How to Overcome the World
1Samuel 18-20
A Christian’s life can be explained in many different ways, and one of them is that a Christian’s life is “overcoming the world.” During his last days on earth, Jesus said to his disciples: “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). Jesus said that he had overcome the world. This is not just for Jesus. This word is also the case for God’s children who believe in Jesus and follow his way. 1John 5:4-5 says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” This word is not easy to understand. What does it mean to overcome the world? Who or what do we fight for and against? How can we win the victory? What is the prize of the victory? Through this sermon, I would like to say two things about the way of overcoming the world. One is “being humble and trusting in God for everything.” And the other is “being patient and doing good for everyone.” Of course, these two are not separated but are one like two faces of a coin. King Saul and David in today’s passage are two extreme cases in terms of overcoming the world. That is, David humbled himself and trusted in God for everything, and he did good for everybody patiently. In this way, he overcame the world. On the contrary, Saul put himself and his interests at the center of everything, and he, full of anger and hatred, did evil to everybody.
Today’s text 1Samuel 18-20 tells us several episodes that happened between Saul, the first king of Israel, and David who was anointed as new king. Although Saul had been chosen by God as king of Israel, he acted out of his fear and greed instead of trusting in and obeying God, and after all, he was rejected by God. Then, God called David, “a man after God’s own heart,” as new king (1Samuel 13:14). Although David was anointed by Samuel, however, he could not ascend to the throne immediately. Still Saul was king of Israel, and David was merely one of his vassals. Compared to Saul with kingly power, David was nothing but a “dead dog.” However, this was not true. In fact, there was a fundamental gap between the two, which was insurmountable to Saul. David was empowered by the Spirit of God (16:13). But the Spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from God tormented him (16:14). Simply saying, David was full of the Holy Spirit, and Saul was tormented by evil spirits. And there was a big fight between the two.
Although there was a big fight between David and Saul, the fight that David was fighting was totally different from that Saul was fighting. Saul regarded David to be his enemy, and he waged a battle of flesh in order to kill David. Then, what fight did David do? David’s fight was a spiritual struggle. It was a struggle for overcoming the world. His fight was to believe in God. And it was to do good in obedience to God’s will and, by doing so, to please God. David worked hard so that God may be shining like a lamp in his life, and He may be with him and guide his ways. In other words, Saul fought with David, but David struggled with God. Saul hated David and tried to kill him. But David loved God and wrestled with God “to death” so that God may live in him. To David, this was an extremely difficult fight. It was because this was “a fight of love.” In this fight, there was no weapon of flesh that was allowed for David to use against Saul. David couldn’t raise even a finger against Saul. Before Saul, David was literally “a dead dog and a flea” (1Samuel 24:14). To tell the truth, David was a mighty warrior who struck down Goliath, the giant. Nevertheless, David didn’t use any power of flesh against Saul. While being threatened and chased by Saul, David kept looking up to God and seeking His guidance.
Jesus said, “I have overcome the world.” What is “the world”? It is “people and their sins.” King Saul represents people in the world and their sins. I am not saying that he is a bad guy. Rather, Saul is “a mirror” to us. That is, through Saul, we can see the worldly natures hidden inside of ourselves. Through him, moreover, we can understand the world more clearly. There were two decisive turning points that Saul’s life fell into trouble. One was that, disobeying God’s command to destroy everything of Amalekites, Saul spared Agag, king of the Amalekites, and “the best of the sheep and cattle.” Instead of following God’s command, he followed his greed and what was good in his eyes. As a result, his relationship with God was broken, and the Spirit of God departed from him. The other turning point is found in today’s text. When king Saul and David were returning home after having killed the Philistines, the women greeted them and sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” Hearing this, Saul was very angry and said, “They have credited David with tens of thousands, but me with only thousands What more can he get but the kingdom?” And from that time on, Saul kept “a jealous eye” on David. Because of Saul’s jealousy, his relationship with his faithful servant David was broken. David became his archenemy, and Saul’s heart became full of anger and hatred toward David.
Saul lost God as a result of his greed, and he lost David as a result of his jealousy. The sin of the world represented by Saul is “greed and jealousy.” It is raising himself to the position of king like God, and hating anybody who is threating his throne. This is the sin of the world. We can see the same sin in Adam who took and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil out of his desire to be like God, and in Cain who killed his brother Abel out of his jealousy. In addition, we all have this nature, whether clearly visible or hidden deep inside of our heart. And many other sins come from this. Although Saul was in the highest position in Israel, his life described in today’s text is so miserable that he arouses our compassion. Actually, Saul’s miserable life is “the true face of this world.” People in the world, who seek “myself” so desperately by following greed and jealousy, should be happy as that much. But they are not at all. Rather, they are very unhappy. In addition to their miserable present life, they have to face even a more miserable ending in the future. Through Saul, we can get a glimpse of the unhappy life of people who are faithful to their desire and jealousy.
Saul was always fearful. In today’s text, we can often see that Saul was afraid of David. Verse 18:12 says, “Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul.” Verse 15 also says, “When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him,” and Verses 28-29 says, “When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.” In fact, David never scared Saul. He was rather a loyal vassal of the king. David walked with God, and did everything wisely among the people. By doing so, he was loved by God and people. This was a great fear to Saul. When he saw that God was with David, and that David was full of the Spirit of God, Saul was greatly scared. This is what the world is afraid of. Isaiah 31:3 says, “But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit; When the Lord stretches out his hand, those who help will stumble, those who are helped will fall; all will perish together.” The mightiest is God’s Spirit, and the one who is helped by the Spirit. Saul had every power as king of Israel. But he was afraid of David, who was merely one of his servants. Saul’s fear shows well the nature of spiritual fight. Saul had all the power but was tormented by evil spirits. David didn’t have any power, but God’s Spirit was with him. Because of this, Saul was always afraid of David.
Saul was a slave of anger, hatred, and murderous heart. God raised Saul as king so that he would rule God’s people of Israel. But when we examine today’s text, we can see that Saul had only “one business.” His heart was full of anger and hatred toward David. And the only solution to the anger and hatred was killing David. His most faithful servant became his enemy throughout all the days of his life. And Saul’s top priority was removing the enemy. Several times, Saul tried to kill David with his own hands by throwing his spear to David in front of him. Saul did so when an evil spirit came upon him (1Samuel 18:10-11; 19:9-10). When he was so infuriated, he insulted his son Jonathan who loved David and spoke well of him, saying, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman!”, and even tried to kill him with his spear (20:33). Furthermore, Saul used his daughters in his plots to kill David. Verse 18:17 says, “Saul said to David, ‘Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.’ For Saul said to himself, ‘I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!’” Saul didn’t keep his promise to give his daughter Merab to David, but he gave her to another man. Again he used his second daughter Michal in order to trap and kill David by the hands of the Philistines. Saul’s sin, which had begun with jealousy, now became an uncontrollable raging fire of anger and hatred, burning his entire soul. He was arrested by evil spirits, and wasted his whole life in pursuing David’s life.
Jesus said to his disciples, “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Yes, it is. What we should know is that Jesus’ disciples have trouble in this world. In 2Timothy 3:12 as well, Paul says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” David, who was hated by Saul without reason, deplores, “There is only a step between me and death” (20:3). David should have hated and gotten angry at Saul who put him in such a big trouble. Even David himself was “the anointed as new king of Israel.” He could claim his own rights in the name of the Lord God and Prophet Samuel. But David didn’t do so. He was always humble before Saul. When Saul, in his scheme to trap David, suggested him to be his son-in-law, David answered, ““Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” (18:18). He said of himself, “I’m only poor and little known” (18:23). His humility to Saul’s arrogance worked like oil to water, separating him from vain ambitions and protecting him from Satan’s schemes. His humility brought David to God and made him cry for God’s mercy and help. James 4:6-7 says, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This is the eternal truth. God opposes the proud and shows favor to the humble. So the best way of defeating the evil is not fighting with it but being humble to God and submitting ourselves to God.
David was also faithful to Saul and did everything assigned to him wisely and successfully. Verse 18:14 says, “And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him” (KJV). When Saul wanted a hundred Philistine foreskins on the pretense of taking revenge on his enemy but in fact for getting David killed the Philistines, David brought two hundreds to the king. David was good to everybody and in every way, and he was even good twice more than expected to his enemy who wanted to kill him. He followed Jesus’ teaching, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:38-42). Paul also says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). How can we live such a life in this world when we are challenged by evil every day? It is believing in Jesus, and imitating him every way. In Philippians 4:8-9, Paul said to the saints, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” The morals of the world is relativistic. They are “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” In this world, Saul is followed by another Saul, and another Saul. But David broke the chain, and he, instead of following Saul, followed God. This is what Jesus did for us. He covered all the sins of the world with his love, and he became the only Way to those who believe in him. In the darkest darkness of this world, now we see the light in Jesus, who is whatever true, whatever noble, whatever right, whatever pure, whatever lovely, and whatever admirable. Upon Jesus, we can build up a new life that is entirely unaffected by the world and wholly acceptable to God. May the Lord keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and help us run the race of being perfect in our faith in Jesus! May the Lord give us peace with God in this world and let us learn and practice God’s goodness so that we may receive the crown of eternal life in the coming world!