Sermon "Five Smooth Stones"
Sunday June 22, 1997
I Samuel 17:32-49
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"Five Smooth Stones"
The Philistines and Israelites had been fighting for sometime. In fact, they had gotten to a stage in which they began touse representative fighting, that is where two men, eachrepresenting his army would battle it out. As we pick up thestory here, Goliath is presenting an offer, essentially a winnertake all sweepstakes fight. "If I lose," he says,"we become your slaves. "If you lose, you become ourslaves. Let's do this once and for all."
Goliath, so the story goes, came out each morning and eveningin order to make this taunt. And each morning and evening forabout 40 days, the call had gone unanswered.
Imagine if Michael Jordan had announced before the playoffs,that on behalf of the Bulls, he would gladly play a game of oneon one, winner take all. Okay, you have the picture. The stakesare pretty high. No one had the courage to walk out onto thecourt.
That is, until our little shepherd boy strolls into camplooking for his brothers. Remember? David didn't come looking forthe fight. No, his father sent him about 15 miles west fromBethlehem to take provisions to his brothers and to return withnews of their progress.
David arrives--probably in the middle of the morning--just intime to see the armies taking their positions and just in time tohear the great Goliath calling out his taunts from across thevalley. "Somebody ought to teach this fellow a lesson,"he says to his brother, Eliab. "Oh yeah? And I suppose youthink you're the one to do it, huh? (I'm not sure how the Hebrewtranslates. I'm reading this as one who has brothers and know howthese conversations go.)
They talk or rather argue. David goes to Saul. This is wherewe pick up today's lesson.
David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail because ofhim; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth."
But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down rescuing the lamb from its mouth, and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God."
David said, "The Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you!"
Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them.
Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.
The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field."
But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and 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. This very day the Lord will deliver you in to my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand."
When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
And you know the rest of the story: David did cut off thegiant's head with a sword he took from the giant's very ownscabbard. The armies of Israel and Judah surged forward andoverpowered the Philistine army. David became an instant hero.And Saul instantly became jealous.
Besides the five stones David made five very importantdecisions that day that I believe are worth emulating today. Fivegood choices for all of us, out on the field taunted by thegiants.
David's first choice: authenticity. Each of us have only onereal test in life. Ready for this? Are you who you representyourself to be? Got that? Are you who you represent yourself tobe? Nowhere in this story does David suggest he is anything but afaithful shepherd with a desire to honor God. It would have beeneasy for David to lie. In a company of soldiers, he could havebragged about his conquests as a young scout. He could haveplayed the "one up" game with all the other macho egoson the line. Instead, he chooses not to be like all the rest, butrather to be himself, a mere shepherd.
What does this mean for us? It means, "Be careful withyour advertising." And I'm not just talking about how youcraft a resume, although that is part of it. No, when David isauthentic, he is set free from being a soldier, free from what heis not. Remember, he said to Saul, "I can't wear this stuff.It's not me." How often do we feel pressured into fittingroles that don't fit us? Current media--out this week-- tells meI should be consistent, that slow steady progress is the key toprofessional success. I should rise at the same time every day,eat three balanced meals, exercise, read for an hour, keep upwith correspondence, and make sure that my work area is alwaystidy.
I don't function like that. I know people who do, and I spenta lot of my life trying to be one of them or trying to foolothers that I really had the consistency thing down. No, I go inspurts. I will read everything I can get my hands on. I'll havefour books going, read the toothpaste tube, all the billboards,the junk mail, everything. And then I'll go days, sometimes weekswithout touching a thing. That is just how I am.
Know who you are and stop trying to be someone different.Authenticity.
David's second choice: elasticity. David was flexible. Hearrived at the camp on a mission to bring food and return to hisfather Jesse with news from his brothers. Yet when he arrived heallowed himself to be distracted by the cause. He became elastic;willing to stretch a bit. Killing Goliath was probably not listedin his Franklin Day Planner. Yet, he veered from his course tohelp in the name of the Lord.
What does this mean for us? It means be careful with your"no." Popular media tells us that we should learn howto say "No." So now we have a whole generation ofpeople learning to develop assertiveness by defining theirboundaries. Sure I understand that some are governed by unhealthymotives, but consider the impact of this now cliché phrase onthe history of our faith. Neamaih saying, no we're not going tobuild any more today, we've filled our quota. Imagine the impactof that attitude on a Jerusalem under siege. Or John the Baptistsaying to Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, "Oh I'm sorry,this lane is closed. It's break time for me.." Or Paulsaying, "I wrote to those folks in Corinth once. I'm notgoing to do it again."
David is our encouragement to move beyond our comfort zones,to allow ourselves to be used in ways we were not expecting.Yesterday morning I called one of our members out of bed at 6:00to say we had a desperate need to get our students to the airportin Chicago, without hesitation he said, "Absolutely, I'll beright over." At the point I made this call I was standing inanother church listening to one parent, go on. "Oh this isridiculous. I can't believe this is happening. What adisgrace." Just then another mom poked her head in the doorand said, my husband is on his way to pick me up, here are thekeys to our van." Elasticity, it means stretching yourself.
David's third choice: capacity. Notice how undaunted David iswhen he speaks of the giant. It is as though he culls about thegiant's power. Saul, tells him directly, "David, you aremerely a boy. You don't have the capacity to fight this warriorwho has trained for battle since his youth." Yet David seesit another way. "Not as a boy, perhaps. But as a shepherd, Ihave the skills to defeat this Philistine. You see, I've foughtlions and bears much larger and meaner than this one. He ismerely a man. I can out wit him." David remembered his past.He remembered how the Lord had brought him safely through thedanger.
What does this mean for us? It means our capacity is usuallymuch larger than we realize. (I wouldn't encourage elasticity ifI didn't believe we could stretch beyond our self imposedlimitations.) Until four years ago I thought that running threemiles would absolutely do me in. Then I trained for theMinneapolis marathon and finished it. Even as out of shape as Iam now, I can hit the road and do six miles without stopping . .. all because I know my capacity.
I am shocked when I see parents protecting their children fromstruggle. It is through struggle and suffering that we establishin our souls the capacities of our faith. It is a hard truth thatusually great faith is the result of great suffering. When wedeny our children suffering we deny them opportunities to grow inthe faith. And it follows that the Lord who remained with usthrough the big sufferings will stick by us through the littlesufferings as well.
It is about relative perspective. Are you one of those who haslost a husband or wife, who has suffered divorce, whose houseburned to the ground (or got washed away from a flood), who hashad to declare bankruptcy, who has battled illness, who hasraised teenagers?
Ruth Barnes, a woman from my church back home, lived throughall these calamities. And at age 90 she wrote a column for ourchurch newsletter. I remember her writing,
"In my 90 plus years I've learned that my faith will carry me through the little troubles. If the telephone works, fine. But if it doesn't I don't get too upset; the Lord delivered me through the first 32 years of my life without one. I know I can survive. If the I get a flat tire on my way to a circle luncheon and have to be late, I probably won't scream and holler. Because I remember having to postpone my own wedding day to sit with my brother in the hospital. If my hair isn't curled right when I leave the salon, I'll still keep coming back, because Carol has been my friend for over 10 years now. And she's lived with me through some rather strange styles. The Lord doesn't let the little things ruin my life."
Ruth understood the idea of capacity. She'd lived long enoughto have perspective, to not sweat the small stuff. But David isour example. We don't have to wait until we're 90 years old tohave perspective. David understood at a very young age that theLord who had delivered him from the roaring lion and the enormousbear wouldn't hesitate to deliver him from this tiny mortal. WhenDavid placed his faith in the Lord, his capacity became as largeas the Lord's capacity.
David's fourth choice: tenacity. Notice how David responds toSaul's doubts. Saul says, "But you're merely a lad, youcan't do this important job." But David insists that he canand immediately offers what he feels is strong evidence for hisposition.
What does this mean for us? Parents have lines they use overand over. One of the admonitions I heard growing up was,"Don't fall over before the wind blows." It means don'tgive up before you are tested. Yet, for many of us, this is anincredible challenge. We play these dangerous games of chickenwith our insecurities and usually we usually we loose. We giveup, we decide not to mention that "great idea for improvingthe you know what" because we're afraid others will thinkwe're silly. We back down from confronting injustice becausewe're more concerned about being liked than we are concernedabout by being respected. We have these little battles and wegive up too early.
David is once again our encouragement here. Persevere, heseems to say. Choose tenacity.
David's fifth choice: audacity. In our story, David doessomething no one else will do. He has the courage to say yes,I'll give it a try. With the Lord's help, I can handle thisPhilistine." I see the need, let me help.
What does this mean for us? I remember a play I was in insecond grade. I got to the king, thought the king was not thehero of the story. My buddy Bobby Johnson got to be the hero. Yousee it was a story about a wealthy king who was concerned that noone would go out of his way to help a neighbor. So the king dug agreat hole in the middle of the road. In it he set a pot of gold.Over the hole he placed a giant rock.
One by one the characters marched across the stage, as I theking, hid in the bushed stage right. "Ooo, someone ought totell the king about this! " "Look at that rock, it sureis in the way here." "I can't believe someone doesn'tmove this rock!" You guessed it, Bobby comes to the rock,realizes the problem, immediately pushes the rock to the side andsays, "Wow! I've got to get this gold to the king!"
In a nutshell this means, see a need, fill it ! The audacityto apply oneself. Think of the influence one bold soul can haveon a people. Some of you have heard the story I tell about myfriend, Greg. Greg and I left college one weekend and drove tothe Twin Cities. While we were there we decided to take in abaseball game: Twins v. Yankees. By the time we arrived the onlyseats available were top row, centerfield, just under the hugeprojection screen; worst seats in the house. The game was not allthat exciting, and sometime in the six inning, a fellow down infront of us stood up and called to all of us in the section tostart the wave. "Yeah, sit down buddy." came thereplies. A few minutes later, he stood up again, "Let's dothe wave!" Again, the skeptics refused him. The third timehe tried it, a few of the people sitting near him stood. Thefourth time a few more. The fifth time it took off. A few startedstanding and waving their hands. The wave began to clear rightfield, then around first base. It grew in momentum such that bythe time it reached home plate everyone was standing. I began toget excited. I knew I was part of something pretty remarkable.The wave came around third base and was headed toward oursection. Up and down. Caught up in the energy of something morepowerful than myself. Around and around it went becoming morepowerful and exciting than anything on the field. Suddenly thespectators had become participants.
About two thousand years ago, another fellow decided to standup. The critics told him to be quiet and to sit down. "Don'tcreate any trouble," they told him. But he had audacity, andhe could not be quieted. Jesus started a wave that has beencircling the globe for two millennia.
You see, the choices David made, authenticity, elasticity,capacity, tenacity, and audacity, were made perfect in theChrist. These are smooth stones David carried with him in hispouch. These are the attributes Jesus carried with him to thecross. And these are the hopes we should carry with us in ourhearts today.
