David against Goliath II

김정호목사 

Dr. Jung-Ho Kim, Pastor  

⁴³ 블레셋 사람이 다윗에게 이르되 네가 나를 개로 여기고 막대기를 가지고 내게 나아왔느냐 하고 그 신들의 이름으로 다윗을 저주하고 ⁴⁴ 또 이르되 내게로 오라 내가 네 고기를 공중의 새들과 들짐승들에게 주리라 ⁴⁵ 다윗이 블레셋 사람에게 이르되 너는 칼과 창과 단창으로 내게 오거니와 나는 만군의 여호와의 이름 곧 네가 모욕하는 이스라엘 군대의 하나님의 이름으로 네게 가노라 ⁴⁶ 오늘 여호와께서 너를 내 손에 붙이시리니 내가 너를 쳐서 네 머리를 베고 블레셋 군대의 시체로 오늘날 공중의 새와 땅의 들짐승에게 주어 온 땅으로 이스라엘에 하나님이 계신줄 알게 하겠고 ⁴⁷ 또 여호와의 구원하심이 칼과 창에 있지 아니함을 이 무리로 알게 하리라 전쟁은 여호와께 속한 것인즉 그가 너희를 우리 손에 붙이시리라. ⁴³ And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field." ⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand." (1 Sam. 17:43-47)

FCF: We tend to be paralyzed by fear before a daunting challenge in life.

주제: 하나님은 승리를 주시는 분이기에 그분을 의지하므로 삶의 도전을 당면해야 한다. 

Theme: Because God gives us victory, we must face challenges in life by faith in God.

Introduction 

Faith without trials won’t grow. Faith confronts challenges instead of fleeing from them. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Martin Luther said, 하나님 우리 아버지께서 모든 것을 믿음에 달려 있게 하셔서 믿음이 있는 자들에게는 모든 것이 있게 하실 것이며 믿음이 없는 자들에게는 아무 것도 아무 것도 없게 하실 것이다. “God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.” Surely, faith means everything to us, whereby we experience who He is and what He does for His people in Christ. Without faith, we may not be likely to experience God’s power and presence. Jesus didn’t perform many miracles in Galilee because His townspeople didn’t believe in Jesus. Jesus often worked for His people through their faith. Likewise, God uses our faith when He does His work. Even though He can do everything for His glory without including our faith, God intends to use our faith as a means whereby He fulfills His purpose. Thus, it is a privilege for our faith to be included in God’s grand plan. This fact displays the importance of faith in our daily living. However, we often overlook this theological truth and try to live on our own strength without experiencing riches of God. There was a miser who was a millionaire. She had gone down in history as “America’s Greatest Miser.” Yet when she died in 1916, Hetty Green left an estate valued at over 100 million. She ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it. Her son had to suffer a leg amputation, because she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable. She was wealthy, yet she chose to live like a pauper. She was so foolish that she hastened her own death by bringing on an attack of apoplexy while arguing about the value of drinking skimmed milk. But Mrs. Green is an illustration of too many Christians today. They have limitless wealth at their disposal, and yet they live like paupers. God is their Father, Christ is their Savior, and the Spirit is their Enabler. Yet they don’t act on faith to experience God’s promises and blessings. From the story of David and Goliath, last Lord’s Day we learned that we must face challenges in life by faith in God because God gives us victory. Under this theme, we discussed the first characteristic of faith: faith faces challenges instead of flinching from them. Today, I would like to turn your attention to my second point, which is…

I. 믿음은 도전을 대면한다.

Faith faces challenges.

II. 믿음은 하나님을 경험함에서 행동한다.

 Faith acts by experiencing God.

David, before he went out to fight Goliath, had to convince Saul that he could bring Goliath down for himself. Saul heard of David who was willing to fight Goliath. So, he sent for David. When he came to Saul, David said, “Don’t worry about this giant. I will go and get him.” But, Saul was doubtful of David’s physical capability against Goliath, saying, “You are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” From a human standpoint, Saul’s evaluation of David was right. He was not simply underestimating David. Saul honestly gave David his first impression about him. Instead of yielding to Saul’s first impression on him, David had to tell him of his credentials as follows: 주의 종이 아비의 양을 지킬 때에 사자나 곰이 와서 양떼에서 새끼를 움키면 ³⁵ 내가 따라가서 그것을 치고 그 입에서 새끼를 건져내었고 그것이 일어나 나를 해하고자 하면 내가 그 수염을 잡고 그것을 쳐 죽였었나이다 ³⁶ 주의 종이 사자와 곰도 쳤은즉 사시는 하나님의 군대를 모욕한 이 할례 없는 블레셋 사람이리이까 그가 그 짐승의 하나와 같이 되리이다 ³⁷ 또 가로되 여호와께서 나를 사자의 발톱과 곰의 발톱에서 건져내셨은즉 나를 이 블레셋 사람의 손에서도 건져 내시리이다. “Your servant has been keeping his father’ sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (NIV).

David talked about his experience with God. His faith was not merely intellectual, but primarily experiential. By relying on God, David dared to attack wild predators and killed them. On the basis of his experiences of God, David examined the current situation and decided to act on faith against Goliath. He was first convinced of the Lord’s power and intervention for him. He didn’t doubt God’s power and presence for him. He was not trusting in his own faith in God. But he trusted God alone. His previous experiences of God’s deliverance led him to be willing to take Goliath down. Since he had confidence in God, he was able to convince Saul that God would be with him to kill Goliath. Instead of surrendering himself to Saul’s realistic evaluation or Goliath’s thundering threats, David called Saul’s attention to what God could do for him. So, Saul gave him his permission, saying, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” He prayed for God’s empowering presence with David, as David prepared himself to fight the giant.

David’s faith was different from those of others in that David truly trusted God’s power and presence in his daily business. He didn’t grow up in a palace where there was comfort, protection, and provision. He grew up in a rough terrain where he was called to keep his sheep. He had to watch over the sheep. He had to fight wild animals. He risked his life to protect his sheep. At the same time, he had to fight loneliness. He had to fight natural elements. In such a setting, he naturally learned to depend on God for guidance, protection, and provision. He was trained to be a future king of Israel would protect God’s people from wild predators. His trust of God didn’t grow up overnight. It was formed in a real life setting where David learned to believe and experience God. Ps. 23, which all of us love, was a product of David’s real experience with God. Without truly experiencing God, David wouldn’t have penned such a lovely song. See how David expresses his faith in God’s provision, protection, and guidance:

여호와는 나의 목자시니 내가 부족함이 없으리로다 그가 나를 푸른 초장에 누이시며 쉴만한 물 가으로 인도하시는도다 내 영혼을 소생시키시고 자기 이름을 위하여 의의 길로 인도하시는도다 ⁴ 내가 사망의 음침한 골짜기로 다닐찌라도 해를 두려워하지 않을 것은 주께서 나와 함께 하심이라 주의 지팡이와 막대기가 나를 안위하시나이다 주께서 내 원수의 목전에서 내게 상을 베푸시고 기름으로 내 머리에 바르셨으니 내 잔이 넘치나이다 나의 평생에 선하심과 인자하심이 정녕 나를 따르리니 내가 여호와의 집에 영원히 거하리로다. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. ³ He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

This psalm arose out of David’s true experience with God. It is David’s confession of faith in God. It is David’s praise of God. It remains in David’s soul throughout his turbulent life. It really shows David’s confidence in God. His shepherding experience during his youth laid a foundation for his kingship of later years. If he had not experienced God’s power in his daily shepherding business, David would not have ventured to take the challenge of Goliath. His faith moved from lesser to greater. In other words, his act of faith in a shepherding field became a steppingstone for his act of faith in a battlefield. Because he was faithful to the Lord in a smaller job, now he was able to do a greater work for the Lord. God was testing his faith against Goliath since David passed God’s test in the shepherding business. God wanted to see whether he was ready to rule over the nation of Israel. David’s experience with God in a small field led him to his experience with in a great field. His faith was unwavering, because he was formed by God in a challenging reality. It was formed out of such a hard reality. So, it was firm. It was unshakable.

Likewise, you should learn to walk by faith in your daily life settings, which could be your home, workplace, or school. You will be confronted with challenges in life, either big or small. God will give you a small challenge at first. He will increase the intensity of your problem, so that He will increase your faith. George Muller said, “God delights to increase the faith of His children...I say, and say it deliberately--trials, difficulties and sometimes defeat, are the very food of faith...We should take them out of His hands as evidences of His love and care for us in developing more and more that faith which He is seeking to strengthen in us.” David lived a life that had enough challenges. He learned to keep God’s Word through trials. In other words, David learned how to rely on God in a tough life. All of you know what it means to go through trials. You have enough trouble, hassle, relational pain, or heavy workload. God uses challenges to increase the spiritual muscles of your faith and give your opportunities to experience His help. Wherever God may have placed you, therefore, remember you are there by God’s design to practice your faith and experience God by faith.

That David’s faith was undaunted by Goliath is attributable to the fact that it was not theoretical, but experiential. His faith was not learned in a classroom of seminary or Sunday school. It was not formed in a cool, nice sanctuary in the church. It was not a mere talk. It was not philosophical. It was no show. As mentioned above, David’s confidence was formed, reinforced, and strengthened in a real-life setting by his repeated experiences of the living God. His courage arose from his experiential faith in God. Saul, Jonathan, and many others also had some type of experience of God in battlefields. However, they were not convinced that God was really with them while protecting them from their enemies. They wished God were with them. However, they were not confident in the actual presence of God with them. Like their ancestors who refused to enter the Promised Land because they feared the high-statured descendants of Anak, they couldn’t go out to fight Goliath. They learned nothing from the failure of their forefathers; rather, they simply repeated their failure because of fear. Having lost their confidence in the Lord’s presence with them, they were confident that they would be no match with Goliath. So, they didn’t want to offer their precious lives for an impossible fight.

Their faith was pretty much theoretical, intellectual, only confining to their mind. They knew the existence of God. They had some information about God. Surely, they heard about Yahweh who delivered their ancestors from the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. They heard about great things Yahweh had done for their forefathers such as the exodus, feeding millions of their ancestors with manna and quails, guiding them through the perilous paths of wilderness, conquering the more advanced peoples in Canaan, on and on. Yahweh, who had been with their ancestors, was with them. They gave intellectual assent to what God did in their history for their ancestors. Martin Luther says faith is not simply historical knowledge. He argues that a faith which is content to believe in the historical reliability of the gospels is not a faith which changes our relationship with God. According to Luther, they didn’t personally trust God. They didn’t trust in God’s power and presence that was manifested throughout their history. When the great giant challenged them, they automatically assumed that even God couldn’t do anything against their enemy. In a way, they boxed God in their narrow mind. Surely, many of them had no experience of God in their lives. They were unable to connect God’s mighty work in history to their current situation. For this reason, they were deeply shaken by fear, not knowing what to do or only thinking about how to survive. God was not in their hearts. Instead, fear completely replaced their faith.

However, David was different here from the rest of Saul’s army. He had been trained in terms of his faith. He didn’t become a champion of faith overnight. He had learned to trust God. Now, he firmly trusted the Lord would deliver him from the Philistine. From his past experience with God, he learned to trust only God, neither his own skills nor his own faith in God. He discovered who God is as he experienced Him in his real life setting. He didn’t seek the fading thrill of experiencing God, though he enjoyed fully the excitement of experiencing God’s power. If he had chased after the thrilling feeling coming from experiencing God’s miracle, he would have been a religious, emotional fanatic. However, he was immersed in God Himself. He was a man after God’s own heart. He didn’t trust the intensity of his faith. He solely trusted God who was perfectly reliable. It was not the greatness of David’s faith, but the greatness of God that David trusted, which matters.

So, David was confident that God would use him to deliver His people from the Philistines. Now he was about to go out to fight Goliath. Saul offered David his own armor-- a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. Saul wished it would protect him from the Philistine. Which king would give his own kingly armor to his servant? Saul was granting David a great favor. So, David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. But David was not used to them. They were too big for David. So, David took them off. David was not supposed to depend on a human convention that soldiers were to wear armors and weapons. Rather, David picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd's bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.

We see here David was relying on God alone, not on Saul’s favor. David trusted God alone, not man’s weaponry. Saul’s armor wouldn’t protect David from Goliath. Only God would protect David from him. David offered himself to God as he was. Not human weaponry, but God’s intervention was necessary for victory. David’s five stones in his hand were used in God’s hand to bring Goliath down. No matter how small or insignificant they might seem, they in God’s hand could be a mighty weapon to kill Goliath. This is what David believed. David’s faith was experiential, trusting God alone. He didn’t debate whether he would have to attack Goliath or not. He didn’t discuss it with his parents. He didn’t waste his time trying to convince others. He simply acted on faith in a God of victory who would deliver him from the Philistine giant. If our faith remains intellectual, theoretical, or philosophical, we won’t act on the promises of God. We may amass a great amount of information on God’s attributes. Yet, we won’t act on the knowledge of God. Even though we know God is infinite, good, and faithful, we won’t commit all our care upon Him because we can’t see Him. Even though we know God is always with us, we will fail to experience riches of God’s presence and power if we do not act on faith in God.

What kind of faith do you have? You may not know the true character of your faith in prosperity. However, adversity reveals the nature of your faith, whether it is actual or intellectual. If you have equated your Bible knowledge as your faith, you may not stand before great challenges in life. Your theoretical faith shall be shattered by “goliaths” in life. Head knowledge-based faith won’t work in a life-threatening situation. It won’t give us confidence in God. It will make us terrified before daunting tasks of life. As we exercise to build up our muscles, we must learn to exercise our faith in a real life setting to build up our spiritual muscle of faith. Even though we know we have some kind of faith in God, we cannot experience the thrills of faith-based living if we do neither exercise faith nor walk by faith. The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us.

Therefore, we must fly upward by faith. We must keep learning to jump higher and higher against trials by faith. Here is another story that illustrates the importance that we should exercise our faith. One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters." God sees you. Do you believe it? God knows you. He remembers you. He fights for you. He gives you victory. He is always with you. Do you act on these truths? 

Keep in mind that intellectual faith is not enough to experience God or overcome fear. Intellectual assent to historical facts of God’s salvation doesn’t make us act on faith. Intellectual faith is like studying carefully instructions of a certain drug and yet refusing to take it for the recovery of your health. You may study its ingredients, characteristics, or side effects. You may know everything about it. You know you must take it. But, you don’t act on faith in its benefits. So, you fail to benefit from it. You are still sick. Think about your faith, whether it remains intellectual, theoretical, or historical or it is ready to act on the promises of God. For Martin Luther, faith is about being prepared to put one’s trust in the promises of God, and the integrity and faithfulness of the God who made those promises. True faith brings us freedom and enjoyment of God. Even though you have an expensive, luxury car parked in front of your house, you won’t enjoy it if you don’t drive it. You didn’t buy it to be content to watch it once a day. You bought it to drive it and use it for daily affairs. You must use it to benefit from it. Likewise, you must employ your faith to experience God. Surely, experiential faith is important to experience God or overcome fear. Standing on God’s promises, true faith moves from lesser to greater

Surely, we are called to act on faith that God sees us in every circumstance and takes care of us in love. We are called to act on faith that God is always with us. Unless we experience God by faith, we won’t grow spiritually. Unless we grow by faith, we will be stagnant, theoretical about spiritual issues. Here is a funny story that illustrates the importance of acting on faith in God. A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation ensued: "Is anyone up there?" "I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?" "Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer." "That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch." A moment of pause, then: "Is anyone else up there?" We often decorate our spiritual lives with empty confessions of faith. While saying confidently there is a God for us, we still refuse to act on faith in the promises of God.

To experience God’s presence and power, we must learn to walk by faith, not by sight. We must obey what God says. Sometimes, we must let go of what we rely on rather than God. We must take challenges as opportunities to experience God’s faithfulness, goodness, and power. When you really experience God in your daily living, you will be ready to take challenges by your experiential faith. However, if you don’t exercise your faith against challenges, then your faith will remain dormant, weak, or handicapped. You will lose God-designed opportunities to experience His great intervention. Experience itself can’t be the purpose of our faith. But, it reinforces or increases our confidence in God. It helps us march toward challenges instead of escaping from them.

III. 믿음은 하나님을 영화롭게 한다.

 Faith glorifies God.

IV. 믿음은 다른 이들에게 영향을 준다.

 Faith affects others.

Conclusion 

Karl Barth said, 하나님께만 신실함이 있으며 믿음은 하나님과 그의 약속들과 그의 인도하심을 붙들며 신뢰하는 것이다. 하나님을 붙든다는 것은 하나님께서 거기에 나를 위해 계신다는 사실을 믿고 그 확신 가운데 사는 것이다. “In God alone is there faithfulness, and faith is the trust that we may hold to Him, to His promises and to His guidance. To hold to God is to rely on the fact that God is there for me and to live in this certainty.” 

No matter what we do to enhance our faith, we must look to Christ our Savior and Lord. Needless to say Christ had met many great challenges throughout his life. He faced poverty, rejection, threats, insults, jealousy, or abandonment. But he stayed faithful to the Father. At the end, He took the challenge of crucifixion on our behalf. He didn’t escape from it. He took our sin and death upon Himself, so that we could be saved from sin and death. As we follow Christ, we as His disciples will face many challenges that Christ faced. If we do, it means that we are walking in faith. Christ trusted His Father. His understanding of the Father was not theoretical, but experiential. He knew everything about His Father. So, His faith was actual, not informational. Here we learn the importance of experiential faith. Intellectual faith should turn into actual faith by experiencing God. It can’t take the challenges of life. It will hide from them in fear. However, experiential faith is ready to take them on, because it solely trusts God. His faith is a model for our faith. He took the challenges by trusting His Father. We find inspiration in Christ’s confidence in the Father. Even at His death, Christ committed His soul to the hand of the Father, fulfilling His redemptive purpose. He rose again from the dead and confirmed His divine power and displayed His divine glory. When we experience the love, grace, and power of His death, we can take the challenges of life by faith to experience riches of God in Christ. Remember faith does matter in every possible way. Let’s walk daily in God-honoring faith.  

Benediction  

²⁴ 여호와는 네게 복을 주시고 너를 지키시기를 원하며 ²⁵ 여호와는 그 얼굴로 네게 비취사 은혜 베푸시기를 원하며 ²⁶ 여호와는 그 얼굴을 네게로 향하여 드사 평강주시기를 원하노라. ²⁴ The LORD bless you and keep you; ²⁵ the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; ²⁶ the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. (Num. 6:24-26)