God Demonstrates His Love in a way Everyone Sees!

I was born in a house where my mother taught me the best-known Bible verse in the world:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

Lost people sometimes tell me God couldn’t possibly love them because of all their sins.  They know the difference between right and wrong, they “shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness (Ro. 2:15).”  The Bible teaches that such people need to be persuaded that God loves them enough to forgive them because they already know that their sins have violated His holiness:

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²²And of some have compassion, making a difference: ²³And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.  Jude 1:21-23

Once they understand God’s love enough to truly love Him, they’ll follow His commands because they want to please Him.  As the Apostle Paul put it, “For the love of Christ constraineth us: (2 Cor. 5:14).”

Some people are saved by being told about Hell, others by being shown that God loves them.  We’ll discuss God’s love first because “keeping ourselves in the love of God” is the foundation of marriage.  If wife and husband both bathe themselves in God’s love, it’s easier for them to love each other and everyone else in the church.  That’s how we show the world that we belong to Jesus:

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  John 13:35

To be fair to people who doubt God’s love, it is hard to understand how a Holy, perfect God can love wretched sinners like you and me (Ps. 8:4, Heb. 2:6).  God knew that, so He not only told us in His Word that He loves us, He gave us mothers to show every one of us how His unconditional love works.

I understood sin because my mother objected and punished me when I disobeyed.  I learned forgiveness because my mother loved me enough to forgive me.  I understood confession and repentance (2 Jn. 1:9) because life went better when I admitted my wrongs and tried not to do it again.

Mom and Dad taught me what I needed to know to accept Christ as my Savior when I was in 2nd grade.  I loved Jesus because He loved me enough (Ro. 5:8) to accept the punishment for my sins – taking the punishment for my brothers’ sins was hard for me to think about.

I didn’t realize that Jesus loved me far more than “just” being willing to take on the evil of all my sins and lose His close fellowship with His Father (Ps. 22:1, Mt. 27:46, Mk. 15:34).  I thought that when Adam soiled himself through sin and a perfect God could no longer associate with polluted Adam, Jesus agreed that He would become sin for us so that we could be washed clean enough to be with God in Heaven.  That’s because I was a child when I accepted Christ.  As the Apostle Paul put it:

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  I Corinthians 13:11

I was 14 when I saw the difference between how true Christians behave and how everybody else behaves.  Once I understood the difference between the saved and the unsaved, I had to choose a side as Joshua and Elijah chose (Jos 24:15, 1 Ki. 18:21).  I remember standing in the school hallway and deciding that I really did love Jesus, so I couldn’t be friends with some of the people in the school.  At some point, every Christian must decide whether to follow the crowd or to stand for Christ (Eze. 22:30).

Years later, I understood that Jesus knew Adam would sin before He said “let there be light” to start creating the world.  Rev. 13:8 speaks of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”  Jesus knew He would have to die before He created Adam, yet He loved all of us enough to create us anyway!

It’s hard to understand loving us enough to die for us long before we were even born so God shows us by having mothers be willing to risk death to give their children life.  Before modern medicine, a woman had roughly 98.5% chance of surviving a pregnancy.  That sounds like death in childbirth was unlikely, but without birth control, women had so many pregnancies that 1 woman in 8 died in childbirth.

Every girl knew someone who had died in childbirth.  Every girl knew that she would walk the valley of the shadow of death for each child (Ge. 35:18, 1 Sam. 4:20), yet women wanted to marry and bear children (Ge.30:1, Lk. 1:25) anyway.  Women want children badly enough to risk death; Jesus wanted so badly to create us that He chose certain death!

Jesus knew He would weep when people He loved wouldn’t accept His offer of salvation (Is. 53:3, Mt. 23:37, Lk. 13:34) and that He would have to die to save us from our sins, yet He created the world which led to my birth anyway.  I was born before antibiotics could fight childbed infections.  My mother gladly risked her life to give me life and did it again and again for my brothers.  That’s the woman’s part of Ge. 5:1-2 “in the likeness of God made he him,” and “he [that is, God] called their name Adam” to include Eve.

I thanked my mother for teaching me about God’s love for me and for showing me her love (Is. 49:15) so that I could believe in God’s love.  I thanked her for feeding me and changing my diapers to keep me alive, but she died before I matured enough to realize that I should also thank her for risking her life to give me life.  Let your mother know you appreciate her wanting you in spite of the peril and pain she’d bear giving birth to you (Pr. 31:28-29).  Then thank Jesus for creating you in spite of knowing that He would have to die to take the punishment for your sins (Jn. 15:3).

Death in childbirth is less common than it was, but happens.  Your mother risked her life to give you life, shed her blood in painful labor to birth you, then labored to keep you alive; Jesus died to give you more abundant life (Jn. 10:10) followed by life eternal (Mt 25:46, Jn. 4:36, 12:25, 17:3).  Thank them both.

What did you do to earn Jesus’ giving His life and His blood (He. 9:12, 9:22) to pay the penalty for your sins and my sins?  Nothing.  There is nothing we can do to earn salvation (Is. 64:6, Ro. 3:10), it is an undeserved gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9) He died to give us because He loves us (Ez. 33:11, Ro. 5:8).

If someone gave you a birthday gift, would you hand over money to pay for it?  That would refuse the gift.  Trying to get to heaven by being good, being religious, going to church, tithing, doing good deeds, is not only impossible (Ro. 3:11), trying to earn your way into heaven blocks you from accepting Jesus’ free offer of salvation from your sins (Gal. 5:4).  You’re trying to pay for a feely-offered gift whose price is far more than anyone could ever pay.

What did you do to earn your mother’s risking her life to give you life and then pouring her life into keeping you alive and teaching you how to behave as an adult?  Nothing.  She risked her life before she knew anything about you.  She gave her life freely based on the emotional drives God put into her and looked forward eagerly to your birth as she felt God forming you within her womb (Is. 49:5).

We know that some mothers harm their children.  Is that what God wanted?  Of course not, this is because of the sin which came into the world when Adam refused to confess his sin and would not ask God to forgive him.  God asked Adam, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat (Ge. 3:11)?”  We Christians know that God has promised to forgive our sins if we confess:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9

God doesn’t change (Mal. 3:6).  God would have forgiven Adam if he’d confessed.  Instead of admitting his sin, Adam blamed Eve for giving him the fruit and blamed God for giving him Eve!

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.  Genesis 3:12

People forget that God told Adam to keep the garden (Gen. 2:15), which meant to protect it.  Gen. 3:6 says “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”  Note two important words “with her!”  People also forget that Adam was there with her the entire time!  Why did he let the serpent deceive his wife?  Why didn’t he protect his wife whom God had trusted to his care?

Be realistic, men, blaming your wives when things go wrong won’t help you any more than it helped Adam, you are the leader, so it’s on you.  God designed women’s minds and hearts carefully so that for the most part, a mother’s love for her children illustrates His love for us, His children.  Adam’s sin brought so much sin into the world that a few mothers fail to love their children as God planned.

We’ve seen mothers reject their children when men reject the mothers after getting them pregnant outside marriage.  Women blame the father even though they wanted children badly enough to stop taking birth control pills without telling anyone.  Rejected mothers often reject a child who looks or acts enough like the father to remind her that the child’s father sinned against her by taking her outside marriage even though she had wanted his baby.

Even if the father stays with the woman, he may resent the child because in his mind, the mother got herself pregnant by stopping her pills without his agreement.  The mother got a baby, but at what cost?

And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.  Psalm 106:15

In several cases we know, the father accepted later children when he had agreed to be a father.  His resentment of his oldest and his acceptance of his younger children are evident to anyone who knows the family even years later.  What could we say when relatives asked why the kids were treated differently?

God loves fathers, mothers, and children in such cases, but the parents’ violation of His holiness by breaking His rules about sex brings leanness into their souls.  These situations are caused by the birth control pill.  Before the pill, a man knew that if he came together with a woman, he’d be a father within a year.  Couples can now “play house” and pretend that God doesn’t care that they’re breaking His laws.

If a woman’s on the pill, a man feels she expects to have sex, so why not with him?  If she isn’t on the pill, she can say “No!  Not unless we’re married, and I won’t marry you unless you grow up and get a job.”  That’s taught in Ge. 24:67.  If a man’s offer to a woman doesn’t include food, clothing, and shelter, it’s not Biblical.  If he can’t pay for her, all he can do is play with her and discard her.  God hates that!

A man may have some vague head knowledge about pregnancy, but deep down in his heart, where it really counts, a man doesn't believe he has anything to do with making babies.  A baby clearly belongs to the mother - she had it last - but what has her baby to do with him?  Remember the old saying - "The time my father got me, his mind was not on me."  What was he thinking when you happened?  Was he thinking at all?

God made men possessive to help give children fathers.  If a man has a strong emotional, financial, logical, and psychological connection to a woman, she chooses to belong to him, and encourages and establishes his possessiveness of her as taught in the Song of Solomon before she persuades him to agree with her becoming pregnant, her children will also belong to him.  If she won’t belong to him, the kids are hers, and she can look after them herself.

From the beginning, God's love and God's salvation are undeserved gifts of God.  Most mothers show how His love works.  We should love Him because He first loved us (Ro. 5:8).  His love should drive us to serve Him as He requires of us (2 Cor. 5:14).  God never bullies us into obedience; He always lets us choose (Joshua 24:25) whether to obey His commands or not.  He yearns for obedience (De. 5:29, 30:10), but He never forces us.  The choice is ours.

Have you thanked your mother today for risking her life to give you life and then pouring her life into you?  And thanked Jesus for dying to save you?

The Apostle Paul pointed out that we do the work of spreading the Gospel because our love for Christ “constraineth us,” that is, makes us do it.  We serve Him because our love for Him makes us want to please Him.

For the love of Christ constraineth us; II Corinthians 5:14a

In the same way, our love for our spouses should constrain us to do whatever we can to please him or her.  If lost people see married Christians working to please each other out of love, they’ll often ask how we can handle the problems the other person causes.  That gives us a chance to talk about God’s love and God’s forgiveness.  God forgives us, so God expects us to forgive other people in the same way He forgave us.

This article shows how God demonstrates His holiness so that we can all see it:

https://successful-marriage.blogspot.com/2021/04/god-demonstrates-his-holiness-in-way.html

God Demonstrates His Holiness in a way Everyone Sees!

Although some people need to be persuaded of the love of God because they already know that they’ve violated His holiness and find it hard to repent without feeling loved, others need to be persuaded that God’s holiness means that God must send them to Hell if they don’t repent:

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²²And of some have compassion, making a difference: ²³And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.  Jude 1:21-23

Jesus spoke about Hell more often than He spoke about heaven.  We must be ready to show others God’s love by the way we treat our families and other church members, and they need to see our love for them.  Having done that, however, we must be ready to show the holiness of God and explain His utter hatred of any and all sin, that's what “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” means.  No matter how good a person may try to be, the Bible teaches that compared to God, the best we can be is no good at all.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags:  Isaiah 64:6a

People have a hard time accepting the fact that they can’t be good enough to satisfy God, so God gave us examples.  Fathers love their children, of course, but it isn’t the same as mother’s love.  God uses mothers together with fathers to show His Holiness.  My mom knew that charity, which is undeserved love in action,

“Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth.”  I Corinthians 13:6-8a

Her love never failed - she always loved me no matter what I did and rejoiced when I did well, but she did not tolerate misbehavior or disobedience.  She loved me while hating my sins.

That’s hard to do – most people find it hard to condemn sin without also condemning the soul who committed the sin.  When we tell lost people about their sin, we must be careful to convince them that God loves them in spite of their sin.  Mom showed me God’s desire that His people strive toward His holiness (Lev. 19:2, He. 12:14, 1 Pe. 1:15-16) by correcting me when I did wrong and explaining how I could do better while showing me God’s love every single day!  Seeing her love made it easy to believe in God’s love.

My dad was much more focused on ensuring my obedience than my mother was.  God warns fathers to be careful not to overdo emphasis on God’s holiness:

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.  Colossians 3:21

Some churches preach the “buddy god” who loves everybody so much that he’d never send anyone to hell - repentance and turning from sin aren’t needed.  A love-only message is meaningless because it doesn’t define sin or tell people that God hates sin (Ps. 7:11b) as my parents taught me.  How can people seek forgiveness without being made aware of how much God hates their sins (Ro. 3:10)?

Others preach the “bully god” by hammering away on God’s holiness without emphasizing His love.  The bully god wrote a bunch of rules in the Bible which the leadership interprets and extends.  The bully god watches your every thought, word, and deed so he can whack you with the pastor’s help when you get out of line.  No forgiveness for you, miserable miscreant!

Holiness without love is repugnant because it’s too harsh.  Sinners don’t want to hear about holiness alone because they don’t want to feel hopelessly bad about themselves.  Showing God’s love gives hope and helps sinners accept God’s holiness.  Sinners can’t understand why Jesus had to die on the cross unless they’re taught to cling to His love.

Without knowing God’s love, people can’t feel confident of His care for us (1 Pe. 5:7) or of His promise never to leave us (He. 13:5).  Jesus love for us keeps us following Him because we want Him to be pleased with us (2 Cor. 5:14).  We follow His holiness because we love Him.  You can’t have one without the other.

God insists that we love one another fervently (1 Pe. 1:22) to remind each other of His love for us – that’s how lost people know that we belong to Him (Jn. 13:35)!  When we give the Gospel, nobody cares how much we know about God unless they know how much we care about them.

Getting the right balance between God’s love and God’s holiness for each child is the hardest part of being a parent or a pastor.  One reason God requires pastors to have children (Titus 1:6) is to help them learn the balance.  They can’t help young Christians develop without learning how young children develop.

Love, Holiness, and Marriage

Love and holiness are the keys to marriage because salvation and marriage both require that we die to our former lives.  We must die to our sinful lives to be born again into union with Christ (Ro. 7:4-6).  In order for two people to become one as Jesus expects (Mt. 19:4-6, Mk. 10:6-9), they must both die to their self-centered individual lives in favor of giving everything (Ro. 12:1) to the one-flesh family unit that God expects His people to form and build.

Who ordained salvation?  God.  Who ordained marriage?  God.  Jesus loved us enough to create us even though He knew He would have to die to give us a way to be cleaned from our sins so we could fellowship with God in Heaven instead of burning forever in the lake of fire.  How did His love for us play into the way He ordained marriage?  The Bible teaches that Christianity is a thinking faith which is based on reason:

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:  Isaiah 1:18

Let’s be logical for a moment.  Men, Jesus valued us and loved us enough to create us even though He knew He would have to die to save us from our sins.  When you build something, don’t you feel affection for it?  Let’s draw on the emotional nature God puts in all of us along with logic.  Mothers, you know how you feel about your children.  Would a truly Christian mother do anything to harm her children on purpose?

Would a God that loved us enough to die for us create men and women in such a way that there was no way we could enter into joyous marriages?  Did God design the powerful drives He put into men and women to draw us into marriages which will bless us if we follow His plan?  Or did a God who loved us enough to die to save us from our sins on purpose design us so that men and women can’t find joy in entering into long-term commitments to create safe spaces where their children can grow?  Certainly not:

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?  Matthew 7:11

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.  Proverbs 18:22

God gives good things to those that ask Him.  Salvation, marriages, and wives are good things.  We must ask for salvation based on the salvation instructions He put in His Word and we must ask Him how to have good marriages by reading the marriage instructions He put in His Word.

God Himself uses a mother’s love to show both His holiness and His unending love:

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.  Isaiah 49:15

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.  Hosea 4:6

God will never forget us or stop loving us, but we must study and follow His laws or He’ll reject us.  If we try to go to Heaven our own way, we go to Hell when we die.  If we try to do marriage our own way, we can make life Hell on earth.  We must follow God’s one program for both salvation and for marriage!

There’s a story of a young man who disgraced his family and left town.  He came to himself (Lk. 15:17) but wasn’t sure if he’d be accepted back into the fold.  He wrote his mother saying he’d take a train through town.  If she wanted to see him, “Tie a yellow ribbon on the old oak tree.”

As the train came near, the conductor saw him weep and heard the story. “I can’t look,” the young man said.  As the train rounded the bend, the conductor told him, “Open your eyes!  There’s a ribbon on every branch (Lk. 15:18-27)!”  His mother loved him and wanted to see him in spite of all the wrong he’d done.

Pr. 31:1 shows that King Lemuel’s mother taught him how to care for his future wife.  A mother can teach her sons how to honor wives and teach her daughters to demand respect from men (Tit. 2:3-5), but she can’t teach her children at all unless their father teaches them to honor and respect her by showing his respect for her daily and commanding their children to “call her blessed”:

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. ²⁹Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.  Proverbs 31:28-29

Mrs. Lemuel expected her son to teach his children that they had the very best mother in the entire world!  Children are born selfish; they won’t honor their mother unless they see their father constantly honor her as taught in the Song of Solomon and learn that he demands that they follow his example of honoring her.

Over and over, the Bible compares the relationship between husband and wife to the relationship between God and His people; God our Father welcomes us back when we return to Him.  Mothers cannot fully reflect God’s love because they’re sinful human beings, but a godly mother’s love shows us the high level of love God expects husbands to give freely to wives and children.

Being honored, valued, and appreciated by husband and children nourishes wives.  Seeing their father do it teaches sons how to honor their future wives and other women.  Their father’s love for their mother shows his family a picture of how Christ loved the church, which is a very high standard indeed:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:25

Although a man should be ready to die to protect his wife from any danger, God generally expects a man to give his life day by day to nourish and cherish her.  I earn so much per hour.  When we spend that much on our home, children, or church, I have freely given one hour of my life to walking the path of service to my wife (Mk. 9:35, 10:44) that He wants me to walk (Ro. 12:1).

Watching their father honor them and their mother teaches daughters that God requires that all men treat “The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity  (1 Timothy 5:2).”  Girls must be taught to insist that men deal with them in purity as God commands or they’re apt to fall into sexual sin.

Everyone bases what they do on what they believe about God.  Atheists try to convince themselves that God doesn’t exist so they can do whatever they want without worrying about what God thinks about it (Ps. 14:1, 53:1).  Christians who believe that God is good read the Bible looking for keys to happiness.

Theology, the study of God, can be complicated.  Here’s a 10-word theology for marriage and for practical living:

https://successful-marriage.blogspot.com/2017/10/10-word-theology-for-marriage-and.html

How David Prepared Himself to Serve God by Fighting Goliath

One of the amazing things about the Bible is that any story can be read on many levels.  This is the first of three messages on the David story.  We know how mightily God used David and we should want God to use us in a mighty way.  This article tells why God was able to use David so that we can get ready for God to use us.

The second discusses the story from the point of view of how family members get along or don’t.  The third shows that in the very first recorded example of an army hiring a civilian contractor to do a job, the contractor didn’t get paid even though he performed on time and under budget.

Most of you have heard the story over and over, but you probably heard it from a Bible storybook or from a Sunday school lesson.  Do Bible stories keep us from sin?

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.  Psalm 119:11

The Bible teaches that hiding God’s Word in my heart, that is, memorizing Bible verses, keeps me from sin.  It does not say that hiding God’s stories in my heart will keep me from sin.  God’s stories may be interesting, they may be fun to tell and to read, but they won’t keep us from sin.  For that, we have to read God’s Word.

I’m going to ask you to try, if you can, to forget you ever heard the story of David and Goliath.  I always heard that story as men told it, not as God told it.  Most of us heard that story as men tell it in their words.  Please turn to I Samuel 17, forget what you know about the story, and let’s read it in God’s words.  It’s much more important to know how God told the story than to know how men told the story.  If you listen closely, you’ll get a lot of details that are left out when men tell it.

Read the Story – I Samuel 17

God used David to kill Goliath, a giant who had insulted God by saying that Goliath’s god was more powerful than David’s God.  When the Philistines saw that David had killed their champion, they realized that David could not have killed Goliath without God’s help.  When they saw that David’s God was more powerful than their god, the Philistines ran away.  Did God need David to kill Goliath?  No, God could have sent fire from heaven to wipe out Goliath as He wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah and as He sent fire to burn up the sacrifice and the stone altar on Mount Carmel.  God didn’t need David but He chose to work through David.

God doesn’t need us to do the work of His kingdom, but God chooses to work through us.

We’re going to find out why God was able to use David.  God has used men from the earliest times down to today.  God wanted to use David, He wants to use me, and He wants to use you.  Where else in the Bible does God do His work through men?  When He raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus had men roll away the stone so that Lazarus could come out of the tomb (Jn. 11:39).  God often gives people things to do when He’s working.

Does God still work though His people today?  In Mark 16:15, Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel,” that means you and me.  God could spread the Gospel without us, but He chooses to work through His people.  I don’t know why He uses men and women, but that’s how God works.  He worked through Abraham and Sarah, He worked through Moses and Miriam, He worked through Rahab and Joshua, He worked through Ruth and David, and He wants to work through you.

God doesn’t use everybody.  When God sent Samuel to choose a man to be king instead of Saul, Samuel wanted to anoint David’s oldest brother Eliab, but God said no:

But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.  I Samuel 16:7

Samuel wanted David’s older brother Eliab to be king, but God didn’t use Eliab, He used David.  Why?  Why could God use David and not his older brother?  What made God able to use David?  God looks on the heart and David’s heart was right toward God.  As we look at what David did that showed that God could use him, I want you to ask yourself, “Could God use me?”  I want you to ask yourself what you are doing so that God can use you now and in the future.

Let’s look at three reasons why God was able to use David:

I God was Real to David

God wasn’t just an idea to David, God was real.

A. David was insulted when Goliath insulted David’s God v 26b.  Are you insulted when you hear people use God’s name as a curse?  What do you do about it?

B. David gave God the glory for protecting him from the bear and from the lion v 37.  David knew that God would help him kill Goliath for defying God v 37.  Do you thank God publicly when He takes care of you?

C. David fought in God’s name v 45.  Do you work in God’s name?  With all your might?  (Ec 9:10)

D. David gave God the glory in advance v 46-47.

This is part of what the Bible means by saying that David’s heart was perfect toward the Lord his God (I Kings 15:3).  God was real to David; God was a person to David.  David was insulted when God was insulted.  David trusted God, David believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness as it was for Abraham (Rom 4:3, Gal 3:6, Jam 2:23).  Romans 4:9-13 says we get righteousness through faith in the same way.

Is God real to you?  God was real to David, but there’s more to why God was able to use David.

II David was Prepared:

David was ready to serve God.  The Bible tells us how David got ready to serve.

A. David had kept sheep.  This taught him leadership and responsibility as it taught Moses responsibility.  If you have a job, you’ve learned at lest some responsibility.  What about kids?  Do they do chores around the house?  Taking out the garbage or feeding the animals teaches children to be responsible.

B. David protected his sheep by killing the lion and the bear (v 37).  This taught him to do his duty and protect the sheep at the risk of his life.  Our children seldom risk their lives to do their chores, but when our son went to bed without feeding the dog, we made him get up and feed the dog.

C. David practiced the harp; we know that music helped him later.  Is making music easy?  Did David have anyone to tell him to practice?  Or was he responsible enough to practice without someone telling him to?  If your children are taking music lessons, do they practice on their own or do you have to make them practice?  Do they do their chores without you telling them to or do you have to remind them every time?

D. David also practiced with his sling without anyone telling him to.  Kids, it’s a lot easier for you to learn responsibility if you have parents to help you, but David did most of his learning while he was alone with the sheep.  You can learn responsibility without parents if you lean on God.

Judges 20:16 tells us that there were 7,000 chosen men who could sling stones “at an hair breadth, and not miss.”  Slinging was a well-known art, but it took practice.  David chose to practice.  Nobody made him practice while he was out there with the sheep; he practiced because he was responsible and because he knew he might need his sling to protect the sheep.  Do you think he was surprised when he used his sling for God?

David’s heart was “perfect toward God” so his heart was ready to fight Goliath, he trusted in God so his courage was ready to fight, and he had practiced so his aim was ready to fight.  David was prepared.  Are you prepared?  What weapons do you use for God today?  We don’t often fight giants, but we always have to fight Satan.  Ephesians 6:13-17 tells me that the Bible gives us our weapons for fighting Satan.  It talks of the sword of the spirit, the helmet of salvation, and the shield of faith.  These weapons are for attacking; none of God’s weapons cover my back.  I’m not supposed to run away from Satan.  If I resist him, he runs away from me.

David’s sling had no value as a defense against Goliath’s sword or spear.  Like the Bible, David’s weapon is a weapon of attack; it’s not a weapon of defense.  As David practiced how to attack with his sling, you and I can practice with God’s Word so that we can attack the forces of Satan.

God was real to David and David was prepared to attack Goliath, but there’s still more.

David was Prudent

When Saul heard what David said, he told someone to bring David to him.  Saul didn’t think David could fight Goliath, but David convinced Saul that God would bring David the victory.  Saul could see David’s faith.

A. Saul offered to let David use his armor (17:38).  That was a great honor, but David did not know how to use Saul’s weapons (17:39).  If he had used the King’s weapons, he would not have been prepared and he would probably have lost.

How often do we try to do things when we aren’t prepared?  How often do God’s people do something that God didn’t tell us to do?  God’s plan for running a church is laid out in the New Testament, but people get bored with what’s in the Bible and want to try something else.  I Co 1:21 says that God chose to use preaching to save “them that believe,” that is, God’s people.  God says He uses preaching to save His people, but churches get tired of preaching and want to try seminars, or TV, or other fancy new programs.  Does this work?

Was David bored with his sling?  Should he have tried something new when he was about to go into battle?

B. David took 5 smooth stones (17:40) from a brook.  Not just any stones, David took 5 smooth stones.  Why did he want smooth stones?  Smooth stones don’t wobble as much.  A slung stones goes between 60 and 100 MPH.  A rough stone would wobble and David had to shoot straight.  Why 5?  Why not just one, that’s all he used.  David was careful, he knew his first shot might miss, and he didn’t want to run out of ammunition, but why only 5 stones?  Why not more?  17:48 says that David ran toward Goliath.  If he’d been carrying too many stones, he’d have been too heavy to run.

Conclusion

The Bible tells us why God could use David: God was real to David, David was prepared, and David was prudent.  Could God use you now, or are you too young?  How old was Samuel when God first called him?  I Samuel 1:24 tells us that Samuel’s mother brought him to the temple “when she had weaned him” and that “the child was young.”  I Samuel 2:11 says that he started serving right away, God uses young people but He only uses people who are willing to be used.  I Samuel 3:10 tells us that when God called, Samuel said, “Speak; for thy servant heareth.”  In calling himself God’s servant, Samuel told God that he was willing to serve God.  Are you willing to serve God?  Do you want God to call you or would you rather He left you alone?

Is God real to you?  God is preparing you to serve Him.  He had you born into a family that would bring you to church; He put you in classes where older Christians can teach you how to be ready to serve God.  When you’re ready, will you do what the Bible taught you to do or will you try something different because it seems fancy or flashy?  It’s always best to do things God’s way.  David did what he’d learned and what he’d practiced, and it worked for him.  Doing what God has you learn and practice will work for you, too.

So far, this has been a pretty conventional sermon based on David and Goliath.  I’m sure you’ve heard most of these points before.  But now let’s look at the details.  God told this story; He put in details which we often overlook.  God put in the details for our learning and to give us hope (Romans 15:4).  Let’s read the fine print in the next paper.

https://successful-marriage.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-david-story-illustrates-family.html

The David Story Illustrates Family Dynamics and Relationships

This article discusses the David and Goliath story from the point of view of family dynamics, please read I Samuel 17.  The Jews under King Saul and the Philistines armies were camped on opposite sides of a valley.  The Philistines had a campion named Goliath who was about 9 feet tall.  He challenged the Jewish army every day, saying that if anyone could defeat him in single combat, that would decide the battle and nobody else would have to fight.  Did they mean that?  No, when David killed Goliath, they still had to fight.

Enemy promises are worthless.  Can we trust any North Korean promises or Iranian promises about giving up nuclear weapons?  Only if we learn from President Reagan who said, “Trust, but verify.”

And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brethren; And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.  I Samuel 17:17-18

Three of his sons are in the army.  Jesse knows army food isn’t wonderful, so he wants David to take them some food.  How many parents sent kids food when they’re off at college?  He also wants David to schmooze his son’s boss by giving him ten cheeses.  Smart man, Jesse!  They’ve had a king for only a few years, and Jesse knows how the army bureaucracy works.  He’s helping his sons get in good with the top brass.

Finally, he tells David to find out how they’re doing, and bring their words back to him.  He doesn’t have email, he wants to hear how they’re doing in their own words.  There are many family relationships revealed in what happens next.

What was in it for David?

When David heard Goliath’s challenge to God’s people, his first question was, “What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine,” 17:26.  He went on to speak of his anger at Goliath’s defying God, but his first question was “What’s in it for me?”  Although David was angry when Goliath insulted God, David first spoke about himself.  What do you think of this? Was it OK for David to ask “What’s in it for me?”

What shall be done for the man” is asked today.  They ask “What shall be done for the man who builds a road from Boston to Washington,” and people bid on the job.  It usually works out that what shall be done for the man who buildeth the road is to give the man some money.

David was told that the king would give him his daughter if he killed Goliath.  What was done for David after David killed Goliath?  Did David marry Saul’s daughter?  Did the king pay as he had promised?  The next chapter tells us that Saul gave David a job, but did David marry Saul’s daughter for killing Goliath as Saul had promised?  Well, no.  David did marry Saul’s daughter, but not until years later and after he killed 200 Philistines.  Learn this well - people and kings and governments don’t always pay what they promise.

Was Saul’s offer good for his daughter?

David was told that the king would give his daughter to anyone who killed Goliath.  Jos 15:16, Jud 1:12-13 tells of another father promising to give his daughter in marriage to a man who did something difficult.  Is this a good deal for the girl?  Suppose some guy runs off and does some heroic deed.  If her father’s honest, if her father honors his offer to the hero, he tells her, “You’re marrying this guy tomorrow.”  If she’s obedient, and a girl didn’t have a whole lot of choice because she couldn’t eat unless some man fed her, there was no welfare, women weren’t strong enough to farm or hunt without machinery, and there were no jobs for women, she marries him, sight unseen, or she’ll starve when her father dies.

This is found in other stories.  How many of you read the story of the brave little tailor?  He killed 7 flies at once, wrote “7 at one blow” on his belt, and went walking.  The king thought he’d killed 7 men with one blow and told him that if he killed some giants who were causing trouble, the tailor could marry the king’s daughter.

The tailor didn’t fight the giants; he killed them with a trick.  Goliath acted as if he’d never heard of a sling, he let David get into range without hiding behind his shield or putting on his helmet.  David tricked Goliath as the tailor tricked the giants, but in the story, the king was honest and married his daughter to the tailor.

Was this good for the girl?  In II Sam 5:8, David wanted Jerusalem taken, but did not offer a daughter.  I added up the years and I don’t think David had any daughters who were old enough to get married, but the Bible doesn’t say anything about that either way.  Was it a good thing for Saul to offer his daughter to a hero?

In those days, many men died young.  In Ruth, 3 men died leaving 3 widows.  The most important thing about a man to a woman was that he lives long enough to help raise her children to be old enough to feed themselves.  A man who was strong enough, and lucky enough, and skilled enough to beat Goliath was reasonably likely to live long enough to raise Saul’s daughter’s children.  Giving his daughter to a brave, strong, skillful man was a good thing for a father to do.

When you try to serve, you’ll get yelled at

When David asked about fighting Goliath, his older brother Eliab trashed him (17:28).  David had left the mules and the food with the man who was in charge of food (17:22) so Eliab didn’t know David had been told to bring food.  Eliab assumed that David had run away from home just to see the battle.

Has your older or younger brother or sister ever criticized you when you did what your parents told you to do?  Have you ever been criticized when you’re obeying someone at work?  How much more, then, will you be criticized when you obey God?

David was trashed for obeying his father and for taking up God’s cause, if you imitate David, you’ll be trashed, too (John 15:19).

What did God say when Samuel wanted to anoint Eliab to be king?

But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.  I Samuel 16:7

This may be a reason Eliab wasn’t worthy to be king.  It looked like David had run away from the sheep to see the battle, but that wasn’t the way it was.  Eliab didn’t ask David what he was doing there; he assumed that David had done wrong and criticized him without asking.  Is this a good way to lead?

You never know whom God will use, or who He’ll raise up or who He’ll put down

David’s brother criticized David for coming to the battle; he thought David was of no use at all.  How did Eliab feel when David became king?  We often fail to see what or whom God will use:

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.  I Peter 2:7-8

Eliab was there when David was anointed to be king among his brethren (16:1-13).  Picture it, all of David’s brothers are standing around, and Samuel anoints David to be king.  Don’t you think Samuel told them why he was anointing David?  What was Eliab thinking?  Didn’t he know that Samuel was a man of God?  Didn’t he know that God had chosen his little brother to be king?  Or did he just blow the whole thing off?

Why did he yell at David?  Was he jealous?  If Eliab had understood that God planned to use David and that God meant it when He had David anointed king, wouldn’t Eliab have expected David to do something unusual?  Eliab could have encouraged David; he could have helped him instead of making David’s work harder through criticism. Have you ever seen God work?  Haven’t you seen God work in this church, right here in this place?  And if you see God work through one of His people, do you support that person, whoever it is?

Let me give you an example.  Think about Doris, a retarded woman who came to our church for a while.  We could all see that God works through Doris.  She invites people to church, and some of them come.  I may have invited more people to church than Doris has, but I’ll tell you, more of the people Doris invites actually come.  God is working through Doris.  So if that’s where God’s working, and I want to get with God’s program, I have to get behind Doris and help her.

I don’t know why God works through Doris, but He does.  But let me give you a guess.  In my heart, I suspect that God works through Doris because Doris is willing for God to use her.  She’s willing to invite people.  It’s discouraging.  I’ve heard people she invites rag on her, but she keeps doing it.  She’s willing, and she’s faithful.  She keeps at it, and that’s all that God requires.

If you’re not sure how God will use you, one way to start is to find someone God is using such as your pastor and help him.  Eliab could have blessed David but he let his chance go.  I Chronicles 11 tells how David conquered Jerusalem.  It lists many of the men who helped him; Eliab isn’t there.  We don’t hear of him again except when his daughter married King Rheoboam, David’s grandson (II Chronicles 11:6).  How sad!

Eliab’s heart wasn’t right toward God so God couldn’t use him.  Was Eliab jealous?  Do you become jealous when God uses someone instead of using you?  Or do you support the people God is using and try to make yourself more useful (Ro. 12:1)?

Why did Saul let David fight Goliath?

Saul heard about David talking, and called him.  When Saul pointed out that David was “but a youth,” David discussed his warrior’s resume, and told Saul that God would be with him.  Why did Saul let David go into battle?

Goliath’s challenge put Goliath’s god against Saul and David’s God.  Saul knew that if his champion lost, his army’s morale would go down.  On the other hand, he may have thought Goliath wouldn’t take David seriously, as indeed Goliath didn’t.  Saul may have planned to claim that David was just a kid who didn’t count.

It’s also possible that David “spoke with authority.”  When your speech and your conduct line up with God’s Word, you come across much more strongly.

Conclusion

Our God is a God of detail, He plans everything He does (Isaiah 14:26-27 23:9 43:13 46:11, Jer. 4:28, Rom. 8:28).  The details we often overlook when reading the Bible can teach us as much as the stories.  God tells why He used David: God was real to David, David was prepared, and David was careful.  But in the details, God tells that David thought of himself while he served God, he told us how fathers provided for their daughters, He reminds us that we’ll get criticized when we obey, and He warns us that we never know whom He will use.

The next David-related article shows how civilians who work for armies have been treated badly since the beginning.

https://successful-marriage.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-david-and-goliath-story-shows-how.html

The David and Goliath Story Shows How Armies Treat Civilian Contractors

I was honored to be asked to address a group of WW II army veterans on Veterans’ Day.  I thought they’d want to hear that the aspects of the army which most aroused their anger and frustration were driven by human nature and not by anything inherent in the army.  I said:

Let’s look at history to see if anything in the army or in the relationship between government and civilian contractors has changed.  You guys can fight my wars any time.  I saw your handiwork when I lived in Japan right after WW II.  Force projection means we fight over there instead of here.  I appreciate your track record!

You know the story of David and Goliath.  It’s in Chapter 17 of the First Book of Samuel which was written around 3,000 years ago.  We’ll see if anything about armies or government procurement has changed in all that time.

Read I Sam 17

The Jews under King Saul and the Philistine soldiers were camped on opposite sides of a valley.  The Philistines had a campion named Goliath who was about 9 feet tall.  He challenges the Jewish army for 40 days, saying that if anyone could defeat him in single combat, nobody else would have to fight.

That wasn’t true; Saul’s army had to fight even after David killed Goliath.  Enemy promises are worthless.  Should we believe anything the North Koreans or Iranians say about giving up nuclear weapons?  Not with following President Reagan’s advice, “Trust, but verify.”

King Saul loses status by the challenge.  He issues a Request for Proposal (RFP) saying that anybody who killed Goliath would get a lot of money, he’d marry the king’s daughter, and his family would no longer have to pay taxes!  Wow!  He made his RFP attractive, but nobody bid on it.

David’s older brothers are serving in Saul’s army.  His father Jesse wants to know how they’re doing so he tells David to visit the battlefield and tell him what was going on.

And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brethren; and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.  I Samuel 17:17-18

Has the army changed at all in 3,000 years?  Saul was their first king, the Jews had never had an army before, but somehow, Jesse knows to send food because army chow isn’t very good.

Jesse sends special goodies to the captain of his sons’ “thousand.”  In our modern army, a battalion can have up to 1,000 men commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel.  Jesse wants to help his sons get favors from their colonel.  3,000 years on, do people still schmooze officers and swap food for favors?  Do soldiers complain about chow?  Are the Navy, Marines, and Air Force any different in terms of basic operation?

General Patton, Chesty Puller, General Custer, Smedley Butler, General Eisenhower, they can’t fight a war alone, they need competent subordinates.  That’s a big problem for rulers and leaders:

Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.   Ecclesiastes 7:28

Leaders are hard to find, how many privates make corporal, now many corporals make Sgt.?  Go to West Point or OCS, how many 2^nd Lieutenants make 1^st, how many make Colonel?  It has always been very hard to find competent subordinates, what did David do after he became king?

And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief.  I Chronicles 11:5-6

David offered a battlefield commission as we do today.  Has anything changed?

Read I Ch. 11:10 – 25, 12:1-3.  These passages describe vital military skills.  The table of organization in I Ch. 12:24-37 shows how David organized his military.  Has anything changed?

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.  Judges 20:16

Training is needed.  Slinging stones that accurately means hours and days of practice and drill.  A trained archer could fire 10 arrows a minute into a man-sized target at 100 yards.  Archery takes a lot of drill, but drill isn’t any fun and it gets boring.  In 1336, King Edward III of England banned bowling so his troops wouldn’t be distracted from archery practice.  Were any of you ever bored during drill?

Has the human part of the military changed?  Only the technology.

David gets to the camp and hears Goliath challenge the Jews.  He’s offended that Goliath claimed that his god was more powerful than the Lord God of Israel.  David wants to answer the challenge, but his first question is, “What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

That’s a fancy way of saying, “What’s in it for me?”  What shall be done for the man” is asked today.  They ask “What shall be done for the man who builds a road from Boston to Washington,” and people bid the job.  It usually works out that what shall be done for the man who buildeth the road is giving the man some money.  A successful contractor rarely gets to marry the President’s daughter in this day and age.

Information moves fast in an army; someone tells David about the RFP and someone else tells the King that David is bidding on the RFP.  The King thinks David isn’t a qualified bidder because he’s too young to fight Goliath.  David tells the King that God helped David kill a lion and a bear.  David knows that God will help him kill the giant.  That makes David the only qualified bidder.  The King accepts David’s response to the RFP as “sole source procurement” which we have unto this day.

The king offers his own armor and sword as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE).  David tries on the armor and rejects the GFE because it isn’t suitable to him.

David supplies his own Commercial off The Shelf (COTS) ammo – he picks 5 smooth stones out of a brook.  His first shot hits the giant in the forehead and knocks him down.  David uses Goliath’s sword to cut off his head.  He brings Goliath’s head back to the King as proof he’d met the contract terms and conditions.

David fulfills the contract without any GFE.  He had 5 rounds and expended only one.  On time, under budget, and HE DOESN’T GET PAID!

The very first recorded instance of a government contract with a civilian ends with the government stiffing the contractor even after receiving proof of completion!

Saul later issues a sole-source RFP offering another daughter if David kills 100 Philistines.  David over-performs by killing 200 Philistines and marries the 2^nd daughter, but he never gets paid for killing Goliath.

Has anything changed in military procurement?  Has the human part of the military changed?  Only the technology.

One thing has changed – we have more paperwork.  No modern government money moves without paperwork in triplicate.  Merely bringing back Goliath’s head wouldn’t suffice in the modern military.  David would need a pile of paperwork at least as tall as Goliath in order to get paid.