How to Measure Greatness (David vs. Saul)

How to Measure Greatness (David vs. Saul)

By Pastor Matt Black

Bible Text: 1 Samuel 18:6-16

Preached on: Wednesday, April 09, 2008, 7pm

Tabernacle Baptist Church

7020 Barrington Road

Hanover Park, Illinois 60133

Introduction: Tonight we are looking at what made David so greatly used by the Lord. David is a great man of God. The world measures greatness quite differently than the Lord.

The world measures greatness by the Fortune 500. The richest in America are the greatest. If you have great authority and influence, the world says you are great! The Bible says the exact opposite.

There is a paradox in Scripture, if you want to go up—you’ve got to go down! True greatness is not measured by the height of your achievements, but by the humility of your character! It’s not what you achieve but what God achieves in you that matters—it’s not what you’ve done but who you are!

Here in 1 Samuel 18 we have two men. David is lifted to greatness by the Lord, and Saul tries to lift himself up. There are some very practical lessons that we can take from these men. Which man do you most resemble?

Let’s read about them in 1 Samuel 18:2 and following,

“And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.”

Verse 5,

“And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6 And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. 7 And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? 9 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. 10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied [Heb. Possibility “RAVED”] in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand. 11 And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.”

“12 ¶ And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him. 15 Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them”.

[Prayer for guidance]

What makes a person great? Saul and David had exact opposite views. It is the difference between wisdom and foolishness. The New Testament describes greatness as someone who has a serving, humble, obedient heart. Someone who has a heart like that behaves very wisely indeed!

· A servant’s heart is clearly a significant measure of greatness. The world says, “You need to look out for yourself—look out for number one!” But Jesus said in Matthew 20:26, “whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister [SERVANT]”—taking care of people and building people up! Look out for others. That’s what makes you great! A servant’s heart is the measure of greatness!!

· A humble heart is also the measure of greatness. The world says, never ask forgiveness. Never show weakness. Never hang your head! But we read in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” A humble heart is the measure of greatness!!

· An obedient heart will measure your greatness. The world glorifies the rebel. “Do your own thing!” “Break the rules”. “Be a maverick!” But the Lord says in Matthew 5:19 that obedience is key to greatness. We are to obey and teach the Lord commands, for “whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” An obedient heart is the measure of greatness!!

I want to show you that David had a humble, obedient, walk that served others despite every obstacle. This will be your greatest challenge every day this week and next year and for the rest of your life. If you can remain obedient, humble, and serving others, and not yourself, then God will lift you up!

We begin in verse 5, and we read that “David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely”. Three times total we are told of David’s WISE walk! Along with verse 5, verse 14 and 15 repeat this. David “behaved himself wisely”.

It describes a person who watches what they say, what they do, and how they act because they know they are being watched. It has the idea of walking “accurately, circumspectly, and with great insight,” as if one were navigating a minefield.

It is the kind of walk we are all called upon to exhibit, as Ephesians 5:15 tells us to “walk circumspectly”. There are three areas were this accurate, careful walk of David was on display.

I. David maintained a humble heart despite Life’s Promotions. We meet David and Saul after the great victory over with Goliath. David gained instant success, and instant popularity, and instant danger! Fame brings two things with it: envy and flattery, and both of them are very dangerous for a man. Look at the temptations that promotion brings.

David carefully weighed the praise of men. The women of Israel looked up to David and flattered him. Verse 6, “And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.”

Be careful of flattery! Jesus said in Luke 6:26, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!” There is a great temptation for David to fall into pride, but he did not! He kept a humble heart! He “behaved himself wisely”—carefully, circumspectly—he watched his walk. He walked circumspectly and kept his eyes on God.

There is always a danger when we success in our walk with the Lord. When God allows us a victory or two, we need to beware of the snare of pride. We have the temptation to think we are greater than we actually are. David knew as Psalm 75:6-7 tell us that “promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Both promotion and poverty come from the Lord. Everything we have—all your physical and intellectual powers are a gift from God. Without Him we truly can do nothing. What do we have to glory in?

Explanation: Look how great the temptation would have been for David to get puffed up. After an ancient battle, there were no “ticker tape parades”. Instead the women, according to eastern customs, would come with their instruments and with a folk dance in step with on another and there would be a short folk song that was repeated to one another. And they sang this great folk song. David became a legend as a young man. We see it in verse 7, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands”.

Application: When the Lord attends men of God with great power, many times people want to praise that man. We need to resist that temptation and instead give glory to God! It would have been better that these women praised God. Even Christians have the temptation to have heroes and make too much of men. The lesson here is this: Be very careful not to flatter God’s servants. Don’t hold those who have taught you and trained you too high. You may be the means of their falling. If something good happens it’s not because of any man. Give all the rightful praise to the Lord!

David maintained a humble heart despite life’s Promotions, but secondly…

II. David maintained a humble heart despite life’s Problems. David carefully weighed not only the praise of men, but also the hatred of men! David carefully weighed the envy and hatred of men. David had won a tremendous spiritual victory in defeating God’s enemy and saving God’s people. And yet out of this great victory came great sorrow for David.

A. We read in verse 8 that Saul was eaten up with wrath because of David’s success! He was filled with envy and jealousy! “Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?”

David was on the top of the spiritual leadership of the kingdom. Now this is an amazing historic victory for David, but David did not rest on that great victory! God allowed this great victory to very quickly turn into a very bitter thing. It made Saul bitter and it put David in GREAT danger. And all of this made David more holy! You see God cares much more about your holiness than your earthly success.

But David maintained a humble heart. He “behaved himself wisely” it says in three times throughout this passage (verses 5, 14, 15). When you truly take a stand for the Lord, you will be greatly loved and greatly hated. There is no middle ground! There’s great trouble and sorrow that comes with being used of the Lord.

Application: God allowed David to experience Saul’s wrath so that he might learn and that WE also might learn. And we learn that always with blessing, God sends trial so that we will never rest our hope on anything in this world. There is no saint of God that can live “happily ever after” according to the word’s standards. God mixes toil and pain with peace and rest for our benefit. So when others hate you and hurt you, carefully weigh it as David did. He behaved himself wisely! And so ought you to do. The Scriptures are clear how we ought to expect people to envy and hate us.

· 2 Timothy 3:12, “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

· Jesus said “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33).

· Paul and Barnabas went to all the churches we read in Acts 14:22, “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

We also learn that we should expect those who do not love the Lord to at times stand against us. Jesus said that “every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17). Saul was a “corrupt tree”, and suspicion, hatred, murder, fear, jealous, and envy were the things that filled Saul’s heart.

B. Saul was not only eaten up with wrath, but also with fear because of David’s success! Look at verse 12, “And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.” The Lord was with David! That was true. The Lord had departed from Saul. That was true. Saul saw right to the heart of the whole situation. But he would not accept that.

C. So we read that Saul decides to murder David. He does it on at least two occasions. We read in verse 11, “Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.”

We read in verses 14-15, despite all of this, David continues to trust God and walk carefully, “14 And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him. 15 Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he [SAUL] was afraid of him [DAVID]”.

I think it is so interesting that Saul’s physical life was not in danger, and Saul feared, but David fears nothing even though he’s playing the harp for a man that wants to murder him. David has a humble trusting obedient heart despite life’s problems and despite life’s promotions and successes.

What can we learn from these deep problems that David was facing? How can we maintain a humble heart when life blind side’s us?

Listen, when victory comes, you ought to be ready for problems and be trusting in the Lord. We must never look ultimately to this earthly kingdom. We must look and live for our Lord’s Kingdom! “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God”!

Conclusion: Let me close with this. David was a great man of God because he saw himself as nothing. Verse 23 tells us he considered himself “a poor man, and lightly esteemed”. And because of this humble, obedient heart, he served Saul and he served the people. Verse 16 says, “But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them”. This verse speaks of David’s great influence among the people and deeply they loved David. He “went out and came in before them”. This phrase means that he presided in the every day business of his country, civil as well as military. He acted as a common person. He had a very humble heart.

Who are you more like—David or Saul? Does jealousy and anger and suspicion rule your heart, or are do you have a humble, obedient heart that wants to serve other people, even those who seem to be against you? Are you kind to that co-worker that speaks badly of you? Are you kind when you are falsely accused? Do you keep quiet and entrust yourself to the One that judges righteously? Are you quietly and confidently and humbly trusting in the Lord with a life of holiness no matter what?

True greatness is measured by the depth of your humility—by how committed you are to obeying and pleasing God and by your servant’s heart! How do you measure up? “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10)!