The Tator Family:
The Battle Between Limitators and Hesitators.
Scripture:
1 Samuel 16:6-13
1 Samuel 17:20-30
Introduction
I want to minister to you briefly today regarding two types of attitudes in the modern church that are fueled by toxicity. There is a war between two personality that are both triggered by hurts and insecurities.
Each personality is threatened by the other because they are both insecure for two totally different reasons.
One says “This is my spot, there is no room for you. Don’t even think about taking my spot…”
The other says “I just want to serve but there’s no room for me to do so…”
There were two brothers in 1st Samuel that was specifically mentioned after David was anointed to be king. David was a shepherd. He spent his time tending to a flock of sheep. He was highly skilled in that line of work.
But one day his daddy told him to go check on his brother, who was a soldier, and see what was going on. When David got to the battlefield, he found the entire unit of men in deep conversation about this philistine champion of Gath.
David was not a military man, but he was an anointed man.
This shepherd boy invaded the battlefield and began talking to these military specialists. His older brother began to get angry at David for being there and he turned to him and questioned why he was there.
He not only questioned him, but he belittled him and told him he was “just a shepherd.” He even accused David of being prideful, arrogant, and disrespectful for even coming to the battlefield.
See he was “just a shepherd”.
A shepherd in the Old Testament was often considered to be a low social status.
They were dirty, unreliable, an outcast…
Eliab was a soldier. A soldier in the Old Testament was considered honorable. They were men of valor and righteousness.
So this lowly shepherd came into the company of the people who valor and he is not fit to be around them. He is not good enough to be there. He is not considered honorable. He is not a man of valor…in his brothers words, he is just a dirty, unreliable shepherd.
This is a war that we are fighting in church because people who have been saved for years look at new converts as dirty, unreliable, outcasts…
Too many in the church pews today think they have arrived to a place of valor or a level of importance, but if your title causes you to look down on someone else, you are not a leader; you are a power hungry, self righteous, stiff necked, Pharisee.
You will never arrive until you arrive…
You want to know when I can say “I’ve arrived”?
When my knees touch gold and I bow in his presence to worship him in a place of perfect peace and a place where darkness does not overshadow the sun, sickness does not defile the body, and sin cannot enter into.
But until I get there, the highest rank or level that I can achieve is that of a servant.
Isaiah said that our righteousness is that of a filthy rag. That means, I am not better than you, and you are no better than me…It takes the blood to make something out of us that we couldn’t make of ourselves.
- Limitators
People do not wake up one day and just become a Limitator. They are formed overtime by experiences, wounds, patterns, and spiritual misunderstandings.
Eliab was not born a Limitator, he became one.
But what caused it?
Could it be that he was mans first pick, but not God’s pick?
Could it be that he desired to be king and desired to be something great. He had worked his entire life to be king. He went and joined the military. He was fit and his outward appearance was one to be talked about because man would have anointed it had God not refused him.
Everything that looks good on the outside is not fit to lead on the inside.
Let’s be real, this is probably the only time in his life that he was not picked. Because of this, he developed a wound. A wound that caused him to be bitter and angry toward David.
Any attention David got would upset him. All David had to do was talk to the other soldiers and Eliab got offended and angry. Just because David was present.
Unhealed wounds lead to insecurity.
His position in that military unit was his security blanket. This is the one thing he was good at. The one thing he was trained to do. The one thing that he took pride in.
But here comes little David, the runt that was anointed king and what did Eliab think… “He’s here to take my position…” “He is here to disrupt my ministry.” “He is here to get the credit..”
If a shepherd made him feel so threatened, maybe he wasn’t as good a soldier as he thought he was…
If someone new makes you feel threatened in you position, maybe your work ethic was not securing your placement.
There was a literal giant in front of this man and he was worried about his own brother….
Jesus referred to church as a kingdom in which the Gates of Hell could not prevail against, yet we treat it as a day care for insecure saints.
I am not a smart man regarding military strategy but here’s one thing I do know. I know there are ranks. Once you reach a rank, you begin leading people…
But here was this ranked officer, fighting with his own brother…
You will only be able to lead people to your current level if you are bound by insecurity.
We are not here to enable hurt people, we are hear to minister to the broken; to renovate the broken. To prepare, promote, and produce…but how can we do that if we are training people to go beyond us because we are threatened by their presence.
The reason the vision is so upsetting to some people is because it is requiring us to stop talking and start doing.
David’s presence did not promote conversation but participation. Eliab was comfortable watching the threat from a distance and never doing anything to eliminate it. David took the threats personal because he realized those standing beside him had a future.
If I lead my young ministers as an insecure seasoned minister; they will grow into my insecurities and claim them as their own. But I cannot project my insecurities on them because if I do, I will start treating them like a threat and not a solution.
The people that are coming is not your threat, they are apart of the solution. Because we are commission to prepare disciples to promote the gospel top produce more disciples…meaning…
when we do what we are supposed to do, they do not threaten our position; they support it by being a product of it.
For 40 days this giant, this champion of Gath had been taunting the army of Israel and no one moved. Not the tallest, not the shortest, not the smartest, and not even the dumbest.
But here comes the shepherd and when he came, he spoke with faith, confidence, and courage. Everything that his brother lacked.
David’s boldness exposed Eliab’s insecurity.
So Eliab gets angry…pay attention to what he attacked. David’s character.
He called him prideful, arrogant, disrespectful….
Limitators will attack those who reveal what they are lacking.
Eliab felt entitled. He was the oldest, he was more experienced, he was much more qualified…
It does not matter how qualified someone may be, qualification will never outweigh the anointing.
When David arrived his first thought was to attack him with words. To belittle him with hopes that he would leave…
But David was already anointed by the prophet Samuel. The last son who was examined and the only one to be picked. Eliab was already upset because of this. We know deep down he wanted to be the one to take down the giant. The entire army was already talking about how Saul would reward the one who accomplished this.
When David came on the scene, Eliab projected his own motives and made David look like the threat.
A Limitator will often attack you with the very thing they struggle with internally.
Listen to me, if you would find security in the Christ, you would not have to rely so heavily on a title or a position. My security blanket is not the word Pastor, my security blanket is that I born again and that my name is in the lambs book of life.
Nothing good have I done, but everything Good that I receive comes from he who loved me even when I was a sinner. Who chased after me when i was running in the opposite direction.
I dont have to have a title to raise my hands. I don’t have to have a position to dance in his presence. I don't have to have a license to shout.
Calvary is my reason….the cross is my security…and Christ is my hope!
Somebody lift up a shout of praise!
My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name.
When he shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may I then in him be found. Dressed in his righteousness alone. Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Come on somebody…Praise him in this place today!
2. Hesitators
Although David did not hesitate to take down Goliath, in the New Testament we see an issue. A group of Pharisees whom Jesus refers to as white washed tombs, are limiting people so much that there is hardly anyone to harvest spiritual crop.
The Bible says in Matthew 9:35 that Jesus went through the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But there was a disease that he saw the effects of that did not harm the physical body but instead paralyzed the spirits of individuals. He saw this and the Bible says in verse number 36 that he was moved with compassion because the people were weary and scattered like a sheep having no shepherd.
Then Jesus makes this statement…
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
If you were to go up to 10 people in Walmart and ask if they go to church majority of them would say no. If you dig deep enough you will discover that they do not have a problem with Christ, they have an issue with his followers.
The same people who complain because people do not come to church are the same people who ran them off when they came in because they didnt look like them, smell like them, walk like them, our talk like them.
OR MAYBE…
They looked a little too much like us and we became insecure because their appearance threatened our position.
The audacity for churches to beg God to send a harvest and yet you spoiled the last harvest he sent. God isn’t going to send you the harvest if you play with peoples minds and treat them like garbage.
We would not have people hesitant to serve if there weren’t people limiting their potential.
It amazes me that we get amazed when a sinner sins. “Did you hear what they were doing last night….can you believe it???”
Can you believe that someone who claims to be a spirit filled leader is talking about someone who was in the gutter three weeks ago, or pumping their veins full a couple of years ago….Don’t kill their future before they get to walk in it…help them get there!!
I don't care who you slept with last night, I don't care how much you drunk it down, or even how much you shot it up….GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE!
Don’t allow people’s insecurities to sacrifice your destiny.
If God wants you there, he will put you there! Keep walking in the right direction!
Limitators get so angry when Hesitators threaten their insecurities. They start looking for reasons for people to be disqualified.
“Yo, Suzy, she was a crack addict real bad.” Really when? 30 years ago.
BUT SUZY IS SAVED NOW AND IT’S UNDER THE BLOOD!
“Yo, Bobby….he went to prison at a young age…”
BUT BOBBY HAS LED MORE PEOPLE TO CHRIST THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT OF.
Don’t judge someone for their past….they don't live there anymore!
3. Be an Imitator
When you start digging into someone’s past, it not only stunts the growth of the hesitator but the entire church.
We are not called to be an investigator, judge, or even to jury duty for the kingdom. God don’t need you trying to dig something up that he has already buried in the sea of forgetfulness.
We are called to be an Imitator not a Limitator
If you’re a Limitator, you are not an imitator of Christ. He came to build the church, you are limiting what he started.
The Hebrew writer said we are to imitate Christ. Which means we are supposed to match his character and his actions. Jealousy is not a characteristic of Christ and neither is bitterness and insecurity.
An imitator encourages, empowers, and reflects the character of Christ.
A Limitator controls, restricts and discourages.
Limitators shut people down instead of building them up but they are only repeating patterns they experienced.
When your identity is secured in Christ, you don’t crush others, you lift them up!
Some of you got insecurities and you think its everyone else’s responsibility to cater to you. It is not my responsibility to cater to your wounds, it is your responsibility to find healing in a man named Jesus.
When you choose not to heal, you bleed on people who never cut you.
Jesus never limited people - He released them.
- He allowed fishermen to become apostles
- He allowed Failures to preach the gospel
- He let doubters build churches
- He washed the feet of the men who would desert and betray him
Limitators hold the bowl, Imitators pick up the towel. But servanthood is what transforms a Limitator into an imitator.
Limitators shrink others to make them feel bigger.
Paul said in Romans 12:20 to Honor one another above yourselves.
The Imitator sees someone calling as a gift, other peoples successes as victory, and ministry as team work.
If you cannot celebrate someone else’s win, you are a Limitator not an Imitator.
Limitators speak words that discourage:
- You’re not ready…
- We Don’t need you…
- That’s my job….
But imitators speak words that activate:
- You can do this…
- I see potential in you…
- Let me walk with you…
Encouragement is the language of imitators but discouragement is the language of Limitators.
A Limitator says:
- Stay in your lane…
- Let me do it…
- You’re not capable…
An Imitator says:
- Let me show you how…
- Serve with me…
- God wants to use you…
Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6 “sir up the gift of God within you..”
Imitators stir.
Limitators Suppress.
To the Limitator is is all about themselves.
- My role
- My ministry
- My influence
- My preference
But Imitators focus on the kingdom…
Jesus prayed “Thy kingdom Come, Thy will be done…” in Matthew 6:10
When your eyes are on the king, you stop protecting your throne.
Conclusion:
Our role as imitators of Christ is to lift people. To disciple people. To release them into ministry. To mentor them. To help open doors for them…
Limitators block doors. Imitators hold doors open.
This is Renovation Church. The place where we Prepare believers to promote the gospel so that we can produce more believers…and when we do that we Renovate the broken one at a time to ensure no generation is left behind.
Jesus’ vision for the chruch is the great commission and he literally tells us to make disciples in Matthew 28:19
If we are discipling them, we cannot be limiting them.
I have a ladder with me today. This ladder has steps on it and each steps represents a new level in Christ.
We want people to grow so we lift them up, and get their journey with Christ started. Everything is going great until they start growing passed where we are.
(Grab their ankle)
The moment they start growing, we like the start limiting. Because we want them to grow, but we don't want someone who just got saved outgrowing someone like us who has been saved for years.
We don’t want someone who is called into ministry preaching more than us.
So we start holding on to them. They are wanting to serve, wanting to grow but we stand at the bottom refusing to let them move up.
This is an exact reflection of the modern church and this is why the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Because we got people who are trying to grow but before they get a chance to blossom we cut them back.
All because of jealousy, envy, and insecurity.
You call yourself a kingdom builder…but you can’t build on to a kingdom that you are limiting.
Some of us in this room today need to drop the character of a Limitator and become and imitator.
