Put On Your Sword

Hey Everyone,

I don't usually share sermons that I have preached in this forum for a couple of reasons. First, I think there are much more seasoned ministers out there that you could listen to. Secondly, I feel that I come across much better live than I do in print. I am making an exception to that rule today because there were some things in a recent sermon I preached that I feel might be beneficial to the world at large. Please keep in mind this is not the entire sermon but merely a summary of a sermon.

July gave me the opportunity to do quite a bit of preaching. In my career as a minister I have never preached three out of four Sundays in a month. One Sunday I preached a lesson out of

1 Samuel 25. In this passage King David sends his compliments to Nabal hoping that Nabal will respond in kind. Nabal's response to David's compliments was to make fun of him and question his motives. David's response when he heard of this was to tell his men to put on their swords. If you haven't read 1 Samuel 25 in awhile go back and give it a look.

What caught my eye when reading through this passage was that David was a man of action. When it got back to him that Nabal had disrespected him he didn't take a poll about what to do, he went out and did what needed to be done. In our society we have become very leery of doing the right thing because we are afraid that public opinion might be offended. There are three areas where, I believe, as Christians we need to do a better job of being action oriented and put on our swords. In the remainder of this blog I want to share those thoughts with you. As always I welcome comments and look forward to hearing from you.

The first area is dealing with interpersonal disagreements. If you have lived on the planet Earth very long you have had a disagreement with someone. The problem is that we do not deal with those disagreements very well. Scripture talks about how we should handle such things.

Ephesians 4:25-27
²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold.

Matthew 18:15-17
¹⁵"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

I’m not sure how anyone can look at these two passages and allow hatred for an individual to grow in their heart.

The second area I wish to look at is stepping up to challenges. It seems that more and more people are becoming scared to step up to challenges. Whether it is at work, at home or at Church it seems that we are always looking for someone else to step up to the challenge. God didn’t want his people to act this way.

Colossians 3:22-24
²²Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. ²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, ²⁴since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

If we approached life like this scripture tells us to I believe our attitudes would be better and in doing this we will glorify God.

Another area in which we as Christians could improve is sharing out faith. How many times have you been with a friend who is not a believer and the opportunity to share your faith has come up? How many times have you actually done it? Please let me say that ministers are not immune to this fear. There have been many times when I have had a chance to share my faith and allowed it to pass me by. This was not God’s intention for his People.

2 Timothy 1:7-8
⁷For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. ⁸So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,

2 Timothy 4:2
²Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

All of the scriptures I used are as true today as they were when they were written thousands of years ago. Where we need to be like David and put on our swords is to put these scriptures into action. If you have a problem with someone then go talk to them, if there is a challenge put in front of you then step up and do it and by all means if you have a chance to share your faith then do it.

I hope all of you are as blessed by these words as much as all of you bless me.

Be Strong and Courageous,

Paul