Sermon Synopsis 10/26 - Know yourself that you may know God
We are going to be continuing on in our series “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality” this morning. We began last week by talking about the problem of emotional unhealthy spirituality. We looked at Saul. And today we’re going to move in to “Know Yourself That You May Know God”, and we are going to look at David. This is the first of the seven pathways to emotionally healthy spirituality. An awareness of yourself and your relationship with God are very closely related.Let’s say, for example, that you’re an introvert, but you live as an extrovert. And you feel ashamed and you deny it. You feel bad that you’re an introvert. Yet you live the life of an extrovert. When you’re with a friend, you’re acting like you’re somebody you’re not. And they’re not getting the real you, but the impostor you.
Or maybe you’re asked to go somewhere to do something. You do it, but you don’t really want to do it. And you’re there in body, but you’re not there mentally.And you do that over and over again. And you’re not sure why you do it, but whoever you are saying “Yes” to is not getting real you. They’re getting the imposter you.
Well, let’s say you have anger and disappointment, and you feel guilty about being angry and disappointed. So, when you’re with your friends, you’re nice and syrupy, but inside you’re miserable. Well, they’re getting also a false you and they’re not getting the real you. And the bad thing is not your anger. The bad thing is that you’re being somebody that you’re really not. You are really an imposter.
And it’s the same thing in your relationship with God. If you don’t know yourself, how can you give yourself to God? A limited awareness of myself truly limits my relationship with God. And how can anyone be in a healthy relationship with others? Think about it - if I’m not really sure who I am and I’m in a marriage , how can I give something to my spouse that I don’t even posses it myself?It just limits our intimacy and our love relationship.
So when Adam and Eve were together in the Garden before sin, they were totally the same on the outside and on the inside. They were unified within themselves. They were the same person inside and out and they really gave each other relationally to God and to each other in a perfect way. But then, they rebelled against God and fell and sinned entered into the human race. In Genesis 3, we see that the integration and the unity of inside and outside has been broken - they are no longer integrated. Their lives are now divided and compartmentalized. Not only did their rebellion result in being cut-off from God, but they were cut-off from themselves, with each other, and they’re cut-off within themselves. We see them putting on masks and blaming. Their true authentic self in God is now shattered.
And they begin now the construction of an imposter and a false self. They’re not living God’s original intention for their lives. And as we know in Genesis 3 and 4, it’s a big mess. So we are like our first parents and we’re divided within ourselves; we’re unsure of who we are, and we wrestle. So we end up covering the authentic true self of who we are in God. We cover it with fig leaves just like they did.
Let me give you some symptoms of a false self. See if any of these apply to you this morning. Maybe you’ve got some work to do… Ask yourself: (1) Am I the kind of person that says “yes” when I really mean “no?” (2) Do I get depressed when people are upset with me? (3) Do I have a need to be approved by others to feel good about myself? (4) Do I act nice to someone on the outside, but on inside I can’t stand them? (5) Do I often remain silent in order to keep the peace? (6) Do I believe that if I make mistakes myself, I am a failure? (7) Do I criticize others in order to feel better about myself? (8) Do I try to avoid looking weak or foolish for not having the answer? (9) Do I have to be doing something exceptional to feel alive? (10) Do I have to be needed to feel alive? (11) Am I fearful and unable to take risks? (12) Do I do what others want, so they don’t get mad at me? (13) Do I use knowledge and confidence to cover my feelings of inadequacies? (14) Do I want my children to behave well, so others will think I’m a good parent? (15) Do I compare myself to other people? These are just symptoms that indicate that I’m probably living a lot more out of a false self than out of my authentic self in God.
And so, “knowing yourself that you may know God” is really our first step on the path from which everything else is going to flow. We’re going to look at David because David is a tremendous example of someone who knows himself; he’s true to himself, but he also knows God, and he brings them together beautifully. Please turn to 1 Samuel 17, and I will summarize this very famous story for you. In the beginning you see these two great armies are facing each other in a valley. Each army is on a hill with a valley in between them. And, each army has tens of thousands of men.
You’ll notice in verse 4, that a champion named Goliath comes out of the Philistine army and he throws out a challenge: “Let’s fight the battle this way. You bring out one person to fight me and winner takes all.” Now, Goliath is described in very imposing terms; he’s 9 feet tall. He’s a very large man. He’s got a coat of armour that, it says in your footnotes, weighs 125 pounds. And he’s got a spear that’s so big the tip of it weighs 15 pounds. Goliath is a mammoth guy with a javelin that he can use to kill you from a distance before you ever get near him. He has an armour bearer in front of him with a large rectangular shield. Goliath is really armed.
And he’s got years of experience in battle. He is ridiculing the army of Israel; daring them to have anybody come out and fight him. And he’s a pagan, who doesn’t know God. In verses 8 and 9 he says that if someone will come out and fight me and kill me then we’ll become your subjects or vice versa. Then he says in verses 10 “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” Then verse 11 says: “On hearing this, the Philistines words, Saul, the king, and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” So that’s the image; they’re just terrified. Scripture says that for 40 days, every morning and every evening Goliath comes out and he intimidates them and puts fear in their hearts. Just imagine, Goliath comes out 80 times and just intimidates them.
And now, David emerges out of this. Out of the entire nation of Israel, he walks out because he knows himself and he knows God, and he cuts through three obstacles that are in his way to be his authentic self in God. And his journey and his obstacles are really ours too. Let’s look at these three obstacles that David cuts through.
In verses 23 to 25, we’re told that David shows up to bring some food for his three older brothers. These verses say, “As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear. 25 Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel." Then David in verse 26 “asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
Here’s where we hit the first obstacle David encountered as he begins to step out: his family. We see this in verses 28 to 31. David is the youngest of eight boys. We don’t know if there were any girls in his family, but we know there are eight boys. And Eliab is the oldest brother. His three oldest brothers are in the army and he’s the youngest. He’s probably about 17 years old. His father is described as aging, dying. So of the three older brothers, Eliab, the oldest brother has the authority in the family at this point.
David’s job is tending the sheep back home. He’s simply bringing some food to his brothers at the front lines and he gets no support from his brothers here. So, he’s got an unsupportive family environment. That’s the point I want us to get here. His family is not supporting him. In fact, they judge him and they label him conceited and wicked. Look at what Eliab says to David in verse 28: "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."
And so here David is. We don’t know what his family life was like; what was going on at home or what he grew up in but clearly things are not so beautiful in his family, at least for him. He’s misunderstood and he’s slandered. He’s ignored and he’s disregarded and he’s put down as a nothing. You have to step back and see that that’s a pretty big obstacle to grow up with for your entire life. The message he gets from his family is that you’re a nobody and you’re a loser; now go home.
And so in our families, even in the best of families, we have our own stuff that we bring to the table because of sin, but most of our families add to those layers of a false self and that smothers our true selves. We grow up in families and cultures, where certain parts of who we are, our true selves, are just considered unacceptable. And what happens is they get cut-off; they’re hidden and they’re buried. And some have to bury them, so they can survive. Many people describe that, “I just felt like I was invisible growing up in my family.” Many have heard from their families: “Don’t think or express certain thoughts; or don’t feel certain feelings or don’t make mistakes or don’t go down this road, or don’t be weak or vulnerable.”
And when we grow into adulthood in that type of environment, we can discover that our caregivers, the folks in significant authority over us, often did the best they could. They loved us, but we realized that they loved us not for who we were, uniquely crafted by God, but for who they wanted us to be. And that can create a tension and struggle inside of us. We think, “Yeah, we’re loveable and good enough if we get married, or go to college, or become a professional or get a certain job or career or fulfill your parents dream for your life or if you make a lot of money.” And we can carry that baggage of “We’re loveable, if…” and we often don’t even realize it.
David’s here and he’s ignored and he’s disregarded. He’s basically told, ‘Shut up and go home.’ And some of you know what it’s like to be alive and nobody notices. And nobody notices David. But God notices David. And David notices David. But what’s really important to see is that David cuts, and I like the word “cut”, he cuts through this family dynamic that could have shut him down and tried to shut him down.
Secondly, David cuts through the obstacle of having significant people of authority in his life, who also are seeking to shut him down. I’m referring to verse 32 and 33 when Saul hears about David beginning to stand up to his family, saying, “I’ll go and fight this Philistine, Goliath. I’ll step out.” He’s not even a soldier; he’s a shepherd. And he’s probably 17 or 18-years-old. And Saul, the king, hears about it and sends for him, which demonstrates God’s sovereignty moving. And here’s David, suddenly before King Saul.
And David says to Saul in verse 32, it’s a great verse, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” And Saul replies in verses 33: “You are not able to go up against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” Remember, here’s Saul. He led an army of 330,000 men, in chapter 11, and had a phenomenal victory, against Ammonites. Saul is famous. He’s experienced; and he’s saying to David “You can’t do it. You’re not able to do it.” What would you say if you were David?I’d say; “If you don’t think I can do it, you’re probably right. Looking at Goliath, you’re right.” I’d be overwhelmed. I would probably be thinking, “Let me get out of here! I can’t do it.” I’d be asking, “What do you think we should do, Saul?”
But not David. David knows himself and he is confident in his abilities. In verses 34 to 37, David gives Saul his credentials. You know, he’s s shepherd. Makes sense, right? A shepherd is the perfect person to fight this giant, right? I don’t think so!! But David is confident that through God’s help that he can beat Goliath. And Saul says to him, “You wanna go? Fine. Go. And in verse 38 and 39 it says, “Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armour on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. ‘I cannot go in these,’ he said to Saul, ‘because I’m not used to them.’ So he took them off.” You gotta go, “What? This is the way everybody fights. Everybody fights a war with their armour.” But when David puts it on it doesn’t FIT him! Everybody with experience, and who’s in authority, is telling him how to do it and he’s telling them, “This isn’t me.” And David cuts through that. Everybody’s giving advice to David on how to fight; Saul, the generals. But David knows himself and realizes that he can’t go dressed in this armour.
Growing up you may have been coaches or teachers or significant others or experts in your field when you were growing up who had a lot of experience. And, you know, we are to listen to counsel, right? The Bible’s really clear about the wisdom found in the abundance of counsellors. It’s really important. The key here is, not to throw out counsel, but David knows himself so well and he knows God so well that he’s an expert on himself. Nobody can be an expert on you but you. David is able to listen to the counsel and say: “This isn’t good counsel. God’s got a path for me. I can do this.”David knows himself and is able to say, “I can do this in God with God.” And he gets up, and he walks away from all of them and steps out into the open field with Goliath, which brings us to the third obstacle, that David cuts through.
The third obstacle that David cuts through is Goliath. And when David steps out there Goliath begins to curse him. Can you just imagine yourself in David’s shoes stepping out in front of Goliath? In verses 42 to 44 it tells us, “He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" Can you imagine being mocked and threatened like this? And Goliath’s threatening him with consequences: “You go through with this you’re going to die.” I’d be thinking, “You’re probably right, you know? Oh LORD, I must be crazy!”
You see: IF we step out and seek to be our authentic selves, we will have to wrestle with this issue of “I could die out here. This could be a disaster.” This is why so many of us live our false selves – it is SCARY to climb out of our trench go into the middle of the field. But David is not overwhelmed or scared by any of this because David knows his strengths so well and he knows his God so well - he has this powerful combination of knowledge of himself and knowledge of God. We see this in verse 39 when he takes off Saul’s armour. You see, David’s got a radical alternative; he goes out and gets these five stones and a slingshot. I can picture it: I can see David taking off Saul’s armour and I can just see him slowly pondering and walking toward the stream and choosing the five stones. And his guidance is coming from the inside out from his relationship with God. And his life is not divided between knowing himself and knowing God. David knows who he is and he lives true to who he is in God.
You see he’s saying: “God didn’t make me this way to go out there and fight Goliath on his terms, to put on armour and a javelin. That’s not who I am.” And you know, he’s got the gift of commonsense. He’s not going out there being dependent on doing the right thing, so people will love him. David’s not doing it out of guilt and sorrow for Israel. David’s not doing it to keep the peace and make everybody happy saying, “Okay, I’ll sacrifice myself. I’ll be the one who dies for everybody else.” David’s not saying: “I must succeed, so I get my name written in the history books, so I’ll finally make an impact in life and my life will be worth something.” David’s not saying: “I’ll do this so I don’t look stupid or so I can finally achieve something.”
No! - It’s commonsense to David to not to fight Goliath with a sword. It’s common sense to David to not go up against the physical strength of Goliath with his own physical strength because he knew he would be killed. So, he doesn’t do it. In David’s mind it is an even match because he’s got his slingshot and he’s good with the slingshot. That’s his gift. David thinks, “I have my slingshot, so now it’s an even match. He’s got his javelin and I’ve got my slingshot.”
So, David knows himself and he’s comfortable with himself and he’s afraid of nothing because he trusts in God. And so, David has strengths that he’s bringing to the battle and he knows what they are. And David’s looking at God and he’s looking at himself and you know what the result is? You know the passage, he throws the slingshot. Goliath falls dead, instantly. And David cuts off his head. And because he had the courage to step out and be himself, he brings down Goliath and everybody wants to follow him. Everybody follows this great victory. The point is that the whole nation is richly blessed and God is glorified. You see, when we live out our authentic selves it is so that the whole world might know the living God. When we live out our authentic selves and we breakthrough, everybody gets blessed around us: our children, our family, our friends, our coworkers. But in the long run, we hurt ourselves and we hurt other people when we’re not true to ourselves.
There is a great quote from the book, “Seeds of Contemplation.” It goes like this: “Trees and mountains and rocks, unlike humans, are their true selves. A mountain is a mountain. It doesn’t make a choice. A tree is a tree. It doesn’t have free will. But we have a choice. God leaves us free to be whatever we want. We can be ourselves, as we please. We are at liberty to be real or unreal. We may be true or false. The choice is ours.” David makes a choice and we have a choice. Here’s our choice: Are we going to stay in the trench and be terrified to step out in the open field (i.e. Are we going to continue to put on a false self) or are we going to have courage and step out of the trench into the open field (i.e. Are we going to be true to whom God has made us to be)?
The real issue here is courage – it is going to talk a LOT of courage to do this. And it’s frightening. And if you don’t think it’s frightening initially, then you don’t understand what I’m talking about. It’s frightening to step out from our families and to step out from those in authority and significant others and to step out to meet our Goliath’s and to break free from our false self and become our authentic selves in Christ. It is going to take courage to cut through the obstacles that David cut through. But we must cut through these to be truly whom God’s called us to be. We have to determine ourselves right now how important is the approval of people over and against the death of our soul’s? Because our soul will dry up and shrivel over time if we live everybody else’s dream for our lives or we’ll just be another flat Christian who knows God, but is hiding in the trench out of fear. So I want to invite you to come out of the trench and go into the middle of the field and just see what it’s like to be with the living God. I invite you to begin the journey of truly knowing yourself so that you may know God!
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