The American president Theodore Roosevelt once taught Sunday School at a church called Christ Church. But he was actually fired or let go from being a teacher. The way it happened is that one of the boys in his class arrived one Sunday morning with a black eye. Roosevelt asked him what he’d been doing. The boy admitted he’d been fighting, and fighting on the Lord’s Day. Roosevelt asked him why. The boy said that a bigger boy had been pinching his sister, so he fought him.
Upon hearing that, Roosevelt reached into his pocket, gave the boy a dollar and said to him, “Well done, you did right.” Unfortunately, the rather stodgy people at Christ Church thought this was too much and removed Roosevelt from being Sunday School teacher.
Apparently, the idea of Christian piety at that church apparently had no place for honour, for nobility, for defending your loved ones, for confronting bullies with force. Theirs was a confused and feminised piety, an anaemic and domesticated pacifism. But this is not biblical Christianity.
Biblical Christianity has a very real place for war, for battle, for the use of force. This is not because war and violence and conflict are good things in themselves. Peace and order are the ultimate good things. But the presence of evil means we will not have peace until evil is defeated.
In fact, the Bible reveals that the presence of evil is why there is conflict in the world. Because behind the scenes, there has been a battle of cosmic, galactic proportions, between God and spiritual forces in rebellion to Him. The Bible teaches that evil in our world had its origin beyond and before our world in the fall of Satan, from being a great angelic prince into the prince of darkness.
Ever since then, war has been upon the world. Many, perhaps most wars are evil. A few wars have been what we call just wars. And the Bible teaches that final peace will come to the world only after a war that Christ Himself will enter, and fight and win.
In the meantime, Christians fight a war, not with guns and weapons or with physical force. Paul tells us
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
(Ephesians 6:12).
And the Bible is not embarrassed to tell us to fight the good fight of faith, to contend earnestly for the faith, to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, to take up the whole armour of God. The Christian life is a battleground, not a playground, it is warfare, not a fun-fair.
But just as we should confront the error of a cowardly pacifism, we know other Christians will run over to the other extreme and embrace a kind of contentious pugilism. A pugilist is the one who is itching for a fight; he does not fight so as to protect and win, he fights so as to fight. The conflict has become thrilling to him; he enjoys it for his own sake. He is not simply contending, he has become contentious. He is no longer fighting the good fight, he has become a reviler, a brawler, one who strives with others. He has become quarrelsome. A Christian pugilist may not be physically violent, but he now has a taste for emotional blood, for verbal explosions, and relational warfare. Unfortunately, enough of these people make it into the pulpit and into ministry.
Christians should be neither pacifists nor pugilists, neither avoiding conflict nor seeking it out. Christians must wage a good warfare in the fight against the world, the flesh and the devil. And very importantly, we are supposed to overcome. The last book of the Bible uses this word overcome twelve times, seven times as a promise to believers. At the close of the book, we read
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
(Revelation 21:7).
Revelation says that true believers overcame the evil one by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
But how do we wage a good warfare without becoming cowards or contentious? Once again, the life of David has much to teach us. As we come to the last chapters of the life of David, we come across some summaries of his military life, which help us to see this man of war from the perspective of his whole life. We see how he fought, and his successes in fighting. Along with these summaries, we will also see one of his psalms, composed after a life of having experienced victory and deliverance. This Psalm is psalm 18 in the Bible, and also 2 Samuel 22. This psalm gives us the inside track, the inward perspective of someone who overcame.
How do I fight the good fight, wage a good warfare and overcome? David’s life offers three godly approaches to spiritual warfare.
I. David Fought Durably
When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint.
Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David.
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”
After a lifetime of battle, the old enemies of Israel assert themselves. Here, the Philistines, whom we thought had been vanquished, appear again. Back in chapter 8, we saw the great military exploits of David, conquering on the north, south, west, and east. And it really seemed as if the Philistines were a thing of the past. But here we read them re-asserting themselves. Apparently, there are still descendants of the Rephaim and Nephilim in Israel, and there are more battles to be fought.
David is back on the battlefield. In fact, David was always at his best when conflict, defence, strategy and martial activity was needed. He was at his worst when there were battles to be fought and he decided to take a break. Remember the very first verse of that fateful chapter of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. It begins with the words,
It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” (2 Samuel 11:1)
The worst decline in David’s life took place when he thought he had earned the right to stop fighting. The worst sins of his life took hold on the day when he felt he deserved some peace.
But once David had been through all the chastening and discipline of the Lord through the sins of Absalom and Amnon, now, towards the end of his life, he is back on the battlefield. Back in the fray, fighting some very old enemies – the same people he fought to become Israel’s hero, the Philistines. Here he is, without the speed, and flexibility, and quick reflexes of his younger years, but he is where kings should be: first in the charge, and last in retreat.
David is willing to fight until his strength gives out. He is on the field, and one of these descendants of the Rephaim spots the weakened and fatigued David and bears down on him. Only Abishai, Joab’s brother, who jumps in, kills the Philistine and saves David. At that point, the soldiers of Israel tell David, “we are retiring you. You are like a light and lamp to our whole nation, and no enemy should get to say that he killed David in battle.”
David’s fight was durable – he endured and kept at it.
Here is the honourable way to finish the good fight of faith. When your strength simply gives out, and those around you beg you to rest. There was no honour when David, still in his prime, lounged around on his patio, and look out over his balcony, while his men were giving their lives on the battlefield.
Though it was no doubt humbling to his pride that he could not fight as he used to, David could bow out with honour. He could say like a Paul, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Here God protected David, and God gave David the permission to step back.
In our younger years, we imagine that when we get to a certain age, we will be able to just put the car in neutral, and coast, enjoying the freewheeling momentum of our frenetic years of work. But then a shock comes to people in later life. The fight didn’t get easier; it gets harder. The battles don’t end, they continue. The temptations are still there, the enemies of the faith are just as aggressive, the world is still alluring, the doubts have not disappeared, and now there are the increased challenges of bodily weakness, of loss, of uncertainties, of fears.
How many believers have ruined their ministries, their marriages, their families, their testimonies, because they decided to stop fighting prematurely. Before God had sovereignly removed their mobility, or their mental capacity, or their health, they took their weariness as permission to stop fighting temptation, and stop fighting worldliness, and stop fighting the flesh. A church that grows tired of maintaining its doctrinal stand, or its position on worldliness. A pastor weary of keeping a watch on his own soul, feeling he deserves some self-indulgence. A home weary of insisting on biblical standards for the children, tired of keeping up spiritual disciplines. A Christian tired of praying, or reading the Word, or being in regular worship and fellowship with others.
But nothing is more dangerous than stepping back from the battle before God retires you.
When Paul takes up the language of spiritual warfare, he keep enlisting the word stand.
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.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, (Ephesians 6:13–14)
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)
When you are tempted to quit struggling against the flesh, the world, the devil, remember the Author and Finisher of our faith. Remember Him, continuing to pray, even when the sorrow threatened to take his life, and it came out as sweating blood. Remember Him unable to carry His own cross, a man named Simon of Cyrene being enlisted to do it for Him, exhaustion claiming Him even before the Cross. But remember that He saw it through and was able to announce, “It is finished.” That’s what you want to say of your life, “I kept the faith, I fought the fight, I finished my course.”
II. David Fought Daringly
Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant.
Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant.
So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.
These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. (2 Samuel 21:18–22)
When 1 Samuel opened, Israel was not having much success against the Philistines. The Philistines ran the country and wouldn’t even let the Israelites make their own weapons. It took the remarkable God-centred courage of David with a sling and a stone to awaken similar faith and courage in others. He fought daringly.
Here we read of the exploits of relative unknowns: Sibbechai, Elhanan, and Jonathan are now all giant-killers. Where were these giant-killers 40 years previously? It is not that the Israelites had grown in physical stature. It is not that the Philistines were any shorter. It is that David’s fighting bravery had now inspired a whole platoon of giant-killers: people who otherwise might have lived mediocre lives.
Because of David’s courage, chapter 23, from verse 8 to verse 39 lists out people who came to be known as David’s mighty men. These were fierce and skilled warriors, who showed exceptional and rare courage and faith to fight and risk death, when all others flee in fear.
In fact, the chapter even ranks them for their bravery. There were the three, the three greatest men, then a second three and then the thirty.
These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time.
And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated.
He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder.
And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines.
But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the LORD brought about a great victory.
The passage goes on to tell us that the three once heard their leader simply say in passing that he missed the water from Bethlehem’s well. These three decided, both as a challenge, and as a gift of love and loyalty to their general that they would fight an entire garrison of Philistines, draw water from that well and bring it back to David, which they did. David, being the man of honour he was, didn’t gulp it down and smack his lips, but turned it into a sacrifice: an offering to the Lord.
Verse 18 tells us of the exploits of another two.
Now Abishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of another three. He lifted his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three.
Was he not the most honored of three? Therefore he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three.
Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.
And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand; so he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear.
These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men.
He was more honored than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him over his guard.
What follows is a list of over thirty men, men who might have lived easy lives, might have sank into obscurity, might have chosen to do little or nothing with their lives. Instead, these men decided to fight so bravely, so valiantly, that they now have their names eternally recorded in the Bible. They have made their mark on eternity.
Now where were these kinds of men when Saul was king? Had the physical DNA of Israel changed? Was the diet better? Were all the men of a generation earlier cowards and wallflowers?
No, in every generation there are those who will do great things if they just have an example. The basic stuff of humanity does not change. It takes just one or two to shout fire in a crowded hall and cause a stampede of fear. In the Law of Moses, when armies were being conscripted, they actually had to give this announcement: “The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ (Deuteronomy 20:8)
Fear spreads. Indeed, look at what has happened with Covid. And be aware: your actions, that you think are just sensible self-protection may actually be a cause of fear amongst God’s people, which is the last thing we need. God doesn’t take lightly those who cause the hearts of his people to fail: just ask the ten spies who told the people of Israel that the dangers of Canaan were too great.
But it also takes only one or two people of visible bravery, of unmistakable valiance, and suddenly you have brave men by the armful. The difference is the presence of a man of faith and bravery. When one man steps forward, and says, “Who is this Philistine, defying the armies of the living God?”, suddenly others realise it can be done. When one man charges into battle, the others realise that tentativeness gets you killed, and courage gives you an offensive advantage.
David inspired his whole army to multiple victories, and then inspired a whole new generation of giant-killers.
This is why David is in the Bible, as is Daniel, and the book of Acts, and our Lord Himself. The Word inspires us not just to fight perseveringly, but to fight courageously. This is why we need to read in church history to see people doing acts of extraordinary piety, extraordinary faith under fire, extraordinary willingness to stand. This is why we need to read of recent and modern missionary heroes who embrace the cost, step out in faith.
Without these, we will be like the men of Saul’s generation, thinking that there is no way ahead, except to keep our heads down and hope our pagan overlords go easy on us. But throw in examples of valiant faith, and suddenly there are Christians witnessing at school and at the workplace, Christians beginning ministries, and doing evangelism, and looking to the mission field, and training for the pastorate.
God’s people look to each other for examples not just of reliability, but sometimes of courage. Have you done anything that would inspire others to take risks for Christ? Have you taken any risks for Christ that would embolden the faith of others? By your faithfulness to church when it is difficult, by your clear testimony of salvation in the hearing of others, by your faithful service every week, by your willingness to evangelise and if you cannot go to the mission field, then to send, and to pray.
A sign in the Grossmunster church in Zurich, where the Reformer Ulrich Zwingli preached simply says, “By God’s grace, do something courageous.” Have you done anything which would inspire God’s people? Someone said, courage is simply fear that has said its prayers.
President Theodore Roosevelt described the penalty of the life that never takes any risks. “It’s not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again; because there is no effort without error and shortcoming..; who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checked by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Some people will come to the end of their life and think they succeeded because they avoided every risk and every danger, only to find that it was in that very avoidance that they failed. God did not call us to live safe lives; He called us to live holy, God-glorifying, disciple-making lives.
David fought enduringly. David fought winsomely. But it is his own words in Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 23 that gives us the spiritual secret of David’s good fight.
III. David Fought Dependently
We have read this psalm in its entirety this morning. We’re not going to go through it, but simply extract the tone and message of this song. But before you hear that, by way of comparison, here are what ancient military generals said about their victories.
This is an actual inscription by Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, on one of the inscriptions found by archaeologists.
“Sennacherib, the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters (of the world); favorite of the great gods; the wise and crafty one; strong hero, first among all princes; the flame that consumes the unsubmissive, who strikes the wicked with the thunderbolt.
Assur, the great god, has entrusted to me an unrivaled kingship, and has made powerful my weapons above (all) those who dwell in palaces. From the upper sea of the setting sun to the lower sea of the rising sun, all princes of the four quarters (of the world) he has brought in submission to my feet.”
You find the same tone of arrogance and pride in other inscriptions found from Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian kings, glorying in themselves, boasting in their victories, gloating over the defeat of their enemies. But Psalm 18 is very different.
David gives all the credit to God in this psalm. In verse 2, he describes God as rock, fortress, deliverer, strength, shield, horn, high tower. From verses 4-19 he describes how when he called upon God during this most dangerous moments, God in all His power came and delivered David.
He gives the credit to God 27 to 48 as the true deliverer. He gives speed (v29, 37), strength (32 and 34, 39), defence (v 35), stability (v36). God has granted David victory over his enemies (37-48).
But in the middle of the psalm David says something that could be misunderstood as a boast.
“The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.
For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all His judgments were before me; And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.
I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.
Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in His eyes.
“With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.”
(2 Samuel 22:21–28)
Can David really say this, the man who did what he did with Bathsheba? David is not speaking of the exceptions, the tragic deviations of his life. He is speaking of the pattern of the rest of his life.
David says that he lived a life, by God’s enablement that was one of obedience. Verses 26 to 28 sum up the attributes he tried to model: merciful, blameless, pure, and humble.
David believes that his victories were not a result of incredible skill on the battlefield. He believes it was a result of being one of God’s people, in a living relationship with God, where he tried to live out the character of God. Because David humbled himself, and sought to be merciful, and pure, and blameless, God could use David. And that meant God could keep sparing David in his battles, and granting him victory. David didn’t earn grace; David lived obediently and experienced favour.
Spiritual warfare that God blesses is characterised by meekness. People fighting God’s battles are not motivated by pride or controlled by the flesh. The greatest mistakes we will make are fighting against what God is not fighting against, or making peace with what God is not at peace with.
True spiritual warfare is filled with humble, meek trust in God. That’s why Paul says the armour and the weapons for a Christian are a helmet of salvation (which is by grace), a shield of faith (which is trust), a breastplate of righteousness (which is given), a belt of truth, shoes ready to share the gospel, and the sword of the Word of God. He describes the actual battle as pulling down arguments that exalt themselves against God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Our war is not with personalities. Our war is with false teaching, false systems, deception, and sin. So we use spiritual weapons, in a humble, dependent, spiritual way.
If that sounds like we will be eaten alive, Jesus anticipated that objection when he said, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Mt 10:16). Maintain David’s humble, dependent, meek spirit, even as you wage war shrewdly, strategically, intelligently.
And who more than our Lord Jesus waged war dependently, facing His enemies always in the power of the Spirit, acting only for the glory of His Father.
The conclusion of David’s psalm? 2 Samuel 22:47–49 (NKJV)
“The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, The Rock of my salvation!
It is God who avenges me, And subdues the peoples under me;
He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man.
David overcame. He fought durably, his whole life, to the end. He fought daringly, inspiring bravery from others. He fought dependently, always looking to God, giving God the glory, fighting God’s battles, God’s way, trusting in God for unusual success.
Overcomers are not some special breed of Christian. Overcomers are true believers who overcome the world by our faith. It is faith that endures to the end. It is faith that attempts great things for God and expects great things from God. It is faith that depends. And if you have mustard-seed sized faith in an omnipotent God, you can slay giants and put armies to flight.