Taking A Stab At Peace (2 Samuel 3v22-39)

TEXT: 2 SAMUEL 3.22-39

TOPIC: ABNER COMES OFFERING KING DAVID PEACE BUT IS STABBED AND KILLED BY JOAB

TITLE: TAKING A STAB AT PEACE

Introduction

A pastor of a church in Manchester, England was preaching on hypocrites in the church when things became hostile.

A number of persons in the congregation began thinking that the words of the sermon were being directed at them.

According to the news report, “some jaw-dropping allegations were then thrown back and forth as a group of irate church-goers… verbally challenged the pastor.”

Among these allegations were questions about the pastor’s sexuality to which he reportedly responded by claiming that at least three of the women from the group with which he was arguing were cheating on their husbands with younger men.

When The Weekend Star newspaper contacted the pastor, he admitted that the incident indeed occurred.  The pastor explained that he was simply doing God’s work and would not let evil people get the better of him.

It’s funny… But it shouldn’t be.  As Christians we are called upon to “endeavor… to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3).  We’re promised, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).

There are lots of reasons we can’t all just get along.  One has to do with what we might call our vision.

Sometimes we have a kind of spiritual tunnel vision in which we focus mainly on ourselves.
We ought to have spiritual peripheral vision in which we focus mainly on others and on the effects of our behavior on their appreciation of Jesus.

We’re going to encounter men in our text with each kind of vision:

The first is Joab.  He definitely suffers from tunnel vision and ends up seriously disturbing the peace by killing Abner.
The second is David.  He has the peripheral vision to see beyond the faults of men like Abner and Joab in order to keep the peace for the benefit of his people and those looking on the nation.

I’ll organize my thoughts about spiritual vision around two points: #1 All You See Is Yourself When You Choose To Break Peace, and #2 All You Seek Is The Lord When You Choose To Make Peace.

#1    All You See Is Yourself
When You Choose To Break Peace
(v22-27)

Abner was slimy.  He knew that God had anointed David to be king after Saul.  But when Saul died Abner took it upon himself to set-up one of Saul’s lesser sons, Ishbosheth, as a rival to David’s claim to the throne.  Then he instigated a conflict with David’s general, Joab, which led to civil war.  When it looked like David was going to eventually defeat Ishbosheth, Abner decided to defect and offer David his help to unify the kingdom.

David received Abner and accepted his offer of peace.  Abner enjoyed a highly-publicized state dinner promoting the peace and was on his way home as we pick up the story.
2 Samuel 3:22  At that moment the servants of David and Joab came from a raid and brought much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.
2 Samuel 3:23  When Joab and all the troops that were with him had come, they told Joab, saying, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he sent him away, and he has gone in peace.”

There was bad blood between Abner and Joab.  Joab’s brother, Asael, had pursued Abner in a skirmish between the armies and Abner had killed him.

2 Samuel 3:24  Then Joab came to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you; why is it that you sent him away, and he has already gone?
2 Samuel 3:25  Surely you realize that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you, to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”

We’ll talk about David and his decision in a moment under our second point.  For now we’re focusing on Joab.  His analysis of Abner’s offer was that it was a deception.  Maybe it was; we’ll never know.  What we will know from the next few verses is that Joab was out to kill Abner no matter what.

2 Samuel 3:26  And when Joab had gone from David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, who brought him back from the well of Sirah. But David did not know it.
2 Samuel 3:27  Now when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him privately, and there stabbed him in the stomach, so that he died for the blood of Asahel his brother.

Note the phrasing, “for the blood of Asahel.”  It tells us that Joab believed he was acting as the avenger of blood in the death of his brother.

In ancient Israel if you killed someone, whether it was accidental or premeditated, a member of the deceased’s family would come after you to kill you.  It was an eye-for-an-eye sort of thing.  That person was called the avenger of blood.

Were people killing each other left and right?  No.  Strategically placed throughout Israel there were certain cities designated as cities of refuge.  When you killed someone you could flee for your life to the nearest city of refuge.  There you were guaranteed refuge from the avenger of blood until the elders of the city could determine whether the killing had been a case of manslaughter or of murder.  Then you were dealt with appropriately.

Was Joab the avenger of the blood of Asahel?  No.  Asahel had died in battle.  Not only that, if you remember the story, Abner twice warned Asahel to quit pursuing him or he’d be forced to kill him.

On top of that, Hebron was a city of refuge.  Abner was a slime but it was just wrong for Joab to kill him, and doubly wrong to do it in Hebron.

Regardless that Abner might not be the most honorable of men, he came to David with an offer of peace.  Joab attacked the peace offer with arguments about Abner’s character but his real motivation was that he could only see his own desire for vengeance.  All he saw was himself avenging the death of his brother.

He had the tunnel vision we’re talking about.  Joab refused to see the bigger picture.  There was a long civil war.  Things were going David’s way but there were casualties.  How many more brothers would lose brothers?  Yet Joab was willing to ignore the establishing of peace by killing Abner.

How would the northern tribes react to the murder of their general who had come under a banner of truce offering peace?  How would it make David look?

This kind of tunnel vision that sees only self is why peace is so often broken.  Whether it’s at home or the workplace or school or church, you will be wronged by someone.  You’ll be snubbed.  You’ll be ignored or overlooked or mistreated.  You fill in the offense!

It’s right then when you decide if you’re going to act as a peacemaker or not.

Let’s take a step back and talk about peace.  Like it or not, the Bible says that you are God’s enemy until you are saved.

Colossians 1:21  And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works…
Every human being is born into this world the enemy of God.  It’s because of sin.  Sin is imputed to you; it is inherited by you; and it is individually committed by you.

You need to be reconciled to God… And you can be!

Colossians 1:21  And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled

God is reaching-out to lost mankind in order to make peace with them.  He sent His Son, Jesus make peace through the blood of the Cross.

Romans 5:10  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…

Through the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross God has reconciled you to Himself.  We were at war with God but now we have peace with God by grace through faith in Jesus.

Since you have peace with God, you are enabled by His indwelling Spirit to be a peacemaker as you move through this world on your way to Heaven.  The idea of being a peacemaker is at least two-fold:

First, you desire that other men and women would be reconciled to God and have the same peace with God that you experience as a Christian.
Second, you desire to be at peace with others, as much as is possible in this fallen world.

If you’ve experienced peace with God you will not care so much about your rights when others wrong you.  Instead you will see their need to be born-again.  You will understand that their words and actions are directed by their sin nature.  You will care less about your temporary trouble and more about their eternal address.

When you do care more about your rights when you are wronged it is a symptom that you have spiritual tunnel vision.  It leads you to be a peace breaker.

It makes you act like Joab.  As much as I admire the loyalty and courage of Joab as David’s general, he ignored the will of his king and put everyone in the nation at risk in order to fulfill his own selfish desire.

We do the same thing when we have tunnel vision.  We ignore the will of our King, the Lord, Jesus Christ.  And we put everyone else around us in jeopardy.

The latest research by the Barna Group discovered a sad trend in the church in America.  “Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.”  To put it in the language we’re using, the church is suffering more and more from tunnel vision that does not see the bigger picture.  It can only lead to more and more internal conflict, hurting our witness to a lost world.

#2    All You Seek Is The Lord
When You Choose To Make Peace
(v28-39)

I don’t know if David was right or wrong to receive Abner as he did.  I can’t say whether David purposely waited until Joab was away to have the state dinner or if it was in God’s timing.  I’m not sure he handled Joab’s murder of Abner properly.

What I can say is that David had big spiritual peripheral vision to pursue peace among God’s people.  Thus he acted graciously and mercifully, first to Abner and then to Joab.  His vision put an end to hostilities just when things could have gotten totally out of hand.  In short, David was a peacemaker.

2 Samuel 3:28  Afterward, when David heard it, he said, “My kingdom and I are guiltless before the Lord forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.
2 Samuel 3:29  Let it rest on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house; and let there never fail to be in the house of Joab one who has a discharge or is a leper, who leans on a staff or falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.”

David’s tough talking does not contradict his heart as a peacemaker.  God has raised up nations, and governments, to steward over the well-being of their citizens.  He has given government the power of the sword – of life and death, and to wage war when there is no alternative.

It is not contradictory to be a peacemaker but also wield the power of the sword or, in this case, to pronounce a curse.

David disciplined Joab but in a merciful way so as to preserve peace both in his southern kingdom and among the northern tribes.

2 Samuel 3:30  So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.
2 Samuel 3:31  Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn for Abner.” And King David followed the coffin.

Verse thirty tells us that David understood the motive of Joab and Abishai.  Verse thirty-one tells us he demanded they rise above their selfishness and do what was right to preserve peace, for the good of the citizens they served.

He was thinking big by asking these boys to show respect for the general they’d just murdered.  He had a huge vision for what God could accomplish through a united Israel.

2 Samuel 3:32  So they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.
2 Samuel 3:33  And the king sang a lament over Abner and said: “Should Abner die as a fool dies?
2 Samuel 3:34  Your hands were not bound Nor your feet put into fetters; As a man falls before wicked men, so you fell.” Then all the people wept over him again.
2 Samuel 3:35  And when all the people came to persuade David to eat food while it was still day, David took an oath, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!”

Remember that Abner had led Saul’s army out against David all those years that Saul was trying to kill him.  Remember that Abner had set up a rival king even though he knew David was God’s anointed.

As personal as all that was, it was time to be more concerned about others.  It was time to act kingly.  The very act that could have permanently broken peace between the tribes got turned into the thing that would bring them together.

David showed as much respect as possible for Abner.  He didn’t lie about him or inflate his integrity.

His song, along with the attendance of Joab and Abishai, showed that he would not let his own feelings or the feelings of others break the peace.  He didn’t cover for them or make excuses for them.

It wasn’t a case of peace at any price.  It was a case of endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

2 Samuel 3:36  Now all the people took note of it, and it pleased them, since whatever the king did pleased all the people.
2 Samuel 3:37  For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s intent to kill Abner the son of Ner.

Who would have thought that in the aftermath of Joab and Abishai murdering Abner there could be peace?  David, that’s who, and he let his spiritual peripheral vision dictate a course of action that would make peace.

2 Samuel 3:38  Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?

David said nothing of his grace, only of his grandeur, his high birth and civil achievements.  He praised him in what he was commendable.  There was just cause of mourning because the fall or death of such a man was a public loss and matter of lamentation.  After all, Abner had ultimately brought peace.

2 Samuel 3:39  And I am weak today, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too harsh for me. The Lord shall repay the evildoer according to his wickedness.”

David was practical.  His kingship was fledgling.  He had not really come into his own.  Though everything he did pleased the people, Joab was also popular and powerful, as was Abishai.  To treat them harshly would threaten the peace Abner had come to establish.
It’s never peace at any price.  Being a peacemaker doesn’t mean you have to take whatever is dished out.  You can sometimes quit your job.  You might need to file a grievance at work.  It might be OK to complain through proper channels.

It does mean that these should not be your first thoughts.  Your first thought should be about the eternal condition of the soul or souls of those troubling you.  God may have put you in the exact position you are in to reach them with the Gospel.  To the extent you are genuinely more concerned about their souls than, say, your salary, hey will see the outworking of the new, divine nature within you.

They may respond favorably; they may respond unfavorably.  But at least they will have been confronted with the supernatural effect of the Holy Spirit on your life.

How much more should we be willing to be peacemakers in the church.  We should have big spiritual peripheral vision to see what God can do through us corporately if we look away from self and to serving one another.

Sometimes that will mean overlooking offenses.  If we cannot overlook them, then we must overcome them in a biblical manner, seeking reconciliation with others for the greater good of the testimony of the Gospel.

I think these situations come in order to give us the opportunity to practice our peacemaking.  Being at peace is more important than getting my way.

What about the world at large?  How can we be peacemakers in our volatile, violent world?  Does it mean we become pacifists?  Or, on the other end of things, strap on peacemakers – Colt .45’s?

No.  At least to being pacifists!  As we’ve already said, it is not contradictory to be a peacemaker but also wield the power of the sword.

A peacemaker must sometimes declare the death penalty, or declare war, to stop the aggression of those it is not possible to coexist with in peace.

God is the ultimate peacemaker.  One day, though, He will judge those who have finally rejected His offer of reconciliation.  He will punish them severely.  It is perfectly within His character to do so; in fact, He could not be God unless He judged sin.

We are ambassadors who spread the peace of God.  Start seeing your conflicts with others as opportunities to be God’s peacemaker.  Retain or regain a big vision for Who God is and for what He is doing in the world and in the church.

The First Six Wives Club (2 Samuel 3v1-21)

TEXT: 2 SAMUEL 3.1-21

TOPIC: DAVID AMASSES SIX WIVES DURING HIS SEVEN YEARS AS KING OVER JUDAH IN HEBRON

TITLE: THE FIRST SIX WIVES CLUB

Introduction

It is all too easy to criticize the church.  Our church and all churches have flaws because our church and all churches have one thing in common: People attend them!

It’s like the anecdote I’ve heard a hundred times.  A Christian was witnessing to someone and inviting them to church.  The person protested by saying, “There are too many hypocrites in the church.”  The Christian responded, “Then you should come.  One more won’t make a difference!”

Before you criticize the church you should carefully consider at least two things:

You are the church!  The church is not an organization.  It’s an organism comprised of individual believers in fellowship with one another.  We are all connected with one another.  One of the illustrations used in the Bible to describe the church is that we are each members of one another the way our physical bodies are comprised of various members like hands and feet and arms and legs.  When you criticize the church, you are criticizing yourself and your own brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
Jesus looks upon the church as His betrothed bride.  I don’t know about you but I don’t think it’s a good idea to speak badly of someone’s fiance!  Especially if that Someone is the risen Savior, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who is daily working to present us faultless before His Father in Heaven.

I’m going to talk about Christians and churches succumbing to the methods of the world.  I hope it serves as more of a reminder than a criticism.

Second Samuel chapter three presents two men, David and Abner, who are influenced by and who employ the methods of the world.  We do not want to be like them – not at home and not in God’s house.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Don’t Succumb To The World’s Methods As You Build Your Household, and #2 Don’t Succumb To The World’s Methods As You Build In God’s Household.

#1    Don’t Succumb To The World’s Methods
As You Build Your Household
(3:1-5 & 13-16)

Ask anyone what David’s big sin was and they will likely say it was his adultery with Bathsheeba.  Truth be told, he’d been sinning long before she came along.  David had multiple wives.  David was so used to taking another wife that when he spotted Bathsheeba bathing on her rooftop he had no hesitation in taking another man’s wife.

God had made it clear all the way back in the time of Moses that a king was not to take multiple wives.

Deuteronomy 17:17  Neither shall [the king] multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away…

Nevertheless we read in these opening verses of six wives in the first few years of his reign as king over the southern kingdom of Judah.
2 Samuel 3:1  Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.
2 Samuel 3:2  Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
2 Samuel 3:3  his second, Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur;
2 Samuel 3:4  the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
2 Samuel 3:5  and the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

Six wives!  As if that wasn’t enough, look at verses thirteen through sixteen.

2 Samuel 3:13  And David said, “Good, I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you: you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.”
2 Samuel 3:14  So David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
2 Samuel 3:15  And Ishbosheth sent and took her from her husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish.
2 Samuel 3:16  Then her husband went along with her to Bahurim, weeping behind her. So Abner said to him, “Go, return!” And he returned.

Abner, who commanded the armies of the rival king, Ishbosheth, wanted to defect to David.  David’s condition was that he get his first wife, Michal, back.  She had been taken by her dad, King Saul, and given to another man while David was in exile.

David already had six wives.  Even though he and Michal were never legally divorced, under Mosaic Law if you became the wife of another man you were not to return to a previous husband.  We see, too, that her husband loved her.

It was all just wrong.  “Neither shall the king multiply wives for himself…”

What do we think about polygamy?  It’s a good question since traditional marriage is, after all, under assault.  In fact there are those who believe that the next wave against traditional marriage will involve the move to legalize polygamy.  There is a hit cable-TV drama that expresses how ‘normal’ Big Love can be.  Sister Wives is another show, a reality show.  It documents the life of polygmist family living which includes patriarch Kody Brown, his four wives and their 16 children.  Brown and his wives have claimed they participated with the show to make the public more aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices.  In other words, the show is attempting to promote polygamy and desensitize us to it as sin by showing us how loving and sincere a multiple-marriage can be.

While it may not directly tempt you and I, polygamy is an example of how the world is seeking to influence us.

Is it sin? Yessiree!  Consider just these three things:

When God saw that Adam was alone, He made for him a companion.  It wasn’t another man and it wasn’t multiple companions.  It was his wife, Eve.  That union between one man and one woman for life remains God’s standard for marriage.
We’ve already seen in the Law, from Deuteronomy, that kings were commanded to not have multiple wives.
The New Testament holds the leaders of the church to the same standard.  One of the requirements is that you be the husband of one wife (1Timothy 3).

Why did David do it?  Among the reasons we might cite, for sure it was because that’s what was going on in the world around him, the world of the pagans who did not know the God of Israel.  Especially among kings the taking of multiple wives was expected.  Often it was done to cement a political alliance.  At least one of David’s first six wives is said to be the daughter of a foreign ruler.  David was doing what the kings in the world did.

It’s interesting to me that the only commentary made in these first verses is that “David grew stronger and stronger.”  It almost sounds like his multiple marriages were helping him to solidify his rule as a king, helping him to establish his power and influence.

That’s probably true.  But it remains sin that David had multiple wives in spite of what seemed to be its success.
You can succumb to the methods of the world and be strengthened in your position and power in the world.  But it doesn’t make it right.

Success, worldly success, is never the measure of our walk with the Lord.  Success often has little or nothing to do with outward obedience or inward godliness.

The fact is, the world promises you success if you adopt its methods, and it often delivers.  But at what cost?

We’ll see in subsequent studies that David’s household was a disaster.  That was one huge cost of his sin.

The world wants to influence our thinking about marriage and family.  Traditional marriage is not the only fight going on.  A growing number of politicians are calling for expanding mandatory childhood education to include preschool, requiring that families with children as young as 3 and 4 send them off to school.

There is also an effort to influence Christian parents in the area of how we discipline our children.  The world has declared war on corporal punishment, on biblical spanking.  Most of the countries in the world have made spanking illegal and, if you remember, there was an effort in the California legislature just a little while back to do the same here.

The world calls all corporal punishment ‘hitting’ and presents it as child abuse.  Then it tells you that your child isn’t sinning but rather that he or she has a syndrome of some sort.  Your kid probably needs a psychologist and medication rather than discipline.

I understand child abuse.  I’ve seen it.  I’m a reporter of it.  I know that some kids can have physical and organic problems.  But I also know that the vast majority of the problem with kids is sin that requires careful, thoughtful, loving corporal punishment to correct.

Christians are starting to be influenced by the world’s onslaught against spanking.  A lot of Christian parents are trending against it or, if they say they believe in it, practice it so infrequently as to have effectively abandoned it.

I’m not bringing this up for any reason other than to remind us that the world is always exerting its influence upon us and we can succumb to it in subtle but serious ways if we’re not careful.

Instead, let’s influence the world!  Let’s have great, solid, joyous families that are the envy of nonbelievers.  Let’s have them want to be like us.

I’ve already been the world, for the first twenty-four years of my life.  It was lame.  It was destructive.  It was hopeless.  Why let it dictate to me?

#2    Don’t Succumb To The World’s Methods
As You Build In God’s Household
(3:6-21)

The church is not the new Israel.  We have our own destiny. What we are looking at in these chapters is God’s elect nation.

Nevertheless we can look at Israel for examples of timeless spiritual principles.  These guys were building for God and so are we.

Abner is a great example of not just succumbing to the methods of the world but actively adopting them.  When he saw David ascending in popularity and power, he decided to throw in with him.  It’s a story of high-level politicking to get what you want.

2 Samuel 3:6  Now it was so, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul.
2 Samuel 3:7  And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. So Ishbosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?”
2 Samuel 3:8  Then Abner became very angry at the words of Ishbosheth, and said, “Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show loyalty to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David; and you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman?
2 Samuel 3:9  May God do so to Abner, and more also, if I do not do for David as the Lord has sworn to him –
2 Samuel 3:10  to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”
2 Samuel 3:11  And he could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.

A “concubine” was a female slave who functioned as a surrogate usually for having children.  Kings had them, lots of them, as a show of strength.

Taking a king’s or a former king’s concubine was pure power-politics.  You were telling the world that you were equal to the king.  In this case Abner used it to provoke Ishbosheth into an argument so Abner would have grounds to defect to David.

2 Samuel 3:12  Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to David, saying, “Whose is the land?” saying also, “Make your covenant with me, and indeed my hand shall be with you to bring all Israel to you.”

Wasn’t that God’s intention?  For David to rule over all Israel?  Yes, but did God really need Abner, a lying, disloyal opportunist, to bring it about?  Was it through power-politics that God wanted to advance the nation?

David responded positively to Abner and we’ve read his one condition.  Skip to verse seventeen.

2 Samuel 3:17  Now Abner had communicated with the elders of Israel, saying, “In time past you were seeking for David to be king over you.
2 Samuel 3:18  Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David, I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and the hand of all their enemies.’ ”
2 Samuel 3:19  And Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin. Then Abner also went to speak in the hearing of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel and the whole house of Benjamin.

It all sounded so spiritual.  It’s what the Lord had spoken concerning David.  Except that Abner could care less about what the Lord had spoken until it looked like David would in fact defeat Ishbosheth and he, Abner, would lose everything.

2 Samuel 3:20  So Abner and twenty men with him came to David at Hebron. And David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.
2 Samuel 3:21  Then Abner said to David, “I will arise and go, and gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

It was a great photo-op.  There was David dining with Abner who had brought twenty men to showcase his own power and influence.  David would rule and Abner, the guy who single-handedly had opposed David by installing a puppet-king, would have some place of prominence in this new kingdom.

Politically it was an amazing fete.  Spiritually it stunk!  Abner used a spiritual end to justify his non-spiritual means.  He was motivated by personal, selfish ambition.  Abner cared only about Abner.

There are occasionally ‘Abner’s’ in the church, men and women who are motivated by personal, selfish ambition.  The church, comprised as it is of caring, compassionate Christians, is fertile territory for them.

More often it is some more subtle strategy or technique of the world’s that we borrow and implement in order to achieve a spiritual end.  The thing about the world’s methods is that they work on a purely physical level.

One author has said that Christianity “advances by proclamation and persuasion and prayer and love and by being persecuted.”   The opposite of this would be feeling intimidated, being manipulated.  Sadly that happens in churches.  It’s wrong and we need to guard against it.

We should be motivated by grace, not manipulated by guilt, to walk with the Lord and to serve Him.

Let me give you a biblical example.  In a few chapters King David will attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to the Tabernacle where it belonged.  Excellent idea!  In order to transport the Ark David built a new oxcart carry it back.  Not an excellent idea!  At one point the cart faltered, the Ark became unsteady, and as one of its attendants reached out to steady it he was struck dead by God on the spot.

David was bummed.  That is, until he went back and read God’s Word, the portion detailing the proper transporting of the Ark.  It was to be carried not on a new cart drawn by oxen but on the shoulders of the priests.

God has His own methodology for building the household of faith.  It involves things like love, gentleness, kindness, selflessness, and sacrifice.  In each situation we are to find the heart of God, then motivate His people by grace and never, ever manipulate by guilt.

The church is not to become driven by some worldly model.  It is to remain led by the biblical model of the church in The Book of Acts.

Our success will be measured by the Lord when we stand before Him.

There’s A Li’l Abner In All Of Us (2 Samuel 2v12-32)

TEXT
2 Samuel 2.12-32

TOPIC
Abner opposes the rightful king and we see a little similarity in our own lives in areas where we are not fully submitting to Jesus

TITLE
“There’s a Li’l Abner in All of Us”

Introduction

Jesus has said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

One man who opened that door, who was saved, was Robert Boyd Munger.  He set out to write a tract describing the Christian life based on the analogy of Jesus coming in to your life as if He were really entering your heart as His home.

The title of the tract is My Heart, Christ’s Home.  In it Munger takes Jesus on a tour of his heart-home.  They go from room-to-room.  They go from the library to the dining room to the workshop to the rumpus room to the hall closet.

(Does anybody really have a rumpus room?  I want to bring it back as a term!).

In each room the author realizes there are aspects of his life he has not really submitted to the Lord.  He concludes by saying to Jesus, “Lord, you have been a guest, and I have been the host.  From now on I am going to be the servant.  You are going to be the Lord.”

The tract remains popular because we can relate so well to it.  In our own lives, if we’re honest, there are areas in which we struggle or even refuse outright to let the Lord reign.  For sure we can see this in the lives of others – especially when we are the recipients of their failing to submit to the Lord.

This idea of where the Lord is really reigning in my life and where He might not be is illustrated in our text in the activities of Abner.  After King Saul died, paving the way for David to become king, Abner instead promoted one of Saul’s remaining sons, Ishbosheth, to be king.  If David wanted to reign as king in Hebron, over the tribe of Judah, that was fine with Abner.  But he was not willing to allow David to be king over all Israel – even though, as we’ll see, Abner knew that it was God’s will that David be enthroned.

We don’t want to be like Abner.  To encourage us to examine ourselves for Abner-like thinking, we’ll see that Abner cannot make any progress and, in fact, finds himself retreating.  We’ll apply that to our spiritual lives, to our walk with the Lord.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Take A Look At Areas In Which You Are Not Making Spiritual Progress And Ask Yourself Who Is Really Ruling There, and #2 Take A Look At Areas In Which You Are In Spiritual Regress And Ask Yourself Who Is Really Ruling There.

#1    Take A Look At Areas In Which
You Are Not Making Spiritual Progress
And Ask Yourself Who Is Really Ruling There
(v12-16)

Abner knew that God had chosen David to be king.  In chapter three, verse eighteen, he says to the elders of Israel,

2 Samuel 3:18  “… For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David, I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and the hand of all their enemies.’ ”

Abner represents a man who knew who the rightful king over all the nation was but acted to limit the king’s authority.  David could rule part of the land but Abner would set up his own king and rule the rest.

Abner is the poster-boy for the guy nonbelievers often throw in your face when witnessing, the guy who goes to church on Sunday but lives like the devil the rest of the week.

While that guy may not even be saved, I think there is application for us as believers.  There may be areas in our lives we are holding back from the Lord, ground we refuse to concede to Him for whatever reason.

One way to know if that is the case is to take a look at areas in which we cannot seem to make any spiritual progress.

2 Samuel 2:12  Now Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

Abner intended to take Gibeon and further his progress.  In the ensuing events we see he was not able to make any progress there.

2 Samuel 2:13  And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. So they sat down, one on one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool.

Joab was King David’s general.  Joab and his forces offered passive resistance to Abner.  They did not initiate any conflict; they simply stood in his way.

2 Samuel 2:14  Then Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men now arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.”

This idea of “compete” is variously understood by scholars and Bible teachers.  Some say it was just that, a competition of sorts that got out of hand.
It seems most likely it was a way of settling the potential conflict by having champions represent each side rather than everyone engaging in the fight.

2 Samuel 2:15  So they arose and went over by number, twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.
2 Samuel 2:16  And each one grasped his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Swords, which is in Gibeon.

Twelve champions from each army were chosen to battle one-on-one.  Each set of combatants killed each other so there was no winner!

Doesn’t that strike you as odd?  That in twelve matches each time the combatants killed each other?  It suggests that the text, though historical, is trying to teach a spiritual truth or two.

From our vantage point, looking at Abner, we’d have to say that he was not able to make any progress.  He and his false king, Ishbosheth, may be ruling over a large portion of the nation, but he could not gain any additional ground.

Is there an area in your life where you seem to be unable to make any spiritual progress?  Among the possible reasons for it might be the fact you are not allowing Jesus to have full reign of either that area or some other.

In terms of an example, the rich young ruler Jesus encountered in the New Testament comes to mind.  He’d been following the Law all his life and wanted to follow the Lord.  He could not put his finger on what was holding him back.

Jesus knew what it was.

Matthew 19:21  Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Matthew 19:22  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Knowing the young man’s heart, Jesus was able to point out that his possessions had taken possession of him.  In our context we would say that he could not make spiritual progress in his walk with the Lord because he refused to allow Jesus to rule over his financial life.  The Lord gave him a direct command – “Sell what you have and give to the poor.”  He refused his King’s command.  He would continue to ‘rule’ that part of his life.

Whenever we talk about the rich young ruler we accurately point out that it is not Jesus’ command to each and every believer that we “sell what [we] have and give to the poor.”  It was the rich young ruler’s stumblingblock.  Mine and yours may be something different.

Nevertheless, your financial life may be an area in which you are reigning instead of Jesus.

There are numerous warnings to all Christians who are well-off to be generous and not allow the love of money to become an obstacle in your spiritual progress.
All of us are called upon to give to the Lord of our finances and to do so regularly, generously, and sacrificially.

So, if I’m not giving to the Lord regularly, generously, and sacrificially, is He really Lord of my finances?  If He is not, it may be the reason I am making little spiritual progress and why I cannot gain certain spiritual ground.

We could say similar things about any area of our lives.  It may be we are refusing to submit to the Lord in our marriage, or at work, or in the church, and thus keep hitting a wall.

As Christians we believe God’s Word is alive and powerful.  This morning it can expose such areas if you will allow it to examine you.  You need not walk away from it sorrowful!  Today can be the day you submit to the Lord and make progress.

In some cases it’s not just a matter of failing to make spiritual progress.  You can actually see a regression!

#2    Take A Look At Areas In Which
You Are In Spiritual Regress
And Ask Yourself Who Is Really Ruling There
(v17-32)

Since there was no clear champion, no clear winner, in the competition, a battle broke out between Abner’s forces and Joab’s.

2 Samuel 2:17  So there was a very fierce battle that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

The writer lets you know from the get-go that Abner was “beaten” that day.  He was forced to retreat, regressing.

One particular incident during Abner’s retreat is highlighted.  It will have historical significance in a chapter or so.  It also has thematic significance for us this morning.

2 Samuel 2:18  Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab and Abishai and Asahel. And Asahel was as fleet of foot as a wild gazelle.

Zeruiah was David’s sister.  It’s unusual to mention the mother and not the father.  It tells us she was a remarkable gal and had raised three notable boys.

2 Samuel 2:19  So Asahel pursued Abner, and in going he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner.
2 Samuel 2:20  Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Are you Asahel?” He answered, “I am.”
2 Samuel 2:21  And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

From a strategic point of view you always wanted to go after the general.  Asahel did, but it seems he did so unarmed!  Abner encouraged him to get a weapon from one of his fellow soldiers.

Doesn’t it strike you odd that Asahel would pursue Abner with no weaponry?  Yeah, it does, and again it puts us on notice there’s a spiritual lesson.
2 Samuel 2:22  So Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I face your brother Joab?”

Before you give Abner any credit for showing mercy, understand his motives.  If he killed Asahel, then in their culture Joab would become what was called ‘the avenger of blood.’  Joab would hunt Abner down and kill him for killing his brother.  In fact, Joab will eventually kill Abner!

2 Samuel 2:23  However, he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still.

It was the old ‘blunt end of the spear’ trick.  Abner, being pursued, simply stopped suddenly and let Asahel run into his spear.

Doesn’t it strike you as odd that the “blunt” end of a spear could so pierce a man?

Here is one spiritual application in keeping with our ‘point’ (pun intended!).  If you are a Christian, but are regressing (retreating) spiritually, God sees to it your are being pursued.  It might be through a person who is trying to tell you the truth.  It could be from a message you hear.  It could even be from the mouth of a nonbeliever.

For your part, don’t run from it.  And don’t try to ‘blunt’ the message.  It won’t kill you.  Remember, Asahel had no weapons.

No, it won’t kill you, but it will take you captive and return you to your rightful king.

2 Samuel 2:24  Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner. And the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah by the road to the Wilderness of Gibeon.
2 Samuel 2:25  Now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit, and took their stand on top of a hill.
2 Samuel 2:26  Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?”
2 Samuel 2:27  And Joab said, “As God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then by morning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren.”

Don’t give Abner any credit.  Sure, he called for a truce – but only in defeat.  Plus Joab indicated that Abner had instigated the fighting by trying to gain possession of Gibeon where he was the one who suggested the young men fight.  The phrase, “unless you had spoken,” really means, “because you suggested it.”

Abner was safe in his own territory.  It’s too bad for him he was because it only reinforced his decision to refuse to submit to the rightful king.  It was a fall-back position that kept him in perpetual regress.

It’s better, really, to not have fall-back positions if you want to make progress in your walk with Jesus.  Don’t be planning a way out of a situation or circumstance God has designed for you in order to grow you, to mature you.

2 Samuel 2:28  So Joab blew a trumpet; and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore.
2 Samuel 2:29  Then Abner and his men went on all that night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron; and they came to Mahanaim.
2 Samuel 2:30  So Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel.
2 Samuel 2:31  But the servants of David had struck down, of Benjamin and Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men who died.
2 Samuel 2:32  Then they took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at daybreak.

Considering twelve of Joab’s men died in the initial competition, he only lost  eight more against losses of three hundred and sixty by Abner.  It was a slaughter!

Still, the losses were significant especially since they directly affected Joab’s family.

It reminds us that when we are regressing spiritually, not only does it take a tremendous toll on us.  It also affects our brothers and sisters in the family of God.  The ‘losses’ can be significant on several levels.
Obviously there is a loss of fellowship with one another.
The person in regress can be the cause of others stumbling.
The work of furthering the Gospel gets put on hold.

Are you in a spiritual regression in one or more areas?  It may not be evident or obvious.  It may not be manifesting itself in massive backsliding.  It may be subtle, private, personal.

Today’s portion of God’s Word may be the Asahel pursuing you.  Admit it and give the Lord rule over it.  He’s your rightful King.

Be willing to say, “Lord, you have been a guest, and I have been the host.  From now on I am going to be the servant.  You are going to be the Lord.”

We Two Kings Of Israel Are (2 Samuel 2v1-11)

TEXT: Second Samuel 2:1-11

TOPIC: King Saul’s death opens the way for David to become Israel’s rightful king but instead Ishbosheth, one of Saul’s sons, claims the throne

TITLE: “We Two Kings of Israel Are”

Introduction

I read in an article the other day, “You know you’ve arrived when the name of your company becomes a verb, as in ‘Google’ it.”

How do you know when you have ‘arrived,’ that is, when you’ve reached the place or position or prominence you’ve been seeking?

There are probably different indicators that you’ve arrived depending on what sphere of life we’re discussing.  One thing you’re usually not prepared for is that once you’ve arrived things don’t always fall into place and get easier.  In fact, they are liable to get a whole lot more difficult.

David found that out.  He had been anointed at age fifteen or sixteen by Israel’s last judge and first prophet, Samuel, in order to fulfill his calling as king over the nation.  It started a chain of events that found him fleeing for his life out in the wilderness for the next fifteen or so years.

Finally Saul was dead.  It cleared the way for David to take the position he had been anointed for and called to by God.  David had arrived.
Not so fast!   Of the twelve tribes only the tribe of Judah recognized him as king.  That’s all he’d rule for the next seven and one-half years as the remaining tribes followed Saul’s son, Ishbosheth.

David would finally unite the kingdom and be crowned its king only to have the Philistines immediately come out against him.  And there would be intrigue in his own household, and new temptations to overcome.

David learned that you never really ‘arrive’ in the sense we sometimes think.  You don’t get to a point where you can kick-back and put the stewardship of your calling on cruise control.

It’s important we learn that as long as we are alive and in these bodies we never ‘arrive.’  That’s because our true destination is not of this world.  It’s Heaven.  Our arrival is through resurrection after death or at the rapture if we are alive at the coming of Jesus for the church.

Mean time we all have callings.  We’re called to be Christians, first and foremost.  But after that there are many roles and responsibilities that we either choose for ourselves or that are chosen for us.

Here’s the really great news: We are anointed for our callings!  David, when he was called to be king, was anointed with oil by Samuel.  In our text he will be anointed with oil by the men of Judah as he assumes the role and responsibilities of king.  The outward physical anointing by pouring oil over him represented the fact God would give David the Holy Spirit to accomplish his calling.

If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit in a much greater sense.  He indwells you, lives in you, to teach, lead, guide, and prompt you.

Our time this morning is going to be spent recognizing that we often get stalled in our callings, or we abandon them outright, because we think we’ve ‘arrived’ and it’s not what we had in mind.  It’s hard work!

But it can be spiritual work when we realize we won’t truly arrive until we see Jesus and that our anointing empowers us to both press-on and persevere.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 You’ve Been Anointed To Press On In Your Calling, and #2 You’ve Been Anointed To Persevere In Your Calling.

#1    You’ve Been Anointed
To Press On In Your Calling
(v1-7)

The apostle John, in his first letter, said that you “have an anointing” (2:20).  A few verses later he said, “the anointing you have received… abides in you… (2:27).  He was talking about God the Holy Spirit Who indwells believers.  Then he says that, because we have this anointing, we “know all things” and we “do not need that anyone teach you.”  In other words, everything we need to know about life and godliness can be found in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Why so much failure, then, in our ranks as Christians?  One reason, at least, is the failure to press on in our callings when things aren’t working out exactly as we’d planned or hoped.  Whether it’s your marriage or your career or your ministry or some other calling, you’re to press on.

The king of Israel was dead.  It was time for David to make a move.

2 Samuel 2:1  It happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “To Hebron.”

Having been anointed king over a decade earlier, David had come to respect God’s timing.  He wanted to know, he needed to know, if this was God’s timing.

We are almost always in a greater hurry than God to get to where we’re going.  In that sense we can be like shoddy contractors, cutting corners and building with sub-par materials.  For His part God is a master craftsman who is taking His time to complete the good work He has begun in us.

David also needed to know the place God was calling him to.  Not just anyplace will always do.  We shouldn’t make decisions on what is obvious and logical without first talking to the Lord.

2 Samuel 2:2  So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
2 Samuel 2:3  And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.

This reads like an inventory.  Two wives… an army of fighting men… multiple households.  God had grown David even before he came into his calling.  He was already acting like a king, in the best possible ways, to those who were depending upon him.

Each day we are to walk with the Lord in the place He has put us.  We should have desires and dreams, goals and plans.  But it’s in our daily walk with Him that we will find satisfaction, not in our achievements.  We’ll accomplish some things but they will only have eternal value to the extent they are done in cooperation with the Lord, according to His plans for us.

2 Samuel 2:4  Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah…

The men of one tribe out of twelve recognized that David was king.  It was a great moment, but pretty reserved.  Not a lot of fanfare.

Some of your great moments are going to come and go with little fanfare in this life.  They are between you and Jesus.

I’ve noticed, too, that often we tend to overlook great moments in people’s lives because our ideas about what constitute ‘greatness’ are more worldly than spiritual.  The most common example is the person who builds what we would call a great ministry or career but sacrifices his or her family along the way to achieve it.

There’s not much fanfare in the daily grind of loving your wife, submitting to your husband, and training your kids.  But it’s those things we ought to recognize as great.  God created Adam, He formed Eve, and then looked upon the family unit He’d established and declared, “It is good.”

2 Samuel 2:4  Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, “The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.”

Not just buried him.  Saul and his sons had been taken from the battlefield, their bodies mutilated and hung on a wall for the Philistines to mock.  These men of Jabesh Gilead had risked life and limb after Israel’s army had been defeated to retrieve the bodies and treat them with respect.  They were unsung heroes.

2 Samuel 2:5  So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him.
2 Samuel 2:6  And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing.
2 Samuel 2:7  Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Think of all the ways David might have described and honored these heroes.  He might have called them brave, or courageous, or bold.  He might have built a monument to them, or pinned them with medals of honor.

Instead he twice emphasized their “kindness” and promised to show “kindness” to them.  He indicated the Lord would show them “kindness.”

That’s it?  I rarely even use the word ‘kind.’  Excuse the pun, but what ‘kind’ of reward is recognizing “kindness?”

It’s a big one, turns out, because “kindness” is an attribute of God.  In Psalm 136 the word is used twenty-six times to proclaim that God’s “kindness” is eternal.  In reviewing the psalm, one author concludes,

The entire span of creation to God’s redemption, preservation, and permanent establishment is touched upon in this psalm. It all happened, is happening, and will continue to happen because of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness and kindness.
You might say that His “kindness” motivates God to act as He does.  Motives, therefore, are in view as David seeks to reward these guys.  Yes, they did a great thing, but it was because of a great motive, a godly motive.

It’s a reminder to us that, like David did with the men of Jabesh Gilead, so Jesus will do with you and I.  He will judge us as to our motives and reward us for those that were godly.  I can’t always know another person’s motives but I can let the Lord reveal my own to be sure they are in line with His nature.

David was called to be king at a young age.  He was anointed by God for the position then physically anointed by men.  Now he had arrived and it was pretty dismal.  Nevertheless he put his whole heart into it.  He determined to be the best king of one tribe that he could possibly be.  The people of Judah deserved no less.

He decided to press on despite the possible disappointment and they obvious difficulties.  And that is what you and I can do everyday in our various callings despite actual disappointment and ongoing difficulties.

Pressing on means you keep moving forward.  It may be at a pace of three steps forward and two steps back, but you are moving forward in your walk with the Lord.

#2    You’ve Been Anointed
To Persevere Through Your Calling
(v8-11)

Persevering is slightly different.  It assumes you are pressing on and means you don’t stop.

Look at David.  Just as he was pressing on, being the best king over Judah he could be, a giant roadblock was thrown-up against him.

2 Samuel 2:8  But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim;
2 Samuel 2:9  and he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel.

We can only speculate as to why Ishbosheth was not on the battlefield with his dad and brothers.  For his part, Abner refused to recognize David’s anointing by God or by man.  He wanted to continue the line of Saul – even though Saul’s kingship had ended in abject failure and his surviving son was not one to fight.

As long as we are in these bodies our desire to further the kingdom of God in our callings will be opposed by a rival king.  It’s Satan, the devil, who is called the prince of this world.  Now the devil doesn’t personally come against you.  No, he utilizes people, mostly nonbelievers, to oppose you at every turn.  He sadly can sometimes even utilize believers who are not guarding against his wiles and schemes.

Listen: This opposition is going to continue until you die or are raptured.  That is why we must talk of perseverance.

Now by “perseverance” I am not talking about the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints which is variously understood by those of opposing theological foundations.

I’m simply talking about a Christian, a saved individual, persevering in the everyday, ordinary sense of continuing steadfastly in your various callings.  I’m talking about staying married when you have no biblical grounds for a divorce.  I’m talking about hanging-in there at work when it seems your boss or co-workers are dead set against you.

I’m talking about realizing that you have been anointed for your various callings and, therefore, you can do all things through Jesus Christ Who strengthens you rather than abandon your calling outright.

2 Samuel 2:10  Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. Only the house of Judah followed David.
2 Samuel 2:11  And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Seems as though there are five and one-half years unaccounted for in Israel’s leadership.  There are various theories, such as, it may have taken Abner that long to eliminate the Philistine threat in the north before Ishbosheth could actually be installed as king.

Note the phrasing, “only the house of Judah followed David.”  I can’t know the inflection with which that should be read, but I can hear it as a letdown, as a bummer.  Not only did the northern tribes refuse to recognize David’s calling and anointing, it went on for a rather lengthy time – for seven and one-half years.

Having pressed-on for close to fifteen years, would David persevere another week and one-half of years?

I don’t think it’s an odd question.  I mean, David had a family – two of them, actually.  He had an army that was second to none.  His men had their families.  Together they had lots of possessions.  He could possibly have found some ground somewhere to be ‘king’ over a much smaller group with a lot less headaches.  He could have quit and even made it seem spiritual when, after all he’d done, Israel refused to unite and recognize him.

David did not quit.  He persevered.

The bigger question is for me and you.  When it looks like I’ve arrived in my calling but things aren’t what I had anticipated, will I persevere?  Will you?

Let me ask you this.  Do you have a fall-back plan?  We can plan a way of escape, a way out, all the while either thinking we won’t use it or that it is really the more spiritual option.

Regarding perseverance, I cannot persevere on my own when the devil is opposing me.  But I can do all things through Christ because He has given me His anointing, His Holy Spirit, to walk through my various callings.

The bottom line is this.  You never arrive in this life, at least spiritually speaking.  Your life is sometimes compared to a race.  There are different types of races: sprints, marathons, and long-distance runs come to mind.  Another type of race, the one that best describes what we’re discussing today, is an obstacle course.  Will you get stuck in the mud?  Be unable to get over the wall?  Have a hard time with the crawl?  Fall off the balance beam?

Sure, you can get off the course.  You can quit.  But you don’t need to because the Lord is with you.

One day you will arrive – in Heaven.  You will be absent from your body and immediately present with the Lord at death.  Or the Lord will return in the clouds and you will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, into your glorified body and be with the Lord.

Press on.  Persevere.  It’s in Heaven that you will be rewarded for it.

And what, exactly, is the ‘it’ you will be rewarded for?  Walking with the Lord  each day in such a way that He guided and directed and prompted you by His indwelling Holy Spirit to do and say those things that are consistent with His nature and character.

The Saul-Song Redemption (2 Samuel 1v1-27)

TEXT: Second Samuel 1:1-27

TOPIC: Upon hearing of his death, David writes a stirring funeral lament for Saul that ignores his glaring failures and instead praises every redeeming quality

TITLE: “The Saul Song Redemption”

Introduction

If I asked you to fill-in the blank and said “onward Christian [blank], you’d say “soldiers” and might even add, “marching as to war.”

You certainly would not say, “onward Christian mercenaries.”  A mercenary is a soldier-for-hire.  He’s in it for what he can get out of it – which is typically both money and adventure.  He’s sometimes called a soldier of fortune.

Is there such a thing as a Christian mercenary?  All I know is that if we’re not careful, a mercenary spirit can creep in to our way of thinking.

Anytime I am thinking about what I deserve I’m thinking more like a mercenary.
Anytime I am looking for what would best minister to me I’m thinking more like a mercenary.
If I see no need to be a member of a local fellowship, or if I set myself up above the leadership of the church, I’m thinking more like a mercenary.
We want to be good soldiers for Jesus Christ.  Instead of wanting our fortune now, in the form of recognition or self-promotion or independence, we should walk by faith trusting that the Lord will reward us later for a life of seeking and submitting to His will.

I started thinking about mercenaries because we encounter one in our text.  He comes to David carrying the king’s crown with news of Saul’s death.  It turns out to be a grave miscalculation on his part.  David has him executed.

For his part, David shows what a soldier looks like who is walking by faith, looking forward to his future reward.

Am I a soldier of fortune?  Or am I a soldier of faith?  To answer those questions I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 You’re A Soldier Of Fortune If You Think You Can Take-up The Crown, and #2 You’re A Soldier Of Faith If You Remember You Will Receive A Crown.

#1    You’re A Soldier Of Fortune If You Think You Can Take-up The Crown
(v1-16)

It seems as though the Philistines went out against the Israelites often.  For all the many years Saul had been pursuing David, he had been successful in holding off the Philistines.  Past successes, however, would not guarantee victory.  Not this time.

2 Samuel 1:1  Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had stayed two days in Ziklag,
2 Samuel 1:2  on the third day, behold, it happened that a man came from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. So it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the ground and prostrated himself.

David and his men were at Ziklag.  He knew that the Philistines had gone out against the Israelites.  He anxiously awaited news from the battlefield.

2 Samuel 1:3  And David said to him, “Where have you come from?” So he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”
2 Samuel 1:4  Then David said to him, “How did the matter go? Please tell me.” And he answered, “The people have fled from the battle, many of the people are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.”
2 Samuel 1:5  So David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?”
2 Samuel 1:6  Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.

It’s clear this young Amalekite was out on the battlefield and, therefore, a soldier.  He was thus a mercenary, hired by Saul to help against the Philistines.  He was near the action on Mount Gilboa where Saul and his sons fell.

2 Samuel 1:7  Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’
2 Samuel 1:8  And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
2 Samuel 1:9  He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’
2 Samuel 1:10  So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.”

Whoa, wait a minute!  I thought the last chapter said Saul fell on his own sword and committed suicide?

He did.  This mercenary evidently thought that David would be excited about Saul’s death because it cleared the way for him to become king.  So he inserted himself in the story, made himself look a little heroic from his point of view.  Maybe he’d be given a plush assignment in David’s army.

2 Samuel 1:11  Therefore David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.
2 Samuel 1:12  And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

We’ll have more to say about David’s reaction in a moment.  For now, I wonder what this Amalekite was thinking about his strategy in bringing the news to David.  This was probably not the reaction he was expecting.
Neither was what happened next.

2 Samuel 1:13  Then David said to the young man who told him, “Where are you from?” And he answered, “I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite.”
2 Samuel 1:14  So David said to him, “How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”
2 Samuel 1:15  Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go near, and execute him!” And he struck him so that he died.
2 Samuel 1:16  So David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed.’ ”

David had refused to kill Saul on at least two separate occasions.  Saul was “the Lord’s anointed” king.  Regardless his massive failures, it was up to the Lord to bring about his death.

Did the Amalekite protest and try to change his story?  It was too late if he did.  It would only seem to be a lie to save himself.  His “own mouth… testified against” him.

The mercenary took up the crown and thought he’d follow the new king.  As Christians we’re called upon to take up the Cross and follow our King.  The crown comes later, when we stand before Jesus and have our lives reviewed.

With that in mind, let’s go back over this encounter to be sure we’re not thinking like mercenaries.

The first thing we might notice about the Amalekite was that he was more a spectator than a soldier.  He was on the battlefield, but kept a safe enough distance so as to not be engaged.  After all, he watched as Saul fell on his sword and then as Saul’s armorbearer did the same.  He got to them before the Philistines and fled with the crown.

We don’t want to be mere spectators!

The next thing we might notice about the Amalekite was that he was more a looter than a soldier.  Although he took the crown and the bracelet to David, he expected to gain from them.

We are called to godliness, not gain.  The apostle Paul put it like this:

1 Timothy 6:6  Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 Timothy 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1 Timothy 6:8  And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
1 Timothy 6:9  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1 Timothy 6:10  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Truth is, most of us have a lot more than “food and clothing.”  Let’s be sure we are using the surplus to further the kingdom of God.

A third thing we might notice about the Amalekite is that he promoted himself to David.  I don’t think there’s any disagreement among commentators that his strategy was to impress David by telling him he had killed David’s rival and was now, in a sense, laying the kingdom at David’s feet.  He was the first person to bow before David after Saul’s death.  It was a very big act of flattery.

Self-promotion is not how God raises-up individuals.  On a purely practical level, it makes no sense to promote yourself since you don’t know the future plans God has for you.  Often self-promotion circumvents the tempering God needs to do in you in order for you to be the servant He desires.

I’ve used Moses as an example.  He thought he was ready at age forty to be the deliverer.  He promoted himself by killing an Egyptian.  God had another forty years of work to do in Moses before He could raise him up to deliver the Israelites.

There are probably other things to notice about this mercenary.  The point is that we must guard against his way of thinking.  We’re not soldiers of fortune.

#2    You’re A Soldier By Faith If You Remember You Will Receive A Crown
(v17-27)

According to Second Samuel 5:4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign.  (He hadn’t begun to reign just yet, but would soon).  If you do the math it indicates that he had been fleeing from Saul’s murderous intentions at least a decade, maybe a little more.  All that time he knew he was the next king; the prophet Samuel had anointed him as a young man.

David walked by faith in God’s promise he would receive the crown.

You and I have a few decades to live on this earth – seven or eight if we’re lucky (or unlucky depending on your perspective!).  Everyday we face the murderous intentions of the god of this world.  We are to walk by faith in God’s promise we will one day receive our crown.

Perhaps even more powerful than the example of David is how David treats Saul in his death.  He composes a praise song for him.  He overlooks every evil intention of Saul’s.  If you knew only this song, you’d think Saul was an amazing, exemplary king over Israel.

We’re each going to stand before Jesus.  Here is what will happen:

1 Corinthians 3:13  each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
1 Corinthians 3:14  If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
1 Corinthians 3:15  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

It seems that in my examination by the Lord everything in my life that did not glorify Him will be “burned.”  I will “suffer loss” of potential “reward” but “be saved.”   Once my examination is over, all you will know about me is whatever “work” I did for the Lord that did bring Him glory.  It will result in my being awarded crowns.

The Bible mentions five potential crowns:
The incorruptible crown (First Corinthians 9:24-25).
The crown of rejoicing (First Thessalonians 2:19).
The crown of life (James 1:12).
The crown of righteousness (Second Timothy 4:8).
The crown of glory (First Peter 5:1-4).

After all the believers of the church age appear before Jesus individually to receive our crown or crowns, we will appear before Him corporately.

Revelation 4:10  the twenty-four elders [the church] fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
Revelation 4:11  “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

Saul thus typifies the believer in his death in that all you see is the reward!

Let’s take a quick look at David’s composition.  It falls into three movements that are introduced by the phrase, “how the mighty have fallen.”

2 Samuel 1:17  Then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son,
2 Samuel 1:18  and he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written in the Book of Jasher:

The Book of Jasher is also mentioned in the Book of Joshua.  It seems to be a record of great military exploits.  It’s not a ‘lost’ book of the Bible!  The Bible mentions several other books that were uninspired.

David wanted Saul remembered for his successes – even though the majority of Saul’s life had been a failure.  Is it revisionist history?  No.  It’s an example of how we will be treated in eternity.

2 Samuel 1:19  “The beauty of Israel is slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen!
2 Samuel 1:20  Tell it not in Gath, Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon – Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
2 Samuel 1:21  “O mountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew nor rain upon you, Nor fields of offerings. For the shield of the mighty is cast away there! The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
2 Samuel 1:22  From the blood of the slain, From the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, And the sword of Saul did not return empty.
2 Samuel 1:23  “Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they were not divided; They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions.
2 Samuel 1:24  “O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you in scarlet, with luxury; Who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

Wow!  Very generous indeed was David in his praise.

So will the Lord be when you stand before Him.  He’s looking to reward you.

2 Samuel 1:25  “How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan was slain in your high places.
2 Samuel 1:26  I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; You have been very pleasant to me; Your love to me was wonderful, Surpassing the love of women.

Admit it.  You wish David had not said this!  It’s used by some to suggest that David and Jonathan had a physical, sexual love for one another.

Let’s take a quick minute to debunk that argument.

First, no matter how hard you try to find something in the Bible to the contrary, God’s Word calls homosexuality a sexual sin.  It’s not the unpardonable sin.  It is a sexual sin, as is heterosexual sex outside of marriage and as is adultery.
Second, just as a point of reference, Jonathan was at least thirty years older than David.  He was more a mentor than a contemporary.  They were not two young men who palled around together.
Third, it’s pretty clear that David was heterosexual.  He had been married to Saul’s daughter, Michal.  He currently had two wives.  He would multiply wives to himself and later get in a lot of trouble by sleeping with another man’s wife.

2 Samuel 1:27  “How the mighty have fallen, And the weapons of war perished!”

By “weapons of war” David was referring to Saul and Jonathan as weapons in the Lord’s hands.

This was an amazing review of Saul’s life in particular.  The things David said of him were true.  It’s just that he omitted all of the faults, all of the failures, all of the sin.

We’d say he was “saved, yet so as through fire.”  So will you and I.  How much better, though, to minimize the fire and maximize the reward by being good soldiers, soldiers who walk by faith, deferring fortune to the end when the Lord will reward us.

Here is what Jesus says at the very end of the Bible:

Revelation 22:12  “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.

And here is the proper response we ought to have to His promise:

Philippians 3:10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
Philippians 3:11  if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:12  Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Philippians 3:13  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
Philippians 3:14  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Don’t allow a mercenary spirit to creep in to your thinking.  It’s the Cross now and the crown later for you and I.

1 Samuel 31v1-13 – The Sword In The Saul

TEXT: 1 Samuel 31:1-13

TOPIC: Not wanting to be captured and tortured by the Philistines,a wounded King Saul falls on his own sword

TITLE: “The Sword In the Saul”

Introduction

The expression, “fall on your sword,” has the modern figurative meaning of taking personal responsibility for a group action gone bad.  It originates from the literal practice of committing suicide by falling on your sword.  Some say it is the Anglicized version of the ancient Samurai custom of committing suicide by disemboweling yourself.  We say hari-kari because of an 1856 article in Harper’s Magazine that misspelled the words!  It’s hara-kiri.

“Falling on your sword” has come to describe something noble, something honorable, something to be admired.

King Saul fell on his sword.  He did it to avoid being captured and tortured after he led Israel to a miserable defeat at the hands of the Philistines.  His actions were anything but noble, honorable, or to be admired.

Saul was called by God to be the first king of Israel.  It was a high calling.  He walked unworthy of his high calling.
Surrounding Saul’s unworthiness are a few individuals who walked worthy of their high callings.

Saul’s three sons walked worthy of their calling by submitting to their father even though it cost them their lives on the field of battle.
Saul’s armor bearer walked worthy of his calling by falling on his own sword once he determined Saul was dead.
The valiant men of Jabesh Gilead walked worthy of their calling by risking their lives in Philistine territory to retrieve Saul’s body and give him a proper funeral.

All this talk of walking worthy and unworthy of their callings reminded me of the verse in Ephesians (4:1) that encourages us, as New Testament Christians, “to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called…”

From looking at the characters in our text we can learn some things about finishing strong by walking worthy of our high calling as believers in Jesus Christ.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 You Don’t Want To Finish Wrong By Walking Unworthy Of Your Calling, and #2 You Do Want To Finish Strong By Walking Worthy Of Your Calling.

#1    You Don’t Want To Finish Wrong
By Walking Unworthy Of Your Calling
(v1-10)

When we talk about our “calling” as believers in Jesus Christ, we simply mean that as saved individuals we are to walk, to conduct ourselves, in ways that are worthy of the name of Jesus Christ.  It doesn’t mean we are to be perfect or that we never fail or fall short.  It does mean we press-on in our walk knowing that God, Who began a good work in us, will complete it.

Within your “calling” as a Christian are your specific roles and responsibilities.  Things like husband, wife, parent, child, employee, employer, citizen, church member, etc.  It is in those roles and responsibilities where we determine whether to walk worthy or unworthy.

Saul was a saved man whose further calling was to be Israel’s king.  He failed.  Let’s see what we can learn from his failure.

1 Samuel 31:1  Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

Take a quick look back over the recent history of Saul’s monarchy.  He had become obsessed with defeating David.  All of Saul’s energies and resources were dedicated to that one pursuit.  I think we can therefore conclude that he gave little thought to guarding against and preparing for war with the Philistines.

There are many things that can distract you as you are walking with the Lord.  Some of them, perhaps most of them, are not sinful in and of themselves.  But are they helpful spiritually?  Do they build others up?  Do they further God’s work on the earth?

If not, they may lead you to walk in a manner unworthy of your high calling simply by competing for your time and resources.  Seek first the kingdom of God.  Saul did not, but you and I can.

1 Samuel 31:2  Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.

We’ll talk about the valor of Saul’s sons under our second point.  For now we would note that Saul’s unworthy walk had devastating effects on his children.

The world wants to destroy your family.  But if you will focus on your family God will give you the tools to build it, to protect it.  You can have a successful marriage.  You can train up your kids in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.

1 Samuel 31:3  The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.

The New Testament compares some of the devil’s attacks against us to “fiery darts” (Ephesians 6:16).  We are able to quench them by taking the shield of faith.

Saul had long ago quit walking by faith.  He navigated the world by his own wisdom and wiles.  Even if you’re not in sin, be careful of trusting in your own wisdom.  Wait upon the Lord.  Walk by faith.

1 Samuel 31:4  Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.
1 Samuel 31:5  And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him.

We’ll have more to say about this faithful armorbearer.  We’re focusing on Saul.  His solution to the defeat he had brought upon Israel and himself was suicide.

Saul was the king of Israel.  He ought to have taken his stand and fought to the end.  Instead he ended the fight.

Suicide is not the unpardonable sin.  It is all too possible for a believer to get so depressed that in a moment of disobedience they take their own life.  I’m not excusing it, only explaining it.

A Christian can commit a kind of spiritual suicide without taking their own life.  You do it by taking your own life into your own hands.  You self-murder your marriage, or your family, or your job, or some other responsibility, by ignoring clear biblical principles.  Take your stand on biblical principles and fight on to the end.

1 Samuel 31:6  So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.
1 Samuel 31:7  And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

Saul’s choice to walk unworthy of his high calling affected every Israelite.  So do your choices affect every believer.  Christians are compared to building blocks in a building.  We’re compared to the parts of a human body.  We’re connected.  We complete each other.  Walk unworthy and the building or the body will suffer.

1 Samuel 31:8  So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
1 Samuel 31:9  And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people.
1 Samuel 31:10  Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

Saul ended-up conquered by his enemies with his flesh on display.  It’s representative of exactly how he had lived!  He had early on in his walk been conquered by his flesh.  In every episode you see his flesh on display as he yielded to his carnal, base nature.

By way of application, there is an obvious one and a more subtle one.

The obvious application comes from passages like Galatians five where we are told to not walk in the flesh.  Some of the works of the flesh are then listed: “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like…”  We are to understand that things like this have been crucified at the Cross and we no longer need to yield our members, our bodies, to them.
The more subtle application also comes from a passage in Galatians.  It’s chapter three, verse three, where the apostle Paul asks us, “having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”  In context he was talking to believers who wanted to adopt rules, rites, rituals, diets, dress, and days as their means of walking with Jesus.  We can still do that today if we’re not careful.

Saul had a high calling.  He walked in a manner unworthy of his high calling.  He finished wrong.  What about us?

#2    You Do Want To Finish Strong
By Walking Worthy Of Your Calling
(v11-13)

Several key characters in this chapter distinguished themselves by walking worthy of their calling.  It cost them dearly in this life.  It establishes up front that if we want to walk worthy and finish strong there is a cost, a sacrifice, but the reward is worth it.

1 Samuel 31:2  Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.

Here’s the situation.  Because of his gross disobedience your dad has been rejected by God as king.  He’s often troubled by an evil spirit sent by the Lord.  He’s spent many years trying to hunt down and murder the man God had anointed to be the next king.  He’s neglected his responsibilities as king, including preparing for war against the Philistines.  The night before the big battle he was out consulting a medium.

Would you have fought next to him, risking your life?  These boys did and because we are sure that Jonathan, at least, was a man led by God, we must conclude it was the worthy thing to do.

Their calling was to submit to their father and to submit to their king.  Taking Jonathan as the example, we see that they never submitted to anything sinful.  Jonathan never cooperated with Saul in trying to kill David.  But in every other area he submitted – even though we would say that Saul was not worthy of being submitted to.  That, however, was not their call to make as his sons; it was God’s.

In your home, or on the job, or even in the church, you might think you are being asked to support a Saul-like person.  Look past the person to your calling, to your responsibility, and do it as unto the Lord.  It probably won’t cost you your life per se, but it will require that you die to yourself in this life expecting to be rewarded in the next.  Don’t bail on the situation.  Finish strong.

1 Samuel 31:4  Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.
1 Samuel 31:5  And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him.

Armorbearers were not just weapon’s caddies.  They were seasoned warriors.  Think Secret Service in terms of their loyalty.

Saul’s armorbearer disobeyed him.  That’s because what Saul was asking him to do was beyond wrong.  No one was to kill God’s anointed king.  It showed tremendous respect for the office and for God, Who had established the office.

We’ve already seen this lesson in Saul’s sons, that we must do what is right according to the Word of God and when someone asks us to do something sinful, we must refuse.

There’s another lesson.  Armorbearer’s understood that whatever happened to their master happened also to them.  If the king died on the battlefield, the armorbearer died, too.

I have no opinion on whether it was right or wrong for him to fall on his sword.  It’s what was expected of him.  I’m more interested in what we can glean from the armorbearers death.

The armorbearer identified with Saul in his death.  Saul died so he also died with him.

Jesus died on the Cross.  It was necessary in order for Him to take upon Himself the punishment and penalty for the sins of the human race.

There is a remarkable spiritual identification that takes place when you become a Christian.  Because Jesus died, and you believe in Him, God says that you died with Him.

Your flesh was crucified there at the Cross.  Everyday you are going to be asked to die to self, to recognize that your flesh has been crucified.

Not just asked but empowered.  You see, you not only died with Jesus; you rose from the dead with Him.  It means the power of His resurrection is available to you so that you may, in practice, yield to the Spirit of God rather than to your flesh.

You don’t fall on a sword.  You bow down and kneel at the foot of the Cross, reckoning yourself dead to sin and alive to God.  To the extent you do so, you can’t help but walk worthy of your calling.

A third set of individuals in this chapter walked worthy.

1 Samuel 31:11  Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
1 Samuel 31:12  all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there.
1 Samuel 31:13  Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Forty years prior to this Saul had rescued Jabesh Gilead from the Ammonites.  Regardless the terrible king he had become, the men of that city risked their lives to retrieve the mutilated remains of the king of Israel and give him a proper burial.

The Jews didn’t normally cremate.  In this case it was probably to hide the mutilation.  Notice although they cremated the bodies, they buried the bones.

I get asked all the time about whether it’s OK to be cremated.  One argument against it is that the Jews were meticulous in burying their dead and even when they cremated someone, like Saul and his sons, they buried their bones.  It seems a strong argument against cremation.

The Jews were uniquely associated with their Promised Land.  Joseph, for example, wanted the Jews to take his bones with them from Egypt to be buried in the land.  So it wasn’t just burial that was on their minds; it was burial in the land promised them by God.

I submit for our consideration that as a people we have no land!  We are looking for the city whose builder and maker is God, the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem that will come down out of Heaven.  I see no prohibition to cremation.  To me, it’s an individual decision.

Back to the men of Jabesh Gilead.  They risked their lives to enter hostile territory to correct the dishonor done to Saul and his sons.

We are, by definition, always in hostile territory.  The devil is the god of this world.  Every worthy step we take is a risk out in the world.

What about the mutilated bodies?  Is there some lesson there for us?

Jesus was mutilated by beatings and the plucking out of His beard.  His was a cruel, shameful, criminals death in which He was put on public display.

When you and I walk worthy, pressing forward for the high calling, nonbelievers don’t see the Lord as Someone mutilated, murdered, and to be ashamed of.  They see Him alive and providing you with power to live life as God intended it to be lived.

Consider these further exhortations from the Word to walk worthy.

1 Thessalonians 2:12  … walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

Colossians 1:10  … walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Philippians 1:27  Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ…

Concerning what it means to walk worthy one author makes it simple when he says, “Act in a way that fits the great value and glorious nature of God and the Gospel and your calling.”

God’s Word is His enabling.  You and I can walk worthy; we can finish strong.

Let’s do it!

1 Samuel 30 – How To Avoid Becoming Zik-Lagged In Your Travels

TEXT: First Samuel 30:1-31

TOPIC: After traveling about 100 miles round trip, David’s men talk of stoning him to death when they return home to find Ziklag burning and their families taken captive

TITLE: How to Avoid Becoming Zik-lagged in Your Travels

Introduction

If you are ever sick or injured the words you want to hear from your physician are, “You’re going to make a full and complete recovery!”

There are times in your walk with the Lord when you misstep.  You find yourself off of the path, out in the world, not in the will of God.  Can you hope to make a full and complete recovery?

David is our example.  He mis-stepped.  Rather than endure his trials he had fled to enemy territory and befriended the world.  He was a hairsbreadth away from having to fight with the Philistines against his own countrymen.

God stepped-in and recovered David.  He brought David to a place where we read (v6) “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”  After recovering David, God instructed him to go out and (v8) “recover all” that he had lost during the time he had been away from the Lord.

I like that!  God took steps to recover David and then instructed him about how to recover all he had forfeited.

Since God is no respecter of persons, we can be confident that if He did that for David He can and will do it for us.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 When You Misstep In Your Christian Walk The Lord Takes Steps To Recover You, and #2 After A Misstep In Your Christian Walk You Take The Steps To Recover All.

#1    When You Misstep In Your Christian Walk
The Lord Takes Steps To Recover You
(v1-6)

This particular episode in David’s life seemed to have a happy ending in chapter twenty-nine when the Philistine lords determined to send David home to Ziklag rather than risk having him turn against them in the battle against Israel.  It must have been a great relief for David and his men.

Having traveled some fifty miles to the muster, they got up early the next morning to travel the fifty miles back.  Seems it took about three days.  Anxious to return home, tired from travel, there was no happy ending awaiting their return.  From some distance away they would see smoke rising and pick up their pace worried what had happened.

1 Samuel 30:1  Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire,
1 Samuel 30:2  and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way.
1 Samuel 30:3  So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.

David had left Ziklag completely defenseless.  He was a great military strategist and therefore knew better.  He put all those he loved at risk.  It devastated his family and the families of all those associated with him.

Our missteps out of the will of God don’t just affect us.  When we wander out of the will of God we put others at risk.  We are part of their spiritual defense and help.  When we’re not on our watch, the enemy comes in against them, too.

1 Samuel 30:4  Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
1 Samuel 30:5  And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive.

It’s true of backsliding that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.  Some of you have shed tears like this when your world came crashing down on account of your sin.  You may have lost your family over it.  It’s devastating.

1 Samuel 30:6  Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Things got worse and worser for David!  And then, just like that, in a moment of spiritual clarity, the tide turned as “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”

How did he strengthen himself?  It seems to be nothing more but nothing less than a return in his mind and heart to submission to God and to the understanding that the Lord is sufficient in all things and for all things.

David is going to literally “recover all” that was taken from he and his men.  I want to honestly tell you that you might not always able to “recover all” in your recovery.  Marriages do fail; families do fall apart.  Careers are ruined.

What we are seeing in David is what God does, what He can do.  He works to recover you and He can help you “recover all.”  But He still respects free will.  Those who were left defenseless, who were devastated – your family, for instance – must also “strengthen themselves in the Lord.”  God cannot force them to be part of your recovery.

If you’re walking away from God, out of the will of God, let Him recover you right now before any more damage is done to those you truly love.

Having ruined your life with your missteps, the first step back is to the Lord.  Whatever happens next you can walk in forgiveness and in the power of His Holy Spirit.

In other words, you return to the Lord not to get something but to be with Someone, to be with Him.  He will walk with you through the aftermath seeking to “recover all.”

#2    After A Misstep In Your Christian Walk
You Take The Steps To Recover All
(v7-31)

As David acts to recover all that was lost we will see some spiritual ‘steps’ we can and should take everyday in our walk with the Lord.  Whether we have just returned from a misstep or have been walking circumspectly with the Lord, these are things we ought to be doing as we journey home toward Heaven.

1 Samuel 30:7  Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
1 Samuel 30:8  So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

The ephod was a portion of the high priest’s garments which speaks of prayer.  This garment went over the garment that the regular priest wore. The ephod set the high priest apart.  It was the garment he wore when he went into the golden altar of prayer.  It had two stones, one on each shoulder, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, six on one shoulder and six on the other.  In other words, the high priest came to the altar of prayer bearing Israel on his shoulders.

We read this and commend David for going immediately to prayer.  But let’s notice something a little deeper.  David’s inquiry was, “Shall I pursue this troop?”  Would that have been your prayer?  It would not have been mine!  I would have prayed, “God give me the strength to overtake this troop and recover all that was lost.”

The very words David spoke showed his attitude in prayer.  It was one of total and complete submission to the will of God.  God could have said, “No!” and I think David was at a place where he would have received it and told his army that all was lost but Praise the Lord!

A first ‘step’ on the daily road for those of us who are recovered is not just to pray but to be submitted wholly to God’s will.  Then we can pray as we ought to, seeking Him for strength to accomplish His will on earth.

1 Samuel 30:9  So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind.
1 Samuel 30:10  But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.

These two hundred men will become prominent at the end of the chapter and we’ll talk about them then.

1 Samuel 30:11  Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water.
1 Samuel 30:12  And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights.
1 Samuel 30:13  Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick.
1 Samuel 30:14  We made an invasion of the southern area of the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
1 Samuel 30:15  And David said to him, “Can you take me down to this troop?” So he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this troop.”

Even though they were days behind in their pursuit of the Amalekites, and their families were in trouble, they stopped to help this young man.  Sure, he had information for them; but they could have gotten it out of him some other way.  Would Jack Bauer have fed and refreshed this guy?

Compassion is the word I’d use to describe David’s actions.  Though focused on his mission to recover all that had been taken, he did not ignore those he encountered along the way.  He treated this young man with compassion.

Every ‘step’ along our daily road is to be measured with the compassion of Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 30:16  And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
1 Samuel 30:17  Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.
1 Samuel 30:18  So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.
1 Samuel 30:19  And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.
1 Samuel 30:20  Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

Imagine how very tired David and his men must have been.  This all started with them having marched from and to Ziklag one hundred miles round trip.  Then they had suffered from extreme emotion at Ziklag.  That kind of mental pain is physically exhausting.  Some of the men had been so exhausted that they had to be left behind along the way.  Now, having come upon the enemy, they fought them hand-to-hand “from twilight until the evening of the next day.”

We must be relentless in pursuing and destroying spiritual strongholds and enemies.  Just as David fought them for a full 24-hours, so our fight is 24/7 everyday.

Some of them escaped on camels to fight another day.  Our fight won’t be over until we are with the Lord.

1 Samuel 30:21  Now David came to the two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near the people, he greeted them.
1 Samuel 30:22  Then all the wicked and worthless men of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every man’s wife and children, that they may lead them away and depart.”
1 Samuel 30:23  But David said, “My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us.
1 Samuel 30:24  For who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.”
1 Samuel 30:25  So it was, from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

Two hundred men stayed behind.  Notice that David had given them a task – to stay by the supplies.  They guarded the supplies, kept them safe.

These verses are worthy of a whole separate study.  For one thing, they are a tremendous encouragement to all those who are called upon to function in a church in a support capacity.  We have a team of ten men in Eureka.  They are there, street witnessing, in the rescue mission, among the homeless, involved in hand-to-hand spiritual warfare.  Did you pray for them?  Maybe you skipped a meal, fasting to pray for them.  Maybe the Lord put it on your heart to give something towards the trip.  No, we didn’t ask and aren’t asking, but should we have to?  Obviously it costs something to go up there, to fill up the tank and to eat along the way.

To the extent you and I supported them, we guarded the supplies and thus we share equally in their work and reward.  God credits us as if we were there with them.

Support is crucial – whether its through prayer or giving or fasting.  It is an important ‘step’ in your daily walk with the Lord.  You’re either called to go or to support.  Either one requires a real sacrifice of time, talent and treasure.

1 Samuel 30:26  Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord” –
1 Samuel 30:27  to those who were in Bethel, those who were in Ramoth of the South, those who were in Jattir,
1 Samuel 30:28  those who were in Aroer, those who were in Siphmoth, those who were in Eshtemoa,
1 Samuel 30:29  those who were in Rachal, those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, those who were in the cities of the Kenites,
1 Samuel 30:30  those who were in Hormah, those who were in Chorashan, those who were in Athach,
1 Samuel 30:31  those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to rove.

This was a smart move diplomatically.  David had been in Philistine territory for quite a while.  He needed to let the citizens of Israel know he was still one of them, still on track to be their king once God removed Saul.

There’s also a great illustration for us in David’s actions.  We would say that David gave gifts to men.  It reminds me of the verses in Ephesians chapter four that say Jesus has given gifted men to the church and given gifts to the men and women of the church.  We are then called upon to exercise those gifts in ways that build-up other believers.

Are you aware of the gifts available to you?  You can read about them, see them listed that is, in First Corinthians twelve, in Ephesians four, and in Romans twelve.  Then you can discover them being properly used by Jesus in the Gospels and by the apostles and believers in the Book of Acts and in the rest of the New Testament.

Most important is that you gather with other believers under the authority of Jesus in a local church and exercise your gifts to build others up.  You will discover your gifting around others in the church.

Whether you are recovered by God from a misstep or you want to walk with Him to avoid missteps, these are some of the ‘steps’ to take everyday:

Submit yourself to God, then pray and follow His leading.
Maintain the compassion of Christ towards everyone you encounter by looking upon them as eternal beings for whom Jesus died.
Never relax in the fight against spiritual enemies.
Be sure that you are either going forth to minister or are supporting those who are.  Either way you are called upon to be a living sacrifice by praying, fasting, and giving.
Be part of a church and gather with it to discover and exercise the gifts God has chosen to give you to minister to one another.

For some of you the place to start might be to get off the broad path that leads to destruction and onto the narrow one leading to Heaven.  In other words, you may not be saved; you may need to ask the Lord to forgive you your sins and declare you righteous by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.