Two weeks ago we were in Luke 24 where Jesus has been risen from
the dead for one whole day. He
encounters two of His disciples on the roadway, but they don’t recognize
Him. Later, at supper, He takes bread
and blesses it. He vanishes from their
sight and instantly they say to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us
while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?”
Later the same night He walks into a locked room where
scores of His disciples are gathered in fear.
And He says to them, “Why are you troubled? ...Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as
you see that I have.” Then He turns
their attention to the Scriptures and says, “These are my words that I spoke to
you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of
Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
So far that’s what every preacher, teacher, and Christian
knows. Jesus is reviewing with them how
He’s the fulfillment of every prophetic word in the Old Testament. But He doesn’t stop there. Luke continues, “Then He opened their minds
to understand the Scriptures…” Now what
do you suppose that means? Exactly the
same thing He means in John 5:39 when He says to the religious leaders of His
day, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal
life; and it is they that bear witness to me.”
You see, the problem with the religious leaders of His day is the same
problem with us in our day – we read the Scriptures to find the moral of the story,
rather than Jesus. What a loss that is!
Rather than reading the Scriptures to find the Gospel, we
read them to find morals and helps.
Moralism is our default position.
And because of it, when we read the Scriptures we miss Jesus altogether.
Think of it. In the
Old Testament we are continually told that our good works are not enough, that
God has made a provision for us. This
provision is profiled through the Old Testament. Nearly every story in the Old Testament
speaks of this provision over human strivings.
We see it in the clothes God makes for Adam and Eve after their
fall. We see it in the promises God
makes to Abraham and all the other patriarchs.
We see it in the tabernacle construction and the whole sacrificial
system. We see it in the innumerable
references to a coming Messiah, the suffering servant, etc. Therefore, to say that the Bible is about
Jesus Christ is to say that the main theme of the Bible is the Gospel –
Salvation is of the Lord. So what Jesus
is saying to His disciples immediately after the resurrection is this – “It’s
all about Me.” And the goal of godly
preaching and effective discipleship is to find Jesus in the text.
That’s what we intend to do this Sunday – Communion Sunday –
as we examine one of the most familiar stories in the Old Testament – the story
of David and Goliath. It’s a story that
has been the subject of moralistic Sunday school lessons for centuries. It’s the subject of motivational sermons
throughout the ages. Today, with a few
keystrokes you can pull up scores of sermons with descriptive titles such as “Facing
Your Giants” and the like.
As we’ve noted above, we live in a time of M.O.T.S.
preaching. We hope to break out of the mold
this week! In preparation for this week’s
message, “Jesse’s Greater Son”, you may wish to consider the following:
1. Read
I Samuel 17:1-54 and see if you can find Jesus in it.
2. What
is Malcolm Gladwell’s take on the story?
3. How
can he see Goliath as the underdog?
4. What
do you make of Goliath’s statement in verse 43?
5. When
Goliath shouts, “Give me a man” in verse 10, who is he calling out?
6. What
similarities exist between Saul and Goliath?
7. Why
is David at the battle site?
8. Why
does the battle come down to a representative from each side?
9. Is
there any significance to David being Israel’s representative?
10. What
is the effect of David’s victory?
11. When
Jesus says, “The Scriptures speak of me” does He include this story?
See You Sunday as we gather at His table!
