Making Life Count- By Living Courageously
- Stephen Phelan
- Nov 15, 2009
- Series: Making Life Count
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Making Life Count—By Living Courageously: 2 Samuel 23
Mid-City, Nov. 15, 2009
We’re in the last of a series on Making Life Count. Part of the impetus for this series is that none of us want to get to the age of 80, be sitting in the rocking chair looking back on life and be filled with regret over all the things that could have been, over all the missed opportunities in life. So this morning we’re going to talk about courage because if you don’t live courageously, then you will inevitably be in that rocking chair of regret.
We just read a text about 3 Might Men who lived courageously. In our text, we see that v8 says these 3 men were apart of David’s mighty men. David’s mighty men were apart of an elite group of 30 to 40 soldiers that were handpicked to protect the King. Think Navy Seals. In Hebrew, these were called the Giboream.
And then among the Giboream, you had the 3 Mighty Men. This is Chuck Norris, Rambo, and Arnold Schwarzenaggar in their prime, and I am not talking about Gov. Arnold, I am talking about the Terminator.
V8: Josheb-Basshebeth—the chief of the 3 took out 800 men by himself with a spear. This is a real-life Rambo. V9-10 Eleazar—everyone else has retreated, but one man says no sir, I will hold the line. And v10 says, “he stood his ground and struck down the Philistinces till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword.” Can’t you just picture this. They are fighting in the middle of winter. It is so cold that, despite being in the heat of battle, at the end of the day, with a pile of bodies around him, his sword is stuck to his hand
And then we have Shammah in v11-12. In the middle of the lentil field, Shammah took his stand and said, “I’m your huckleberry, and brought the thunder.” Let’s see how many action movie references I can make, huh.
Then, you bring the 3 Musketeers together and you get our story about the water from the well. Now, let me give you a little context for the story. As soon as David became King, the Philistines attacked because they wanted to thwart the new king before he got any momentum. So their military strategy was to divide and conquer. They tried to strike the very heart of
SO this is not a good situation. You’re a brand new king forced to flee from the palace and the most important city in
And while David is in the cave he thinks aloud to himself with longing v15, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of
The problem is that David is trying to reconcile his present situation with the promises of God. God you told me that my offspring would rule forever and heal the world and I can’t even rule myself. He is crying out, “God, are you with me here? Where are you because I am supposed to be king and I can’t even get a drink of water from my well b/c our enemies are so close?”
Enter the 3 Mighty Men, the inner-circle of David’s guard, those who stayed so close to him that they would hear the King thinking and praying out loud in anguish to God, and they thought to themselves, “David, your faith may be wavering, but not ours. God is with us and He will come through.” And they sling a waterskin over the back and strike out for the well.
V14 tells us that they cut through at least one Philistine garrison, which was at least 20 men, but most likely far more. And they fought their way uphill to the
Let me begin by raising a problem that this text creates for many modern readers, particularly those of you who are skeptical of Christianity. Talk of a violent God wiping out people makes you want to run as fast as you can. And even more troubling is hearing people doing violence that is sanctioned by God. Just this week we had a guy kill 13 people at
Before we get to the subject of violence, let’s look at 3 lessons that I think come from this story about living courageously. If you want to live courageously, then you need 3 things:
(1) The Call of Jesus
Think about our story. One man doesn’t fight 800 unless he is either called to do so or crazy. 3 men don’t walk into the heart of enemy territory to get water unless they are called to do so…or crazy. And often times the only thing that differentiates crazy and faithful is the call.
Think about it. Noah, build a boat in the middle of the desert. Abraham, leave your friends and family and everything you know and just start walking—I’ll give you directions in route. Esther, go into the king and stand up for your people, even though doing so means certain death for you. Ananias, go put your hands on Saul’s eyes and heal him of his blindness. Wait, God, Saul is bent on destroying me and the church. Yeah, I know, go. All of these people are called by God. They aren’t trying to muster up courage. They are responding courageously to the call of God.
(2) The Desires of Jesus
Understanding the call of Jesus is another message. Well, a series of messages, but in our text you see one critical component. Jesus impresses things on your heart through desires. He makes His desires your desires. The classic text here is Ps. 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” As you delight in Him, he puts his delights in you.
This isn’t a perfect analogy, but it works somewhat like this. My kids are 3 right now and Dad is cool. I am savoring this, b/c I know that a time will is come when Dad won’t be so cool. “Uh, Dad, could you drop me off around the corner from the movie theatre, and if you drive by, duck so my friends won’t see you.” I know that is coming, but not right now. Right now, Dad is cool, particularly with Ford. Ford, for the moment, really does delight in me, so much so that my desires, the things that I like, are becoming his desires. For example, I love collard greens, so we cook them. Ford sees me eating them, so he eats them, sticks out his chest and says, “The boys love collard greens.” What 3 year old loves collard greens? For those of you without kids, it isn’t normal for 3 year olds to swallow, much less like, collard greens.
This my friends is what happens when you delight into Jesus. His desires become yours over time. It isn’t forced. It just happens naturally.
The 3 Mighty Men weren’t forced to go get water. David didn’t command it or even suggest it. He simply sighed out loud, and this was enough. Look at v15, “David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of
Here, my friends, is how you know whether you are just a religious person or whether you are in an intimate love relationship with Jesus. Religious people act out of duty. They relate to God as if he is the GRAND TICKETMASTER at the pearly white gates of heaven, checking your ticket to see if you have done enough.
And I am talking about all religious people of all religious persuasions. In Buddhism, you must follow the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Path to get your ticket punched to Enlightenment. In Hinduism, you must impress the many gods with your religious and moral performance so that your karmic balance leads you up and out of the cycle of life altogether so that you can get your ticket punched to nirvana. In Islam, you must do more good than you do bad and there is a literal accounting of your moral and religious good deeds versus your immoral and irreligious so that Allah will punch your ticket. Lots and lots of people try to approach the God of the Bible this way. If I am good enough, then He will punch my ticket at the pearly gates. They call themselves Christians.
But see the God of the Bible isn’t a Grand Ticketmaster. He is a lover. In 2 Cor. 11, Eph. 5, Rev. 19 & 21, the image he presents is that of a groom loving and rescuing His bride. This would be blasphemy to speak of Allah in intimate terms like this. Not so with the God of the Bible. You’re his bride and He has rescues you, or, as Mark and Isaiah put it, ransoms you. And you fall in love. And his love changes you. And you hear his sighs and longings and you begin to long to please him, not to impress a ticketmaster, but rather to love your lover..
Let me explain the difference between relating to God as a ticketmaster and a lover, between being religious and in love. One of the most fun things I have had the privilege of doing for my wife was when we were in seminary. By definition, you are broke in seminary. Contrary to what you may think, they don’t pay you the big money to go to seminary. So with a budget to buy absolutely nothing, we bought basically nothing. Every so often I would hear my wife express a desire for certain things, not that she wanted to buy them, but just of the, “These sure are nice.” So, once we inked our first big contract out here in San Diego (i.e. it was one of those support raising contracts that are ever so lucrative), I decided that a few of my wife’s wishes were going to come true. So I purchased placemats at one store and plates at another and sent her on this scavenger hunt. Why? B/c I am in love with my wife. I wasn’t acting out of duty—I was acting out of love. Out of the crazy love that she has given to me. Her love has transformed me.
Friends, that is what it is like to be in a love relationship with King Jesus. His love transforms you. And his desires become your desires; his desires become your delights. Your hear his sighs and longings throughout Scripture. Feed my sheep, care for the widow, the orphan; give joyfully; be longsuffering. See Jesus lived courageously and as you press into Him he will plant His courageous life in you by planting his desires in you.
(3) The Gospel of Jesus Christ
What is the gospel? In short, the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. About what he has done, he is doing, and will do.
I am going to give you 3 quick gospel reflections that flow from our story. (1) Faith will waiver. One of the things that will happen in the journey as you try to live courageously is that your faith, at times, will waiver. Many of you feel like King David this morning—your faith is wavering, you look at your life and think, “Really. When I read the Bible and see God’s promises and then I look at my life and think—is this it? Your feel like David kicked out of his city, holed up in a cave, trying to hold on and saying, “God, where are you?”
Well, here is the good news. You have a Mighty Man named King Jesus, who hacked and hewed his way not just through a Philistine garrison of 20 men to get some water, but he fought his way through death itself. On Friday, He faced a foe that no mere mortal could undue on the cross and He was victorious. And on Sunday, he rose victorious. See, my friends, because He took courage and went to battle on your behalf, then you can take courage. Because He made it, you’re going to make it. We know this because it is Sunday, and Sunday reminds us of the reality of His resurrection presence.
See my friends this is what David realized when his mighty men brought him back the water and this is why he POURED OUT THE WATER.
Think about it. Did that PUZZLE YOU when you first read it. These men did all this for you and you pour out the water.
David wasn’t thirsty. They went b/c they knew David’s faith was wavering. He was in anguish and crying out to God and couldn’t make sense of God’s promises when the Philistines were about to dethrone him. God are you here?
When they came bursting into the cave with this wineskin, David said, “Now I know that the Lord is with me. And it clicked and David said, “I can’t drink this.”
Here is why. Every other king in the ancient near east would have taken this water and guzzled it down. Why? B/c this is like booty from battle. And A common practice among ancient near eastern kings was to take and receive the plunder or booty of battle. Why? It was a display of the king’s strength. The kings honor. The kings glory.
But this booty, this plunder, was to show exactly the opposite. It wasn’t about King David’s glory, but about the King of Kings glory. This wasn’t about celebrating King David’s strength; this prize from the battle celebrated the King of Kings strength, that the battle belonged to the Lord and that the Lord was with Him. And so he lead them in worship not of himself but in worship of the King of Kings, and he did so by pouring out this offering to the King of Kings. David makes this a drink offering unto the Lord. Well, this notion of a drink offering leads us to our 2nd gospel reflection…
(2) Feel spiritually dry and disconnected from God. At times, you will feel spiritually dry and disconnected from God. King David felt this way in our text, and when the restoring presence of the Lord came over Him, he worshipped through making this type of drink offering. The bad news is that King David’s drink offering won’t help your spiritual dryness, but the gospel is that the King of Kings made a drink offering as well. In this remarkable place in Luke 22 at the Last Supper, King Jesus takes up a cup and says in Luke 22:20, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Jesus is saying, “I myself am going to be poured out as drink offering for you. I am going to be poured out for you.” I am going to become disconnected from God so that you may be connected. And as he was poured out, my Spirit will be poured into disconnected, spiritually dry people and Streams of living water came rolling down from the cross, so that all who would come and drink at this fount would have an inexhaustible supply of refreshment.
(3) Violence done in the name of religion. Now, we’re ready to come back to the question I raised at the beginning. Is this text promoting violence done in the name of religion? Not if you know how to read it. Not if you get the gospel. See rather than promoting violence, the one to whom this text points came to suffer, violently. There is no other god, there is no other religion, whose God says, “I am so committed to ending violence in the world that I will suffer, violently. I will be poured out myself as a drink offering” And then he calls his people to take up their cross, Not take up your bomb, but take up your cross. Just as I have poured myself out so that you may have life, so you go and pour yourself out to give others life, offering them streams of living water that can only be found in me.
Explore whether Jesus used this term. Note he doesn’t drink cup at last supper (I think) and doesn’t drink on cross. Note David pours out offering, drinking none, just as entire drink offering was poured out. It was all for God.
The second thing I want to bring out for us here in 2009 is the reality that for those of you who are skeptical about Christianity this story probably makes you a little bit nervous. You don’t like a God who promotes violence and who is violent and wipes people out. And when you here language about people fighting in the name of God you get nervous because of all the blood that has been shed in the name of God or Allah or some religion and you say, “No thanks. I don’t want to be involved in anything like that.”
Bet your life on Jesus (3 mighty men in v8-12). See
- Gandolf in LOR
- Skeptic: Point out how everyone has a faith position
- Problem of a God who supports bloodshed, violence
Your Deepest desire must be to serve King Jesus
- Sigh of 3 mighty men—King’s desires became their desires. This is how you know this isn’t just bravado, trying to show off.
- You always follow your deepest desire. i. Pushback—I don’t want to be an alcoholic (but not as bad as you want that buzz). I want to start attending church (but not as bad as…)
- This is what keeps us from courageously following Jesus and instead cowering back in fear-unlike the mighty men, our deepest desire isn’t to serve the King
You must have a king who champions grace
- Here is where you address problem of God of violence
- Religious vs gospel
- Answer the problem of a God who supports violence b/c you cut to Jesus and the way that he changed warfare. Wasn’t to promote theocratic
This is what you see v10 after Eleazar’s battle and in v12 after Shammah’s battle, “The Lord brought about a great victory.” These are men who have bet their lives literally on God. He has come through time and again and they have become so emboldened by His past successes that when they hear David’s faith wavering they say, “King David, take heart in the Lord.” Courage has become 2nd nature b/c they are so accustomed to trusting God, or, as I phrased it earlier—betting on God.
