March 25 - "Man Up!"

March 25, 2012 “Man Up!”

Memory verses:
2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed…”
Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things...”
2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
Reflections or Questions on Scripture?

Passage: 1 Samuel 30

Key verse:
1 Samuel 30:6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

Anointed vs Appointed

Context: David was anointed to be king, but not yet appointed…he had to wait on God’s timing, for the fullness of Saul’s weakness to play out. In the meantime, he had to deal with an insecurity-crazed king who kept trying to kill him, and he had to deal with “worthless” men who weren’t as patient as he was...

Read 1 Samuel 30

Stressed vs Blessed
“David was greatly distressed…” yatsar = bound up,
distressed, cramped, in a tight spot.

Can any of you relate? Of course you can… I happen to know from your own admission that most of you are in this boat with David. The storm has come. Whether you caused it or had nothing to do with it is irrelevant at this point; it’s here, and you’re bound up, cramped, squeezed into a corner, constantly having to make choices you don’t want to make. Maybe you hear people say with a perky little smile “I’m too blessed to be stressed!” and your response is…?

Right.

To make matters worse, not only do you have this struggle, but as is often the case, you have people in the mess with you, also struggling, and since they’re in pain too, their response to the situation is to start reminding you that it’s YOUR fault!

Bitter vs Better
“Each one was bitter in spirit…” marar = bitter, bad taste in the mouth, resentful.

When we’re overwhelmed with the pain of life, whether it involves injustice or shame or disappointment, it’s very easy, very tempting to start looking around for someone to blame, someone on whom we can heap resentment.
This is one of those patterns of the world… don’t mitigate, litigate! (Mitigate: calm the situation; Litigate: bring a lawsuit). Somebody’s gonna pay for my suffering, and it might as well be you! I’m owed some payment, some satisfaction here, and bringing you down might satisfy me a little bit.

It’s sad to say, but we find this not only in the world, but in the church. And this isn’t new; Paul spoke harshly to the Corinthians about their taking each other to court in front of unbelievers. “Why not rather be wronged?” he asked them (1 Cor 6:6-7) But no, instead of “doing unto others as we would have done to us” we “do unto others because they did unto us!” or better yet, “do unto others before they do unto us!”

Instead of coming up with some ideas to make the situation better, we very often do like these fellows: we let our hearts become bitter, and we start seeking a target for stone-throwing practice.

Ugh. Well, we can learn a lot from David here, because his response to this sorry state of affairs was not to lose heart, nor was it to rail against his companions for rising up against him. What does he do instead?

Man Up!
“But David found strength in the LORD his God.” chazaq = strengthen, take courage.

Instead of giving up or getting angry, David found strength in the LORD. The world falling apart around you? Find strength in the LORD! Another way to say it: “Man up!” But by saying this, I don’t mean to just tough it out… David had a way of “manning up” that was different from the world’s way, and that produced abundant blessings for everyone around him.

I’ve borrowed the tea bag illustration a few times, and it’s very appropriate here: When life starts to heat up, when the pot we’re in starts to boil, we can choose to response like a carrot, and egg, or a tea bag.
• A carrot gets soft: succumbs to the stress, shrinking back
• An egg becomes hard: hardens the heart and becomes bitter toward others (Egg)
• A tea bag changes the water: evidences the fruit of Spirit, joy, peace, seed-bearing fruit that generates more fruit, a generous blessing toward others

David had learned a lesson about how to respond to negative people a few chapters ago, back in chaper 25… it’s a great story, and I encourage you to read about it. Basically there was this fellow Nabal who treated David poorly for no reason, and while David was getting ready to take this guy out, Nabal’s wife Abigail intervened and softened David’s heart by blessing him with provision, and reminding him that he was a servant of God, above petty retribution, and that her husband was really not worth David bloodying his hands over.

David thanked Abigail for that wisdom, and calmed himself down, and God ended up taking care of Nabal without David’s help. Judging by the rest of the story here in chapter 30, it seems David learned the lesson well, because not only did he NOT turn against the complainers, but, after God rewarded his faithfulness, he invited them to share in the blessings.

Think about that. If there are accusers around you in your time of trouble, and you decide to stand in faith and God blesses your faithfulness, would you go out of your way to make sure those doubters are blessed along with you? I don’t imagine, for most of us, that it would be our first thought…

But this is the way of David, and while David had his faults and his weak moments, God called him a “man after His own heart.” “A man after God’s own heart.” And THIS is David’s way of “manning up”… he “found strength in the LORD.”

YBH???

Okay, that sounds great, right? Now for the big question: How do we do this? How do we “find strength in the LORD” when it seems like our world is falling apart?

First, how does one NOT do this:
• In own ability or skill … “in the LORD”
• In religious observance
o Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.
• In self-deception or arrogance
o Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
• In recklessness (“heedlessly” Numbers 14:44-45)
o 44 But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.

Yes but how? (YBH) How are we strengthened “In the LORD”? Some ideas from scripture:
• “in grace” (Heb 13:9 again) We are to be strengthened by the fact that God’s grace, His goodness and mercy, are on our side, not because of our outward show of religion, but our inward reality of dependence on Him.
• in the “Joy of the LORD” (Neh 8:10) We are to be strengthened by the fact that God rejoices over our faith, not over our ability to make everything work out and to make everybody like us.
• “in the faith as you were taught” (Colossians 2:6-7) “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” We are to be strengthened by our faithwalk, remembering the things we’ve been taught in the past. This is a reason I encourage journaling because it is such a faith builder to go back and read some of what you wrote before, and to see how far God has taken you, and how He has spoken to you in the past, through personal prayer and through the teaching of the Word.
• Again, “in faith” as Abraham was strengthened. “Romans 4:19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-- since he was about a hundred years old-- and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” We are also to be, like Abraham, strengthened in faith, KNOWING God’s promises and His ability to keep His promises.

There are so many other passages we could look at to see how we ought to be strengthened, but I hope these few have provided you with some encouragement, some ideas for how to endure in your faith when it feels like everything’s falling apart.

Truth is, Christ holds everything together (Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together), and when you live by that truth, your world can’t fall apart, because your world, your sense of wholeness and peace is not based on your circumstances. Truth is, you have already died with Him, and you will be raised with Him, and He holds everything together. All of the passages we read have this in common: they don’t emphasize God’s ability to change circumstances; instead, they emphasize truths about God that transform us, strengthening us in God, so that together with all the saints we can offer those sacrifices of praise, “the fruit of lips that confess His name.”

Conclusion

Today I want to conclude the message with a prayer according to Col 1:9-14, a request that Paul makes for believers, and one that I’d like to echo today. I’d like to ask Him… not to merely change your circumstances, but for you to be filled with knowledge of Him, that you might be strengthened in Him:

Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Here is knowledge for you: Godly self-esteem esteems God not self, Godly courage takes heart in GOD not in personal ability, Godly peace rests in GOD not in absence of conflict, and Godly strength leans on God not on our own strength or understanding.

If you are pressed… man up like David, seek God boldly, get His perspective and strategy (ask for help if you need it, and pray for each other to grasp this knowledge). Once you’ve asked, then SHEMA: listen to what He tells you and obey, do what He tells you to do: whether you need to apologize, forgive, release, wait or go - withhold or give (depending on His word to you), just do it. And know that He is with you always.

Closing
Song (Center), Closing Prayer (Lord’s Prayer), Benediction