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2001
11th March (am) - David and Respect for the King (ii)
1 Samuel 26

"Decommissioning" is the big problem that won't "go away"!

How many sets of talks and negotiations and statements have there been about Decommissioning?

How many times have the paramilitaries, on all sides, found excuses for wriggling out of their responsibilities? I can't help thinking, despite my most positive and sincere hopes, that they will almost certainly try to do so again

Well, I'm not going to try to tell you that I have the answers this morning - although we are going to talk about Decommissioning - because1 Samuel 26 is a decommissioning story - David daringly decommissioned King Saul's weapons - slipping into his camp, while everyone slept, and removing the spear and water jar from under his nose. It's deja-vu, isn't it - we've been here before, because only 2 weeks ago we were in the cave where David cut off a piece of Saul's cloak.

However, while the last time, David accidentally had the opportunity when Saul wandered into the cave, this time David deliberately decided to show up Saul and to humiliate this force of crack soldiers who were supposed to be guarding him.

(It is vitally important that we don't just see these stories of David as interesting but ancient stories from the OT, but rather as actively instructive material that has been put here in Scripture, by God, for the good of our own faith.)

I have identified 2 major points in this story that I think push us to think through the clarity of our own Christian faith, and our priorities if we are to be faithful as Christian people. So, only, 2 points this morning:

Respect for the Office of the King.

Responsibility for the Well-Being of the King.

 

1. Respect for the Office of the King.

This second occasion when David had Saul at his mercy and again chose to spare his life, shows us just how deeply David respected the office of the King. Under no conceivable circumstances was he prepared to touch Saul or take his life. Even though David had been relentlessly pursued through the desert; even though, as David said himself, he had been made a stranger to his own land and to his religious heritage (vs.19); even though David knew that Saul fully intended his death ....... David held the office of the King in too much respect to lay a finger on Saul. He says so several times over in this chapter:
vs.9 Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? ( So also in vs.11 and vs.23) Why was it that David felt so strongly about this?

- Was it simply that he lived by the 6th Commandment? - Thou shalt not kill. Maybe, but it wasn't not the whole answer.

- Was it that David simply had a deep respect for the rule of law and for anyone in authority - especially the King? Well that too may have been part of it, just as in the NT we are told that as Christian people we should submit to the governing authorities. (Rom.13)

- Was it not, more than anything else, that David saw Saul, as no less than a part of the jig saw of God's plans for his OT people, despite all his foolishness and failure - that he was king for a reason, by God's anointing and appointing - that as God's anointed king he was actually part of what God had been doing in and through his OT people, ever since the days of Abraham - through previous men who had been God's anointed leaders at their time - Moses, Joshua, the prophets like Samuel ...... and now Saul - somehow or other, they were all part of the jig saw of what God had promised Abraham he would do - create a people to whom he would reveal his truth and love and way, through whom he would transmit it to the whole world.

Is that not what lies behind the way David repeatedly describes Saul - the Lord's anointed.

Therefore, who was David to think that he knew better?

Indeed, David knew that he, himself, was to be the next part of the jigsaw - he too had been anointed, by Samuel - he was the king in waiting - but it wasn't for him to get rid of Saul - the Office of being King in the overall purposes and plans of God was far too awesome a thing for David to intervene in or interfere with by laying hands on Saul.

If you like, as king, Saul represented God's whole cause in the world - therefore David held that office in very great respect. Therefore, speaking of Saul, David says, The Lord, himself, will strike him; either his time will come ... or he will go into battle and perish - it's not for me to do it.

Recognising the awesome purposes of God for establishing and extending his kingdom in the world, David knew that he dare not feel that he knew better.

Recognising that it was God's glory and honour in the world that mattered, David knew that he dare not let any personal animosities, ambitions or preferences come into the matter. Saul, for the time being was the Lord's anointed, as part of the mighty and mysterious purposes of God.

And David would not be the final part of the jig-saw of the Lord's anointed people or long term purposes - the process would climax in one who would also be called 'the Lord's anointed' - but one who would be far greater than any other - one of whom it would be said: This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him - Jesus, who was called the Messiah or the Christ - both of which mean the Lord's anointed one. This anointed one, whose throne would be a cross and whose crown would be made of thorns!

So here is the essential reason for David's respect - recognising that what mattered was not how he felt or what he wanted - but what God had appointed and was doing, and would accomplish, through his people in the world - God's glory and God's name and God's kingdom - rather than David's own ambitions or preferences. He knew that both Saul, and even himself, were only little pieces in the jigsaw of God's awesome purposes.

We, who name the name of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Lord's anointed, and who belong to his Church in the world in 2001, must be like David - our deepest respect and our greatest priority, the factor that determines all other factors and decides all other issues, must be the honour of Jesus Christ and the challenge to be fully committed to upholding his honour and extending his kingdom in the world today - as it was with David, nothing else should really come into our thinking, either as individual Christians or as Christians together in his church. And, I think, we'll see what that ought to mean in practice as we move on to think about our second main point.

2. Responsibility for the Well-Being of the King.

Why didn't you guard your lord the King? shouted David across the valley to Abner, the commander of the royal bodyguard - you have failed miserably in your responsibilities for the safety and well-being of the King! You and your men deserve to die because you did not guard your master, the Lord's anointed - in other words, you have not only failed Saul, you have failed the Lord, for Saul is, at present, the king by God's anointing and appointing. In a way, David, who was supposed to be the rebel, had shown more respect and responsibility towards Saul than his own bodyguard had - for these 'loyal' soldiers had slept while David had removed Saul's spear and waterjar.

These soldiers who were supposed to be committed to the well-being and safety of the King had proved absolutely useless. They present themselves to us as slack, sleepy, comfortable and careless!

You and I are the direct equivalent of the royal bodyguard!

By the faith we profess within his church, we are presenting ourselves as the loyal soldiers of Christ. Our awesome responsibility is to guard the interests and well-being of the King and his cause - as Christ's church in the world today, we are to guard the honour of the Lord's anointed in our day and generation - the Messiah's name, the Messiah's Gospel, the Messiah's Church. the Messiah's Kingdom in the world!

How awful it would be if we were ever to be like Saul's sleepy and slack royal guard! - given responsibility for the well-being of the King and his cause, and yet found to be too comfortable and inexcusably careless about the cause of Christ in our day and in our community!

Now there can be little doubt that the well-being of Christ, the Lord's anointed, and of his cause in the world, faces very real threats and very grave dangers in today's world - in response to which his church needs to be very alert and courageously active.

Christian truth, Christian faith, Christian values need to be both strongly defended and actively promoted in 2001 - this is an increasingly slack and careless age as far as Christian matters are concerned - sociologists and theologians have begun to speak of Britain and most of Europe as being 'post-Christian' countries! - only the left-over remnants of Christian faith are to be found at the heart of much of life - people's view of life and way of living are more and more determined by other priorities that do not have much to do with Christian faith or values -even where they still acknowledge such values, the reality is that many other things come first.

We are charged with responsibility for the well-being of the King and of his kingdom in the world, in our day!

Could it ever be that like Saul's soldiers, the church is sometimes found wanting in its response:

- sometimes we close our eyes to the realities of life around us, and pretend that it is still the way it was 25 /40 years ago.

- sometimes we just go along with things and conclude that life has changed and we must just go with the flow.

- sometimes it's very attractive for us to take shelter in our church life - to feel safe there amongst familiar surroundings that we wouldn't want to change too much, even if they no longer work well in a changed world.

And I would be the first to admit that because I grew up at a time when fairly stable and unchanging church life was the very centre of life in our farming community at home, I could fit into that comfortable setting very nicely, thank-you.

But the reality is that the world around us has changed very greatly - people's approach to life, and experiences of life, are very very different than they were 25/40 years ago - the church, the bodyguard of the Lord's anointed - responsible for the well-being of his name and the advancement of his cause faces a very great challenge which we must not sleep through carelessly, indifferently or lethargically.

We mustn't be like Saul's bodyguard or even like the disciples of Jesus whom he found sleeping in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before the Cross, to whom he had to say, Could you men not keep watch with me one hour?

This morning I want to urge us all to recognise that because we have this responsibility for the well-being of Christ, the King, and of his kingdom in the world - we must do absolutely everything possible to make sure we are not sleepy or slack in our church life and work. You know, for ministers, for elders, for leaders in organisations that makes life more difficult

- it would be far more comfortable and far easier if we didn't have to face challenge and change

- if our task was simply to keep church life as it has always been and to do things as they have always been done.

But in the Britain of 2001, in the Ballyclare of 2001, it just isn't like that, and we would be in danger of failing in our responsibility for the well-being of the King and the kingdom, if we tried to say it was.

We face a situation where more and more people do not see the church and the Gospel as central to their lives - they may want it at certain special times in life, but for much of the time they feel they can manage fine, even better, without it - this applies, not just to young people and young adults, but to people right up to the mid 40's, and maybe beyond. More and more people just do not make their way into church life, Sunday worship, or congregational membership or activities.

If the church sits back and waits for them to come and to fit into the way we have always done things, then we will wait a long time! And it would irresponsibly wrong of us to sit back and say that if that's the way they want it, that's all right!

And you and I know that this picture I have painted includes members of our own families, the neighbours we live beside and the friends we have in the community.

If we do not want to be guilty of being sleepy and slack, we have to very active in considering how we can effectively impact their lives, their families, their homes, with the vitally critical truth, love and hope of Christ - these are as much, or more, matters of life and death, as they were for David and Saul. Sometimes that involves considering issues and facing challenges that we would rather not have to deal with.

It's this responsibility and challenge that I feel as a minister, alongside Mr. Colvin. It's that challenge that the Session has been grappling with in the last few years - that's why the Elders have set aside special time on a number of days this past winter to grapple with these issues - and we all know that time is precious.

How much more comfortable life would be if we didn't have to grapple with issues such as:

- how to impact so many people who are church members in little more than name.

- how to commend the goodness of the Gospel for life to the numerous young families in our community.

- how to organise our work as ministers, elders, leaders so that we make the best possible contribution to the task.

- how to use the fantastic new accommodation that will soon be ready, for the greatest impact on our community, so that they aren't just wonderful buildings.

- how to embrace the very best in contemporary styles of worship without losing the very best of our traditional styles.

All of these things are absolutely essential if we are to be faithful in our responsibilities for the well-being of the King and his cause. in our day.

Change for change's sake is inexcusably wrong - but reluctance to change when it is necessary for the well-being of the kingdom in our day, although understandable, is also inexcusably wrong!

We don't want to be like the Church that was referred to in our NT reading from Revelation, to whom the Lord had to say, 'You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake Up'

 

So this morning I want to urge all of us to see this challenge - this responsibility - and to share together in facing it.

In the leadership of our church we need your help and encouragement - we may not get everything right at the first attempt, you will have invaluable help and suggestions you can make - but we must not close our eyes and refuse to recognise the responsibility, we must not simply 'kick for touch' with these issues; we must not simply push for what suits us personally, and we most certainly must not hurt one another or diminish the work by unfair criticisms of one another.

We need to be in this together if we are to be faithful in our responsibilities for the cause of Christ in our day and in our town.

I need your help and support, for I find this challenge and responsibility is often difficult and very strenuous.

We all need each other's support and encouragement - let's do so positively and constructively, never negatively and critically.

Don't let it be said of us that we failed in our responsibilities for the Lord's anointed and his witness in the world - either as individuals or as a church together.

As we grapple with the challenges of our careless age, and as we search for the most effective patterns of church life and work to meet that challenge - including the right and important changes that may be involved - let's support and encourage and help each other in the task - so that it may be said of us and of our congregation, as it was said, by Jesus, of the servant in the parable: Well done, good and faithful servant ..... come and share your master's happiness.