Rick Warren - Facing Giants in Life and Work - Part 1
Now, this weekend, we're concluding "50 Days of Transformation". And I want us to look at how do you face the giants in your life and at work? You know, we've looked at seven key areas of your life. We started with physical health and then we looked at spiritual health and we looked at emotional health and we looked at relational health and we looked at financial health and we've looked at all of these different areas, seven areas. And tonight or today, we end with vocational health or how do you make it at work?
Now, your ability to dream is a God-given gift. It's what makes you different from animals. Animals cannot imagine the future. God gave you, as a human being made in his image, the ability to see the past, that's called memory, and to visualize or imagine the future, that's called dreaming. You gotta have a dream. If you don't have a dream for your life, you're literally just drifting. You're just drifting along. You're letting life happen to you. And by the way, when you're coasting, you're always going downhill. So you need a dream for your life. It is the greatest gift that God has given you, the ability to dream. We are most like our Creator when we are creative.
Nothing happens without a dream. Everything you see, every piece of art, every business, every architecture, every product, everything happens because somebody thought it up first. Everything begins as a dream. Napoleon says, "Imagination rules the world". And Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge," is that ability to dream that makes us creators in the image of God.
Now I've invested my life encouraging people to discover God's dream, God's purpose for their lives, and then helping them fulfill that dream. And what I've discovered is that for every person who figures out their life dream, their life work, which is far more important than your job because your jobs are gonna change. But your life work is the dream that God gives you for your life. For every person who figures that out and heads after their dream, there are nine people who are afraid to get started. And what causes us to be afraid to go after our dream are what I call the giants in the pathway. These are giant problems. These are dreambusters that stand there in your path saying, "You will not pass by. You will not go any further than this". And if you believe it, you get stuck in mediocrity.
These problems can be financial problems, they can be emotional problems. They can be relational problems. They can be problems with your health. What do you do when you face these giants in life? How do you face the giants in your life and work? Well, fortunately, we have a wonderful story in the Bible that shows us how to deal with the giants in our lives. It's called the story of David and Goliath. Now, it's unlikely that you're ever gonna have to face a physical giant like David did. But it is highly likely that you're gonna have to face a whole lot of other common giants. These giants of financial problems, relational problems, marriage problems, work problems, problems that keep you from going after your dream.
And in this story, 1 Samuel 17, David actually had to fight four other giants before he gets to Goliath. They weren't physical giants, but they were giants in here, in his mind. You are far more likely to have to face those giants than a Goliath. But they can be just as big and just as intimidating and can keep you from becoming who God wants you to be and fulfilling the dream that God has put in your heart. Let me give you a little background. The chapter before this chapter in the Bible, chapter 16, here's an interesting story. A man named Samuel, this book is called 1 Samuel because it's named after the chief religious leader of that day. Samuel was the prophet of Israel in that day. And in 1 Samuel 16, God says to Samuel: "I want you to go to the town of Bethlehem and I want you to find a guy named Jesse and you're going to anoint Jesse's son as the next king of Israel".
Now, the existing king was still alive, very much alive, Saul, but God had already decided Saul's days were over. So this is a secret plan and God just tells Samuel, "You're gonna go anoint the next king of Israel". So Samuel goes to Jerusalem. He finds this guy named Jesse. He says, "Do you have a son"? Jesse says, "Not only do I have a son; I've got eight". And so Samuel goes, "Well then, I'm gonna have to look at them all". Jesse brings his seven oldest sons to parade them before the prophet to see which one's gonna become the king of Israel. And he shows them the oldest son and Samuel goes, "Not the guy. Next". He shows him the second oldest. He says, "Not the guy. Next". He shows him his third oldest son. "Not the guy. Next". He's going, "No, no, pass, no," five, six, seven, and none of the guys are it.
Samuel goes, "You got any other kids"? Jesse goes, "Oh yeah, there's one more, the youngest, the runt, little David, but he's like a pip squeak and I didn't even mind bringing him in. He's out, tending the sheep". He said, "Bring him in". He brings in the youngest. Samuel takes one looks at him, says, "That's the guy," and he anoints him as king of Israel. Now, you know what happens after this? Nothing, nothing happens. Jesse says to his youngest kid, "Okay, now get back out there and start tending the sheep". Nothing at all changes in David's life. He has been given the dream. He's been told, "You're the next king of Israel. But get back out there and tend the sheep".
And there is actually quite a long delay between when David is anointed as king and he actually sees the fulfillment of his dream years later. There's a big delay, and I would say that this is exactly what happens in your life. And the first giant in facing your dream, you might want to write this down, is delay. No dream is fulfilled instantly. God gives you the dream on one day and he doesn't fulfill it the next day. No, it's years later that you see the fulfillment of your life dream. There is always a time delay, there is always a time lapse, there is always a waiting period. And in David's case, his dad holds him back from the dream. In David's case, his dad held him back and said, "David, you need to get back out there and start tending sheep". He didn't think David was old enough or experienced enough to be the king of Israel.
And in verse 12 to 15, it says this: "Now David was the youngest of Jesse's eight sons and his three older brothers enlisted in Saul's army, but David was held back". Circle that. "Held back to care for the sheep in Bethlehem". The first barrier of your dream is this: There are gonna be people who hold you back. There are gonna be people in your life who hold you back from the dream that God has given you.
Some of you know what I'm talking about. You have been held back from what you wanna do with your life because of your age. Some of you have been held back because of what you wanna do with your life and the dream God's given you because of your race. Some of you have been held back because of your gender. Some of you have been held back because you weren't pretty enough or handsome enough or smart enough or whatever enough. Discrimination in any form is a barrier that you have to break through and there will be people who want to hold you back.
Now, here's the sad part. Sometimes the people who hold you back the most are those who love you the most. In this case, it's David's dad. His dad isn't going, "Go for it. My son's gonna be the king of Israel". He said, "No, get back out there and tend the sheep," because Jesse would just as soon not have his son be the king of Israel. He'd lose a worker. You see, God has a plan for your life, but so does everybody else. And when God's plan contradicts somebody else's plan, there's gonna be a delay and people are gonna try to hold you back. Others have plans for your life too. David's dad just wanted him to be a shepherd and there's this delay and you're gonna see this delay in your life. Sometimes even people who love you will hold you back from the dream God has given you.
Now, at one point, Jesse goes, "You know, my three favorite sons, they're out on the front line with Saul fighting the battle," and he tells David, "I want you to take a care package of food to your older brothers at the battlefield". So he gives David all this food and he sends him off. And this way, David gets to see the battle. And when he's there delivering the foods to his older brothers, he hears Goliath coming down every day and shouting these taunts and saying, "We're gonna," you know, "whip your rear and we're gonna win the battle and you guys are all gonna be defeated," and David notices nobody's doing anything about this guy and he notices everybody around here is scared to death. They're all embarrassed, they're all afraid. They're all terrorized. They're all traumatized.
Nobody wants to do anything. They're all scared to death. And this is the second barrier you will face in finding and fulfilling your dream. And it is this: discouragement. You will face discouragement because everybody around you is scared to death. Nobody thinks you can do it. Nobody has hope. Nobody believes that you can take down this giant, and they're all scared to death and they're all convincing each other that it's impossible to make any difference. You see, Goliath had created a climate of fear in Israel and everybody had concluded, "We're gonna lose this battle and nobody can beat Goliath".
In verses 8 to 10, it says this: "Each day, Goliath would stand and shout at the ranks of Israel's army. He would say, 'Why do you come out here and line up for battle? Choose one man to fight me. And if he's able to kill me, we'll become your subjects; but if I kill him, you'll become our subjects and serve us.' Day after day," circle that. "Day after day Goliath taunted them saying 'This day I defy the ranks of Israel!' And when Saul," that's the king, "and Israelites heard this, everyone was deeply shaken and paralyzed with fear".
Now notice the situation. They're all demoralized. They're gripped with anxiety, they're terrified. They're traumatized. They feel hopeless. One translation says they were so frightened, they couldn't do anything. Have you ever been in a situation where everybody around you thought, "This is hopeless"? Maybe you have been at work and in your office say, "Hey, in this economy, nobody can grow anything. We can't solve this problem. It's going down the tubes," and everybody around you is saying it can't be done. It can't be done. It's never gonna happen. And they're all discouraged and they're all convincing each other because they're all filled with fear. And they say, "There's nothing we can do about this problem".
Let me tell you something. Conventional wisdom is often wrong. It is often wrong. Everybody there was wrong. It says there, twice in that passage, Goliath challenged the ranks of the Israeli army. Sometimes the solution has to come outside the rank and file. What you need is a little kid from a village to come and go, "We can do this". What you need is a fresh set of eyes, because the professionals were wrong. The crowd was wrong. Just because everybody says it's so, doesn't make it so. The crowd is often wrong. Just because somebody says or the crowd says it's true, doesn't mean it's true. And so somebody had to challenge the status quo.
Now, why had everybody given up? Why had they all gotten so discouraged from this... this one giant? The answer is they were listening to the wrong voice. They were listening to this guy every single day. Look at the next verse, verse 16: "For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening, the Philistine giant loudly berated the Israelite army". Well, it's no wonder they got discouraged. They're listening to this guy day after day after day after day. Question: Who are you listening to? Who are you listening to who says it can't be done? Who is pooh-poohing your dream, putting down your dream, saying it won't ever happen, forget it. Who is telling you that you're not the person to do it?
You know, if you listen to negative people long enough, you know what happens? You get negative, because it's highly contagious. Maybe one of the best things you should do is stop listening to talk radio because it is negative, negative, negative, negative, negative. And you know what, if you listen to negative, you know what you're gonna become? A negative, bitter person. And if you listen to people who are against, against, against, against every day of your life, guess what? You end up being against everything. Negativity is contagious and so is fear and so is discouragement. And if you listen to somebody who said America is going to hell in a handbasket day after day after day, pretty soon you start acting like it and you believing it.
Now, sometimes, you just need a fresh voice. You need a kid from the village with fresh eyes, go, "This guy's nothing. We can take him down. It's a slam dunk". Look in the next verse, verses 23 and 24: "As David talked with his brothers on the front line, he saw Goliath start shouting his usual threats to Israel's army. And when the army heard Goliath, they all ran away in terror". They all ran away. Let me give you some advice. Don't hang out with fearful people. Don't hang out with fearful people. Because if you do, you will become fearful. If you hang out with cowards, you become a coward. You hang out with bitter people, you become bitter. You hang out with angry people, you become angry. You hang out with negative people, you become negative. It's highly contagious.
The first barrier to your dream is delay. Somebody's trying to hold you back. But the second barrier to your dream, the second dreambuster, is discouragement because everybody around you is telling you that life sucks and it can't be done and they're wrong. They're wrong. Now, there's a third dreambuster and I call it the giant of disapproval. And David had to handle this one. Is he had to be willing to face the disapproval of people around him in order to go after his dream, and you will too.
Now, here's the problem. The reason why most people don't ever go after their dream is they are afraid of disapproval, they are afraid of rejection. In this case, David's own brother questioned his motives. David's own brother questioned his motives and disapproved of David even going after the giant. We want everybody to like us. I mean, we really do. We want everybody to approve of everything we do. But if you go after God's dream for your life, I'm guaranteeing you this. There will be naysayers, there will be critics, there will be misunderstanding, there will be attacks, there will be people who are judging you for what you do because they don't get it. And that is the disapproval giant.
In this case, David's own brother questions David's motivation and he treats his younger brother with disdain and disgust and he demeans him and he disregards him and he belittles him. In verse 28 and 29, notice this conversation between the older brother and the younger brother. And David's there on the front line and he asks the soldiers, "What's the reward for killing this Philistine and ending this disgraceful abuse"? What's the reward? "Now, when David's older brother heard David even ask this question, he burned with anger at David and he said..."
Now, listen to this conversation and see if you can identify with it. David's older brother says, "Why are you here anyway? Why aren't you taking care of your scrawny little flock of sheep? You cocky little brat. I know how conceited you are"! And David, the younger brother, goes, "Now what have I done? Can't I even ask a question"? Do any of you vaguely relate to this conversation? Yeah, it's called sibling rivalry. And it's happened in every single family because the older brother and the younger brother, the people closest to you, can't see what you see. They can't imagine you accomplishing something that they've never imagined themselves. They think they know who you are but they don't know you like God knows you. And so they come out with this demeaning, demoralizing disapproval. You hear the family dynamics going on here.
The sad truth is this: Sometimes it is your own family that doesn't want you to accomplish God's dream. It may be envy. It may be jealousy. It may be they think they know you better than you do and they know your weaknesses, but they don't know God's strength. It may be that they would be embarrassed. It may be that they would resent you being successful and it would make them look bad. I don't know really what it is. But sibling rivalry often leads to resentment. Did you know that even Jesus had to deal with this? You know, Jesus was born of a virgin. Mary and Joseph hadn't had sex because God was the father of Jesus. But the Bible tells us very clearly that after Jesus was born, later on Joseph and Mary had many kids.
In fact, we're given their names in the Bible. In fact, Mary and the kids followed Jesus around during his ministry. Now, what is interesting is that none of Jesus's half-brothers or sisters accepted him as Lord and Savior until after the Resurrection and then they all became believers, because when your brother's died on the cross and then 3 days later, he's walking around talking to you, that would make me a believer. But I have to, you know, show a little grace to these guys because I wouldn't wanna believe in my brother either.
You know, if my brother said, "By the way, I'm God". "Yeah, you and who else," okay? How would you like to have Jesus as your old brother? "Mr. Perfect". I mean, there's noise going on and the mother, mom, walks in and Mary goes, "What's going on in here, kids"? "Well, Jesus did..." "No, you guys know he didn't do it". "Mom, he lied". "Jesus never lies". "But Mom..." How would you like to have a brother who was always right? That would be hard growing up in that family, okay? And so I can see every reason why they would not accept him as the Messiah until after his death and Resurrection. But even Jesus had to deal with the sibling rivalry, because a brother or a sister will always say, "Who do you think you are," when you have a dream.
I'll never forget when this church many years ago bought this piece of land, 120 acres. And Saddleback was a much smaller church at the time. And the word got out in the community that this little church was gonna go buy 120 acres in Orange County and said, "Yeah, who else"? And the word got out around this community, "Those people over there at Saddleback Church, who do they think they are"? And I remember having to address it in a service and I had to stand up and say, "Folks, you've heard this rumor going around, people saying, 'Who do those people think they are? I mean, what kind of... do they think they're special or something?'" And I had to say, "That's not the question. That's the wrong question. The question is not, 'Who do we think we are.' The question is 'Who do we think God is.'"
You let the size of your God determine the size of your goal. And if you have a big God, you better have some big goals because God doesn't give you piddly dreams. If a dream is from God, how do you know if your dream's from God? It's so big, you're bound to fail unless God bails you out. The dream will be so big, you are guaranteed failure unless you totally depend on God to see it happen. It's just outrageously enormous. It's a big dream from a big God. The wrong question. The right question is who do we think God is? Let the size of your God determine the size of your goal.
Now, listen, when God gives you a dream and it's a dream that other people are afraid to attempt or afraid to accomplish or afraid to even step out and try, if you take that dream and you go for it, you will be misjudged, you will be maligned. You will be misinterpreted and you will be misunderstood. That is the giant of disapproval and you have to decide what matters more to you: the approval of other people or the approval of God. I decided a long time ago that the approval of God is more important to me than the approval of other people. And it's not my job, it's none of my business, what you think of me. It is my business what God thinks of me.