effects. The distortion caused by sin has manifested itself in humanity throughout history as the desire to satisfy self. From the time of Adam’s sin until now, humanity has sought to displace God with anything and everything that will provide self-satisfaction. “Sin is simply failure to let God be God. It is placing something else, anything else, in the supreme place which is his. Thus, choosing oneself rather than God is not wrong because self is chosen, but because something other than God is chosen. Choosing any finite object over God is wrong, no matter how selfless such an act might be. This contention is supported by major texts in both the Old and New Testaments. The Ten Commandments begin with the command to give God his proper place. ‘You shall have no other gods before me’ is the first and greatest prohibition in the law. Similarly, Jesus affirmed that the first and greatest command is, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Proper recognition of God is primary. Idolatry in any form, not pride, is the essence of sin. One might ask what the major factor in our failure to love, worship, and obey God is. I submit that it is unbelief. Anyone who truly believes God to be what he says he is will accord to him his rightful status. Failure to do so is sin. Setting one’s own ideas above God’s revealed Word entails refusal to believe it to be true. Seeking one’s own will involves believing that one’s own values are actually higher than those of God. In short, it is failing to acknowledge God as God.”[4]

            Some theologians insist that believers are a new creation as taught by Paul in 2 Cor 5:17 and that the old is now gone. As such the old sinful nature has been eradicated. However, this does not account for the sin that continues in the lives of believers. Even Paul, in his letter to the Romans, describes his dire struggle with his sinful nature in that the things he did not want to do were the very things he did (Rom 7:15). So what should we conclude about the existence of the sinful nature in believers? Does it still exist? The answer is yes…and no. Remnants of humanity’s sinful nature remains within believers until we pass on to eternity to begin our lives with Christ. However, believers are now no longer slaves to their sinful nature as they were before. Believers have a new Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, who sent us the ultimate weapon to fight the war that rages within them. That weapon is the Holy Spirit and He resides in all true believers and gives us the strength to fight against the sinful desires that remain within us all even as their influence in our lives diminishes with spiritual maturity and growth. As the influence of the Holy Spirit takes hold in our lives, more and more or our sinful nature is put to death. This process is referred to theologically as sanctification. It is true that when we became believers, we became new creations but we are also constantly being renewed (Col 3:10). As we begin to relinquish control of our lives to the leading and Lordship of the Holy Spirit, our sinful nature begins to be displaced with what is commonly referred to as “life in the Spirit.”

Fruit Of The Spirit

            Just as the sinful nature gives birth to sin, life in the Spirit gives birth to the fruit of the Spirit according to vv. 22-23. Take a moment and try to imagine a society populated by people with the characteristics of: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It seems like wishful thinking I know. Maybe I’m asking you to imagine too much. What would your church look like if it was populated with people having such characteristics? Still wishful thinking? Ok, what would it look like if just your life displayed these characteristics? These were intended to be the natural characteristics of humanity as originally created but have been distorted by sin. However, what was originally intended by God and distorted by sin is being renewed in the lives of believers by the Spirit. When I speak of a life lived in the Spirit, I mean a life surrendered to the guidance and authority of the Spirit. “The metaphor of fruit implies an organic relationship which is absent from ‘works.’ Indeed whereas ‘works’ are essentially associated with self-effort, fruit is not. The growth metaphor is admirably suitable to express complete dependence on the Spirit. The type of quality of which Paul speaks of cannot be engendered from self-effort. Each needs the fertilizing activity of the Spirit to bring out its full development. It is not to be supposed that such qualities as love, joy, peace, for instance, are qualities which are superimposed upon a Christian’s character independent of his natural characteristics. Love can exist apart from the Spirit, but a Spirit-prompted love is of a type which goes beyond natural bounds so as to include, for instance, love towards enemies. Similarly ‘gentleness’ may be found in some people more than others, according to temperament, but as a fruit of the Spirit it is an expression of a regard for others which can transform those who are not naturally of a gentle disposition and can enhance those whose nature is conducive to it. Of even greater significance is the fact that some of these qualities were then (and are still in some quarters) actively despised. Patience, kindness and goodness were not qualities sought after in contemporary society and Paul recognizes the need for more than a natural impetus for their development. What is clear is that he makes no distinction here, either between the qualities or between different recipients. Moreover, he uses the singular ‘fruit’ to show that all qualities mentioned form a corporate whole. They all go to make up a Spirit-filled character.”[5]

            Paul explains in vv. 24-26 that believers belong to Christ and have been set free by Christ so that they are no longer slaves to sin and their sinful nature. When Paul says that believers have crucified their sinful nature, he is saying that our sinful nature is no longer the lord of our lives. The true Lord of our lives is Jesus Christ as is evidenced by a life lived according to the direction and authority of the Spirit. Paul closes our Subject Text the way he began, with an exhortation not to behave in such a way so as to promote or instigate dissension or division in the church. “There may be no fool-proof method of documenting the Spirit’s presence in human life, but we can follow his tracks by seeing evidence of love. If one’s so-called ‘Spirit-led’ activity ends in needless enmity, strife, jealousy, and dissension, then it is a safe bet that the Sprit has nothing to do with it.”[6]

Application

            A number of years ago, I went to lunch with a friend of mine in the banking business. Specifically, he was part of the banking division that investigated crimes involving currency including such things as identifying counterfeit currency. In the course of our lunch, he said something that has stuck with me all these years. He said, they don’t teach their bank employees that handle the actually currency all the different forms of counterfeit currency. Instead, he said they spend countless hours teaching their employees what authentic currency looks like. There are too many fakes to try and learn them all but only one real thing. The principle is that if you become intimately familiar with the real thing then any fake is easy to spot. In the past, I have often applied this principle to true Christianity in comparison to false religions claiming to be Christian (i.e. Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, etc.). Once you are familiar with true Christianity, the fakes are easy to spot. I’d like to apply this principle now to this lesson. Instead of trying to identify what, exactly, constitutes sin, let’s become familiar with the fruit of the Spirit and we’ll be able to easily identify sin. However, this is not an exercise for you to be able to identify someone else’s sin. This is an exercise for you to identify what sin looks like in your own life by identifying the fruit of the Spirit in your life and seeing where the two are in conflict with each other. Remember, the title of this lesson is, How’s Your Fruit Tree? not How’s Your Neighbor’s Fruit Tree? Let’s take a closer look at each one of the fruits of the Spirit listed by Paul.

Love

           The kind of love we’re talking about here is the kind of love that God demonstrates toward us through His gracious mercy and provision for us. It’s the kind of love the Jesus models for us in how he interacts with sinners. It’s the kind of love that Jesus demonstrates by willingly dying on the cross for our sins. Love takes the initiative to build others up and serve others in order to meet their needs. Love always seeks to apply what God says to our lives. “Love is shown by Jesus, whose love is self-sacrificing and unchanging…Love forms the foundation for all the other fruit listed. Elsewhere, Paul breaks love itself down into various components (cf. 1 Cor 13), so that ‘love’ turns out to bear little resemblance to the emotional meaning so often given to the word.”[7]

Joy

            Lots of people confuse joy with happiness. While happiness could be part of joy, joy is not dependent on happiness. Biblical joy and happiness are not synonymous. Joy is not wishful thinking or pretending that our circumstances are not painful or distressing. Joy is recognizing we have hope; a hope that the trials and tribulations of this life will not last forever. Joy is “an inner rejoicing that abides despite outer circumstances. This characteristic has little to do with happiness and can exist in times of unhappiness. It is a deep and nourishing satisfaction that continues even when a life situation seems empty and unsatisfying. The relationship with God through Christ remains even in the deserts and valleys of living.”[8]

Peace

            Some people confuse peace with passivity. The two are really unrelated. Peace is the serenity of knowing that God is fully in control of all the circumstances in our lives. Peace is not opposed to aggression. Instead, peace is about how we react in the face of aggression. There will be times when we have to stand up for what is right and times when we will have to defend those who cannot defend themselves. At such times, this will create conflict. However, we can act with an inner peace knowing that we are acting out of love and service toward others. Peace is “an inner quietness and trust in God’s sovereignty and justice, even in the face of adverse circumstances. This is a profound agreement with the truth that God, not we, remains in charge of the universe.”[9]

Patience

            How do you nurture patience in a fast-food culture? I happen to have the benefit of age on my side and patience is often something that comes with age and knowing some things just can’t be rushed. Just like a fine wine is better when we patiently wait for it to age, our lives and the lives of those we touch are better when we learn to practice patience. Patience is not measured by how we interact with people who are agreeable and have a docile personality. Patience is measured in how we interact with people who are grating and irritate us. Without patience, God cannot use us effectively in the lives of others. Patience allows us to wait on God to act in a difficult situation instead of taking matters into our own hands. Patience gives us the strength to continue praying for others even when we don’t see God working in their lives. Patience allows us to see hope when the circumstances of our lives block our view. When we are patient with people, we model Christ who is patient with us as we fail and have to seek his forgiveness time and again.

Kindness

            In the course of our hectic lives, we often forget the power that a kind word or gesture can have in another’s life. You know from personal experience that when someone is unkind to you either in their words or actions, it can suck the life out of you if it occurs often enough or if it occurs in conjunction with other events in your life. Kindness, as you also know from personal experience, is life giving regardless of the circumstances or stage of your life. A kind word or gesture is never wasted. Kindness is “acting charitably, benevolently toward others, as God did toward us. Kindness takes the initiative in responding to other people’s needs.”[10]

Goodness

            We must be careful not to allow the idea of “goodness” to become subjective. Goodness toward others must be defined within the context of God’s goodness and the way he modeled goodness toward humanity. Good becomes objectively good when it is something that God has done or would do for us. Goodness shows off our integrity, honesty, and compassion for others. Goodness means doing the right thing even if it doesn’t feel good or is costly. Goodness is “reaching out to do good to others, even if they don’t deserve it. Goodness does not react to evil but absorbs the offense and responds with positive action.”[11]

Faithfulness

            My girls will tell you that one of the phrases you didn’t hear very often in our house was “I promise.” I was kind of a stickler about the cavalier way the phrase was used. It seemed to have lost the gravity of its meaning. I always told the girls that they should never make a promise unless they were absolutely certain they could keep it. Keeping a promise speaks to a person’s faithfulness. Faithfulness means doing what we said we would do or not doing what we said we would not do. Faithfulness means we are reliable. Faithfulness means that people can rely on what we say as being truthful. Faithfulness doesn’t take into consideration whether or not something is easy. A person is faithful regardless of the personal cost or sacrifice. Faithfulness is not only our attitude toward other people, it is also our attitude toward God. The primary difference is that we are not faithful according to what we do for God. Instead, we are faithful to God when we allow God to do His work through us.

Gentleness

            My daughter told me about an elderly patient she was caring for. She told me that her family left her lying in bed in the same position day after day and she had developed severe bed sores on her back where her spine was actually protruding through the skin. My daughter was the perfect caretaker. She told me that when she saw the woman, it nearly made her cry. She spent extra time care for the elderly woman, comforting her and tending to her wounds. It was a great illustration of gentleness. However, gentleness isn’t only about caring for those who might be helpless victims, gentleness is also about caring for those who are suffering with the circumstances of some of their life choices. For example, gentleness visits those in prison to bring them some comfort and hope found in Jesus Christ. Gentleness is “humble, considerate of others, submissive to God and his word. Even when anger is the appropriate response…gentleness keeps the expression of anger headed in the right direction. Gentleness applies even force in the correct way.”[12]

Self-Control

            Self-control is the opposite of surrendering to selfishness. Although they both have the word “self” in them, self-control creates a balance between what we want and what is right. For example, selfishness says I will eat and drink whatever I want, however much I want, and whenever I want it. Self-control will eat and drink in proper moderation regardless of what I “want.” Self-control is mastery over sinful human desires and their lack or restraint. Ironically, our sinful desires, which promise self-fulfillment and power, inevitable lead us to slavery. When we surrender to the Holy Spirit, initially we feel as though we have lost control, but He leads to the exercise of self-control that would be impossible in our own strength.

            I don’t know about you but the exercise of writing out the biblical understanding of the fruit of the Spirit has served to shine a very bright light into the areas of my life where the fruit is in conflict with the reality of my life. It has also been instructive to realize that during the process of focusing on the individual fruits, certain sins in my life have come into sharp focus. A farmer knows what healthy fruit looks like so he or she recognizes unhealthy fruit easily. The objective is not to be able to recognize all the ways that fruit can be unhealthy. The objective is to know healthy fruit thereby making the recognition of unhealthy fruit that much easier. The principle holds true for you as well. Instead of focusing on your sins and all the ways you have fallen short, focus on the fruit of the Spirit to determine the health of your fruit—I assure you, your sins will naturally come into sharp focus. Now that you’ve read the biblical definition of the individual fruits of the Spirit, How’s Your Fruit Tree?




[1] W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. 3, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1983), p. 186.
[2] G. Walter Hansen, Galatians—The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), p. 167.
[3] Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians—Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 1990), pp. 247-248.
[4] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), p. 598.
[5] Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981), p. 561.
[6] Charles B. Cousar, Galatians—Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1982), pp. 140-141.
[7] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), pp. 790-791.
[8] Ibid., p. 791.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Trusting In My Own Mite


(Audio Version)

Introduction

            I really wish God wouldn’t make me the object of my own weekly lessons so often. But I suppose the best way for me to try and teach these lessons to you is to experience and learn them myself first. I have to make a disclosure and a confession in this lesson that might shock and disappoint some of you who don’t know me—sorry. You can see my personal disclaimer at the top of the site that I don’t have all the answers and still make lots of mistakes. Well I made one (or maybe I should say another one or maybe I should say I made the same mistake again) this week. Disclosure: I don’t make a lot of money nor do I have a lot of money in savings or a retirement fund; well actually I have no money in savings or a retirement fund—especially after this week. As part of my work, I haul a trailer from project to project with all my tools inside. Until last week, I used my large SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) that I’ve owned for almost 15 years. My wife and I originally bought it before I started this particular business when my girls were still small to give us a family vehicle that could transport our family plus all my girls’ friends when necessary. It turned out to be a wise purchase because before the girls could drive, my truck served as everyone’s favorite mass-transit vehicle for school friends and soccer teammates. However, once I started my carpentry business, I needed the truck to haul my trailer and for the last 10+ years, that has been its primary purpose. It was an extremely reliable and useful vehicle and after nearly 15 years, I managed to put 260,000 miles on it without any major mechanical failures. I knew its useful life was coming to an end because more and more of its systems gradually began failing (and my driveway looks like an oil tanker ran aground). Nevertheless, I was convinced it would last one more year. Actually, I was less convinced and more hoping it would last one more year until my girls were both finished with college. During the last few months of living in a fantasy land, I was able to put a little money into savings—I’m sure pocket change for some you out there but at least it wasn’t zero which is usually what my bank account reads. Anyway, I was feeling pretty good about having a few dollars set aside; like I had everything planned out and under control for once. It’s funny how having a few dollars in the bank can make a person feel like they’re in complete control of their lives; like they can manage and even direct the circumstances of life; like they don’t need to rely on anyone for help—including God. I’m sure that doesn’t happen to you, but here’s my confession: It happened to me—again! I had everything planned out. With a few dollars in the bank, what could go wrong? Well what went wrong was my truck didn’t get the message that it needed to last one more year and instead quit working last week. And just like that, my plan went up in smoke and so did the little bit of money I had in the bank. I managed to purchase a suitable replacement but I felt really stupid thinking that I had it all planned out and was in complete control merely because I had a little bit of money in the bank. As I was driving the new (used) truck home, I had to laugh at myself because I got caught, again, Trusting In My Own Mite instead of trusting the One who is really in control of all things. In this week’s Subject Text, we get a picture of what it looks like to put your full faith and trust in the Creator and not in created things.

Subject Text

Luke 21:1-4
            1As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3“I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Context

            I remember the story of the widow’s mite being told in church when I was growing up. I look back at it now and have to laugh at how badly it was being used to manipulate people. Every year the priest would dust off his sermon on the widow’s mite and you knew to hold on to your wallet because you were about to receive a verbal bludgeoning on the merits of giving until it hurts. Then, this past week I read an article in the Christian Post about prominent pastor and author John Piper’s warning on the pursuit and accumulation of wealth by ministry professionals and its inherent dangers. So as I was preparing for this week’s lesson, I became increasingly convinced that the only organization that is more interested in getting their hands on your money other than the government is the church. Is it any wonder that the two organizations don’t get along since they both seem to be competing for the same thing—your money? In any event, I submit that the story of the widow’s mite, although containing aspects of sacrificial giving, is not really a lesson in money or giving until it hurts as much as it is a lesson in faith and trust. Let’s see if we can figure out the context for Jesus’ teaching in our Subject Text. It’s a little difficult trying to connect our Subject Text with the text immediately surrounding it so we need to do what I have tried to teach you before—take a few steps back and see if the picture becomes clearer and continue stepping back until the context for our Subject Text comes into proper focus. If we go all the way back to Chapter 19 we can find where the fuse is lit. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to cheers and shouts of blessings to the “King that comes in the name of the Lord” in v. 38. We see in v. 39 that the Pharisees aren’t about to stand for someone trying to butt into their religious monopoly as they insist that Jesus rebuke the disciples for saying such things about Him. But Jesus makes it clear that His time had come and nothing and no one would be able to silence the announcement of God’s arrival even if they refused to recognize it (v. 44). The struggle for power and control had begun and Jesus demonstrates exactly who has the power and control in v. 45 when he clears the temple of profiteers and overturns the tables belonging to the money changers. Jesus has now challenged the establishment’s power and one of their sources of money. There are three great enticements that have led to the fall of countless people including many religious leaders—power, money, and sex. And Jesus was challenging the status quo of two of those enticements—power and money. From this point forward in Chapter 20, the religious leaders challenge Jesus’ authority and begin to question Him in order to try and lure Him into saying something they could use to have Him arrested and brought to trial. Finally, in the verses leading up to our Subject Text, Jesus puts a nice neat bow on His indictment against the religious leaders. In vv. 45-47 of Chapter 20, Jesus warns the people against the example being set by the religious leaders—their love of power demonstrated by their desire to dress like they’re important; to be popular and powerful public figures, and especially to be treated as such. Jesus exposes their love for money when he demonstrates that they will stoop so low as to cheat a widow out of her home if it means more money for them. We love to hate the Pharisees but they’re really the prototypical human being who when they achieve a certain level of power or accumulate a certain level of wealth, no longer feel the need to be accountable to anyone, including God. The Jews believed that power and riches were a sign of God’s blessing so Jesus’ teaching must have been confusing for His hearers. What Jesus is trying to say is that God isn’t interested in how popular or powerful we are or how many trinkets we’ve been able to accumulate during our lifetimes. God is interested in us and our relationship with Him. God is interested in where we put our trust—in Him or in our own power or wealth. We demonstrate our trust by our attitude toward power and money. Does money and how we use it or give it away point to our self-sufficiency and the desire for greater power or does it point to our trust and faith in God?

Text Analysis

           The setting for v. 1 is the Temple courts generally and the court of women specifically. Located there, or perhaps in an adjoining area where all would have been permitted access, were thirteen boxes where worshippers to the Temple could deposit the mandated Temple tax and free-will offerings. It is here that Jesus begins His lesson for the disciples as he observes the rich coming and putting their gifts into the treasury. The fact that Jesus describes the deposits as “gifts” seems to indicate that he was talking about free-will offerings and not the mandated Temple tax. The setting was perfect to illustrate the point Jesus was making in vv. 45-47 of the previous chapter where Jesus presents the religious leaders as greedy and power-hungry frauds who were like preening peacocks putting on a show for all to see. “We should not think that it is impossible for rich people to give appropriately, but in line with Luke’s general view of the power of riches to ensnare, the text assumes that the giving of the rich, even if considerable, was giving at a level that remained a token and therefore gave no expression to any deep commitment to God. Jesus is accusing the rich of not being serious with God…To be rich in ancient societies made one automatically part of the leadership classes, and so Jesus, in the last of the present series of critical engagement[s] with segments of the leadership classes, now turns his gaze upon the rich. He criticizes their comfortable piety, contrasting the minimal demand made upon them by their giving to the temple with the extravagance of the poor widow’s commitment to the cause of God.”[1]

            That contrast, created by v. 2, should hit us all like a ton of bricks. The widow Jesus uses as his illustration represents everything the rich of v. 1 are not—poor, vulnerable, marginalized, and forgotten. The copper coins that Jesus is referring to were probably 2 Lepta which, combined, represented approximately one fiftieth of a Denarius. One Denarius was the equivalent of one day’s wage. Consequently, the economic value of 2 Lepta was negligible. But God isn’t interested in the economic value of our giving as though he needs our money or something. God is interested in the value of the gift in relation to its level of personal sacrifice and what that sacrifice says about our relationship with Him. “How does one measure giving? The point of this story is that true giving is directed toward God. Jesus highlights two types of giving, both of which are appreciated, yet one speaks far more than the other. Giving out of abundance is appreciated, but it costs little. Giving out of life means that basic things may be given up in order to honor God.”[2]

            As usual, Jesus turns the common belief and practice of His culture on its head in vv. 3-4. Wealth as a demonstration of God’s favor and the public display of generosity to advertise one’s personal piety take a back seat to the depth of love for God and degree of trust and faith in God that giving should represent. The point that Jesus is making is not how much we give. It’s not only about the degree of sacrifice our giving represents although that begins to get closer to the heart of the matter. Ultimately, Jesus’ point is really about “why” we give, what our giving represents in our relationship with God, and how wealth and riches can replace God as the object of our faith and trust. Are we willing to give up everything for God? What does the level of our giving say about our trust and faith that God will care for us even if our bank account reads zero? “[Jesus] did not romanticize the small gift or strike out against the large. He weighed all the gifts not by sentiment but by a standard that was the same for all: How much does one have remaining after the offering is made? Thus measured, the widow’s gift was by far the greatest, because she had nothing left. The offering of everything, whatever the amount, is the unexcelled gift.”[3]

Application

            I’d like to clarify a few things before I finish. I want you to understand what I’m trying to teach you. It isn’t better to be poor than it is to be rich. It isn’t better to be rich than it is to be poor. Whether your bank account is measured by lots of zeros or just one zero, it doesn’t represent the level of your generosity or your faith. I know lots of people who are wealthy who daily seek to surrender their lives, including their finances, to God’s will. And I know just as many people who are not wealthy who daily seek to surrender their lives to the accumulation of greater wealth. I can’t judge whether the level of your giving is appropriate or not. That is a matter between you and God. I cannot say that you should give all of your money or only some of your money away. I can say that your attitude toward money and how that impacts the level of your giving says everything about your level of trust in and commitment to God. So before you congratulate yourself on your generous giving, look in the mirror and be honest with yourself because God already knows the truth. I can say one thing for sure, if you are attending a church, you must support that church with your finances. If you cannot attend a church for whatever reason, then find a charitable Christian organization or a neighbor or friend in need to support financially.

            Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He offered countless warnings about the inherent danger in the love of money and the fact the following Him might mean divesting ourselves of all our worldly possession. However, he never quantified how much money was acceptable to save and how much money we were required to give. We can find giving guidelines in both the New and Old Testaments, but Jesus’ ministry and focus was about relationship; our relationship to God and our relationship with people and removing any obstacles to those relationships. Nevertheless, Jesus spoke volumes about what our attitude toward money and riches says about our trust and faith in God and about the level of our love for people.

Getting back to the lesson I had to learn again this past week—I was comfortable with giving because I had a little money in the bank as a cushion—you know, just in case. However, now I’m back to being uncomfortable giving because I’m back to having no money in the bank. I’d be lying if I said it’s easy to give money when you have nothing to fall back on in case something goes wrong. Giving feels like walking across a tightrope without a safety net. It feels like jumping off a cliff and trusting God when He says ‘don’t worry I’ll catch you.’ The truth is, God isn’t caring any less for me now than he was before. In fact, I could make an argument that God is caring more for me now because when I had a little money in the bank, every day brought with it the possibility of my truck going up in flames (literally) leaving me without transportation to get to work and support my family and this ministry. Now I have a truck that is safe and reliable and although I have no money in the bank, I don’t have to worry about the possibility of coming out in the morning to a big pile of ashes on the driveway in place of my truck. God has provided for me while teaching me a valuable lesson again—putting my trust and faith in God’s provision is far more enduring and reliable than Trusting In My Own Mite.

Some of you have asked if you can send money to me to support this ministry and as much as I appreciate your thoughtfulness and willingness to support me, I do not and will not accept financial consideration of any sort for this ministry. If you want to do something for me to show your appreciation for this ministry, please pray for continued strength and greater wisdom for me and please share the link to the ministry website with as many people as possible every week. Nevertheless, if God has moved you to give as a result of this ministry, I encourage you give what you can to the Denver Seminary Scholarship Fund at www.denverseminary.edu/give. However, please remember to always give to the church you are attending first. If you believe the church you are attending is unworthy of receiving your financial contribution then you should consider moving to a different church that you will support financially.




[1] John Nolland, Luke 18:35-24:53—Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1993), pp. 979-980.
[2] Darrell L. Bock, Luke—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p. 527.
[3] Fred B. Craddock, Luke—Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 242.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Five Smooth Stones


(Audio Version)

Introduction

            Have you ever stood on the threshold of something new or painful or difficult in your life and wondered if you were up to the challenge of dealing with it or enduring it or overcoming it? I don’t consider myself to be terribly courageous but there are some days when I feel unstoppable at anything I put my mind and hands to and other days when getting out of bed without saying or doing something stupid is the only thing that resembles success for that day. Maybe this happens to you as well. You did so well in your classes last semester but this semester you are struggling more than you have at any other time and you begin to wonder if you’re cut out for college. You’re certain that you’re following God’s call for your life but the obstacles seem insurmountable. You’re great at your job and everyone thinks you’re perfect at what you do. Then you receive a promotion that is well deserved and suddenly all the people who thought you could do no wrong question whether or not you can do anything right. You love your spouse more than anything and you seem to relate and communicate at a level reserved for only the most blessed relationships. Then, with the passage of time you no longer relate or communicate at any level except at a destructive level and every day seems like a battle to try and get back to the way things used to be. It would seem that we all go through periods in our lives when we feel like life’s warriors and conquerors and periods when we’d prefer to lock ourselves in a closet and hope life doesn’t find us until next week sometime. Why do you suppose this happens to us? Well, it’s probably a combination of a number of things: Stress, fatigue, or maybe something we ate last night. Most likely, though, it is because we fall into the trap of relying exclusively on our own frail strength, distorted wisdom, and foolish guile to accomplish life’s tasks or overcome life’s obstacles. I know that sounds strange—how else would we accomplish life’s task except through our own strength, wisdom, and guile? What if you knew, with relative certainty, that your actions were according to God’s will? What if you were confident that you were acting in obedience to God? Wouldn’t your strength, wisdom, and guile take on a different dimension; a divine dimension? Who, then, would be responsible for the outcome of your sincere efforts—you or God? How do we get to the point where we can say that no matter the outcome, we are acting according to God’s will and trust that He will use our efforts to accomplish His purpose? What would it take to have such courage and confidence that God will work in us and through us to accomplish His specific task? What if I told you that all it takes is Five Smooth Stones and God can accomplish anything he wants through you? King David learned this lesson very early, even before he was king and received the promised perpetuity of his throne.

Subject Text

1 Samuel 17:38-52
            38Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 41Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. 43He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” 45David said 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. 46This 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 birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47All 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.” 48As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. 50So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
Context


           Come on! You have to admit that this is one of the best stories of the Bible. I mean, who hasn’t heard the story of David and Goliath? However, in order to fully appreciate the gravity of the story, we need to understand it in its proper context. During the period of our Subject Text, the Philistines occupied the territory of Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea. (It is a common mistake that some people make to assume that modern day Palestinians are descendants of the Philistines. Actually, the two are completely unrelated and have no ancestral connection. Their only connection is their occupation of similar territories and the similarity in their name.) And as you can imagine, they were constantly warring with Judah who sought to drive out the Philistines because they occupied a portion of the land given to the tribe of Judah when the land was divided between the twelve tribes of Israel. We see at the beginning of Chapter 17
that the battle lines have been drawn between the Philistines and Israel. The text tells us that the Philistines established their battle camp along the hills between Socoh and Azekah with the Israelites occupying the hills facing them with the Valley of Elah between them. At the head of the Philistine army was the giant Goliath who was described to be more than nine feet tall with armor and a spear to match his massive size. He stood at the edge of the valley and taunted the Israelites for 40 days with an all or nothing challenge that he would fight any soldier Israel sent out in a one-on-one battle and the loser’s side would surrender in their entirety to the winner. Israel, for their part, wanted nothing to do with the challenge. The army of Israel was paralyzed with fear. Meanwhile, back in the small town of Bethlehem, David, the youngest of eight sons to his father Jesse, was tending his father’s sheep while the older sons were part of Israel’s army hiding in their tents from Goliath. Jesse sent David to the war front with some roasted grain and loaves of bread for his brothers as well as some cheese for the unit commander. When David got to the front lines with the delivery from his father, he found Israel’s army cowering in fear and Goliath continuing to taunt them. David is indignant that no one is doing anything about the verbal insults being hurled at Israel’s army. When David questions some of the men standing around him, his oldest brother suddenly grows a spine and confronts not Goliath but David and chastises him for being critical of Israel’s inaction against the Philistines—basically telling him to go back to tending his sheep where he belongs and leaving war to the “real men.” The only problem is that the “real men” were doing nothing and David wasn’t about to stand for it. Instead, David seeks out King Saul who apparently was also cowering in his tent and tells him that he will accept Goliath’s challenge and that’s where our Subject Text begins.

Text Analysis

            Once David convinces Saul that he is confident and capable of beating Goliath, Saul outfits David in his own battle gear in vv. 38-39. The only problem was that David wasn’t a soldier and wasn’t accustomed to wearing any armor let alone being fully armored from head to toe. “In ancient epic literature the arming of the warrior for battle is a major ritual, and armor itself is considered an extension of the character and prowess of the warrior.”[1] David, however, was like a fish out of water wearing all that armor and decided it served as more of a disadvantage than an advantage, so he removed all of Saul’s battle armor.

            We are presented with quite a contrast to Goliath in v. 40 when David equips himself for battle with his shepherd’s staff, a rock-throwing sling, and Five Smooth Stones he gathered from a nearby creek that he places in his shepherd’s pouch—hardly the tools of a seasoned warrior. What do you see when you compare these two contrasting images? On one side, we have a nine foot, grizzled, warrior wearing more than 125 pounds of bronze armor with a bronze javelin strapped on his back and carrying a spear with a thick shaft tipped with an iron point weighing 15 pounds alone. He is the challenger who is arrogantly sticking out his chest implying that he cannot be beaten; that Israel has no warrior that can match him in size, strength or battle prowess; he needs no help; he is self-reliant. On the other side, we have a young David. The only thing we know about him is that he was handsome and “ruddy.” Which, in this case, probably means he was tanned. So if good looks and a nice tan were a deadly weapon then he’d be set. But alas, battles aren’t fought with good looks or a great tan, they’re fought with real weapons so what does David bring to the fight? A shepherd’s staff, a sling, and Five Smooth Stones. Oh and a God with a reputation of making mountains tremble and seas part. David needs help; but he is God-reliant. “So here’s David, stripped down to his own simple garments, and armed with his own simple shepherd weapons—his sling and his staff—ready to do battle…The beautiful thing about this story is it’s perfect example of how God operates. He magnifies HIS name when we are weak. We don’t have to be eloquent or strong or handsome. We don’t have to be beautiful or brilliant or have all the answers to be blessed of God. He honors our faith. All He asks is that we trust Him, that we stand before Him in integrity and faith, and He’ll win the battle. God is just waiting for His moment, waiting for us to trust Him so He can empower us to battle our giants. Remember, Goliath is still a giant—still an imposing presence. David had all the odds against him. There wasn’t a guy in the Philistine camp—or probably the Israelite camp either—who would have bet on David. But David didn’t need their backing. He needed God—none other.”[2]

            With his simple shepherding weapons in hand, David approaches the warrior giant. I find it interesting that empires could care less about the relative strength of their opponents. Their objective is conquest and the weaker the opposing nation, the better. Weaker nations require fewer resources to conquer and thereby reserving precious resources for the more formidable nations. Honor in conquest is somewhat irrelevant—nation-building is the objective. The attitude of warriors on the battlefield is less about conquest and more about being the best by beating the best. For a warrior, there is no “honor” in destroying a weaker opponent, only brutality. And while some warriors revel in the brutality, the most ruthless pursue honor in battle and that is only possible by beating the best. We can see this playing out in vv. 41-44 as David and Goliath face-off in battle. Goliath is insulted! Where’s the honor in killing someone half his size? Great! Before, Goliath was just arrogant, boisterous and obnoxious, but now he’s angry too. Now he’s not only going to beat David, he’s planning on making a statement by killing him and feeding his dead body to the buzzards. Goliath intends to send a message in response to the perceived insult. However, David has a secret weapon at his disposal—the Creator of the universe! And God intends to send a message as well through this unassuming and relatively unarmed shepherd. “After waiting for forty days, Goliath is disappointed and disgusted when he sees the youthful, unarmed David coming toward him. How much glory is there in killing a defenseless youth? David listens to Goliath’s curses and then acknowledges that his main weapon is ‘the name of the Lord Almighty.’ Because of David’s apparent weakness, the glory for the victory will go to the Lord, and this could be a testimony to the whole world…David believes that the battle is the Lord’s and that victory does not depend on who has the best weapons or the most soldiers. Just as parting the Red Sea terrified the nations, so the death of Goliath will demonstrate the power of Israel’s God.”[3]

            For 40-days the Israelites have had to listen to Goliath bloviate and pound his chest as he hurled insults at them without opposition or response. But now it’s David’s turn to say a few things to Goliath in vv. 45-47. Note the difference in the discourse between the two. Goliath wanted everyone to fear him and what he would do to them and how he would be victorious and how he would conquer Israel’s army. David wanted everyone to fear God and what God would do for him and how God would be victorious and conquer the Philistines through him. “At the heart of warfare in the Hebrew Bible is the belief that Yahweh was a ‘warrior,’ or literally a ‘man of war’ ([Heb.] ’îš milḥāmâ, Exod 15:3, se also Isa 42:13). God is present with the Israelite army during the war, and he is the one who provides the victory because ‘the battle ([Heb.] hammilḥāmâ) is the LORD’s.’ He is ‘mighty in battle’ ([Heb.] gibbôr milḥāmâ, Ps 24:8). Indeed, the Pentateuch [the first five books of the Bible] cites a work provocatively titled ‘The Book of the Wars of the Lord’ ([Heb.] sēper milḥamōt yhwh; Num 21:14). Even though this work is not extant, much of the Hebrew Bible narrates wars in which Yahweh fought on behalf of Israel.”[4] Goliath was self-reliant while David was God-reliant. Goliath put his faith in himself, in his fighting skills, in his armor, and in his weapons. David put his faith in God knowing that it is by and through God’s strength that he and Israel would be victorious and saved. If Goliath was offended and angry before, how do you suppose David’s threat sounded in his ears? Goliath threatened to kill David and feed his body to the birds but David ups the ante by telling Goliath that he will not only kill him but then chop off his head! Not only will Goliath be food for the birds and wild animals but so will the dead bodies of all the fallen Philistine soldiers after Israel routes them. I’m guessing if Goliath wasn’t already adequately fueled and on fire for a fight, David’s response to Goliath’s challenge fanned the flames into a raging inferno.

            The fight was on in vv. 48-50! Goliath made his approach toward David and David countered by running toward Goliath and as he ran, he loaded one of the smooth stones into his sling and launched it at Goliath. One stone was all it took. In a matter of seconds, Goliath’s massive size, military expertise, defensive armor, and formidable weaponry crashed to the ground in a heap as the stone from David’s sling found its mark and sunk into Goliath’s forehead. For 40-days Goliath and the Philistines were supremely confident and now that Goliath’s challenge had finally been met by what clearly seemed like a weaker opponent in David, Goliath is face down in the dirt with a rock embedded in his skull without having even attempted a single fighting thrust! I’m sure everyone expected the battle to be short and swift but this—there is no way either side expected this outcome! Come on! Everyone loves an underdog but sometimes rooting for the underdog is simply a fleeting wish when the underdog is so hopelessly overmatched like David was against Goliath. Careful! Did I just trap you into thinking that David was the underdog in this fight? Be honest! I caught some of you didn’t I? You see David wasn’t the underdog was he? Think about it—who was Goliath’s opponent? That’s right—Goliath wasn’t preparing to engage in a battle with David, he was setting foot in the ring with God fighting through David! Nevertheless, you can bet that both the Israelites and the Philistines were in shock and trying to understand what just happened. “Goliath is not prepared for battle with David. Even if he knows how effective a simple sling and stone can be, he must have underestimated David’s marksmanship. No doubt, this young shepherd boy is unlike any other warrior Goliath has ever seen. But superior strength and military resources are useless against the representative of Yahweh. The contest is over before it begins. David kills Goliath with one of his choices stones. Since he does the job ‘without a sword in his hand,’ Yahweh has been true to his word: He saved ‘not by sword or spear.’”[5]

            In my lesson last week, I told you that when God acts, He doesn’t just dabble in fixes or nibble around the edges of a solution. When God acts, He makes a statement that is unmistakable and David’s battle with Goliath was no different as we see in vv. 51-52. The message of killing Goliath wasn’t loud enough so David ran to where Goliath was lying face down in the dirt, drew Goliath’s sword from its sheath and cut Goliath’s head off with it. Now that’s a statement! And the Philistines heard it loud and clear because, either in their fear or in confusion, they forgot the surrender terms established by Goliath and ran for Gath and Ekron; two of the five cities in the Philistine confederation of cities. I’m guessing that surrender would have been a better option for the Philistines because the armies of Israel chased them all the way to the gates of the two cities all the while littering the roadside with dead Philistine soldiers. Think about this for a minute. Less than an hour before these events, the great and mighty armies of the Lord were cowering in their tents! It would be a mistake to think that it was because of one skillfully placed stone delivered by the hand of a handsome shepherd with a nice tan that the entire Philistine army was on the run. Think about it, they weren’t losing the fight, they didn’t even engage in the fight! They ran the minute they recognized they were overmatched. Not by a simple shepherd but by a God so mighty that He could use anyone or anything to accomplish His purpose—even a simple shepherd armed with just Five Smooth Stones.

Application

            When my girls were small, like most little kids I know, they loved polished rocks. Well, in one of my weaker moments (my wife will tell you that I had lots of those), I agreed to buy them a rock tumbler. The girls thought it was the greatest idea in the world because they could have as many polished rocks as they wanted whenever they wanted them. For those of you who know what a rock tumbler is, I can hear you groaning. I’ll give you the short instructional version of a rock tumbler. I suppose it can come in any size but this one was small enough to sit on my work bench with about a one quart size drum. You place a handful of ordinary rocks in the drum along with some water and the stage-one abrasive material that comes with the tumbler kit. You place the drum on the tumbling machine and it rotates slowly, constantly mixing and churning the rocks, water, and abrasive. After a number of days, you drain the water, add fresh water, and add the next stage of abrasive. Ultimately it was a five step process that took weeks! If you don’t have kids of your own, I’m going to give you a word of warning to store away for future reference—never, never, never undertake anything for your young children that will take weeks to accomplish! Let me tell you how the story ended for us. After about a week, and hearing ‘Daddy are the rocks done yet?’ for the millionth time, the rock tumbler went into the trash and dad went to the store and bought them each a bag of polished rocks for $5! Ok so that little lesson in parenting was a gift from me to you. So what’s my point in sharing this illustration? Well, we often rely on our own strength to accomplish something that God is prepared to help us with. David didn’t first have to polish the stones he put in his satchel, God’s creation already prepared them for him. In the same way, God has provided stones for us to accomplish the tasks and overcome challenges in our lives. Let me share with you the Five Smooth Stones God has provided.

Stone #1—Prayer

            For prayer warriors, this stone stays nicely polished because of its constant use. However, for many believers, prayer is an afterthought—something they intend to do more of one day. But prayer is our lifeline to God. It’s what connects our hearts with His. Prayer is the thing that says, ‘I need and want you in my life God. I can’t do life without you.’ Prayer is our way of telling God that what He wants for us is what we want for ourselves. There are many forms of prayer—prayers about being forsaken by God; prayers of surrender; prayers of tears; prayers of personal examination; prayers for personal transformation; etc. More simply, however, when we pray, we are “Like children before a loving father, we open our hearts and make our requests. We do not try to sort things out, the good from the bad. We simply and unpretentiously share our concerns and make our petitions. We tell God, for example, how frustrated we are with the co-worker at the office or the neighbor down the street. We ask for food, favorable weather, and good health.”[6] Prayer is the language of our hearts crying out to the One who sustains us daily and loves us unconditionally.

Stone #2—Silence & Solitude

            Can you think of anything more antithetical to our present day culture than either silence or solitude? We are bombarded daily with noise and visual stimulation in virtually all aspects of our lives during all times of our lives. Most of us are regularly around people and when we’re alone we keep our minds occupied with the sounds of music or images from the television or computer screen. As a result, we never make ourselves available to hear God’s voice. More accurately, we never allow ourselves to hear God’s voice. We find that we are neither content to be alone nor are we comfortable surrounded by people. Silence and solitude are essential if we are serious about our relationship with God and with people because without mastering silence we cannot hear God’s voice and without mastering the art of being alone, we will never learn how to engage with people as God expects. “Without silence there is no solitude. Though silence sometimes involves the absence of speech, it always involves the act of listening. Simply to refrain from talking, without a heart listening to God, is not silence. ‘A day filled with noise and voices can be a day of silence, if the noises become for us the echo of the presence of God, if the voices are, for us, messages and solicitations of God. When we speak of ourselves and are filled with ourselves, we leave silence behind. When we repeat the intimate words of God that he has left within us, our silence remains intact.’”[7] (For a more information on the practice of Silence & Solitude, see my two part series on the practice of Silence & Solitude at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2012/01/silence-and-solitude-pt-1.html and http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2012/02/silence-and-solitude-pt-2-conclusion.html).

Stone #3—Humility & Submission

            In the context of our lesson, it’s hard to understand how humility and submission can be a good thing for a warrior. But Goliath lost his head due to his arrogance and self-reliance and David became the giant-slayer; he recognized that victory would come by God’s hand alone and therefore submitted his cause to the sovereignty of God because David was God-reliant. We fall into this trap ourselves everyday when we face the trials and struggles of our lives as though every outcome depends on our own strength; our own wisdom; our own effort. However, this is unnecessary if we are willing to humble ourselves and submit ourselves to God’s will for our lives instead of limping along living according to our own will. (For more about a life of humble submission to God you can read an earlier lesson titled “A Life Humbly Submitted To God” at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2012/01/life-humbly-submitted-to-god.html).

Stone #4—Scripture

            What do you suppose the world would be like if we had access to life’s Owner’s manual? Wait! We do have access to the Owner’s manual—it’s called the Bible! The sin and destruction that surrounds us in our world should be no surprise when we realize that the Bible is the most purchased and least read book of all time. We have available the manual that can give us life and many simply place in on the self as decoration or to impress guests. But the Bible is so much more. The Bible contains the words to not only living but to eternal life! The Bible is God’s gift to all of us because “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man [and woman] of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17).” When we make Scripture reading and memorization part of our daily lives, we will begin to understand the world and our lives from God’s perspective; we will have to tools at our disposal to live our lives according God’s divine plan for us.

Stone #5—Faith

            If we could only have one stone in our arsenal of stones, it should be this one. David had good looks and a great tan; he had a staff, a sling, and he had a handful of rocks; he had an army behind him (albeit not the most courageous army); but the most important weapon he had was faith in God. Without faith that God would provide, protect, and save him, he never would have been able to confront a nine-foot tall giant, skilled in hand-to-hand combat, covered in bronze armor, and armed to the teeth with a real warrior’s weapons. Faith is the thing that set David apart from Goliath. Goliath had faith in himself, his skill, his experience and his weapons—all very important when engaging in a battle. David had faith in God—the most important thing when facing any battle. Remember faith is the only weapon that any of us need when we face the greatest giant of our lives—death. Through faith in Jesus Christ, death is no longer a feared enemy because Jesus conquered death when He rose from the dead. Faith that God can and will accomplish His will in and through us is ultimately the only weapon we need.

            We are confronted with giants every day of our lives at school, at work, and at home. Some of us battle giants within ourselves as well every day—substance abuse, addiction, self-hatred, depression, anxiety, cancer, MS, paralysis, or some other malady that taunts us and threatens to destroy us. Let me encourage you to do something today, tomorrow and everyday for the rest of your life—face the giant or giants in your life, and with Five Smooth Stones in your arsenal tell your giant that “today the battle belongs to the Lord!”





[1] Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III, gen. eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), p. 77.
[2] Charles R. Swindoll, David—A Man of Passion & Destiny, (Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1997), p. 45.
[3] Walter A. Elwell, ed., Baker Commentary on the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1989), p. 205.
[4] Wllem A. VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), p. 786.
[5] Bill T. Arnold, 1 & 2 Samuel—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003), p. 257.
[6] Richard J. Foster, Prayer—Finding the Heart’s True Home, (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992), p. 9.
[7] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline—The Path to Spiritual Growth, (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998), p. 98.