I'm Mad
Pt. 4 - We Got to Move
I. Introduction
We have been talking about how we communicate anger. Did you know there are even unique ways to say you are angry in different parts of our country? If you are from Nevada, you might say "Get one's chin out." In Kentucky, "I'm chewin' fire!" In the North rather than "I am about to have a cow" it is "I'm about to have kittens!" In New England, "I am about to feather white!" In the west, "I am in a horns and rattles mood." The way we say it varies. Unfortunately, how we handle anger usually doesn't. We allow anger to destroy us and those around us. However, if we could ever learn to allow that anger to move, motivate, and jump start us to productive action we could change the world. David must have had this ability to help people make this hard transition. We are familiar with the angry, chewin' fire, feather white crowd he drew together.
TEXT: 1 Samuel 22:1-2 (NIV)
David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.
There were men who were in some kind of trouble, men who owed a lot of money, and men who were just not satisfied with life. (Bitter about life.)
Broke, busted and disgusted.
And yet these angry men learn to graduate, mature, and handle their anger until they MAD. We are trying to learn how they did that!
Let's go back and another example of these men and see if we can discover how they did it.
TEXT: 2 Samuel 23:13-17 (GW)
At harvest time three of the thirty leading men came to David at the cave of Adullam when a troop from the Philistine army was camping in the valley of Rephaim. While David was in the fortified camp, Philistine troops were at Bethlehem. When David became thirsty, he said, “I wish I could have a drink of water from the well at the city gate of Bethlehem.” So, the three fighting men burst into the Philistine camp and drew water from the well. They brought it to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as an offering to the Lord and said, “It’s unthinkable that I would do this, Lord. This is the blood of men who risked their lives!” So, he refused to drink it.
This part of the account stands in stark contrast to the other accounts we have reviewed. We talked about the incredible actions of Eleazar, Shammah, and Abishai. Three great stories. But this story is different. In fact, I have read this part of the list before and dismissed it. Passed right over it as almost a needless addition to the account of the 3 top mighty men. But now I see something here that if we aren't careful, we not only miss in the narrative, but also miss as key principles to moving from mad to MAD. We got to move!
We must move from gift to gifts!
All the accounts we mentioned so far and that are yet to be read all notate the activities of one man. One man who stood against incredible odds to make a difference. However, there are moments that are moments that in order to make a difference you must cooperate with others. The nature of the challenge that is before you will require you to join your gift with the gifts of someone else. The only way they pulled this feat off was to go together. In other words, to make a difference you can’t always do your own thing! YOU WILL NEED OTHERS! It isn't that you can't make a difference individually. It isn't that there won't be moments where you will have to make a solitary stand. It is that there will be occasions in which the task must be accomplished by many gifts combined. It usually isn't the size of task that is the issue. It is the size of the team. That is why we can look around when someone gets tired and usually determine that what is causing them to grow weary and quit isn't the task. It is the lack of team to perform the task. Scripture bears this out in Leviticus 26 when God promises that five of you will pursue 100, and 100 of you will pursue 10,000.” In other words, God cooperates with us when we cooperate with one another and we move from addition to multiplication. We need people to travel with and fight with if we want to make the most difference. Some of us are making the difference we can make. However, the difference made could be exponentially greater if we would find move from gift to gifts! That is why we challenge you to serve. The victories won will be greater with your gift in the mix. Some of you sit on the sidelines because you think the team is full and your gift doesn't matter. If you would simply add your gift to someone else's gift the most difference would be made!
Move from command to wish!
Do you want to make a difference? I know you do and this account shares what may be the greatest secret and overlooked truth in the entire series. I want you to notice what the text says again.
"When David became thirsty, he said, “I wish I could have a drink of water from the well at the city gate of Bethlehem. So, the three fighting men burst into the Philistine camp and drew water from the well.”
Look at it again! We will make the most difference when we are able to move from command to wish. David could have given a command. He could have given an order. However, these guys are so devoted to the King that they are motivated to take action by mere wish of the King!
Some of us wait to make a difference when we discover that we are ordered. I command you to love one another. I command you to bear one another's burdens. I command you to tithe. Oh, that we would mature to the place that when we hear of the Kings wish we would respond. Oh, that we would be so committed to the heart of the King that if we get wind of a wish we would respond. We could refuse it isn’t an order. We could sit it out because that isn't my gift, that isn't my area of interest, that isn't in my comfort zone but, we are so in love with the king that hear the wish and obey. These great men go out of their way. They risk their lives. They fight their way to this water - 12/20 miles one way through enemy territory to honor the wish of their King! But I am tired. I am busy. I don't like those people. We must move from command to wish.
If He wished that we show love to someone who isn't like us, we obey. He wished we would hold our tongue; we shut our mouth and log off FB. We have right to speak but, we love the King and His wish means more than my rights. If He wishes we would worship, we may not even like the tune, and we will worship. If He wishes we would get our hands dirty, give of our time, sweat, then we could check out and clock out but His wish in our command! We so desperately want to make a difference for the King that no command is needed! I respond to His wish!
This is the same type of action taken by woman who anoints Jesus feet in worship. A sacrifice made not by command but by a desire to bless the king.
Perhaps we would make a difference if we would mature enough and develop enough in our devotion to go beyond just doing what we are commanded but instead wanted to please God so much that we tried to fulfill his wishes.
I also want to just mention something else briefly. Notice David wished for water from the well of Bethlehem. In Israel there are wells everywhere. These men fulfill the king's wish exactly. They get the specific water he wished for. There was other water between the king and the protected well of Bethlehem. But they were so devoted to the king's wishes that they don't try to substitute other water for what he wished for. David would never know. I won't how many of us try to substitute obedience in one area so that we can justify disobedience in another area. We go part of the way. We do part of what He wished. We will make the most difference when we obey the wish of the King exactly!
Move from man to God.
Notice what David does. He is given the water and he recognizes the great risk and sacrifice the men had made. He refuses to drink the water. That would seem to be insulting. However, David pours the water out before the Lord. In essence, he pours it out as if it the blood of these men. He is making a drink offering. A sacrifice of what was obtained by great sacrifice. We will make the most difference when we mature enough to recognize that what we do, what we give, what we sacrifice, where we serve is an offering unto God. We are encouraged to this end in Colossians 3:22-25.
Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.
Our service, in response to the wishes of our King will make the most difference we make the move from serving man to serving God. That is why I can jump in and serve, sacrifice, give even if I don't like the person in charge. The truth is they aren't in charge. I am not serving them. I am serving Him! I am not getting their job done. I am getting HIS job done! I am pouring my service/sacrifice out on the ground to Him as an offering!
