Keeping Leaders Alive: The Role of Armor-bearers
Pastor Joe Fuiten, August
11, 2002
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 14:1-15 Page 199 (note that verse 1 is the second
sentence after the heading)
1
One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor,
"Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side."
But he did not tell his father. 2 Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron.
With him were about six hundred men, 3 among whom was Ahijah,
who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's
brother Ahitub son of Phinehas,
the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that
Jonathan had left. 4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross
to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez,
and the other Seneh. 5 One cliff stood to the north
toward Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba. 6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer,
"Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps
the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving,
whether by many or by few." 7 "Do all that you have in mind,"
his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul."
8 Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let
them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will
stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,'
we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into
our hands." 11 So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine
outpost. "Look!" said the Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling
out of the holes they were hiding in." 12 The men of the outpost shouted
to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a
lesson." So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me;
the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel." 13 Jonathan climbed up,
using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The
Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed
behind him. 14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed
some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. 15 Then panic struck the
whole army-- those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding
parties-- and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.
Background
Saul, at age 30, had become king
over Israel. They were under foreign pressure on every
side. Saul is in command of a small army of 2,000 men while his oldest son
Jonathan has 1,000 men. Jonathan must
have been very young, almost certainly still in his teens. But because he is the son of the King , he
gets this important assignment. He
doesn’t waste time causing trouble. He
is upset and angry at what the Philistines are doing to Israel
and he is going to make it right. So
Jonathan attacked a Philistine outpost and took it. Easy enough, but it ignited quite a fire. In
response, the Philistines assembled a serious army and came after Israel.
1 Sam 13:5-7 “The Philistines assembled to fight Israel,
with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as
numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. 6
When the men of Israel
saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed,
they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7
Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan
to the land of Gad
and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.”
Saul and Jonathan combined forces
but now only 600 soldiers remained. Saul
had just been through the presumptuous offering of sacrifices ahead of Samuel
so Samuel had told Saul that his kingdom would pass to another because of his
sin.
Because the Philistines had not
allowed Israel
to have blacksmiths, none of the soldiers had swords or spears except Saul and
Jonathan. They rest must have been
relying on slingshots, bows and arrows, knives, and minor weapons. This is the background for Jonathan’s
exploits. Israel
is under-manned, under-armed, under domination..
Three or four great moments:
First, I like the fact that Jonathan, a feisty
teenager, wanted to get something done. I think he was just mad about what the
Philistines were doing to Israel. Like David,
later on, he basically says who do these people think they are doing this to
us, God’s people?
Could it be that
real unhappiness is the start of all progress?
When we get upset at what is happening in our marriage, or with our
family, or in our society, or in our church, we might be starting to get into
position to make something happen.
Cedar Park has the leading private school in Washington State because one day I said, who are these uncircumcised Philistines who
kick God out of school. A great deal of
what Cedar Park
is today is the result of being ticked off at what has happened to the
Church. We have basically retreated from
everything that we once did. A church
like ours used to be the center of community life. The editor of Christian History magazine
pointed that out recently. She said the
church was certainly in charge of marrying and burying. But we were also the center of economic and
cultural life of the city. We were
dominant in government. We’re the center
of very little today. Part of what makes
me tick is the desire to see the church restored to its place in society. I’m tired to retreating. I think that is how Jonathan felt. He was tired of being oppressed by the
Philistines and wanted to do something about it.
Second, the faith of Jonathan is unsurpassed with his
statement “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”
Already, Jonathan knew God and what
he could do. Before it was written,
Jonathan knew it was not by might, nor by power, but by God’s Spirit. He knew that the weapons of his warfare were
not truly carnal, but mighty, through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
This is really where all progress
begins. If we are going to succeed on
our own abilities and the strength we can marshal, we won’t do much. But if we have a powerful sense of God, there
is nothing that is impossible.
Third, although Jonathan has
faith, his faith is not presumptuous. He
shows that in two ways: by what he says in verse six with the word, “perhaps,”
and by his waiting for a confirmation in the circumstances. “Perhaps” the
Lord will act in our behalf indicates that while he believed God could help
them, and he believed God might help them, he still leaves the call up to God.
In verse 10 we see that Jonathan
had an indicator to know what God would do.
If the Philistines invited them up to fight, it was the sign that God
would win the day. If the Philistines
wanted to come down to fight Jonathan, it was time to beat a hasty retreat and
wait for another day.
Even if you know ultimately what
God intends to do, there is always the matter of timing.
Fourth, the armor-bearer shows
outstanding personal devotion when he said “Go ahead; I am with you heart and
soul.” Those are the kinds of words
that leaders love to hear. This is more
than good luck, I wish you all the best.
This is more than, I’ll be praying for you.
Leaders
survive when someone comes along beside or behind them and helps. It is true in my life. I could not do what I do without lots of
people who cover for me spiritually, financially, organizationally, and every
other way. It is true in the branch
churches. It is true in the departments
and with our Associate Pastors. It is true at every level of leadership. There may be one or two visible leaders, but
there will be a handful of people who make sure the thing works. They are the armor-bearers who cover your
backside.
They get
the sign they are looking for and the battle is on. “13 Jonathan climbed up,
using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The
Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed
behind him. 14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed
some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. 15 Then panic struck the
whole army-- those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding
parties-- and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.”
Twenty
people out of thousands is not much. But
it was the opening echo of a victory in the making. Great days of victory begin like any other
day. It is astounding what faith can
unleash.
Verse 21, a
little beyond the Scripture we read today, tells of a group of Hebrews who had
actually already joined with the Philistines. When victory turned in Israel’s
favor, they came back over. The same was
true of those who had previously fled in terror. “Those Hebrews who had
previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp
went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 When all the
Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the
Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit.”
Some
of God’s people are in the wrong camp today.
For any number of reasons, it looks to them like a losing battle. Sin, compromise, neglect, and prayerlessness
have taken their toll on them and they have no hope today. This story reminds us that such people can
still be saved. They can be useful again
in God’s work, but I think they will only join when they see God’s people,
breaking through enemy lines.
The same is
true of the fearful ones. Presently they
cower, having been intimidated by the Philistines of the soul. I believe they will join in as well when they
see victory being won.
This has
been a great week for me as people have been responding to my call for people
to step up to the day of opportunity.
Erik Dwyer, a former airplane inspector, talked to me about his dream of
young people at Cedar Park
building a missions airplane. Mike
Wyman, a graduate of Stanford, dreamed about God’s answers being given to his
contemporaries in a meaningful way.
Others have said, “count me in, I’ll help with the home groups.” In many ways, the armor-bearers have being
coming alongside and helping us win an important victory.