1 Samuel 17: David Did Not Come for Goliath

Introduction

Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath. Whether you are a Christian, an atheist, a Muslim or a Buddhist, it has become a figure of speech: whenever a small player faces a giant, in sports, business or politics, we say "it's David versus Goliath." We think of the young shepherd, his five stones and his sling.

Patrice Martorano, of Église Momentum, chooses to look elsewhere. This message is the second part of a series on serving God's family, following a first message on Jesus washing his disciples' feet. What interests him is not the giant's fall, but what brought David to stand before him. That morning, David got up like every other morning. He did not know that by evening he would have fought Goliath. He had set out to deliver bread and cheese to his brothers.

Hence the title of the message: "David Did Not Come for Goliath." And this conviction: "Sometimes God opens an extraordinary door through a service that seems entirely ordinary."

Outline of the message

1. Do not despise small beginnings

Saul is not a good king, and God rejects him. He tells Samuel to stop mourning over Saul and to go to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse: God has chosen one of his sons.
The brothers pass by one after another. Samuel thinks Eliab must be the chosen one, but God corrects him: man looks at what strikes the eye, the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
The youngest remains, the one who keeps the sheep. Samuel refuses to sit down until he arrives. David is anointed in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him (1 Samuel 16:11-13).
After the anointing, no press conference. The pastor mentions the change of coach of the French national football team, from Didier Deschamps to Zinedine Zidane, and the big press conference that went with it. David does not ask to review the "org chart" or the job descriptions. He goes back to tending the sheep, waiting for God to open the door.
One day, Jesse asks him to go to the camp in the valley of Elah: "Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand" (1 Samuel 17:17-18).
The pastor imagines David's reaction: "I was anointed with oil, remember?", and now he is treated "like an Uber Eats driver." Yet David obeys. And before leaving, he entrusts his sheep to a keeper (1 Samuel 17:20): he does not neglect his present responsibility.
"David did not wait to wear a crown before being faithful with what he was given." God entrusts us with small things and watches whether we are faithful before entrusting us with greater ones.
To those who say "I can't sing, I can't preach, I can't lead a team": "Do not despise the bread you can bring because you dream of defeating a giant." And, with humor: "Don't despise your cheese, it's a good cheese."

2. Your service goes further than you think

David runs from Bethlehem to the valley of Elah, leaves his supplies with the keeper of the baggage and approaches (1 Samuel 17:22). On one side the army of Israel, on the other the Philistines.
Goliath steps out from the ranks and defies the people of God. The soldiers draw back in fear. This has been going on for forty days (1 Samuel 17:16). In those days, rather than a bloodbath, one champion from each side would fight and the victory counted for the whole people. No one dares to go.
David has no training, no equipment, no sword. But he hears Goliath defy the army of the living God and asks the question: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel 17:26).
He had come to meet a family need, with the little he had. Once there, while serving his brothers, he sees something that goes far beyond that frame.
The pastor applies it to himself: he prepares his message to bring "bread and cheese" to God's people, and sometimes people pass from death to life, couples on the brink of breaking are restored, and there are sick people whom God can heal.
At the welcome desk, you think you are shaking a hand and saying hello. You do not know the state in which the family walking in arrives, nor what is at stake in a warm welcome. The camera operators and the production team bring their own "piece of bread," and the videos go to places where no one can go, sometimes under totalitarian regimes.
At Momentum Junior, we sow the seed of God's thinking into children's hearts. In a moment of prayer, you think you are simply saying "Lord, bless him," but behind your prayer, chains and obstacles fall.
"You can step into a ministry thinking you are accomplishing a task and discover that you are taking part in a mission that is bigger than you." That morning, as he entrusted his sheep and took what his father gave him, David had no idea that by the time he went to bed that night, his life would have been transformed.

3. Do not wait to have more before giving what you have

David asks what the reward is: great riches, exemption for his father's house, and the king's daughter in marriage (1 Samuel 17:25). A real change in social status.
Eliab, his eldest brother, the one Samuel wanted to anoint, hears him and becomes angry: "Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?" (1 Samuel 17:28). In other words: "What are you doing here?"
Hurtful words from outsiders, we end up letting pass. But when they come from your brothers, while you are serving them, it hurts.
The pastor thinks of those who serve: the one who arrives at 7 a.m. for the welcome team and is told "I'll sit wherever I want," the one who looks after the children and is spoken to rudely by parents. "A Christian is kind." We want to be kind to those who bring us bread and cheese.
Then comes Saul, before whom this boy of about 15 or 16, according to the pastor, presents himself: "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth" (1 Samuel 17:33).
On one side "you have no business here," on the other "you don't have the abilities." These are often the two sentences we hear when we want to do something for God. Sometimes we say them to ourselves: "Who do you think you are, wanting to write, compose, work in medicine?"
There is a call to silence this noise: the one who calls us is faithful, and he is the one who will do it. Listening to these voices means staying seated. Yet according to a principle of Église Momentum, "life is in movement, standing still is death."
From the sheep, David moved on to bread and cheese, and from bread and cheese to Goliath. Had he not taken care of the sheep, he would never have found himself before the giant. "Nothing is small to God."

4. You do not need to be a copy of someone else

Saul sees a kid dressed as a shepherd facing a giant armed with spear, shield and sword. He offers him his armor. Yet it is he, the king, who should have gone.
David puts it on, hindered by the heavy sword and the shield, and gives it up (1 Samuel 17:38-39). The pastor would love to have seen the scene: "it must have been funny."
"David does not need to become a copy of Saul to be used by God." And you do not need to be a copy of the person serving next to you.
We compare ourselves, and always to the best. So we tell ourselves we do not have that armor, those abilities, and it paralyzes us.
You do not need to sing, preach or lead a large team to serve God. "Simply do what God asks of you, as the person you are."

5. A warning about motivations

The pastor clarifies what he does not mean: "take care of the bread and cheese and tonight God will make you a king." That would be like giving to God in order to get rich.
"We do what we do simply out of obedience." We believe God honors those who honor him, but it is out of obedience that we serve.
His message is not "take care of the small tasks and one day you will take my place." He simply says: do not despise the things that seem ordinary to you, because God uses them.
For some, this service will become their life. For others, it will be a stage leading to another. In every case, with the mindset of a servant.

6. Greatness is measured not by what we receive but by what we give

Goliath looks at David with contempt: "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" (1 Samuel 17:43). David answers: "You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied" (1 Samuel 17:45).
David throws one of the five stones picked up from the stream. The pastor stresses that this is his interpretation: Goliath, so sure of his strength, could have raised his shield, but he did not take this pebble seriously. He did not know that behind it, "there was the finger of God." Goliath fell.
"The one who had come with bread for his brothers became the instrument of deliverance for a whole nation."
What makes someone great? Position, title, the number of people who follow? Jesus answers: "Whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant" (Mark 10:43). Aspiring to be great is a beautiful aspiration, when it comes with the mindset of God's kingdom.
"In God's kingdom, service is not simply the path to greatness. Service is part of greatness."
Jesus, who did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, emptied himself (Philippians 2:6-7). Born in a stable, he took a towel and washed his disciples' feet, including those of Judas and of Peter, who was about to deny him. That is why God gave him the name above every name (Philippians 2:9-10).
David had come to bring bread. Jesus came to give his life. "Do you want to do something great with your life? Start by looking for how your life can become a blessing to someone."

7. There is still bread to bring

David did not know how his day would end. There was no calculation: "I obey, I get moving and I trust God for the rest of the story."
God's strategies are beyond us. The pastor recalls Moses: God sends the baby in the basket into the house of the one who orders babies to be killed (Exodus 2).
Many say "I'm waiting for God's green light," "I'm waiting for God to open the door." David did what he was asked, knowing that by getting moving, God would be the one to open the door.
Believing you can hide in a big church is a bad calculation: the more a church grows, the more needs there are. According to the pastor, in churches around the world, roughly one third of people give their time or their finances, and two thirds "consume" the church.
He invites everyone to say: "I will bring my piece of bread," even if it seems small. He does ask those already buried in ministries to be wise and not to add more.
"Goliath fell because the guy brought bread. Never forget it."

Key takeaways

David did not come for Goliath: he came to deliver bread to his brothers. God sometimes opens an extraordinary door through an ordinary service.
David did not wait to wear a crown before being faithful. God entrusts small things before entrusting greater ones.
The voices that say "you have no business here" and "you don't have the abilities" must not keep you seated: the one who calls you is faithful.
You do not need someone else's armor. Serve as the person you are, out of obedience and not calculation.
In God's kingdom, serving is part of greatness, following the example of Jesus, who came to serve and give his life.

Personal application

What is your "piece of bread" today, that service that seems too small to matter?
Like David with his sheep, do you have a present responsibility that you are neglecting while dreaming of greater things?
Which of these two voices do you hear most often: "you have no business here" or "you don't have the abilities"?
Who are you comparing yourself to, to the point of no longer daring to serve? Which armor of someone else can you lay down?
How do you receive those who serve you at church, at the welcome desk or with your children?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Why did David end up facing Goliath?

David had not come to fight. His father Jesse had sent him to the camp to bring parched grain and ten loaves to his brothers, and ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand (1 Samuel 17:17-18). For Patrice Martorano, Goliath is the consequence of what David did just before: an ordinary service carried out in obedience.

Do you have to serve at church to be lifted up by God?

No. The preacher warns against this motivation: it would be like giving to God in order to get rich. We serve out of obedience. God honors those who honor him, but the message is not "take care of the small tasks and one day you will take my place." For some, this service will become their life; for others, it will be a stage toward another.

What is greatness according to Mark 10?

Jesus says: "Whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant" (Mark 10:43). Patrice Martorano stresses that in God's kingdom, service is not only the path to greatness: it is part of greatness. Jesus, the Son of Man, came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life.