David’s Legacy – The Richest Man In The World

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David’s Legacy – the Richest Man

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2nd Corinthians 5:9-15

When the life of the greatest recorded servant in the Bible ended—what was left behind?

Our legacy is what we leave behind to those we love. What did David God’s servant leave behind?

Last time we saw David’s epitaph, written by God, in nine words–David served the purpose of God in his generation.

WHAT LASTS FOREVER?

So the first thing David left behind a life that testified that God saw him as a servant.

What else did he leave behind? Humanly speaking, David probably left behind the greatest fortune ever amassed by any one man on planet earth!

But if you see things as God does you would see that David left everything behind (like everyone must)—except what he had given back to the Lord.

You see, David was a real servant of God. We have already followed his trail from his earliest days across the Scriptures. And we know from God’s Word that a genuine servant doesn’t really own anything—it actually all belongs to his master. He and all he has is owned and controlled by another—the master. And that is what David was—a servant.

So all he had was the Lord’s. And that is how we are to be also!

Remember those words that should ring in our ears as God’s servants? Let’s open there first this morning.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. NKJV

Or as that great servant of the Lord, Ken Taylor wrote when he paraphrased God’s Word for his children—

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you. 20 For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because he owns it. TLB

Now go to the next book and see what that means in day to day life. To best do that, we need to read backward starting at 2nd Corinthians 5:15. Let’s stand as you turn there please.

2 Corinthians 5:15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. NKJV

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; NKJV

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. NKJV

2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. NKJV

Pray

THE SUPER RICH

What do the following people have in common? And, what do you often think of first when I name the following people from modern history:

John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, J. Paul Getty, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates…

Usually the first thing most people associate with them is vast wealth and riches, right?

Now, let me try the name of another well know person. When I say David the shepherd boy and David the King—what do you think of?

Maybe Goliath, maybe Psalms, maybe God’s King of His people Israel, and sadly, maybe Bathsheba.

But did any of you first think of wealth and riches? Probably not—yet David was far wealthier than all of those combined, and doubled, and tripled!

So how much wealth did David have? Is it really an unbelievable amount? Yes, three thousand years ago David had five thousand tons of gold.

1 Chronicles 22:14 Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the
house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for it is so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them. NKJV

GOLD IS BEAUTIFUL

There are many physical aspects of the yellow metal which are truly amazing.

Gold is the most malleable (able to be hammered into very thin sheets) and ductile (able to be drawn into a fine wire) of all metals. It is so malleable that a goldsmith can hammer one ounce of gold into a thin translucent wafer covering more than 100 square feet only five millionths of an inch thick.

Its ductility is equally amazing. One ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire 50 miles long! Furthermore, ONLY one ounce of this marvelous metal is required to plate a thread of copper 1,000 miles long. That’s really stretching it, wouldn’t you say?

Gold is also one of the heaviest metals known. It has a specific gravity of 19.3, which means it weighs 19.3 times as much as an equal volume of water. Therefore, one cubic foot of gold weighs 1,206 pounds. More than half a ton! More unbelievable than its physical characteristics is its scarcity. It is well documented that the world’s holdings accumulated during all recorded history to the present is only about 120,000 metric tons. Understandably, it is rather difficult for the average person to relate to this measurement. Suffice it to say that the total world’s hoard of the shiny metal will occupy a single cube 60 feet by 60 feet by 60 feet – which is equivalent to the approximate volume of three 12-room homes. This is indeed a small volume of matter to have influenced the toil and destiny of so many people since biblical days. In fact the total world’s holdings of the rare metal could be transported by a single solitary oil tanker – that’s if Lloyds of London would ever accept the insurance risk on this priceless cargo. The value of this priceless cargo would be approximately $ 2.2 TRILLION!1

How much is five thousand tons of gold (or 100,000 talents as the Bible describes it)? Well, right here in America we have a Federal Building called Fort Knox in Kentucky that has 4600 tons of gold (precisely according to governments records 147.3 million ounces) under very careful guard. That just happens to be the most gold reserves of any nation on earth.

So the largest single pile of gold owned by anyone on earth today is 4600 tons here in the USA. So three thousand years ago David exceeded all the wealth in gold held by the richest nation in the history of planet earth (the USA). And David exceeded Fort Knox’s holdings by 400 tons. That means David had almost a million pounds more gold that all of the USA!!

DAVID HAD THE MOST GOLD

So how much did David God’s servant really have?

If you dig into the commodities market you’ll find the following facts in the endless tables of records kept in the precious metals archives. In all the history of the world to 18352 there was at the most a total of 20 thousand tons of gold ever produced. In David’s day three thousand years ago there was no more than ten thousand tons of gold on the planet. So at the very least—David held at the end of his life half or more of all the wealth on his planet!

David’s gold was worth over 89 billion dollars in today’s commodity markets. But in his day his wealth exceeded half of all the monetary gold valued wealth of the entire world. Some economists say that the sum total of all monetary wealth in the world is in the realm of 250 trillion dollars (that is loans, stocks, bonds, deposits, etc). So by comparison in the world of 2006—David would be worth over $125 trillion dollars! Now that is wealthy.

DAVID DIDN’T LIVE FOR WEALTH

David had wealth that is staggering and even hard for us to even believe. Yet NO ONE ever thinks of him as wealthy until after they study that part of his life.

If you wonder why David’s wealth is usually never thought about—the answer is found in a study of the assets of God’s servants. The assets of God’s servants usually follow the words of their Master—

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. NKJV

James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. NKJV

2 Corinthians 4:18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. NKJV

And the wealth of any servant of God is held in hands that are attached to a heart that sings—

All I have belongs to you, For all I have has come from you. Nothing I own, nothing I possess, Is by my own hands, its by Your Faithfulness. So please take this offering, From a heart of Thanksgiving. For You’ve given all I have.

So David is someone we will meet in Heaven. Because who will be in Heaven? God’s Servants. And what do God’s servants do with their treasures? Just like David—they give them back to God. And that is just where we left off last time.

David was “God-hearted” which meant he served God’s purposes. David was under God’s command, he did what the Lord asked him to do, willingly unseen and obscure— always wanting the Lord to get all the glory. A simpler way to say that is—David was God’s servant all his days. No wonder Paul uses the very same concept to describe his own life and ministry.

And we have been looking for week after week at the first of David’s spiritual secrets. The first secret was the most important one—David was God’s servant. And in the most written about life in the Bible, God has put the life of His servant David on display. Remember the characteristics we have already seen?

You may probably have these noted in the margins of your Bible.

If not—why not take a moment and jot them there as I go through them again? They can become a check list for each of us as we seek to cultivate a servant heartedness for the Lord like David’s.

1. David’s unique life was designed by God. God uses the unchangeable features of servants for His Glory!1 Samuel 16:1-11

2. David’s life was disciplined. God uses the disciplined lives of servants for His Glory!1 Samuel 16:12a

3. David’s life was available for God to use. God uses the available lives of servants for His Glory! 1 Samuel 16:12b

4. David’s life was empowered by the Lord. God uses His Spirit to empower servants for His Glory! 1 Samuel 16:13

5. David’s life was an example of godliness to others. God uses the actions of servants for His Glory! 1 Samuel 16:18

6. David’s life displayed true humility. God uses humble servants for His Glory! 1 Samuel 16:19

7. David’s life ministered to others. God uses the ministry of servants for His Glory! 1 Samuel 16:23

8. David wanted to honor God with his work. God is glorified by diligent working servants. 1 Samuel 17:1; 34-35

9. David wanted to honor God with his habits. God is either honored or dishonored by the habits of His servants. 1 Samuel 17:20

10. David wanted to honor God with his life. God wants us as His servants to give our lives back to Him. 1 Samuel 17:25-26

11. David wanted to magnify God’s hand in his life. God is honored when His servants remember His Hand in their lives. 1 Samuel 17:36-37

12. David wanted to honor God‘s Name with his mouth. God is glorified when we honor His Name. 1 Samuel 17:45-46

Last time we ended with the characteristic of David’s life that he wanted to dedicate his treasures and trophies to the Lord. God is glorified when His servants dedicate their trophies to Him. 1 Samuel 21:9

1 Chronicles 22:14 Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for it is so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them. NKJV

1 Chronicles 18:11 King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had brought from all these nations—from Edom, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, and from Amalek. NKJV

David made this a life long habit. As God gave him great victories, and David was given greater and greater trophies—he just kept giving them back to the Lord. There is no limit to what God will do with a life that keep being given back to Him!

David poured his life out as an irrecoverable offering because he believed that God deserved the best. Once David longed for the sweet water he had drank as a child that was now behind enemy lines. His mightiest warriors fought through to the well of Bethlehem, drew water, fought their way back, and presented the water to David. David amazed them and actually poured the water on the ground. David poured out the water to the Lord as a drink offering. A drink offering poured out was never recoverable as the ground absorbed every drop. So David gave to the Lord irrecoverably what was most precious to him. David poured out the water from the well of his childhood, just like the treasures of his career because David believed that God deserved the best of his time, treasures, and talents.

2 Samuel 23:13-17 Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” 16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. 17 And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men. NKJV

Remember I told you last time that the only two individuals that call themselves under rowers (bottom level galley slaves) in the Bible are Paul and David? Well here is another parallel. Both men ‘poured out’ their lives for the Lord as an irrecoverable offering given to the Lord with no hope of return. That is the life of a servant and that is a life that God rewards.

David wanted to make sacrifices for God because he knew God deserved that which was costly. The prophet Gad told David what God expected—a sacrificial offering on Mt. Moriah. David went to the spot and the owner offered to give to David everything he needed. David would not take the threshing floor without paying full price because David would not give to God that which cost him nothing!

2 Samuel 24:18-25 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.” 22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. NKJV

Look at the end of his life, what did David do with all those treasures?

1 Chronicles 22:14 Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for it is so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them. NKJV

1 Chronicles 29:2-3 Now for the house of my God I have prepared with all my might: gold for things to be made of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance. 3 Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver: NKJV

So, are you living like a servant of God? You say how do I start? Here’s a quick game plan to be like David God’s servant.

1. Like David–God’s servant, MY life is on God’s mind.

2. Like David–God’s servant, MY life needs discipline.

3. Like David–God’s servant, MY life needs to be available to God for His use.

4. Like David–God’s servant, MY life needs to be empowered by the Lord.

5. Like David–God’s servant, MY life needs to be an example of godliness

6. Like David–God’s servant, MY life needs to display true humility.

7. Like David–God’s servant, MY life needs to minister to others.

8. Like David–God’s servant, I will honor God with MY work.

9. Like David–God’s servant, I will honor God with MY habits.

10. Like David–God’s servant, I will honor God with MY life.

11. Like David–God’s servant, I will magnify God’s hand in MY life.

12. Like David–God’s servant, I will honor God’s Name with MY mouth.

13. Like David–God’s servant, I will dedicate his treasures and trophies to the Lord.

14. David poured his life out as an irrecoverable offering because he believed that God deserved the best.

15. David wanted to make sacrifices for God because he knew God deserved that which was costly.

Probably every one of us in this room have heard the famous life’s motto that the great missionary Charles Thomas Studd (1860-1931) lived and died by–

“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; and only what’s done for Christ— will last.”

However, few of us realize when it was that he said those words. It was on his deathbed with his precious family gathered around him. He had already told each of his children that he wished he had something to give to them, but he had nothing left. Then he said, “..but I gave it all to Jesus long ago.”3

When Avis B. Christiansen (1895-1985), the wife of the Vice President of Moody Bible Institute heard these precious words spoken by C.T. Studd at his death, she began to ponder them. A few years later in 1937, she wrote a now famous hymn, “Only One Life to Offer”. Listen to her reflections that turned into a prayer of devotion to the Lord she also served with all her heart (hymn # 378):

Only one life to offer– Jesus, my Lord and King; Only one tongue to praise Thee And of Thy mercy sing; Only one heart’s devotion– Savior, O may it be Consecrated alone to Thy matchless glory, Yielded fully to Thee.

Only this hour is mine, Lord– May it be used for Thee; May ev’ry passing moment Count for eternity; Souls all about are dying, Dying in sin and shame; Help me bring the message of Calv’ry’s redemption In Thy glorious name.

Only one life to offer– Take it, dear Lord, I pray; Nothing from Thee withholding, Thy will I now obey; Thou who hast freely given Thine all in all for me, Claim this life for Thine own to be used, my Saviour, Ev’ry moment for Thee.

1 http://www.gold-eagle.com/gold_digest/history_gold.html

2 More unbelievable than its physical characteristics is its scarcity. It is well documented that the world’s holdings accumulated during all recorded history to the present is only about 120,000 metric tons. From 1910 to the present 75% of all gold that has ever existed has been mined (113,538 tons). Before 1910 there was a sum total of 40 thousand tons. From 1835 when mining records were established to 1910 a total of 16 thousand tons were mined. So there was about 20,000 tons on the high side by 1835. So just go back nearly three thousand years of digging and searching and you see how much David had amassed!

3 Elisabeth Elliot, Passion & Purity, Fleming Revell, p. 43