Matt Chandler - Unearthed: Buried

If you have your Bibles, please grab them. I want to show you some things that I believe are truly significant for the day and age in which we live, particularly regarding this topic. In 1 Samuel 17, there is a story about the people of Israel. They are in the valley, caught in a bit of a war with the Philistines. Jesse has some sons fighting in that army. He knows they are outnumbered and that things do not look good. So, he calls his youngest son, David, and gives him some cheese, bread, and other provisions, saying, «Hey, I want you to take these down and give them to your brothers.» As David heads down, he arrives in the valley just in time to see the biggest human being ever walk out onto the plain, cursing God and the people of Israel, and then throwing out a challenge: if any one man in Israel could fight and destroy him, the Philistines would flee, and the battle would be over.

The Bible tells us that when Goliath came out, all the army of Israel would flee from his presence, hiding and cowering behind rocks and trees; they did not want to be seen by Goliath. However, as David walks up with this bread and cheese from his father, he sees Goliath talking like this, and it provokes him. He has a problem with this. So, he turns and, being just a kid, begins talking to the other warriors and his brothers, asking, «Are we going to let him defile the name of our God, the living God, the only God?» Now, I don’t know if his older brothers appreciated that; they accused David of coming just to see violence, wanting to witness bloodshed. But David is unmoved; he gives them their little lunchables and calls them out again. Word makes its way to the king that someone is not afraid, and now the king is afraid too. It’s not like Saul ran out there; everyone is afraid. They find out someone isn’t.

So they bring David to Saul, and I can only imagine Saul’s disappointment when David walks into the room, thinking, «Finally, we have a warrior willing to fight.» Then he sees a kid, and maybe he had acne—I mean, that’s conjecture, but he is just a kid. So, David walks in, and Saul begins to make more accusations. He already faced accusations from his brothers, and now even Saul says, «Hey, I thought you were going to be a warrior, but you’re just a kid.»

David, who appears to be quite self-aware, responds, «Yes, I am, but I have watched over my father’s herd of sheep. I have killed bears and lions.» He then tells the story of a lion that snatched a sheep and ran off with it. David tracked the lion down, grabbed it by its beard, and struck it until it died. David gets a bad rap because he plays the harp, but I’m saying he is not the kind of man you want to trifle with. Think about it: he tracked the lion down, grabbed it by its face, and then killed it. He didn’t shoot it from 300 yards away with a 300 Win Mag; he beat it to death with a club or a staff or something.

This convinces Saul, and he brings David back into his tent, showing him the king’s armor. I don’t know much about king’s armor, but I have to believe it’s top-of-the-line stuff. If you are going into battle, this is what you need to survive. So, David puts it on, and as he starts to try to walk out to fight, he realizes that this armor isn’t his. It is made for Saul; it fits Saul. He feels hindered and bulky in it, and it’s not his style of fighting. So, he takes off the armor and goes into battle with Goliath as he is.

Whether you are a church person or not, you know how this story ends. Now, I’m not saying you are David, but I am saying some of you might be wearing Saul’s armor. I’m not calling you David, but some of you are wearing armor that wasn’t built for you. So here we are, in the middle of this series—literally in the middle of this series. It’s about identity, purpose, and our mission, both individually and corporately. We have covered the reality that everyone in this room has a general identity, which is tied up in what you do with the person and work of Jesus Christ. You are either a child of God or a child of wrath. If you fit into that child of wrath category, that is on you, because Christ has come so that you wouldn’t be condemned, or rather, to save you from that condemnation. So, you can’t get upset if you are in the designation of children of wrath if you are the one going, «I am…»