The Face of Defiance

You've never been told the real story of David and Goliath.  All of the sermons you heard growing up about a little shepherd boy pulling off the improbable defeat of mighty Goliath were WAY overblown.  The underdog wasn't the shepherd.  On that day, if you were a spectator looking down into the valley of Elah, your money would be on David.  The reason you've never heard the real story of David and Goliath has nothing to do with the actual event, and everything to do with our perception of power.*

The Philistines had set up their camp along the southern ridge of Elah.  The Israelites were on the northern ridge.  Between them was a vast ravine.  Neither army moved.  To attack meant descending down the hill, and then making the suicidal climb up the enemy's ridge.  Finally, the Philistines had enough.  They sent their greatest warrior to resolve the deadlock one on one.

Goliath was a giant, to say the least.  Close to seven feet tall, and wearing a bronze helmet with full body army.  He carried a javelin, a sword, and a spear just for good measure.  His attendant preceded him, carrying the shield.  The giant faced the Israelites, and shouted up to them, "Choose one man to come down here and fight me!  If he kills me, then we will be your slaves.  But if I kill him, you will be our slaves!"

In the Israelite camp, nobody moved.  Frozen by fear.  Controlled by the power that radiated off this giant.  For forty days this went on.  Every morning Goliath came out and offered up his challenge, and every morning nobody from Israel took him up on the bet.  Then a shepherd boy, about fifteen years old, who had come down from Bethlehem to bring food to his brothers volunteered for the battle.  "Don't worry about this Philistine," David said with the typical confidence of a teenage boy, "I got this."  

"Don't be ridiculous!", King Saul exclaims, "You're a boy who's never fought in your entire life.  This guy has been fighting since before you were born!"  But, the kid was adamant.  He had faced more ferocious beasts than this while protecting his herd of sheep, he argued.  Finally, the king relented.  The shepherd boy raced down the hill to meet the giant in the valley.  And so began one of the most famous battles in history.

However, Goliath had prepared for a warrior to battle him in hand-to-hand combat.  To protect himself from body blows, he had worn an elaborate tunic of armor comprised of hundreds of miniature fishlike scales weighing close to one-hundred pounds.  He had bronze shin guards and bronze plates protecting his legs and feet.  He wore a heavy helmet and carried three separate weapons, all designed for close combat situations.  The force of any one of these weapons, when wielded by the strength and from the height of Goliath, would have pierced any armor worn by an Israelite.

Then David shows up with a sling in one hand, a shepherd staff in the other, and a bag of stones over his shoulder.  No armor.  No defense.  Pure offense.  At that moment, both armies knew who the winner would be.  The question is, why didn't Goliath?  To understand this, you must understand ancient warfare.

Ancient armies had three kinds of warriors: Calvary (armed men on horseback or in chariots), infantry (foot soldiers wearing armor and carrying shields), and projectile warriors (archers and, most importantly, slingers).  Each unit acted to balance the other, like the game rock, paper, scissors.  The long pikes and armor of the infantry defeated the cavalry.  The speed and armor of the calvary defeated the projectile warriors.  And the accuracy of the projectile warriors was deadly against the sluggish infantry.  The Old Testament book of Judges says that an experienced Israelite slinger could be accurate "within a hair's breadth" of their target.  The Romans later developed a special set of tongs designed specifically for removing stones that had been embedded in a soldier's body by a slinger.

Goliath believes he will engage in a classic duel with another heavy-infantryman to decide the standoff.  David, an expert slinger who has killed dozens of wild animals using this weapon, has no intention of honoring the ritual.

Eitan Hirsch, a ballistics expert with the Israeli Defense Forces, did a series of calculations showing that a typical-size stone hurled by an expert slinger at a distance of thirty-five meters would have hit Goliath's head with the stopping power of a modern handgun.  Hirsch says that "David could have slung and hit Goliath in little more than one second- a time so brief that Goliath would not have been able to protect himself, and during which he would have been stationary for all practical purposes."

Goliath watches David approach with scorn.  How dare the Israelites insult him sending a kid to do a man's job!  It would have been better for them to simply surrender than to sacrifice this child!  Furiously, David screams as he descends the hill, "You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven's armies- the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.  And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!"  (Remember, this is a fifteen-year-old kid saying this!)

Immediately, David reaches into his shoulder bag for a stone, places the stone into his trusty sling, and begins whirling it around over his head at six or seven revolutions per second.  Terror overcomes Goliath as he realizes the truth of his situation.  What could he do?  He was carrying over a hundred pounds of armor, and weapons optimized for close combat.  David was never even in reach of Goliath's weapons!  The battle was effectively over before it started.  David was a slinger, and slingers beat infantry, hands down.

But why has there been so much misunderstanding around this famous battle?  Why have we been taught that this is a story about the impossible odds overcome by the underdog, rather than the truth?  This is a story about identifying power, not overcoming weakness.

From the very beginning, David had the upper-hand.  For forty straight days, Goliath had come out and telegraphed exactly his strategy.  David, with no military field experience but a lot of common sense knew that the best way to defeat infantry was through a projectile.  And, he happened to be a good shot.

Too often, our response to an overwhelming situation (or a "giant", if we want to keep this metaphor going) is to respond in the same way as King Saul and the Israelites.  They saw how hopeless their armor, weapons, and skills were in comparison to Goliath.  They knew there was no way a man could defeat him by fighting on Goliath's terms.  But David saw Goliath for who he truly was: a sluggish and exposed infantryman.  Instead of allowing the giant to expose his own weaknesses, David recognized the power within himself.  When provided proper perspective, the battlefield always changes.

On what battlefield is the giant your facing?  At work?  In your home?  In your relationships?  Is there an addiction, or a sin, that you can't break no matter how many times you've tried?  Is there a hopelessness to your marriage, even though you both desperately want to make it work?  Is there an uncertainty to your future, and it scares you to death?  Or maybe it's that you feel overwhelmed, and you have no idea how you are going to make it through.  Who is the giant?

Now, and more importantly, how will you fight it?  You see, David didn't need a new weapon, better armor or more time to train.  David needed a reminder of who he was, and who Goliath was not.  He needed perspective  Look at David's response to Saul on why he wanted to pick this fight: "The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!"

David trusted in only one thing: that the same God who had been there for him before, would be there with him through the battle.  You see, the story of David and Goliath is not a story of overcoming weakness, it's a story of identifying power; specifically, the power of God.

God didn't perform a miracle through David that day, he didn't alter his situation, or step in to fight the battle for him.  David fought the battle with a renewed perspective: the same God who had been there before will be there again, no matter how big the giant may be.

So, the next time you face your own giant, remember who has the real power.  Identify Him.  Utilize Him.  Know who you are because of Him.  It might just change the whole battle.

Be Honest.  Be Open.

This is the Christian Safe Zone.


*The majority of the research for this post is credited to Malcolm Gladwell's incredible book, David and Goliath.  In it, Gladwell tells dozens of stories that all illustrate one key point: power is never what it seems.  If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend reading it.  You can find it by CLICKING HERE.

Love Trumps

Houston, Florida, Mexico, and now Peurto Rico.  Every day I wake up and there seems to be another natural disaster.  Another loss of life.  Another city destroyed.

Charlottesville, the NFL, and now Las Vegas.  Every day I wake up and there seems to be one more event that is causing profound disagreement.  Another story breaking that will also cause a break in a relationship, and possibly even a city.  Another signal clarifying how disunified we are from our neighbors.

I don't want to waste this post stating my opinions or beliefs on these issues.  I don't want to try and extrapolate some truths from these events; that will only further the distance between two sides, and trivialize the monumental impact these cities are currently trying to recover from.  Instead, I want to offer an alternative.  A different destination for our minds to wander and for our conversations to venture.

There is a word I learned my sophomore year of college from the greatest teacher I ever had, Doc Reece.  The word was rarely used in the Greek language, mostly because of its specificity.  However, the Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), made the word infamous.

AGAPE

It means to "will the good" of someone.  Literally, it means to love someone with such genuineness and selflessness that your ultimate desire is to see them become better than what they currently are.  That could mean "willing the good" for them financially until they are able to make ends meet.  it could mean "willing the good" as their dreamer and advocate when they are depressed.  It could even mean "willing the good" for an enemy who has done nothing to warrant your favor or affection.  "Agape" has nothing to do with how they feel towards you, or how they treat you.  The burden of proof for this altruistic kind of love is placed squarely on the one giving it.

So, what does this kind of love mean for Houston, Florida, Mexico, and Puerto Rico?  What does "agape" have to do with Charlottesville, the NFL, and Las Vegas? How does your mindset change when "agape" is the destination?

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For thousands of years, it was believed (and still believed in some cultures) that bad things only happen to bad people, and good things only happen to good people.  If a bad thing happened to you, then you must figure out what bad thing you did and correct it.  But, a good person would never help a bad person.  They believed if you brought the "storm" on yourself, then you should deal with it.   However, this entire concept changed because of one unknown attorney.

The attorney sits and listens to the greatest preacher he has ever heard.  His friends had told him about this young zealot: how his stories left you spellbound and his teachings left you striving for greatness.  However, as an attorney, he had learned to question everything, to look for the loophole.  Maybe it was out of a desire to try and stump this great teacher, maybe it was sheer curiosity, or maybe it was something more, but whatever the case may be, he found himself at the next event with this teacher.

The young preacher didn't disappoint.  He retold some of the same stories and truths that had garnered him such notoriety.  But, seemingly inspired by something greater, began to challenge the very foundation of the religion he represented.  He stated you must not only, "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength", a teaching well-known to any Jewish man, woman or child, but that you must also "Love your neighbor as yourself."  To do this was to fully live out God's plan for your life.

The audience is silent, almost indignant, but the young attorney is mesmerized.  Who is this man that turns the very words of God on its head, and redefines what God "wants?"  As a man accustomed to questioning everything, this left him in a very vulnerable position.  He had questions, and the only person who had the answers was this teacher.  So, at the next possible occasion, the young attorney once again found himself in the audience.  And once again, the young preacher proceeds to unleash his revolutionary teaching.

As was common in Jewish culture, while the Rabbi taught, the audience sat.  Jesus stood, and once again proclaimed his message of hope and love.  And as was common, at the end of his teaching, Jesus opened himself up for questioning.  Anticipating this, the attorney stood up in the crowd, and recited the question he had been practicing for weeks:

"Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?  Jesus replied, 'What does the law of Moses say?  How do you read it?"  Thrilled that his line of questioning was working according to plan, the attorney responds, "You must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength", and with the faintest smile continues, "and, you must love your neighbor as yourself."  Thrilled that someone had answered completely, Jesus grins: "Right!  Do this and you will live!"

But just as Jesus was about to walk off, the attorney stops him.  Now it was time for the real question; what had been bothering him ever since he first heard Jesus preach.  "And who is my neighbor?"

Nobody knew at this point that the most famous story of all time was about to be told.  Nobody knew the phrase Jesus was about to coin would be turned into an idiom, monikered across hospitals, imprinted upon companies, and used as a universal statement of kindness and love.  You know the story, even if you've never stepped foot inside a church.

Jesus told of a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, a notoriously dangerous path when he was attacked by robbers and left for dead.  A priest walks by and sees the naked and bloodied man.  "He must have done this to himself", he thinks and continues walking.  Next, an elder in his church (a Levite) walks by and sees the naked and bloodied man.  "He must have done this to himself", he thinks and continues walking.  Finally, a Samaritan walks by...

The hatred between a Jew and a Samaritan was not only common, it was socially and culturally acceptable. It was institutionalized racism.  For a Jew to even speak to a Samaritan would ostracize them from their community and their friends.  If a "good" Samaritan saw a naked and bloodied Jew along the road, he would ask, "Should I bother touching this man so that I can kill him?"

But, the Samaritan stops when he sees the naked and bloodied Jew.  He bandaged his wounds, put his own coat on his back, sat him on his own donkey, and took him to the closest inn.  He paid the innkeeper two days worth of pay to take care of the man and then promised to come back and reimburse the innkeeper for any additional expenses that might be incurred!

Jesus twists the knife of guilt further and further into the only other person standing...the attorney.
The audience stares: silent, indignant, mesmerized.  Jesus pauses before asking one of the most history-defining questions of all time:

"Which of these three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"

Mesmerized, indignant, and nearly silent, the young attorney cannot even bring himself to say the word of the one who "willed the good" of his Jewish neighbor.  He mutters, "The one who showed him mercy."

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There is a kind of love that looks beyond race, beyond politics, and beyond mistake.  That kind of love only looks to "will the good" out of the one in which they have differences.

There is a kind of love that looks beyond their finances, time constraints, or physical distance.  That kind of love only looks to "will the good" by bandaging the wounds and providing payment for the one who cannot do it themselves.

There is a kind of love that not only told the story of the good Samaritan but became the good Samaritan for you and me.  He bandaged our wounds and healed our sins.  He took the robe of a king off his back to place it on yours; calling you his child.  He paid far more than two days wage for you.  He paid with his life.  And he asks us the same the question he asked that young attorney that fateful day:  Who is the neighbor to the one who saw a need a met it? Who is the neighbor to the one who knew the price and paid it?  Who is the neighbor to the one who "willed the good" from the one who didn't deserve it?

Love is the destination.  Now go and do likewise.

Be Honest.  Be Open.

This is the Christian Safe Zone.

What's the Point (of Church): Part 2

Everywhere Jesus went, controversy followed.  From the prostitute who interrupted Jesus' meeting with the Pharisees to the story of the "evil" Samaritan who had the audacity to help a Jew; Jesus never shied away from stirring the pot.  But, the perpetual question that swirled around him was one of identity.  Specifically, "Who are you!?"

Eventually, Jesus broached the subject directly.

He was just outside the newly crowned capital city of King Philip's empire, Caesarea Philippi.  Philip's father, King Herod had erected a magnificent temple made of white stone where citizens came daily to worship their emperor God, Augustus Caesar.  Just eleven hundred feet above this temple, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, Jesus sits down with the Twelve, and asks them the very question that had plagued his audiences: "Who do people say that I am?"  

Peter (who's name means "rock" in Greek) responds, "You are the Messiah [the Christ], the Son of the living God!"  Elated, Jesus responds, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." And with a clever play on words, Jesus adds, "And I tell you that you are Peter [rock], and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

This is the first time the term "church" shows up in our New Testament, and it's referenced within a prediction.  Jesus predicted that nothing, including death, would stand in the way of His church.  But, there is something else that is referenced here; something that our English translation misses.  The Greek word (ekklesia) where we get our word, church, is not a religious term!  An ekklesia was simply a gathering or an assembly of people called out for a specific purpose.  You could have an ekklesia of soldiers called out for war, or an ekklesia of citizens called out for civic purposes, but you would never have an ekklesia referencing a specific location....only a specific gathering.

Ekklesia always referred to a gathering of people united by a common identity and purpose.

So, what the disciples heard Jesus say was this: "I am going to build my own assembly of people and the foundation for this new assembly will be ME!"

But, if ekklesia means "gathering", why don't we just call church "gathering"?  Where did church come from?  Jump forward with me two hundred and fifty years.

In AD 313, Constantine (the soon-to-be-emperor of Rome), legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire.  Well, technically he legalized the freedom of religion.  Christianity was illegal up to this point because Christians were insistent about this whole "only worshiping Jesus" thing...what a bunch of sticklers.

Before Constantine's rise to power, Christian worship was relatively informal.  Believers met in homes, enjoying potluck banquets they called "love feasts", singing hymns, reading Scripture, discussing theology, and most importantly, sharing communion.  In rare cases, a gathering of Christians in a religiously tolerant city would be able to dedicate a special room for these gatherings, but these rooms were few and far between.  

But after Constantine's rise, powerful people brought their former ideas about worship with them as they professed a new belief in Christ and began influencing Christian ekklesias.  Worship began to incorporate protocol including incense, ornate clothing, choirs, and pageantry.  Worship became formal and hierarchical, relegating the congregation from participants to spectators.  Buildings began to be erected on top of the graves of martyrs.  If the land around the grave wasn't conducive to building, they would exhume the bones, and transport them to their desired location.

Within a decade of this edict, "the Way" was no longer an expanding group of people sharing a unique identity and purpose.  It was a location, filled with rules, paid staff, and predictable services.   The Gothic (or Germanic) culture used the word kirche, which means "house of the lord", and was used to refer to any ritual gathering place, Christian or otherwise.

Eventually, the New Testament was translated into English.  But instead of following protocol and using a word-for-word translation from Greek to English, the word church was changed from ekklesia to kirche.  A kirche is a location.  An ekklesia is a purposeful gathering of people.  "Church" went from a movement to stagnation.  From gathering to spectating.  From participation to protocol.  This simple word created the most dangerous dynamic that the Christian "church" faces today:

Whoever controls the location controls the church.

So, what does this all mean?  Simply put, it means that how you view the church determines how you live out your faith.  

Do you believe that the church is a building you go to weekly for inspiration or a gathering united behind a movement?  

Do you believe that your church is conducting services or making an impact?  

Do you believe your church is united around a model or a mission?

Do you believe the church's money is allocated based on the needs of the community or the facility?

Do you believe you are meeting or gathering?

Do you believe you are a part of an ekklesia or a kirche?

I can tell you with certainty that the people I know who have left church did no do so because it became too much of an ekklesia.  That it became too focused on it's surrounding community; to concerned with sharing its resources; or to deliberate in its mission of reaching those outside of their current group.  They left because it was a kirche who was first and foremost concerned with keeping its kirche as protected and comfortable as possible.

So, if the church is a gathering, who gets to participate?  What are the requirements for membership?  How good do you have to be to stay in the club?  That's all in the next post.

Be honest.  Be open.

This is the Christian Safe Zone.