We Have a Champion!

Highlights from 1 Samuel

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

April 30, 2023

We Have a Champion!

Let’s turn to 1 Sam. 17 as we come to one of the most well-loved stories in all the Bible: the story of David and Goliath. Setting the stage: Israel’s #1 enemy, the Philistines are attacking Israel and Saul and his army march out to stop them, and so the Israelite army is gathered on a mountain range on one side, the Philistines are gathered at the foot of a mountain range on the other side, and in between them is the valley of Elah. They are at a standstill because the army that attacks would have to climb the mountain the other army is camped on, giving them a military disadvantage.

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath 1 Sam. 17: 4

The Philistines send their champion, Goliath – a big, strong, warrior – to challenge Israel’s champion to a man-to-man combat, winner take all. For forty days he issues this challenge and the Israelite army shook with fear. Goliath was so big and fierce that no one was willing to step forward. Until David arrives.

One day David’s father calls him in from tending sheep and sends him to the battlefront for his older brothers. Let’s pick up in verse 22:

David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. ²³ As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. ²⁴ All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. 1 Sam. 17: 22-24

David hears Goliath’s taunts, he sees the men of Israel run in fear, and listen to David’s response:

“who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” vs 26

David isn’t afraid, David is indignant. Who does this little man think he is to defy the armies of the living God? His oldest brother Eliab, who’s probably still smarting that David was anointed by Samuel and not him, is angered by David’s lack of fear and accuses him of having a proud and evil heart. As jealous people often do, he tries to belittle David: Go back to your few sheep David, know your place!

Instead David presents himself to Saul as the champion who will defeat Goliath. We know the story, but this is where I think many Sunday school teachings on David and Goliath miss the big point of the story. It’s presented as the little guy taking on the big guy and then we’re encouraged to, with God’s help, stand up for what’s right against all odds. Go out there and slay your giants! Be a David! Be a champion!

And these aren’t bad points and I am going to do a little of that before the message is over, but that message isn’t the message of the David and Goliath account.

For several years after Janice and I got married, she would have a reoccurring dream. The details would change but the basic idea was that Janice and I and her sister Celia and Celia’s husband Bill were in some sort of danger or under some kind of attack. And as we huddled together trying to figure out what to do,

At some point Janice would stand up with a plan that necessitated her and Celia running to danger and dealing with the threat. After a while of hearing these occasional dreams, I began to wonder: what are Bill and I doing while she and Celia are saving the day? We’re left hiding out in fear as we send our wives to take care of things. Bill and I weren’t the champions, we were the Israelites hiding in our tents, shaking in fear.

That’s true in this account. We aren’t the champions, we are the Israelites cowering in fear, hiding in our tents. Jesus is the champion! David is a type of Christ, not a type of us. Like David, Jesus came as the king who wasn’t openly hailed as king. Jesus came as the one sent by his father but rejected by his brothers. Jesus came as the champion who would fight the enemy on our behalf.

Don’t read this and think, I am a champion! Think, I have a champion! Jesus is our giant slayer! Jesus is the warrior who single-handedly defeated the hordes of hell! Jesus is the One who crushed the head of Satan. Jesus is the one who overcame the power of sin and death. On the cross Jesus overcame the power of sin by fully paying for our sin that we might be forgiven. At the resurrection Jesus overcame death by breaking its grip and rising from the grave! That’s why Paul could write in 1 Cor. 15.

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:55-57 (NIV)

Jesus not only won the victory over sin and death, but just as David’s victory over Goliath was a victory for all the men of Israel, Christ’s victory is our victory. God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are more than conquerors through him (Christ) who loved us. (Rom. 8:37)

We could never outsmart or outmaneuver Satan – he’s too intelligent and too powerful for us. We could never pay the debt our sin owed to God. We could never break the grip of death by our strength. But we have a champion! Jesus is our champion! And thanks be to God he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! We are more than conquerors through him who loved us!

That’s the amazing, life-giving lesson God has for us in this story. But with that firmly in mind, I do believe there are principles we can learn from David’s example for our own battles in life. Our eternal victory is assured, but as long as we live on this planet, we live on a battleground. Sin and Satan still come out every day to taunt us, to discourage us, to mock us. We each face our own goliaths, whether it be a temptation that seems to big for us to conquer, a situation that threatens us, or an emotional giant like depression or anxiety or anger that turns our thoughts and feelings into a battleground and we seem to be losing. With Jesus as our champion, let’s look at some practical, spiritual principles that David’s example can teach and encourage us as we fight our own Goliaths.

Giant-slaying principle #1: the battle is the Lords!

Goliath cursed David by his gods and threatened to feed him to the birds of the air and beasts of the field.

What he was saying is, “I will desecrate your dead body and by doing so, my gods will humiliate your God.” David replied:

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.” Vv. 45-47

David’s faith saw that Goliath might be big, but David’s God was bigger! Faith gives us eyes to see how big our God is, even when we’re facing down a giant. David had his weapons, but he isn’t trusting his weapons to give him the victory. “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand… for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”

Our hand, not just David’s. David knew that Goliath had mocked the armies of the living God. The battle was the Lord’s for all those forty days that Goliath mocked them, but God didn’t fight that battle until David fought the battle. The battle is the Lord’s doesn’t mean we do nothing, it means we fight knowing God fights for us.

Paul tells us to suit up with the full armor of God in Eph. 6. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, we put the gospel of peace on our feet, we hold the shield of faith, and wield the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Finally Paul says, pray!

When we struggle and feel weak and faltering, get in the word of God! Pray! If we aren’t in the word and we aren’t praying, we’re saying with our lives “the battle is mine!” and we’re going to lose every time. We declare the battle is the Lord’s when we go to His word for truth, encouragement, and direction. We call upon God to fight the battle for us when we go to God in prayer. I can’t do this God! I need you God!

The word of God and prayer equips us for the battle and reminds us the battle is the Lord’s!

Giant-slaying principle #2: run to the giant, rather than away from it

Verse 24 says when all the men heard Goliath they fled from him and were afraid. Verse 48 says David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. Goliath tormented them for 40 days, and they made no progress as long as they ran away from him. David didn’t run from Goliath, he ran towards him.

That’s a good principle for us as we face our own giants. There are probably exceptions, but in general running away from something isn’t going to fix it. Avoiding it probably isn’t going to solve it. In fact, giants tend to get bigger when we run away from them. Small sins get bigger when we just drift wherever they take us. Relational breaks tend to get bigger with silence. Problems in marriages get bigger when we ignore them. Financial challenges like debt, overspending, robbing Peter to pay Paul also get worse when we ignore them.

The other morning I was reading the warning in Prov. 6 about laziness. Laziness is our lives being destroyed in slow-motion. A little slumber, a little sleep and poverty overtakes us like an armed robber. The deception of laziness is “I’ll deal with it tomorrow. Just a little more rest today – I’ll be all over it tomorrow.” But tomorrow never comes. Instead, the writer says, take action! Go to the ant! Learn from the industrious. Take initiative, face the problem, and learn from those who do it better. Have the courage to run towards your goliath, not away from it.

Now for some goliaths, running away is the answer. Paul tells Timothy to flee youthful lusts. But even then, running away is running towards it. Getting as far away from the temptation to sin, avoiding situations where there’s easy opportunity to sin is, in effect, running towards Goliath. Not to entertain, but to slay him!

If there’s a particular giant that you’re facing right now, go to God and pray about it, open your Bible and get wisdom, and then I encourage you to face it. The battle is the Lord’s and He will give you the victory when you have the courage to run towards Goliath instead of away from him.

Giant-slaying principle #3: it’s wise to use proven weapons in the battle

Saul had David put his own armor on, but it didn’t fit him and he wasn’t used to it. Vs 39

David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. Vv. 39-40

David had slayed a lion and a bear, so he took the weapons he knew: five smooth stones and his sling. This is actually very practical. Sometimes it’s pictured as David there with a toy sling-shot, but slings were deadly weapons. Slingers became deadly accurate and the velocity of a stone coming out of a sling was like getting shot by a gun.

David had great faith, but he didn’t act foolishly. He knew from past experience what he could do – what God helped him to do – and he stuck with what he was familiar with. He used the tools God had equipped him with and he had proven and tested in battle rather than put on something he wasn’t comfortable with.

David had faith but he used wisdom too. Faith and wisdom aren’t adversaries, they are friends.

If you’re facing some sort of giant – challenge, hardship, trial, conflict, emotional valley, financial weight – whatever it is, chances are God has already put the weapon in your hand. He will give you the victory and there’s a good chance He’s already provided the stones and the sling and it might be something you already know.

Pray, grab your Bible, and the weapons in your hand, run towards the giant, knowing God will give you the victory.