Is There Not A Cause?

1 Sam 17:22-29 And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. 23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. 25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. 26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. 28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

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Her name is not a household name and she lived and died long before our great grandparents were even born. She was way ahead of her time and has largely been forgotten, but deserves more attention than she received. Some people call her crazy, others admire her courage. I'll leave it for you to decide, for now, meet Mary Dyer.

Mary was a native of Newport, Rhode Island in the mid 1600s over a hundred years before the American Independence. She died on June 1, 1660 and her death is her claim to fame. Mary Dyer was one of the few women to be hanged in the American colonies, and the only one to die for this particular reason.

Mary was a Quaker, that was her religious persuasion. And she just happened to live in an area that was controlled by the Puritans, the area then called the "Colony of the Massachusetts Bay." The Puritans passed a law making it a crime to believe and/or teach anything other than what they believed and taught, and thus Quakers were not to be tolerated. Yet, in that society, no one relished punishing or killing a woman and so Mary was escorted out of the community and asked to never come back. She did, refusing to leave her home and refusing to change her religious beliefs. She was asked to leave a second time and escorted from the colony, this time with the threat that she would be put to death if she returned. She came back. For the third time they forcefully removed Mary Dyer from the colony and threatened to kill her if she returned. She returned and showed up at a public execution of some fellow Quakers. When they realized that Mary was in the crowd, they grabbed her and placed the noose around her neck intending for her to the be the third victim of the day, but before they could pull the trap door and send her to her death, she was given an official reprieve and sent back to her home in the colony on the condition that she never return to Boston. The following May, Mary went back to Boston. She was again arrested, and not wanting to kill a woman, the law again offered a reprieve if she would agree to leave the colony. Mary refused and said "hang me." "I would rather die for my religious freedom rather than submit to your demands." And so Mary was hanged in the Boston Commons and is the only woman who has ever died for religious freedom in the American Colonies.

It would be 116 years later that her "cause" would become the rallying cry and men and women alike would join together for religious freedoms and freedom from the English Crown and fight the revolution that would create the United States of America. It would be a few years later that the founders of this country would write an amendment to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights that said "Congress shall make no law respecting and establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Thank God for it! The reason that we can worship freely is partly because of such men, but most people forget that the idea and the cause of religious freedom started with a Quaker woman who steadfastly refused to give in to the pressure of her day and died for her cause that she believed right.

Mary is not alone in history. We could spend hours giving examples of people who because of a cause that they believed in with all of their heart, did some extraordinary things because of it. My mind goes back to the woman who lived three months in the limbs of a California Redwood tree without coming down. She stayed there through hailstorms and lightening and heat, and all for a cause that she deemed worthy o such sacrifice: environmental awareness. When I think of causes and what people will do for them, I think of the same group of thinking that chained themselves to trees in the forests of Oregon and literally put their lives in front of chainsaws to save the "spotted owl." I think of historic figures like Napoleon Bonaparte who consistently started wars and marched all of the way to Moscow, Russia in the dead of winter and back, sacrificing the lives of a third of million men and eventually losing his own at Waterloo all because he believed that it would help his cause: to be the emperor of not only France, but of England as well. Historians say that he would occasionally visit the chess club in Paris, and even during games of chess, Napoleon was so consumed with the idea of taking over England that he spoke of nothing else. I think back to George Washington who let his wealthy estates and endured such hardships as going through New England winters without even proper shoes and coats and refused to receive a dime of salary, even after he became the first president of this nation: all because he believed in a cause. My mind goes to one of the most brilliant man that ever lived, Albert Einstein, who they said was so consumed with nuclear physics and his mathematical theories, that someone had to go to and from work with him to ensure that he rode the proper train, because he would forget his route. I think of the Nez Perce Indian tribes that although they were extremely outnumbered and outflanked and outgunned, retreated into a cannon and then fought tenaciously against the United States armies because they believed in their cause. I think of Ricky Williams, the Texas University running back who after four stellar years of a professional career in the NFL kissed goodbye to fame and millions of dollars this year because he wanted to be able to smoke pot and not have to give interviews a few times a year. I think of the Islamic militants that were cheerfully glad to kiss their wives and kids goodbye and hijack jumbo jetliners and fly them into the World Trade Towers. They did all of this because of a cause that they felt was just. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my mind goes back to the young fellow, I can't remember his name who is currently about halfway in his lifelong quest to eat a Blizzard from every Dairy Queen in the country!

No matter how serious or how far out some of these things are, one is becomes evident: our world is looking for a cause to believe in. They are looking for something to connect with and something to sell out for. They are looking for something to stand for and to sacrifice for. Save the whales, or babies, make Barbie dolls that are fat enough to be politically correct, get rich quick, build a faster car, or pretend like vampires exist and act like them. There is something in our psyche as human beings that we know that we will never be happy until we are living, not just to survive, not just to enjoy life, not just to live and then die, but until we are sold out, totally devoted to a cause. Americans need a cause today!

Causes cause people to get beyond the extraordinary and go the extra mile.

Causes cause people to sacrifice their personal comfort and to give everything to what could be.

It could be said then that "causes cause people to live by faith."

Causes make people get beyond their personal situation and dream.

Causes bring self-satisfaction and happiness and a sense of fulfillment.

I suggest to you that we all need a cause to sell out to. But no need to go out an find some unique mark from the world to aspire to: in the words of little David "Is there not a cause?" Is there not a cause already worth selling out to?

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There is such a cause. I began this sermon with the story of Mary Dyer because she was someone who was radical. She was willing to die for her cause. But I really only used her to introduce somebody else that was willing to die for His cause: the most famous One of all, Jesus Christ!

In our text, we read how Pilate questioned Jesus on the charges that He said that He was the king of the Jews. He never denied it. He said " you say that I am a king." "I came into this world to be king of this world." It was true that Jesus had come to be king but for Him to truly reign over everything He had to die and pay the price for sin! Jesus Christ's cause was His Kingship and Lordship, and, like Mary Dyer, He was willing to die for His cause!

He lived His entire life devoted to the cause of dying to be King. It's interesting to note that only the last three and a half years of Jesus' life were spent in the spotlight. Thirty years were spent in relative obscurity, going to church, work, and home. Living pure in a sinful world. Making a living for his widowed mother and brothers and sisters. Dealing with the public every week. And yet throughout all of the tedium and routine, and the years of the same old, same old, we find that Jesus Christ never forgot His true cause. He never aspired to some of the things that other men aspire to. Surely that 18 years of working in Nazareth as honestly and as trustworthy as Jesus was would have put Him in the financial position to purchase a nice home and land and a grand estate, and yet upon His death, the only thing that He owns is the clothes on His back. Money was important to provide for His family and to have nice things, but accumulating wealth didn't fit into His cause. An earthly family was out of the question. He was tempted extensively in the weakest moments of His life while fasting for forty days and yet did not yield to the temptation, because He remembered that He was living for a cause! Even at the tender age of twelve years old, at a time when most young boys are more interested in playing ball in the streets and running with their cousins than spiritual things, we find Jesus sitting for days in the temple discussing the scripture with the scribes and wowing them with His insight. And then when His parents came frantically rushing in to demand that He come home at once, we find that this extraordinary man, the Christ, submitting and yielding to the earthly parents that He had created. Why? Because to submit to the Word of God and set up a spiritual kingdom of such was His cause. And Jesus made ever decision according to the cause that He had come to die to be King!

We quote John 3:5 so much that I think we miss some of the meaning.

John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

There's more in this scripture than just proving the truth of the necessity of being baptized in water and receiving the Holy Ghost. That process, being born again, is what brings your entrance into the "kingdom of God." If that is so, then may I remind you that if you are born again of the water and the Spirit then you are part of Christ's kingdom over which He reigns! If you are a part of His kingdom then the cause of the kingdom is supposed to be your cause! We talk a lot about being like Jesus and a lot less on HOW to be like Jesus. Everyone knows that as Christians we are to be "Christ like." But if we are to be Christ-like, then we must live according to and be sold out to a cause! His cause must become our cause! We should be sold out to, and submitted to, and consumed with the cause of Christ which was "dying to our flesh so that He can be King!" Our cause ought to be the Kingdom of God and it's advancement. It ought to be to train up our children to love truth and God. It ought to be to win someone to Him! It ought to be to walk as He walked. We don't need to save the whales or some sand flea of California. We don't need to wage wars and such, for those things shouldn't be our cause. Our cause should be to further Christ's kingdom in EVERYTHING that we do! There is a cause and His name is Jesus Christ! He's the reason that I live!

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In our other text, we read some verses from the familiar story of David and Goliath. The Israelite army is set on one side of a valley and the Philistine army on the other. Rather than engage in normal warfare, the giant comes down to the valley everyday and curses the God of Israel and challenges any one of them to come an fight. Let me say that the devil does not fight fair, but Israel made the mistake of allowing the enemy to choose the battleground and the fighting conditions and so fear got involved. A defensive church is a paralyzed church. Some people only fight for truth when they are backed into a corner and only pray and fast when they need an urgent request taken care of. The story here shows, there's no power in that. God responds to faith and action, not defensive crawfishing and desperation. We need to be a church that is bold in our message and bold in our direction. If the devil wants to fight for the stronghold of Castroville, he will have to fight us on our own terms! If he does nothing, we'll just take the city one by one! If he wants a direct fight, then greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world! Don't let yourself get into defensive mode as a Christian, it's quite unbecoming for people who are supposed to be "more than conquerors" to be hiding in the bushes, scared of the devil or what someone might say.

Back to the story. Some of David's older brothers were in the army and his father, Jesse, sent him to the frontlines with some food and supplies for them. While running the errand, David overhears the giant's challenge and is amazed when he sees the mighty men of Israel cowering in fear against someone who is directly defying the true God of Israel and who has no relationship with the real God. David had never fought a battle against a human opponent, but through his relationship with God he realized that he was a part of a cause that was greater than his own life: the cause of God. In fact, that was the question that he asked from which we draw our subject: "is there not a cause?"

In the story, Eliab, one of David's older brothers took offense at David's question and amazement and began to insult and deride him. In fact, it is to Eliab his brother, that David first expressed those immortal words "is there not a cause?" Nothing is in scripture by accident and it on purpose that we have recorded the name of David's brother here. The name "Eliab" means "God is my Father." He is a mighty man with a great name and yet he is cowering in fear in the bushes at this ugly behemoth whom God is just waiting for a chance to knock down.

It is evident to me in my years of living for God that it is possible for people to be "children of God" just like Eliab, and be a part of God's army and in the church of the living God in a full covenant relationship just like Eliab, and -- just like Eliab -- not have a clue as to the "cause" of the kingdom of God! Let me say that again. It's possible to have been baptized in the name of Jesus, filled with the Holy Ghost, on your way to heaven, in the army of the saints of the Lord, and even on the front lines, and yet still not get the fact that this is all about a cause! Despite the fact that Eliab knew he was a child of God, and despite his training as a soldier, and despite all of the Word of God that he had learned, it had never clicked that this was more than just a religion and something to do on the weekends, but that living for God was about being sold out, day and night, to a cause!

So let me answer David's question for you and I. Yes, there is a cause. And yes, it better be the focal point of your living. The cause is for Jesus Christ to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords! It is to exalt Him in every way possible. And it is a cause worth selling out to and even giving your life to! Eliab, listen to this preacher, it's not enough to be a child of God and member of the army of saints, but you must live your life radically sold out to a cause! Anything that stands in the way of your cause must be eradicated. And as God proved through the boy David, even if the things in your life that seem to huge to overcome so that you can be obedient to the cause of Christ, if you will step out in faith and be willing to sell out to God's causes, then those giants in your life will come crashing down! But that will only happen if you are sold out, and committed, living day by day for the only cause worth living for!

Jesus Christ lived without sin. How? Because He remembered the cause!

Jesus Christ did not yield to Satan. Why? Because He remembered the cause!

Jesus Christ was willing to put aside the will of His flesh. Why? Because He was living for a cause!

Jesus Christ forgave those who treated the worst. How? Because His eyes were more on the cause than the circumstances!

The old idiom, "it's hard to live for God easy, and easy to live for God hard" is true. God doesn't need any more Eliabs, but He is looking for someone who will follow in His own earthly footsteps and who will live sold out to His cause! Could what I'm preaching be the reason why there seems to be two classes of Christians, those who get it and those who don't? There are some Christians who grasp holiness and this thing becomes a whole new lifestyle for them, and then there are those who try to hold on to as much of the world as they can at the same time wanting to be a child of God and a member of the army of saints. They are like Eliab, they are a part of the kingdom, but they are too scared to fight for the kingdom. They are always waiting for someone else to worship first, fast first, move first, witness first. God back and read the story of David and Goliath, as soon as the Israelites saw that Goliath was dead, THEN they all charged the enemy position. When someone saw someone else take a stand and get a great victory because of their willingness to sacrifice their life if needed for the cause, THEN they wanted to get on board! I guess we'll always have a few Eliabs in the church that will only get on fire for God if certain people are on fire for God and who will only passionately worship or pray if a few others do, but there is something in me that causes the words of David to ring out in my soul: is there not a cause? What does what someone else is doing have to do with your relationship with God? Make that giant your giant!

I must confess, that in all my preaching, I've never bothered to look up what the name "David" meant. It means "beloved." We need less saints that are willing to just be content in the army of the Lord and as His children and waiting on someone else to start a revival or whatever, and more people who will remember the cause of which we fight and say "I will be the One!" People who do so will be remembered as the people who are the "beloved;" those whom the Lord loves dearly! Is there not a cause? Yes, there is a cause: Jesus Christ and His kingdom! Everything that I must do must be sold out to the cause of His Lordship and Kingdom! And the mark of separation is clear in this story: those who face the greatest obstacles and trust God until they are victorious are those who are sold out to the cause, and those who fail to overcome the enemy's tactics and threats and cowdown to sin's demands, are not remembering the cause!

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But let's go one step further and talk about what cause people to try to live for God and yet not be sold out to the cause. Let's give Eliab the benefit of the doubt and believe that at one time he knew there was a cause, after all he had joined the army for some reason. Even though it's possible that he was like some of these guys I listened to in amazement during the Iraqi war, who were saying things like "I never wanted to go into war and never thought I'd be sent over here, I just wanted my college paid for." Those interview amazed me. On the news a few months back I heard one guy say "I never wanted to get shot at when I joined the military." Those are the words of someone who got into the army just for the benefits and not for a cause! They wanted the insurance and the education and the esteem and the fringe benefits, but nothing to do with sacrifice and freedom and the other cause for which our military was created. I admire the courage of the guy who turned down a multi-million dollar contract with the NFL and entered the special forces because he wanted to "make a difference." He was called a fool by the talkshow hosts and fans everywhere, but he had the attitude that some things are worth more than money and comfort. Freedom became his cause and this past year, he gave his very life for that cause.

But we have some people in the church, that they signed onto this army for the benefits. They are perhaps like Eliab was. They like the badge "I'm in the Lord's army." "I'm a holy roller." "I study the Bible." They like the fringe benefits of serving God and I like them too: they love feeling the presence of God. They like to hear a good sermon. They love to see the smile on someone's face when they receive the Holy Ghost. They enjoy being around the Godly people (I hope) of the church. They enjoy the fellowship and the lively music and the worship and the depths of God's Word being explored. There are a lot of benefits to being in God's army and in this kingdom! But don't ever forget your primary reason for being born again and being drafted into this army of saints is the cause of Christ! There's going to be some ugly giants that rise up against you. There's going to be some fights and some things that you have to endure. There's going to have to be some changes made if you are to fight well. And I submit to you that if national and political freedom is worthy fighting for, then what about spiritual freedom? Is there not a cause?

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Maybe Eliab lost the cause because he had only signed up for the blessings. Or maybe it was that old common enemy that every one of us has faced that got him: FEAR!

I've already hit upon it somewhat. You want to fight. You want to be bold. You want to stand for truth, but then that fear hits you. The fear of what might happen if. In reading history, if you were to ask Napoleon, and George Washington and such what is the most dangerous adversary to fighting for your cause, they would answer resoundingly: Fear!

Listen carefully as I give you the easy solution to this common problem. It's simple: only fear can defeat fear. I'll say that again: only fear can conquer fear! The scripture talks about how that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." You replace a destructive fear and let it be consumed with a healthy fear. Understand that David did not NOT fear the giant. He had all of the normal feelings that everybody else had. The difference in David was not that he had no fear, but that he had an additional fear. And the extra fear that David had was, "if this guy wins and keeps defying our God, then we will lose out with God and the enemy will think that their false gods are true." To David, that was the fear that drove him to action. The fear of what might happen if nothing was done, overrode the fear of standing for truth.

The name "Goliath," interestingly enough, means "passage." In other words, it means the way from one place to another. Remember when you are the most fearful, that you are standing at the passage that leads to the next anointing and the next level in God! The giants are placed at such places. It's like an old arcade game that has a "boss" defeat at the end of each level so that you can advance to the next. When you face a giant, your life, a situation that brings fear or seems impossible remember that it marks a passage in your spiritual walk and so there ought to be a fear of staying where you are and dying. There ought to be a fear of what may happen if you do nothing, and that healthy fear ought to drive you to step out in faith and conquer your fear of the unknown!

As far as living for God, my fear of what will happen to my family if I don't stand up for truth, outweighs my fear of what my family might say to me. My fear of not being right with God and letting Him down far outweighs my fear of the persecution that comes from living holy unto the Lord. My fear of one day waking up and not being able to feel God's presence because I have neglected him, swallows up my fear of seeming an odd ball because of my worship! I let fear conquer fear! Let a Godly fear consume the evil. There ought to be a fear in us that no matter what we don't want the cause of Christ to stop with us, that would push us past all of the small dilly-dally things that paralyze us sometimes and keeps in the bushes out of the passage way to the promises of God!

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Maybe Eliab lost the cause because he got distracted by other things. There is no evidence of this in the text, but we know that it happened to Solomon. Solomon the wisest man to ever live, supposedly, got distracted with women, and money, and wealth, and knowledge and just everyday life until he forgot about the cause. If you ever want to be depressed, go read the book of Ecclesiastes. It's the meanderings and sometimes depressing sentiments of a Solomon who lost out with God and then came back to God after learning the hard way. When Solomon wrote the Song of Solomon and Proverbs, he was young and faithful to God. When he wrote Ecclesiastes, he was older and had learned by experience the folly of just about everything that he warned against. By the mercy of God, he got back and made it, but that didn't hide a lifetime of heartache from living against God's plan.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon paints life as "vanity" or "empty and worthless." Solomon learned the hard way that the things of life by themselves are unsatisfying. Such noble tasks as working for a living and raising a family and fulfilling your role as a citizen and even eating and sleeping are just empty in themselves. He meanders and goes on and on about such things that people think are so important and how that money and gold and clothes and fame is all empty in the end and never what it seemed to be. But He ends the entire book with a lesson that you and I can't afford to learn the hard way. Solomon says this:

Eccl 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Solomon ends with these wise words: "The point of living is this and never forget it: fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man." When you go to work and when enter an establishment to eat. When you rise up in the morning and go to bed in the evening. When you are out with friends and at home with your family. When you are at church or at the lake, never forget that in all you do you are living sold out for a cause! There is a cause! It's for Him to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords and for Him to be lifted up as such. It's the kingdom of God. Our occupations and hobbies are but side roads to our cause! Our day to day living and eating and sleeping and such are just side issues. Our main cause must be Christ! It must be the kingdom of God upon this earth! There's a cause and it's worth fighting for!

This world is fighting for a cause to believe in and to embrace and to be passionate about. I've got that cause! My cause, my reason for living is Jesus Christ! And His is the only cause worth dying out to! You can immediately identify someone who is sold out to a cause. They dress appropriately. The act appropriately. In just a few simple seconds of conversation, they will casually mention it. When they speak of it, passion and excitement will exude through their words. It's constantly on their mind. It's their cause. It's their reason for living! Is there not a cause, church? Yes, there is! May our cause -- our life's passion -- be Jesus Christ!