by David Orton

 
Part 2 of 3
 
“But he removed Saul and made David their king…”

Act 13:22
 
In this three part series we are showing that David typifies the new order of the kingdom, involving revolutionary transitions in six areas: paradigm, heart, purpose, structure, leadership, and principle.
 
In the final part I will discuss the strategy and timing of the Saul-David transition.
 
Purpose-shift
 
This shift is from gift to agape.
 
Samuel’s response to Saul’s disobedience, “To obey is better than sacrifice”, is instructive (see 1 Sam 15:22). Saul, like the contemporary church, had mistakenly focussed on gift and ministry. He saw ministry success as the main-game – as his purpose. It reminds me of some workers of miracles on the day of judgement,

Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.' Mat 7:21-23 NASB

Saul like these miracle workers thought that his high sounding words, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions”, would throw the wool over the prophet’s eyes (see 1 Sam 15:9-14). Our loud protestations of, “Lord, Lord”, likewise, will not fool Jesus on the day of judgement. Those who have habitually practiced ministry out of self-will will be exposed for their disobedience to the Father. Operating their gifts and ministries outside of intimacy in this age, they will not only be deprived of their ministries in the age to come, for they will cease, but also intimacy with the very Lord they have just so vociferously addressed! What a warning to a contemporary church so enamoured with gift and celebrity!
 
This is why Paul exhorted the Corinthians, likewise enamoured with gift and celebrity, to pursue the “more excellent way” (see 1 Cor 12:31). Having just taught concerning these gifts he is telling them there is an alternative to their idolatrous infatuation. Through viewing gifts and ministry as the main-game they had succumbed to the cult of celebrity and success.
 
Gifts and ministries can be an “excellent way”! However, he is now showing them a “more excellent way”. While he encourages them to “eagerly desire spiritual gifts” (1 Cor 14:1) there is another way which is completely counter-cultural – the ‘agape way’ (see 1 Cor 13).  This is the way of holy passion and selfless desire, of being lost in the heart of God, who is agape. Without this their gifts and ministries will only be an empty noise – a clanging cymbal.
 
It is time for the contemporary church to “give up her childish ways”, to move on from its infatuation with gifts – to move on from being ministry driven to agape led.
 
Paul could say regarding the transition from gift to agape that,

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways.
Now we see only a blurred reflection in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1Co 13:11-13 ISV

Faith, hope, and love all have lasting power. Faith and hope though relate to gifts but the greatest is agape. Now is the time to move to the next level – from gift to agape – to know as we have been known – and therefore to abandon ourselves to pure divine desire.
 
Structure-shift
 
God is not only messing with our main-game, but also with our structures! He is replacing the old order of Moses’ tabernacle with the new – he is restoring David’s tabernacle (see Acts 15:16-18).
 
Saul presided over an old structure, Moses’ tabernacle, devoid of God’s presence. The ark had gone into captivity under this old structure and a delinquent priesthood. However, it did not return to either. God raised up a new structure and a new priesthood. David’s tabernacle, unlike Moses’, had no prescribed pattern, nor an intermediary priesthood. In fact, because there was no prescribed pattern simplicity was the order of the day. It was only a one-man tent. The complexity of the old order  (Moses’ tabernacle) was gone, and now it was simply about his presence. There was not even a veil – everyone had open access to the presence without a priest. The implications of this are revolutionary.
 
During the 3rd and 4th centuries the church reverted to old testament patterns of priesthood to legitimise the shift to Saul-type leadership – to the ‘monarchical bishop’. Based in official authority, instead of spiritual, this became the pattern for today’s position of senior pastor. He effectively, along with all the clergy, became  intermediary priests. With the restoration though of David’s tabernacle in which there was no animal sacrifice and therefore no intermediary priesthood, everyone becomes a priest. There is no human covering between Christ and the believer for the “head of every man is Christ” (1 Cor 11:3). As in David’s tabernacle we all now offer spiritual sacrifices of prayer and worship. This is not to say there is no authority in the church, but it does beg the question as to what kind of authority it is meant to be. Very simply the authority of Jesus and the apostles was supernatural. It came from God by the Spirit and functioned relationally. It was therefore not official or hierarchical in any way. It was not dependent on human structures, nor could it be devolved or delegated through them. The authority was resident in the person not a position.
 
Jesus taught this when he said,

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant," Mat 20:25-26 NASB 

He is explaining there are two kinds of authority for two spheres: one is secular authority for the ‘Gentiles’, the other is spiritual authority ‘among you’. The former is based on ‘lording’ (i.e. on position and hierarchy), the latter on ‘serving’ (i.e. on the person and relationship). The former is legitimate for the civil/state/business spheres, but not for the house of God.
 
Just as Israel surrendered the priesthood to Aaron and their kingship to Saul, the church too surrendered its king-priest role to a professional caste – the clergy. With the emergence of the ‘monarchical bishop’ through Ignatius in the 2nd century and the confusion of authorities through Constantine in the 4th secular styles of leadership replaced true spiritual authority. But now, in the fullness of reformation, God is working a final and revolutionary structure-shift from secular to spiritual.
 
Leader-shift
 
If David is the proto-typical man of God’s government, Saul is the proto-typical man of human government.
 
Just as Israel opted for Saul, rejecting Samuel the man of the Spirit, the church likewise rejected their men of the Spirit, the apostles and prophets. They opted instead for the ‘monarchical bishop’ – in effect, like Israel, they had said, “Give us a king to be like all the other nations!” (1 Sam 8:5). Human government kicked in, setting the pattern for hierarchical leadership mentalities and structures to this day.
 
However, in obscurity God prepared a man, David, who in the fullness of time would receive the kingdom. Likewise today – the kingdom is being taken from Saul-leaders and given to a Davidic company prepared of God. There is a shift right now from human to divine leadership. And just as David submitted to wilderness preparations, experiencing many perplexing dealings, so too this emerging company. Their hearts of pride and self-sufficiency have been humbled through life’s experiences and they are currently sensing the stirrings of imminent destiny fulfilment, inquiring of the Lord, “Is this the time to go up…” (1 Sam 2:1). Timing is everything right now (I will comment more on this in Part 3).
 
David was a ‘processed’ man. He had been through the deep heart searchings and brokenness necessary for leadership in the kingdom. In the fullness of time God drew him out of the “valley of the shadow of death” raising him to the throne. Tragically this is not often the case with today’s leaders and was not so with Saul.
 
While Saul was not a ‘processed’ man he was “head and shoulders” above his peers (1 Sam 9:2). He stood out from among the crowd as a man with all the natural attributes of leadership. Saul-leadership is characterised by the “head” and by the “shoulders” – by human thinking and strength. In man’s estimation he was an obvious choice. In fact, he was effectively the people’s choice (see 1 Sam 8:5 ff). Contemporary leadership culture in the church focuses either more on the “head” through education and natural thinking or on the “shoulders” through management and people skills than on a heart processed by God. Intimacy with God and acquaintance with his dealings, let alone a sovereign supernatural call and preparation, overall are not prerequisites for today’s ministry.
 
David on the other hand was not the obvious choice. The youngest son of Jesse he was forgotten and clearly not considered a front-runner when Samuel visited looking to anoint the new king (see 1 Sam 16). After viewing all the obvious choices the Lord reminded Samuel,

"Samuel, don't think Eliab is the one just because he's tall and handsome. He isn't the one I've chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts." 1Sa 16:7 CEV

God’s choice is not based on human considerations. Who we may think is a natural and obvious leader is not often the one God chooses. He sees through the talent and natural attributes to the heart. This is where the issues of life are decided (see Prov 4:23). And it is where the leader-shift in the church is occurring right now. Many in the past season have been making decisions at a heart level which will now play out at ground level. The things that have been hidden will now be made visible.
 
A judgement is about to be pronounced over the old order:

"But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you." 1Sa 13:14 NASB

Principle-shift
 
A principle is ‘the basic way in which something works’.
 
How we live the Christian life is changing. There is a fundamental shift occurring from the cognitive to the intuitive, or in biblical terms from the flesh to the spirit. The flesh in the Pauline sense is unbroken human strength. This centres in the mind and in the will. Autonomous man – self-directed, self-sufficient, and self-governing has ruled in the church. Coming out of our own understanding, out of cognitive processes (acquiring knowledge through reasoning) we have determined structures and programmes to run the machine we mistakenly call “church”.
 
This was Saul’s error. Saul-leadership is characterised by sense knowledge and human reason. As Samuel confronted him over keeping the best of the flock and sacrificing he asked,

“What have you done?’…Saul replied, ‘When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling…, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down… and I have not sort the Lord’s favour.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering” 1 Sam 13: 11-12

Saul made two fatal mistakes: he saw and he thought. He operated out of sense knowledge (what he saw) and by reason (what he thought). We walk either by sight or by revelation. The prophet’s verdict was immediate:

“You acted foolishly… . You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people…” 1 Sam 13:13-14 NIV

Saul’s immediate response was to count his men (v 15). Completely phased by what his eyes saw and oblivious to what the prophet said he could only look to the force of numbers – to his own resources – to human power to win the battle.
 
God is longsuffering and slow to anger. He came the second time to Saul with another assignment to give him another opportunity to change principles – to operate out of the spirit rather than the flesh (see 1 Sam 15). But tragically the die was cast – he did not change and the kingdom was taken from his grasp.
 
Let us hear the warning and make the principle-shift. God is destroying the wisdom of the wise. Now is the time to turn from our wisdom to the foolishness of God, from our understanding and trust in the Lord with all our hearts (see Prov 3:5).
 
In Part 3 we will consider God’s strategy and timing for the Saul- David Transition.

REPRINT AGREEMENT:
Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is permitted provided that
complete source and website information for Lifemessenger is included.
Thank you.

www.lifemessenger.org

Copyright © David Orton 2006

This entry was posted on Friday, February 3rd, 2006 at 1:48 am and is filed under Biblical Leadership, Church Structure, Living Christianity, Prayer / Worship, Reformation/ Revival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.