Sunday, April 29th, 2012 (Youth Sunday)
I Chronicles 11
Sermon Title: “Worship Leader”
Bible Memory Verse for the Week: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. — 1 John 3:2
Background Information:
- It must be remembered that the end of chapter 10 had left the people of God defenseless, at the mercy of their enemies and bereft of both their liberty and their land. Now they are pictured as militarily strong; over against the fleeing of chapter 10 there is a portrayal of strength that comes from unity.
- David is the antithesis of Saul, and as the latter foreshadowed the counterfeit kingdom which Satan is trying to palm off on the world, so David represents the true kingdom and the true spirit of His kingdom. Let us look for the present at David’s call and consecration to his high office as God’s anointed. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 269)
- The historical and theological significance of Hebron as the site of David’s accession to the Israelite throne cannot be overlooked. The ancient city of Hebron was home and burial ground for the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah (cf. Gn 13:18; 23:19; 35:27; 49:30-32). No doubt implicit in the Chronicler’s association of David with the patriarchal site of Hebron geographically is the splicing together of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants theologically. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 199)
The questions to be answered are . . . How does Chronicles reveal David as a worship leader? Why is recognizing these attributes significant for us today?
Answer: David understood who God is and lived his life in a way that reflected that understanding. As a result people’s lives were radically changed by and drawn to God. David was only a foreshadowing of the “greater David” to come . . . even Jesus. By understanding Jesus we can have our lives (as well as the lives of those around us) changed as well.
The Phrase for the Day is . . . worship leader
How does the Chronicler illustrate how David leads his people into worship?:
I. David leads people into worship by revealing God’s attributes through his trust in God (1 Chr 11:15-17; 1 Sm 22:1-2; Ps 19:7-14; 119)
Chr’s picture is one both of rapid conquest and of an Israel united behind its king. Once again it is important to say that Chr is not doing violence to history, but rather selecting and simplifying. Even the report of the taking of Jebus is devoid of embellishment (contrast 2 Sm 5:6ff.); the very curtness of the account shows how futile was all resistance to the fulfillment of God’s promise. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chronicles, 22)
David’s kingship was a fulfillment of the words of Samuel the prophet. The events of Israel’s history–the death of Saul, the reign of David and Solomon, and the downfall of the kingdom–were not merely the result of the political, economic, and social conditions of the day. They owed their cause to the acts of God in the history of His people. (John Sailhamer, Everyman’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 34)
The final words of the story explain how David won the city. He was victorious because the LORD Almighty was with him (11:9). The Hebrew expression translated LORD Almighty in NIV may be translated “LORD of Hosts” (see NRS, NAS, NKJ). This divine appellation portrayed God as the leader of the armies of heaven. The Chronicler used this terminology only two other times in his history (see 17:7, 24). Even so, these references resonated with frequent uses of the same terminology by post-exilic prophets Haggai (14 times) and Zechariah (51 times). The image of God as the divine warrior was central to the concerns of Israel after the exile. The nation’s only hope for security and blessing was that God would fight for them as he had for David. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chronicles, A Mentor Commentary, 114)
What God wanted was a man after His heart. Saul was a man after his own heart and after the world’s heart. He represented man’s ideals of manhood and he aimed to gratify his own ambitions and work out his own plans. God, the true theocratic King of Israel, wanted a man that would simply represent Him, that would catch His thought and reproduce it and work it out in his life. The same testimony is borne to David elsewhere, when it is said, “David had served God’s purpose in his own generation” (Acts 13:36). The aim of David’s life was to do the will of God. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 270)
David had no exaggerated estimate of his own life. Whatever his failures may have been he seems to have seen them in their true light and significance. Yet he had that God-given faith, which could look over his own failures to the bright and blessed hope of that greater King, of whom he was but the type and the distant foreshadowing. And so, while in one sense it is true that this passage is the discouraging review of an imperfect reign, on the other hand it is just as true that it is the King, who would fulfill more perfectly the ideal that David saw and in whose coming glory David could forget the faults of his imperfect reign and even the sins of his oft-erring life. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 337-38)
David at least has learned this much of what a king ought to be, and he wisely describes the picture of an ideal ruler.
1. He should be just, free and right in all his relationships with his fellow-man and with his subjects.
2. He should be godly, ruling “in the fear of God” (23:3). He should recognize himself as the representative of the divine King and work in all things under His direction and in His stead. This is the only true impulse of righteousness. It must spring out of heaven and be inspired by the fear and love of God.
3. Beneficence must be a part of his reign. What a beautiful picture of a reign of peace, prosperity and blessedness, as the light of the morning, the rising sun, a cloudless sky and the light and warmth of the heavenly sunshine, more bright and beautiful because it comes after the storm; as the “clear shining after rain” (23:4), while on the disappearing clouds the rainbow spans the heavens and every leaf and flower is flashing like crystal jewels from the myriad drops in their reflected light. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 338)
David knew he had been an unfaithful and sinful man. He could honestly say, “Although my house be not so with God; (KJV)/ Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant” (2 Sm 23:5). He had accepted the infinite mercy and saving grace of Jesus Christ. He had come as a sinner without merit or claim, and he had generously accepted all that God’s mercy had so freely to bestow. Oh, there may be some of us today who can say, “My house is not right with God, my life has been a failure, my work has been disastrous, I am all wrong and I have nothing to bring but shame”; beloved, come all the same. It is the door of mercy that you are entering. If you deserve it you could only take an angel’s place, but because you do not deserve it you can take, through the infinite grace of God and the gift of Jesus Christ, a place as high as that of Jesus Himself. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 341)
Spiritual leaders must make the connection between God’s activity in their lives and God’s character. (Henry & Richard Blackaby; Spiritual Leadership, 50)
The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. (A. W. Tozer; The Knowledge of the Holy, 1)
If worship is to be what it was meant to be, then there has to be knowledge of God, true faith in Him, a humble walk before Him, a recognition of His gracious acts, a commitment to His will and ways. When these are present, and only when they are present, true worship is possible and has its proper place. Worship by its very nature is confession and service. On the other hand, the forms of worship cannot be substitutes for the inner core of faith and obedience. To put it simply, offering and festival are of no value without a penitent, faithful, and obedient heart. (Merrill C. Tenney, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. Five, 982)
While the biblical narratives do not spare David’s sinful side, they show a man who is willing to confess and be forgiven for his sin. In later literature this then became the biblical example of a true worshiper of Yahweh. Perfection of ethical and moral character was thus not indispensable for faith. Rather Yahweh desired an honest worshiper who could confess and praise Him in sincerity and truth (Mic 6:6-8). David becomes the example par excellence of a true worshiper, the traditional author of “the psalms of David” (e.g., 24, 150) that express cultic acts of worship. (Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. Four, 1120)
At Sinai – God was beginning to repair the Imago Dei in mankind. He was showing them what it was going to take for them to become more and more like God and thus conformed more and more into the likeness of himself for which they were originally created. It is in the Law that a true knowledge of God is presented. It is also the way that true love is explained. We need the Law of God in order for us to know what it means for us to be created, designed and now being conformed into the image of God. (Pastor Keith’s musing at a class on “Biblical Theology” with Dr. Gene Carpenter; March 9th, 2010 @ Bethel College)
REALIGN/REPROGRAM – “In Christ” our lives are guided by the Holy Spirit to once again become what they were designed to be.
REANIMATE / REVITALIZE / REINVIGORATE / REMOTIVATE – “In Christ” we have life because we have been given life itself.
REAPPOINT / RECERTIFICATION – “In Christ” God reestablishes us to our once high status and calling
REATTACH / RECONNECT / REENGAGE – “In Christ” we once again can come into God’s presence and have an intimate relationship with Him.
REAWAKEN – “In Christ” our minds can grasp and our eyes can see and our ears can hear the truth about God, ourselves and our world.
REBIRTH – “In Christ” we are new creatures . . . born again
REBUILD – “In Christ” our lives are rebuilt into the image of Christ.
RECALIBRATE – “In Christ” the Holy Spirit reinstalls the way we were originally designed to think, see, hear and respond.
RECHARGE / REENERGIZE – “In Christ” we have a new focus and energy because of our new calling and our new-found purpose for living.
RECONCILE / REINTRODUCE – “In Christ” – “In Christ” our relationship with God and with man is being restored.
REDEEM – “In Christ” all that was lost in the fall is bought back by the blood of Jesus
REESTABLISH – “In Christ” we regain the position, status and nature we had before the Fall
REFORTIFY / RESTRENGTHEN- “In Christ” we regain the power and strength we were created to possess but lost through our sinfulness and the Fall.
REFORMATION – “In Christ” we are being reformed and remade back into the image of God, into the image of Christ
REGENERATE / RESURRECT- “In Christ” we are reborn in our spirits. We have moved from death to life.
REHUMANIZE – “In Christ” we are once again made humane with the ability to be truly compassionate, merciful, and have a deep, sincere love for others.
REIDENTIFY / REINCORPORATE – “In Christ” we have a brand new relationship with God that could never exist (after the Fall) without of the blood of Jesus.
REIGNITE / REKINDLE – “In Christ” we have a new fire in our bellies and a new passion for life.
REIMPLANT / REINSTALL – “In Christ” all that was lost in our being has been restored.
REINTEGRATE – “In Christ” we are made whole and have integrity once again.
RENAME – “In Christ” our character and our being are so renewed that God gives us a new identity and therefore a new name.
RENEW / RESTORE- “In Christ” all that was lost has been reclaimed and everything sad becomes untrue (Tolkeim).
REOCCUPY – “In Christ” we once again are able to live in the presence of God without fear of condemnation, or judgment.
REORIENT – “In Christ” we recognize, truth, we can follow truth and we know truth because our minds have become reoriented by The Truth.
REREGISTER – “In Christ” we can reclaim our status before God. Our names are written in the Book of Life.
RESTRUCTURE – “In Christ” everything in our lives has ben overhauled to insure that we become all that God designed us to be.
REVALIDATE – “In Christ” we are sure that everything God promised to do for us will, in fact, come true. Not because we are going to do it but because God has promised and He will do it.
II. David leads people into worship by his revealing what man is designed to be in the image of God (1 Chr 11:15-17; Ps 8; 139)
David expresses a desire to drink water from the well at Bethlehem, and “the three mighty men” break through Philistine ranks in order to get it. David then refuses to drink it and “pours it out to the Lord”. The symbolism in the pouring is drawn from the realm of Israel’s ritual life. Blood was “poured out upon the earth like water” (Dt 12:16, 24), because it was reckoned to be or contain the life of the creature (Dt 12:23, cf. Gn 9:4; Lv 17:14) and therefore it should not be consumed. The blood of an animal was always drained off when it was slaughtered, sacrificially or otherwise (in a sacrifice, it was sprinkled on the altar, see e.g. Lv 1:5). David’s point in this case is that, as the water was obtained at the risk of the men’s lives, it is as precious as blood, and therefore should not be drunk. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chronicles, 24)
A man is known by the company he keeps. That is the idea behind the enumeration of the mighty men who surrounded David and aided his establishment of the kingship. The chronicler has already described the mighty deed of David’s commander, Joab. Now he turns to describe David’s army. (John Sailhamer, Everyman’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 35)
The point of the detailed enumeration of the names and exploits of those men is to show that David was a leader who had gained the full confidence and support of the best men in Israel. Those were men who had received the medal of honor in service to David and his kingdom. (John Sailhamer, Everyman’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 35)
In one touching story, David expresses a desire for a drink from a particular well in a location where the Philistines are encamped. He is simply stating a wish, but he is overheard. Three of his very best soldiers break through the Philistine ranks, acquire the water, and take it back to David. Realizing the extent of their faith and commitment, David doesn’t even drink the water; instead he pours it out as an offering to God, the One who really deserves that kind of devotion. (Dr. Tremper Longman, Quicknotes, 1 Chronicles Thru Job, 24)
The main point of the passage is this. The Chronicler wants to teach his people some things about the caliber of men who flocked to David’s banner and also about the character of the man they served. Confident in the Lord and his anointed king, Eleazar is willing to face the enemy alone if need be. Through such faith, “the LORD brought about a great victory” (v. 14). He does the same today through men of God who display the same faith. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chronicles, 139)
Instead of drinking the water, David pours it out as a drink offering before the Lord–showing in so doing, that this is a gift too precious for any human to accept. Then, David declares, “My God forbid that I should do this. Can I drink the blood of these men? For at the risk of their lives they brought it” (11:9). This flashback to David’s hard years reminds the reader that, even before he became king, David had earned the love and loyalty of the people. (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 49)
David’s “mighty men” (baggibborim) are the ancient equivalent of both the modern-day “special forces” military units and the “secret service,” charged with the protection of our highest elected officials (note their roles as both irrepressible warriors in the face of overwhelming odds and as bodyguards to the king, 2 Sm 23:23; 1 Chr 11:25). (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 201)
What is unmistakably clear is the Chronicler’s emphasis on David’s ability as a leader to inspire remarkable bravery and unshakable loyalty among his followers. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 202)
Our loyalties are important signs of the kinds of persons we have chosen to become. They mark a kind of constancy or steadfastness in our attachments to those other persons, groups, institutions, or ideals with which we have deliberately decided to associate ourselves. (William J. Bennett, The Book of Virtues, 665)
Saul represented the natural man, and David the spiritual man. Saul was the embodiment of what was best in human nature. All that David had that was commendable was due to the grace of God, and speaking of his own life afterwards he could say with the deepest humility: “but who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chr 29:14).
David was a monument of divine grace. Saul was the embodiment of human nature, self, selfishness and pride. God hates our pride and wants our weakness, self-renunciation, nothingness and dependence. David had learned the lesson of divine grace, and therefore God allowed him to be one of the princes in that kingdom of grace where our highest hope is the mercy of our God. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 271)
The sorrow and sins of Saul drove him further from God, while David’s brought him nearer. This is one of the most certain tests of our spiritual condition: how are we affected by our trials? Do they discourage us, or do they drive us to the bosom of our heavenly Friend? Still more searching is the question: how are we affected by our faults, our failures and our sins, when we discover them? Do we try to cover them, to excuse them, or, failing in this, do we give up in discouragement and despair, and say, “There is no use trying; everything is against me”? Poor Saul went from bad to worse, and at last turned from God and sought counsel from Satan when the heavenly Source on which he had depended failed him at last. His trust never was quite true, or he would have clung to it most closely in the hour of darkness and seeming despair. David came out of his worse faults a better man, and God could teach him, even by his temptations and sins, to die to self and rise to loftier heights of the grace of God. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 272)
They were sinful men; they were outcast men; they were men without a character or a reputation; they were men in debt and deep discredit, men under a cloud and without a hope, whom the instinct of a common sorrow drove to David’s side in the caves and mountains of Judah. David accepted them, not because they were bad men, but because they were true to him, and he trained them and lifted them up to his own level and afterwards made them his princes and commanders in the kingdom of Judah and Israel. And so our Leader and Lord is calling to His side and choosing for His kingdom not the mighty and the noble of the earth nor always the good, but He hath chosen the “weak things” and the “foolish things” and the “despised things” and “the things that are not” (1 Cor 1:27-28). Yes, He has even chosen the most worthless, hopeless and sinful of our race to be the special objects of His mercy and the prized jewels of His crown. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 287)
And let us not forget that the men who made David king were the men that reigned with him when the kingdom came. The fugitives of the wilderness became the nobles of Israel. The outcasts of Adullam became the aristocracy of Jerusalem. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 291)
History repeatedly has shown that people hunger for something larger than themselves. Leaders who offer that will have no shortage of followers. In face, higher purpose is such a vital ingredient to the human psyche that a Scripture says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Lauire Beth Jones; Jesus Ceo, Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership, 179)
If you have not been tested by fire, you do not know who you are. And if you do not know who you are, you cannot be a leader. (Lauire Beth Jones; Jesus Ceo, Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership, 4-5)
A well-ordered life is the fruit of a well-ordered mind. The life of the leader should reflect the beauty and orderliness of God. (J. Oswald Sanders; Spiritual Leadership – Principles of Excellence for Every Believer, 41)
“It is more than comforting to realize that it is those who have plumbed the depth of failure to whom invariably God gives the call to shepherd others. This is not a call given to the gifted, the highly trained or the polished, as such, without a bitter experience of their own inadequacy and poverty. They are quite unfitted to bear the burden of spiritual ministry. It takes a man who has discovered something of the measures of his own weakness to be patient with the sins of others. Such a man also has firsthand knowledge of the loving care of the chief shepherd in his ability to heal one who has come humbly to trust him.”— JC Medcalf
Here is a truth that reaches into the deepest part of what it means to be a person . . . That we are made to “have dominion” within an appropriate domain of reality. This is the core of the likeness or image of God in us and is the basis of the destiny for which we were formed. We are, all of us, never-ceasing spiritual beings with a unique eternal calling to count for good in God’s great universe . . . In creating human beings God made them to rule, to reign, to have dominion in a limited sphere. Only so can they be persons. (The Divine Conspiracy as quoted in John Eldredge, The Journey of Desire, 154)
True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don’t have to shop around for man-made substitutes. William Temple made this clear in his masterful definition of worship: “For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose—and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.” (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis, 119)
The word pastor means “shepherd.” That means gentle, right! Not at all! The Bible’s most famous shepherd, David, was also the Bible’s most celebrated warrior. This is what men need: a pastor with a shepherd’s heart and the spirit of a warrior. (David Murrow; Why Men Hate Church, 174)
…As David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. And keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.” (1 Kg 2:1-3, emphasis added). (Stu Weber, Four Pillars of a Man’s Heart, 34)
III. David leads people into worship by demonstrating and creating inertia in the direction of what life in God is like. (1 Chr 11:9)
In this context, Medved cites the 1985 King David production, which cost $28 million to produce and attracted less than $3 million in ticket sales. This film advanced the totally unsupported conclusion that the biblical king rejected God at the end of his life. Medved gives this account of an interview he conducted on the film:
A few weeks before the film’s release, one of the people who created it spoke to me proudly of its “fearless integrity.” “We could have gone the easy way and played to the Bible belt,” he said, “but we wanted to make a tough, honest film. We don’t see David as a gung-ho, Praise-the-Lord kind of guy. We wanted to make him a richer, deeper, character.” In his mind, in other words, secure religious faith is incompatible with depth of character. (Bob Briner, Roaring Lambs—A Gentle Plan to Radically Change Your World, 79)
His real desire–not perceived by the “three”, who resemble here the impetuous apostle Peter in their slowness to plumb their leader’s spirituality–is deeper. It is that he should possess Bethlehem. And in this he distinguishes himself yet again as one who is fit to lead God’s people. No doubt David’s natural yearning for his home is part of the longing he expresses. But in positioning the account here, Chr is insisting that David is motivated by the fact that Bethlehem belongs to the heritage of Israel. The longing is spiritual. It is that God’s people should actually possess all that God has prepared for them. It is a longing that he himself should be all that he ought to be as one chosen by God to be king over God’s people in the land given to them. And here too is a model of Christian leadership–a leadership that is marked by a desire that people should discover and make their own the treasures that are in Christ. The letters and prayers of Paul show that he, like David, was such a one (1 Cor 1:4ff.; Col 2:1ff.). (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chronicles, 24-25)
The reign of David is portrayed as a model for the people of God, united under a godly king, carrying out the required worship in a responsible and punctilious manner. (Broadman & Holman Publishers, Shepherd’s Notes, 1, 2 Chronicles, 21)
This was a dramatic turning of the tide. After Gilboa, God’s people lay prostrate. Now they ruled in triumph over the heathen. God’s kind of king made the difference, and he made the difference because he was faithful to the one true God. “David became more and more powerful,” not because of his brilliance in combat or his sagacity in statecraft, but “because the LORD Almighty was with him” (verse 9). (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chronicles, 134)
Various difficulties confront us in coming to a full understanding of all the details of these verses. But we have no problems whatever in determining the Chronicler’s chief point. Verse 10 sums it up: “David’s mighty men…gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the LORD had promised.” In throwing their lot in with David, these leaders were confessing their faith in the Word of God. In supporting him, they were aligning themselves with the Lord’s anointed. Through their support he became king over the whole land. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chronicles, 137)
First our historian wants to draw an impressionistic contrast between the defeated, leaderless-nation and a united, virile people under a God-given leader. It serves to accentuate the triumph of divine grace. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chronicles, 89-90)
The point is that David has the unqualified support of all the tribes. The Chronicler typically emphasizes that David was anointed in obedient response to the word of the Lord–related, in this instance, through the prophetic word of Samuel (11:3). From the first, David’s kingdom is founded on the word of the Lord, just as Saul’s had been doomed by his disregard of the divine word. (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 47)
The acquisition of a fortified, defensible capital would of course be a necessity for any new king. But the Chronicler’s long view is on the greater significance of Jerusalem, as the place of the Lord’s temple. As we will see, the Chronicler moves very swiftly from David’s enthronement and conquest of Jerusalem to the bringing of the ark into the city (chapter 13). It is for this reason, then, that the city must be conquered and repaired: not so much as a capital for David, but in preparation for the enthronement of the Lord in the shrine David would establish, and in the temple David’s descendants would build and defend. So, the possession of Jerusalem is the beginning of David’s greatness: after this, “David became greater and greater, for the LORD of hosts was with him (11:9; 2 Sm 5:10). (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 47-47)
The Chronicler reminded his readers of the benefit of David’s throne because David’s dynasty was largely responsible for the troubles of exile which Israel endured (see 2 Kg 21:10-15). Despite this harsh reality, the Chronicler affirmed the unanimous perspective of Israel’s great prophets. The blessing of Israel after exile was inextricably tied to the restoration of the throne of David (see Amos 9:11-15; Isa 55:3; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25). God designed David’s royal line to benefit the nation. This divine intention established the need for continuing royal hopes in Israel even in the Chronicler’s day. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chronicles, A Mentor Commentary, 116)
Saul represented self-will; David represents God’s will. Saul’s great object was to carry out his own ambition. David’s chief desire was to understand and accomplish the divine purpose concerning him. When he erred he did it blindly, but the moment he recognized and realized his disobedience, he broke down like a penitent child. There was no self-will, no obstinacy, no rebellion in his spirit. There was error, terrible error. There was impulse, there was earthly passion; but his will was true to God when he really understood the will of God. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 271)
Culture without Christianity gives people only greater power for wickedness. Our criminals today are no longer the unlettered classes, but the graduates of universities. Our teachers of irreligion and vice, the men that would legalize suicide, prostitution and intemperance and burn up the Bible, are among the most brilliant wits, poets and orators of our time. No, earth needs a stronger, holier king, and she must go from worse to worse until He shall “make it a ruin,” and at last shall He come “to whom it rightfully belongs” (Ezek 21:27). (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 339)
David’s walk before God is seen as an example of the integrity God demanded of all the kings of Israel. God, on numerous occasion, declared that David walked before him in integrity of heart. He was upright in all that God commanded, keeping God’s ordinances (1 Kg 9:4).
God showed great lovingkindness to David for this walk, and made clear that the condition of God’s continued blessing on His covenant with David depended on such conduct in his see after him (2 Chr 7:18) (Merrill Tenney, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol II, 41)
Once the word spreads that your church stands for something, that it is wholeheartedly committed to something special and that people can be a part of it, those with whom the vision resonates will come running. (George Barna, Turning Vision into Action, 151)
The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.” (E. M. Bounds as quoted in David Wells, God in the Wasteland, 60)
God says through Jeremiah, “This is what I have against you—that you have not troubled yourself on my behalf.”
In a recent essay in U.S. News & World Report, John Leo states that today many people treat God as a hobby.
…I believe that God yearns to have an intense and even romantic relationship with each one of us.
…God was said to have loved King David so much because David loved God back totally, intensely, and passionately.
…If we have become a people of mediocrity, it is because we have stopped troubling ourselves on God’s behalf. (Lauire Beth Jones; Jesus Ceo, Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership, 146-148)
The definitive measure of leaders’ success is whether they moved their people from where they were to where God wanted them to be. (Henry & Richard Blackaby; Spiritual Leadership; Moving People on to God’s Agenda, 111)
“Failure is not the crime. Low aim is.” (John Wooden as quoted in Warren Bennis; On Becoming a Leader, 194)
The key to spiritual leadership, then, is to encourage followers to grow in their relationship with their Lord. This cannot be done by talking about God. It cannot be accomplished by exhorting people to love God. It can only be achieved when leaders bring their people face to face with God and God convinces them that he is a God of love who can be trusted. (Henry & Richard Blackaby; Spiritual Leadership; Moving People on to God’s Agenda, 76)
A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there. — David Gergen
The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive. — Joe Batten
No person can lead other people except by showing them a future. A leader is a merchant of hope. — Napoleon Bonaparte
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION: How is Jesus the fulfillment of what David foreshadowed of the One who would lead us into worship based on Spirit and Truth?:
It is notable that all the gospel writers seek to make clear the relation between the Lord Jesus and David. With great frequency Matthew and the other writers note this relationship by the term “the son of David” which is applied to Jesus. Thereby they show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT prophecies concerning the eternal kingdom of David. The great thesis of the gospels is that Jesus fulfills exactly all the conditions and promises of God’s covenant with David, that a seed should never fail on his throne. Jesus is the seed of David and the eternal King whom God has promised (Mt 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; Mk 10:48; 12:25; Lk 18:38; 39; 20:41). Both Mark and John indicate that the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day fully expected the Christ to be the seed of David. (Jn 7:42; Mk 11:10). (Merrill Tenney; The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible Vol II, 42)
Both Peter and Paul demonstrated that the prophecies about David were by no means fulfilled in David himself but only in Jesus Christ. They particularly stressed this in reference to the resurrection (Acts 2:29, 34; 13:36). Paul, furthermore, at Antioch of Pisidia when addressing the Israelites, spoke of David as the kind and man after God’s own heart,. However, he taught that only in Jesus Christ and His resurrection could we know the sure mercies of David which God had promised (Acts 13:16-34). (Merrill Tenney; The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; Vol II, 42-43)
A- Jesus leads us into worship because He is God manifest in the flesh (Isa 7:14; Mt 1:23; Jn 5:39-40; 6:35-59; 8:12-59; 10:1-39; 14:1-16:33; Heb 1:1-5)
There is a divine dialectic in worship. The Spirit and the truth are always interacting, the one leading to the other, then back again. The Spirit brings us into truth, and the truth draws us into the Spirit. In Jesus, we live in Spirit and truth, and He brings us to the Father whom we worship and adore. (Roger L. Fredrikson, The Communicator’s Commentary: John, 101)
The Most High is that He was able to become most low. In fact, to disbelieve in the incarnation, in the name of the greatness of God, is actually to diminish His greatness.
One writer put it this way and I think it is fascinating: “The power of the higher just in so far as it is truly higher can come down to include the lesser. And everywhere the great enters the little its power to do so is virtually the test of its greatness.
Now listen . .. Think! Think! . . . You can become kittenish with your kitten but your kitten will never talk to you about philosophy with you. . . . Everywhere the great enters the little its power to do so is the test of its greatness. The inability of the lesser to enter the greater is a proof of its lesserness.
Hitler could never understand Lincoln but Lincoln can understand Hitler. . . . wisdom always understands foolishness (because wisdom sees the foolishness in yourself) but to foolishness wisdom is utterly incomprehensible.
Unselfishness knows selfishness’ number but to the selfish the deeds of the unselfish are completely incomprehensible.
Therefore, if God is truly Great, this makes perfect sense, In fact, now we know how great He is. The greatness of God is greater than we ever thought. The Most High has become the most low. (Tim Keller in a message entitled: “The Deity of Jesus”)
In the incarnation, Jesus became what he was not without giving up what he was. Jesus became man by addition, not by subtraction. (Alister Begg – Jesus 101)
In the incarnation, Jesus does not make humanity divine, but makes the divine human. (Millard J. Erickson; Postmodernizing the Faith, 142)
B- Jesus leads us into worship by revealing what it truly means to be in God’s image (Jn 1:1-14; 19:5; Rom 8:29-39; 1 Cor 1:27-28; Gal 3:26-4:20; Eph 4:17-5:21; Col 2:1-5; 2 Pt 1:3-4; 1 Jn 3:1-3)
It is the noblest nature that Satan seeks to devour and destroy. When a man is at his worst, you may be sure that he might have been at his best under different influences. God takes such men and turns them back to their true center, and there is power in the blood of Christ and in the Spirit of God not only to blot out the past but to transform the character, and out of the thistle and the thorn to create the fir tree and the myrtle for the paradise of God. Don’t let your sinfulness keep you back. Don’t let your failure crush you. Others have failed you. You have failed yourself. Hope is gone. All is lost. There is One that will receive you still. One drop of His blood will make you pure. One touch of His hand will make you noble, and in one moment you may pass from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son and the aristocracy of the new Jerusalem. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 287)
No matter how lost a man may be there is one thing that may always becomes a link of hope and a bond of contact with God, and that is the simple, single, rare and indispensable quality of true sincerity. If the worst of men can look up into your face with an honest look and an earnest heart and say, “God knows, and you know, that I mean to be true,” there is hope, there is salvation for him, and all the resources of God’s grace and strength are on his side. But a traitor, a double-hearted man, a man with a reservation, a man, who, back of all his pretenses and services, is seeking his own interest and ready to barter all else for it in the supreme moment, that man is base to the core, a man of whom we may well be afraid in every true work. He is bound to betray himself at last. He is the most unfortunate creature on earth. The very object which he is seeking will yet fail him, and detected by all men, rejected by God and execrated by himself, he will go down to the damnation of a hypocrite and a traitor. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 287-88)
Christ is, as we said at the beginning, calling out not the subjects of His future kingdom but the rulers. The millennium will bring earth’s millions to His feet, but these days of testing and of conflict are bringing to Him the tried and the faithful ones who are to sit with Him on His throne and share with Him the government of the millennial age. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 291)
“The true leader is never satisfied to leave his people the way they are. (Leighton Ford , Transforming Leadership, 209)
Example is not the main thing in persuading others; it’s the only thing. (Albert Schweitzer quoted by Dr. Lynn Anderson; They Smell Like Sheep, 122)
“We teach what we know, but reproduce what we are.” (John Maxwell quoted in Dr. Lynn Anderson; They Smell Like Sheep, 100)
Whatever God gives to mankind, Israel or through Jesus, MUST BE in alignment with what it means to be in the image of God. The Law was written on their mind (Jer 31:31-34; Rom 1) but it was partially erased in the Fall. It will one day be restored. The Law that God is giving Israel is not trivial, it is Your life! Obey it or you go (Exile from the Garden). The Image of God has to do with ethical and moral relationships. We need to live out the law in order to live consistent with the image of God. — Pastor Keith
Jesus never begged anyone to follow Him. He never waited for anyone, never sang one more verse while people decided whether to follow. He barked, “Follow me!” and kept going. Those who immediately dropped everything became His disciples; those who hesitated were left behind.
Yet week after week, especially in evangelical churches, we beg men to be saved. Problem is, the call to be saved is so familiar, men see no value in it. Don’t misunderstand me: it’s vitally important that we call men to follow Jesus. Men need salvation. But instead of pleading, what if our approach was: “Do you have what it takes to follow Christ? (David Murrow; Why Men Hate Church, 163)
The image of God is becoming more and more prevalent and more and more of interest in 21st century Western civilization because we are finding it harder and harder to know what the image of God is because of the deconstruction of the identity of what it means to be human. Because of abortion, death on demand, and struggling to even identify what it means to be human we are searching and longing for an identity of what it means to be human – imago dei. (Pastor Keith’s musing at a class on Biblical Theology with Dr. Gene Carpenter; March 9th, 2010 @ Bethel College)
Imago Dei in the NT (Heb 1:1-3; Eph 4:17ff; Col 3:8ff; Rom 8:28ff) If we see Jesus, we see what we are to be like in the image of God. For if we see Jesus we have seen the Father thus the image of God. The fact that God made humans in His image is the great presupposition of the incarnation (Orr). We were made in the image of God and so it should not be hard for us to imagine the incarnation of Jesus as He is simply the manifestation of that Gn 1-2 image. Heb 1:1-4 Jesus is the expressed image of God’s person. We have been given a special privilege as we are made in God’s image. This is above angels and other created beings. Humans ALONE have this privilege. Thus, as we become redeemed in Christ, and the fullness of that image is developed and sanctified in us, we will more and more become like Christ and thus be true co-heirs, and share in all the abilities, gifts and powers that Christ possessed.
Negative Side: (Eph 4:17-19) you can no longer live as the Gentiles do. We must now live as Christ did reestablishing the image of God in our lives. Allowing the Spirit of God to lead us towards becoming like we were originally created to be – in God’s image. The world looks to “things” or “food” to find fulfillment. God says that it is only when we are living as God created us to be that we will find fulfillment.
The Tree in the Garden represented (1 Jn 2:15-17) all the attractions of the world. It is wrong to say the Devil made her do it. She was deceived by the attraction of the tree and she wanted what the tree offered which pulled her away from what she was created to be – in the image of God. Satan says, “Eat of the tree and you will become like God”. But, Eve was already like God and created in God’s image. What God did not want her to discover was the knowledge of evil. That is what Eve introduced into our world. They were already like God, created in God’s image.
What was the temptation of Eve? God placed them in the garden and were supposed to trust God. Therefore, there had to be a real temptation and attraction in the temptation. Humans cannot have a relationship with God without faith being the basis (Heb 11:6 – rest of chapter). That is what Satan challenged. Can God be trusted? There was still more for Adam and Eve to discover in their relationship with God. But, they never had a chance to discover and experience that. We will have that for those of us who are “in Christ” Eph 4:20-24.
Positive side: We are created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. These are essences of this image. So is love. God calls us and asks us to love because love is an essential attribute of what it means to be human and created in the image of God Col 3:5ff. We need to put on our new self so we can become like our Creator. We are to be renewed in knowledge (another essence of our imago dei) image.
We are supposed to have knowledge, wisdom, love, righteousness and holiness. That is what makes up the pre-fall image of God. Note, the nature of Jesus in Phil 2:1-11. This is what the image of God looks like living in our world. Reason, creativity, language, and all these kinds of traits are part of what it means to be human, but they are not ESSENTIALS to being in the image of God. (Pastor Keith’s musing at a class on Biblical Theology with Dr. Gene Carpenter; March 9th, 2010 @ Bethel College)
C- Jesus demonstrates and creates inertia in the direction of what life in God is like by ushering in God’s Kingdom on earth. (Mt 6:10; Jn 10:10; Rv 21:1-5 see also the “signs” of the kingdom as given in Jn 2:11, 23; 3:2; 4:54; 6:2, 14, 26, 30; 7:31; 11:47; 12:18, 37; 20:30 )
“There is the realization that we were created in the image of God, and…whenever we become less than what He meant us to be, allow ourselves to be manipulated, engage in mindless submission either to the world or to other Christians, universalize someone else’s experience and try to make it our own, refuse to laugh or speak or to weep because we are afraid of what ‘they’ will say, allow guilt or fear or worry to be the primary motivating factors in our lives, define humility, love or servanthood in a way other than God’s way, whenever we quit thinking and feeling, allow ourselves to be bound up in tradition, or bow to any other God than the One who created us…we have somehow betrayed that image.” (Steve Brown; Living Free, 181-82)
We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. (A. W. Tozer; The Knowledge of the Holy, 1)
The term “shepherd” is particularly expressive of God’s ideal for leadership. It connotes a leadership exercised in tender care of the flock placed into its charge. Who can look at the Chronicler’s picture here and not see Christ? David was a “shadow of things to come,” a type of our Lord Jesus. Jesus is the Good Shepherd (Jn 10) who lays down his life for the sheep. He leads us beside the still waters of his Word (Ps 23). (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chronicles, 132)
It must be remembered that the end of chapter 10 had left the people of God defenseless, at the mercy of their enemies and bereft of both their liberty and their land. Now they are pictured as militarily strong; over against the fleeing of chapter 10 there is a portrayal of strength that comes from unity. The OT concept of God’s people as an army becomes in the New an image of the church militant, for instance in Eph 6:10-18. The church has cosmic foes to fight, who have chosen the planet earth as the battleground for their sinister aims. The call rings out to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph 6:10). (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chronicles, 92)
No matter how weak the church may seem or how strong the proud enemies of God’s people may appear, the sword of the Spirit with which we are equipped is more than sufficient to win the victory for us. By God’s Word and promise we will storm even the citadel of death itself and convert it into the place through which we enter the quiet rest of eternal life. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chronicles, 134)
The richest quality of love is sacrifice, and the noblest credential of any work is the spirit on the part of the members which has laid every selfish interest down at Jesus’ feet, and counts all things loss for Christ (Phil 3:7); which holds its money, its friendships, its life, all subservient to the Master’s claim, and, living a dying life, at last gives life itself as a willing offering to Him who gave His life for us. In this selfish and luxurious age, it is the rarest quality found, but it is the most needed, and as the end approaches and the last tribulation draws near the age of martyrdom will reach the climax, and the tears of sorrow and the blood of sacrifice be transformed into the jewels of the coronation day. It needs a greater sacrifice sometimes to live than to die, and the men who will be found some day ready to die for Christ are those whose lives are now laid down in 10,000 little tests that come to us all from day to day. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 289-90)
They “were fighting men who volunteered to serve in the ranks” (1 Chr 12:38). They were working together. They were working in unity, in order, and in wise organization. Many a brave man throws his life away in isolation and independent efforts, and they fail because of no wise cooperation. The great work of missions requires fellowship of service, and intelligent organization by which workers on the field can stay in touch with those at home, and all together move as an army in wise and intelligent cooperation. Christ wants men who are able to subordinate their own strong opinions and work in subjection to one another in the fear of God. No man is fit to lead until he has long learned to follow. No man is a good commander who has not proved a perfect soldier. No lesson needs more to be learned by young missionaries than the lesson of humility and mutual subjection in Christian service. It has been wisely said that there is no trouble in getting along with a fully consecrated Christian, but a half consecrated one is always in trouble and always getting others into trouble. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 290)
This coming King is the antitype of David.
David was His type, and He fulfills many characteristics of Israel’s first true king. David was born in Bethlehem. So was He. David was despised and rejected of men. So was He. David was anointed of the Lord. So is He, the anointed One. David was persecuted and pursued by his enemies, and for years a king in exile. So he was persecuted and murdered by hostile men, and even today He is still an exiled King awaiting His throne. David was surrounded by a multitude of wretched, outcast and sinful men, attracted to him by the tie of common misery, but true to him in their sorrow and afterwards honored by him as the princes of his realm. So Jesus today is gathering His princes from the ranks of sinners and outcasts. And some day they will be the nobility of heaven, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and sitting by His side upon His millennial throne. Then David received his kingdom in sections, first Hebron and then Jerusalem over all Israel. And so our coming King is first to be crowned by the little flock He shall bring with Him, and then He is to sit down upon the throne of all the world and reign from pole to pole and shore to shore. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 340)
“If Jesus provides the model for spiritual leadership, then the key is not for leaders to develop visions and to set the direction for their organizations. The key is to obey and to preserve everything the Father reveals to them of His will. Ultimately, the Father is the leader.” (Blackaby; Spiritual Leadership , 29)
As the leaders go, so go the people. Camelot is the responsibility of the king. (Stu Weber; Four Pillars of a Man’s Heart, 68)
The fundamental requirement of the Christian leader is not a knowledge of where the stream of popular opinion is flowing but a knowledge of where the stream of God’s truth lies. There can be no leadership without vision of both what the Church has become and what, under God, it should be. (David Wells; No Place for Truth, 215)
“While it is true that leaders have motives, spiritual leaders are directed by the Holy Spirit, not by their own agendas. Their leadership is not always in the face of conflict or competition but sometimes simply in the midst of powers of spiritual inertia. At times, embracing the status quo is the greatest enemy to advancing in Christian maturity, and it is the leader’s task to keep people from becoming complacent.” (Henry Blackby; Spiritual Leadership, 18)
When people sense they are a part of something God is doing, there is no limit to what they will be willing to do in response. (Henry & Richard Blackaby; Spiritual Leadership; Moving People on to God’s Agenda, 77)
Congregational members seldom rise above the level of their leaders. (Eddie Gibbs, Church Next, 122)
Worship point: We have no idea of who we really are and what God is really like. When those realities overtake us, then the truth of 1 John 3:1-3 will become experientially real. And then, finally, we will begin to live as God designed and created us to live. We will all be worship leaders.
Spiritual Challenge: Study the life of David and Jesus. What was their understanding of God and His nature? What was their understanding of man and his purpose and design? Are we living according to these understandings? Allow the Almighty “RE” God, through His Word and His Spirit, to REALIGN, REPROGRAM, REVITALIZE, REINVIGORATE, REMOTIVATE , REAWAKEN, REBIRTH, RECONCILE, REDEEM, REESTABLISH , REFORM, REGENERATE, RESURRECT, RENAME, RENEW and RESTORE your life.
The Chronicler’s theology of hope for postexilic Judah rests not on the exploits of “mighty men” but on “the LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle” (Ps 24:8). (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles, 202)
Quotes to Note:
The very words with which David is acclaimed, namely Shepherd and Prince (v. 2) witness to this. “You shall be shepherd” actually translates a verb in the Hebrew (tir‘eh, “you shall shepherd”; the usual word for “shepherd” in the OT, ro‘eh, is in fact a participle of the same verb). The idea is significant in two ways. First, in the choice of the idea of shepherding as a model for leadership, with its connotations both of humility and of devoted care. Its frequent application to the kings of Israel only serves to show how badly most of them failed to discharge their real duties, and became obsessed instead with the preservation and increase of their status and power (cf. Jer 23:1-4). It is an abiding temptation to Christians to seek external marks of distinction, such as the world needs. The pursuit of them can result in the loss of real stature. Secondly, the verbal form reminds us again that any holding of a responsible position, specifically in the Church, without a corresponding activity in pursuit of its aims is an empty charade. The people of Israel do not merely confer an honor on David (though honor it was–would not Jesus himself take the same title, Jn 10?), but they express confidence that he actually will be active on their behalf. (The word “prince” echoes the point, in that it is not the word “king”. It too indicates real eminence, without connoting the splendours of monarchy.) (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chronicles, 23-24)
It is not the individuals, but the cumulative effect of their more than fifty names which points to God’s pleasure and Israel’s full participation in the rise of King David, whose chief task will be the construction of a house of rest for his God in Jerusalem. So God’s leaders and those who support them in every age are bound together as one to accomplish his will. (Roddy Braun, Word Biblical Commentary: 1 Chronicles, 162)
A leader can gather a committee. A committee cannot gather a leader. The best way to kill a cause is to give it to a committee. A cause needs a leader. (Kennon L. Callahan; Effective Church Leadership Building on the Twelve Keys, 211)
A church leader who has to assert his authority doesn’t have much. (Dr. Lynn Anderson; They Smell Like Sheep, 33)
“People prefer to follow those who help them, not those who intimidate them.” (C. Gene Wilkes as quoted in Dr. Lynn Anderson; They Smell Like Sheep, 58)
You can discern if you are a man after God’s heart when you fail. If you are a man after God’s own heart and you fail morally or even physically, you will find yourself drawn closer to God and His grace and forgiveness (King David). But, if you fail and find yourself moving AWAY from God it means that you were depending on your own effort and merit all along and that once you failed to deliver, you counted yourself as lost and gave up trying to have a relationship with God (King Saul).
Christ:
our worship leader
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