"THE REAL GIANTS"

I'm always intrigued by the trends in "pop culture." Lately, as most of us know, there has been a resurgence of interest in television "game shows." A long time ago, when these programs were first popular, there was a show called, "What's My Line?" A group of "celebrity" panelists (which always seemed to include Peggy Cass and Kitty Carlyle...famous only, as far as I could tell, for being panelists on "What's My Line") would try to determine the occupation or identity of a guest by asking them various questions. In the end, if all the panelists had been stumped, the job or true identity of the person in question would be revealed.

Today we have "game" shows like "Survivor" - where we know way too much about the contestants already. And, in the end, what will be revealed is that the true "Survivor" on that show was the one who knew best how to be duplicitous and to manipulate people and situations. Actually, the true identity of the "winner" is being revealed all along.

Either way...on shows in the early '60s and on shows today...in life throughout the ages - ultimately, the truth does come out.

But things are not always as they seem. What looks obvious on the surface is not always so. "Don't judge a book by its cover" - unless the cover says "Harry Potter," in which case you can assume its making money! But othenvise...its best to look beneath the surface of things.

Consider the well known Bible story we heard read this morning: David and Goliath. The young, future King David and a giant named Goliath doing battle. The army of Israel was facing off against a strong opposing army - the Philistines. As was a custom in those times, the Philistines sent one warrior to face any one fighter from the opposition - to fight to the death for all the marbles.

The Philistines sent Goliath. The Israelites sent David. Picture a one-on-one match between Shaquille O'Neil and Gary Coleman. You get the idea.

But, in the end, when the battle was finished, the truth was revealed: the real giant was not Goliath but David - who depended not on great size and superior weapons but on God's power and the use of his own abilities. David is revealed in this story to be a spiritual giant.

The good news this morning is that, like all great stories from Scripture, this is not just a tale about some very unique person from long ago. This is also a story about you and me and what we are capable of being. In the story of David and Goliath, we learn that we, too, can be spiritual giants. We just need to do those things that David did.

First of all, David had gumption! The leader of the Israelites, Saul, and all the army's warriors were scared to death of this massive opponent, Goliath, waiting to crush them. And here comes this young, small kid - a sheep herder - and he says, I'll go."

David was willing to make himself available to serve. And that's a key characteristic of a spiritual giant: being willing to offer yourself to God. Who was David to do such a thing? Who am I? Who are you? And yet...every spiritual-giant-in-the-making is a person who is willing to be available to God.

It really didn't matter that David was too young, too small, too weak, too inexperienced, too unknown. Such things don't matter to God. In fact, God relishes usingjust such people to accomplish the amazing and the miraculous.

In 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, we hear these words: "Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong."

It's easy to offer excuses for why we won't serve or why we won't respond to opportunities God provides. "When I'm a little older..." we say. "Oh, if I were younger, maybe...." "Later...when I've accomplished a little more..." "I want to do some other things first...." "There's probably someone smarter than me who should do it..." "I don't have anything to contribute..." "Maybe next time...."

Once someone said to Jesus, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and take care of some other things first...." Jesus said, in essence, "In God's realm, you can't keep looking back. You have to move forward and make yourself available."

That's step one toward being a spiritual giant. And it seems, sometimes, like a hard step. It sounds like it requires a lot of sacrifice. But look deeper. "Make yourself available." Just offer God vou. We're not asked to be something we're not...we're not asked to do anything we're not capable of doing. God just wants us to be who we are...as we are...open to what God can do through us.

Look at David. I love the part of the story we heard where Saul tries to put his own suit of armor on David. We know from history and archeology that, as the leader of the army, Saul was probably also the largest man among them. So picture this little guy, David, trying to walk around in a huge robe with great big pieces of metal strapped around his chest and back and legs. He must have looked like a little kid playing dress up, dragging great big cloths and tripping in oversized shoes.

"I cannot go in these," David said to Saul, 'because I am not used to them.' So he took them off." David knew better than to go into battle trying to be something he wasn't. He wasn't a large man used to fighting in armor. He was a small shepherd, used to fighting wild animals to protect his flock using a slingshot and rocks from the river bed. That's what he could do. And he did it well.

Every true spiritual giant knows: you must be yourself for God. If God is to use any of our lives effectively, we must be exactly who and what we really are. Trying to imitate others...to act like someone else...to claim talents we don't have and deny the talents we do have...will shrivel up our spirits and prevent God from working effectively through our lives.

Chances are we've all had the experience of trying to be something we're not or facing pressure from others to do what we are not gifted or motivated to do. The obvious example for many of us is trying to live a life in denial of our sexual orientation and experiencing the devastation that can bring. But this goes even beyond that.

My father went through this period when I was a teenager of wanting me to be a dentist. I didn't want to be a dentist. Why, I thought, would anyone want to be a dentist? I would rather have brain surgery than to go to the dentist! And I know I would not be a good dentist. I will not be a dentist!

Too often parents...friends...we ourselves - try to push us to be and do things that just don't fit. Meanwhile, as we acquiesce to the ideas of others and to our own egos and insecurities, God just wants us to be ourselves...and to believe that we have already been given much that is worthwhile and helpful to the body of Christ!

There is an Aesop's fable about an old crow who was out in the wilderness and very thirsty. He had not had anything to drink in a long time. He came to a jug that had a little water in the bottom of it. The old crow reached his beak into the jug to get some of that water, but his beak wouldn't quite touch the water. So he did something very clever. He started picking up pebbles one at a time and dropping them into the jug. And as more and more pebbles accumulated in the bottom of the jug, the water rose in the bottle until finally the old crow was able to drink all that he wanted.

That' s a parable of the way God has chosen to work in the world. Each of us dropping in our own little pebble -- volunteering in the community, serving on a ministry team in our church, visiting a lonely neighbor. Using the gifts that are ours...to serve in the ways we can...may not seem all that important at the time, but as the pebbles accumulate in the bottom of the jug, and the water rises: God's dominion is built and God's plans are brought into being.

We can each be spiritual giants when we make ourselves and the gifts we have available to God...trusting not in ourselves but in God's power to accomplish great things through us! That's the other thing that revealed David to be so much more of a "giant" than Goliath. Goliath trusted in his own skill, his own size, his own strength and his own sword. David trusted the Lord. "David said to the Philistine, 'You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty...."

David refused to wear Saul's battle gear. But he did not face Goliath unprotected. He went out secure in the strength of God. Remember...it was David who would write Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.... ...though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me...."

It's important for each of us to recognize that we have within us great gifts to do great things. But it's also important to remember that we are not the source of those gifts. Great gifts come to us from a great God!

Ephesians, chapter 6, says it like this: "...let the mighty strength of the Lord make you strong. Put on all the armor that God gives...."

Self-reliance is a dangerous enemy of the spiritual life. Opening ourselves up completely, as we are, with all we've been given, to God's strength and God's purposes is the only way to truly be a spiritual giant.

And the world certainly needs more spiritual giants. People may watch game shows like "Survivor" for entertainment, but what they are really desperate for are examples of God' s power at work in the world.

A few weeks ago, during the Pride parade, a child saw our "Skywalkers" and said, "Look at the giants!" Church, if we - as ordinary people called to an extraordinary journey - will make ourselves and our individual gifts available for God's use...and if we will live our lives - and endow the life of this church - with a deep dependance on and faith in the power of God, people will look at us and realize that the true giants are "the little guys" on the ground...doing it all for the dominion of God. Amen.

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