1 Samuel 17: The Real Hero of David and Goliath

Introduction

If you could choose between life on a cruise ship and life on a warship, which would you pick? That is the question Tim Grew uses to open the first message of the "Fit For The Fight" series at Trinity Cheltenham. A cruise is a vacation, a break, not a way of life. Yet, he reminds us, when we are born again, we are born into a war, whether we like it or not.

Spiritual warfare is not a branch of Christianity reserved for the enthusiasts, the most gifted or the most mature. It is the daily reality of every disciple of Jesus. So the question is not whether we are at war, but how ready we are for the fight.

To answer it, Tim Grew opens 1 Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath. He draws three lessons from it: courageous faith steps into the battle, it is prepared in the presence of God, and above all, the hero of the story is not who you think.

Message Outline

1. Born Into a War, Not Onto a Cruise

God does not call us to comfort but to the fight. He does not call us to a consumer life where we only take what suits us.
John Eldredge speaks of "the larger story": a love story set on a battlefield.
These battles are often very concrete: trusting God for a job, taking the risk of repairing a relationship, daring to do what God is calling you to do, spending time with someone who makes you uncomfortable but needs your help.
Military language makes people uneasy, because human war is often violent and contrary to God. But this language runs through all of Scripture, from Genesis 3 to Revelation.
Some place spiritual warfare far away, in a prayer room or on another continent. Others see it everywhere, as if "every sore throat needed a deliverance." In the New Testament, it is simply the daily fight of every disciple.
"It is not the Bible that needs updating, it is our assumptions."

2. The World, the Flesh and the Devil

This phrase is not an invented Christian formula, it is a biblical way of naming the fronts of the fight.
The flesh: "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). We have things inside us to face.
The world: there are values we do not want to be tied to. James puts it bluntly: "Whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4). "That is the language of the Bible, not mine."
The devil: a real, intelligent being, hostile to God and to everything that belongs to him, standing behind the other two. "Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).
We should not blame everything on the devil, but we should not ignore him either.
In this context, God keeps speaking. Many people are looking for meaning and truth, and some, without having yet taken the step of faith, sense there is something about Jesus.

3. Fighting With Love, Never Against People

From the very start of the series, Tim Grew insists: we fight first and foremost with the weapon of love. "It is the only weapon Jesus has in his arsenal."
Military vocabulary can suggest domineering attitudes. We need to set that aside and stick to what Scripture says.
Human beings are never our enemies, because God loves every person on this planet the same.
Conflict is part of life. We have to learn to handle confrontation in a healthy way, and he admits that at his age, he is still learning.

4. Courageous Faith Steps Into the Battle

David arrives at the camp to bring food to his brothers. He hears Goliath, a giant about nine feet tall, defying the army of God every day. Everyone is afraid, the king included.
David is offended on God's behalf: "For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel 17:26). He does not deny that Goliath is big, but he knows someone bigger.
There is always a tempting alternative to the fight, because stepping into the battle is uncomfortable, like grasping a nettle. You can run away, leave it to someone else, negotiate a compromise or settle for a prayer meeting asking God to move the Philistines away.
We all have our escape routes when the pressure rises: the fridge, a screen, unhealthy content.
David did not go looking for this fight, and he is not reckless. But he does not downplay the challenge: he has cultivated a courageous faith that chooses to trust God.
Saul, for his part, pours out doubt. That voice saying "you can't, this will end badly" is, at bottom, the voice of the enemy.

5. A Faith Prepared in the Presence of God

Over the summer, the church leadership team read together a book by Michael Miller (Upper Room) on God's presence as the central reality that grounds everything else. One phrase stuck with Tim Grew: "going in and going out."
Psalm 121 says it: "Yahweh will guard your going out and your coming in" (Psalm 121:8).
Goliath was not David's first giant. Out in the fields, he was learning worship, communion with God, praise, faithfulness. He kept Scripture in his memory to strengthen his trust.
Facing Goliath, he did not have to dig up some last-minute strength from within. His heart was a well of encounter, shaped over years in God's presence. As someone has said, God does his deepest and best work "in the caves."
David was "a man after his own heart," after God's heart (1 Samuel 13:14). For Tim Grew, the word "after" speaks of an active pursuit: you chase God's presence again and again, not just on Sundays.
You need to go in and go out. If you only go out, always busy, you dry up and eventually collapse. If you only go in, you stay barren and contribute nothing to God's mission on earth.
These are small things: quiet times, ordinary mornings, small choices to worship when you don't feel like it, going back to a passage that said nothing the first time.

6. The Real Hero Is Jesus

This story is often read as the little guy beating the big guy, as God using our weakness when we step out in faith. All of that is true, but for Tim Grew, it misses the point.
"We are not David." Seeing ourselves as David risks making us the heroes of the story, when the story is not about us.
In those days, each side chose a champion, and the winner's side prevailed. Israel was terrified. It was not the soldiers who beat Goliath, it was their champion. When David won, the whole army won.
Our champion is Jesus. At the cross, he defeated sin, death, corruption and Satan. "Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15).
We do not fight for the victory, we fight from the victory. Confidence is no longer "I am strong enough," but "Jesus, you are strong enough."
"We don't stand on the battlefield wondering who is going to win. We know who has already won." We are "more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).

7. Plundering the Strong Man's House

After Goliath's death, the men of Israel and Judah rise up, shout and pursue the Philistines as far as the gates of Ekron (1 Samuel 17:52-53). The champion's victory sets the whole people in motion.
Jesus speaks of the strong man who must be bound before his house can be plundered (Mark 3:27). This is not a technique for binding the enemy: Jesus has already bound him at the cross.
Plundering the house means setting captives free. Many people, without being bad or incapable of doing good, live in the enemy's lie rather than in the reality of God. We are born spiritually dead, and it is God who gives life.
The mission is to set captives free, in the right way, with the weapons of love and nothing reckless.
The war zone is the place you walk into every day: your shared apartment, the university, the gym, the store, the street, the office, the park.

Key Takeaways

When you are born again, you are born into a fight: the question is whether you are ready, not whether you are at war.
You fight with love, and no person is ever your enemy.
Courageous faith does not run to its escape routes: it steps into the battle by trusting God.
David's public courage was prepared by years in God's presence, out of sight.
You are not the hero: Jesus has already won, and you fight from his victory.

Personal Application

What escape route do you run to when a fight becomes uncomfortable?
What step is God calling you to take that you keep putting off because it makes you uneasy?
What are you doing in practice to seek God's presence in the secret place?
Do you approach your battles wondering who will win, or standing in the victory of Jesus?
What is your daily war zone, and who around you needs to be set free?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the real hero of the story of David and Goliath?

For Tim Grew, we are not David. Israel was afraid, and its champion fought in its place: when David won, the whole army won. The true hero this story points to is Jesus, who defeated sin, death and Satan at the cross.

What does it mean to fight from the victory?

It means you are not fighting to win an uncertain victory. Jesus has already triumphed at the cross (Colossians 2:15). Your confidence rests not on your strength but on his: you stand in a victory already won.

Who does a Christian fight against in spiritual warfare?

Tim Grew takes up the biblical phrase "the world, the flesh and the devil." Human beings are never the enemy, because God loves every person. And the Christian fights first with the weapon of love, the only one Jesus has in his arsenal.