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In several scriptures, the Lord urges believers to be merciful as He is merciful. He reminds us that is is not our job to pronounce judgement on mankind–it’s His. Most of us try to live this way, but sometimes, although we refrain from bringing out a guillotine, we can’t resist a little snip with our scissors. The biblical story of David’s experience with Saul brings this truth to life.

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Wheat & Chairs Transcript:

(“I can’t stand that brother Frank, he’s always taking the best spot in the church parking lot…

Then there’s sister Glenda: she only brings one pie to the potluck when all the other ladies bring two..

…and don’t get me started, brother and sister Jones, can’t they keep their kids quiet during service, wait a minute…

…the worst of all is brother Harold, he always thinks he know more than anybody else!”)

Oh, hi LOAH  church, didn’t notice you sitting there…

Did that sound a little snippy?

That reminds me of the title of today’s message

When Christians Get “Snippy”

Our Text Today is:

1 Sam. 4:4b-5 (NIV)

“Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe”

Intro:

A little background to set the scene here:

Israel, having noticed that all the other nations had human kings, and they had only God, they went to the prophet Samuel and demanded that God give them a king too.

They wanted to be like the world they were living in.

God did give them what they wanted, but their new king, Saul, became wicked.

Soon, God anointed his successor, David, but it was not his time to rule yet.

So, when Saul realized that young David was to be his successor, Saul started trying to kill him. David and some of his men escaped and then spent all their time running and hiding from Saul and his extensive army. Then something amazing happened.
Let’s pick up the story in from here in I Sam 24:2-5, (NIV)  which tells us the story surrounding the verse I started out with:

“So, Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, ‘This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe…

…He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.’ With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.”

[Show scissors prop and cut some more fabric]
David didn’t have scissors like these, he probably used his sword, but he just wanted to prove he was the better man and could have taken Saul’s life right then and there had he wanted to. He didn’t kill Saul (although he could have), he only snipped off a tiny bit of his skirt.

So, what’s wrong with that? Why did David feel so guilty?

How is DAVID like us, and what can we learn from his actions on this day? Like you and me, He is a servant of God that can get confused in his walk with the Lord

WHO IS HIS ENEMY?  And let’s also ask, WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES? David’s men tried to convince him that Saul was his enemy and David would be justified in treating him like an enemy by killing him.

I wonder if, sometimes, our actions or even our thoughts imagine those around us as adversaries or rivals?

David cuts JUST A LITTLE PIECE OF SAUL’S GARMENT.

Now,  David knows he will be the next king and Saul seems like his enemy and should be taken down.

But this a test for David… and a lesson for us. Saul is not David’s enemy in this situation.

SO WHO OR WHAT IS DAVID’S ENEMY?

DAVID’S ENEMY IS his pride. Samuel told him that he was God’s choice to be the next king, but we will see from the following verses, that it was pride tempting him to almost take things into his own hands, forgetting that God was still in control.

Any one of us, might encounter a similar situation in the days to come. Regardless of what we know to be true, we must remember that God is still in control.

Let’s see what David ends up doing…

He follows when Saul leaves the cave and tells him this in I Sam 24:10 (NIV)

“This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’”

Then David wisely explains even more to Saul in…

I Sam 24:12-13 (NIV)

“May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.”

Here is where it gets sticky. David is saying, ‘If I raise my hand against Saul, even to cut off a little piece of his skirt, I am evil.’ We, as Christians must make the same choice, even down to our thought life.

As Christians we can be stuck between being right and but acting wrong all at the same time. David was right in knowing that Saul was an evil king, but he was wrong in imagining, even for a second, that he could act as the hand of God. And this is why he says,

“May the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.”

We live in a big unsaved world and sometimes we get confused what our mission is. That’s OK, we’re in good company.

Here are some examples of confused servants of God:

Peter cut off a piece of a soldier’s ear as they come to arrest Jesus, but Jesus healed the soldier and corrected Peter’s attitude in…

Matthew 26:52 (NIV)

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

James and John wanted to destroy an entire Samaritan village in Luke 9:51-56 (KJV)

“And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem…

…And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”

This really happened! These two disciples were hoping that Jesus would grant their wish. They were taking their cues from the Old Testament, when Elijah had called down fire from heaven. But Jesus response to them once again points out the fact that we, as his followers, sometimes get it wrong. Christ’s clear mission on earth, (as is ours) was to save, not destroy and His desire is that we see others through His eyes.

These disciples were not following the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of Elijah. They were following their own spirit of vengeance and we must be careful not to give in to that same spirit even in our thought life.

Even in the Old Testament, Joshua’s understanding of an approaching battle situation is corrected by God, with an unexpected answer

Joshua 5:13-15 (NIV)

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

Joshua made a mistake in judgement and we (as servants of God) tend to think the same thing: that God is for us because we are the “righteous” ones.

Listen in Deut. 9:3-5 (NIV) as Moses speaks to the Jewish nation in the wilderness, just before they enter the Promised Land:

“But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you…

…And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you. After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you…

…It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

In other words, IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU OR ME

God’s agenda is often far different from my agenda…why? Because too often, my agenda is all about ME. (Ask yourself, “Is my agenda is all about me?)

In Isaiah 55:9 (GNT) God reminds us,

“As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.”

…which leads us to ask ourselves:

What must our agenda or calling truly be?

God shares His heart and His calling with us, through His prophet Ezekiel in Ez. 18:23 (TLB):

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.”

Too often, in stressful times… (this might be your stressful time)… we get confused as to who the enemy really is.

[Pull out scissors again and cut fabric]

David struck out with a sword (he got snippy) and cut away a piece of Saul’s garment… a seemingly small act.. but then…

It is David who is the one stricken—he is stricken with guilt for even the little that he did do.

Pulpit commentary says this about David’s attitude:

‘So tender was his conscience that he condemned himself for even deviating so slightly from the respect due to the anointed king.’

A TENDER CONSCIENCE TOLD DAVID THAT CUTTING EVEN A TINY PIECE FROM SAUL’S GARMENT WAS GOING TOO FAR.

EVERY TIME WE ARE TEMPTED TO CUT OFF A PIECE OF SOMEONE’S SKIRT OR EXPOSE THEM IN SOME WAY:     GOD IS RIGHT THERE, TESTING OUR CHARACTER.

Pro 21:1-2 (CEV) assures and challenges us all at the same time. (Maybe Solomon, the author of Proverbs, was reminded of when his father David was running from King Saul when he penned these words:

“The LORD controls rulers, just as he determines the course of rivers. We may think we are doing the right thing, but the LORD always knows what is in our hearts.”

The Apostle Paul reveals why David was chosen as the next king after Saul in Acts 13:22 (NIV)
“After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;”

Now I know that I am nowhere near full possession of the heart of God, and David’s life revealed that he wasn’t either…Yet, when he did snip just a little bit from Saul’s skirt, his conscience was too tender to live with what he had done. He recognized it as pride and he repented. May the Lord testify of us, that we also, are a people after God’s own heart.

Question:

When is Being Right all Wrong?

Have you ever said something or done something in the spur of the moment, but afterward, had a nagging feeling that what you did, you did in order to take another person down a peg or two, and if you were honest it made you feel just a bit superior.

SO, WILL I YIELD TO GOD, OR GIVE IN TO THAT TEMPTATION TO TAKE THINGS INTO MY OWN HANDS, JUST A BIT, JUST FOR A MOMENT, AND EXPOSE JUST A LITTLE PIECE OF THEM.

James and John were offended that those filthy Samaritans were rejecting God’s chosen people so they imagined revenge. Jesus had to remind them:

“For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:56 (KJV)

I must confess that I also imagine revenge when I feel wronged, though I’m careful not to call it revenge. I call it: “God’s hand of rebuke” or “Go Get-em Lord”

David however, shows us the grace of God (way back in the Old Testament) when speaking to Saul, after wrongly cutting off a piece of his garment,

I Sam 24:10a (NKJV)

“Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you…”

David’s eye did not look upon Saul as an enemy. Do our “eyes” see others as needing rebuke and the exposure of their sins — or mercy, and the covering of their sins – and isn’t that the covering that God has given us?

Prov. 16:2

(KJV) “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.”

(CEV) “We may think we know what is right, but the LORD is the judge of our motives.”

His internal motives, were bothering David, making him feel guilty. Because of his tender conscience, he knew that something was wrong in his heart and so he chases after Saul, but instead of taking Saul’s life as David’s men were sure was the right thing to do, he approaches Saul in humility.

David did not carelessly accept the counsel of his men, to satisfy some personal agenda of revenge or rivalry. Neither should we seek the advice of those who may not see things the way God desires us to see them.

God discerns the thoughts and intents of my heart, he reads between the lines of my outward behavior and if I have a tender heart toward God, He will let me know when being “right” is all wrong.

I have a bad habit of saying things that I know will provoke a reaction, that would somehow expose people a bit. Why do I do it? [say it with pride!!!] 

Because I want to let them know that I know they’re not as spiritual as they think they are.

But what does that make me? It makes me evil. I am taking them down a peg because I think they need a little humbling. Do I really think I’m giving God a hand?

How can Christians be the hand of God, without having the heart of God?  Psalm 24;3-4a asks us (KJV)

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart…”

In the Contemporary English Version is says,

“Who may climb the Lord’s hill or stand in his holy temple? Only those who do right for the right reasons…”

When the scripture talks about “climbing the mountain of God” or “dwelling in his holy temple”, it speaks to us of growing spiritual maturity. Clean hands represent what’s on the outside, what others can see. A pure heart however, is hidden from sight. It’s what’s on the inside.

The Lord will always test us concerning the condition of our heart, not just our hands.

We all like to be appreciated by others…

BUT THE TEMPTATION TO SHINE ABOVE OTHERS, COMES FROM A FAULTY HEART.

OUR DESIRE TO SHINE ABOVE OTHERS TEMPTS US TO EXPOSE OTHERS, TO BRING THEM DOWN A PEG.

“The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” Proverbs 20:27 KJV

IT MEANS GOD IS TESTING OUR CHARACTER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT SEARCHES OUR BELLY, OR GUT FEELINGS, TO SEE IF WE ARE HONORING HIM OR NOT.
[pull out scissors again and start snipping]

1. V) So why does it dishonor the Lord to start snipping at others?

Isaiah confesses his gut feelings in Isaiah 64:6a (KJV)

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…”

 There is One and only One who truly has the right to shine. The only One who has the right to be proud. Because He is all that He claims to be.

That’s why we sing, [sing it]

All the Glory belongs to the Lord

For is worthy to be praised

No one on earth should give glory to himself

For all the glory belongs

The glory belongs

The glory belongs to the Lord,

Think of “glory” as “shining”. Something that is glorious is something that shines—and we all like to shine. But none of us really deserve to shine, not before we were saved and not now.

WE can only be happiest and truly at peace, when our trust is in the Lord. That trust in Jesus means we accept being naked and exposed as sinners. But then Jesus covers us, not with our filthy rags, but with His robe of Righteousness.

When David cut off a piece of Saul’s garment, he did it in his own righteousness but immediately realized he had no righteousness of his own. We never had, or ever will have, any righteousness of our own. Only Christ shines, only Christ has glory and I am happy and at peace, when I am safely covered in His robes and His robes alone.

I never realized it before, but that’s why we can’t pack a suitcase, before our trip to Heaven.

Nothing we could bring with us, would ever be appropriate to wear.

The never-ending desire to be “snippy” comes from that pride in our hearts that we never seem to completely let go of. Oh yes, we did repent of our sins and asked Jesus to comes into our lives, but pride still raises its ugly head in the form of snipping at others.

This is you and this is me: our lifelong struggle that our heavenly Father knows about.

But don’t worry. The Lord has always had a plan in place, to deal with human pride.

Isaiah describes the plan in Isaiah 23:9 (KJV)

“The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.”

GNV says it this way:

“The Lord of hosts hath decreed this, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring to contempt all them that be glorious in the earth.”

He knows what our problem is and has this plan in place to do some snipping of His own.

[show sign that says “My Pride” get cut to pieces with the scissors]

The Lord knows we’ll only be completely free to worship Him, when we stop worshipping ourselves.

Even from childhood, in our pride we’ve boasted,
“My dog’s bigger that your dog”.

Part of fighting my pride is knowing when to admit that someone else’s dog might just be bigger than mine. Or even better, steering clear of the fight altogether. I think a good gauge of my humility is probably how many times a day I’m willing to concede that I’m wrong. Now the definition of “concede” is this: “admit that something is true or valid after first denying or resisting it.”  Now everybody out there knows that I’m hardly ever wrong, so this kind of thing rarely occurs! Just kidding! Anyway, you get the point. Stained pride is good for us.

In conclusion: GOD’S COVERING

The real shame of all human pride is this:

Jesus allowed all our sins to strip Him naked on the Cross, to completely remove His covering as He hung there…and yet underneath His garment was not found any sin whatsoever, but a perfect sacrifice for our sins. With our faulty hearts we attempt to expose others, while Christ’s heart does just the opposite…

As forgiven sinners, Jesus has given us new coverings, new white robes of righteousness.

1 Pet 4:8 tells us (NIV)

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Isaiah 61:10a (NIV) testifies of God’s wonderful grace,
“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness…