When he was in the king's palace, he was a servant to the king. When he was in his father's home, he was a servant to his father. No matter where he was, he was always a servant. He never drew his identity from his position, where he was. He never thought, I'm in a lowly role, I'm not much, there's not much for me; or whoa, look at me now, I'm next to the king! He just said: I'm the servant of the Lord. Jesus was the same - He could be with the crowds, and have thousands of people, and do miracles; and then He could go alone, and wash the disciple's feet - the lowest job.
He could flick between being in a position of prominence, popularity and favor; and then straight away go into insignificance, doing the lowest job, because his identity was never attached to the job, or the status. It was always attached to - I'm the servant of the Lord. Wherever I go, I'm a servant. That is a quality that will get you far with God. That was in the heart of David. Wherever he went, he's the servant of the Lord.
I can remember when we set up a Christian school, down in Dannevirke. I was pastoring the church there, and principal of the school, and it was all going well, but God wanted to teach me this lesson, out of 1 Samuel here. One day all the kids are in school, and someone reports to me: the toilet is broken! We only had one small facility there, one toilet, and it wasn’t working, which means you have to close the school, unless you can get a plumber! I rang every plumber in town, but no one could get there! I stood there looking at this toilet, and the Lord said to me: you know what you have to do... Someone had dropped a toilet roll down it. which blocked it; then the next person filled it. Yeah, it wasn't too nice, but He just said to me: well, are you the servant of the Lord, or not? If you are, then forget you're a principal, and a pastor, and just do what needs to be done. So, I took off my jacket and rolled up my sleeves…
I don't think I could touch that arm for a month afterwards! We didn't have those fancy gloves that you have now, nothing like that. I just had to shove my whole arm up there… Thank You Jesus, it's a privilege to serve You Lord, and I did it! The thing is, you will always face challenges like that, little tests, to see if you really are a servant, or whether you're a bit big for your boots. Never get too big for your boots, or one day you'll lose them!
He got promoted, and he had an opportunity to slay a giant; and then in 1 Samuel 18:1, he had huge favor with Jonathan, the king's son. He got favor with the whole nation.
1 Samuel 18:14 – “David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him”
1 Samuel 18:16 – “All of Israel and Judah loved David…”
1 Samuel 18:20 – “Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David.”
David is in a place of huge promotion. He became a national hero; the king's son loves him, and the king's daughter loves him too, and is about to become his wife. The whole nation loves him, they sing songs about him. He is number one, on the popularity chart; but popularity and fame will test a person's character. When the crowds came around Jesus, He just got up early, and went alone into prayer with the Father, and was able to stand up and say: we're not staying here, where the crowds are, we're going to another city.
There's something in the heart, that must be developed, to be the servant of God, and not be worried about popularity. If you're popular today, then tomorrow, the same crowd will hate you. When the crowd starts to turn, the people who have built their life around what others are saying about them will just go to pieces. You've got to have your roots firmly in God!