1/27/08 Promises Promises

Certainly one of the best known events from the life of David in the Old Testament

is his battle with the giant Goliath.

Even if you have never read the account personally

you know of it.

Everyone knows about how a very young David,

very likely still in his teens,

accepted the challenge of combat with the most terrifying enemy warrior imaginable,

a man who stood nine feet tall.

And we know, too,

how this young man defeated and then destroyed his enemy

armed only with his slingshot, his staff, and a handful of rocks.

It’s a great account of both courage and faith in God.

But not as many people know about the events that took place

just prior to that battle.

I’d like to read part of that account for us this morning

because I think it will provide us with an excellent introduction

into what I want us to see concerning spiritual growth.

This is from First Samuel 17:39-40, 48-49

Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. And David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk... So David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these..." And David took them off. And he took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine...Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

Now, to appreciate what’s happening here

we need to put ourselves back into that situation with Saul and David.

Saul was the King.

He wasn’t a particularly good King,

but he was the King.

His country was under attack from the Philistines

and things were not going well at all.

The Philistines had offered Israel a deal -

rather than thousands of men going to battle,

and thousands of men being killed,

they proposed a battle between just one Philistine

and one Israelite.

If the Philistine won,

then Israel would become slaves to their nation,

and if the Israelite won

then the Philistines would become the slaves of Israel.

The only problem was that the Philistines had Goliath -

a nine foot tall war machine unlike anything the Israelites had ever seen.

The armor he wore weighed about 150 pounds,

and just the metal head of his spear weighed 20 pounds.

For obvious reasons

none of the Israelites felt like taking Goliath up on his challenge,

none, that is, until David showed up on the scene.

And what I want us to see here

is the obvious well-intended motivation behind Saul’s efforts

to get David ready for that battle.

When he put his own helmet on David’s head

and his own over-sized armor on his chest,

and put his own massive sword in David’s hand

he was doing what was reasonable and logical and right.

And at first David listened to the well-meaning instructions of his King,

his King who didn’t see through God’s eyes,

his King who knew only the natural laws of this physical world in which we live.

Saul knew all to well

that if David hoped to survive this battle

he would need the most modern, effective protection and weapons available.

“Here you go, David, strap on this heavy armor,

cover your head with this huge helmet,

and carry this massive shield with which to ward off the mighty blows of the enemy.”

I can imagine David’s frustration and confusion

during those few minutes when he clumped around inside Saul’s suit of armor.

He knew Saul’s intentions were honorable.

He new, too, that logic seemed to support

the reasonableness of protecting himself with what he had been offered.

It seemed so logical,

it seemed so reasonable.

It had the appearance of wisdom in the eyes of man.

And David tried to make it work.

He tightened the straps a little more,

he shifted the weight from one side to the other,

he tried once again to hoist the heavy sword above his head.

Then suddenly he realized what was wrong.

The problem wasn’t the size of the armor,

or the weight of the sword,

or the length of the leather straps.

It wasn’t what he was wearing that didn’t fit,

it was what he was doing.

It didn’t fit with who he was

or what he knew about his God.

And I can also imagine the exhilaration David must have felt

when he finally reached for those leather straps,

dropped that massive weight of metal to the floor,

and once again picked up his staff and sling.

This he knew! This he understood!

This fit perfectly with who he was

and what God was calling him to do.

The success of his mission didn’t depend upon the thickness of his armor

or the length of his sword.

It depended only upon the ability of his God

to perform in him and through him

the work God had called him to do.

And what in the world does that have to do

with the process of spiritual growth that our God has called each of us to?

Well, I think that, in many ways

there are times when we all face the same kind of turmoil that David faced

as he prepared for that battle.

Though we rarely can put it into words early in our Christian lives,

one of the first things God’s Spirit seeks to whisper to our spirit when we come to Him

is that now at last we are free.

JOH 8:36 "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”

We enter the family of God

with our hearts filled with an awareness of His love,

and a hunger to know Him better.

We know deep within our spirits

that we were made for a kind of fellowship with God

that fits perfectly with who He is and who we were designed by Him to be.

But then some well-meaning saint

or some persuasive voice on the radio

or in the most recent best-selling Christian book

steps up and plops a heavy helmet on our head,

and someone else encases our body in an inflexible metal shell,

and someone else places a massive, awkward sword in our hands

assuring us that we just simply must have this,

and do that,

and follow this plan or program

if we really want to be equipped for protection and effective warfare.

Then we, like the teenage David,

take a step or two and come crashing down

under the sheer weight of all we’ve been given to carry.

And what began as a thrilling adventure with a living God

very quickly deteriorates into an endless stream of drudgery of religious duties.

It all seems so logical, and so reasonable, and so sensible, and so very, very heavy.

True growth in Christ is not a cumbersome,

awkward suit of armor

that stifles our movement and leaves us feeling exhausted and trapped.

We are designed by God for friendship with Him.

When correctly understood,

the process of growth in that friendship fits us perfectly.

It doesn’t crush our true identities,

or stifle our unique personalities.

It doesn’t encase us in a heavy weight of ritual or meaningless routine.

It doesn’t demand that teenagers try to act like 60 year old men,

or that 60 year old men try to act like teenagers.

When we understand correctly what God has really called us to

our growth with Him fits us as perfectly as David’s staff and sling fit him.

Now, we have seen so far in this study

that growth in Christ is simply the ongoing process

of building a living friendship with our Lord.

The Apostle Peter explains to us in 2 Peter 1:4

that our friendship with God develops

through sharing with Him the process of becoming a partaker of the divine nature

and escaping the corruption that is in the world around us.

As we trust and follow His leadership

and interact with Him throughout this ongoing process of character growth,

we begin to discover who our God really is.

We discover the true nature of His forgiveness and His grace,

we begin to understand the depth of His kindness and His patience,

and His incredible ability to restructure our lives one step, one day at a time.

Through sharing with our Lord this growth process,

we are able to personally ‟taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Then Peter expands this growth process

into seven progressive steps in 2 Peter 1:5-7.

We will look at these progressive steps of growth in the weeks ahead,

but there’s something else we need to look at first.

Second Peter 1:4 tells us that our Lord ‟... has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

We’ve already seen the project God shares with us in this verse -

that of becoming a partaker of His divine nature.

But there’s something else in this verse as well,

something crucial to everything that our Lord wants to do in our lives,

something our naturally religious human minds can easily miss

if we don’t listen carefully to Peter’s words.

Peter tells us that the key ingredient in this changing process,

the essential tool that enables us to grow in Christ as He intends

is what Peter calls, ‟...His precious and magnificent promises...”.

And he makes it clear that it is ‟...by them...”

that we are able to become a partaker of God’s nature.

So what in the world is he talking about?

Before we come into the family of God

we live in a world in which the bottom line in every situation is us -

our strength,

our determination,

our creativity,

our intellect,

our commitment,

our ability to make it work.

We have no union with Christ,

no Spirit of God within us,

no Heavenly Father holding us in the palm of His hand.

We know that if anything is going to be done

it has to be done by us.

We have to make it happen.

We are our only final resource.

With that kind of a heritage behind us

it’s not surprising to find that we enter the family of God

assuming the fundamental rules of life are still basically the same.

Of course the goals and purposes in life have changed,

but we assume that the means by which we achieve those goals have not -

successful Christian living rests squarely upon our ability to generate a level of commitment to God that will make the whole thing work.

Are we sufficiently committed to Him?

Are we faithful to Him?

Are we producing the kind and quality of life He requires?

In fact there are some of you here this morning

who believe that my responsibility as preacher

is to keep poking at the people of God

to keep them sufficiently motivated

so that they will keep trying to do what they need to do.

Even though this kind of calling

sounds lofty and holy and good,

it’s got a huge, tragic flaw in it -

the ultimate success of the whole thing

rests 100% on our ability to deliver the goods,

our ability to remain faithful to our God,

our ability to generate a level of commitment

that will put the whole thing together and keep it together forever.

And if we buy into it

we will try and fail and recommit,

and try and fail and recommit again,

each time vowing that this time we’ll do it right!

This time we’ll make it work!

This time we are finally resolved no longer to linger,

charmed by the world’s delights.

This time we’ll place our feet firmly on higher ground,

and never again be moved.

And as reasonable and lofty as this message sounds,

it’s not the message of true Christianity.

It is not ‟...Christ in you, the hope of glory...” (Colossians 1:27),

it is ‟you for Christ”, and as such it’s simply one more Christian-coated counterfeit of the truth.

Peter’s statement in 2 Peter 1:4 gives us a powerful illustration

of the difference between the false religion

that ultimately rests upon our ability to perform for God

and true Christianity that rests upon God’s commitment to us,

and His ability to do in and through us what we could never do for Him.

Talking about that practical process of changed behavior in the Christian,

Peter tells us that God, ‟...has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

Now, what an amazing thing to say!

If we would have written that verse for Peter

I think we would have come up with something more like this:

‟We have granted to Him our unwavering commitment to faithfulness, in order that by that commitment we might become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Doesn’t that sound more logical, more reasonable, more right?

‟Come on people of God!

I know you’ve failed in the past, but try it one more time.

You can do it for Him.

I know you can!

Join the ranks of the faithful few who give of their all for the Master.”

I remember sitting in meetings during my early Christian life

listening to the speaker say,

“The world has yet to see what could be accomplished

by one person who was totally committed to Jesus Christ.”

And inside I would vow

that I was going to be that person.

But look at what that speaker was really saying.

He was saying that the foundation of this whole thing,

the critical ingredient

that makes all the difference

is ME - the degree to which I am committed to my God.

But that’s not what Peter says.

He tells us that our solid ground

and our source of both hope and change

is found not in our commitment to God,

but rather in God’s commitment to us.

In His sovereignty God has granted to us His promises,

promises that reveal to us what kind of God He really is.

He tells us how He will relate to us in the midst of all our turmoil and confusion.

MAT 11:28-30 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."

Those aren’t just “Bible words”,

that’s God’s promise to each of us.

He promises us that He has removed our sins from us forever (Psalm 103:12).

He promises that He will never leave us or forsake us (Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5).

He tells us He has adopted us as His sons and daughters (Romans 8:15).

He promises us an amazing future with Him(Ephesians 2:7 Romans 8:17)

and tells us He has specially equipped each of us

for a productive and fulfilling life right now (1 Peter 4:10, Ephesians 2:10, 3:10).

Through literally hundreds of specific promises

concerning our past, our present, and our future,

God seeks to pry our eyes off of ourselves and our frantic, futile efforts to perform for Him

and turn them onto our Creator -

allowing us to see who He is,

how He relates to us,

and what He has done, is doing, and will do in, through, and for us as His children.

Simply put,

He commits Himself to us over and over and over again,

and through that commitment

He seeks to build within us

the foundation we need for practical trust in Him.

We won’t finish with this promise thing this morning,

but let me end with an illustration that may help.

I want you to picture a father and his eight year old son

on a hike together along a rugged mountain trail.

The trail is wide enough to be safe,

but it hugs the side of the mountain in a way that creates a solid rock wall on one side

and a steep plunge into the valley below on the other.

It’s a perfect day for a hike.

They’ve got light packs

with a great lunch in side

and blue sky and sunshine and incredible views where ever they look.

Dad leads the way

and his son trots along behind him.

Then suddenly a squirrel runs down the rock wall on their left,

going right between father and son.

The squirrel stops in the middle of the trail,

twitches his little nose at the boy,

and then turns and runs over the edge of the trail and down into the valley.

As soon as the boy sees the squirrel he knows

that he’s just found the pet of his dreams.

He lunges for the squirrel, misses, and then chases him to the edge of the trail.

As he looks over the edge,

suddenly the loose rocks under his feet give way

and the father whirls around just in time to see his son plunge over the side of the mountain.

The little guy drops about 15 feet,

getting cut and bruised in the process,

then lands on a tiny ledge,

just wide enough to hold him.

The terrified kid springs to his feet,

tears of pain and fear streaming down his cheeks,

and starts screaming and clawing at the bank

as he frantically tries to get back up to the trail.

From up above his dad can see clearly

that there is no way his son can climb the rock wall that separates them.

He sees, too, that his boy’s safety,

in fact his life depends upon him sitting absolutely still on the tiny ledge

until the father can come up with a means of rescue.

If the boy will quiet down and follow instructions he’ll be fine.

But the first and greatest problem facing the father is getting the boy to calm down.

Suddenly the boy hears the commanding voice of his daddy.

“SON, listen to me! LISTEN to me!

Can you hear my voice?

Now, stand still and look at me.

LOOK AT ME, SON!!

Do you see me? Good.

Now listen very carefully to what I have to say.

I promise that you will be safe if you listen to me,

but you must follow my instructions exactly.

Do you understand?

Now, I want you to sit down...SIT DOWN, SON! Trust me.

I can and I will get you out of this, but you MUST obey me.

Alright, now I am lowering a rope to you,

the rope has a big loop at the end... can you see it? Fine.

Now I want you to slip the rope over your head

and then put it around your chest, under your arms.

Now hold onto the rope and I’ll pull you up.”

That’s part of what Peter is saying to us in 2 Peter 1:4.

We are that little boy - cut, bruised, and beaten by life.

We have chased our squirrels over the edge,

just certain that we had to have them in order to be happy,

in order to meet our needs.

Just like that little boy we are scratching and clawing at the bank,

convinced that our only hope will be found

in somehow finding our own way back to where we need to be.

We’re yelling and screaming, scared,

and completely incapable of undoing what we have done.

And into this confusion our Heavenly Father tries to communicate two critical messages to us -

‟My child, LISTEN TO ME!”,

and ‟My child, TRUST WHAT I SAY!”.

That is what Peter is saying when he tells us that God, ‟...has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

Through His promises He’s saying,

‟Stop churning around and look at Me. LOOK AT ME!

Now listen carefully to what I say.

Your frantic efforts cannot fix what you have broken.

You cannot get yourself off that ledge, but I can and I will if you’ll listen carefully and trust what I say.”

The first phrase in Psalm 46:10 reads, ‟Be still, and know that I am God...”.

This popular Biblical quotation

is often used by pastors, and printed in church bulletins

to suggest that people should bring an attitude of quiet reverence to the church service.

But the truth is the Psalmist’s statement has nothing whatsoever to do

with being quiet in church.

That phrase, ‟Be still” actually means ‟cease striving, stop wiggling around, quit your frantic efforts to do it yourself, and discover that I truly am God!”

It’s the commanding voice of our Heavenly Father,

calling us to quit screaming and thrashing about long enough

to take our eyes off ourselves, our problems, and our pathetic little efforts to patch things up,

and turn them onto our great God.

Does that mean we do nothing?

Certainly not,

and this is where we’ll pick up our study next week.

But for now let me just conclude by saying

that the foundation of God’s redemptive work within us

is not and never has been our determination to claw our way out of the pit we’ve fallen into.

The foundation begins at that point where we will finally stop thrashing around long enough

so that we can hear and then choose to trust the promises of our God to us.

Hopefully that will make more sense to us

as we move ahead with our study.