1 Samuel 14:1-23 (August 18, 2024)

We can turn in your Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 14. 1st Samuel 14 will be in verses 1 through 23.

This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible and we're going to look at it here in just a moment.

We are continuing our August series on local church ministry and mission and today

I want to focus on the right mindset for ministry and mission in our current context in which we live in our current moment in which we find our being and we want to do so from 1st

Samuel chapter 14 which is a story, it's one of my favorite because it highlights the courage of Jonathan and it highlights and points to the saving acts of the

Lord. And so this story comes in 1st Samuel sandwiched in between two stories that highlight

King Saul's unfaithfulness. So chapter 13 to 1st Samuel you have Saul where he is impatient and he offers an unlawful sacrifice and then immediately after this story in the latter parts of chapter 14 we have where it's recorded of his rash vow but in the middle we have this incredible story of courage, spirit, confidence in the

Lord in the story of Saul's son Jonathan and his armor bearer.

So what we're going to do, we're going to read a few verses at a time and work our way through the story. But before we begin

I think it would be helpful if we noted just a little bit of the context particularly the hopelessness that Israel found themselves in at this point.

You see their forces are dispirited, they're down and out.

They're cut off from the rest of their army and they are outnumbered by a superior force that has thousands of chariots and horses and better armaments.

Further Israel's king has just shown himself unfaithful to the Lord offering an unlawful sacrifice and the

Lord had promised in chapter 13 to strip the kingdom from him. Some of their countrymen have defected to the

Philistines, you see that in verse 21. Others have gone into hiding because they're afraid and they lack courage, you see that in verse 22.

And so things are not looking up for the people of God this day. And this is where the story of Jonathan and his armor bearer happens.

Let's begin reading verses 1 through 3 in chapter 14, God's word says, Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor,

Come, let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side.

But he did not tell his father. And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree, which is in Negron.

The people who were with them were about 600 men. Ahijah, the son of Ahitab, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the

Lord's priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

So first we see that Jonathan has a daring plan. Come, let us go over to the

Philistines' garrison that is on the other side. Now Israel was outnumbered. The Philistines had the superior position, they had the high ground, and Jonathan proposed a special mission, just the two of them, him and his armor bearer, they would go over to the camp and fight.

And it says, But he did not tell his father. So not only was it a special mission, it was a secret mission.

Saul had proven himself unfaithful as we saw earlier. He was very pragmatic.

He was compromised. He had not obeyed the Lord with regards to waiting on Samuel to make the sacrifice in the previous chapter.

We see present among the 600 men that are with Saul, present among the 600 men with him was

Ahijah of the rejected priestly line of Eli. He was wearing an ephod, which is normally used to inquire of the will of the

Lord. But Saul was not consulting the Lord. He was doing what was right in his own eyes and he had abdicated finding the will of the

Lord. He had abdicated that to Jonathan. And so Jonathan, he did not tell his father, verse 1, and the people, verse 3, did not know that he had gone.

You see, Jonathan, he was not asking permission. He was not making a fuss about it. He was not looking for support or encouragement or directions.

He saw what needed to be done and he set his mind and his body towards doing it.

A couple weeks ago I read a short story called A Message to Garcia, written by Albert Hubbard in 1899.

I think it's a story that all men, especially young men, ought to read. I'll try to put a link. Remember to put a link to it in the Wednesday weekly letter.

But in this story, when war had broken out between the U .S. and Spain, it became necessary to communicate quickly with General Garcia, who was the leader of the insurgents.

And Garcia was somewhere in the vast mountains of Cuba, but no one knew where or how to reach him.

Someone said to the president, well, there's a fellow by the name of Rowan who will find Garcia for you if anybody can.

And Hubbard in his story writes this. He says, Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How the fellow by the name of Rowan took the letter, sealed it up in an oil skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, and in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia are things

I have no special desire now to tell in detail. The point I wish to make is this,

McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia. Rowan took the letter and did not ask where is he at.

By the Eternal, there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land.

It is not book learning the young men need or instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies, and do the thing, carry a message to Garcia.

You see, Jonathan knew how to carry the message to Garcia. He didn't seek permission. He didn't ask questions.

He acted, and we'll see as Jonathan acted, God acted.

Let's pick up in verses four and five. Between the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the

Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side, and the name of one was

Bozes and the name of the other Sina. The front of one faced northward opposite Mitchmash and the other southward opposite Gibeah.

And here we see the danger of the mission just in the landscape, just in the geography. Picture sharp rocky crags coming out from every direction of the mountain pass, one named

Slippery and the other named Thorny. This was not easy to navigate terrain that Jonathan and his armor bearer would go through.

Verse six, then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised.

It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.

See, in this mission there was risk, there was danger from the terrain, from the enemy, yet Jonathan's heart was full of courage.

He said, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. That's a derisive term, a derogatory term for those outside of covenant relationship with Yahweh the

Lord. Let's go out to them. Let's go out into the danger. It may be that the

Lord will work for us. It's not certain, but it may be. Notice that Jonathan is not assured of anything just yet.

God had not spoken to him to tell him to go do this. Rather, he saw the situation and he acted in faith, hopeful that the

Lord would act for them. See, there was risk, not only because of the danger of the situation, but also because he was not assured of victory yet.

Now, if God tells you to go do something, tells you you have victory, you have some confidence to go do that, but he hadn't received that yet.

He had to act first, and then the Lord's will could be discerned. You see,

God doesn't always give us our marching orders first. Often, he wants us to see the world that is around us with godly wisdom, shaped by his word, shaped by his spirit, and then to make judgments as those made in his image and remade by his son, and to make judgments and act, and then he confirms those decisions or he redirects us.

He doesn't always want us to wait until everything is perfectly clear, but to act, to try it out, and then he makes the next steps more clear.

That's what Jonathan does, but he's not doing so blindly. He knows the

Lord. He knows God's character, and he knows the end of verse 6, that nothing restrains the

Lord from saving by many or by few. So sure, Jonathan and his armor bearer, they were outnumbered.

They were outgunned. They didn't have the superior position, but the Lord of Armies was on their side.

The Lord of Armies was on Jonathan's side, and his armor bearer was faithful with him.

Verse 7, so his armor bearer said to him, do all that is in your heart. Go then.

Here I am with you according to your heart. According to your heart.

This is literally in the Hebrew. This is literally, I am with you as your own heart is with you. That's what his armor bearer says to him.

He is all in. He's not afraid. He doesn't second guess. He's not a backseat driver.

You want to go take on the Philistines? Let's go. That's his attitude. Verse 8 through 10, then

Jonathan said, very well, let us cross over to these men. We will show ourselves to them.

If they say thus to us, wait until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them.

But if they say thus, come up to us, then we will go up for the Lord has delivered them into our hand and this will be assigned to us.

So I want you to notice a few things here. First, unlike Saul, Jonathan, he will not move forward without divine guidance.

He's going to act first. He's going to take initiative. He's not just going to rest on his laurels. He's going to act, but he's not going to do so without divine guidance.

He's ready and willing to act. He's undeterred by the risk. He's undeterred by the danger.

He makes the first move by stepping out of the rocks, but he's wise enough to receive guidance from the

Lord. Something that Saul refuses to do. Second, I want you to just notice how absurd this plan is.

Militarily speaking, one commentator pointed out, said their plan is to give up the element of surprise by coming out from the rocks, coming out into the open, that they would just abandon the mission.

If the Philistines give up the high ground and come down to them, kind of, you know, they're going to tire themselves out coming down the mountain to them and give up the high position.

But if that happens, then Jonathan and his armed bear, they're not, they're not engaging, but they're going to attack if they're invited to climb the steep mountain up to the high ground to a small area where they're outnumbered.

So this is, this is not brilliant military strategy. Unless you're counting on the

Lord to save you and, and you want to make it obvious that it is the

Lord who saved you. And so this reminds me of Elijah on Mount Carmel, dousing the altar with water before calling down fire from heaven.

Only God could light that fire. Or it reminds me of, of David going out to the Goliath with just five smooth stones and no armor.

Only God could deliver David that day. Or it reminds me of Israel standing on the, on the banks of the

Red Sea, Pharaoh's army closing in, raising waters in front of them.

Only God could save Israel that day. And you get to these points, only

God can save us now. Yes, that's the point. And that's where Jonathan and his armor bearer were in this story.

Verse 11, verses 11 through 16. So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the

Philistines. And the Philistines said, look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden. And then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come up to us and we'll show you something.

And Jonathan said to his armor bearer, come up after me for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armor bearer after him and they fell before Jonathan.

And as he came after him, his armor bearer killed them. The first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about 20 men within about a half an acre of land.

And there was trembling in the camp, in the field and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled and the earth quaked so that it was a very great trembling.

Now, the watchman of Saul and Gibeah of Benjamin looked and there was the multitude melting away and they went here and there.

So they step out. The Philistines ridiculed them, mocked them and invite them to come up, come out at us and we'll teach you a lesson, they said.

They probably never dreamed that Saul or assumed that Jonathan and his armor bearer would actually go up. But this was just the sign that Jonathan was looking for.

And so they go up and in the space no bigger than a half an acre, the armor bearer struck down 20 men.

This was a massive victory, a turning point in the battle. And there's trembling in the

Philistine camp a half a mile away, tremors on the earth, trembling among the people, literally a panic of God among the people.

This is what God does. Verses 16, verses 17 through 20. And then

Saul said to the people who were with him, now call the roll and see who has gone from us. And when they had called the roll, surprisingly,

Jonathan and his armor bearers were not there. And Saul said to Ahijah, bring the ark of God here.

For at that time, the ark of God was with the children of Israel. Now it happened while Saul talked to the priest that the noise which was in the camp of the

Philistines continued to increase. So Saul said to the priest, withdraw your hand.

Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle. And indeed, every man's sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion.

When it was discovered that Jonathan was not there and the Philistines had suffered a defeat,

Saul sought to bring the ark of God near. Now, Deuteronomy 20 makes clear that Israel is not to enter battle without a priestly address.

And knowing this, Saul had the priest inquire of the Lord, but remember who

Saul is. Saul's a pragmatist. And so when that process starts taking too long, and he's starting to sense that his opportunity to rout the

Philistine is slipping from his hand, he orders the priest to withdraw his hand from the ark of God.

And so again, just like in chapter 13, Saul is not patient to wait upon the Lord. Instead, he acts hastily and takes matters into his own hands.

When they arrived at the battle, God confused the Philistines and they turned on each other. And as we'll see in just a minute, there were

Hebrews who had defected to the Philistines and had divided loyalties. And when the battle turned well for Israel, they turned on the

Philistines and attacked them inside the camp. We see this in verse 21. Moreover, the

Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the

Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise, all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the

Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. So the Lord saved

Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth -Avon. The defectors turned back to Israel and fought against the

Philistines. The fearful came out of hiding just in time to join the winning side.

In verse 23, and the Lord saved Israel that day. That's the main takeaway from this story, by the way.

The Lord saves. Jonathan is a hero of this story, someone we ought to emulate, and we'll get there in just a moment.

But don't miss the big E on the eye chart here. It is the Lord who saves.

The Lord acts. The Lord is our deliverer. Remember the words of Deuteronomy 28, 7.

Then, excuse me, the Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face.

They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. Remember the words of Moses on the banks of the

Red Sea, Exodus 14, 13. The Lord will fight for you. You have only to be silent.

It's the Lord who saves. Now, you might be thinking, it's a really great

Bible story. Great reminder of the Lord's mighty acts, but what does that have to do with local church, ministry, and mission?

I'm glad you asked. What I want to do is, I want to apply this passage by encouraging a certain mindset, a certain attitude that Christians ought to have towards our current cultural moment in which we live.

You see, as we do ministry and mission here in our context, I want us to draw some lessons from Jonathan and this story in 1

Samuel 14. You see, Israel's situation seemed hopeless.

They were dispirited and outgunned. And for Christians in the West and America, it can often feel like we're in a similar situation.

The enemies of God hold superior positions. They control the government, the media, the academy, the large corporations, the military.

In short, they control the institutions. And some among our ranks have defected to the other side.

They've adopted the progressive vision of life. They've capitulated on sexuality. They've given up the nation and even the idea of a nation.

Others have gone into hiding, afraid to participate in the culture wars. And as a result, the Christian church has lost its spirit.

Now, I don't mean they've lost the Holy Spirit, but that they've lost the fighting spirit.

The will and the drive to win, the will and the drive to disciple the nations, even their own, and to make the will of Christ supreme in all of human society.

You see, we were often content to lament the state of affairs, maybe even to complain about the state of affairs.

But too few of us are compelled to do anything to change the state of affairs.

Too few who are willing to just get the message to Garcia. I believe we need to be animated once again with the same spirit of Jonathan who said, let us go over to the garrison of those uncircumcised

Philistines and maybe God will act for us. The same spirit of Elijah who mocked the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and challenged them to a battle of the gods.

The same spirit of David who took high offense at the scorn of Goliath against the Lord of heaven. And as a shepherd boy, defeated the giant with one fling of a rock.

In short, Christians in the West generally, and I would hope Christians in our church specifically, we need a shot of vitality and confidence in the

Lord almighty. We need a generation of Christians who do not seek permission from the compromised and unfaithful and the defectors and the fearful, but they see the need and they meet the need.

Those who don't make a fuss about it, who don't ask a thousand questions, who don't need a battle plan written up in the clouds, who don't think safety first, who don't need a guarantee of success, but are willing to step out before the garrison of the uncircumcised because maybe the

Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.

I want to apply a few of the things that we see in the story of Jonathan for us. The first thing that we see here is leadership.

The leader is the one who perceives the undesirableness of the present and conceives of a better possible future.

And he's the one who takes action to realize that future. So we see that with Jonathan.

It was Jonathan's crazy idea. It was Jonathan's daring plan. Jonathan was the one who made the decision.

He was not afraid to decide. Jonathan stepped out from the rock. He didn't send his armor bearer out alone.

Jonathan was the first one up the mountains on his hands and feet climbing up to the enemy with his armor bearer coming up after him, verses 12 and 13.

You see, Jonathan was a leader. I think of King Loon in C .S.

Lewis's A Horse and His Boy, part of the Chronicles of Narnia series. In that book,

King Loon says, this is what it means to be a king, to be first in every desperate attack, last in every desperate retreat.

And when there's hunger in the land, as must be now and then in bad years, to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.

First in, last out, laughing loudest. This is leadership.

One characteristic of leaders is they know that they have agency. That is that things may be bad, but they don't have to be this way.

That we can do something about it. We can take action. Now, yes, I believe in the sovereignty of God.

I believe in the sovereignty of God down to the dustboats in which way they blow in the breeze. I believe there's not one rogue molecule in this entire universe.

Every last one does God's bidding. I believe in the sovereignty of God. I also believe in human agency. I believe

God uses means to accomplish his will. And often, men are the means that God uses.

Men who are unafraid to act, who see the need, meet the need, and we call these men leaders. The story of Jonathan teaches us that faith -filled action, faith -filled human initiative can serve as the means for God's action.

So first, we see leadership. Second, we see followership. We not only see Jonathan leading, but we see his armor -bearer following.

He was with Jonathan, heart and soul. He was with Jonathan as Jonathan's own heart was with him. Now first, this is a commentary on Jonathan's leadership.

You see, people crave bold leaders who understand the times and are willing to act in accordance with them.

We currently have a leadership crisis in our land, both in the church generally and in society generally.

And so we must rise to the occasion. We don't wait for someone else to lead. We become those leaders. We train our children to become those leaders.

We raise them up for that. To be those leaders, those great men and women of God as the missionary pioneer

William Carey so famously said, those who expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.

But not only is this a commentary on Jonathan's leadership, it's a commentary on the armor -bearer's faithfulness in following Jonathan.

You see, he did not second -guess Jonathan. He didn't tell him everything that could possibly go wrong and tried to dissuade him or talk him into something safer.

No, he said, I am with you according to your own heart. He followed faithfully. You see that any given church, our church, we don't only need leaders because not everyone's equipped or qualified or disposed to lead, but we also need faithful followers who are willing to follow the leaders up the mountain to the garrison of the

Philistines, garrison of the Philistines, because maybe the Lord will act for us.

And it takes courage to follow faithfully. So we need leaders and followers.

Third, we need to operate with God's guidance. Saul was hasty and did not inquire of the

Lord. He was pragmatic and he took matters into his own hands. Jonathan, however, he took initiative, but he also sought a sign from the

Lord. Jonathan was faithful. Saul was not. But what about us? Now, it can be dangerous.

It can be a dangerous business looking for signs from God. In our era of redemptive history, with a full

Bible printed in our language, I would say it's better than trying to look for signs out there somewhere.

It's better to look to God's word for guidance. And there we find our marching orders, the Great Commission.

Disciple the nations, baptize them, teach them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. That's the mission.

That's what's commanded. That's what's expected. That's what's sanctioned. And now we step before the uncircumcised, into the danger, into the risk, confident that the

Lord will work for us because in Christ, he already has. And we look for God's word for guidance on how to go about that task of the

Great Commission. Fourth thing, courage. Courage begets courage.

I want you to notice how contagious Jonathan's courage was. His armor bearer was courageous after him.

Then the defectors took courage and they joined the fight. They turned on the Philistines when they had joined.

And then those hiding up in the mountains, afraid, they came out to fight too. So friends, a little courage goes a long way.

Think about last few years. Last few years in our nation have been very hard, been very revealing too.

They've been very difficult. The social pressure has been intense. You can think back about oppressive

COVID measures, mass mandates, quarantine mandates, vaccine mandates, all sorts of mandates, forbidding churches to gather, thinking about intense social pressure related to race relations, particularly summer of 2020.

You can think about massive political propaganda operations. The pressure to conform and go along has been very intense.

We can probably expect more of that between now and Inauguration Day. And it showed a lot of people's true colors, a lot of leaders' true colors.

I want you to think about, think back to 2020 when the pressure was at its height and you didn't want to go along with something, but the pressure's there.

And then you see somebody else not going along with something. And it was kind of just a shot in the arm that you needed to steal your spine and not go along either.

That's because courage begets courage. When we see someone else being courageous, we're steeled to be courageous too.

And so whatever the situation, let's be the ones who are giving the shot in the arm of vitality and courage to others.

And then lastly, I think this kind of undergirds the rest of these. Optimism.

Jonathan knew the Lord. Jonathan knew God's character. He was not presumptuous that God would work for them, but he was confident that he was on the right track.

And then when he received the sign from God that this was of the Lord, he climbed that mountain to fight. As brothers and sisters,

Christians ought to be the most optimistic people on the planet. Yes, we should be clear -eyed realists about our current position amidst our current conditions.

But Jesus walked out of the grave. Jesus dealt the death blow to Satan's sin and death.

Jesus ascended into heaven to the right hand of God the Father where he rules and reigns with justice.

And 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.

Jesus has won and is winning. And his people, his body, his church ought to think like it and feel like it and act like it.

We are not beautiful losers just waiting around until Jesus has had enough and he comes to airlift us all out of here.

And in the meantime, Satan just gets to do whatever he wants and have his way on earth because it's all his anyway. No, that is not the teaching of the

Bible. We are sons of the living God. We are disciples of the risen

Christ. He has bought this world with his own blood. He shall have dominion from sea to sea.

Psalm 72 The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 3 .14 The nations shall be discipled. And he intends to use us to do it.

Us. Sometimes weak. Sometimes fickle. Sometimes faithless. Sometimes afraid.

Not quite knowing what to do all the time. He uses us. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised.

God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.

1 Corinthians 1 .27 -29 He uses us. And so we don't sit back on our heels.

We don't bide our time. We march forward. Onward, Christian soldiers. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us.

And the enemies of Christ will be put under his feet. And so down with defeatism.

Down with pessimism. If you're familiar with Narnia, down with Podoglom. Yes, we have challenges.

Yes, we have enemies. Yes, we have hard times. Christians have always had those.

But we do not lose heart. Because we serve the God of heaven. We serve the

God of victory. And so do not let our current difficulties and challenges get you down. You are made in the image of God and you are remade by the

Son of God. And he puts you here, now. I want you to think about that for just a second.

Think of everything that had to happen over the course of all of human history and all the events that God orchestrated over all of human history such that you were conceived at the very moment yet you were so you would be alive at this very moment.

God put you here for the challenges of 2024. He put

George Washington for the challenges of 1776. He put Constantine for the challenges of the 300s.

He put other people for the other challenges in other places at other times. But he put you, us, here for the challenges of 2024 so that we would meet them with faith and faithful action.

And so don't be defeatist. Our God reigns. I want to end with my favorite quote from the

English writer G .K. Chesterton. He says, the one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth is to fight a losing battle and not lose it.

And by God's grace, we won't. For nothing restrains the

Lord from saving by many or by few. Let's pray.

Our Father, we ask you to give us the strength to act, to not wait around for perfect conditions and a clear risk -free path forward, but to act in faith.

I pray that you would give us courage, the type of courage that makes us stand up straight, the type of courage that leads us to act, the type of courage that instills courage in our fellow brothers and sisters.

And in the areas where we lead, Lord, I pray that you would help us to be bold leaders. In the areas where we follow, Father, I pray that you would help us to be faithful followers, that in everything you would instill in us a commitment to your word so that we are guided by it, shaped by it, constrained by it, led by it.

And let us be hopeful and confident in the lordship of King Jesus, not cowering in fear amidst challenging conditions, but conquering those conditions in the name of Jesus Christ and doing our part to bring the nations into glad submission to his will.

We love you, Lord. We praise your glorious name and we thank you for your mercy to us and we ask all of this in the name of your son,