We're turning back to the Word of God as we read from 1 Chronicles, chapter 20, and we'll read again verse 6 and verse 7. 1 Chronicles 20, verses 6 and 7. The subject today, playing the man for God. Playing the man for God. Verse 6. Yet again there was war at Gath, The world was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and 20, six on each hand and six on each foot. And he also was the son of the giant. But when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimead, David's brother, slew him. With the word of God open before us, we'll bow again in another word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, again to Thee we turn. Thou alone canst guide us. We pray we'll not be as David lamented on occasion as the mule, whose mouth must be held in with bitten bridle, stubborn, refusing to move, not wanting change. But Lord, we pray that rather our mind and heart and life We'll be open to thee today. And we'll be saying, help us by the grace of God in our generation to play the man for God, to be the woman for God thou dost want us to be. We lay ourselves before thee and pray that thou will continue to answer prayer for Jesus' glory. The giants rising up and roaring out, one after another, yet one by one those giants shuddered, face first into the sand at their feet. 1 Chronicles chapter 20 reads pretty much like a march of the giants, We have, for example, in verse 4, Siphi, mentioned. Then Lamhi, the brother of Goliath, the Gittite, who had a spear staff like a weaver's beam, mentioned in verse 5. Then we've got one that I can only call giant anonymous. In the sixth verse, a man of quite abnormal development, six digits in each hand and foot, 24 toes and fingers in all. Now, these men stomping around the earth must have thought very highly of themselves and would have been held in honor by those around them. Certainly, they looked up to them in terms of a physical view. They were awesome specimens of humanity. But how quickly these physical characteristics, no matter how imposing they may appear, disappear. Youth and beauty pass away, we have not long to stay, the hymn writer said, and in this war with the Philistines, recorded in part in this chapter, we find that these giants, one after another, they were subdued. That's the word used at the end of verse 4, and it means, this term subdued, to be brought down or brought under or brought into subjection. Lamais, colossal spear, did not save him from the skill of Elhaman, verse 5. The immense stature of this giant with the 24 fingers and toes could not stand against the courage or rival the capacity of Jonathan in verses 6 and 7. Now he rise up, they all did, but they also fail by the hand of David's servants, verse 8. And the term fail there carries the force of to fall by violent death, to waste away. You see, mere size of body or mere power of muscle or even handsome imposing looks and charming manner, not that these men, I think, would have had anything like a charming manner, but all of these things are eventually outmatched with something that's better in the world around them, or they soon feed and they fall under the ravages of time. And when they pass, how quickly they are forgotten. Another hymn says, swift to its close, ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around I seem. O thou who changes not, abide with me. These are not the great men of the world. Not then, not certainly in the world to come, not now either, where we live again in a day where there is a great dependence on and admiration of pure muscle power. If your focus is on strength that declines or beauty that wrinkles and fades, You're chasing in life the wrong things, entirely wasting your time and resources, because the Bible warns us, 1 John 2, 16 and 17, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the fathom, but is of the world, and God's news is the world hasseth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God, he is the man that abides forever." Our Lord Jesus, He directed us away from emphasis on these decaying things around us, and He says, here's something more dependable, here's something more valuable. John 6 and the verse 27, labor not for the meat which perisheth. but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you." So today in our world, the really great man has God as his helper, as he did by Ciaram in the days of 1 Chronicles chapter 20. The really great man, the really great woman, is a man or a woman of God, and through their that they are deriving entirely from the Lord. They make a bigger and a better mark on the society around them. They're the people who are remembered on earth, but especially in heaven. And the blessing that comes from standing for God in an age of sin and shame will flow on down through his family. Now that's the kind of story we find here, etched into the Bible record at this point, 1 Chronicles 20, verses 6 and 7. We'll read it again, and yet again, there was Wargath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand and six on each foot, and he also was the son of the giant. When he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimead, David's brother, slew him. And so we have another picture. play it out before us here of a young man, Jonathan, entering or storming, maybe we should say, the giants' playground up in the Philistine city of Gath, where Goliath came from as well, and he goes in here and he slays one of these giants by virtue of his reliance on the power of God. That's why we have this title for the message today, Playing the Man for God. And in this day and generation, this is what God requires, this is what the world around us, though it doesn't say or acknowledge it, but this is what the world needs, men and women who know Christ, who can play the man for God. I will think, first of all, along the lines of influence, influence. 1 Chronicles 20 verses 6 and 7 suggest that this young giant slayer came out of a key family in the land of Israel. He belonged to the family of David. You'll find in verse 7, but when he defied Israel, that's the giant Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, slew him. Now, we know from our Sunday school days The David, while he was yet a lad, a stripling as high he was described back then, he achieved theme on account of his killing of that Philistine giant, Goliath of Gath. And if you want the record, then it's in 1 Samuel and the chapter 17. But the 8th verse of this chapter that we have turned to today, 1 Chronicles 20, you'll see here that David is styled as the giant slayer. These were born onto the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David. And so his battle and conquest over Goliath is mentioned here, and by the hand of his David having done this and gone into battle against the giant and brought him down into the dust, now we find David's brother's son is doing exactly the same thing. Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, slays this new giant. So, we sort of log out here and we ask ourselves, well, I wonder, where did this young man, the nephew of David, gain the confidence to take on one of the giants from Gath? What would have encouraged him to stand out there taking on unequal odds with the thought that he could win through? Where did he find his template for victory? Surely he got it from hearing about what his uncle David had done. David's victory over Goliath had proved inspiring and infectious as well. And so we have these men out of the camp of Israel and in verse 4. Sippichai, the Hushethite, rises up and he slays Sippai of the children of the giant. In verse 5, another man of Israel, Ilhanan, the son of Jer, slew Lammai, the brother of Goliath the Gittite. And then in verses 6 and 7, our text today, we have Jonathan, David's nephew, and he goes out and he does the same, slays another giant. And so we have a whole series of men in Israel who were drawing confidence from what David had done with Goliath. It was nearly becoming a craze. All of this activity illustrates the value of seeing somebody else in action, seeing someone else sold out to God. spotting someone else, plowing a furrow for the master and drawing confidence and encouragement from seeing them. It underlines the power of example and it emphasizes the impact that godly influence has within the family. There's a lesson that shouldn't be lost on us here. I cannot overemphasize the necessity of setting a good example within the home. Fathers, you have a high, a huge responsibility, a unique possibility and responsibility to influence others. For Jesus Christ, are you doing it? Fathers, such a figurehead. Right at the heart of our Protestant culture, is an acknowledgement of the abiding, enduring influence of fathers, the sash my father wore. I noticed a comment posted on Facebook last night after the Apprentice Boys of Derry Parade, where it was said, Dad first walked with his dad in the Apprentice Boys at the age of 13, and he goes on, great to be back, he says, with the Apprentice Boys, although my grandfather isn't able to walk This time, but it's tremendous, he said, to wear the sash my grandfather wore at another demonstration in Londonderry. Passing the influence, and that's on a purely social scale, down the line. But how much more important is it that on spiritual issues we are taking the lead and ploughing a straight furrow for God right through the family and bringing others with us? God has given man, especially fathers, tremendous power to influence the lives of those around them. For a boy, the father is the most important role model in his life. And yet most men I know either don't recognize or don't appreciate this power of influence they have. Maybe that's because our culture is doing its very best at the minute to decimate the entire role that a father plays. And through society and inner films and television and commercials and even promoted by government legislation, there is this effort society going out of its way to destroy and to belittle masculinity and overturn the influence of the father within the home. Let me ask you today, what are you doing to train your son to be a man? An old story tells about a man who asked three stonemasons what they were doing. The first stonemason said, I'm laying bricks. The second man described his work as, I'm building a wall. But it was the third man only who showed that he had grasped the potential of what he was doing when he said, I am raising a great cathedral. An article years ago in the Reader's Digest, I don't read it, but I can quote from it when other people read it and distill what's in it, called Life Without Father. concentrated on the lasting influence of a father on the lives of his children. And I'll quote just a couple of lines. It's rather extensive, so we'll pare it all down. In the early years, they said, more than two-thirds of all children prefer to play with their fathers. Playing with the father is very important in teaching children the importance of self-control. Then they explain children who roughhouse with their fathers quickly learn that biting, kicking, and other forms of physical violence are not acceptable. Several studies have found, and I don't know how they've worked this one out because I wasn't keyed into these studies, but some studies have found that a father's presence is one of the determiners of girls' proficiency in mathematics. It's an interesting one. Even on the subject of daughters, a father's influence is major. An old secular magazine, Psychology, says a daughter's first bonding with any man is with her father, and that imprints on her so strongly that any later relationships with men are filtered through that experience. We often repeat what we know rather than what we want. we need familiar. Even if it's unhealthy, we subconsciously gravitate towards a man who treats us like our father treated our mother or us. Now, we shouldn't be surprised today to learn that a father is such a powerful influence, because long before our modern psychological or physiological studies ever saw the light of day, God's Word was sounding out the importance of the role of a father. In Psalm 127, verses 4 and 5, as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Proverbs 4, the verses 3 and 4, for I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments, and live. The Bible puts in as well clear warnings to fathers that they should not misuse the power of influence on their children, Colossians 3 and 21. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger them, lest they be discouraged. So dads here in this building today, are you merely putting food on the table, or are you participating in the shaping of your child's life? Are you, with all of the grace God gives you, with godly example, as God is helping you, are you leading them in the way of my Father's God? Exodus 15 and 2. We sang today our vows, our prayers we now present. Before thy throne of grace, God of our fathers, be the God of their succeeding race. And so the Bible is telling us, no matter about the psychological studies out there, Scripture is declaring, stand up and play the man. Don't be wimping along with the world's crowd. Maybe you're saying today, well that's all very well and good, and I wish I could exert this influence, but you know I'm down the line somewhat now, and I've lost my influence. Too late in exercising it? It is never too late in your life to do that which is right before God. Hold the line for the Lord. Be valiant for the truth. Do all in your power to save your children from the teeth of the lion and the bear, from the giants of this world who come against them in the names of all manner of idols, representing all kinds of debauchery and sin. We want to ruin them and pull them away from your example. Give a lead. be a man of God and a man for God, and this is clearly the example. David left, and his nephew followed him. Of course, you will only ever be able to influence anybody else through the Lord's power. David was proof of this. He stood resolute on occasions, he fell on others. Only when God propped him up Was he a good influence? In 1 Samuel 17, 45 to 46, he's going out to face Goliath, and he says, I am come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand. It cannot be any other way. Dependence upon the Lord is vital, and David's nephew, Jonathan, knew this. There's a hint even in his name as to how he defeated the giant in his day. If again you look at 1 Chronicles 20, verses six and seven, and yet again we read, there was war at Gath. Where was a man of great stature? His fingers and toes were four and 20, six on each hand and six on each foot, and he also was the son of the giant. But when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, slew him. Jonathan means Jehovah has given. Shimeah, his father's name, Theum. It was a clear case as this young man went out and engaged this giant of God Jehovah bringing the victory. He alone was due the theme for all that happened to this 24-fingered and toed giant in Gath, and He can do the same through us. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." That's where godly influence will come from. But moving from influence, we'll enter the realm of involvement. even in 1 Chronicles 20. We have both David, who was himself the inspiration, and we have Jonathan, who was the inspired, and they were both involved in the wars of the Lord, both engaged in fighting the same battle going on different levels and with different capacities. Towards the end of 1 Chronicles 20, the verse 1 we read, but David tarried at Jerusalem. He was on the throne of the nation. directing affairs, providing encouragement and inspiration. Others were now where he once had been, out in the front line of the battle. Verse 7 and 8, but when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah, David's brother, slew him. These were born unto the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants." You know there's such a thing as passing the baton to a younger man, and in this case, from David into the hand of his nephew? I once was out there in the middle of the frame, looking the giant eye to eye, using the strength God gave me to topple these giants of sin and iniquity. Now, Jonathan, get you right into the field." And so, with David on the throne, Jonathan, he's out on the field of battle, the place where David had been, and he's taking on the giants around him, and he's going, basking in the influence of his illustrious uncle. It's not the case that David was no longer involved. He was very much involved, functioning at a higher level a necessary vital role as the King of the people, but there was room and there was plenty of it for others now to be involved. And our Lord Jesus Christ, King David's greeter son, came to this earth ministered as he ministered, set us an example. Four ministries suffered unto death, rose from the dead, commissioned his people to labor in his name, in the power with which he would equip them, the strength of his mighty spirit, and he promised them As one of my gifts, when I ascend on high, that I will give to my people greater works than these that you have seen me doing, shall ye do, because I go on to my fathom. Part of the glories of his exalted state would come flowing down to his own people through the power of a spirit, and wonderful works would be done. Jonathan may well have gone out that day and thought, well, I'm not famous at the moment. I haven't done anything for the God of Israel. Don't ever turn up your nose at lesser tasks. God's method is that if he proves you in the smaller area, he will promote you to more pivotal roles. Jesus made the point in Luke 16, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" And he told the parable of the talents to reinforce the point. This work is committed to our care. Maybe the Sunday school, maybe the children's meeting, maybe sitting among the children and doing nothing much more than that, maybe accompanying them in on the buses, whatever. don't despise the lesser tasks. Today, in our denomination, we have a great need for young men in the ministry, for men and women on the mission field, for leaders, for warriors, for brave men and women, for those that will give their all, hazard their lives in the service of God, but they will start small, each and every one of them, and God will lead them on with as days unfold. To the outward eye, David and Jonathan here, they were nothing but striplings. In David's own eyes, he described himself once as being a partridge in the mountains or a dead dog or a flea, and the world will look in and start to laugh and think, he's going to do nothing for God. She's going to make absolutely no impact, no matter how he or she tries, but it's exactly this kind of instrument God always uses to accomplish His mighty works and advance His kingdom in the world. He took Gideon's lamps and pictures Neheman's little mead, the widow's pot of oil, Jonah's worm and his gourd, Samson's jawbone of a dunking, the kind of things God uses. For in using these, he is glorified." 1 Corinthians 1, 27, 29. Don't therefore discount yourself. Don't say, I haven't got the skills. trust in God for those. There's a work for Jesus. Humble though it be, tis the very service he would ask of thee. Go where fields are whitened, the labourers few. There's a work for Jesus. None but you, none but you can do. Influence, involvement, And finally, incisiveness, incisiveness. Jonathan didn't just enter with a little bit of war games here as his motivation, sizing up the giant, going in, pulling out. His battle in the Lord's name threw to a conclusion. He didn't spare the enemy, he slew him. And so again in verse 7 we read, but when he, that is the giant, defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, slew him. The giant's attitude was one of defiance. Always has been. It's the way the world operates with respect to the people of the Lord. But when he defied Israel, the word means to reproach, to taunt, to blaspheme, to reel, to upbreed. His attitude, defiance. And when he stood on his feet and defied God, Jonathan's action was decisive. Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, slew him. You cannot afford to be tender with sin, to foot or abide with it and flirt with it, to let it in just so far and I know where the boundary will be. You don't. It will terrorize you, terminate your interest in Christ and His Word, torment you forever in hell. Don't be playing with Be a man in our society, a man for God. Don't turn back in the day of battle, those who did in Scripture. criticized by God in Psalm 78 and 9, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. Don't fall out of the ranks of the army. Demas did that, 2 Timothy 4 and 10, and other men and women did it as well. Rather, stay focused, stay faithful, go through with God. I was alarmed this week in reading survey from America that was talking about dropouts from pastoral ministry. They were claiming that 85% of college graduates entering the ministry leave, 50% of ministers drop out of ministering within the first five years, but 75% go through a period of stress so great they consider quitting. What's happening? God's people are being picked off by the enemy. The devil is on the field, and he's having what we call a field day. Today, a colossal battle for the Bible is raging. And we'll reach more and more everywhere we look. The enemy is in position, telling us, programming us to believe what you have there that you call the Bible is not really God's Word. It's an unreliable mixture of some truth but much error, and you don't really know what's right, what's wrong, so abandon it all. We need to identify the enemy. When he speaks in this way, with a single focus, fight against him. We're all involved in the struggle. Truth be told, we are all struggling. So let one struggler help another. Fight manfully onward. Dark passions subdue. Look ever to Jesus. He will carry you through. We cannot do it ourselves. This is a huge responsibility to stand for God and even the thought of it. We feel ourselves crumpling up on the inside at the thought of it. But that same hymn writer just quoted said, ask the Savior to help you. Comfort. Strengthen and keep you. He is willing to aid you. He will carry you through. I appeal to you in closing, don't give in to the enemy of your soul, to the enemy of your children, to the enemy of God. The world today is standing up, shouting out its obscenities. And that's nothing new because if you check in at verse 4 of 1 Chronicles 20, referring to these giants, we are told here that they arose. The word arose is to stand, to remain, to endure, to take one's stand, to persist, to be steadfast, to make a stand, hold one's ground, and that's what the world is doing, holding the ground today. It's doing what these Philistine giants were so fond of doing and so accustomed to doing. It is marching onto our ground and planting their standard square in the center of our ground, the Lord's ground, then confiscating all of our weaponry and leaving us toothless and powerless and defenseless in the face of a larger assault. For many of our families have been wrecked. Our many of our own lives have been thrown into confusion. It is time we held the ground. You and I dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Don't be distracted by the devil and sin in spite of all those distractions. Be determined. Be diligent. Be defiant. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. For those that may have turned back already, you need to get back on track. You need to get back on track now. You need to do what all of us need to do. The title of this message, Play the Man for God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the example of Jonathan. How he must have been stirred in his soul, encouraged in his mind to know that my uncle David fought this battle. God helped him, and God will help me. May we trust wholly in the Lord. defend our families, defend our own lives and hearts and minds, and take ground in Jesus' name. May we perceive today that the biggest men upon the earth are not those with mere muscle power, but are those who were sold out to God an eye for the salvation of men and women around, and an eye on the kingdom of God to come. Help us to spread that kingdom. The little we can, Lord let me do. Help me to play the man for God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.