Why did you become a
Christian? I am suspecting that most of
you didn’t turn to Christ because you wanted an adventure. I doubt many of you became Christians because
it would make your life more challenging.
I am sure most of you turned to Jesus without giving too much thought to
his promise that ‘all people will hate you because of me.’ We heard him say ‘come to me all you who are
weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest’, but we weren’t necessarily
ready for his, ‘now go out into the world proclaiming the good news’.
People turn to Jesus because they
are in need. You were painfully aware
that you were morally bankrupt. You felt
alone in the world. Life without Jesus
was empty. You wanted to know that you
are forgiven. You knew that you deserved
hell, and that Jesus offers heaven. You
wanted to be adored by God the Father, cherished by God the Son and transformed
by God the Holy Spirit. But you weren’t
necessarily signing up to go into battle!
So you can understand how David’s
men felt when he told them that they were going to fight the Philistines. Those who had gathered around David were the
distressed, in debt and bitter in spirit.
They were turning to David for refuge and security. They weren’t an army. When David said, ‘let’s go to war’ they
responded, ‘behold, we are afraid.’
The
rescuing messiah
At this stage in the story David
has been anointed by the prophet Samuel.
The word christ/messiah means ‘anointed one.’ David is a messiah-figure whose life points
forward to his greater descendant Jesus, who is God’s true Messiah, and is
referred to as the Son of David. When
David acts as a messiah-figure should, he sets a pattern that will be followed
by Jesus. When David comes to the aid of
the town of Keilah we see that God’s messiah rescues.
It was King Saul’s job to protect
his people of Keilah from being attacked by the Philistines, but he is not
bothered. However, David cares about
them. He steps out from hiding and goes
into battle to free the people from their oppressors. Similarly, his great descendant, Jesus, was
also intent of rescuing. In the gospels
we read that Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem where he was going to give
his life to rescue a people from guilt, death and hell. Like David’s men, his disciples objected to
this plan.
The
recruiting messiah
Imagine the thrill as David’s men
looked back on that victory. I am sure
they rejoiced in seeing what God had done, and that he had used them to do
it. They had got more than they signed
up for. They had approached David as
those who were rejected by society. He
then turned them into soldiers and leads them on an adventure. A number of years ago there was a best-seller
called ‘The Purpose Driven Life’. That
book had its critics, but it resonated with something within Christians. We should want to be a part of what God is
doing in his world!
You came to Jesus a sinner in
need of saving, and now God sees you as a son, a saint, a servant and a
soldier. You are a herald of the good
news and an ambassador of the king. John
Piper urges pastors to get radical with people.
‘Don’t let them settle down to be comfortable, middle-class
Americans. Call them to a wartime
lifestyle …’
Jesus doesn’t call you into
battle because he can’t build his church without you; he is calling you because
he wants you to know the joy of victory.
And there is victory every time the word is shared, even if no-one
responds, because you have pleased your Father’s heart by being faithful.
A man in his thirties was talking
to a Christian leader. He said, ‘I used
to be sold out for Jesus … I used to read my Bible, ready to do what it ever
commanded me to do … but now I have settled for a safe kind of Christianity.’ Never let your best days as a Christian be
those that are behind you. Comfort is a
poor substitute for adventure. God has
prepared works of service in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). He both loves us and has a plan for each day
of our lives.
The
reigning messiah
One of the most striking things
about this passage is the fact that God is with David. Before the battle God had assured him, ‘I
will give the Philistines into your hands.’
If we are sure that the battle
belongs to the Lord then we will not worry that we are not as gifted and
competent as we would like to be. God
can use even our fumbling words.
Jack Millar was in a taxi with a
Spanish-speaking driver. He thought
about sharing the gospel, but knew that he didn’t speak Spanish very well. So he prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to
help him with his Spanish. As he reached
the end of his little gospel explanation, he uttered the powerful words,
‘Christ died for our fish.’ The man
roared with laughter, and then they were friends for life. ‘Don’t try so hard,’ he writes, ‘just be
stupid along with me. The lost are out
there. Let’s love them from death to
life.’
If we are sure that the battle
belongs to the Lord then we will pray.
Jack Miller writes, ‘prayer
becomes effective when you don’t have any clue how to make life work and yet
you believe that God … helps you as you ask and keep on asking.’ We are afraid to speak about the cross to
your family, friends, neighbours, workmates and strangers, but that is our
calling. So we pray that we would have
the courage to create and grasp opportunities.
We pray for people because we know that only God can open the eyes of
the spiritually blind to see the beauty of the gospel, and he does so as the
gospel is presented to them! ‘We have
not yet taped into the resources that are in God when it comes to prayer’
(Miller).
After the battle Saul sees an
opportunity to kill David, and God tells David that the people of Keilah will
hand him into Saul’s hands if he stays.
As David resumes life on the run we read that while Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hands.
Saul cannot triumph over God’s
protection. God is with his messiah. Indeed, God promises to be with all his
people.
Throughout Jesus’ earthly
ministry there were those who sought to have him killed, but God did not give
him into their hands. The people of
Nazareth get mad with Jesus and want to throw him down a cliff but passing through their midst he went
away (Luke 4:30). The Jewish
authorities were mad at Jesus, and picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the
temple (John 8:59). Again they sought to arrest him, but he
escaped from their hands (John 10:39).
God did not give him into their hands, until that moment when it was
right for him to offer up his life!
We may not want to come out of
hiding and be salt and light. We are not
promised immunity from all trouble in this world. Yet God does shelter under his wings. Even though we may be ridiculed as we speak
up, God rules over all mouths. Though some
may die martyrs death there is a sense in which we are never safer than when we
are following the call of God.
Conclusion
When you turned to Jesus you may
not have realised that you were being recruited into his army. I didn’t sign up to be a soldier. But don’t complain. This is a wonderful privilege. That God would choose to use us to further
his purposes in the world is a great thing.
How beautiful are our feet as we come bringing good news. We won’t feel complete if we refuse step into
the battle and talk to others about Jesus!
Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg
write a book about the unexpected adventure of taking everyday risks to talk
with people about Jesus. They suggest
that by keeping our faith to ourselves we are missing one of the most
exhilarating and fulfilling dimensions of the Christian life. Strobel writes, ‘I have repeatedly found that
it’s the Christians living out the unexpected adventure who are enjoying the
most fulfilling relationships with God.
So let’s follow the rescuing,
recruiting and reigning messiah as he leads us in battle!
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