DAVID – KEEPING IT REAL
INTRODUCTION:
8.2.10 - A professional angler found to have stuffed lead sinkers down the throats of fish he submitted for weigh-ins during a prestigious bass-fishing tournament has been banned for life from that and other competitions in a scandal that has rocked the tight-knit and passionate bass-fishing community.
Mike Hart, a successful Southern California pro whose career earnings total more than $200,000, was accused of cheating in this manner during the recent $100,000 U.S. Open held at sprawling Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border. An official with the Western Outdoor News bass tour said Hart confessed after he was caught virtually red-handed.
Catching a cheat is difficult because tournaments are catch-and-release; so bass are kept in aerated wells on the boats and weighed live at the end of each fishing day, then released.
However, sometimes the bass die after being caught and Hart had offered three dead fish during the weigh-in on the second-to-last day of the U.S. Open. They were filleted so the meat could be delivered to a charity, and found to contain weights.
Officials waited until the final day to confront Hart, who turned in a full limit of five bass. All five were found to contain lead sinkers. In all, nine sinkers were removed from bass turned in by Hart.
That’s not what I would call, “keeping it real.”
Today, I’m going to start a series of sermons on the life of David. David was Israel’s greatest king and the ancestor of Jesus Christ. My big message in this series is – keeping it real. What does keeping it real mean? It means that we are grounded, focused, authentic Christians.
Now I know what you’re thinking. I can see it on your faces. Your thinking, “Steve, how is a study of someone who lived three thousand years ago supposed to do ANYTHING for me today, much less help me to keep it real? I don’t even care about BASS- fishing tournaments, much LESS some long-forgotten character from the dusty pages of history.” I’m glad you asked. What I want to do this morning is to “set the table” for the entire rest of the sermon series. I want to whet your appetite a little bit. I want to answer the question of how a study of the life of David will help us keep it real. What is so “real” about David?
I. DAVID’S LIFE IS REAL IMPORTANT
Matthew 22:42 “What do you think about the Christ? Who son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied.
Matthew 23:23 “But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness.”
“Don’t get caught up in the thick of thin things.”
David is one of the most important characters in the entire Bible. I would infer this from the sheer volume of space that is devoted to his life in the Biblical record. David is mentioned some 600 times in the Old Testament. He is mentioned about 60 times in the New Testament. There are almost three thousand biographical portraits in the Bible. In fact, the Bible is the single greatest source of biographical information from antiquity. There are more different individuals from a wider scope of history recorded in God's Word than any other single source in the world. Most of the lives recorded in the Bible are only mentioned by name, but some are very clearly examined and analyzed by God. Those deeply explained lives give us great reasons to pause and listen to what God may have to say about them. After all He took the time and went to all the effort to capture these portraits for us and then delivered them to us in the Bible. So, whose life is considered important to God? Well, who did God chose to write more about than any other single person in the whole history of the world? The answer is the man we’re going to be studying for the next few weeks, David.
Not only is the amount of space devoted to David an indication of his importance so is the influence of his life. He is described as the father of Christ. David prophesied the resurrection of Christ and the New Testament writers and preachers cite his prophecies as proof that Jesus is the messiah. The Church is described as the restored Kingdom of David. David wrote most of the Psalms in the Bible, the hymnbook of Jesus and the other Jews and the inspiration for so much of Christian music today. Jesus didn’t simply appear out of thin air. Jesus is an historical person with a context. Jesus was born in a particular time, place and culture and the life of David is inseparable from the context that enables us to understand Jesus. We can hardly understand Jesus without understanding some of this Old Testament context. I’m talking about understanding the Jesus of the BIBLE. Not the Jesus of Hollywood or the Jesus that uninformed people make up in their heads but the real Jesus, the Biblical Jesus.
ILLUSTRATION: There was a song a couple of years ago by Jessica Andrews entitled “Who I Am” that had this chorus:
I am Rosemary's granddaughter,
The spitting image of my father,
And when the day is done, My momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy, But I've got friends who love me, And they know just where I stand,
It's all a part of me, And that's who I am.
Understanding David helps us “keep it real” in our understanding of who Jesus really is.
II. DAVID’S LIFE IS REAL INSTRUCTIVE
Luke 6:3 “Jesus answered them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?’”
Jesus asked this question of some religious hypocrites who were challenging the way he and his disciples were conducting themselves. They were walking through a wheat-field on the Sabbath. As they walked they were taking a few heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get the husk off and then eating the wheat kernels. The religious hypocrites accused them of doing something unspiritual, ungodly, improper, and displeasing to God. Jesus said, “Have you never read what David did when he and HIS companions were hungry?” And he proceeded to use David’s example as a justification for what HE was doing with his companions. Let me ask you something, do you know the answer to Jesus’ question? If Jesus were standing right here and asking this very question of us this morning, how many of us would know the answer? Here’s the question: “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?” Have we? HAVE WE? Some of us have and a lot of us haven’t. We’re clueless. We don’t know hardly anything about the life of David except maybe the story of David and Goliath. That might not be entirely our own fault. I’m not trying to beat anybody down. We might be new to the faith of Christianity. Maybe we didn’t have the advantage of going to Sunday school when we were growing up and learning about David. Maybe we’ve been in churches all of our lives that didn’t emphasize strong Biblical teaching. Maybe no one ever helped us get this depth of knowledge under our belts to help ground us in the faith. But somewhere along the line we need to step up in our faith and get serious about equipping ourselves with a foundation of Biblical knowledge because these Old Testament biographies are recorded for our benefit so that we can learn from their successes and avoid their mistakes.
I Corinthians 10:11 “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.”
Have you ever met someone who seemed like they had to learn everything the HARD WAY? Are any of your children like that? Are any of YOU like that? I am sometimes.
ILLUSTRATION: CHANGING TIRE
The last time Tami and I drove from Vero Beach to Jacksonville the “Low Tire Pressure” light came on in our car. I got off of I-95 and pulled over into a convenience store gas station next to the air pump. Sure enough, the tire was leaking out of the valve stem. I began to change the tire but I couldn’t get the jack to work right. Two old men had pulled up next to us, bought a couple of drinks and were watching my efforts. Finally, after about 30 minutes one of them said “Would you like my help?” I said “No.” An hour later I told Tami to call AAA because I wasn’t getting it done. Again, the old man said, “Would you like my help?” Tami gave me a dirty look so I said, “Ok.” He showed me how to assemble the jack correctly and in five minutes had the old tire off and the spare tire on. I was so embarrassed. You know that movie “Driving Miss Daisey?” I was Miss Daisey. In any case, I could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble if I had just been willing to benefit from someone else’s experience.
Spiritually speaking we can jump-start our growth and avoid so much self-inflicted wounds if we will just take advantage of OPM. Not “Other People’s Money” but “Other People’s Mistakes” and David had a ton of them. But David also has a ton of successes and leadership principles and God-principles that we can benefit from. This instruction will help us “keep it real” in our own lives.
III. DAVID’S LIFE IS REAL INTERESTING
I Samuel 18:16 “But all Israel and Judah loved David.”
This is just a bonus. It’s just icing on the cake that not only is the study of David’s life important and instructive but it’s also interesting. Lots of things are important and instructive but they’re not interesting: accounting, calculus, Latin, curling (the Olympic sport), opera.
ILLUSTRATION: Isn’t it amazing what they can make into a successful reality TV series these days? They’ve got a show called “Cake-boss” about cake-makers. Who would have ever thought that a show about a bunch of people baking cakes would be interesting? But it is! They have a show called “Pawn Stars” about a Pawnshop. Who would have ever thought that watching people bring their junk into a Pawnshop on TV would be a hit show? But it is, it’s interesting! “What not to wear” is a show about people with bad taste in clothes. It’s interesting. “Say Yes To The Dress.” So I started thinking about my life. Maybe they could make a show about my life as a preacher. We could call it “Church-boss” (you know I “OWN” the church). Or we could call it “Prayer-Stars.” Or we could call it, “Say yes to the blest,” or “What not to Swear.”
But I don’t think that would work because my life is not particularly interesting. I like my life and its interesting to ME but I can’t imagine anybody wanting to WATCH me read a Bible commentary, or watch while I write a sermon, or watch while I visit someone in the hospital or meet with the elders. BORING.
But David’s life IS interesting; in fact it’s fascinating. I think we’re going to love getting to know this man David. Everybody loved David. Whether it was Samuel or Saul or Jonathan or Bathsheba or Abigail or King Hiram, they all loved him. There is something in David that is magnetic and engaging.
David is known as a man after God’s own heart a man whose heart was sensitive and open to God. Not a perfect man, as we shall see, but a man to whom God could get his message. David’s played many roles. David the shepherd boy; David, the musician who composed so many marvelous songs; David the fugitive running for his life; David, the warrior; David the king. David was a great sinner. But we love him in spite of his sins, and because in his sins he so greatly repented and was forgiven and forever teaches transgressors God's ways. David was the most thankful man of the Old Testament, as Paul was the most thankful man of the New
Testament. In everything David gave thanks and called on all creation, animate and inanimate, winds, seas, mountains, stars, clouds, cedars of Lebanon, animals, men, and angels to praise God. The universe was not big enough for David when his heart was filled with praise.
ILLUSTRATION: Have you seen that add for, “The Most Interesting Man in the World”? The descriptions include:
“His charm is so contagious, vaccines have been created for it.”
“Every time he goes for a swim, dolphins appear.”
“When it is raining it is because he is thinking about something sad.”
“The police often question him just because they find him interesting.”
“His personality is so magnetic he is unable to carry credit cards.”
“Even his enemies list him as their emergency contact number.
“He never says something tastes like chicken, not even chicken.”
“He’s been known to cure narcolepsy, just by walking into a room.”
“People hang on his every word, even the prepositions.”
“He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it feels.”
“He lives vicariously through himself.”
Well, I don’t know if David quite stacks up to “The Most Interesting Man in the World” but David’s life is interesting, instructive, and important. May God bless us in this study and may you not miss a single installment.
DAVID – KEEPIN IT REAL
FISHING – David
I. DAVID’S LIFE IS REAL IMPORTANT
Matthew 22:42 “What do you think about the Christ? Who son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied.
- Volume – Influence – “Who Am I?”
II. DAVID’S LIFE IS REAL INSTRUCTIVE
Luke 6:3 “Jesus answered them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?’”
- Answer – I Cor.10:11 “Examples” – Tire - OPM
III. DAVID’S LIFE IS REAL INTERESTING
I Samuel 18:16 “But all Israel and Judah loved David.”
- Bonus – Reality TV – David loved – Interesting Man
