Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I want to brag on my friend Chet a minute.
[00:00:03] Would you let me do that?
[00:00:08] Sometimes when. When you have the best, it's easy to take for granted.
[00:00:18] Chet is an authentic theologian.
[00:00:22] He doesn't feed you ramen noodles on Sunday.
[00:00:26] He gives you the meat of the word.
[00:00:29] He is an authentic theologian.
[00:00:32] He's also an outstanding leader.
[00:00:37] It is incredibly hard to lead a congregation, to build a new building.
[00:00:43] It is ridiculously hard.
[00:00:47] And he's doing an absolutely outstanding job of doing it.
[00:00:57] He's also an incredible team builder.
[00:01:01] The West Campus has the challenge of setting this place up and taking it down every single week.
[00:01:09] We did that at Maine for seven years, and it takes a lot of work. So you people who do that, God bless you.
[00:01:24] And if you would permit me, The future of our three campuses is in the hands of Chad. He's going to be a profoundly influential leader, and I want you to know you're blessed to have him.
[00:01:48] And if you don't want him, I'll take him back.
[00:02:00] So from time to time, you send him a note and remind him that you value him.
[00:02:11] And in your daily prayers, whisper his name to the Almighty.
[00:02:18] That God can do through him miraculous things in the coming years.
[00:02:25] Thank you.
[00:02:26] Let's pray.
[00:02:32] Our dear Heavenly Father, I am in awe of you.
[00:02:40] When I contemplate the beauty of your character, when I meditate on the wonder of your mighty deeds, when I sit quietly in your presence and know that you are the Lord, it shocks me that you have such steadfast love for such inconsistent people.
[00:03:13] And I want you to know I love you and appreciate you.
[00:03:17] I'm honored to be on your team.
[00:03:20] I pray that your spirit would be with us this morning and we could say, it has been good to be in the house of God.
[00:03:28] Pray that you'd help me to say what I should say and put a guard on my lips that I won't be saying things I shouldn't.
[00:03:35] And I ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
[00:03:42] Saul had only been king for a couple of years, but it was already becoming obvious that he wasn't going to be a good king.
[00:03:56] He was often paralyzed by indecision.
[00:04:03] Ah, far too many times.
[00:04:08] He worried more about what people thought than he worried about what was the right thing to do.
[00:04:16] And it created a crisis because the Philistines saw weakness and they didn't want Israel to exist at all.
[00:04:28] And so on every occasion that they could, where they thought they had an advantage, they mustered their army.
[00:04:39] And in 1st Samuel 14, the Philistines muster their army again.
[00:04:48] They muster their army outside a village called Mikmash.
[00:04:54] And Saul had his army outside of Gibbon and between Michmash and Gibboh.
[00:05:01] There was a.
[00:05:04] There was a.
[00:05:07] I don't know what to call it. There was a craggy divide.
[00:05:11] You can actually look this up and see pictures of it. They archeologists have found the place.
[00:05:18] And so the land is high to the north, the land is high to the south and east. West runs this broken crag with steep sides.
[00:05:30] So it was a good defensive position. The Israelites would have a hard time trying to climb up and get to the Philistines. And the Philistines would have a hard time climbing up to get to the Israelites. And so there was a standoff.
[00:05:45] They sat there and looked at each other day after day.
[00:05:49] The problem is Saul's leadership didn't inspire confidence. Anybody and men started sneaking away at night and deserting the army.
[00:06:01] As incompetent as Saul was, his son Jonathan was incredibly competent.
[00:06:12] We're going to see that he is an incredible man of faith and he's not afraid to initiate on this day.
[00:06:21] Jonathan looked across at the.
[00:06:25] At the Philistines, and he had a sense that they weren't really as strong as they appeared.
[00:06:35] And so he said to his wingman, his armor bearer, I'm gonna pick a fight today and we'll see what God does.
[00:06:48] And so the two of them went to this difficult place to cross.
[00:06:58] On the south side there was a feature, and they called it Sina.
[00:07:05] On the north side, there was a feature and they called it Boaz.
[00:07:10] And so Jonathan and his companion, they climbed down one side of the crag.
[00:07:16] And Jonathan said, if they say to us come up here, then we're going to climb up there because the Lord is with us.
[00:07:28] If they say stay there, will come to you, he said, we'll have to find a different place to fight.
[00:07:36] So they went down and showed themselves at a bad time in a bad place.
[00:07:44] And the Philistines said, look it, the rats are coming out of their holes.
[00:07:53] And they mocked Jonathan. And. And then someone said, come up here. I want to show you something.
[00:08:03] So Jonathan said to his armor bearer, we've got him.
[00:08:08] And they climbed up that side of the cliff.
[00:08:12] And to the Philistines shock, Jonathan just instantly started striking people down.
[00:08:22] He didn't. He didn't hesitate.
[00:08:26] He just waded into them and it created a panic and they didn't respond well. And in a very short time, Jonathan and his armor bearer had killed 20 Philistines.
[00:08:42] Well, now other people are seeing that, and they're going, these two guys just killed 20 of us.
[00:08:51] And it created a panic in the Philistine army.
[00:08:55] Well, back at Saul's camp, he had outposts watching, and they reported, something's going on in the Philistine camp.
[00:09:06] There's an incredible.
[00:09:08] There's a fight going on over there.
[00:09:11] And Saul said, well, who is it?
[00:09:14] And they didn't know.
[00:09:16] So they had to call rank, or whatever you call it in the military, where everybody lines up and you find out who's there. And they discovered it was Jonathan and his armor bearer.
[00:09:30] Well, in the meantime, Jonathan is fighting it out over there, and the Philistines are starting to fall back.
[00:09:43] And finally, it dawned on Saul, hey, they're winning. We should probably help them.
[00:09:50] Instead of this army standing here watching this, we should probably go over there and join the fight.
[00:09:59] So Saul, in his normal, incompetent way, says a curse, anyone who eats before I am avenged of my enemies.
[00:10:17] And everybody thought that was kind of odd. But everybody attacked. The Philistines started running. A mayhem had broken out, and the Israelites were winning.
[00:10:36] Jonathan is still at the head of this battle. And they pass through a forest, and there is a wild honey there. There's bees that have built a nest. Jonathan didn't hear his dad's curse, and he dipped the end of his spear in the honey and ate some honey, and he got that sugar, that sugar refill, and he was energized even more.
[00:11:04] And. And there was a great.
[00:11:07] A great victory for the Israelites.
[00:11:11] Ah.
[00:11:15] And then it got dark.
[00:11:17] And it was unusual to fight in the dark in those days.
[00:11:24] I would see a clock in here. Does Chet not need a clock?
[00:11:29] Oh, okay. Thank you.
[00:11:34] Ah.
[00:11:36] Ah.
[00:11:40] I preach over more often than chat does. Oh, yeah.
[00:11:44] All right.
[00:11:48] And the men.
[00:11:52] Because the day was over, the men started slaughtering some animals. And they didn't cook them according to Jewish law.
[00:12:05] And so Saul built an altar.
[00:12:09] They. They cooked the meat the way it was supposed to be cooked. And then Saul inquired of the Lord, shall I go up? Are you with me? Can we defeat the Philistines?
[00:12:22] The Lord didn't answer him.
[00:12:29] So Saul said, somebody has done something wrong.
[00:12:39] We're going to bring out the omen and the thummim.
[00:12:47] You read the Old Testament. The priest had these two crystals, and they wore them in a pouch on their vestments, and they use them to ask God questions.
[00:13:07] So Saul said, bring out the woman and the tumult.
[00:13:13] And the priests brought these out and they asked the question, is, is it Israel or is it the family of Saul? Well, the lot fell on the family of Saul. And then Saul said, is it Saul or is it Jonathan? Then the lot fell on Jonathan.
[00:13:35] And then Saul stands Jonathan up after he leads the army in this incredible day and said, what did you do?
[00:13:51] Jonathan said, I dipped the end of my spear in some honey and I was refreshed by it. And you made a silly rule. If these guys could have had a little bit to eat through the whole fight, they had kept their energy up and, and we could had a much bigger victory.
[00:14:09] And Saul the knucklehead said, God do worse to me and more if you don't die today.
[00:14:25] Jonathan knew his dad and he said, fine, then just kill me.
[00:14:32] Ah, but there were people who had incredible Thanksgiving for what Jonathan had done that day.
[00:14:48] And they said, nobody's touching Jonathan today.
[00:14:53] The Lord delivered Israel by his hand and nobody's touching him today.
[00:15:00] And Saul had to back down.
[00:15:05] We have to ask ourselves, of everything that could have been recorded, why did this story make it into the Bible?
[00:15:15] There were there, there were hundreds of other stories that could have been in the Bible, but this one got picked to be into the Bible.
[00:15:25] And I think it got picked for a couple of reasons.
[00:15:29] First of, first of all, Jonathan is an incredible example of people of faith taking the initiative.
[00:15:39] Listen, Christianity is more than good talk.
[00:15:45] I've known a lot of Christians who could talk your ear off, but they never accomplished anything.
[00:15:53] Listen, Christianity is more than good talk.
[00:15:57] It is people who have the faith to try hard things that other people won't try.
[00:16:05] Look, when it was time to pick a fight with the Philistines, Jonathan said, I'm in, I want to do it.
[00:16:14] While the army sat with Saul and said, I don't know. Looks pretty dangerous.
[00:16:21] I don't know, things might not work out right.
[00:16:26] I don't know. What if, what if I want our church?
[00:16:34] I want our church to be people who have a bold faith to do hard things.
[00:16:43] Look, building this campus is a hard thing, but just building that campus isn't the same as building a thriving faith filled church.
[00:16:55] What kind of hard adventures are you willing to go on when God gives you that building?
[00:17:04] We're not going over there and camping out and say we made it.
[00:17:10] That is not a finish line church. That is a starting line.
[00:17:15] And it's a starting line for generations of people who get to see what it looks like when the people of God have faith and do hard ministry.
[00:17:27] We have a mission statement.
[00:17:30] Our mission Statement says, we exist to attract people to the excellence of Christ.
[00:17:38] We have to do everything with excellence. Christ deserves it.
[00:17:42] And that attracts people to Christ.
[00:17:46] Ah, sometimes I drive by churches.
[00:17:53] Ah, the yards aren't taken care of.
[00:17:58] Ah, the roof needs some shingles.
[00:18:02] The paint's chipping off the windows.
[00:18:07] You look at that place and you go, something's not right here.
[00:18:14] When I see these places, I never think, man, I'm gonna have to visit that church sometime.
[00:18:21] I look at that and say, I feel sorry for the people who go here.
[00:18:28] Look, the excellence of Christ attracts people.
[00:18:32] Shoddy second rate work doesn't attract anybody. Can you hear me? Our goal is to attract people to the excellence of Christ. Second of all, to invite people into the joy of ministry.
[00:18:46] The Bible teaches every Christian ought to serve God in some way.
[00:18:50] If you're not in a ministry, you need to sign up today.
[00:18:54] Tina will sign you right up.
[00:18:56] All right.
[00:18:59] And join a ministry that you like.
[00:19:03] Would you hear me on this? Join a ministry you like. If you like holding babies, go in the nursery.
[00:19:10] If you don't like holding babies, stay out of my nursery.
[00:19:16] I want those babies to be hugged and kissed and loved.
[00:19:20] If you like teenagers, join the teen ministry. If they get on your nerves, leave them alone. Life is hard enough as a teenager.
[00:19:30] Join a ministry where God can work through you in a beautiful and joyful way. And then our third statement is, ah, the adventure of faith.
[00:19:46] Christianity is supposed to be an adventure. We're supposed to be trying, challenging things. We're supposed to be learning our way forward. We're supposed to be walking by faith. We're supposed to be climbing up the side of the mountain and attacking the Philistines and expecting God to glorify his name.
[00:20:05] Then our last part is we want to be a culture of generosity.
[00:20:11] Evil is fully funded. I want to fund good things that God is doing here in northeastern Ohio and around the world.
[00:20:21] We exist for a purpose.
[00:20:24] We're not like Saul's army hanging out in the camp. We have to be like Jonathan and take the initiative and see what God might do through people who, who really mean business with him. And they're willing to act with bold faith.
[00:20:43] Ah, there's another lesson in here I think we should learn.
[00:20:48] And that is.
[00:20:53] We don't need a bunch of ridiculous restrictions.
[00:20:58] What was Paul thinking? I mean, what was Saul thinking when he said, I expect you to fight all day long, but don't eat anything.
[00:21:07] I expect you to face the Philistines. I expect you to give it your very best. I Expect you to run into battle. I expect you to do all this physical stuff, but don't eat a Rice Krispie treat.
[00:21:23] The church messes up when we spend too much time on the restrictions and not enough time on getting the job done.
[00:21:33] Church.
[00:21:37] I grew up in a church that was more strict than God.
[00:21:43] They had rules that God never even dreamed of, and they. None of them helped you live a better life. All right?
[00:21:51] We can't be. We can't make the essence of what we're doing.
[00:21:55] These rules, these restrictions, don't do this, don't do that.
[00:22:01] All right?
[00:22:03] Saul messed things up when his leadership was restrictive and not inclusive.
[00:22:13] There's another lesson here, and it is we need to honor the ones that God honors.
[00:22:22] Jonathan deserved to be honored. The Lord honored his faith that day.
[00:22:27] Church.
[00:22:30] I want to.
[00:22:31] I want to live out Paul's teaching, try to outdo one another in showing honor.
[00:22:41] From time to time, I say to someone on my staff, I say something to honor them, and they say something back, and I go, stop right there.
[00:22:49] You're not out honoring me today. I'm gonna out honor you today.
[00:22:54] So. All right.
[00:22:56] What a beautiful thing it is when we can see what God is doing beautiful in other people and honor it.
[00:23:07] The wonderful people who are out in the parking lot, they deserve honor. The beautiful people who are with our kids today, they deserve honor. The band deserves honor. The sound team didn't squeak the system one time. Way to go, guys.
[00:23:24] All right.
[00:23:27] Jonathan deserved honor, and his father, in his failed leadership, did just the opposite.
[00:23:37] But I really think there's something much richer than all of this in this passage.
[00:23:45] In some ways, Jonathan points to Jesus Christ.
[00:23:53] In some ways, Jonathan tells us what Jesus Christ is going to be like.
[00:24:01] The Old Testament church had failed.
[00:24:06] They hadn't shown the glory of the Lord.
[00:24:11] And so Jesus made the Jonathan move.
[00:24:16] He said, I'm going in there.
[00:24:20] I'm going to go fight this fight myself.
[00:24:23] And he was incarnated as a child.
[00:24:26] He spent his entire life going everywhere and defeating evil and doing good.
[00:24:34] Everywhere Jesus went, evil, lost and good. 1.
[00:24:40] When.
[00:24:41] When Leprosy and. And. And. And blindness and deafness. And when. When people were crippled, when they were demon possessed, Jesus took the initiative. He climbed into the problem and he solved it.
[00:25:01] Ah, Jesus.
[00:25:05] Jonathan reminds me of Jesus because Jesus didn't just do all this stuff, he inspired other people to do it.
[00:25:14] When others saw what Jonathan was doing, they said, we can do that too.
[00:25:19] When we see them, when we see what Jesus Christ does, the Holy Spirit should stir Something up in us. And we should say we can do that too.
[00:25:30] Listen, Jesus said, because I go to my Father, you will do greater works than I have done.
[00:25:37] I believe the greatest churches that have ever existed, that will ever exist, they haven't been built yet.
[00:25:46] I believe the potential of this congregation is way beyond what you might imagine.
[00:25:52] But I also believe for that to happen, we have to follow the model of Jesus Christ.
[00:25:59] Hear this.
[00:26:00] When we find a problem, we have to try to fix it. When we find a wound, we have to try to heal it.
[00:26:07] Where. Where. Where sin is prevailing, we have to show even more grace.
[00:26:13] This church needs to be a spiritual healing place where God does his great work, just like he did in Jesus Christ.
[00:26:24] Ah.
[00:26:28] And then ultimately, Jonathan reminds me of Jesus because.
[00:26:40] His father threatened to kill him for doing good.
[00:26:51] He threatened to kill him because he led the people that day in an outstanding and overwhelming victory.
[00:27:00] Ah.
[00:27:02] Our Lord Jesus Christ climbed up the crag.
[00:27:08] Ah.
[00:27:09] He stretched out his hands on the cross and he died to do good.
[00:27:16] You hear this? He gave his life a ransom for many.
[00:27:23] He died that day so that you and I can live forever in the presence of God.
[00:27:31] Jonathan reminds me of Jesus.
[00:27:34] He suffered for doing good.
[00:27:38] And no one ever suffered more for doing good than Jesus Christ.
[00:27:48] But Jonathan's friends, they exalted him and said, nobody's touching him. Today.
[00:27:56] Our Lord Jesus Christ arose on that third day.
[00:28:04] Fifty days later, he ascended into heaven.
[00:28:07] He's seated on a great throne of pearl in the right hand of majesty on high. And listen.
[00:28:19] He is honored.
[00:28:21] Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Do you hear this?
[00:28:29] Our Lord Jesus Christ died to win our salvation, but now he lives in honor and glory. And listen what he prayed for us.
[00:28:42] He said, father, I want my people to be where I am so they can see the glory that I have shared with you before the foundation of the world.
[00:28:58] Jesus Christ is altogether glorious.
[00:29:02] But he shares that glory with people who have a bold faith and initiate in his kingdom to work.
[00:29:13] Jesus Christ has a glory that he desires to share with every single one of us.
[00:29:20] He has. He has a kingdom in which he will reign forever. And he wants each of us to be there with him.
[00:29:28] Ah.
[00:29:29] Some of you, you need to hear the invitation of Christ in a new and different way.
[00:29:41] Instead of hearing the invitation of Jesus Christ, I.
[00:29:45] To give up things you don't want to give up, I want you to hear the invitation of Jesus Christ where he says there is something wonderful about the Christian life and you don't want to miss it.
[00:29:59] There's something intensely beautiful about the Christian life, and you don't want to miss it.
[00:30:05] There is. There's something about the Christian life that's unparalleled in anything else humans do.
[00:30:13] You don't want to miss it.
[00:30:15] Church when you receive Christ as your savior, you're not giving anything up. You're getting everything.
[00:30:24] Let's pray.
[00:30:27] Our dear Heavenly Father, I ask this morning that your Holy Spirit would do what only you could do.
[00:30:38] I ask that as we sit here in your presence, your spirit would pass over us.
[00:30:45] We would sense the living God.
[00:30:50] And then I pray that somewhere in our hearts we would whisper to Christ.
[00:30:56] Ah, I'm giving myself to you in a new way today.
[00:31:02] I'm yielding myself to you in a new way today.
[00:31:07] I want to say yes to the adventure of faith.
[00:31:11] I want to be more deeply involved in the magnificent things you're doing in this generation.
[00:31:19] I want to be where your spirit is moving and where the Philistines are being struck down and the kingdom of God is being elevated.
[00:31:31] Dear Heavenly Father, I ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, that you would be pleased to do your best work in our hearts today and grant us your grace in Jesus name, Amen.
