What is your greatest problem? Is at a bad boss? Is it a persistent creditor? Is it, maybe, your ex-spouse? Or your kids? Or maybe health or pain? What is your worst problem? We just think, “Well, if I could just eliminate this cancer I would have it made.”
Israel had a big problem, and you know what their problem was. The Philistines. The big thorn in their flesh. These uncouth pagans were numerous and they were zealous. And they were very muscular. They were big people. All like Goliath, a lot of them. And Palestine, you know, is where they lived for a long time. And they were tough sea peoples that had moved into Palestine and were well entrenched. In fact, Palestine is named after the Philistines, you knew that. And there are 255 references to the Philistines in the Bible. They seemed to be the greatest trial that God’s people would ever face, even greater than the Egyptians.
And to heap insult upon injury, these bad, burley, big-boned people tightly controlled the monopoly on iron. And you can read that there in your Bible in First Samuel, if you’d care to. It’s over here in chapter 13, and verse 19. First Samuel 13:19. “The whole land of Israel had no blacksmith because the Philistines had said, ‘The Hebrews might make swords and spears.’ So all the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines to have their plows, and hoes, and axes, and sickles sharpened.”
In my early youth, I grew up in Hartford City, Indiana, and just less than, right across the street from our church school was a blacksmith shop. And I would be studying arithmetic or trying to concentrate on my reading, and I could hear this hammer hitting the anvil. And at recess you could see the sparks flying. They had the monopoly on blacksmithing. The Israelites had no iron. And therefore they had no weapons. They were helpless, and this vexing problem, there was no way to win. Try as they might, God’s people felt as they could not conquer their evil enemies. And they did not know what to do. Now I will tell you that God wanted to win the battle for them without iron. God wanted to be their iron. They did not trust God. They clung to their idols.
The Philistines, life would have been a lot easier without them. And yet, were they any blessing to God’s people? Do you think they were a blessing to the Israelites? “Those blessed Philistines.” Is that how we think of them? Were they a blessing?! Well, if you believe Romans 8, verse 28, let me requote that to you. “And we know that”, how many things? “All things”, including what? The Philistines, “work together for the good to” who? “To those that love the Lord, and are called according to his purpose.” If you love the Lord and you are called according to His purpose, then the Philistines are good neighbors. They’re blessed. That’s what it says. “All things.” Could the Philistines have been any benefit? Well I think that depends totally on the person who is to be benefited. That depends totally on you. Can a bad neighbor, can a bad circumstance be of any benefit to you? It depends on you. I would like to re-title this sermon “The gift of trouble”. Because trouble is a blessing.
In our scripture reading this morning, Romans chapter 5, and verse 3, it says, “We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us. They are helping us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character, and strength of character brings hope.” And so it all starts with, what? The Philistines.
You know, Christians can rejoice in troubles because they know that trials are not meaningless. Every situation that you struggle with has a purpose. Trials are a part of God’s plan here on this earth, to produce a noble character out of us.
Well, it’s pretty hard to rejoice when the trouble is standing right there staring you in the face. I had a mean mother as a child. She’s here today. And she knows that she forced me, or asked me, I guess, to take piano lessons. My mother made me take piano lessons. That is true. And I walked to school, and then after school I would walk over to the piano teacher’s and would learn piano. Unfortunately I quit, after, I don’t know, a year or two. Don’t ever quit. If somebody’s teaching you piano, persist. It’s worth it. Don’t be like me. I quit. And I will tell you one reason I quit. When I would walk from that little church school over to my piano teacher’s house, there was a big bully, and he lived there on that street that I had to go down. And every time he would happen to notice me, he would come out and say, “I’m gonna beat you up.” And it was just a constant, terrible blessing, or curse, or whatever you call it.
And, you know, was this a blessing to me or not? Well, you may think there’s no blessing in that. Well, I found out something about bullies. They’re strong, but they are almost always so big that you can out run them, if you’re a little guy. And so this ruffian was a high motivation for me to develop my running skills. And I had some strong legs, and I still have strong legs. And maybe I give the, attribute that to that bully. That childhood bully. High motivation, for me to do what’s right. Well, I appreciate my mother. I love my mother, and she did a good thing, and I did not persist, and that’s where I made my mistake.
Matthew says blessed are those who are treated badly for doing good, they will be happy, they will be blessed. If you are being treated badly for doing good, then you are blessed.
Ministry of Healing, here she says it this way. Page 489, “All of our sufferings and sorrows, all of our temptations and trials, all of our sadness and griefs, all of our persecutions and privations, all things work together for good. All experiences, all circumstances are God's workmen whereby good is brought to us.” Isn’t that an amazing statement? The Philistines were a blessing, God put them there as neighbors to the Israelites for the purpose of blessing His people. They are God’s workmen.
The ancient boycott that the Philistines started was replicated by the British here in America back in the early days. The British would control the manufacture of metal materials to restrain the upstart Americans from possibly fabricating instruments of warfare.
How could the uncircumcised Philistines, these immoral people, be a blessing? How can your problems be of any possible value? Let’s talk about the gift of trouble. Problems can be some of your best friends, because of the motivation that they provide to you for faithfulness. Just think about Adam. Adam lived in the garden of Eden. Everything was perfect until an apple came along. Until Eve got to looking at that apple. And the devil tempted her and she ate it. Then we had big problems. Immediately briars started growing. There were big problems. And as Adam was out there hoeing his garden, and the briars were all coming up, he must have thought, “This is bad”. But it must have been a high motivator for Adam to do what is right and never, ever, “If I do anything wrong again, hard to tell what’ll happen then. This is bad enough.” And so, he had motivation to do what is right. The difficult people, or back-breaking circumstances, in your life, can be a stimulation that will motivate you to improve yourself.
Sometimes you cannot outrun the Philistines. Sometimes the Philistines will catch you. Sometimes Goliath will get a hold of you. At the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 Britain’s Derek Redmond was running for the gold medal in the 400 meter arena, in that race. And he was in the lead, and as he rounded the last turn he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg. He had torn his hamstring. And he fell down. And the security guards, the medical personnel started coming from way across. And just about that time a large man came over the fence from the grandstands. One of the public jumped the fence, hurled aside a security guard, came running for the young man. And it was his own father. It was his dad.
And he said, “Son, you don’t have to finish the race.” And the son said, “Yes I do”. And the dad said, “Well then, we’ll do it together. I will be your extra leg.” And so the father helped the son up. The boy buried his face in his dad’s shoulder at various times, and painfully started to resume the race. He was almost at the end. The crowd gasped, then they rose to their feet. Then they howled. Then they wept. Derek did not walk away with a gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father, who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat and came down, and helped his son finish the race.
God will do that for you. God will help you to finish the race that you have started. The apostle Paul, he started out on this race. He fought a good fight, he finished the course. With God’s help. And he did it with a thorn in the flesh. With the Philistines, with the pain, with the problem. We all do that. And that’s what God does for every one of us. When you face pain, when you struggle to finish your race, be sure of one thing, God will be there to help you. He will not leave you alone. He says, “I am with you always” says Jesus, “even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28 verse 20. He says, “Never will I leave you or forsake you.” Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5. God did not remove the Philistines from the Israelites neighborhood, but He was there with them helping them. He wanted to help them.
I think God placed those idolatrous, uncouth Philistines close to the borders of Israel so that they might clearly see the sharp contrast between good and evil. And might be motivated to live a good life. To choose properly between God’s way and the Devil’s way. And I think if you look in First Chronicles 11 verse 11, I marked this in my Bible here. If you look at this, you will see at one point, David has a list of his mighty men. First Chronicles 11:11. And these mighty men are listed here, and the very first one, he killed 300 Philistines single-handedly. And who got the credit? Does God get the credit? The credit is given to Jashobeam, a Hacmonite. No wonder he hacked them down. Maybe he was named afterwards, I don’t know. But think, their heroes are listed here. Their heroes are musclemen. Not God. And who are our heroes today? When you go down here to the shopping mart, or you go to the grocery store, you have cards that you can buy. Collecting cards. Are those collecting cards of, they’ve got Billy Graham’s face on there, they’ve got H.M.S. Richards face on there, they’ve got George Washington on there, they’ve got Benjamin Franklin and Abraham. Can you buy collecting cards like that? Maybe you can. I don’t know, I don’t see them very much. Our heroes are the muscle-men. We’re the same as the Israelites. We’re not doing it right. And the Israelites worshipped those types of people and they also worshipped idols. We’ve got to do better. We have a God that wants to be worshipped. Let’s worship Him. He ought to be our hero. Let’s choose the best. Let’s leave the idols alone. They didn’t. They continued to worship idols. They did not learn from the Philistines.
Your personal troubles can lead you into better life and your personal troubles can help somebody else. Think about Joseph. Poor Joseph. He was thrown into the well, the slave traders came by and got him out and took him down to Egypt. He was put in Potiphar’s house. He was accused of a terrible crime. He was thrown into jail. He went through agony for years. Joseph went through terrible times. And what was Joseph’s opinion of those hard times? You can read it in Genesis 50, verse 20. Joseph says, “But God intended it for good...for the saving of many lives.” His problems would save many lives. The trials that you go through can benefit you and can save other people.
You see, a gem is not polished without a lot of rubbing. And a man is not made without many trials. Trials on this sinful world. They’re here. We’ve all got them. But let’s let them make us, and not destroy us. Or break us.
In the prime of life Hezekiah was stricken by a terrible disease. And he prayed, “Lord, I’m not ready to die yet. I’ve got so much I want to do.” And so God gave him an extra bonus, of what was it, 15 extra years. He restored him to his health. And notice how Hezekiah viewed his grave time of trouble where he almost died. He says here in Isaiah 38, verse 17. “Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered.” What an attitude.
Walt Disney said, “A kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the whole world for you.”
There was family was vacationing and it was a nice pleasant day. They had the windows down, they were driving along, a little girl was in the back seat. And all-of-a-sudden a bee came in the window. Have you ever been driving along, and a bee or something comes in? And the little girl was deathly afraid because she was allergic to bees. She knew that if that bee would sting her that she would die. Because they weren’t near any hospital. They were vacationing. And she said, “Daddy, the bee is going to hurt me.” Well, he slammed on the brakes. He knew the situation. And they tried to get the bee. And finally the father got the bee against the windshield up there, and before he could do anything to harm the bee, the bee stung him. And he jerked his hand back. And the bee got loose again, and the bee came into the back seat. And the little girl said, “Daddy, the bee is going to hurt me!” The Daddy said, “No honey, look at my hand. The bee’s stinger is in MY hand.”
And Jesus could say, “Look at my hands. The sting of death, I took it for you. I took it.” On your behalf Jesus took all the pain that the Devil could inflict upon him. And because of Jesus all that the Devil can do today is buzz. His stinger is gone. Because, First Corinthians 15:55, “O Death, where is your sting?” Let me answer that question. Where is your sting? It’s in the hands of Jesus. That’s where it is. You’re not going to, all he can do is buzz.
The tree that never had to fightPraise the Lord for troubles. Praise the Lord for the Philistines. Let the adversities of your life help you to become a better person. When that terrible thing happens to you, or your family, allow that to make you better, and not bitter. Keep your eyes on Jesus. And He will deliver you. Don’t face the problem, face the answer to the problem, Face the Saviour.
For the sun and the sky and the air and the light,
Never became a forest king,
But lived and died a common thing.
The man who never had to toil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man,
But lived and died as he began.
Something strange happened back in Badger Stadium in Madison Wisconsin back in 1982. 60,000 fans were sitting there watching their favorite team, Wisconsin University, they were playing Michigan State University. It was a football game. They were there watching this game, and Michigan had the better team by far. Wisconsin was getting trampled. Wisconsin, the longer they played, the worse they lost. And it was a farce. But, the more Wisconsin lost the louder became the applause and the shouts of joy from the Wisconsin fans. Even though UW was being beaten badly, by Michigan State, the fans were smiling, they were high-fiveing each other, and they were, they were just acting like they were winning. And how could this be?
Well, it turned out that 70 miles away the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Three of the 1982 World Series. And many of the fans had little portable radios. And they were tuned in to that game. And they were responding to something other than what they were seeing on the football field.
And that’s the only way that the apostle Paul could write in First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 10, “For I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions and in difficulties.” Things were going badly for Paul, but Paul was not tuned in to the trouble. Paul was tuned in to the answer. He was tuned in to the victory. You see, he was focused on something else other than what he was seeing. That’s how you can rejoice when trouble comes. You see how that works. Paul’s secret was that He was tuned in to another reality. Tune in to heaven. Tune in to the good things of life. Tune in to these things. And it will help you. And if all you’re focused on is your problems and your pain and your diseases and all the financial problems, you will never be rejoicing. But when you tune in on Jesus, when you focus on Jesus Christ, you’ve got a whole new reality. And then you can high-five. You can shout for joy.
I will tell you that God is in control and His side is winning. They’re trouncing the enemy. The enemy is gone.
So keep your eyes on Jesus. Do not focus on the Philistines. Do not focus on your lack of Iron. Focus on the great quantity of Jesus that you can have. You see? The Devil is losing. Use the troubles of life to direct your attention to Jesus Christ and His victory, and your life will be changed. It’ll be different.
Let’s sing our closing hymn. Number 633, When We All Get To Heaven. Things are going to be different. The Philistines will not be your neighbors. They will not. God bless you.
Hymn of Praise: #82, Before Jehovah's Awful Throne Scripture: Romans 5:3-5 Hymn of Response: #633, When We All Get to Heaven
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 5/12/07