By Nathan Hart
Preachers tend to deliver one of two types of sermons. Either they teach a particular Bible story and allow its narrative to guide their outline and theme, or they preach topically. To write a topical sermon, preachers first choose a topic (“Christian Parenting,” for example) and then find Bible verses to support their outline. At my church, we keep the Bible in the driver’s seat and teach what we sense the Holy Spirit is highlighting about the biblical passage of the week.
Occasionally this method frustrates people because it can appear that we are tone deaf about the important topics on their minds. This is understandable because all week we are inundated with cultural issues presented with apocalyptic urgency by news channel opinionators. By Sunday, some folks arrive at church or watch online hoping I will champion the right side of the issue (as they see it). We must win the “culture wars,” they’ve come to believe. Instead of speaking about those topics, I open the Bible and explore an ancient story. Even though I speak for twenty or more minutes, it can seem like I am “being silent” on “the issues.” People have told me that my “silence is deafening,” that I lack the courage to “tell the truth” about “what’s really going on,” and that because of the spinelessness of preachers like me, Christianity is destined to lose the culture wars.
So, why do I keep stubbornly sticking to the Bible? Am I naïve about the severity of the problems in our society? Am I afraid to speak out because I don’t want to offend anyone? Do I think cultural battles don’t exist? No, no, and no. I do think there is a culture war raging all around us, but I see a very different way of engaging, and ultimately winning it.
The Bible itself is the answer. Allow me to illustrate this idea by describing another culture war that happened around 3,000 years ago.
The Philistines hated the Israelites. They wanted them—and their God—destroyed. Tensions rose to the point of an actual war breaking out. The armies of the two nations gathered for battle: “The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.” (1 Samuel 17:3. All further citations are taken from the same chapter).
In what would become a world-famous scene, the Philistines sent their toughest, biggest, meanest warrior into the valley to taunt the Israelites. “There came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.” Goliath’s armor and measurements are then listed in precise detail: a helmet of bronze, a 5,000 shekel bronze coat of mail, and a 600 shekel iron spear. To the original readers of this story, these weren’t random details, they were cultural markers. Imagine if I told you there was a boxing match where one fighter’s gloves had a hammer and sickle symbol, and the other fighter’s gloves had fifty stars and thirteen stripes. Without me saying “Russia vs. USA,” you would know which country each fighter represented. In the same way, the biblical descriptions of Goliath illustrated that his nation was the enemy of the God of the Bible.
“Give me a man, that we may fight together!” Goliath shouted. The Israelites all knew who the biggest warrior in their ranks was: King Saul. Earlier in the story (1 Samuel 9:2) it says that Saul was taller than anyone else in Israel by a head. To win this war of cultures, God could have commanded Saul to man up, find his courage, and fight Goliath. But that’s not the battle plan God designed to win the war.
A young, small, shepherd boy named David appeared on the scene. He had been sent there by his father to bring lunches to his warrior brothers. In those days, shepherds had about as much social standing as ex-convicts or slaves. David didn’t look like a warrior but he understood the battle better than even the king or his generals. He heard the taunts of the enemy and insisted that he be the one to fight him. After some convincing, King Saul finally agreed but instructed David to wear his armor. This proved to be a silly exercise because of their size difference. Wearing it, David looked ridiculous and couldn’t even walk let alone fight. No, David had something else in mind. “He took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”
I wonder how pathetic David looked to the Philistines. I wonder if even the Israelite soldiers thought he had no chance against Goliath. How could a giant warrior be defeated by an unarmored shepherd boy with a sling and five smooth stones?
Let’s look more closely at those stones. Why did the biblical writer tell us that David chose five of them? To the original hearers of the story, the number five would have been as obvious a symbol as fifty stars and thirteen stripes are to us. The number five represented the word of God. The Torah is the first five books of the Bible. Five smooth stones. Why are they smooth? Perhaps it’s because, like a river rock worn by years of flowing water, the Bible stands the test of time, growing more beautiful with each passing generation, trend, and culture that reads it.
David didn’t fight the enemy on the enemy’s terms. He brought the word of God. That’s it. Just the faithful promises of a divine Savior. And it worked.
Right before he slung his fatal first stone into Goliath’s forehead, David made two statements. First, he said he would kill Goliath “so all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” In other words, there is no competition between local “gods,” there is only one true God of all the earth. Second, he wanted everyone to know that “the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s.” We should read this phrase carefully. It means that God doesn’t use conventional weapons, and that the battle is ultimately his to win. God doesn’t employ the tactics of the enemy but takes the high road. Like the old adage says, “Don’t wrestle a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”
In our context, we also have an enemy who taunts us. His name is Satan. His weapons include lies, division, and self-centeredness. When Christians try to fight him on his own terms, using similar tactics, we look ridiculous, just like David in Saul’s armor. We don’t need to lie, be divisive, or focus on our own self-advancement. We have a better weapon, though it may not appear very tough at first glance. To truly transform our culture and “win” against the enemy, we need to keep studying, preaching, believing, and trusting the Bible and the divine Savior revealed in its pages.
Jesus himself shows us the way. He faced the enemy of our souls when he entered into this valley we call history. Think about it. He could have arrived in Jerusalem with a bigger army than the Romans. He could have rolled through the city streets on a tank and wiped out the competition. Divide and conquer. Me first. But the Lord saves not with sword and spear. Jesus came into the world with the five smooth stones of his word. When Satan tempted him in the wilderness, he quoted Scripture to turn him away. When the soldiers beat him, mocked him, and hung him on the cross, he quoted Bible verses. For example, when he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he was quoting Psalm 22. When he said “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” he was fulfilling Isaiah 53:12. Yes, at every turn, he was slinging those five smooth stones. To the onlookers, it may have looked like weakness, but he would prove in his resurrection that he was actually winning the war against sin and death.
Are we called to employ the same strategy as Jesus when facing the enemy in our time? The New Testament book of Ephesians gives us an answer:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
Truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, and salvation. These smooth stones are revealed by the only weapon we need to bring to battle: the word of God. This is the weapon that the enemy cannot understand or defeat. While it may seem necessary to use the same kinds of lies, division, and self-centeredness he uses against us, we must resist this temptation. We have access to the same smooth stones that David and Jesus used. We have the word of God.
One of the last details in the story about David defeating Goliath is this: “There was no sword in the hand of David.” The sentence reads like a slow camera zoom-in before the fade to credits at the end of a movie. Just in case we didn’t get the point of the preceding story, the biblical writer reminds us one more time: “There was no sword in the hand of David.”
So I will keep preaching the five smooth stones of God’s word every Sunday. I am not unaware of the culture wars and I do not lack the courage to fight them. But I refuse to engage the enemy on his terms. I will not wrestle that pig. Instead I will rely upon the faithful promises and actions of the Bible and the humble victor to which it points, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Nathan Hart preached a sermon-length message on this same theme. To hear the sermon, visit https://www.stanwichchurchaudio.org/sermons/gods-victory/ To view the sermon video, visit https://youtu.be/Fo4CfsVWdGU?t=2947
The Rev. Dr. Nathan Hart is the Senior Pastor of Stanwich Church.
