Sermons

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The Difference Between A Story and a Great Story
February 11, 2001
Series on the life of King David: "A Heart After God"
Pastor Dan Baumgartner

2 Samuel 22

Today is the last day we will be looking at the life of King David in our series entitled “A Heart After God.” We have read about David for eleven weeks now.

We have seen him grow up, from a shepherd boy, musician and poet…into a king and mighty warrior. We have seen him at his best, and we have seen him at his worst. Today, we come near the end of David’s life. We’re looking into 2 Samuel chapter 22. And it seems fitting that the last words we will hear from David, now an old man, are found in the form of a poem or song, from 2 Samuel 22:2-3:

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior --
from violent men you save me.
I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.”

These words from 2 Samuel chapter 22 are also found in Psalm 18. They appear here, at the end of David’s story…and they are very close to being the last words of David we know of.

Perhaps you have had someone ask you the question, “What would you want your last words to be?” It’s an interesting thing to think about. “If I knew when I was going to die, what would I want my last breath to say?” You might want to capture something of your personality. You might want to articulate something you learned in your life…you might want to pass some word of wisdom on how to live to your children. But of course we don’t necessarily know when the moment will come, and the last words of famous people in history speak volumes about what was on their mind:

P.T. Barnum, the famous entertainer and circus pioneer, closed his life with a question: “How were the receipts today in Madison Square Garden?”

W.C. Fields, early movie actor and entertainer and a lifelong agnostic, was discovered reading a Bible on his deathbed. “I’m looking for a loophole,” he explained.

Aldous Huxley, literary giant and author of Brave New World, said, “It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than “Try to be a little kinder.”

Napoleon Bonaparte, the masterful military strategist and ruler, said this: “I die before my time and my body shall be given back to the earth and devoured by worms. What an abysmal gulf between my deep miseries and the eternal Kingdom of Christ. I marvel that whereas the ambitious dreams of myself and of Alexander and of Caesar should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant -- Jesus -- should be able to stretch his hands across the centuries, and control the destinies of men and nations.”

If we look at this psalm of David, and treat it as some of David’s last words…what do we hear? In the end…what does David say to us? It’s quite simple, really. After chapters and chapters and books and books about David’s entire life, David says to us: “God is here.” David’s life was a God-saturated life. In this psalm of praise in chapter 22, David begins with “The Lord.” And he seems to be answering a question…who is the Lord? Listen to who God is for David:

“My rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my rock, my refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation. My stronghold, my refuge, my savior. My rescuer, the one who strengthens me and enables me to stand, the one who trains my arms, and upholds my feet, the one who made my enemies turn in terror.”

Throughout this psalm, David shifts back and forth between talking ABOUT God, and talking TO God. “HE is my savior…from violent men YOU save me.”

David is a God-aware person. He wastes no time listing in this psalm his own accomplishments…which he could have done. He might have paused long enough to just mention that he, David, was the king. That he had set the precedent for future kings of Israel to follow. He could have listed out his battles, one by one, and just dropped a hint that he, and he alone, was able to unify Israel into one kingdom. He could have patted himself on the back for ruling with wisdom, for practicing kindness, for destroying his enemies. He might have hinted that he was the author of The Psalms, which would stay on the bestseller list for centuries.

But David doesn’t do any of these things. Instead, he chooses to acknowledge only what God has done. “You made my enemies turn their backs in flight…You have delivered me from the attacks of my people…You have preserved me as the head of nations.”

“You, God, You, God, You God.” David is a God-seer, a God-watcher.

And because of that characteristic, David’s life is rich. Not perfect. But rich and deep and full. He looks for God, is aware of God, is energized by his relationship with God:

“You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light. With your help, I can crush a troop. With your help, I can leap over a wall.”

David is not someone who knows about God. He is someone who knows God.

There is a big difference, isn’t there? We can read book after book about God. We can watch movies and discuss abstract theology. Eugene Peterson suggests, in fact, that “the devil can be defined as that species of theologian who knows everything about God but will have nothing to do with him.” We can argue philosophically, we can know a lot about God. God makes a great hobby for many people. But God is not looking for people to know about him. He longs for people to know him. David knew God. He couldn’t define himself…without talking about God.

It’s interesting to talk about David like this, because we all know by now that David was not a perfect person. Far from it. We don’t put David down as an upstanding example of moral strength. Affairs, murder, deception…we’ve seen David struggle through the worst things we can imagine. But always…turning back towards God. Admitting failure. Confessing sin. Mourning over his shortcomings. Learning from God. Then running on ahead into life.

Of all the people we might read about, David’s is NOT a self-help story. “Self-help” is the watchword of our generation. The bookstores and libraries are spilling over with books in the “self-help” sections. I heard someone describe a cartoon from the New Yorker of a man standing in front of the customer service desk at Barnes and Noble, and the clerk saying to him, “Oh, the Bible? That would be over in the self-help section.”

But the Bible is not a self-help book…and David’s story is not a self-help story. David’s story is of desperate failure AND desperate turning towards God. David’s story is a self-helpless story. David’s story is intricately bound up with God’s story, and THAT is what makes David’s story different. Taken as a straight narrative, David’s story would make interesting reading. But in the end it would just be another human story. Birth, marriage, career, friends, enemies, successes, failures, death. What makes David’s story great…is God. It is David’s awareness of God’s presence and love throughout his entire life…that makes David great.

David cannot define himself apart from being chosen and blessed by God, without referring to God…Walter Brueggemann calls it David’s “relentless reference to God.” It is David’s heart that realizes that his story is so bound to God’s story that there can be no separation…and THAT is exactly why we have been given it. It’s a great story. In fact, it is a gospel story…because it is a story of God doing for David what he could never do for himself.

I heard another gospel story this week. I had coffee with a friend named Dave. Dave is in his mid-thirties, father of three children. His youngest child is eight years old, and his name is Zachary. Zachary had complications during the birth process, and has been severely impacted by it. Physically, he is an energetic eight year old. Mentally, he is perhaps three, and doctors don’t think he will ever reach far beyond the intellectual capability of seven or eight. You can imagine that puts quite a strain on a family…on a marriage…on a dad.

Yet Zach’s parents are doing great together. As Dave described it, I thought it sounded too good…sort of the good Christian answer that you are supposed to give when you’re having coffee with a pastor.

I knew it must be incredibly difficult. I said, “Dave, have you ever gotten mad at God about this? Ever yelled and screamed?” Dave said, “Oh, sure, we’ve had frustrating days. But over all, we are overwhelmed by God’s grace. We’ve learned things from Zachary we would never have learned. There is a richness of life we never knew about. And most of all, we have felt so strengthened by God’s grace…we could never do this on our own. It would have fallen apart a long time ago.”

That…is a gospel story. God doing for Dave and his family what they never could have done for themselves.

That’s the story we want our kids to know, too, isn’t it? A little while ago, this whole congregation was asked a question as we baptized two little boys. And we all stood up, and people said, “Yes,” to helping the parents nurture, care, teach and bring their kids up to know Jesus. That is no small thing to say “yes” to.

Especially here at Bethany. We’re bursting at the seams with kids, so much that as I’ve talked with Amanda, our Children’s Ministry Director, she’s told me that there is a real need for people to serve as teachers and helpers. Maybe that can be you. But it’s not just a slot in a program to fill, or just some volunteer babysitting. We want our kids to know the goodness of the gospel story. We want them to hear and understand God’s presence in their lives, to know his forgiveness, to trust that God will do things they couldn’t on their own. It’s not just warm bodies that are needed to care for a program, it’s folks with hearts always open to God’s presence. Maybe that’s you.

The ultimate gospel story comes to us in Jesus, the Son of David. When our stories threaten to ramble on as just another human story, when we find ourselves as just another person on their way to dying, God breaks dramatically into our world in Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ death and resurrection we are chosen as valuable by God, we are forgiven our prisons of self-focus and God intertwines our stories with His. The gospel says we are not alone, but that God is with us. Our identity becomes rooted first and foremost in Him. That is how God does for us what we could never do for ourselves…no matter how hard we tried.

So…what would you want your last words to be? Many of us would find ourselves talking, I think, about our careers… “I was a good businessperson, a friend, a minister.” Or we might mutter some word of advice for our children, like Huxley, encouraging them to be a little kinder. Or we might cry out in desperation at the end of life. But my heart’s desire…is that we might sing out with David,

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer…Praise be my Rock! Exalted be my Savior!…by Thee I can crush a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall!”

Eugene Peterson leaves us with a marvelous image: “The image of David vaulting the wall…David running, coming to a stone wall, and without hesitation leaping the wall and continuing on his way -- running toward Goliath, running from Saul, pursuing God, meeting Jonathan, rounding up stray sheep, whatever, but running. And leaping. Certainly not strolling or loitering. David’s is a most exuberant story.”

But that should be no surprise. David was, after all…a man after God’s own heart.