One More Giant
All summer long we’ve been leaning into the story of the life of David, one of the most celebrated characters in all of scripture.
Like we’ve said nearly every week during this series, David had his moments where he was able to defeat his giants, full of faith. But just like all of us, there were days David was defeated.
Though he is held up as a hero of faith, he was far from perfect. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a lot of hope. If David was a man after God’s own heart, maybe I can be, too. Maybe you can be a man, a woman, after God’s own heart, too.
At the end of David’s life he had one more giant he had to face.
Unlike the other giants David faced, all of us must face this same giant. I’ve never had to fight a nine foot tall gladiator on the battle field, I’ve never had to run for my life from a king who was out to kill me, I’ve never had to do battle with Philistines, but this giant I will have to one day face, and you will, too.
The last giant David had to face was the giant so many people in the world are afraid of, the giant so many Christian people are afraid to face, it’s the giant we spend billions of dollars trying to defeat every year but in the end, it seems like it always wins.
It’s the giant named death.
And here’s the problem all of us face:
If we are afraid to die we will probably be too scared to live.
The Sling Shot
I remember many, many years ago when I was in college I was working as an intern for a church and we took the youth group to Six Flags. They had all the normal rides and rollercoasters and we did them all. But there was one new attraction that none of us had ever done.
They called it the Sling Shot.
It’s hard to know how to describe it, but there were these giant arms and stretched between them was a bungie cord.
They would harness you in, then pull you up to the very top, and then when you were ready, you had to pull this cord that would release you and you would fall for what felt like forever until you were 5 feet off the ground and then, the bungie cord would catch you and swing you forward like you had been shot out of, well… a Sling Shot!
After that, you would just swing back and forth until they finally lowered you back to earth where you then would kiss the ground and thank God for saving your life!
At least, that’s what I did!
Me and a couple of friends decided to do the Sling Shot. The whole thing is a terrifying experience, which in a weird way makes it fun. But the most difficult part of the entire experience is getting to the very top of the sling shot because once you get up there, and it’s really high, somebody has to pull the rip cord. But nobody wants to pull the rip cord because as soon as you do, you fall. And if you fall, you’re afraid you might die!
Before it was our turn on the Sling Shot, we watched several people go before us. More than one made it to the top but couldn’t pull the cord. They had to be lowered back down to earth.
Why? Because…
If we are afraid to die we will probably be too scared to live.
Be Safe
We live in a world where everyone is trying to defeat death, escape death, or at a minimum, avoid death.
We raise our kids with two primary words: Be Safe! And then we add all kinds of other words to reinforce those two words. Words like, Be careful. Don’t get hurt. Watch out! Our kids learn to avoid pain, to make comfort king, to always be afraid, and so they miss out on an adventure filled life.
Medicine is always looking for new ways to defeat disease and preserve life. And this is good! Don’t misunderstand me. We always want to be working for the benefit of people, for healing, for hope. We value life.
But far too often we’re striving for these good things for the wrong reasons. We’re not working for healing because we value life, and hope, and wholeness, but because we don’t want to die! We’re afraid of death.
So instead of working from love we’re striving out of fear.
We’ve made a god out of eternal youth. We spend millions of dollars to lose weight, regrow hair, and look younger. We plaster pictures of perfect bodies on billboards and instagram ads.
We’re scared of sickness. Scared of being broke. Scared of being alone. Scared of change. Scared of loss. Scared of failure. We’re scared of the giant that we will all one day face.
But… We can’t defeat death.
Can we?
Unless we overcome our fear of death we will never be able to really live.
Final Words
David had faced death more than once. But now he’s at the end of his life.
He’s around 70 years old. He’s been king of Israel for the past 40 years. (2 Samuel 5.4-5). It was some 60 years ago, give or take, when he defeated Goliath. Who knows the last time he went into battle with his armies to fight the Philistines or any of Israel’s other enemies.
This seasoned warrior, the shepherd boy who fought the lion and the bear who became king, this valiant leader of men, is now up against another kind of giant. And as far as David knows, this giant named Death has never been defeated.
Listen to some of David’s last words to his son Solomon from his death bed.
1 Kings 2.1-4 (NIV/NLT)
1 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
2 “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go.
David knew he was about to die.
This giant named death was not a giant he would be able to defeat. He knew he couldn’t cheat death, escape death, or defeat death. But David wasn’t afraid of death because David was confident in a promise.
Did you know… There are giants in your life that you may not be able to defeat but that you don’t have to fear because of the promise you’ve been given?
David knew he was about to die. But before he died he wanted to name his successor.
Who would become the next king?
Solomon.
The son who’s name means peace. The son called Jedidiah by God which means beloved by God. The son of David and Bathsheba. The son who was born as a sign of God’s grace at David’s lowest moment in life.
David summons Solomon and tells him…
“I am going where everyone on earth must someday go.
Take courage and be a man. 3 Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go.
And then, David reminds his son Solomon of the promise. This is the promise that gives David the courage to face death unafraid. This is the promise that David wants to pass onto his son so that he will know that when God is with us, we have nothing to fear. This is the promise that enabled David to face every giant and to live his life with passion and purpose for God.
David wasn’t afraid of death because David was confident in this promise.
4 If you do this, then the Lord will keep the PROMISE he made to me. He told me, ‘If your descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’
If you turn the page back to 2 Samuel 7, if you rewind the story to the time when David is anointed king over all of Israel, he’s just brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he’s at the very beginning of his reign as king, and God makes this covenant promise to David.
God’s Promise to David
2 Samuel 7.8-16
8 I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth! 10 And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won’t oppress them as they’ve done in the past, 11 starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.
“‘Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings! 12 For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. 13 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. 15 But my favor will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’”
God had promised David that his house and his kingdom would continue forever. That there would always be a son of David on the throne.
This is the promise that gives David the confidence to live. This is the promise that removes his fear of death. This is the promise that reminds him that his throne is secure and his life is in God’s hands.
David can live unafraid of the giant of death because of the eternal promise of God.
God’s Promise to Us
How would you live differently if you were not afraid to die?
If you were not afraid of what might happen if?
If you were not afraid of uncertainty, failure, sickness, loss, change, or whatever it is that scares you to death?
As a minister, I’ve been in the room on more than one occasion when someone passed away. It’s never easy. But there is a difference for those who are preparing to pass away who are holding onto a promise.
There’s a difference for the family when the person who is on their deathbed preparing to pass away is holding onto a promise.
And I just wonder, Are you holding onto the promise?
Because when you have a hold of the promise you’re not afraid to die. When you have a hold of the promise you live a different life.
When you have a hold of the promise your perspective changes. When you have a hold of the promise you are free to live the abundant life because you’re not afraid to die.
This is precisely why the Christians in the first century turned the Roman world on it’s head.
The reason Christianity turned the Roman empire upside down was because Christians were not afraid to die. So they took care of each other, and loved their neighbors even when it required great sacrifice. They were the ones who were caring for the sick, those cast into the streets because of a plague. They were the ones who took in unwanted children left alone to die. They gave freely of everything they had. They shared readily with those in need.
No one had ever seen anything like this. And it changed the world.
They believed Jesus when he said,
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” – John 14.3
AND…
“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28.20
They believed the angels who told them right after the ascension of Jesus that…
“This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” – Acts 1.11
And they believed the words that the Apostle Paul wrote when he said,
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
…thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
– 1 Corinthians 15.54-55, 57
David wasn’t afraid of death because David was confident in his promise.
And we don’t have to be afraid of death because we have confidence in our promise.
This is OUR PROMISE: Jesus is with us, He is for us, and one day he will come again.
For those of us who have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, who have been buried with Him in baptism, resurrected from that watery grave to new life, death has already been defeated, Jesus has conquered the grave, and we are already living the abundant life He has promised.
We have nothing to fear because we have the promise of eternal life.
We have nothing to fear because Jesus, the Son of David, sits on the throne. Jesus is victorious. Jesus is undefeated. Jesus is the GIANT slayer. Jesus is the King. There is no one like Him. There is no one beside Him.
Jesus is the PROMISE that death is defeated and Life is eternal.
And I just wonder, Are you holding onto the promise?
Are You Holding Onto the Promise?
If not, why not? God’s grace is a gift, it’s free. Believe in His name, trust in His love, confess Jesus as Lord, and obey him in baptism. Don’t wait or put it off any longer. Your baptism is your opportunity to proclaim your faith in His promise. To say I believe in Jesus and I have decided to follow Him.
Maybe you’ve made that declaration and you’ve walked through the waters of baptism, but for whatever reason you’re living in fear. It’s ok to be afraid sometimes, but we don’t have to live in fear. We don’t have to be afraid of the giant named death because Jesus has defeated the grave.
That day at Six Flags, when we got to the top of the Sling Shot, it was my job to pull the rip cord.
I did. We dropped. And then, we lived. It required me to be brave for one second, and it led to one of the greatest adventures of my life.
This life we live, this different life, this abundant life Jesus offers, it is an adventure filled life. But we can only live it, experience it, if we are unafraid to die.
We have unparalleled hope because we have an eternal promise. Our King is risen. Jesus is seated on the throne. He’s alive! The giant called death has been defeated. We don’t have to live in fear any more. We can live the abundant life.
What would happen if we lived unafraid like those first century Christians?
Could we turn our world upside down just like they turned the Roman empire on it’s head by the way we love each other, by the way we care for our neighbors, by the way we live unafraid of death because we know we have already received eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord!?
Let’s live that way and just see what happens next.
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