Wellspring Community Church Podcast

Matt. 6:10 - Thy Kingdom Come

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:26:59 EST

We want to see the kingdom of God made tangible, yet only God can do what we want to see happen. How are we involved? We pray.

Rom. 3:19-26 - The Gospel

Sun, 06 May 2012 16:23:58 EST

We've been sent out into the world as missionaries. But sent out with what?

Phil. 2:5-8 - What is Incarnational?

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:21:15 EST

Jesus said, "As the Father sent me, so I send you." What does it look like for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus?

2 Cor. 5:14-21 - What is Missional? Part 2

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:13:42 EST

"Missional" is a buzzword right now. What's it mean to be a missional people? Ben Downey tackles this question in two parts.

2 Cor. 5:14-21 - What is Missional? Part 1

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:11:52 EST

"Missional" is a buzzword right now. What's it mean to be a missional people? Ben Downey tackles this question in two parts.

Luke 10:1-20 - The Kingdom of God

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:54:08 EST

What is the kingdom of God, and how do we make it tangible to the people around us?

2 Samuel 24 - The Census

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:00:33 EST

The U.S. census is generally pretty drab, pretty ho-hum. Not so for Israel's census under David!

2 Samuel 23:8-39 - Mighty Men

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:58:00 EST

Where are the mighty warriors of today's church? Maybe David's mighty men can encourage us to make maximum Kingdom impact with our lives.

2 Samuel 23:1-7 - Last Words

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:41:23 EST

What would your last words be if you knew your life was coming to an end? Here's what David says to us.

2 Samuel 21:15-22:51 - This is the God I Have Known

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:37:51 EST

David has walked with God for a long time, and has come to know God in amazing ways. How well do you know Him?

2 Samuel 21:1-14 - Atonement

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:35:12 EST

This is a gory passage. What can we learn from it?

2 Samuel 19 & 20 - Growing Weary

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:19:20 EST

By the end of this chapter, David is in desperate need of the refreshing presence of God. Are you?

2 Samuel 18 - A Father's Love

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:16:32 EST

Can you imagine going to war against your own child? David did.

2 Samuel 16:15-17:29 - Espionage & Intrigue

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:34:52 EST

What do we do when it seems like God's good plans for us have been upended?

2 Samuel 16:1-14; 19:16-30 - When Sheep Bite

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:27:56 EST

How do spiritual leaders deal with difficult Christians?

2 Samuel 14 & 15 - Relationships

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:01:37 EST

What can we learn from David's failed relationship with his son, Absalom?

Romans 1:1-17 - Joann's Passing

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:59:21 EST

When we learned that Joann passed away in the early morning hours, we decided that it would be fitting to honor her memory.

1 Thessalonians 4 - Missing Christmas, Part 3

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:52:13 EST

What happens when Christmas is over? What's life supposed to be like after Christmas?

Luke 2:1-20 - Missing Christmas, Part 2

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 13:53:22 EST

Despite all of the build up, the truth is that many of us miss the whole thing. Let's make sure that doesn't happen.

2 Corinthians 8:9 - Missing Christmas, Part 1

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:53:52 EST

Despite all of the build up, the truth is that many of us miss the whole thing. Let's make sure that doesn't happen.

2 Samuel 13 - Lost in the Crowd: Tamar's Story

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:37:52 EST

The rape of Tamar is one of the most horrific scenes in all of Scripture. What can her story teach us?

2 Samuel 12:14-31 - Putting the Pieces Back Together

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:31:48 EST

What do you do when you realize that your life is in shambles because of your own sin? What does the journey of restoration look like?

2 Samuel 12:1-13 - After We Have Sinned

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:27:10 EST

What can we learn from David's fall that will help us after we've blown it?

2 Samuel 11 - Fall of a Leader

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:24:47 EST

If David, a man after God's own heart, can have such a titantic moral failure, how vulnerable am I?

2 Samuel 10 - Applying Tough Passages

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:13:04 EST

How do you respond in faith and obedience to a passage that you can understand, but don't know how to apply?

2 Samuel 9 - We Are Mephibosheth

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 12:47:58 EST

The amazing journey of a nobody from nowhere to a place at the King's table.

2 Samuel 8 - Gaining Victory

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:19:57 EST

To walk with Jesus is to change - so why does gaining spiritual victory seem so difficult?

2 Samuel 7 - Giving God Gifts

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:16:46 EST

Sometimes we are mistaken when we try to pay God back for all He's done for us.

2 Samuel 6 - David Danced

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:40:35 EST

We talk about worship all the time, but what is our worship really supposed to be like?

2 Samuel 4 & 5 - Stepping Into God's Call

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:37:04 EST

How do we walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we've been called when we have so many weaknesses?

2 Samuel 3 - Christ is our City of Refuge

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 15:37:53 EST

Have you found God's place of mercy?

1 Samuel 31-2 Samuel 1 - Kingdom Life

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 18:29:32 EST

What does life in the kingdom look like?

1 Samuel 29:1-30:31 - David at the Brook Besor

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:26:09 EST

If you are beat up and worn out, maybe you need to hear, once again, about the scandal of grace.

1 Samuel 28:1-25 - Choosing Darkness

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:48:29 EST

We know that seeking supernatural guidance apart from God is sinful, but why is it that so many of us are drawn to that type of thing?

1 Samuel 26:1-27:12 - Preach to Yourself

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:45:19 EST

It's okay to talk to yourself. The question is: What are you saying?

1 Samuel 25:1-44 - Blind Spots

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:42:34 EST

If we don't see the blind spots in our lives, we can wind up in a spiritual wreck.

1 Samuel 23:1-24:22 - A Game of Cat & Mouse

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:38:40 EST

I saw this interesting article online, and I’d like to read it to you this morning. It’s entitled:

Game of Cat and Mouse Blacks Out City

TIRANA | Fri May 16, 2008 2:13pm EDT
(Reuters) - A cat chasing a mouse in Tirana's main power station caused a 72-hour blackout across parts of the Albanian capital, the electricity company said on Friday.
"A cat and a mouse ran into the high-voltage cables," a company spokeswoman said, showing pictures of the electrocuted animals. "We took pictures because we've never had anything like this."
Albanians complain bitterly about the power cuts that have plagued them for decades, and are mostly blamed on drought and the dilapidation of the communist-era grid. Most homes and shops in Tirana rely on petrol generators.
(Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Ellie Tzortzi and Kevin Liffey) http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/16/us-albania-blackout-idUSL1630343620080516

A game of cat and mouse can put the largest city and capital of Albania out of commission for 72 hours!

So when we read 1 Samuel 23 & 24, and we see a game of cat and mouse being played by the two most powerful men in Israel, it should not come as a surprise that it, for all intents and purposes, caused a national blackout.

We have been working our way through 1 Samuel together, and we’ve come to a section where King Saul is so intent on chasing David that he is allowing matters of national importance to fall by the wayside.

Now, last week we saw that the cave at Adullam was a turning point for David. Up to that point, he was grasping at straws while running away from Saul. He was doing whatever it would take in an effort of self-preservation - lying, going over to the enemy’s side, acting like a crazy person.

But then, completely dejected, David winds up at that cave called Adullam. It is there that things begin to look up. He quits trying to figure everything out. He stops doing whatever it takes to survive, and he calls out to God. And in his brokenness, pretty soon 400 other broken and hurting people have found their way to this cave.

They leave the cave, and move on, but random people keep showing up and joining David’s entourage. Among them were two notable characters. In chapter 22, verse 5, a prophet named Gad shows up among David’s rank. Prophets were the guys who, on God’s behalf, shared God’s messages to people.

Then, later, in verses 20-23, a priest from Nob named Abiathar flees to David for protection. Well, priests were guys who interceded on the people’s behalf to God. And don’t forget David, who has been anointed as God’s king.

So, now, leading this band of nomadic outlaws is a prophet, a priest, and a king. It takes three guys to discern God’s voice, to lead this group in God’s way. Now check this out: Jesus was all three - prophet, priest, and king - all by Himself! Isn’t that cool?

Anyway, by the time that we get to chapter 23, it’s clear who is leading this group. There is one clear voice being sought out among David and his men, and it’s God’s voice. And we see this time and again through this chapter.

Let’s take a look. Why don’t you turn to 1 Samuel 23:1-2:

“1 Now they told David, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors." 2 Therefore David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the LORD said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah."”

There are a couple of things to note quickly about these two verses. First of all, why is David the one fighting off the Philistines instead of Saul? We will come back to that in a moment, but for now, just note that David is the one defending Israel instead of the official king.

Second, look at the first thing David does after hearing news about this attack. Verse two says that he inquired of the LORD. In other words, he’s seeking God’s direction in the whole matter. He’s not trying to figure this out on his own. And God answers David very clearly, “Go and attack the Philistines.”

Verses 3-4:

“3 But David’s men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?" 4 Then David inquired of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, "Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand."”

David got a clear answer from God, but his men weren’t so sure. After all, they have been on the run from Saul. They are in hiding. If they go out to war, they are going to expose themselves to Saul. So David asks God one more time, just to be sure. The answer is the same: go for it.

So they do. They mop up pretty good. The Philistines don’t stand a chance against David and his men.

But, just as David’s men had anticipated, Saul receives some intel that David and his men are in Keilah.

Take a look at verses 7 & 8:

“7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, "God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars." 8 And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.”

Saul and his forces were nowhere to be found when the Philistines were attacking the nation, but he’s utilizing federal resources in order to hunt down David. This game of cat and mouse has so absorbed Saul’s attention that urgent national concerns are being ignored. It like a blackout. Operations have been shut down so that Saul can pursue his personal vendetta.

Imagine the outrage in our nation if there had been no response to 9/11 because George W. was too busy trying to squelch the rising prominence of Barak Obama, or something of that nature.

It’s crazy, but that’s how it happened.

Saul thinks that he can capture David, because David and his men are in a walled city. If Saul can surround the city, then he can starve the people out. That was common warfare strategy at the time. But the thing that Saul doesn’t think about is that David talks to God, and God is fully aware of Saul’s plans.

After defeating the Philistines, David seeks God’s direction again. Take a look at verse 9:

“9 David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."”

Remember a moment ago how I said that some interesting guys had joined David’s band? Well, here’s Abiathar the priest, going to God on David’s behalf. David has access to God through the priest.

And I just want to point out this morning that we also have access to God through our priest, Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews put it like this in chapter 10, verses 19-22:

“19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Just as David had access to God through the priest Abiathar, we have access to the Father through the Son, who is our High Priest.

David asks the Lord if Saul is going to come looking for him at Keilah. In verse 11, the LORD said, “He will come down.” So then David asks God a different question: “Will the people of Keilah (the city he just saved) turn me over to Saul?” God answers again: “Yep. They sure will.”

And you can’t really blame the people too much. Think about it. If they help David, and David escapes from Saul, what’s going to happen to them? They probably had heard what had happened to the town of Nob. David received five loaves of bread and a sword there - that’s all! Afterwards the priests, women, and even children were slaughtered.

On the other hand, if they help David, and David stays in their city, then they are all going to have to hunker down while Saul tries to starve them all to death. And now they’ve got, not only their own town to feed, but according to verse 13, David now has 600 men who are going to want three squares a day.

So David does what God says. He leaves.

It’s pretty clear in verses 1-13 that David is listening to and being led by God’s voice. Four times in fourteen verses, David asks God what to do. Four times the Lord tells David what to do. And four times, David does exactly what God says. God speaks, and David responds.

What about you? Are you listening to the Word of God, the Bible? Are you seeking it out, the way that David did? Do you read and obey His Word? Do you pray and listen to His voice?

In this game of cat and mouse, not everyone is listening so intently to what God has to say. Saul is trying his hardest to capture David, but before Saul can get to Keilah, David and his men slip into the wilderness. Verse 14 says:

“14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.”

Don’t think for a minute that Saul wasn’t trying hard, because he was. But Saul was not being led by God’s voice.

It’s actually a little ironic that Saul tries and tries to find David, and he can’t. But Jonathan, in verses 15-18, has no trouble finding David. Jonathan strengthened David’s hand in God, and then he left. This was the last time the two of them would ever see each other.

But what I’d like to call your attention to in these next few verses is who Saul is listening to. Take a look at verses 19-24a:

“19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? 20 Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand." 21 And Saul said, "May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me. 22 Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. 23 See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah." 24 And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul.”

First, Saul is listening to the Ziphites. Now, Ziph was a region in Judah, close to where David was from. So it’s a bit surprising that they are so eager to turn on David, but they do. Saul wants to make sure that he’s getting good intel, so he sends them back out for more information.

Listening to the Ziphites was almost enough to capture David. He gets closer than he’s ever been before. Let’s read about it (24b-28):

“Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. 25 And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land." 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.”

You can’t cut it much closer than this. Saul was right on the heels of David; they are on opposite sides of the same mountain! Just as Saul is about to capture David, he hears a second voice. This time it’s the voice of a messenger who tells him that the Philistines have made another attack.

So finally, this game of cat and mouse has to stop for a moment, so that Saul can, you know, do his job. So Saul calls time-out, and chases the Philistines for a little while, but it doesn’t last very long.

Go to chapter 24, verses 1-2:

“1 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi." 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks.”

The moment that Saul hears this third voice (we don’t even know who this voice belongs to) saying, “Hey Saul, David is in the wilderness of Engedi,” Saul is back at it again. The game of cat and mouse is back on.

But before we find out what happens next - and it’s pretty interesting - we need to see a contrast that has been building between David and Saul. In the first half of the chapter, it’s evident that David is listening to and being led by God’s voice, whereas in this second half of chapter 23, and into the first verse of chapter 24, Saul is listening to everyone and everything but God’s voice.

And I think that it would be very wise for us to pause for a moment to consider our own lives. Who or what are you listening to? Where do you go when you need advice? Who do you ask when you need guidance? Are you taking your concerns and questions to everyone except God?

Now listen, Godly counsel is indispensable. I don’t mean to communicate that it’s bad to seek out wise counsel; it’s not. In fact, Godly counsel is a wonderful thing, and we all need to seek it out.

But let me ask you this: Have you ever found yourself going around to everyone else for answers without ever going directly to God? Have you ever found yourself making lists of pros and cons, but never going to the Scriptures?

I think that chapter 23 makes it evident that not all the voices which we hear constitute God’s voice to us. And I think that chapter 24 is going to make it evident that not even “open doors” are always going to be God’s direction for our lives.

Let’s keep reading, and you’ll find out what I mean. Go to verse 3:

“3 And he (Saul) came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.”

You’d think that church is the one place where you could go to escape potty humor. Sorry - not this morning!

This game of cat and mouse keeps getting more and more intense. Saul keeps getting closer and closer. But this time he gets a little too close.

The Bible is a very real book that describes humanity just as we are. And here’s Saul, needing to go to the bathroom. There are no rest stops for him to use, so he finds a good cave, goes in, removes off his robe, and takes care of business.

David and his men must have felt that this was a little too close for comfort in more ways that one! They are hiding out in the innermost parts of the cave. The Hebrew word for “innermost” is used in the book of Jonah as “below deck.” They are down below and behind Saul. They have an unfortunate angle at what’s taking place here.

But to David’s men, this appears as if it’s an open door. Look at verse 4:

“4 And the men of David said to him, "Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.”

If there ever was such a thing as an open door, this is it. Saul is right there, completely vulnerable. He’s all alone. His back is to them. He’s as good as dead.

Now, let’s just pause for a minute. This period of David’s life is the period of wilderness wandering for him. I just want to point out that David isn’t the only one who spent time wandering around in the wilderness.

About 500 years before David, Moses wandered for forty years in the wilderness with the people of Israel. About 1000 years after David, Jesus wandered for forty days in the wilderness. And what we see is that oftentimes in Scripture, wanderings in the wilderness prove to be times of testing.

Maybe you’re feeling like that right now. You may be in a period where you feel somewhat aimless, wandering around. It may seem dry and long and pointless. Why are you spending so much time in the wilderness, waiting?

It may be that God is testing you while Satan is tempting you.

I don’t think that we can understand this scene in verse 4, without keeping that in mind. David is stealthily climbing up to where Saul is. The temptation just to plunge that knife straight into Saul’s back had to be huge!

Instead, he cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. But even in that, David felt like he had gone too far. Go to verse 5:

“5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.”

David’s heart struck him. It’s the same word that was used when David’s stone struck Goliath in the head. His heart was struck with conviction from the Holy Spirit that he had wronged Saul.

Saul’s robe was symbolic of his kingship. In 1 Samuel 15:27-28, when the prophet Samuel told Saul that God had rejected him as king over Israel, Saul had grabbed the hem of Samuel’s robe and it tore. Samuel made an object lesson out of it, and said that in the same way, the Lord had torn the kingdom of Israel away from Saul and was going to give it to a neighbor of his, who was better than Saul was.

And now here’s that neighbor, David, in a symbolic act of defiance, cutting off the corner of Saul’s robe, as though he were grabbing the kingdom for himself. Instantly, his heart struck him. Yes, God was going to give him the kingdom, but it wasn’t his to grab. Yes, there was an apparent open door, but it was in direct conflict with God’s Word.

You see, open doors are no substitute for listening to God’s voice. In this moment of testing, this moment of temptation, it sure seemed like a perfect opportunity. It’s amazing to me that David only went as far as he did.

I wonder what would have happened if this event had taken place before David came to grips with his brokenness at the cave of Adullam? Had Saul been put on a platter for David then, when he was still grasping at straws, doing whatever it took to keep afloat, I wonder if David would have had even the partial restraint he shows here?

But even though this must have seemed like an open door for David, this was against the clear teaching of Scripture. David had surely known the Lord’s command in Leviticus 19:17-18, where it says:

“17 "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

David had surely heard the words in Deut. 32:35-36:

“35 I will take revenge; I will pay them back.?
In due time their feet will slip.?
Their day of disaster will arrive,?
and their destiny will overtake them.
36 Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people,?
and he will change his mind about his servants,?
when he sees their strength is gone.”

And we need to hear these same words today. Vengeance is the Lord’s! As much as I may want to strike back at the people who have hurt me, and slandered me, and threatened me, and taken advantage of me, and looked down on me, and ostracized me, and mocked me - Vengeance is the Lord’s!

It’s not mine!

Romans 12:19 comforts us in this way: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” We have leave it to God’s wrath, trusting that justice will be done.

Either the person who hurts us will bear the just wrath of God for their own sin, or Jesus bore the wrath of their sin for them, just as He did for us. Either way, justice is done. God is judge.

And we, who are meek, according to Jesus, are blessed. For the meek will inherit the earth.

On this, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

“When reproached, they hold their peace; when treated with violence they endure it patiently; when men drive them from their presence, they yield their ground. They will not go to law to defend their rights, or make a scene when they suffer injustice, nor do they insist on their legal rights. They are determined to leave their rights to God alone . . . . Their right is in the will of their Lord - that and no more. They show by every word and gesture that they do not belong to this earth. Leave heaven to them, says the world in it’s pity, that is where they belong. But Jesus says, ‘They shall inherit the earth.’ To these, the powerless and the disenfranchised, the very earth belongs. Those who now possess it by violence and injustice shall lose it, and those who here have utterly renounced it, who were meek to the point of the cross, shall rule the new earth” (Cost of Discipleship, 109-110).

Isn’t this David - driven from Saul’s presence, enduring violence patiently, leaving his rights to God?

Even the symbolic action of grabbing at the kingdom by cutting the corner of Saul’s robe was a violation of that. David realized it, and turned away from it immediately.

In fact, he had just written a Psalm about this very thing. Psalm 54 begins with the words, “O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might.”

David knew he had gone too far, but his men felt that he hadn’t gone far enough:

“6 He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed." 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.”

Now I’ve got to be honest with you this morning. I’m more like David’s men than I am like David. It makes me so angry when injustice takes place. I want revenge. I want them to pay for what they’ve done.

But I’m such a hypocrite in this, because when it comes to myself, I want people to forgive me. I know that I need forgiveness, but I don’t want to extend it to anyone else. How unlike Jesus I can be!

David’s men were the same way, so he had to persuade them otherwise. I love how the translators have softened this. The word they translate as “persuade” literally means “to tear apart.”

This conversation got heated. David’s men were ready to take Saul out. They didn’t want David to let him walk away. In order to fend them off, David had to tear them up. We would say that he ripped them a new one!

If that weren’t enough, watch what David does after he lets Saul get away (8-15):

“8 Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. 9 And David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Behold, David seeks your harm'? 10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.' 11 See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. 12 May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. 13 As the proverb of the ancients says, 'Out of the wicked comes wickedness.' But my hand shall not be against you. 14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! 15 May the LORD therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand."”

David calls out to Saul. He bows down. He refers to Saul as his lord the king, and as his father. He refers to himself as a dead dog and a flea. And he says, “You know the intention of my heart toward you, Saul. I’m not coming after you. If I was, I would have just killed you in that cave.”

He doesn’t even act as though this pursuit is Saul’s idea. He asks, “Why are you listening to people who talk bad about me?”

David gives us a great portrait of forgiveness when he said, “I could have killed you, but I spared you.” In verse 12, he leaves vengeance in the hands of God. He’s not going to come after Saul, even if the opportunity presents itself. An open door doesn’t trump God’s voice.

And this passage teaches that forgiveness is our proper response to God’s voice.

If you are having a hard time hearing God speak through 1 Samuel 24, maybe it’s easier to hear the voice of Jesus in Mark 11:25, when He said:

“25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

If we haven’t been forgiven, then we can’t forgive others. You see, Jesus Christ died on the cross to save us. He died for our sin in our place; all who put their hope and trust in Him are forgiven. Are you?

And so we now forgive, not because others deserve it, but because we’ve been forgiven ourselves. We don’t forgive because we think that the other person will change their ways; we forgive because we have been the recipients of grace.

Who knows what God will do in the life of the other person. It may be what God uses to bring another person to Jesus. Saul was closer to true repentance after David showed him forgiveness than at just about any other time in his life. He called David his son; he wept. He admitted that what he had been doing was evil, and he even acknowledged that David was going to be the next king of Israel.

--

On May 21st, 2008, Steven Curtis Chapman, one of the most popular Christian music artists of our time, lost his five year old daughter, Maria, when his teenage son accidentally hit her with the car.

His wife, Mary Beth, described what happened: “The girls had been playing on the playground and -- complete accident. She was (Maria, their five year old), actually excited that he was coming home. And he (the son, Will) is so great with the girls. The just love him. And she was running to see him and, you know, ran, you know, into the path of the car.”

Just ten days before they had celebrated Maria’s fifth birthday.

She was rushed to the hospital, but later died from the injuries of being hit by an SUV.

It is hard to imagine the grief that this family has been through. My heart goes out to them; losing a small child in that way would be so painful. My heart aches especially for Will, who had no intention of hurting his sister. The weight of feeling responsible for the life of someone you love could be more than a person could bear.

Will said, “I started running after the accident, you know, and started just running away from the house. And I remember Caleb (his brother) was the first one to run and kind of just jump on me and hold me. And then Shaoey was right there by him” “To me, you know, that meant a ton... I didn’t really want to be at the house, I just wanted to be away. And I was freaking out.”

Good Morning America reported what happened next:

Chapman, who immediately got into his car to go to the hospital, had the presence of mind to roll down his window and speak to his inconsolable son Will before leaving.

"I really don't remember this," he said about the moments directly following the accident. "It was, actually, Dave -- Uncle Dave that told me. He said, 'You rolled the window down and just, very loudly yelled really... with as much strength as you could muster and just said, 'Will Franklin, your father loves you.'"

from: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5519704&page=1

It was a terrible tragedy.

But I’ve got to tell you, I so admire Steven Curtis Chapman. I want to be a dad like that. Even in the middle of confusion and chaos, he’s calling out to his son, “Your father still loves you!” I can’t imagine what a gift it must have been to hear that voice say those words.

My hope for you this morning is that you can hear the Father’s voice calling out those words. Even when we have been responsible for hurting His other children, we can hear the voice of the Father call out through the window: “Your Father still loves you. Your Father forgives you.”

And that’s why we forgive others.

1 Samuel 21:1-22:23 - Survival Mode

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:33:38 EST

I have spent the last 12 years in inner-city, prison, and urban ministry, and I cannot begin to tell you how many people that I’ve met that I would describe as being in “survival mode.”

And one of the chief characteristics of a person in survival mode is that they will do just about anything in an attempt to keep themselves afloat. Another word for it could be called self-preservation.

But I would contend that all kinds of things, not just financial concerns, can send a person into survival mode. It could be struggles at work, marriage difficulties, being bullied at school, experiencing abuse, or just grabbing at straws to find the solution to a difficult problem - any of those things can send us into self-preservation.

Now, today we are in the 20th week of our study through the books of 1 & 2 Samuel. In the passage that we are going to be studying today, we are going to find David in survival mode; he feels like he’s been backed into a corner.

This is David, who will become the greatest king in the history of Israel. This is the guy whom God calls a man after God’s own heart. But in the chapter we are looking at today, we are going to find him doing anything he can in order to keep himself afloat.

He is a man after God’s own heart, but he is also very human. And what he is struggling with in the passage today is something that I’d wager 99% of us wrestle with from time to time.

Let me give you a little background about what’s happened so far. David has been anointed the next king of Israel; he’s displayed great faith by killing Goliath; he even became the personal worship pastor for King Saul. He has been honest and faithful to Saul.

But, Saul doesn’t like it that the Lord is with David. He doesn’t like it that his son, Jonathan, has become David’s best friend. And he has a sneaking suspicion that David is going to be the next king of Israel.

So even though David has been brave and honest and loyal to the crown, he finds himself on the run. Saul and his men are coming after him. David is running out of options; he doesn’t have very many places to turn.

And so David, in an effort of self-preservation, starts using deception with God’s people. Let’s take a look. Why don’t you turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 21? (1-2)

“1 David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. “Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?” 2 “The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later.””

Ahimelech was a priest, and the town of Nob was where the Tabernacle was set up at this time. In other words, David went to the house of God. He went to a place of worship.

Ahimelech sees David, and his knees start knocking. He’s trembling. We don’t know why exactly; my guess is that King Saul has already sent word out everywhere that David is a wanted man.

And the first thing that comes out of David’s mouth is a lie. He says, “Oh, it’s a top-secret mission. This is a classified covert op.”

David goes to church and then lies to the pastor.

But I don’t think that David is alone in this. This is something that people do all of the time. We have enough sense to know that when we are in trouble, we will go to the house of God, to a place of worship.

But, in an attempt to survive, or make ends meet, or look okay in front of everyone else, we act like we’ve got it all together, even though it may be obvious to others that we don’t.

Ahimelech is onto something. He’s asking David why he’s alone, why no one is with him. It doesn’t add up.

But instead of coming clean, and just telling Ahimelech what was going on, and how he was at the end of his rope, and how he needed help, he lied. He made it sound much better than it really was. He was on an urgent mission from the king.

He was deflecting any probing into what the real situation was. He didn’t want Ahimelech to know.

Maybe you’ve come to church this morning in a similar frame of mind. Maybe you think that if you spin the story in the right way, or deflect questions away from yourself, no one will know that you are struggling. But that type of veneer is usually pretty easy to see through. The more time you spend with someone who is covering their tracks, trying to appear together, the more obvious it becomes that they are really struggling inside.

That certainly was the case for David. His story may have been more believable if the next words didn’t come out of his mouth. Take a look (3-6):

“3 “Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”
4 “We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.”
5 “Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when they are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”
6 Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread.”

David is on a top secret mission, but he doesn’t have any food? The story doesn’t really add up.

And yet, God provides for him. That’s part of the significance of the Bread of the Presence; it represented God’s provision. And even in David’s moment of deception, God is still there, behind the scenes, providing for him.

Now, this bread was normally reserved for the priests, but exceptions could be made to show compassion to someone. That’s exactly the case here.

Something amazing to me is how Jesus refers back to this story in Luke 6. Jesus and His disciples had been walking through a field on the Sabbath, plucking the grain and eating it. The Pharisees were all over Jesus for it, saying that He was breaking the Sabbath.

But Jesus appealed to this story from 1 Samuel 21, when David and his men ate this bread. David, the rightful king of Israel, with his band of followers, were on the move, waiting for his kingship to come.

Jesus was making the point, that He too, had been anointed King. He and His group of followers, the disciples, were waiting for His kingdom to come. Because He was the true King, He was Lord over the Sabbath.

Now, Jesus doesn’t refer to David’s deception here; that wasn’t His point. But every time we read a story of David, we should remember how his life points us beyond himself to the person of Jesus.

But let’s keep following the story at hand. Go to verses 8-9:

“8 David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!”
9 “I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah,” the priest replied. “It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.” “There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!””

David didn’t have food, and these verses tell us that he didn’t have a sword, either. But oftentimes, the Tabernacle was where war trophies that had been dedicated to the Lord would be kept. And it just so happens that Ahimelech has the very sword that David had used to cut off Goliath’s head. It was Goliath’s own sword. It was perfect.

So we see here that David visits Nob, he visits the house of the Lord, and he leaves with what he came for. He didn’t have to answer too many questions. He didn’t have to be honest with someone else about what was going on. He got the food he wanted. He got the weapon he wanted. But he never receiving the healing he needed.

David is hurting. The last chapter we saw him just weeping. He is in desperate need of God’s touch here, but he thinks that he can figure his problems out on his own, by his own ingenuity and design.

Maybe you are in a similar spot today. Maybe you’ve been avoiding questions, honest conversation, transparent interaction with others in this place of worship. If you do that, you need to realize that you may leave here with what you came to get, but not with what you needed to receive.

You can come here and leave with the food that you want, but keep leaving without the Savior that you need. Don’t think that because you have dawned the doors of a church this morning that you are saved. Jesus is the ultimate need of each and every person. Do you know Him?

You may come here and leave with the boost that you wanted, but without the healing that you needed. But that’s painful; that takes time, and that requires honesty and humility in front of others who will walk with you through the pain of whatever circumstance you may be dealing with.

--

I skipped over a verse a moment ago. Let’s go back to verse 7:

“7 Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the Lord.”

David is deceptive. And then, he is compromised. Doeg the Edomite is there. My wife likes to call him Doug! However you pronounce his name, he works for Saul. And he just so happens to overhear this exchange between David and Ahimelech.

David gets away just fine, but he ends up hurting everyone around him. In chapter 22, verses 9 & 10, Doeg shares everything he knows with Saul. He says, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, and he inquired of the LORD for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

In chapter 22, verses 18 & 19, Saul orders Doeg to kill Ahimelech and all the other priests at Nob. He killed 85 priests, but he didn’t stop there. He even killed the women and children who lived in that town.

But David has moved on from deception with God’s people to defection from God’s people. Go to 1 Samuel 21:10.

“10 So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath.”

Did you catch that? David just went to Gath?

Of all places, David goes there? Gath is the town that Goliath was from. He had recently killed Goliath on the battlefield, and then cut off his head. And now he waltzes into town with Goliath’s sword?

This is just a recipe for disaster. But again, David needs help, and he knows it. But his problem is thinking that he can fix his situation on his own. He’s grabbing at straws. So after going to church and lying to the pastor, he now walks straight into the lion’s den to rub shoulders with God’s enemies. He is looking for answers to his problems outside of the bounds of God’s design.

In David’s mind, he must have thought that perhaps they would honor his presence, and they’d be happy that one of Saul’s commanders had defected over to their side.

But not every Philistine felt that way. In fact, most didn’t. Take a look at verses 11-12:

“11 But the officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. “Isn’t this David, the king of the land?” they asked. “Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing,
   ‘Saul has killed his thousands,?      and David his ten thousands’?”
12 David heard these comments and was very afraid of what King Achish of Gath might do to him.”

It’s at about this point that David realizes that defecting from God’s people probably was not the best idea. The problem is, once you go over to the other side, you can’t just walk away, no harm, no foul.

That’s not how it works. The enemy wants to keep you there.

When I used to work in prison ministry, it was such a big deal for guys who came to faith in Jesus to walk away from the gangs. You don’t just send in a memo with your two weeks notice. You can’t just walk away without consequences.

Ask someone who is struggling with addictions to drugs, alcohol, or pornography how easy it is for them to walk away. It’s not!

Maybe there’s a person in the church that you have conflict with. Maybe you feel like you’ve got problems that the church can’t help. Maybe you have considered defecting from God’s people, maybe you’ve been tempted to just leave the church, leave the whole thing behind you. Maybe you are looking for answers to your problems outside of God’s design. But before you do, take a look at David in Gath.

He went there, hoping to find refuge from Saul, thinking that this was the answer to his problems. According to his calculations, they would receive him with open arms, they would be happy that he came, and he would be safe there. But he wasn’t! And he didn’t realize it until he was in too deep to get out.

So he resorts to madness. Look at verses 13-15:

“13 So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard. 14 Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? 15 We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?””

You would think that at this point, David would quit relying on his own ingenuity. But he still was bent on self-preservation. So he starts acting like a nutjob, a lunatic, a whacko, a madman, a slobbering fool.

David defected from God’s people in hopes to get away from his problems, but he ended up with a bigger problem. Many people have done the same. If you are considering that same course, you need to realize that you may start out trying to get away from one problem or enemy only to find yourself in the clutches of another, more serious one.

But again, in this passage, we see the goodness of God, even in the foolishness of David. The king says, “Don’t you think we have enough loose screws around here? Get this fruitcake out of my face!” And David is released.

Go to 1 Samuel 22:1, “David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.”

David runs to this cave called Adullam, and he hides there.

This is a breaking point for him. He is hanging out in a cave. He is totally dejected. He is at the end of his rope.

We know that this is the case because David wrote several Psalms at this point in his life. Let me read a couple of verses that he penned during this time:

Psalm 142:4-6, “Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. I cry to you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’ Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me!”

Psalm 56:8, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.”

Psalm 57:4, “My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts.”

It is in this cave that David comes to his wits end. He can’t handle it anymore. He can’t do it by himself. He can’t figure out the answers. He realizes that this whole self-preservation thing doesn’t work.

Deception with God’s people doesn’t work. He got what he wanted, but he didn’t get what he needed.

Defection from God’s people doesn’t work. He got away from one problem, but ended up with a bigger one.

He can’t do it. He doesn’t know what to do. And that’s kind of the point: He doesn’t do anything. Instead of grasping at straws, trying to figure out how to deal with his problems, he cries out to God, and this unlikely cave ends up being a new beginning for David.

Because it is there that David learns that the Lord wants to use his dejection for God’s people.

Take another look at 1 Samuel 22:1-2.

“1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.”

First, his family joins him there, probably because they are afraid of what Saul might do to them. But then, verse two says that all kinds of other people joined him. Everyone who was in distress. Everyone who was in debt. Everyone who was bitter in soul. Four hundred people gathered to David in that cave, and he became their captain.

Who would be better to lead a company of broken people than one who knew from experience what brokenness really was? Who could better understand those who were bitter in soul than a man who fought away bitterness toward King Saul throughout the entire period while Saul chased him for no reason?

See, at the cave of Adullam, David finally embraced his inability to change the situation, or fix his own problems. He was at the end of his rope, dejected, having nothing to offer.

And then God brings along 400 other dejected people that needed someone to shepherd them with a tender hand.

We need to realize that though we may want to be self-sufficient, and appear put together in front of others, and find our own way, it is only through our honesty about our own brokenness that we can truly minister to the broken.

The experiences of brokenness in your life are not meant to be wasted. As Paul describes it in 2 Cor. 1:4, God comforts us in all our afflictions so that we may be able to comfort those who are experiencing affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves were comforted by God.

That’s a tongue-twister, but the point is that we are meant to help others who are struggling in the same way that God helped us when we were struggling.

I think that David got it. Here’s why I think so: He wrote Psalm 34 about this same time. And verses 8-11 seem to show that David has moved from a person who feels distressed and dejected to one who has tasted God’s goodness and wants others to taste it too. I can picture him saying these words to the other men in the cave.

He writes:

“8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!?    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!?9 Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,?   for those who fear him have no lack!?10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;?   but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
11 Come, O children, listen to me;?    I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”

At Adullam, David uses his brokenness as a platform of ministry to the broken. He doesn’t deny it, or act like he’s got it all together, because it’s pretty obvious to everyone if you’re living in a cave, you don’t! He doesn’t have to pretend that he’s got it all figured out. That’s okay with these 400. In fact, that’s what draws them! And these distressed, indebted, and embittered men will soon become David’s mighty men of valor.

You see, it is when we are broken, dejected, and forsaken that we are most like Jesus. It was Jesus who quoted David’s words from Psalm 22 when He cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was despised and rejected by men. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

And I think it’s high time that the church as a whole, and Wellspring in particular, embrace these truths.

We can either be the kind of church where everyone looks perfect, and everyone greets everyone else with a shiny smile and says, “everything’s under control,” even when it isn’t. Or, we can say, “I feel really God-forsaken right now. I really need a friend.”

We can be the kind of church where everyone needs to look a certain way, and never shows any weakness, or, we can be an Adullam, a haven for distressed, indebted, and embittered people who are still learning what it means to taste God’s goodness in the midst of difficult circumstances.

This morning, we are going to do something a little different. I want to invite you forward if you are feeling dejected or forsaken, distressed or broken, and I’d like to pray for you. Let’s quit the show and be honest with one another. Let us know what that you are struggling. There is nothing to be ashamed of. All of us need prayer.

Ben is going to lead us in song right now, and I just want to invite you to come forward if you’d like prayer. Please come, and kneel at the altar, and we will pray for you.

1 Samuel 20:1-42 - Friendship with Jesus

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:28:07 EST

Goodbyes have always been difficult for me. When you get right down to it, I’m not very tough, and I hate having to say goodbye to people that I love.

Probably one of the toughest goodbyes for me that I can remember is back when my daughter, Abigail, was just a little baby. Patrick wasn’t born yet. Josh was a toddler. And I left Kate with the kids to travel to Africa with the Jesus Film movement.

I was going to be gone for two weeks. For some of you, that’s no big deal. You and your spouse may be apart from each other often because of work. But that wasn’t our experience. After we got married, we had not been apart from each other for more than a few days. But even on those rare occasions when we were apart, we would talk on the phone a couple of times every day.

This was going to be different. We we under the impression when I left that we weren’t going to be able to communicate the entire time I was in Africa. We ended up finding a way to email each other, but we didn’t know that would be an option when I left.

And since I wouldn’t be able to call, and tell the kids goodnight before bed, every night for a week before I left, I read stories to the children on video tape so Kate could show it to the kids every night while I was gone before they would go to bed.

And if you don’t know me real well, I’m the kind of guy who entertains morbid thoughts way too often. I’m thinking, “I’m probably going to go over there and die, leaving my young wife with two babies to take care of.”

So, in my morbidity, I’m having these thoughts in my head that the last memory my kids are going to have of me is me reading these bedtime stories to them on videotape.

Now this was seven and a half years ago, but I can vividly remember boarding the plane. I had a window seat, and I could see through the window my wife and children standing there in the airport watching my plane pull away from the gate.

It was all that I could do to hold it together. I was journaling and praying, asking God to take care of my family while I was away. I’m sure that I was praying that I wouldn’t start crying uncontrollably in front of everyone else on the plane. If anyone would have looked at my cross-eyed, I’m sure that I would have just burst into tears.

I hate saying goodbye to people that I love.

So it’s not hard for me to identify, at least a little bit, with how David was feeling in the passage that we just read from 1 Samuel 20, when David and Jonathan were saying their goodbyes. In verse 41, it says that David fell on his face, and they kissed each other, and wept with one another, David weeping the most.

Some of you guys are raising your eyebrows about the kissing thing, but that’s just a cultural deal. There are still cultures today where you greet someone by kissing them on both sides of the cheek. Where I was in Africa, guys who were just friends would hold hands together while walking down the street. I’m thinking, “Man, can we just do a fist bump?”

But that’s beside the point.

The souls of these two men were knitted together. And we see in this passage one of the most beautiful pictures of friendship in the entire Bible. When they were forced to separate, it was like someone was ripping out their hearts. David was the one most broken up about it.

Jonathan’s name means, “gift of God.” That’s exactly what he was in the life David. He was a gift. David could barely stand the thought that he would have to go on with life apart from this gift, Jonathan.

This morning, I’d like to take a closer look at this friendship, because, first of all, it will help us see what a joy a relationship like this can be. Friendship is a gift of God. And I also think this has direct bearings on our relationship with Jesus.

But really, the place to start is back in chapter 18. If you remember from last week, the first verse of chapter 18 tells us that Jonathan loved David as his own soul. In chapter 18, verse 3, it says that Jonathan made a covenant with David.

So these guys weren’t just drinking buddies; their friendship went well beyond that. Their friendship was grounded in a covenant relationship. And notice who is taking the initiative here; it’s not David. It’s Jonathan. It’s Jonathan who is taking the lead in solidifying this friendship.

Now, this theme of their friendship as a covenant runs all the way through chapter 20 as well. When David is trying to get Jonathan to find out what’s going on with King Saul, he reminds Jonathan in verse 8 that “you, Jonathan, have brought me into a covenant of the LORD with you.”

And then, in verses 14-17, Jonathan refers back to this covenant relationship. Let’s reread those verses:

“14 If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the LORD, that I may not die; 15 and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth." 16 And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the LORD take vengeance on David’s enemies." 17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.”

Again, it says that that Jonathan made a covenant with David.

Something else in this passage is interesting to note. It’s the term “steadfast love.” It’s used in verses 14 & 15. The Hebrew word is “hesed.” It’s a special type of love, which implies not only affection, but also commitment. That’s why my Bible uses two English words - “steadfast love” - to translate this one Hebrew word, “hesed.”

You see, a covenant is more than some pact you made with your grade school buddies when you spit and shake on it. You can’t have your fingers crossed behind your back when you enter into a covenant. It’s a solemn commitment that guarantees certain promises.

It’s a big deal. That’s why Jonathan can say in verse 23, “The LORD is between you and me forever.” He says it again in verse 42. It’s how the chapter ends, “Go in peace, because we have sworn, both of us, in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’”

Jonathan was able to extend a covenant-type of love toward David, I believe, because he had experienced God’s covenantal love towards him.

And I think that in this chapter, Jonathan gives us a picture of what God has done for us.

Because God has also taken the initiative to make a covenant of grace with us. The condition of that covenant is that we must have faith. But what’s so cool is that in this covenant with us, God also ensured that it would be possible for us to receive these benefits by giving His children the gift of faith.

Yet there’s even more going on in this chapter than a friendship grounded in covenant. It’s a friendship sealed by sacrifice.

Again, I think that the only way that Jonathan was able to love David the way he did is because he knew what it was to be loved by God.

This friendship makes sense in one way. Both of these guys loved God. Both of these guys were mighty warriors. Yet at the same time, this friendship between David and Jonathan was really unusual.

Jonathan’s dad is Saul, the king of Israel. And the way a monarchy works, the oldest son is supposed to be the next king. Yet, here’s David hanging around. Everybody loves him. God is clearly with Him. And Saul is beginning to suspect that David is going to be the next king of Israel.

That’s why Saul wants David killed. At the beginning of the chapter, Jonathan, bless his soul, can’t see why Saul would want David dead. He is so pure-hearted in their relationship that the thought that David could end up ruling the nation instead of him doesn’t in the least make him feel the need to eliminate David from the scene.

He assumes the same from his father, but he’s wrong. David, on the other hand, has been dodging so many spears by this point that he knows Saul is out for blood; he just doesn’t know why.

So David asks his best friend to do a little reconnaissance work: “I’m going to skip dinner the next few nights, and let’s just see how your dad responds. If he’s angry, then you know he’s out to get me. If it doesn’t bother him, I’ve got it all wrong.”

So dinnertime arrives. David misses one night, no big deal. David is gone a second night; Saul begins to ask questions. When Jonathan gives Saul the line that David fed him, verses 30-31 tell us, “Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, ‘You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established.’”

The way that Saul expresses himself here is really interesting. He tells Jonathan that as long as David lives, Jonathan’s kingdom will not be established. But Jonathan was not seeking the kingdom of this world, or what this world had to offer. He was seeking the kingdom of our God, who reigns forever and ever.

And because he was seeking another kingdom, Jonathan was able to empty himself. In chapter 18, verse 4, he had already given David his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt. He gave away those things symbolic of his right to the throne, and interceded for David in front of his father.

This is a huge sacrifice! He was giving his throne away.

Again, I think that Jonathan gives us a picture of what Christ has done for us. As Philippians 2:7 puts it, Jesus emptied Himself for us. He was born in the likeness of men. He left His kingly throne. He gave that away, even sacrificing His own life on a cross, out of His great love for us. Now He continues to intercede for us with our Father.

What a sacrifice! What a gift.

And David knew what a gift he had in his friend, Jonathan.

But at dinner that night, things didn’t turn out the way that Jonathan had hoped. Saul threw his spear at Jonathan, but first he said those hurtful words. Jonathan left. He was angry, hurt, disappointed. And he was sad to have to say goodbye to his best friend the next day.

But he went out that morning anyway.

There was no guarantee that the two of them would be able to talk if Saul has people snooping around, so the two of them arranged a meeting point. Jonathan was supposed to go out shooting the bow and arrow. They agree on a little code. If Jonathan tells the boy who is fetching his arrows that he thinks it’s further off, that’s David’s cue to run. Saul is after him. But if he tells the boy, “the arrow is closer in,” then David knows that he’s welcome back in Saul’s presence.

He shot the arrow. He said the code: “The arrow is beyond you.” And both Jonathan and David knew that this may be the last time they would see each other for a long time.

So they hugged each other. And they wept together.

Later, even while his own father was hunting David down as a criminal, Jonathan continued to seek out David and offer David his support. 1 Samuel 23:15-16 says, “David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.”

What a beautiful portrait of friendship!

In John 15:15, Jesus said, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

I’m sure that many of you have heard that old song, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Maybe you have never really understood that song, but there is such a thing as a friendship with Jesus, grounded in God’s covenant, sealed by His sacrifice. It is initiated by God, bought by Christ’s blood.

And there is perhaps no better expression of this friendship that we have with Jesus than in sharing in the Lord’s Supper together. So we are going to do that today.

Because in the Lord’s Supper, God’s covenant of grace with us is affirmed and remembered through the sacrifice of God’s Son.

It was on the same night when Jesus told His disciples that He no longer called them servants, but now called them friends - it was on that same night when they shared this meal together. And it’s not a coincidence that the Lord’s Supper is also referred to as communion. Because now we have a friend - just like David did - that shows us His steadfast, sacrificial, covenantal love always. But unlike David and Jonathan, there are no tearful goodbyes with Jesus. He is constantly with us, and in communion we are reminded of that.

In communion, we are reminded that Jesus poured out his own life for us. In communion, we are reminded that because Christ emptied Himself for us, we can now empty ourselves for others. In communion, we are reminded that we are not seeking the kingdom of this world, but the Kingdom that is still coming.

And in communion we are reminded that if we have a broken friendship with a brother or sister in Christ, we need to do all that is in our power to make it right.

1 Cor. 11:23-28 says:

“23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

1 Samuel 18:1-19:24 - On The Trail

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:43:33 EST

I have some buddies from college who decided to take a road trip during spring break one year. They decided beforehand that they didn’t want to lolly gag at every stop and never get to their destination. They only had a limited amount of time, so they decided to push pretty hard, make really good time, not stop very often, and drive through the night.

Anyway, they were taking turns driving, and when it came time for my friend Jason to drive, it was night time. So he took a shift, driving through the night, while all of the other guys slept.

In the morning, when the other guys woke up, one of my buddies asked Jason where they were. Jason wasn’t sure, he was just booking it, you know? Anyway, they started looking at a map, and comparing it to the road signs, and they realized that they weren’t even in the right state!

This was before the days of GPS, all the other guys were asleep, and Jason was so concerned with getting there quickly that he didn’t take adequate time to read the road signs along the way.

Now, they were aware that if they stopped at every scenic overlook, or every historic site, they would never get to where they wanted to go. So they went fast. But they still missed their destination because they weren’t following the signs on the highway or the cues on the map.

These guys improvised, and they had a good time anyway, but I want to point out this morning that we’ve come to a section in our study through 1 Samuel where it would be easy for us to do the same thing. We could either lolly gag at each stop along the way, and never get to the destination, or we could fly through it so fast that we miss the cues on the map.

So I’m going to try to do my best to help us navigate through a series of stories that we have come to in 1 Samuel chapters 18 & 19. If we stop at each point on the map, but don’t follow the trail that they create, we don’t get where we need to go. But if we fly so fast that we don’t even look at the cues along the way, we will end up in the wrong place in our interpretation of this passage.

Make sense?

Now, last week we came to that famous story of David and Goliath.

What we are going to find in these next two chapters is some major upheaval in David’s world. He had to be thinking, “You kill a giant, and your whole life changes.”

Because when we left off last week, King Saul was asking whose son David was. Some of you may be wondering why Saul didn’t recognize David if David used to play the harp for him. I don’t know why. Maybe some time has passed, maybe Saul is so mentally unstable he has forgotten some things, or, in my opinion, it may just be that Saul recognized David, but could not remember who his dad was. The question Saul asks David is, “Who is your father?”

It’s a good question to ask, because pretty soon David becomes his son-in-law, not to mention his son, Jonathan’s, best friend. So, if you are Saul, figuring out what family he came from isn’t a bad idea. Dad’s want to know who their daughter is going to marry and who their son is running around with.

Let’s take a look at the first cue on the map. Open up your Bible to 1 Samuel 18:1-5 (NLT):

“1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”
“3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. 5 And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.”

Immediately these two guys hit it off; they are kindred spirits. We saw in chapter 14 especially that Jonathan was a mighty warrior in his own right; the instant he sees David take down Goliath he knows that this is a dude he can respect.

Verse 5 says that David is successful everywhere he goes; all the people see him rise in status, and it’s a good thing.

But primarily, just note that Jonathan becomes David’s friend. They had an instant connection. Jonathan even gave David his robe and his sword. He’s acknowledging that David, not himself, will be the next king.

Their friendship is amazing; Lord willing, we are going to come back to their friendship next week when we cover chapter 20. But today, let’s not stay at this stop too long.

Let’s keep going. Take a look at verses 6-16:

“6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,
"Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands."
8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?" 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on.
10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. 11 And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David evaded him twice.
12 Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul. 13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David had success in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him. 15 And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.”

This is where things begin to turn south in Saul and David’s relationship. Saul hears these women singing, and he gets jealous that people think David is a better war leader, and he begins to eye David.

David, of course, has no idea what’s going on in the mind of Saul. He’s been nothing but faithful to Saul, so he doesn’t suspect anything. Twice David goes in to play for Saul, and Saul hurls a spear at him. Apparently, David still didn’t think that Saul was after him at this point. He’s just attributing this to the fact that Saul has lost it; he’s a little off his rocker. The whole point of him going in there to play was to help Saul with all of his emotional problems, so David still doesn’t realize that Saul is out to get him in particular.

Now, look again at verse 12. This is interesting. After Saul tries to kill David twice, it says that Saul was afraid of David. You’d think David would be afraid of Saul. But that’s not the case.

And we see how conniving Saul is in his decision to make David a commander. Saul figures that the more battle David sees, the more likely he will become a victim of war.

But again, it says that the Lord is with David, and he has success in all that he does. All of Israel loves him.

Again, we could spend more time at this scenic overlook, but I think it’s time for us to get back in the car and move on to the next stop. Just note before we move on that Saul tries to pin David to the wall.

Go down to verses 20-30:

“20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 Saul thought, "Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." Therefore Saul said to David a second time, "You shall now be my son-in-law." 22 And Saul commanded his servants, "Speak to David in private and say, 'Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.'" 23 And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, "Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?" 24 And the servants of Saul told him, "Thus and so did David speak." 25 Then Saul said, "Thus shall you say to David, 'The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.'" Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, 27 David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. 28 But when Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, 29 Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually.
30 Then the princes of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.”

Even though Saul had promised anyone who would kill Goliath his own daughter in marriage, it wasn’t a given that he was going to hold up his end of the deal. But Saul learns that his daughter loves David. And when Saul thinks that this could work to his advantage to trip David up, he agrees to it.

But there are strings attached.

“If you want to marry my daughter, Michal, all you’ve got to do is bring back proof that you’ve killed 100 Philistines.” Again, Saul is thinking, “Surely the odds of David losing against one of those Philistines is going to catch up to him.” But after circumcising 100 guys, David thinks, “Why stop there?,” and he doubles Saul’s request.

Saul has no choice at this point but to give David his daughter in marriage. So Michal becomes David’s wife. That’s a cue on this map we need to take note of.

It seems like everything that Saul tries to do to bring David down fails. In fact, it seems like the harder that Saul tries to snare David, the more it helps him.

He’s throwing spears at David, but David’s like the most nimble worship pastor ever. I wonder what would happen if we threw darts at Ben when he plays the guitar for us! Anyway, it doesn’t work.

So he sets David up as a commander at the front of the battle lines where David is supposed to see some serious action and die on the battlefield. Instead, his fame just grows from all of his conquests.

So Saul thinks, “I know. I’ll give him my daughter, but I’ll make him battle a hundred Philistines first.” David doesn’t feel like a hundred is sufficient, so he comes back with 200.

It doesn’t work!

And I’m sure that for Saul, the worst part of it all is that everyone thinks David is the bees knees: Jonathan honors him, Michal loves him, the people adore him, and the Lord is with him.

That’s the message of chapter 18: God is clearly prospering David in everything that David does.

But let’s not stop here too long, because we still aren’t at our destination. Take a look at chapter 19:1-7:

“1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. 2 And Jonathan told David, "Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you." 4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, "Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5 For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?" 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, "As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death." 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.”

Finally, Saul tells people his real intentions toward David. But remember, God has already given David great favor with Saul’s son, Jonathan. These guys are best friends. So Jonathan protects David. He pulls his dad aside, and reminds him not to do anything stupid. He’s able to talk some sense into his dad, and for the moment, Saul lets up.

That’s pretty straightforward, so let’s keep going. Go to verses 8-10:

“8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. 9 Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.”

Maybe you are beginning to see why I thought that it was important for us to take chapters 18 & 19 together. A pattern is beginning to emerge. Again, Saul tries to pin David to the wall. This time, there’s no question about Saul’s motives. He can’t plead insanity this time around.

But let’s not linger here. Skip to verses 11-17:

“11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, "If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed." 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick." 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him." 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?" And Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'"”

The pattern continues. In chapter 18, Jonathan becomes David’s friend, Saul tries to pin David to the wall, and Michal becomes David’s wife.

Now in chapter 19, Jonathan protects David, Saul tries to pin David to the wall, and now we see that Michal protects David.

Now, Michal is an interesting gal. She’s kind of a mixed bag. Why does she have idols, and why does she tell Saul that David was going to kill her if she didn’t help him? That just made matters worse. I don’t know. But she does love David, and she does help him escape.

And, by the description given in this passage, I’m guessing that Michal must have snuck out past her curfew a lot as a kid, because she knows how to make the bed look exactly like David is still laying in it. She’s even got the goat hair. It was quite a disguise.

Anyway, when Saul’s men come to their house, she tells them, as Eugene Peterson put it, that David was too sick to come out to be murdered. So the guys report back to Saul, but the fact that David is “sick” doesn’t bother him at all. He’s more than happy to kill David regardless.

So they go back, and they find that the whole thing was just ruse. Saul is mad about it. This is the second time one of his children have interceded for David.

But put yourself in David’s shoes. He’s just become an outlaw. He’s a man on the run, but real kicker is that he hasn’t even done anything wrong. It was at this time that he wrote the words of Psalm 59, “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.”

David runs to a place where he hopes to be safe. He runs to the prophet Samuel. Take a look at verses 18-24:

“18 Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah." 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" And one said, "Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah." 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"”

Did you catch what just happened here? It’s pretty crazy. David is on the run. Saul sends some guys who are supposed to arrest David, but when they get to Samuel, they start prophesying instead. This happens three times.

We don’t know exactly what this prophesying was; we just know that these men were overcome by the Spirit of God and were unable to carry out their plans to arrest David. Saul must have been thinking that the only way to get a job done right is to do it yourself, and so he sets out after David.

Now, there is a pattern that develops between these two chapters, and we have already made note of that. But there is also a pattern that is developing within chapter 19. First Jonathan protects David. Then Michal protects David. And then David runs to Samuel. And just when you think that Samuel is going to protect David as well, God breaks into the scene and does it all by Himself!

Before Saul even gets to Samuel, the Spirit of God came upon Saul so that he prophesied. This prophesying is not recorded in a positive way. This is not the same thing that Paul writes about in 1 Cor. 14:1, where he says, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” That’s a whole different ball of wax.

What’s happening here in 1 Samuel 19 is God overwhelming Saul with his power. It’s humiliating. He’s naked, and he’s incapacitated for a full day. We have no idea what he was prophesying about, but I can only imagine what God was making Saul say.

It could have been something about how David is going to be the next king of Israel, or how David was a man after God’s own heart, or how God had ripped the kingdom away from Saul and was going to give it to someone better than he. He may very well have been foretelling his own demise.

But whatever it was that was occupying Saul for a full day, David is able to escape.

By looking at each story, each cue on the map, and following the trail that they create, we see that the clear teaching of chapter 18 is that God propers David in everything he does, and the clear teaching of chapter 19 is that God protects David everywhere he goes.

But, how does that affect me, because I’m not David? And how does that affect you, because you’re not David either? You see, the tricky thing in applying a passage like this is that God has not called you or me to be the king of Israel, or determined that the Savior or the world would come through our lineage.

So we can’t just claim that our lives are going to be pizza and ice cream all the time. We are not promised prosperity and protection in terms of wealth or health, not in this life. Even David, in these chapters, still has to deal with Saul chasing him.

So how does this apply to us?

Well, I think that Dale Davis is on the right track when he writes, “I can be confident that God will keep me until whatever He has ordained for me to be or to do is accomplished” (1 Samuel, 202).

You see, God has a plan for you. I don’t know what that plan is, and I don’t know how much time He has given to any one of us. But as He told the exiles through Jeremiah the prophet in chapter 29, verse 11, He does know. He said, “For I know the plans I have for you - plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

I think that the application of these two chapters about David for us is, first of all, to be encouraged. It ought to encourage us to know that regardless of who may be chasing us down, hurling darts at us, prowling around, waiting to pounce on us, God will keep us until we have finished everything He has for us on this earth.

In a sense, no life is cut short. He orders our steps. He knows the number of our days. So be encouraged.

Second, these stories about David, these cues on this map, should lead us to live without fear.

Jesus taught this very thing in Matthew 10:28-31:

“28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

How cool is that? Jesus says that you have value. And Jesus says that you can live without fear from others, because not even a sparrow dies apart from our Father’s permission.

You know, in just a short time, David would go on to write Psalm 56. In verse 11, David puts it like this, “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

But you may thinking, “Well, for one thing, they could kill me.” I suppose that could be the case if you have fulfilled everything that God has you on this earth for.

That may be a scary thought to many of you. But it doesn’t have to be, especially if we know Jesus.

Flip to 1 Peter chapter 1. Take a look with me at verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

If you truly know Jesus, God has caused you to be born again to a living hope in the living Savior!

And if you don’t know Jesus, He says, “Come to Me.” He’s the only Savior. Jesus’ death was substitutionary; He died for our sin, in our place. He tells us to repent, to turn away from our sin, and to put our faith in Him. So if you’ve never done that, don’t wait another day. Tomorrow you may not have that opportunity.

Now check out verse 4. It says that we have been born again “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” Although we can’t just take the truth that God was prospering David in 1 Samuel 18 and apply that to us in this life, it certainly applies when we are speaking of eternity. There is an inheritance of infinite riches in Christ awaiting all who have been born again to this living hope! In other words, 1 Peter 1:4 teaches that, in eternity, God will prosper us!

But some of you may be thinking, “Well, Mike, that’s great if I make it there. But I’m not so sure that I’m going to make it. I am struggling so much with sin. It’s so hard to follow Jesus. I have trusted Him with my life, but I’m not sure I can hold on.”

If that’s where you are this morning, take a look at verse 5 in 1 Peter 1. Our salvation is not dependent on how well we hold on to Jesus, because He holds on us! Verse 5 says that this inheritance is kept in heaven for us, “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

In eternity, God prospers us! There’s an inheritance waiting for us! And while we struggle through this life, putting our only hope on Christ’s cross, 1 Peter 1:5 teaches that God protects us! Nothing can snatch us out of the Father’s hand! Our salvation is protected, guarded by God, secure to the very end.

We are not David. And we don’t know how the future is going to turn out for us. But God does have a plan for us, and we aren’t going anywhere until that plan is fulfilled.

So be encouraged! Live without fear!

And remember, just as God prospered and protected David in his life, in heaven, God will also prosper us with an inheritance we cannot even begin to comprehend, and on our journey there, He is protecting us in our salvation until that day when we arrive home.

1 Samuel 17:1-58 - Running Toward Giants

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 15:06:59 EST

I guess this morning that it’s time for true confessions. I have been watching old episodes of Deadliest Warrior on Netflix. It’s a TV show where they take warriors from different times and places, and try to scientifically prove who would win in a battle if they ever faced each other. So, they’ll take an Apache Warrior, and put him up against a Gladiator, or they’ll compare a Spartan soldier with a Ninja, and see who would win.

Ben told me about it, so I’m going to blame him. Honestly, I don’t really care for all of the banter between the guys who are testing the weapons, and the fake blood is a little over the top. I just like to see them compare the weapons when they shoot crossbows into a mannequin, and then find out who the winner is at the end. I generally fast forward through most of it to get to the results.

They plug a bunch of numbers into a computer program, and then they run a simulation of a battle a thousand times to see who would win most often. They don’t really take into account battle techniques; they mainly compare weaponry. So the guy with the most advanced weapons almost always wins.

For instance, they compared a knight in shining armor to a pirate, and the pirate won. Are you kidding me? Pirates don’t even qualify as warriors! But they won because they had guns, and the knights didn’t!

Silly, isn’t it?

Well, today in our study through 1 Samuel, we have come to one of the most famous Bible stories of all time: David and Goliath. If you attended Sunday School more than 3 times as a kid, you probably heard this story. Almost everyone knows this story.

And one of the reasons why it is so famous is because if you were trying to scientifically discover who would win this battle, and you plugged all of the numbers into a computer, it would seem that Goliath would win every single time.

And yet, he didn’t.

And it doesn’t really matter if the producers of the Deadliest Warrior come out with a new episode comparing the two, with the results being that Goliath wins every time. It doesn’t matter because the battle has already taken place, and a shepherd boy with a stick and a sling kicked major bootie against a giant who was trained warrior with over a hundred pounds of weaponry and armor on his body.

Pretty impressive.

And so this true story has captured our imaginations, becoming one of the most familiar and best loved stories in all of Scripture.

But I want to ask you a favor this morning. Try and listen as though you haven’t heard the story a million times, and don’t assume because you have heard it, that you understand the message of this chapter - because many don’t - and don’t assume that you cannot still learn from it.

Why don’t you turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 17:2?

“2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. 3 And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.”

The Deadliest Warrior guys would have a heyday with Goliath. First of all, he’s six cubits and a span. That would make him about 9 feet 6 inches tall. Some people think that he was closer to 6 feet 9 inches, but I’m inlined to think that’s probably closer to Saul’s size. Remember, King Saul was head and shoulders taller than everyone else.

For those of you who doubt these numbers, keep in mind that as late as 1940, a man named Robert Wadlow was measured at 8 feet 11 inches tall. So it’s entirely possible that this dude Goliath was just massive.

Let’s keep going:

“5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him.”

This coat of mail that Goliath wore was made of hundreds of little bronze plates; they looked like fish scales. It says in verse 5 that it weighed five thousand shekels; that’s equivalent to about 125 pounds. He also has a helmet, and armor covering his legs. Verse seven says that his shield-bearer went before him. There were two different kinds of shields that would have been used, and the kind that would require a shield-bearer was a full body sized shield that a person could stand behind. It was like a movable wall. So, in terms of defensive armor, Goliath seemed invincible.

Verse seven also tells us that he had a spear like a weaver’s beam; the head of it weighed six hundred shekels; that’s a good 15 pounds. We haven’t even heard about his sword yet.

This guy is a monster. You don’t want to meet this guy in a dark alley, okay?

Let’s keep reading:

“8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together." 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”

So what Goliath is suggesting here is a representative battle. We will bring out our best guy, and you bring out your best guy, and we’ll fight to the death.

Whichever guy wins, wins for the whole army. Whoever loses, well, his side basically becomes slaves for the other group. That way, a bunch of people don’t have to die.

Goliath is taunting them. He says in verse 10, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day.” And Saul, the guy who is probably the best matchup that Israel could send against Goliath, is shaking in his boots.

Let’s keep reading:

“12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
17 And Jesse said to David his son, "Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. 18 Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them."
19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21 And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.”

Now this had been going on for forty days. That’s well over a month. Twice a day, morning and evening, Goliath was out there, defying Israel and their God.

Meanwhile, David, who had been singing for Saul, apparently wasn’t needed at the battlefront. So he had gone back to work for his father as a shepherd. But forty days go by, and you haven’t heard anything from your sons, and Jesse, as a dad, starts to get worried. So he sends David to bring them some food, and make sure that they’re all okay.

Neither David nor Goliath knew that day when they woke up, just how much their lives were about to change. By the end of the day, Goliath would be in hell, and David would be in the spotlight of a entire nation.

“24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. 25And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel." 26And David said to the men who stood by him, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 27And the people answered him in the same way, "So shall it be done to the man who kills him."
28Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle." 29And David said, "What have I done now? Was it not but a word?" 30And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before.
31When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32And David said to Saul, "Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth." 34But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God." 37And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"”

There is something here that David has that is missing from just about everyone in Israel’s army: faith. David had great faith!

This isn’t some drippy sentimentalism with no object to it. That drives me nuts.

You know, sometimes you’ll hear people who don’t believe in God, who don’t have a relationship with Jesus, but when things are down, they’ll encourage one another by saying things like, “You just gotta have faith.”

But faith is not an end in and of itself. Faith must have an object. You’ve got to have faith in something. So I want to be very clear when I say that David had great faith, it was faith in the Living God.

Now this morning, you may have noticed that this passage doesn’t explicitly mention faith anywhere. It doesn’t say, “David had great faith while the rest of the army cowered in fear.” But this passage does show us very clearly the outworking of faith in a person’s life. In other words, this story about David and Goliath highlights for us the product of faith.

And the first way in which we learn how faith works itself out in the life of a believer is that faith gives us eyes to see.

Look again at verse 24: When the men of Israel saw Goliath, they ran away and they were afraid. In verse 25, they ask, “Have you seen him?” They had been watching too many episodes of the Deadliest Warrior! They saw a 9 foot tall seasoned warrior, with so much armor he looked like an ironclad warship.

That’s all they could see.

You know, just a chapter earlier, in 1 Samuel 16:7, when Samuel was about to anoint the next king of Israel, God had told him, “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

All of the army was looking on the outward appearance of Goliath, and all they could see was an unstoppable warrior.

But that’s not what David saw. Because through the eyes of faith, he could see much more clearly. He starts asking questions, “What’s up with this dude?” Pretty soon soldiers tell him that King Saul has promised anybody who would kill Goliath riches, his own daughter in marriage, and tax-exemption plan for life. Pretty good deal.

David can see what’s going on here. In verse 26, he asks the question, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” There’s that word again: defy.

David could see what was happening here: This wasn’t some playground bully saying “na-na-na-na-boo-boo” to the Israelites.

This was someone who had the audacity to mock the living God. No one else could see it. But it was chapping his hide.

And when he starts making noise about it, his big brother overhears what’s going on. He thinks that he can see David’s motives, but he’s got it all wrong.

Now, I’ve never had the joy of having brothers, but I’m sure that Eliab was frustrated with David. “Why is that pipsqueak coming out here to gawk at people in battle, and why is he bragging like he’s gonna do something about it?” So he mocks David in front of everybody, “Who’d you leave your sheep with, David? Better get back to taking care of the sheep while we men figure this thing out with Goliath.”

David responds, “I’m just asking a question,” and he keeps on talking to the other soldiers about what’s going on. Apparently, he made a loud enough ruckus that Saul caught wind of it.

So Saul has David brought to him. As soon as Saul sees that it’s David, a little guy, he says in verse 33, “you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”

Not only was David the only one who could rightly assess the situation, seeing that God’s honor was being called into question; he was also the only one who could see that God was bigger than any giant, and he was the only one who could see what Goliath really was - an animal that needed to be struck down.

David responded by telling Saul that as a shepherd, whenever a predator took one of the lambs, he’d chase it down, grab it by the beard, and kill it.

Look again at verses 36-37, “‘Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.’ And David said, ‘The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!”

You see, faith gives us eyes to see, and because of his faith, David could see that the Lord was going to strike down Goliath just as He enabled David to strike down a bear and a lion in the past.

It didn’t take a whole lot to convince Saul, not necessarily because Saul had faith, but because Saul didn’t want to have to go out and fight Goliath himself.

So he takes a huge gamble, and decides to send David out. We all know what happens, but let’s read it anyway. Look to verse 38:

“38Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." So David put them off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
41And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field." 45Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand."
48When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.”

Saul tries to give David his armor, but it doesn’t fit. David knows it. And so instead of trying to be somebody he’s not, David tells Saul that he just can’t use that armor. Instead, he goes over to a brook, and picks out five smooth stones and puts them in a pouch.

Now, these stones were probably 2-3 inches in diameter; they weren’t little pebbles. They fit in his sling that he would use when fending predators off from the sheep. That, along with his wooden staff, was all that he took with him to face off with Goliath.

Now I don’t know about you, but when I really visualize the scene, and I picture David approaching Goliath, it’s scary to put myself in David’s shoes. It’s a scary picture. But David was full of faith in the living God. And faith not only gives us eyes to see; faith also gives us courage to act.

While all of Israel’s army held their breath, frozen in fear, David approached the Philistine.

When Goliath saw David, he began to mock him. “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” He cursed David by his gods, and started trash talking.

Some people thrive in that kind of environment, and apparently, David was one of them! Because he didn’t flinch; he didn’t skip a beat. He just responded, “You come to me with all your weapons, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts. Today the LORD is going to deliver you into my hand. I’m going to strike you down and cut off your head. And then the birds are going to eat your rotting carcass. Then all the earth will know that there’s a God in Israel, for the battle is the LORD’s!”

Those words had their desired effect! Can you imagine how angry Goliath was at this point? It’s like David is poking at an angry bear! He’s intentionally provoking him!

Now skip down to verse 48. This part stuns me: “When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.”

You gotta love David. This kid’s got spunk. He’s got some moxie, some chutzpah!

He’s running toward the giant! You see, faith not only gives us eyes to see; it also gives us courage to act!

It only takes one stone; he lets it fly, and it sinks into Goliath’s forehead. Game over. It’s done. Don’t mess with David.

But is that the message of this passage? David’s a stud, and if you mess with him, you better watch out. That’s true. But is that the totality of what this passage teaches us? I don’t think so.

Let’s take it a step further. Yeah, David was a stud. But it seems that this passage also teaches that God is bigger than any giant we will ever face.

Bruce Wilkinson, is his book, The Dream Giver, points out different types of giants. It may be a lack of resources. Maybe the giant that you are facing today is just that, and it seems overwhelming. You may not have enough money to make ends meet. You may not have enough energy to work three jobs and take care of the kids by yourself. You may not have enough wisdom or insight to help a friend who constantly has problems and is looking to you for the answers. You may not have enough people to help you accomplish your dream for some ministry.

But God is bigger than that giant.

Or, it may be that there’s an immovable system in place. How can little old me or you overcome the giant systems of oppression and injustice in our world that have the backing of government and bureaucracy?
But God is bigger than that giant.

The giant in your life may be a person or group that is opposing you for some reason. You may not even know why, but the shadow of that giant follows you day and night and you’re barely able think about anything else.

Again, God is bigger than that giant.

It could be some intimidating circumstance. Maybe you have to pass a test, or go to an interview, or find a new job, or move to a new town and make new friends, or any number of other things. Your giant may be some sort of crushing physical or spiritual burden. Some sort of chronic illness, or ongoing demonic attack.

Maybe you’re battling the giant of cancer, or the giant of addiction, or the giant of lust or temptation.

I don’t know what your giant is today, but we learn from this passage that faith in the living God gives us eyes to see the situation clearly and courage to take decisive action because God is bigger than any of those giants.

Whatever giant you may be facing, you need to realize that.

But again, is that the sum total of what this passage has to teach us? This is where most people stop with the story of David and Goliath. We walk away saying that we need to have more faith to be able to overcome the giants that loom large in our lives because God is even bigger.

By all means, do that. He is bigger, so trust in the living God. Put your faith in Him, and ask Him for eyes to see and courage to act.

Yet, if we stop there, we miss the fundamental message of this passage. Let’s take it even one more step.

Go back to verse 10: “The Philistine said, ‘I defy the ranks of Israel this day.’”

Go to verse 25: “And the men of Israel said, ‘Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel.’”

Look at verse 26: “David said to the men who stood by him, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?’”

Skip down to verse 36: “Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

Look at verse 45: “Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

You see, this story is about more than overcoming giants with faith. This is a story where God’s honor is at stake. This is about His glory, His majesty, His perfections, His power, His name.

All of that is being called into question. All of that is being trampled upon. Goliath is spitting in the face of the Living God, and he’s asking all of Israel, “What are you going to do about it?”

David knows that this is about God’s honor. We know that David can take a lot of personal attack, but he cannot handle somebody smearing God’s name. That’s why I can’t help but think there’s a grin on his face when he’s kneeling at the brook picking out five smooth stones. That’s why David was running toward the battle line. He’s running toward the giant.

David told Goliath before he killed him, why he was about to do it in verses 46 & 47. He says, I’m going to kill you in order “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand."

This has everything to do with God’s honor. Faith gives us eyes to see, and courage to act, but we run toward giants because the glory of God’s name is at stake.

Giants are opportunities for God’s glory to be made known. People look on and think, “Only God could have done that!” And He gets all the glory!

That’s what this story is about. It doesn’t teach us that if we have enough faith, we will always overcome our giants, at least not in the way that we would expect.

In the Bible, Jesus is referred to over and over as the Son of David. And when he walked and lived on this earth, there was another giant making a mockery of God called sin.

God, in His mercy, was passing over sin. He was letting people off of the hook, showing them His love and grace when justice would require that they should be punished for their disobedience.

So the question was being raised, “Is God just?”

And so, as Paul describes it in Romans 3:25, the Son of David, Jesus Christ, died on the cross as satisfaction for God’s wrath against sin, in order to demonstrate God’s righteousness!

Think about this:

In one case, David runs toward the giant Goliath, who is making a mockery of God’s character. In the other case, Jesus takes on the giant of sin, which had been calling God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice into question.

In one case, David lets a stone fly; Goliath dies, he lives, and God’s honor is upheld. In the other case, Jesus lets the guards nail Him to a cross; He dies, we live, and God’s honor is upheld.

I don’t know what giants you are facing in your life this morning. I don’t know the state of your faith, whether you are stout-hearted and fearless, or whether you are shaking and spineless.

But Jesus says that if we have the faith of a mustard seed, just a tiny kernel, we could move mountains (Matt. 17:20). So it’s not about how much faith you may have this morning, but whether you have any faith at all.

Because faith gives us eyes to see that God is bigger. Faith gives us courage to act. And faith enables us to run toward giants for the honor of God’s name, regardless of what the outcome may be.

We don’t run toward giants because faith guarantees that things will always turn out the way we want them to. We run toward giants for the sake of His name.

What about you? Do you run away from the giants in your life, or do you run toward them? Why do you run toward them - for your victory or for His glory?

Let me leave you with a quote from Bruce Wilkinson:

“God wants to be known and honored for who He is. Giants are the primary opportunity to make His power and goodness known to a doubting world. And when He chooses to defeat a Giant through a miracle - that is, an event that cannot be explained any other way than ‘God did that!’ - He receives all the glory....

Now let me ask you this: Do you need to radically revise your beliefs and attitudes about Giants? Are you ready to seek out your biggest Giants and come against them as a Warrior for God’s glory? Are you ready to seem ridiculous, take risks, feel weak and small so that God’s power and goodness will be made clear to all?

If you have been moving away from what He wants for you instead of toward it, tell God that you won’t ask Him to remove your Giants anymore. Instead, you will advance toward every Giant” (The Dream Giver, 143).

1 Samuel 16:13-23 - Mercy Music

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 15:06:38 EST

You never know how blessed you are to have someone in your life until you have to experience life without them. One of the biggest blessings to Wellspring has been the addition of the Downey family.

When we first started out, we didn’t have anyone who could play a guitar and sing and lead us in music and worship. So every week, we had different people come in who would lead us. That was nerve-wracking to say the least. It was kind of a crapshoot every week. Nobody knew what the music would be like.

Some weeks we were singing in Spanish. Some weeks we were singing in English. Sometimes it was a guy leading new songs with a guitar; at other times we were singing old hymns on the piano. One time we even had a guy turn a bucket upside-down to use it as a makeshift drum. It was pretty good!

Every week was a new adventure here at Wellspring. We weren’t exactly polished! Anyway, Ben came along. We met him at the Starbucks up the street. We got together a few times, and pretty soon, Ben and Becca were committed to Wellspring. Becca leaked some information to me that Ben had a great singing voice, and before you could say “Jack Robinson,” I had approached him about leading music at our church!

He really didn’t know how to play guitar, but picked it up in no time, and has been consistently leading us now for about four years.

We got really used to having Ben around, and it was such a blessing to all of us. In fact, we had become so used to having him around that when we learned a couple of years ago that Ben was going to be out of town because of work for an eight week stretch, we needed to find someone who could step in and lead well while Ben was going to be gone.

I have a friend that used to play at another church whose name is Brad. We were able to get Brad to come in and lead us during that period, and he did a wonderful job. We were so blessed to have him. Nobody wanted to go through another eight week stretch of how things used to be!

One of the reasons that Brad was available was because he had recently left staff at the church where he had been the worship pastor in order to start a new ministry called Mercy Music.

Mercy Music is a ministry that does missionary-type work through music; they call themselves musicianaries. I love it.

The tag-line on Brad’s website says, “bringing comfort and encouragement to the suffering through the gift of music.” Brad and those who work with him bring music to people in hospitals, hospice care, and into homes.

Let me just read a paragraph from their website for you: “Live music brings a sense of peace...it can reduce situational anxiety, facilitate communication and create a healing environment that encourages meaningful emotional expression. Music can create an atmosphere of beauty, peace, and reverence for participants in therapeutic settings. Live music can help restore the human spirit. Mercy Music comes with a message of hope into residential treatment facilities, drug and alcohol rehab programs and correctional facilities.”

See, Brad knows that God can use music and the arts to bring comfort and peace to someone who is on their deathbed, or to a child suffering with HIV, or to a person going through the pains of withdrawal from an addiction.

But Brad has not stumbled on anything new. In fact, we are going to find in the passage that we’ve come to in our study through 1 Samuel that the ministry of music has been around for literally thousands of years.

Why don’t you open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 16?

Now, if you remember from last week, we were just introduced to this young guy David, who was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel. The problem was, there already was a king in place.
His name is Saul. Even more, Saul is apparently in good health and has no plans to retire.

So the question arises: How is God going to move David from sheepherding to the throne room now that he has been anointed king?

The answer to that question is found in the passage that we’ve come to, 1 Samuel 16:13-23. Let’s read it together:

“13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, "Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well." 17 So Saul said to his servants, "Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me." 18 One of the young men answered, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him." 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son, who is with the sheep." 20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight." 23 And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.”

Now you can’t help but notice the sovereignty of God at work in this whole scenario. If you just think about the situation from a purely human level, what are the odds that David, a shepherd, would be called to serve in the court of the king that he would succeed?

Those odds can’t be very high. And yet, we see again in Scripture that nothing is outside of God’s control. He has every detail worked out in His plan.

David was a young shepherd who liked to strum on the harp. He enjoyed it. Who would have guessed that God could take that, and use it to bring about amazing things in the life of David?

Prior to this point, David was living life in total obscurity, but now he’s being invited into the king’s court, and by the end of the next chapter, he’s going to be thrust into the spotlight as a national hero. It’s amazing how God can use anything in our past, any gift He’s given us, any experience that we’ve had, for His future plans in our lives. Nothing is wasted.

And we see that loud and clear in this passage today. God is sovereign over history. And in this case, His plan includes putting David on the throne of Israel.

Take another look at verses 13 & 14. There is a huge contrast being made here. In verse 13, it says that the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. But in verse 14, it says that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.

We are meant to notice the contrast between those two lines. God is taking decisive action here. David is His man, and Saul is not.

Now, I realize that this can cause a lot of confusion, not to mention some fear in us when we read it. So I want to just set a couple of things straight at the outset.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would commonly come upon a person for a certain task, or a certain period of time, but He would not indwell that person. Really, apart from David, we never see the Holy Spirit come on someone in the Old Testament and never leave.

But under the new covenant, things are different. Before Jesus went to the cross, He promised His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit who would be with them and guide them and comfort them. And we see that happen at Pentecost in Acts 2. After Jesus ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit, just as He promised.

And the New Testament teaches that now the Holy Spirit lives inside those who belong to Jesus. He indwells us. 1 Cor. 3:16 says that we are now God’s temple and the Holy Spirit now dwells in us.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. In other words, the Holy Spirit will stay with us all the way until we take Jesus’ hand at the gates of eternity. He won’t leave us.

So I want to encourage you, if you truly know Jesus (and that’s the real question), the Holy Spirit won’t depart from you the way that He did from Saul.

But there’s more going on here than even the Holy Spirit departing from Saul. 1 Samuel 16:14 also says that a spirit from the Lord tormented him.

Now this line has given commentators fits. How are we supposed to interpret this? What the heck is going on here?

Let me share two contextual items that should factor into the way that we interpret this. Before we even ask what this “spirit from the Lord” is, let’s first deal with this issue where it says that it comes from the Lord.

Does this mean that God sends bad things to us?

Now, a moment ago, I asserted that God is sovereign over history. God is over everything that takes place on our planet. I’ve said this before, but it needs to be said again.

If our God is truly omniscient, it means that nothing takes place in our world without His knowledge. He knows!

If our God is truly omnipotent, it means that nothing takes place that is too powerful for Him to overcome. He is able!

If our God is truly omnipresent, it means that nothing takes place outside the bounds of His wisdom, power, and rule. He is everywhere.

So - nothing escapes His notice, nothing is done without His knowledge, and nothing is too big for Him to stop. God is sovereign over the universe and everything in it.

Yet, when we see evil take place in our world, we attribute it to secondary causes. We say things like, “God allowed this terrible thing to happen,” or “God allowed so-and-so to do this.” And that’s true.

But that is not how the ancient Hebrew mind worked. They didn’t attribute events to secondary causes. They believed that if God was sovereign, then they could point to anything that happened in the world and say, “God did it.” And when you think about it that way, they are right. God did it. It’s not the way that we would express ourselves. It’s not how we think. But it is the way that they thought.

And so when we come to verse 14 and it says, “a harmful spirit from the Lord” tormented Saul, it may very well be that God allowed Saul to be tormented through some secondary cause.

The other contextual item that needs to be considered is the nature of this “harmful spirit.” Like I said, this passage has given commentators fits. Many think that this harmful spirit is referring to a demon; others think that this is an angel of judgement.

I had an Old Testament professor who pointed out that God doesn’t send a demon on anyone anywhere else in the Bible. Plus, if it is a demon, listening to someone play a guitar isn’t going to cast it out. He also said that angels are typically called angels, not spirits.

And he pointed out that one of the keys to the text was to realize that in the Old Testament, there is not a word for emotion. We saw this when we read 1 Samuel 1. In verse 15, it says that Hannah was “troubled in spirit.” In other words, she was torn up on the inside. She wanted a son, and wasn’t able to have one. She was discouraged, depressed, her spirit was troubled.

So it may very well be that here in 1 Samuel 16, this harmful spirit is an emotional kind of deal.

So, taking these two factors into account, here’s how I would interpret verse 14: The Holy Spirit departed from Saul (though He permanently indwells new covenant believers), and the Lord allowed Satan to attack and torment Saul emotionally with depression, paranoia, and anger.

Now you may not agree with me, but that would be my understanding of this verse.

But regardless of how we interpret verse 14, what happens next is much more clear. Saul’s servants see that he’s got issues, whatever they may be. So they suggest to him that they could get someone to come and play music to soothe him. Saul agrees that it’s a good idea, and in verse 18 one of his servants suggests David for the job.

Take another look at how he’s described in verse 18: “One of the young men answered, ‘Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him.’”

Not a bad resume for the next king of Israel.

So, Saul sends for him, Jesse packs a donkey for him, and the next thing David knows, he’s playing music for the king.

Take another look at verses 21-23. Let’s reread that quickly:

“21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight." 23 And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.”

David sounds like a musicianary, like my friend Brad I was telling you about.

Whatever the exact nature of what Saul was dealing with, it’s clear that he was pretty torn up, and it’s equally clear that there is a special place for music and the arts among God’s people. Music is a powerful tool in the hands of God.

We don’t know what songs David played or sang for Saul. But we do know that David was a gifted musician, and we know that a huge chunk of the Psalms are attributed to him as the author.

And as I read this passage from 1 Samuel, Psalm 40 comes to mind. Why don’t you turn there in your Bible? This was one of David’s psalms. You may be familiar with it because U2 used to close their concerts with their rendition of Psalm 40.

Now, as you look at it, it says outright that this psalm was for the choirmaster, which means this one probably wasn’t originally written to help Saul. Yet, by the content of what it says, it would have been appropriate for David to sing it in Saul’s court. Regardless, this is the type of song that David would have been playing for him.

Who knows, maybe when David wrote this psalm years later, he was thinking way back to the days when he used to sing for Saul.

Take a look at verses 1 & 2:

1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
   he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
   out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.

Imagine a distressed person like Saul hearing these words. Things are so difficult for him right now that even his servants have noticed that he needs help. They know that he can’t do it. He’s struggling, in large part because he has been in sin.

But there’s hope.

And maybe that’s where you find yourself this morning. You may be in the muck and mire of sin and rebellion. Things may have gotten so terrible that you feel like you are in pit that you can’t find your way out of.

If so, listen to the call of this song: Wait for the LORD. Cry out to Him, because He’s the only One who can rescue us from our sin; He’s the only One who can change the situation that we are in. He’s the One who can set your feet on firm ground, and the One who can secure each of your steps.

The song continues (vs 3-5):

3 He put a new song in my mouth,
   a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
   and put their trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is the man who makes?
the LORD his trust,?who does not turn to the proud,?
to those who go astray after a lie!?
5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God,?
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;?
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,?
yet they are more than can be told.

David reminds us to sing to the Lord, to proclaim and tell of all the good things that the Lord has done. It’s so hard to see them through the fog of depression and despair, but the truth is that God has been so good to us. So make the Lord your trust. Don’t go astray after lies. Sing a song of praise to our God.

How important it is for us to experience the ministry of music in our own lives that invites us to sing a song of praise even if we feel like we are in a pit of darkness.

Even Saul, had David sang him a song like this one, could have been able to look back on what God had done for him and praised God for it.

But had he heard David sing the next lines, I’m sure that they would have stung (vs 6-8):

6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,?
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering?
you have not required.?
7 Then I said, "Behold, I have come;?
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;?
your law is within my heart."

You know, in 1 Samuel 15, God told Saul when they went to war with their enemies to not keep any of the livestock. But, as usual, Saul disobeyed God and made up excuses about it, saying he was going to use the livestock as sacrifices to God. So, ironically, Samuel had already told Saul the same thing that David says here in verse 6. God would rather have our obedience over our external shows of worship through sacrifices and offerings.

He wants our hearts.

If Saul had listened to David sing a song like this one in his chamber, wouldn’t it have stirred Saul’s heart to hear David singing of his delight to do God’s will? He had been so disobedient. God’s law had not been stored up in his heart. But it was in David’s.

And when you hear a song sung like that, and you know the person singing it is sharing from their own experience, you will either be stirred to hunger for God’s Word yourself, or you’ll be become jealous of the person singing.

Unfortunately, Saul became jealous of David instead of imitating him. In just a couple chapters we are going to see that explicitly. David is playing for him, and Saul tries to spear him. Talk about a tough crowd!

Anyway, as the song goes on, we are called again join with David in singing God’s praises (vs 9-10):

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance?
in the great congregation;?
behold, I have not restrained my lips,?
as you know, O LORD.?
10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;?
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;?
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness?
from the great congregation.

I wonder, when Saul heard David singing songs like this one, did he ever join in with David? Did he ever tell the glad news of deliverance? Did he speak of God’s faithfulness and salvation? Or did he restrain his lips?

Who knows if he ever sang along? But we need to remember that worship is something that we are called into. A song may begin which encourages us by its lyrics, but true worship is a response to God’s initiative with us.

And that’s one of the reasons why the ministry of music is so essential to the Body of Christ. A hymn or a song is an invitation to all of us not only to benefit from hearing the truth of God’s Word declared to us, but it is also an invitation to participate in declaring back to God and to one another how good God is.

That’s exactly where David goes next in Psalm 40 (vs 11-12):

11 As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain?
your mercy from me;?
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will?
ever preserve me!
12 For evils have encompassed me?
beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,?
and I cannot see;?
they are more than the hairs of my head;?
my heart fails me.

David begins this section by talking about God’s mercy, love, and faithfulness, but ends by talking about how he has more sins in his life than he has hairs on his head. Why is that? Well, in our singing and worship, when we begin to see how amazing God is, and as His perfections shine brightly, we soon realize how sinful we are in light of His holiness.

And after coming to this conclusion, David sums it all up again at the end (vs 13-17):

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me!?
O LORD, make haste to help me!
14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether?
who seek to snatch away my life;?
let those be turned back and brought to dishonor?
who delight in my hurt!?
15Let those be appalled because of their shame?
who say to me, "Aha, Aha!"
16But may all who seek you?
rejoice and be glad in you;?
may those who love your salvation?
say continually, "Great is the LORD!"?
17As for me, I am poor and needy,?
but the Lord takes thought for me.?
You are my help and my deliverer;?
do not delay, O my God!

When David sang songs like this, I’m sure that Saul liked the parts that call on God for deliverance. I bet he loved the songs that call on God to put all of his enemies to shame. No wonder Saul felt better after hearing David sing!

But what about verse 16? I wonder if Saul ever listened that long, or if he was just humming the tune at that point? Could he really rejoice and be glad in God?

Or what about verse 17? “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!” Did he ever engage with the song to the point where he was brought in to see the glory and majesty of God so much, that he couldn’t help but notice the contrast in his own sinful heart?

If only Saul had ever gotten this far. He listened long enough to hear that there’s grace, but did he ever listen long enough to hear that grace doesn’t come cheaply?

Saul wanted a message of cheap grace, songs that were “positive and encouraging,” songs with an upbeat tune, but songs without cost.

As Deitrich Bonhoeffer would describe it, cheap grace is “forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.” He writes, “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ” (Cost of Discipleship, 44-45). It’s grace because it’s free, but it’s costly because it cost a Man his life.

Don’t kid yourselves. Just because you turn on K-LOVE and bop to the music doesn’t mean that you are actually engaging in worship. As we see with Saul, it’s entirely possible for us to hum along without truly surrendering to God, allowing Him to change our lives.

--

You know, some of you are really musically inclined and talented. But some of you are more like me; you couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. I even know that some of you wish that we would just skip the singing on Sunday mornings and get on with the message.

I’ve had people ask me, “Why do we sing songs at church?” Why do we place such an emphasis on worship through singing songs?

Here’s why: Music is a great doorway for us to meet with God.

In his book on David, Chuck Swindoll points out that Martin Luther believed that the Reformation was not completed until every person had both a Bible and a hymnal in their hands. Luther said, “Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise” (from David, 32.)

Music moves us powerfully. As Jesus said in John 4:23-24, the Father is seeking people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. God doesn’t want us to worship Him in truth only. He doesn’t want people who live on dry orthodoxy. You can be theologically accurate but spiritually dead.

He wants people who worship with their heart and their minds, with their emotions and their intellect. Worship is meant to be deeply moving and intellectually engaging.

And I believe that the arts in general - literature, poetry, painting, sculpture, etc. - are all wonderful avenues for us to worship God, because they move our hearts.

Even this morning, I’m using a special edition of the ESV with a painting on the cover. But when you look at it, you can either enjoy a pretty picture, or you can be moved to meditate on how the gold and red represent the glory of God and the blood of Christ poured out for our sins on the cross.

You see, here’s the question: Can we appreciate beauty in such a way that it moves us into real worship? Just because your emotions are engaged does not mean that you have truly worshiped God.

This is the big difference between David and Saul, and this is why God went to all of the trouble of bringing a shepherd to the throne room. In David, God had found a man who truly worshiped, a man after His own heart. David worshiped in spirit and in truth.

And while David was worshiping, Saul was humming along to the tune. He enjoyed the beauty of music without enjoying the Creator of beauty. You see, beauty, in any form, is meant to direct our hearts to the Beautiful One, Jesus Christ.

So my question for you this morning is this: have you really listened to the songs that we sing every week? By all means, be moved by the beauty of music. Let God grip your hearts and emotions through the sounds. Hear the message of grace that is in each song.

But also, listen long enough to hear the cost. Listen to the sound of nails hitting His hands. Hear the call to radical obedience. And worship God in spirit and in truth.

Colossians 4:2-6 - The Proclamation of Christ

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:05:10 EST

For those of you who don’t know, my name is Michael, and I’m one of the pastors here at Wellspring. My primary responsibility here is that of the Teaching Pastor, but I was out of town for a couple of weeks, and then last week, I was here, but Nick spoke instead of me.

Over the last week, I got the chance to listen to the recordings of the messages from the last three weeks, and I just want to express both my appreciation and my joy that we are so blessed here to have such a quality group of pastors. (By the way, that’s what Ben, Jim, and Nick are; they are pastors. The terms elder and pastor are interchangeable in the New Testament.) These men love Jesus, they love Scripture, and they love you.

And there’s going to come a day when I die, or am disabled, or move on to a new season of life; I hope that none of those things happen soon, but the fact remains that one day I won’t be the teaching pastor at Wellspring anymore.

My hope and prayer is that when that day comes, whether it’s next week, because I just got flattened by a Mac truck, or whether it’s 15, 20, 30 years from now, I hope that you will follow the lead of these other pastors, these other elders, that God has raised up in our church.

The church is more than one guy who hollers at everyone else once a week, and that’s it. The Bible describes the church as a Body, as a family. I hope that you all realize what a great group of men Ben, Jim, and Nick are, and I want to ask you pray for them, and for me, to lead well.

We have a lot of things that we need prayer for.

For instance, one of the things that we could use prayer for is wisdom about our building situation. This has been a temporary place for us to meet from the moment we got here, and we as elders are beginning to sense that we need to be preparing to move Wellspring to another facility, hopefully a longer-term solution.

We need your prayers as we seek God’s direction on this and on all kinds of other things. So please pray for us.

I think it’s biblical to ask for your prayers. In fact, we are going to see that’s exactly what Paul does in the passage that we are going to be studying today.

Why don’t you open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 4? Today we are wrapping up a little mini-series, an interlude to our larger journey through the books of 1 & 2 Samuel.

We came to a good stopping point in 1 Samuel, and I was going to be out of town for a couple Sundays, and so we decided that it would be great for each of the elders at Wellspring to share and teach one Sunday.

So Ben started us off on this relay race through Colossians, tackling chapter 1, and demonstrating that the entirety of the book, and chapter 1 in particular, is all about The Supremacy of Christ.

Then two weeks ago, Ben handed the baton off to Jim, who sprinted through the end of chapter 1, and the entirety of chapter 2, where Paul, the author of this book, masterfully describes The Freedom to Serve in Christ. Because of what Jesus did, we have freedom, and are free to serve others.

Last week, Nick took us through the last turn, chapter 3, describing The Transforming Power of Christ. Our identity is found in Him, and because we have identified with Him in His death, we can put to death the sin that rages inside of us, and put on the virtues of Christ.

So now we’ve come to the homestretch of this relay race through the book of Colossians, and I’ve been handed the baton, and each of these guys have been running at a breakneck pace through huge portions of Scripture.

So, as is fitting, since each of those guys are runners, and I’m more of a potato-chip-eater, I’m going to take a leisurely stroll through the end of this book. In fact, I’m not even going to make it to the finish line.

The last half of the last chapter is Paul telling his buddies, “Peace to the brothers.” So there you go. That’s how the book ends. That’s the cliff notes version.

But I would rather stop and smell the roses. There are five verses that we are going to stop, and observe, and enjoy.

(By the way, this is probably the reason why you would want to pick someone else to run the anchor if you want to go running for real. I’m probably not your guy.)

Anyway, let’s stop to think for a moment. How would you end this book, before the final greetings, the “peace out” at the end, after masterfully creating and constructing this argument to put forward:

The Supremacy of Christ, to
The Freedom we have to Serve in Christ, to
The Transforming Power of Christ?

Where would you go from there?

If Jesus really is all that, if Jesus really is supreme over the universe, king of all eternity, sinless, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, as well as fully God and fully man, then what’s next?

If Jesus really is the One who frees us from having to follow rules, the One who frees us from any attempt at earning our own salvation, the One who sets us free to love and serve others, then where would you go from there?

If Jesus really has the power to transform us, to break the bondage of sin in our lives, to change us from the inside out, to make us new creations, to conform us into His own image, then what?

If Jesus really is all that, then maybe what’s next is to tell the world about Him. That’s exactly where Paul goes to finish this letter.

After describing the supremacy of Christ, the freedom to serve in Christ, and the transforming power of Christ, Paul moves on to The Proclamation of this Supreme, Freeing, and Transforming Christ.

Take a look at Colossians chapter 4, verse 2:

“2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

As I read that, I realize that some of you may wonder what this has to do with proclamation. This is talking about prayer, right? Yeah, it is. The place that Paul begins this section on proclamation is with prayer. And that’s the place that all of us should start whenever we consider this notion of telling others about Christ.

He has two basic things to say about prayer.

First, Paul tells the Colossian church to be constant in prayer. They are supposed to continue steadfastly in it. I’ve talked about this before, but I think that Paul is specifically talking about taking long stretches of time and devoting it to prayer. Why else would he need to tell them to be watchful in it? There’s no danger of falling asleep or losing your train of thought when your prayers only last for five seconds.

No, Paul is exhorting us to continue in it, to bear down in it, to be steadfast in long periods of time devoted to prayer. Now this is work. It isn’t easy, and I’m not very good at it. My guess is that most of us here aren’t. Yet this is a command. Not a command that we obey in order to earn favor with God, but a command that we are now free to obey because of Christ.

And the truth is, learning to pray like this is a life-giving experience. Here’s one of the reasons why - take another look at verse 2. Paul says that we should do it with thanksgiving.

Oftentimes, before we ever even get out of bed in the morning, my wife and I will talk for a while. And just this week, we were laying there, talking. The sun was shining through the window. We prayed together for just a minute. The kids were quiet, the dogs were still asleep. The day was beautiful. It was one of those moments, you know, when you wish that you could capture it in a bottle and come back to it whenever you’re feeling down.

My wife looked over at me. She’s the most joyful person that I’ve ever known, so whenever she says something about joy, I try to listen hard. And she said, “You know, I think thankfulness is the key to having a joyful heart. If you’re thankful all the time, how could you not be joyful?”

She’s a smart cookie. And so was Paul.

In this verse we are commanded to do something that actually works towards our greater joy. We are called to pray with thankfulness. We are to be constant in that, to continue in that, to be steadfast in that. And even if we can’t think of anything to be thankful for, just the fact that the supreme, all-powerful Christ would condescend to take my hand and walk with me and lead me to the Father should be enough to make me feel thankful every single day.

Paul goes on in verses 3-4:

“3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”

First, Paul tells the Colossian church to be constant in prayer. Here he tells them to be strategic. Pray strategically.

As I said when I was starting, here we find Paul asking for prayer himself, and for the advance of the gospel. He asks them to pray for two things in particular. The first thing that he asks for them to pray is that God would open doors for him to be able to proclaim the Word of God. He wants to be able to declare the mystery of Christ.

That term, “mystery of Christ,” is Paul’s way of saying that this message is also for the Gentiles, and not only the Jews. Jesus came to be the Savior of the world, so anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

And Paul reminds them that preaching about this is what got him into prison in the first place. Now if you remember, this book was written probably between 60 and 62 AD. Paul is in Rome; he’s basically under house arrest.

And the book of Acts ends by telling us that while he was in this situation, “He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30).

So we don’t know exactly what Paul meant by requesting that God would open a door for him to be able to tell more people about Jesus. It seems like he does have a door to preach the Good News. But he can’t go anywhere; he’s under house arrest. So he’s asking for prayer to have even greater opportunity to share the message of salvation with more and more people. He’s asking the Colossians to pray strategically for the advancement of the gospel.

I love how eager Paul is to tell people about Jesus. He’s not content with just having people come to him to be able to hear him preach and teach. He wants to be free to go out to engage more people in conversations about the gospel.

And I think that this is something that we need to be really careful about here at Wellspring. It is tempting for me to get content with the idea that you can bring your friends here to church, and then I’ll tell them about Jesus in the sermon.

That’s robbing both of us - you and me - from being on mission all the time, and engaging the people who are around us with the claims of Christ.

So Paul asks for strategic prayer. He asks for an open door. It could be said that he’s asking for a door that’s open even wider. And I would contend that we all should pray for the same thing.

But first, one thing that we need to ask ourselves is whether we are taking advantage of how wide the door is already open.

Paul most certainly was. He was telling everyone who came to him about Jesus. He wanted to be able to go out and do the same. He was taking full advantage of the opportunity that he already had. What about you? When I look at my own life, and the open doors that I have, I think that it would be dishonest if I claimed the same for myself.

The second thing that Paul asks for prayer about is found in verse 4. His first request is that God would open a door. His second request is for clear communication. He wants to make the gospel understandable, which is how he ought to speak.

I love how bold Paul is. In this instance, he doesn’t ask for boldness to step through the door. He knows he’s going to step through. He’s going to take the initiative to share Christ with others. He’s just asking that he would speak clearly when he does step through the door.

For those of you who are frightened at the thought of telling other people about Jesus, I want to encourage you that even Paul asked for boldness at times. In Eph. 6:19, he asked for prayer that God would give him the words so that he would open his mouth and be able to boldly proclaim the gospel.

But here in Colossians, he’s asking that he would speak clearly. He wants to make the message clear. If it’s not clear, it doesn’t do anyone any good!

One of my heroes is Martyn Lloyd-Jones, perhaps the greatest preacher in Great Britain in the last 100 years. If you guys think that I’m a long-winded preacher who takes his time getting through a book of the Bible, you aint seen nothing yet!

This guy spent 13 years teaching through the book of Romans! And the funny thing is, he never finished!! That wasn’t enough time! He left behind 14 volumes on that book! He was a brilliant man, and a very theological preacher. He died about 30 years ago. One of Martyn’s fondest memories was when he received a note from a little girl in his congregation.

If I remember the story right, he had been out of town for awhile, and when he came back, this little girl slipped him this note, which said that she was very glad he was back because he was the only preacher that she understood!

The man who would dissect the Greek and who had probably been preaching through the same book her entire lifetime was the one man she could understand!

He cherished that note!

The message has to be clear!

We are not as smart as we think we are! If we are trying to impress people with our words instead of impressing them with the supreme Christ of the gospel, then we are missing the boat entirely.

Paul knew that. He too, was brilliant. But when he preached, he determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. And though the cross may be foolishness to the world, it is the wisdom of God.

And that must be our message as well.

So, Paul begins this section about the proclamation of this supreme, freeing, and transforming Christ by encouraging the people to pray. And like I said a moment ago, Paul has quite a bit to say about it.

Be constant in prayer. Pray for extended periods of time. Pray with a thankful attitude, which leads to a joyful heart. Be strategic in prayer. Pray that God would open the door wider for evangelistic opportunities and for us to communicate that message in a clear, understandable way.

Paul realized that the first step in proclamation is actually to pray.

Let me tell you the reason why this is the case. Do you remember way back three weeks ago when Ben spoke on chapter 1? Flip back there for just a moment. Take a look at verse 13: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”

Who delivers us? He does; God. God the Father is the One who delivers us. God the Father is the One who transfers us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.

I can’t do that. You can’t do that. I’ll give my life savings (which isn’t that much) to anyone here who can save someone else. Can you deliver someone from the domain of darkness? Can you transfer someone into the Kingdom of Jesus?

Only God can do that! Only God can save! And when we realize that, it becomes obvious that the first step in evangelism, the first step in proclaiming the gospel is always to ask God to do what only He can do!

“Lord, You must work, here, because I can’t do it! You must save, because it’s impossible for me! You have to do the delivering. You have to do the transferring. Give me the open doors, the boldness, and the clarity of speech, and I’ll attempt to do the telling. But You, O Lord, have to do the saving!”

There’s a little concept out there called prayer evangelism. I’ve heard it defined this way: Prayer evangelism is talking to God about your neighbors before you talk to your neighbors about God.

That’s basically what Paul is saying here. Talk to God first. Then talk to your neighbors. And he even tells us how to do that. Take a look at verse 5:

“5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.”

So Paul begins this section on proclamation with prayer. And now here he moves from discussing our prayer to our posture. He tells us the posture that we should take with people in our desire to proclaim Christ to them.

And again, Paul has two primary things to say about this. First, in verse 5, Paul says that we should be wise. I believe that there are few things more off-putting to people than when an unthinking Christian pummels people with Scripture and refuses to listen to their questions.

Paul tells us that the posture that we should take with outsiders, people outside of the church, people outside of the faith, should be different. We should be wise in the way that we engage those who don’t follow Jesus. We should be thoughtful about the way in which we engage those people.

He says to do this in order to make the best use of the time. I would go a step further and contend that failing to be wise in the way that we engage those who are outside of the faith oftentimes makes our evangelistic efforts a waste of time.

Let’s not waste our time, or theirs, by being unwise in the way that we approach people with the claims of Jesus Christ. He is preeminent in all things, and His proclamation deserves our most thoughtful consideration.

We need to ask, “What is the best way to influence this particular person with the claims of Christ?” It’s a question that we should be asking with every person that God puts in our life who doesn’t know Jesus. And the answer isn’t a one-size-fits-all. It may be different for every person that you meet.

Wisdom toward outsiders means engaging their questions, meeting them where they are at, building relationships and trust. Wisdom means that we avoid putting extra stumbling blocks between others and Jesus. Christ is the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense (1 Pet. 2:8). Being confronted with the depth and seriousness of our own sin, and the bloody death of Christ on a cross is an offense to people who don’t know Jesus.

We don’t need to repel people from Him by adding in our pet issues, our politics, or our opinions concerning peripheral things. You don’t have to become a Republican to see the offense of your sin against a holy God, you don’t have to become a tee-totaler to cast all of your hope on the cross of Christ, and you don’t have to homeschool your children to give your allegiance to the supremacy of Christ.

Wisdom leaves those things behind, puts them off to the side, wades through the debris, and tenaciously holds to the unwavering truth that we are sinners and Christ is the Savior.

In our proclamation, Paul first reminds us to carry ourselves wisely. Second, he says that our posture should be gracious.

Go down to verse six:

“6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that many Christians don’t know what this means, or if they do, they don’t live it out very well. It is so sad to me that the portrayal of Christians by the media, and by many people in our city, is that of an unthinking, uncaring, judgmental person. Paul encourages us to be gracious, always seasoned with salt. We are supposed to add flavor to people’s lives, to make people thirsty for the Living Water. As I’ve heard it said before, we are supposed to be pretzels for Jesus. After being around us, people are supposed to want a drink!

Unfortunately, the kind of drink most people want after being around Christians isn’t the type of drink that we are going for!

How many so-called Christians spit venom and hatred at lost and dying people? How many times do I have to open up the morning paper, only to cringe at things that are stated by people who claim Christ and are supposed to be my brother or sister? I’ve got to be honest, by the way some Christians talk, many times I’m ashamed to be part of the family.

But if we are going to be involved in proclaiming Christ to lost and dying people, it would be worthwhile for us to listen to Paul here, and do it in a gracious posture.

I’ve got to say, I find this verse really interesting. Listen to Paul’s logic here:

“6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

I think that this is very counter-intuitive. Paul says that we should keep a gracious posture in our evangelism so that we would know how to answer each person.

He doesn’t say, “Read lots of apologetics so that you’ll know how to answer each person.” He doesn’t say, “Study some good Christian books, or take some seminary classes so that you’ll know how to answer each person.”

That’s the kind of advice you’d expect, isn’t it? Why would Paul contend that if our speech is always gracious, then we will know how to answer each person?

I think that the answer is that the proclamation of grace comes through conduits of grace.

You may be thinking, “Well Mike, we are proclaiming the Supreme-over-the-universe, freedom-giving, life-transforming Christ. Why don’t we just nail people as hard as we can?”

Here’s why: There is no proclamation of the gospel if there is no grace from the messenger.

It would be self-contradictory to preach a message of forgiveness and grace with a heart full of hatred and anger. It undermines the message. We shouldn’t be able to tell people about hell without tears in our eyes.

You see, Paul is concerned about, not only Who we proclaim: The Supreme, Freeing, and Transforming Christ, but also who we are.

We are beggars, each one of us, telling other beggars where the Bread is. We are recipients of grace, unworthy, undeserving of what we have received. We are adopted children, who have no right to the inheritance that we’ve been given. We are forgiven sinners, who have not lived in such a way that we should be declared saints.

And yet, because of Christ’s work on the cross, we have been freed from the shackles of sin and death, and are being transformed into His likeness.

How could we not proclaim such glory?

How could we not ask God to do it, because we know how powerless we are in and of ourselves? How could we not ask Him for open doors and clear speech so other beggars could find bread too?

How could we ever take such a task so lightly that we would fail to exercise contemplation and wisdom? And how could we ever proclaim a message of such wonderful grace, without showing grace to people, who, if it weren’t for the grace we have received, would not be any different from us?

Colossians 3:1-25 - The Transforming Power of Christ

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 15:49:06 EST

Coming Soon

Colossians 1:24-2:23 - The Freedom to Serve in Christ

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:46:22 EST

Coming Soon

Colossians 1:1-23 - The Supremacy of Christ

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 15:43:27 EST

Coming Soon

1 Samuel 15:1-35 - Squirrels!

Sun, 22 May 2011 16:56:32 EST

One of the recent movies that my kids really enjoyed watching was that Disney-Pixar film Up. This boy and old man end up on an adventure together. They are an unlikely team, tromping through an untamed region of South America. During their journey, they meet a talking dog named Dug.

The dog cracks me up. He says things like, “My name is Dug. I have just met you, and I love you.” But whenever there is a distraction, he hollers, “Squirrel,” and for a moment, he’s lost in space somewhere before he comes back to reality.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s a funny movie. It would be worth checking out.

I think sometimes we are kind of like Dug when it comes to reading our Bibles. We see something that may catch our eye, and we end up spending so much time looking at it, we don’t realize we are examining something that’s peripheral to the thrust of the passage. As a result we can end up missing the main idea.

Well, we are in the middle of a series of messages through the book of 1 Samuel, and what we have begun to see over the past couple of weeks is how Saul is failing in his job as the very first king over Israel, God’s people. The reason that he’s failing is not because of job performance, or leadership skills, or a lack of strategic planning or vision. He’s failing because he continues to wander further from God.

So the passage that we’ve come to today is really a breaking point for Saul, and the main point is both piercing and applicable. But when you read this chapter, you see that it has two big squirrels that we could end up chasing. If you were paying careful attention, you probably noticed both of them when we read through the passage just a moment ago.

Since there is no way to get around these two squirrels, and they are both important questions that do deserve reflection, we are going to tackle them head on. There’s no way we could give adequate treatment to either of the questions that this passage raises; we will only be skimming the surface. But let’s not stop at just looking at the squirrels, because, like I said, neither of these issues are the main point of the passage. That’s where we really want to get to this morning.

Why don’t you open up your Bible to 1 Samuel 15?

The first big squirrel: Is God just in wiping out not only opposing armies, but even women and children?

This confronts us at the very beginning of the passage. I know that we just read it, but take another look at verses 2 & 3. Samuel approaches Saul with a message from the Lord to go and attack the Amalekites. Now that, in and of itself, may not raise too many eyebrows. But the specific instructions that Samuel gives is a huge squirrel. So let’s just chase it for a moment.

In verse 3, Samuel says:

“3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"

No one is to be spared. Now that’s difficult to skim over, you know? No one - not children, not babies - no one is to remain alive. God’s message to Saul is to scrub the Amalekites off the face of the earth.

And anyone who reads this text, and was raised singing songs in Sunday School, like, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world; Red, brown, yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world,” can’t help but ask the question, “How could God command this?”

It’s a question that we should ask.

The first thing that we need to consider is who these Amalekites are. In verse 2, God said that they had opposed Israel when the people were escaping from slavery out of Egypt.

Apparently Amalek had attacked God’s people for no reason. Moses spoke about it to the people in Deuteronomy 25:

“17 "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.”

So God had decided way back in the days of Moses that the Amalekites were to be destroyed. And the chapter that we are reading today tells us that they hadn’t changed much over time. Verse 18 describes the nation as sinners, and when Samuel kills their king at the end of the chapter, he says, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless.” In other words, their king was known for his killing. One Bible commentator described the Amalekites as “terrorists who preyed on weaker opponents.” So they weren’t exactly a friendly bunch.

Even so, it seems harsh to wipe them all out, doesn’t it?

You know, in preparing for this message, like I always do, I read a number of different commentaries about the passage. And the guy that I believe dealt best with this question and the other squirrel that we are going to chase is a guy named Dale Ralph Davis.

Let me just quote him here:

“Yahweh contends that his vengeance on Amalek is just. . . . Is Yahweh not slow to anger when he gives them three hundred years to repent?

It is precisely in God’s vengeance that his people find comfort! Yahweh does not forget how his enemies have hated, trampled, and crushed his people. To hear, ‘See! Your God will come with vengeance!’ (Isa. 35:4) is to hear good news of great joy, for that means that God will put down and overthrow all who strangle and oppress his people. If he does not do that, what ultimate hope do we have? No vengeance on God’s enemies means no deliverance for his people. . . .
Some folks put ‘Beware of dog’ signs on their houses or fences; but the sign on Yahweh’s kingdom reads, ‘Beware of [sheep].’ Rulers and nations who read it should shudder - especially if they have touched and butchered the sheep of his hand” (Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Samuel, 155).

When a nation continually oppresses God’s people, He eventually puts an end to it. And we see in other places in the Bible, that when Israel failed to carry out God’s orders, hundreds of years later they are still being oppressed by the same folks.

Now, that may not answer all of your questions about why God commanded that the Amalekites be utterly wiped out, but I do hope that it will give you some things to think on. God is just in all He does. He does not take it lightly when others continually hurt His children.

The second big squirrel: Does God have regrets and make mistakes because He doesn’t know the future?

Another way to ask the question is, “Is God really omniscient?”

Now, this pops up in three places in particular:

“10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments."”

“29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret."

“35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

So which one is it? Does God have regret over making Saul the king, or doesn’t He? Which one is it? You can read this chapter, and walk away pretty confused. Some people will even go so far as to say that if God has regret then that means that He must not know the future. So this is a pretty big squirrel that needs to be chased for a minute.

The first thing that people need to consider here is the context of each of these three statements. The first and third both refer to God’s regret over making Saul the king of Israel. But the second statement, the one from verse 29, follows directly on the heels of Samuel’s announcement in verse 28 that the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from Saul.

In other words, that’s a done deal. God has determined in this passage, verses 28-29, that He is going to take the kingdom away from Saul’s family and give it to someone else. He’s not going to change His mind about that. Verse 29 makes that very clear.

But the first and third statements, as I’ve already said, they refer to God’s heart. This same Hebrew word is used in Genesis 6:6. I want to read it for you, because it makes the sense very clear. It says, “And the Lord was sorry [regretted] that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”

When the first and third statements say that God regretted making Saul king, it’s referring to the emotions going on in the heart of God.

Again, Davis does a good job dealing with this. He writes, “It is a tragedy when Saul refuses to be Yahweh’s disciple; it grieves Yahweh. He is not a ‘you win some, you lose some’ god. Nonchalance is never listed as an attribute of the true God. Verse 11 does not intend to suggest Yahweh’s fickleness of purpose but his sorrow over sin; it does not depict Yahweh flustered over lack of foresight but Yahweh grieved over lack of obedience” (1 Samuel, 161).

God knew along along that this would end badly. He told the people of Israel that there was going to be trouble before they ever made Saul king.

Even so, the fact that Saul wouldn’t follow God grieved Him. That’s the same sense in which both statements are made about God making Saul the king. He was grieved over Saul’s sin. God knew what was going to happen. God is not saying, “Whoops, I made a goof here. I didn’t know this was going to happen. Oh well, I guess you just take your best shot, and I blew it this time!”

No! God knew exactly what was going to take place, but He still regretted, in the sense of grieving, Saul as king. That being said, as verse 29 makes clear, He doesn’t waffle on His decisions. Take another look at verse 29. It says, He does “not lie or have regret, for he is not a man.”

In other words, just as God never lies, God never regrets His choices, not in the sense that He made a mistake. God makes no mistakes; He knows exactly what is going to happen in the future; and He works all things together for our good and His glory. Let’s be sure there is no confusion there.

If you are really interested in chasing this squirrel even further, I would highly recommend the book by Bruce Ware called God’s Lesser Glory. It is a devastating critique of the belief that God makes mistakes because He doesn’t know the future.

If you have been toying with that idea, you need to read that book. Or even better, you need to read your Bible. Especially Isaiah chapters 40-48. Our God knows everything that will come to pass, and He is perfect in all of His ways.

Okay. So there you go. We have officially had our squirrel moment. Now let’s get to the heart of what this passage has to say. We are going to find that the primary idea of this passage is that God desires true obedience from His people.

We already know the storyline from reading it and discussing it some. God has sent a message to Saul through the prophet Samuel. It was the utter destruction of Amalek. Nothing, not even the livestock, was supposed to remain alive.

Verses 4-7 tell us that Saul gathered 210,000 soldiers. The other folks who lived nearby that weren’t Amalekites were allowed to get away. Saul and his crew cleaned up pretty good.

But his tragic mistake is recorded in verse 9:

“9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.”

They didn’t kill everything. God had commanded Saul to utterly destroy it all. But Saul decided not to.

Now, we may not fully understand why God commanded this destruction, but it’s pretty clear that Saul decided to make up his own rules about what he wanted to do. He decided not to kill everything; keep in mind that this has nothing to do with Saul being a soft-hearted guy who doesn’t like conflict. Saul was more than happy to run a sword through someone; war pretty much sums up his entire career as king. He just wanted to do it on his own terms, and this was significant in the eyes of God.

And in verses 10-11 God tells Samuel that He regrets making Saul king because Saul has turned away from following God. The end of verse 11 says that Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. The passage doesn’t tell us who Samuel was angry at, and different people have different opinions.

Some think that Samuel was angry at Saul for Saul’s disobedience. But others think maybe he was mad at God. Samuel didn’t want Saul to be the king in the first place, but God told him to anoint Saul as the king. Now God is saying, “Yeah, I grieve over making Saul the king.” Is Samuel angry at God? We don’t know.

Others think that Samuel is mad at himself. “Why did I anoint Saul? I could have saved us from this mess if I had just gone with my gut.” See, you’ve got to remember that helping to establish the monarchy was a huge part of his life’s work. And now it’s not going so well, so Samuel’s angry about it. My guess is that he’s probably angry at all of the above.

And Saul doesn’t make this any easier for Samuel to swallow. In verse 12, Samuel gets up early to go find Saul. Now Samuel barely slept all night. He tossed and turned and cried and prayed. When he gets to where he thinks Saul will be, he finds out that Saul is not around because he went to set up a monument for himself, presumably because of his great victory in battle.

Do you see the picture? The contrast could not be any more stark. Samuel is upset and angry, crying out to God in prayer over the whole mess. Saul was probably out partying with the guys, toasting to himself. He’s setting up monuments to his own greatness.

Finally Samuel finds him in verse 13, and the first thing that Samuel hears is a hearty welcome, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” Saul sounds pretty jovial, doesn’t he?

I know that it didn’t happen in this way, but the picture in my mind when I read this is of Saul, in an Irish pub somewhere, surrounded by a bunch of his men, all holding big mugs full of ale, eating and laughing, singing songs of victory, clanking their mugs together, while beer sloshes onto a sticky floor. Saul turns around and sees Samuel walking in, and he hollers out, “Hey bartender, pour one for my buddy Sam! Come on over Sam, and sing a song with us! Did you hear what we did, Sam? Boy did we get ‘em Sam, just as the Lord said...”

The way Saul put it in verse 13 is, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” It is an absolute statement.

But Samuel says in verse 14, “Uh, I think I hear something...” He says, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” In other words, Samuel is saying, “I don’t think you did perform the commandment of the Lord, Saul.”

So let’s consider this for just a moment. Saul did go to war, as God told him to. He did wipe out most everyone, as the Lord had commanded him. But Saul didn’t kill the king, and he kept all of the good livestock.

The first thing we learn here is that God views partial obedience as actually disobedience. Samuel is saying, “Saul, you did not perform the commandment of the Lord.”

I think that all of us need to be careful here. It is easy to look at our partial obedience in any number of areas of our lives, and say along with Saul, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But if our obedience has only been partial, then we are still disobeying God. He desires our full obedience.

Let me point out two examples of what I mean by this. I think that both of these are areas where Christians tend to exercise partial obedience.

The first has to do with churchgoing. Now, God tells us not to forsake assembling together, as some do, but that we should encourage one another, and all the more as we see the day drawing near (Heb. 10:25). So we read that, and we rightly conclude that attending worship is a good thing. So we go to church, and then we act like that is the totality of what it means to be a Christian.

Are you one of those people? Do you attend church and then act as though you’ve fulfilled your duty, or now justify other things you do because you made it to church today?

That is partial obedience. Don’t use church as a mask or an excuse to live disobediently the rest of the week. When Jesus calls us, He says to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. In other words, the call to follow Christ is nothing less than dying to ourselves and following Him in absolute surrender.

The second example has to do with giving. Really, it’s just a more sophisticated type of partial obedience. I think that it is epidemic among many who attend church regularly, to give money to help the church instead of our time. We think, “I don’t want to / don’t have time to / don’t feel like / am not called to serve, so I’ll just throw money at the problem.” Now again, giving, is a biblical thing. It’s a good thing. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving to certain causes that we cannot serve in directly. But, if we give in hopes that our giving will excuse us from other types of serving, we are dead wrong. That’s partial obedience.

I’m sure that there are many other examples that we could give this morning, but all of us need to be aware of areas where we may tend to do this, where we will partially obey God, while blatantly disobeying other things that He has said.

But let’s keep going. In verse 15, Saul proceeds to tell Samuel that his soldiers are the ones responsible for keeping the best of the livestock - again, he’s always got an excuse. And then after deflecting the blame on to someone else, Saul spiritualizes his motives. He says that they spared the animals to sacrifice to the Lord. In other words, it’s for worship.

It wouldn’t be a whole lot different from stealing money so that you’d have some to put in the offering plate. Really? You are going to disobey God so that you can use it for worship? But that’s Saul’s line, and he’s going to stick to it, at least for a moment.

Here we learn a second thing concerning true obedience: God desires inward obedience over outward observance. Look at how Saul refers to God in verse 15. Saul is speaking to Samuel, and he says that he is going sacrifice these animals “to the Lord your God.” Isn’t that strange? He doesn’t say that he wants to sacrifice to the Lord my God. Instead he says that he is on his way to sacrifice to Samuel’s God. Saul repeats the same thing two more times in verses 21 & 30. Three times he says, “your God.”

You see, Saul is practicing outward observance, outward shows of religiosity, but no inward obedience or devotion to the Lord. Yet God desires inward obedience over outward observance. Samuel is going to really break this down for us when we get to verses 22 & 23, but for now, just note the fact that Saul doesn’t even refer God in a personal way.

Now, upon hearing this, Samuel has taken about as much as he can handle. He’s been up all night crying out to the Lord in prayer, while this guy has been out creating monuments to honor his conquests. And yet he can look Samuel in the eyes and say, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”

And in verse 16, Samuel tells the king, in no uncertain terms, that he needs to shut his trap and be quiet. And in the next three verses, Samuel proceeds to recount for Saul, God’s original instructions to destroy everything. He ends in verse 19 with the question, “Why did you not obey the voice of the Lord?”

Now take a look at verse 20. We are about to learn a third thing about true obedience. God desires uncompromised obedience, but when we do sin, He desires unqualified repentance. The truth is, at some point, all of us will sin.

Over the next several verses, I want you to take careful note of how Saul describes what he did. If you remember, back in verse 13, he said, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”

Let’s read verses 20-21:

“20 And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."”

Saul answers, “I have obeyed, but...”

If we have to qualify the statement, “I have obeyed,” we are already in trouble. Saul obviously is in it neck deep.

Samuel’s response in verses 22-23 to Saul’s excuse is just an expansion and reaffirmation of what we observed in that second lesson about true obedience. Take a look at verse 22. Samuel asks the question:

"Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?”

Then he answers his own question: No. He says, “to obey is better than sacrifice.” Now, Samuel isn’t saying that the sacrificial system that God established in the Old Testament is bad. He’s just saying that inward obedience, heartfelt devotion, and authentic worship is much more precious in the eyes of God than acts of external observance.

And then he tells us why in verse 23. Rebellion is really no different than divination, and presumption is tantamount to idolatry. He points out these two things: rebellion and presumption.

In other words, if you are going to rebel against God, even in something that you think is insignificant, it’s as bad as messing in demonic religious activity that is obviously in opposition to God. Then he says, if you are going to presume upon God, which is what Saul did, when he rejected God’s instructions and decided to sacrifice these animals to God, Samuel says that’s the same as idolatry. Here’s why: You are making yourself God.

And then at the end of verse 23, he smacks Saul with this harsh truth, “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as the king.”

Finally, after hearing this devastating truth from Samuel, Saul changes his answer. But it is still qualified. Look at verses 24-25:

“24 Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the LORD."”

Last time Saul said, “I have obeyed, but.” Now he says, “I have sinned, because...”

When we obey, God doesn’t want to hear, “I obeyed, but.” And when we sin, He doesn’t want to hear, “I have sinned, because.” He wants unqualified repentance. If you are a parent, after you’ve caught your kid hitting someone else, when they are confessing, and they say “I hit him, but...,” or “I did it because,” you’ve probably interrupted them and said something along the lines of, “No buts. No becauses. You need to own up to what you did. Don’t make excuses.”

And then as you ask more questions, they keep changing their story just a little.

Saul is like a little kid here. This time Saul says that his reason for doing it is because he feared the people. I have a hard time believing that. He is a head taller than everyone else; he’s the king; and he has a track record of getting his army to do exactly what he says by threatening them.

Regardless, in verse 25, he asks Samuel go back with him to worship the Lord. In verse 26, Samuel tells him no, he repeats the message that God had rejected Saul as king, and he begins to walk away. Saul is desperate at this point, and in verse 27, he grabs the edge of Samuel’s robe, and it tears. Samuel used it as an object lesson, and says in verse 28, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.”

Saul changes his response to Samuel one last time. Take a look at verse 30:

“30 Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God." 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the LORD.”

I have sinned, yet honor me before the people...

There is a final admission of guilt, along with final request. Yet. And this request is very telling. It shows us a ton about Saul’s heart. “Don’t leave Samuel. Okay, yeah, I sinned. Okay, yeah, God’s favor has left me. Yet, would you do me one last favor? Will you honor me in front of all the people?”

Seriously? This is your primary concern at this point? First of all, it’s pretty audacious, wouldn’t you say? Secondly, there are more important matters to consider at the moment. How about forgiveness? How about the fact that the Lord has rejected you as king of His people?

And I don’t know why, but Samuel goes with him. In verses 32-33, since Saul didn’t do it, Samuel executes the king of Amalek.

Look with me at the last two verses of this chapter:

“34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

Samuel and Saul part ways. Though they will see each other again, Samuel would never again approach Saul or seek him out. Samuel grieved over Saul, and God is also grieved over Saul.

Make no mistake about it. When we look at Saul, we are looking at a picture of a person who estranged from God. It’s sad, isn’t it?

Yet the reality is, most of us probably know people who aren’t that different from Saul. Maybe you’re not that different.

You look at some people, and their life with God looked promising at one point. They at least appeared to know and follow God from outward appearances. But over time, because of partial obedience, because they were content with outward observance, because of compromised obedience and qualified repentance, over time they appear to be further and further away from God.

I know of a New Testament scholar who, as a teenager, expressed faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Over time, he went to an evangelical college, and then eventually went on to seminary, and even got his PhD.

As he got older though, he became disenchanted with the church, and a number of his questions were left unanswered. Now this man is an agnostic professor at a huge university who delights in sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of his students.

Well, what happened?

If you had met this guy when he was in college, you would have guessed that he would be doing great things for the Lord. But now look at him. I believe that he was more concerned with external observance over inward obedience, heartfelt devotion, and authentic worship.

Over time, people who wander away from the Lord will appear bitter and angry, isolated from God’s people, and hard hearted toward God.

And I think it all boils down to obedience; our intimacy with God is directly proportional to our obedience to Him. In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

A few verses later, in John 14:21, Jesus elaborated further: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

In other words, Jesus shows Himself to those who obey Him. Jesus continues with this theme into chapter 15, verse 10, where He gives a great promise to everyone who obeys Him: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

Isn’t that amazing? All who keep the commandments of Christ can rest in the fact that they will experience the richness of the love of Jesus, so much so that Jesus likens it to the perfect love that the Father shares with the Son.

Who would have thought that such intimacy with God can come from walking obediently with Him?

The trouble is, all of us at some time or another, wander. We disobey, we make excuses. We rebel and presume. We compromise and qualify what we’ve done wrong, and why we’ve done it.

So what do we do then? What do we do after we have disobeyed?

We confess.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, there’s forgiveness. We all sin. And any sin, however small, sets us on a trajectory that will eventually lead us to a place far from God. An airplane that’s just off course a couple of degrees will end up hundreds of miles from where it needs be.

And the same is true of us every time we sin. We need course corrections along the way. We need to confess. So whether you have never confessed your sin to the Lord, and confessed your need for a Savior, or whether you just confessed your sin this morning, it is it absolutely vital to our intimacy with Jesus. We need to be constantly confessing.

And so this morning, I want to impress upon all of us the need to keep short accounts with God. I want to ask you to search your heart and ask the Lord to show you if there is any unconfessed sin. Pray the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

You know, that was the prayer of the man who eventually replaced Saul as king - David. Though it had not been written yet, he knew the truth of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As David wrote in Ps. 103:12, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

What do you need to confess today? Don’t end up like Saul. Run to Jesus, who, because of His perfect obedience in life and even in death, won us freedom and forgiveness. Take a moment; ask God to search your heart. Ask Him to try your thoughts. Ask Him if there is any hurtful way in you.

Confess. Keep short accounts. And delight in knowing intimacy with God.

1 Samuel 14:23-52 - Blinded By Ambition

Sun, 15 May 2011 16:35:23 EST

When I read the Bible, sometimes I feel like I’m looking into a mirror. That’s exactly how I felt when I read the passage that we will be studying today. I’d like to call 1 Samuel 14, beginning in verse 23, through the end of the chapter, to your attention this morning.

Though I haven’t done the exact thing that we are going to see King Saul do here, I have, on numerous occasions, been blinded by my own ambition, just as he was. And so this morning, as we continue our series through the book of 1 Samuel together, I want to approach this text as a pilgrim who is still on the journey towards Christlikeness. I certainly haven’t arrived yet. I still struggle with the sin that we are going to see Saul commit; the consequences of this sin can be devastating.

But I thank God for the truth of Philippians 1:6, “that he who began a good work in [me] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” As I’ve heard Ben say before, “I’m not the man that I want to be, but I thank God that I’m not the man I used to be.” The Lord is still working on me in this area, so I approach this text hanging on to the promise of Romans 8:29, that God has “predestined me to be conformed to the image of His Son.” I’m so thankful for God’s grace, and His power to transform.

Why don’t you open your Bible to 1 Samuel 14?

Now before we get into the passage, let me set the stage for you briefly. In chapters 13, 14, and 15, we see the first king of Israel, Saul, repeatedly disobey God, which is about to cost him the kingdom. And last week, we worked our way through the first half of chapter 14, where Jonathan and his armor bearer went and picked a fight with the Philistines. Even though Israel only had a couple of swords, and not nearly as many men, God gave them victory in battle.

That section ends with the encouraging words of verse 23, which says, “So the LORD saved Israel that day. And the battle passed beyond Beth-aven.” The LORD saved Israel that day. Good stuff.

But now take a look at the next verse, verse 24: “And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day.” Isn’t that interesting? The Lord saved Israel that day, but the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day.

Well, how’s that? The rest of verse 24 tells us: “Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.’ So none of the people had tasted food.”

The passage doesn’t come out and say it explicitly, but I can’t help but think that Saul is feeling a little jealous of his son here. Jonathan was quite a soldier. In chapter 13, verse 3, when we are first introduced to him, we read that “Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines,” but in the next verse it says, “And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines.”

Now here in chapter 14, the first 23 verses describe how Jonathan again takes the lead, and attacks the Philistines while his father, the King, who is supposed to be leading the men into battle, is sitting on the sidelines because he doesn’t know what to do.

When we read in verse 23 that the Lord saved Israel that day, it’s clear who God’s agent of salvation was: God worked through Jonathan. Again.

So after the initial heat of the battle, Saul decides, in his words, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies."

This morning, I want to contend that Saul was blinded by his own ambition.

It wasn’t good enough that the Lord had delivered Israel that day. Saul wanted more. He wanted credit. He wanted respect. He wanted to be the guy who saved the day. And in his rage, Saul makes a very rash statement: “No one eats until I am avenged.”

Really, Israel had already been avenged in the first 23 verses. They won by a landslide.

No, this is not about justice, or the honor of God’s name. This is Saul’s attempt to make a greater name for himself. This is selfish ambition. And the first result of this blind ambition is Saul’s curse on anyone who eats before evening.

Now, let’s be clear. Saul is adding to Scripture here. As verse 24 says, “he laid an oath on the people.” He put this additional weight, this additional requirement that God had not established, and made his men follow it. This wasn’t a fast, where Saul was seeking God’s face through prayer. This was just Saul, in his attempt to demonstrate his seriousness, adding to what God had required of His people.

Saul, because his ambition, was blinded to the sufficiency of God’s Word.

Now think about this. I believe that this is often the case when we are overcome with selfish ambition. We begin to doubt the sufficiency of the Word of God and add extra requirements to those that God has given.

We quit believing that His grace is sufficient, and add that it would be sufficient if we could just have the respect of our coworkers as well. We quit believing that we are more than conquerers just because He loves us, and we add that we need to conquer a certain test or obtain a certain degree if our lives are to have any value. We quit resting in the fact that we have been adopted and forgiven, and begin striving to be accomplished and promoted. We quit caring that God calls us children; we would rather that others call us cultivated.

And the unfortunate result of being blinded to the sufficiency of God’s Word is that ultimately, our view of God is distorted. Instead of a viewing Him as our loving Father, who gives us grace though we don’t deserve it, we begin to see Him as someone whose love must be earned.

Sadly, selfish ambition like this usually doesn’t stop with just us. It also affects others. Take a look at verse 25:

“25 Now when all the people came to the forest, behold, there was honey on the ground. 26 And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. 27 But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright. 28 Then one of the people said, "Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed be the man who eats food this day.'" And the people were faint. 29 Then Jonathan said, "My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great." 31 They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint.”

So, the people start pursuing the Philistines, and when they get to the forest, there’s honey on the ground. Now if you remember, that region was referred to as the land flowing with milk and honey. Apparently there were ground bees that made honey in this area, hence the name.

But because of Saul’s oath, no one dared have any, because they are all afraid, as verse 26 says. If you take another look at verse 31, it says that they struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, which is a good 15 plus mile trek over some rugged terrain. Verse 28 says that the people were faint. Verse 31 says that the people were very faint.

Now, imagine being in battle, and the energy it would take just to not get killed. Add on top of that the fact that you are chasing people down who are running for their lives. You do this for 15 or more miles. Oh, and by the way, you can’t eat anything until evening.

Well, the men are exhausted, and they are ravenous. But I don’t think Saul even cares. You see, because of his selfish ambition, Saul was blinded to the needs of those around him.

And I think that this is something that all of us who struggle with selfish ambition need to be careful about. I know that I have done this before, especially with my children. I can get so caught up in all of the things that I want to do, all of the things that I want to accomplish, that I end up blinded to the very real needs of people who are around me.

As many of you know, last month my wife and I attended the Gospel Coalition National Conference in Chicago. It was a great time for us to get to go away, and spend some time with each other, and worship together. My parents came into town and watched our children, so it was just the two of us.

At this conference, over 4500 pastors came from around the world, all of us there because of our agreement that the gospel needs to be at the center of all that we do. One of the pastors who attended the conference is a really good friend of mine named Dave. Dave is a pastor in Ohio, and he and his wife used to serve on staff with Campus Crusade on the same team as me and my wife.

So it was a joy to see them, and spend time with the two of them. And I told Dave last month about something he did eight years ago that changed my life. (By the way, that was terrible of me. If someone does something that impacts you deeply, don’t let eight years go by before you tell that person!)

Anyway, eight years ago, our families went on vacation together. One of their family members had a condo at the beach that they let us stay at for free, so we were in a city that we know very well. We needed some groceries, and we didn’t know where to go, so Dave and I took a trip to the local 7/11 gas station.

Now, my whole life, I’ve gone to the store, or to a gas station, and I don’t ever remember feeling like I was having a life changing experience, but this was a unique day. Because, for the first time in my life, as I watched Dave interact with the check out person, I realized that there was actually a person behind the counter, and not an obstacle to the rest of my day. I watched Dave as he joked with the cashier, and smiled, told her he hoped that she had a great day.

It’s sad that throughout my entire life, I had been so consumed with my own agenda, that I had never seen everyday people through the eyes of Jesus. Dave helped me do that.

Now listen, I was in full time ministry at the time! I was active in reaching out, telling people about Jesus, leading in the church. But only when it served my own selfish ambition.

Ultimately, selfish ambition not only distorts our view of God. It also distorts our view of others. Instead of being people needing love, and worthy of our time, they become obstacles in the way of us accomplishing our goals. People become disposable, stepping stones, for us to walk on if that’s what it takes for us to realize our selfish desires.

And that’s exactly what Saul was doing with his men. The problem was, while Saul was angry, and ranting about how he was going to avenge his enemies, and how no one could eat until he saved the day, Jonathan was actually out saving the day. So he didn’t hear any of Saul’s threats not to eat.

And naturally, when he got hungry, verse 27 tells us that he ate. Well, by this time, he had rejoined the rest of the group, and verse 28 says that one of the other soldiers filled him in on what Saul had said. In the next two verses, Jonathan basically says that his father made a boneheaded move, and that the victory could have been even greater if Saul hadn’t forbidden his men from eating.

In fact, Saul’s undue burden leads to sin among the people. Look down to verse 32:

“32 The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood. 33 Then they told Saul, "Behold, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood." And he said, "You have dealt treacherously; roll a great stone to me here." 34 And Saul said, "Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, 'Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.'" So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there. 35 And Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar that he built to the LORD.”

As soon as it was okay for the people to eat, they pounced on their food like a pack of wolves. They killed the animals on the ground, not up on an altar, and they didn’t wait for the blood to be drained.

Instead, they just began to feast on these animals with the blood still in them, which God had told the people of Israel not to do in Leviticus 19:26.

Now think about this. Saul had put an oath on the people not to eat. It was an additional regulation on top of God’s Word. As soon as the people were given the chance, they rebelled against one of the regulations that is part of God’s Word. I think that we can learn something about legalism here. When we become legalistic, and burden other people by adding to what God has said, oftentimes, instead of those people living in conformity to God’s Word, at the first sight of freedom, they will rebel.

Adding to Scripture does not ensure obedience to it. In fact, it encourages rebellion. This would be a good thing for parents to take note of, especially in relation to how we raise our children.

But let’s keep moving. After being notified of the people’s sin, verse 35 tells us that Saul built an altar there, presumably as a place where the blood could be drained. That’s a good thing. But then the Scripture makes a note to tell us that this is the first altar that Saul had ever built to the Lord. It could just be a statement of fact, or that little addition could be another commentary on Saul’s apparent lack of devotion to the Lord.

Regardless, Saul still doesn’t feel like he’s been avenged yet. He still hasn’t received the credit that he desires, and so verse 36 tells us, “Then Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light; let us not leave a man of them." And they said, "Do whatever seems good to you."

The people say, “Okay Saul, uh, whatever you say...” But the end of verse 36 says that the priest piped up and suggested, “Let us draw near to God here.” In other words, the priest is saying, “Maybe we should ask God what He wants us to do?”

So Saul takes the advice. Look down to verse 37:

“37 And Saul inquired of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But he did not answer him that day. 38 And Saul said, "Come here, all you leaders of the people, and know and see how this sin has arisen today. 39 For as the LORD lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die." But there was not a man among all the people who answered him. 40 Then he said to all Israel, "You shall be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side." And the people said to Saul, "Do what seems good to you."”

So Saul decides to seek God’s direction here, but God doesn’t respond. God is silent. That doesn’t make Saul very happy. Remember, at this point, he is consumed with selfish ambition. So Saul calls all of his men over, and in verses 38 and 39 he says that he wants to see how this sin has arisen. Well, it’s pretty obvious as we read this passage how the sin has arisen, but Saul can’t see clearly right now. He’s blinded by ambition.

So he gathers all of his soldiers, and draws a line in the sand. All the soldiers are on one side. Saul and his son are on the other. He’s basically saying, “One of you guys have sinned.” The funny thing about this is that a bunch of them were just sinning. You don’t need to seek special direction from the Lord to be able to determine that!

But the real question here that Saul never really entertains is whether it is their sin, or his own, which explains why God is silent. Again, the people are recorded as saying, “Do what seems good to you.” “Okay Saul, uh, whatever you say...”

So Saul proceeds with his plan. Take a look at verses 41-42:

“41 Therefore Saul said, "O LORD God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O LORD, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim." And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped. 42 Then Saul said, "Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan." And Jonathan was taken.”

Now you may be wondering what Urim and Thummim refer to. They were used to determine God’s will when it was in doubt. We don’t know exactly what they were, except that they had something to do with the breastplate that the high priest would wear when he went into Tabernacle for worship. Matthew Henry says, “Urim and Thummim signify light and integrity. There are many conjectures what these were; the most probable opinion seems to be, that they were the twelve precious stones in the high priest's breastplate.”

So there you go. Whatever the exact nature of these things were, they were used to determine God’s will. So Saul uses them to find out who’s in sin. They apparently indicate that it’s Saul and Jonathan. I’m sure that there was a look of shock on Saul’s face - “How could it be us?”

So now they do it again, to determine between the two of them. And it says that Jonathan was taken.

Now, there are things in Scripture that are difficult to understand, and for me, this is one of them. Of all the people that we’ve read about in this chapter, Jonathan is the one guy that hasn’t sinned! The people ate food with the blood still in it. In his quest for personal glory, Saul has added to Scripture and ignored the needs of his men.

As far as I can tell, Jonathan is the one guy who has been faithful to God through this whole battle. Yeah, he unknowingly ate honey when he wasn’t supposed to, but that was an oath that Saul had put on the people, not God’s Word.

So I don’t believe that Jonathan is in sin here. But he is the one who broke his father’s command.

Obviously, if you were the king, trying to figure out why God isn’t speaking to you, and you cast lots, asking God to show you the guilty party, and everything points to your son as the problem, you’re going to want to know what’s going on.

That’s exactly what Saul was feeling. Take a look at verses 43-44:

“43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." And Jonathan told him, "I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I will die." 44 And Saul said, "God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan."”

I like how the New Living Translation puts it:

“43 “Tell me what you have done,” Saul demanded of Jonathan. “I tasted a little honey,” Jonathan admitted. “It was only a little bit on the end of my stick. Does that deserve death?” 44 “Yes, Jonathan,” Saul said, “you must die! May God strike me and even kill me if you do not die for this.””

Saul is ready to put his own son to death because he unknowingly disobeyed a command that Saul should have never made in the first place. You see, Saul is on a mission here, for the fame of his own name.
Anything that gets in the way of that is a problem. Even his own son becomes dispensable.

What’s amazing to me is how Saul can’t see anything straight at this point. He’s so caught up in selfish ambition that he is even blind to his own condition. I just want to grab Saul by the shoulders and shake him, and say, “Look at yourself, man! Can’t you see what you are doing? What is wrong with you?”

But that’s what selfish ambition does. It’s dangerous when we get so caught up in our own personal ambitions, because we will walk on anyone getting in the way of our goals, even our own children! But we can’t even see that, because our ambition distorts our view of God, others, and even our view of ourself.

We can justify whatever it is that we may be doing, because it advances our cause for self-glory. We can be very self-righteous about it: “Well, he did this, and so I had to do that.”

But I think that it would be wise this morning for all of us to ask God for the grace to be able to see ourselves clearly in this respect. You may want to ask someone who is close to you, someone who you can trust, if they see selfish ambition in you. It may be that those around you can see your condition better than you can yourself.

That certainly was the case for Saul. What he was blind to was very apparent to everyone else. After threatening to kill his own son, and putting himself under (another!) oath if he didn’t, the other soldiers can’t bear it anymore and step in.

Take a look at verses 45-46:

“45 Then the people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die. 46 Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.”

So the people intervene, Jonathan is rescued, and ironically, Saul’s curse falls on himself. Not that it has any power.

But, this is quite a bit to digest all at once, and I think that all of this can be discouraging if we aren’t careful here. So I want to be careful not to send you away thinking that now your job is to go home and not be blinded by selfish ambition. If I sent you home only with that idea, I would be teaching you Christless morality.

I am not suggesting that the sanctification process, that process in which we become more and more like Jesus, will happen apart from any effort in us. God desires our participation; we are called to strive after holiness. That’s why Philippians 2:12 can say that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. So yes, in one sense, we should go home and strive to not be blinded by our own aspirations.

But that being said, apart from the gospel, you and I have no power keep from being blinded by selfish pursuits. So I want to make that very clear this morning, and consider the question, “How does the gospel apply to selfish ambition?”

In particular, how does it apply to the ways it distorts our thinking?

I just want to briefly address how the gospel is the answer to this problem.

First, we saw that selfish ambition blinds us to the sufficiency of God’s Word, thereby distorting our view of who God is.

The gospel tells us that we aren’t enough. We already know that; that’s why we are tempted to add to God’s Word. But if we take the time to listen to the whole gospel, it also tells us that the Father is enough. It tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It tells us that we could never earn one iota of merit or favor from God by our actions, and so instead of striving after goals in hopes to please God, we are free from pursuing selfish ambition. We are free from chasing after accomplishments in hopes that it will make ourselves good enough to be accepted by God.

As Romans 8:1 states, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” See, the gospel shows us that God is our loving Father who calls us to Himself. He’s not a taskmaster who’s never satisfied, who’s always angry, who places constant demands on you that you can never live up to.

But, if you have never come to place your hope in Jesus to save you, then yes, God’s standards are too high, and you will never meet them. Because no one can live up to the standard of perfection and unstained holiness. If that’s where you are at, then all you can see is God as our Judge, but not God as our Father. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The Bible says that you need to repent and believe in the gospel. You need to turn away from sin and turn to Jesus, the only Savior, who paid the penalty for sin, and trust in Him alone to save you.

Once God has saved you, we need to constantly look to the gospel. This morning, if you struggle with selfish ambition, so much so that you doubt the sufficiency of God’s Word, and it has distorted your view of who God is, look to the gospel. He is our loving Father.

Second, we saw that selfish ambition blinds us to the needs of those around us, thereby distorting our view of others. Again, the gospel is the answer.

In Christ, all of our needs our met. His grace is sufficient. He has given us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness.

He’s the Bread of Life, who satisfies our hunger; He’s the Living Water, who satisfies our thirst. And because our every need, our every longing, and every desire are met, and can be satisfied in Him, now we are free to look to the needs of others. We don’t need to step on people to accomplish our desires. Our desires can be satisfied when we feast on who God is, and when we delight in Him as the great ambition of our lives. He becomes our pursuit, our greatest Treasure.

When that happens, our cup overflows. When we drink deeply of Jesus, rivers of living water flow out of our heart toward others. Because we’ve become full, we can now pour out our lives for the sake of those around us. We can give instead of taking from others, because we have so richly received.

This morning, if you struggle with selfish ambition, so much so that it has distorted your view of other people and you tend to be blind to the needs of others, you need to look to the gospel. Your deepest desires can be satisfied in Jesus, freeing you to serve those around you.

Third, we saw that selfish ambition can blind us even to our own condition.

At the risk of sounding terribly redundant, the gospel is the answer.

Like I said before, the gospel doesn’t pull any punches when talking about the state of fallen humanity. Without Jesus, we are lost, blinded, walking in darkness, craving after sin.

The gospel shows us our depravity, and because it shows us our depravity, it also shows us our desperate need of grace. It keeps us humble; it’s a constant reminder that we are what we are by the grace of God.

So this morning, if you are struggling with selfish ambition to the degree that it has blinded you to your own condition, remember the gospel. You are who you are only by the grace of Jesus. You are here today because of His lavish grace.

If we ever think that we are beyond the gospel, and we need more meat, God have mercy on us. It’s our only hope.

Let’s finish reading chapter 14:

“47 When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned he routed them. 48 And he did valiantly and struck the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.
49 Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn was Merab, and the name of the younger Michal. 50 And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. 51 Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. 52 There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.”

This is an interesting place to summarize Saul’s career. He doesn’t die until chapter 31.

And it is striking to me how successful his career was. In terms of military accomplishment, he defeated his enemies to the north, south, east, and west. Acts 13:21 tells us that he reigned as king for 40 years.

His ambition led him places. And I’m not going to lie to you. Your resume could look like this at the end of your life if you allow your selfish ambition to consume you and blind you to everything that’s around you.

You may have great success.

But despite his great success and all of his accomplishments as a leader, his life wasn’t pleasing to God. In the next chapter, chapter 15 verse 11, we are going to read these words that come from the mouth of God Himself:

11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments."

In the end, Saul followed his dreams, his goals, and his ambitions, but he turned his back from following the only thing that truly matters - God.

If we hope to avoid following that same path, we must all look to the gospel.

1 Samuel 14:1-23 - Make War

Sun, 08 May 2011 12:31:47 EST

I love watching war movies, but unless you’ve served in the military, or have a family member who does, on occasion those movies can seem so far removed from our context that it’s hard to relate.

I think that this is even more true when reading our Bibles. We read about battles and war, and I think that oftentimes many of us must wonder, “How in the world is this story about war from 3000 years ago supposed to relate to me?”

And because the church has by and large failed to answer that question, a lot of folks steer clear of passages like the one that we’ve come to today in our study through 1 Samuel. Even more, I want to contend that because we have not made this connection, the church has lost a lot of men. More often than not, we tell guys that the totality of their Christian duty is to be nice.

If that’s what you’ve gleaned from your past exposure to the church, I would like to push back against that today. I want to suggest that Christianity is nothing less than full blown war.

Now we are going to be covering a lot of ground today, and it may be a bit like drinking from a fire hydrant, so you may want to take some extra notes to be able to chew on this some during the week.

1. Christianity is war against the sin that dwells in us.

James 4:1 asks the question, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

1 Peter 2:11 affirms the same thing: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

2. Christianity is war against worldly ideas that set themselves in opposition to God.

2 Cor 10:3-5 says, “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”

3. Christianity is war against satan and other demonic forces.

Eph 6:11-12 makes this very clear, “11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Christianity is war against the sin that indwells us, ideas of the world that snare us, and demonic forces that attack us. But it is not war against people. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

4. Christianity is war for the souls of people.

Paul makes it clear in 2 Cor. 5:18, “All this is from God, who through Christ was reconciling the world to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,” and then down in verse 20, “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”

You see, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we’ve been called into the front lines of battle. It is not a battle against people, but it is nothing less than a battle for the souls of people.

Now let me be very clear. We can rest in the fact that God is sovereign in salvation, but yet, in His sovereign plan, He has deployed us onto the battle field.

So, men, if you’ve been under the impression that your Christian duty is to make nice, I want to call you into another kind of service today - to employ weapons with divine power that destroy strongholds, to wrestle against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, to make war against the sin that indwells us, and to fight for the hearts of others.

We are in full blown war.

If we are going to be engaged in this kind of battle, I think that it would be worthwhile for us to take a fresh look at the scene recorded in 1 Samuel 14. Go ahead and turn there in your Bible.

Let’s read it together, 1 Samuel 14:

“1 One day Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side." But he did not tell his father. 2 Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah in the pomegranate cave at Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men, 3 including Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the LORD in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.”

Now, if you remember from last week, this is just the continuation of the story from chapter 13. That chapter was dealing with the prelude to a battle with the Philistines, but here in chapter 14 is where the battle really busts loose.

Saul had an army of 3000 men, but most of the guys had run off to hide in holes and caves and even tombs. Some just high-tailed it out of the entire vicinity. It looks like, at this point, Saul has about 600 men left.

On the other hand, Chapter 13, verse 5, tells us that the Philistines have so many warriors that they are like the sand on the seashore. Israel is terribly outmanned. Chapter 13, verses 19-23 also tells us that the Philistines were more advanced than the Israelites in metal-making.

Now remember, this is 3000 years ago, and metal-making was a new technology. So on top of the fact that the Philistines had way more soldiers, they were also dominating Israel in the arms race. In fact, that passage says that Israel only had two swords - one for King Saul, and one for his son, Jonathan! The rest of the Israelite army was carrying around farm equipment as weapons for battle.

The situation looks pretty bleak for the Israelites.

But this chapter is where Jonathan grabs hold of a God-moment, and doesn’t let go. If we, as Christians, are going to engage in war against our sinful flesh, against the false ideas of the world, against satan, and for the souls of people, then we could learn some things about war from Jonathan.

Now, this is a passage that has been very influential in my life since my college days. So I was delighted when, somewhere along the way, I stumbled onto a book which unpacks 1 Samuel 14 called Seizing Your Divine Moment by Erwin McManus. This morning I’m going to be using some of his material.

In his book, McManus identifies 8 phases from discovering a divine moment all the way through to the awakening that can result when we take a risk for God. I’m going to use those eight phases as a skeleton outline for our time today, but much of the meat that we hang on that skeleton will be my own.

So let’s get to it. The first phase in the battle that we notice is that Jonathan takes

1) Initiative

Jonathan grabs his armor bearer, the dude who carried his sword or shield, or whatever, and he says, “Let’s go.” Jonathan decides that it’s time to go pick a fight with the Philistines.

He knew that God wanted to give Israel victory over the Philistines, and so he took the initiative and went for it. He did something, something that he knew was according to the heart of God.

You know, Christians can be a bit like a deer in the headlights. We are the frozen chosen, sitting around waiting for Jesus to come back. Oftentimes we don't do anything.

That may be for a variety of reasons: it could be fear, it could be lack of knowledge, it could be flat out laziness. And it could be because we don’t know what God’s will in the matter is.

But I think that we need to be careful here. Certainly there are things in our lives where we don’t know what exactly God’s direction may be, so it is wise to not do anything until we get some clarity. Yet at the same time we need to be careful that this doesn’t become a crutch, because there are many areas where the Bible makes things crystal clear.

And McManus points out that we may even use prayer as an excuse here. The places in the Bible where God has made His intentions clear are not negotiable for us; therefore, there is no need to pray about some things.

Let me give you some examples. If you are sleeping with someone you aren’t married to, the Bible calls that sin. You don’t need to pray to figure out God’s will in the matter. Now, maybe you need to pray for His strength to walk in purity, but not about what He wants you to do.

Let me give you another example. Once you have become a believer in Jesus, the Bible tells us to be baptized. If you’ve never been baptized before as a believer, come tell me. We would love to baptize you. You probably don’t need to pray about that if you’re a believer who has never done that before. You should just do it.

Here’s another one: Praying for others. One time I challenged a guy I knew to pray for his neighbors, and his response to me was that he would pray about it. Now think about that response. He was going to pray about whether he should pray for his neighbors. Don’t you think that it would make more sense just to pray for your neighbors during that same time?

Some things God has made very clear for us, and it’s time for us to just go do them. It’s a matter of obedience.

And you know, we have the advantage over Jonathan here, because we live after the time when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sin and rose again.

We live after the Great Commission, which Jesus gave to us in Matthew 28:18-20, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

You see, all authority has been given to Jesus Christ, and He is commanding us to go - go and tell other people about Jesus, go and teach other people the Bible.

We have been commanded by the risen Christ to take the initiative on the battle lines of making disciples. The question is, “Are we?”

Let’s keep going. Take a look at verse 4:

“4 Within the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side and a rocky crag on the other side. The name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The one crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba. 6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can hinder the LORD from saving by many or by few."”

When we do take the initiative, we will undoubtedly feel some of what Jonathan must have felt:

2) Uncertainty

It’s interesting how the author describes the scene here. There are these two rocky crags, these cliffs on either side that Jonathan has to climb up to even get to the Philistines. These cliffs have names: Bozez and Seneh, which basically mean “Slippery” and “Thorny” (Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Samuel, 142). In other words, they are virtually impassable.

Now, it doesn’t take a war mastermind to figure out that this isn’t a very favorable position to be attacking from. If the Philistines see them climbing up, all they’ve got to do in push a couple big rocks off the edge, and Jonathan and the armor bearer are goners. It’s not like these two stopped off at REI before the climb, and they’ve got a bunch of sweet climbing gear. These guys are completely exposed, climbing up the side of a slippery, thorny cliff on their hands and feet.

Do you see how Jonathan invites his armor bearer into this whole thing? Look at verse 6: “It may be that the LORD will work for us.” How’s that for confidence? There’s uncertainty here. Jonathan doesn't presume upon God; he knows that there’s no guaranteed success.

And I think that’s something that all of us need to keep in mind as we consider our calling into the front lines of battle for the souls of people. We have been called into the thick of action, we’ve been told what we need to do, we’ve been given our marching orders, and so we take initiative to do it despite the fact that the entire enterprise is shrouded with uncertainty.

The reality is that the circumstances look very bleak here for Jonathan. Israel is outmanned and outgunned. Jonathan got a wild hair and decided to go into battle with only one other guy. They are climbing up a steep crag just to get to the enemy.

The odds are stacked against them, as they are in almost any battle worth fighting. But Jonathan decides to do something that’s in line with God's heart, and he lets God determine the outcome.

We too may feel uncertain about the specific direction of where we may be taking the initiative to make kingdom impact, but I want to encourage you that you if you’re feeling scared about doing the wrong thing, you need to know that you cannot thwart God’s sovereignty.

He doesn’t give us a map with each step along the way, and there may need to be some course corrections as we follow His leading, but you don’t need to be held hostage and unable to move because there’s some uncertainty about what exactly to do, where to go, or how to do it.

There’s always uncertainty.

But even in the uncertainty, Jonathan states a truth that should sustain us in the middle of this kind of battle: Take another look at verse 6: “nothing can hinder the Lord from saving!” Nothing! Not your lack of direction, or lack of skill, or fear, or uncertainty.

And, as verse 6 ends, God can save “by many or by few!” That’s a huge encouragement to me. You don’t need a bunch of people to go to war. God only needs one. He only needs one man, one woman, one child who is willing and ready to do every single thing He tells them to do in absolute obedience. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving!

God is not restrained to save by many or by few! He can change a nation through the largest church in the world. Yoido Full Gospel Church, in Seoul, South Korea, according to Wikipedia, has a membership of 1 million people. They have done so much to impact South Korea. God can save by many.

But He can also save when there’s only a few! China, the largest nation in the world, with 1.3 billion people, has largely been penetrated by the gospel through the work of unknown men and women involved in house churches.

We don’t have to be a mega-church for God to use us in this city of 2.5 million people where 90-95% of our population is unchurched and/or lost without Jesus. We don’t have to have it all figured out!

Despite our uncertainty, this is one thing that we can be certain about! Nothing can hinder the Lord! And He can save by many, or by few.

So how do we move forward? Well, Jonathan started by using his

3) Influence

Look at verse 7. It says, “And his armor-bearer said to him, ‘Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.’”

McManus makes an interesting point here: Jonathan operates within his sphere of influence. He doesn't try to persuade his father, Saul, to come on this mission. He doesn’t attempt to rouse the entire army.

He didn’t have enough influence to convince them to go on a crazy mission like this.

But with his armor-bearer, he could throw out a crazy idea like this, give no guarantee of success, and this guy responds, “Do everything that’s in your heart and mind. I’m with you heart and soul,” even though he didn’t even have his own sword.

That’s influence.

Either this guy had a death wish, or Jonathan had earned this guy’s trust and respect over time.

See, you may feel like you have no idea where to start. You may be thinking, “How am I supposed to make Kingdom impact, Mike? How am I supposed to do that?”

Well, I would suggest that you take a leaf out of Jonathan’s notebook, and begin following the marching orders that Jesus gave His disciples in the Great Commission: Make disciples. Find a person in your life with whom you have some influence, and then begin to spend time with that person, encouraging them in their walk with the Lord.

Challenge them to go hard after Christ, point them to the places where Jesus is at work through them and around them, encourage them to develop a devotional life of prayer and Scripture reading, and then do what Jonathan did - take them with you as you follow God’s leading.

If you go out to feed the homeless, take them with you to do it. If you find another person who needs to be discipled, take them with you to go meet with that person. Live life with them, and begin to model for them what it means to be on mission with God. And if we do that, pretty soon we will have people so committed to us that they will follow us even into war.

But it would be untruthful of me to paint a picture that’s exciting, yet without danger. It would be wrong of me to portray the idea that being called into the front lines of battle for the souls of people is without

4) Risk

There is risk involved. Very real risk.

“8 Then Jonathan said, "Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up, for the LORD has given them into our hand. And this shall be the sign to us." 11 So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, "Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves."”

Jonathan knows that this venture may end up ugly. His strategy is terrible. Here it is. He says, “Let’s go up, and say, ‘Hey guys, look over here!’” There is no element of surprise in this attack. This isn’t some stealth op. Jonathan says, “We’re going to go up and wave our hands around until they see us.”

Then in verses 9-10, Jonathan says, “Once they see us, we will just stand there and wait to hear what they have to say. If they say, ‘Wait,’ well, we will just wait, because we are pretty much dead anyway. But if they say, ‘Come over here,’ well that’s good news; we will take that as a sign that God is going to rescue us.”

The reality is that Jonathan and his armor-bearer could end up dead. Their effort to attack the Philistines could fail.

And so could we. We have no guarantee of safety or ease when it comes to following Jesus. I know that I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating again: Being in the center of God’s will is not the safest place that you can be. It’s the best place for you to be. In terms of your eternal safety, that’s the place to be.

But as far as safety in this life, the center of God’s will tends to be anything but safe. I don’t think that the missionary Jim Eliot and his four companions sensed that they were in the safest place when they were being speared to death by the people they had come to tell about Jesus, but I can guarantee you they believed that they were in the center of the will of God for their lives.

I highly doubt that the early Christians, while they were being thrown into the Roman coliseum to be eaten by wild animals, felt very safe. Yet they died in the assurance that they were right where God wanted them to be.

If knowing God’s will and following it perfectly means that we will live a life without risk, without pain, without suffering, and only prosperity, then how did Jesus ever end up on that cross at Golgotha, with nails being driven into His hands, so that we might have life?

We often think that God calls us to an easy, safe life, but He has not. He has called us to the front lines of battle. He has called us to lay down our lives for the sake of others.

I was talking to Ben last week about this passage, and about war. He spent some time overseas in the military after 9/11, and he was telling me that there has to be an abandonment of any and all self-preservation for the sake of those around you in this kind of setting, even in the midst of great fear.

Is there risk? Absolutely. Could you fail? Yes.

But then is it worth it? You better believe it. It is absolutely worth it.

Listen to these words from Erwin McManus on this, “We do well to remember that even in battles that are counted as victories, the winning side has many soldiers who died in the engagement. And so while the nation has a story of conquest, victory, and freedom, the individual might have a substory of conflict, suffering, and defeat. It is only because his life is interconnected to the broader story that his death gains both meaning and victory” (pg 139-140).

And let me assure you of this today. Though your substory, if you take the initiative to make Kingdom impact in the midst of uncertainty and risk, may lead to failure or even death, because your life is connected to the broader story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, you are still on the winning side! Your sacrifice for the sake of others mirrors that of the Savior.

You see, we are free to give our lives away with the assurance that in Jesus, regardless of whether we have apparent success in this life, we are the victors. As Jesus taught in John 12:24-25:

“24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Risk is still scary, but because of this truth, we can move out with the faith of guys like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. When being threatened with death, they could say, “Our God who we serve is able to deliver us out of your hand, but even if He doesn’t, we still won’t serve your gods or worship the golden image that you’ve set up.”

Sometimes we need to stick our necks out where their is no room for retreat. There is only one option.

5) Advance

Take a look at verse 12:

“12 And the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, "Come up to us, and we will show you a thing." And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Come up after me, for the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel."”

God was going to give Jonathan victory in battle, but He's not fighting the battle without their participation. They have to advance.

And generally, when it’s time to advance, you don’t have enough resources. These guys didn’t. Gideon didn’t. In fact, most of the Bible describes this to be the case, and I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t intentional on God’s part.

Of course they don’t have enough resources! This is where God’s glory shines. We are inadequate, insufficient, ill-equipped. But He is more than adequate, His grace is sufficient, and He equips us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

And I realize that advancing can be really scary to do, but to walk with Jesus is to stand on the battle line where light meets darkness, even though we don’t have adequate resources to accomplish the task. Again, this is where God’s shows Himself as great.

Have you noticed before, in reading through the spiritual armor that Paul describes in Ephesians chapter 6, that there is no armor for your backside? There’s a belt, and breastplate, and shoes. There’s a shield, a helmet, and a sword. Nothing is mentioned for your back, because there is only one direction that we are meant to head toward as Christians, and that’s forward.

In fact, the only thing I see in all of Scripture protecting us from behind is in Isaiah 58:8, where it says that the glory of the Lord will be our rear guard. We are called to advance.

And we need to remember that as Christians, today’s step of faith is tomorrow’s normality. So we don’t just get to take one scary step of faith, and then never move again. We are always called to move forward and to advance further as we engage in the battle for the souls of people.

When we advance, this is where we begin to see real Kingdom

6) Impact

Take a look at verses 13-14:

“13 Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, and his armor-bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer killed them after him. 14 And that first strike, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, killed about twenty men within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land."

In battle, at some point, there is always going to be impact, both on the enemy, as well as yourself. Don’t think that Jonathan didn’t break a sweat here. I’m sure that he was scared, and he was fighting as hard as he possibly could.

Like that song by Tedashii called "Make War", Jonathan is fighting like it’s after school! He’s going after it. They are falling right and left as Jonathan led the charge, and then his armor-bearer is batting clean-up after him. He finishes these guys off.

Jonathan is running into Philistines, slashing, knocking them with his shield, one after the other. By the time twenty of them have fallen, you just about guarantee that Jonathan is bruised up one side and down the other.

That’s what happens in making Kingdom impact. The one at the front is often the one who bears much of the blow. It’s scary, and it takes a toll on person at the front, at the tip of the spear, and it’s hard work.

But at this point in the ball game, after you’ve taken the initiative, advancing despite risk and uncertainty, there’s only one other option after you’ve felt the blow of opposition, or the impact of a adversity.

You can run away and quit, settling for mediocrity. Or you fight, relying upon the grace and perseverance that God provides. Now listen, I know that it is scary to take a risk for God, and tell your neighbor about Jesus, or go downtown and feed the homeless, or lead a small group, or start up a new ministry or mission agency, or begin to give 10% of your income away, or to ask your waitress if you can pray for her.

I realize that it’s scary.

I was scared out of my wits when I believed that God was telling me to sell my home, leave staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, move my wife and three children across the country, and start up a new church with no money and no people.

It was very scary. And there’s been a lot of opposition. Sometimes I wonder whether the impact that we’ve made is as large as the impact that I’ve taken. Guys, I’m a coward and I’m a quitter. I don’t like fighting.

But I can testify to the truth that Jesus sustains those who get the wind knocked out of them from the intensity of the impact after advancing into enemy territory. I can testify to the truth that McManus claims when he writes that "the courage we often need to engage our greatest challenge can be found only in the midst of engaging that challenge."

Take heart. Move forward. Lower your shoulder. And prepare for impact.

We do it for one reason.

7) Movement

After Jonathan and his armor-bearer move in, and the initial impact of battle is over, something amazing happens that neither one of them anticipated. Take a look at verse 15:

“15 And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic.”

The earth quaked. There was movement.

This can’t be explained as a result of Jonathan. It has nothing to do with him. He couldn’t manufacture this. This movement is God at work.

A similar thing happened in Acts 4:31, where it is recorded that after the disciples had prayed, “the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

I love that. The place where they had prayed was shaken. Movement.

I believe that God can still shake nations. He can still create movements. He is still mighty to save, He is still active in our world, and He can still do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, as Eph. 3:20 states. Our dream for this church is that it wouldn’t just be a place where people attend once or twice a week, but that we would be a movement of people radically abandoned unto God.

O God, shake nations!

And when that happens, we can have the joy of seeing genuine

8) Awakening

Look at what happens when God begins to move:

“16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude was dispersing here and there. 17 Then Saul said to the people who were with him, "Count and see who has gone from us." And when they had counted, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. 18 So Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring the ark of God here." For the ark of God went at that time with the people of Israel. 19 Now while Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand." 20 Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and went into the battle. And behold, every Philistine’s sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion. 21 Now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before that time and who had gone up with them into the camp, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise, when all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too followed hard after them in the battle. 23 So the LORD saved Israel that day. And the battle passed beyond Beth-aven.”

McManus points out four groups of people who are awakened to God’s activity through Jonathan’s initiative here.

First, the faithful are unleashed. We’ve already spent some time looking at him, but remember the Armor-bearer. This is a normal guy who doesn’t have a very glamorous position. His job to carry a sword until it’s time to fight, when he’s supposed to give it away. But he’s faithful. And when Jonathan calls him into the battle, he responds like a champ. Faithful people around you will be caught up in God’s work when you follow Him with absolute abandon.

Second, the apathetic are ignited. Saul, and the other leaders who are sitting around are called into the battle as well. They’ve just been sitting there, waiting, but because of Jonathan’s leadership, their apathy goes away. The same will happen with you. People who never would have gotten involved doing God’s work will respond as God moves through you.

Third, the rebellious are reclaimed. Verse 21 tells us about some Israelites that had defected to the Philistine army, because it looked like the Philistine army was a greener pasture. But when God begins to move, many of those who are even in rebellion against Him will be brought back into the fold.

Finally, the broken are healed. Verse 22 describes all of the guys who had hidden away in holes and tombs - even those guys who were too afraid to stand on the sidelines were moved by the Lord to get into the battle.

You see, nothing can hinder the Lord! He can save by many or by few! It only takes one man, one woman, one child who will step out in faith and obedience, taking initiative on Jesus’ marching orders to make disciples of all nations.

It only takes one, who in the midst of uncertainty, will use his or her influence on those around them to move forward in faith, despite the risk. It only takes one; one who is willing to be the first to advance; one who is willing to bear the brunt of the impact of spiritual attack and outside criticism; one who will faithfully cry out in prayer night and day for God to move in our city; one through whom God can shine to bring about awakening.

This is a call to arms, a battle cry. It only takes one.

Will that one be you?

But remember, the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few. It doesn’t have to be just one.

I want to ask you a question: What if God wanted to use us together, as a church family, to advance on enemy territory, to impact our city, to shake people out of complacency, and shine His light on people who have never seen the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ?

I have prayed and prayed, and I believe that’s what He would like to do. I believe that He wants to use us corporately, together, for the sake of the gospel.

If that’s the case, it’s time for us - all of us - to do what Jesus said. It’s time for us to go and make disciples.

1 Samuel 13:1-23 - Excuses

Sun, 01 May 2011 14:30:07 EST

I love being a dad. I love getting to be involved in the lives of my children. I love playing tickle monster with them. I love going up to the mountains with them. I love taking them on dates. I love getting to shape their worldview. I love seeing them grow and develop.

One day at breakfast this week, before my very eyes, I got the chance to see my youngest, Patrick, begin to bloom into a Pauline theologian; I was so excited. He said, “If somebody wants to kill me, I’ll say, ‘That’s fine. I’ll just go to heaven.’ If they say, ‘Alright, I’ll let you live,’ then I’ll say, ‘Okay, now I get to tell everybody about Jesus,’ and they’ll be mad!”

I was like, “Yes!!!”

That’s one of the fun parts about being a dad. But one of the hardest things for me to deal with as a father is when my kids won’t own up to something when they’ve done something wrong.

Oh, that is so frustrating.

But the truth is, I’ve done same thing lots of times. Most of us don’t like to own up to our failures, mistakes, or sins.

We may even partially acknowledge where we’ve blown it, but more often than not, we tend to explain it away, justify it, or blame someone else. Excuses are a specialty for many of us.

And I think that’s one of the things that led to the downfall of the first king of Israel, Saul.

Now, I’ve said it a few times as we’ve been working through 1 & 2 Samuel, but these two books can roughly be broken up into four parts: Samuel’s life, Saul’s life, and David’s life before and after becoming king.

We have just come to this second section, the life of Saul. Samuel isn’t dead yet; in fact, he’s going to be around for a while, but the focus of the story has shifted away from Samuel’s ministry to Saul as the first king of Israel. Case in point, two weeks ago, just before Easter, Dan spoke from 1 Samuel chapter 12, which is really Samuel’s farewell address.

So it feels like we’ve just started into this second section, but we are already going to see signs of Saul’s demise. Chapter 13 is like the beginning of the end for Saul.

This guy flames out quick.

It makes me think of some of young athletes in the Olympics.

Sometimes I feel bad for those really young gymnasts who win a medal at the Olympics when they are only 13, 14, or 15 years old.

It feels like it’s all downhill from there. When you peak out that early in your career, people can begin to feel that there’s not much to look forward to.

That’s kind of what happened to Saul. Now, we don’t know for sure how long he had been king when we come to chapter 13. Some time had probably passed, but so far all that’s been recorded of his kingship is that he defeated that bully, King Nahash of the Ammonites. This book hasn’t told us anything else about Saul’s reign.

What we are going to see over the next three chapters is Saul’s epic failure as king of Israel, in large part, because excuses were his specialty.

Let’s take a look. We will begin in 1 Samuel 13:1.

“1 Saul was . . . years old when he began to reign, and he reigned . . . and two years over Israel.”

Now, the very first thing you notice here is that the numbers in verse one are missing. Some translations put numbers in there, based on Acts 13:21, which tells us that Saul reigned for 40 years.

The truth is, we just don’t know anything beyond that. The manuscript copies that we have of 1 Samuel are missing this. Now listen, I don’t point this out to shake anyone’s faith in the reliability of the Scriptures. I believe that the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are totally truthful and without error in the original manuscripts in everything that they affirm.

That being said, when you are dealing with writings that are 3000 years old, what’s amazing is that more of the Scriptures are not subject to decay and are impossible to make out.

The fact that we have such remarkable accuracy in transmission of Scripture over the centuries is due to countless people who have devoted their lives to copying the Scriptures and passing them down from one generation to the next.

The real miracle here is how God has preserved His Word for us. Take a look at how thick your Bible is. If you take every instance in Scripture where there are textual difficulties like this, and put them all together in one place, we are only talking about a page and a half of your Bible where there may be discrepancies. Isn’t that amazing?

And none of those verses in question where there are textual difficulties, is there any major belief or doctrine affected. It’s stuff like this: How old was Saul? Well, we don’t know. But that doesn’t affect our salvation, so it’s not something to get worried about, know what I mean?

But let’s get back to the story:

“2 Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. 3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." 4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.”

Saul has apparently put together a standing army, something that Israel has never really had before. Saul kept two thousand men to stay with him, and a thousand were under the command of his son, Jonathan.

With this arrangement of a standing army of 3000 men, Saul felt comfortable enough to send everyone else home.

Now, this is the first we’ve heard of Jonathan so far, but he’s going to get a fair amount of press time in these two books of 1 & 2 Samuel. And we see right off the bat that this guy is feisty. Verse 3 tells us that Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines, but check out verse 4: It says that all Israel heard the Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines.

There are a couple of things that don’t seem to add up from the very beginning of this chapter. First of all, why is Jonathan the one that’s leading guys into battle instead of his father, Saul, who’s the king? Second, why are we telling everybody that it was Saul who won that battle?

I guess that you’re just supposed to shake your head and keep reading. Keep in mind that Israel is enjoying a little success in battle. That’s probably made the Philistines angry.

Take a look now at verse 5:

“5 And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, 7 and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.”

Apparently Israel has stirred up a hornet’s nest. Whatever Jonathan did when he defeated that garrison of the Philistines at Geba had motivated the Philistines to strike back with a vengeance.

This chapter reminds me in some ways of those movies based on the Lord of the Rings. It’s a trilogy, and each movie lasts like 25 hours, so it requires some real perseverance to get through them all. That said, they are great books, and they are great movies - just not for little kids. But I love them.

If you’ve taken the time to watch the films, what’s happening here in 1 Samuel 13 reminds me of a scene in the second movie, The Two Towers.

Has anybody seen that movie? The people of Rohan are being attacked by a wizard that has changed allegiances and gone over to the dark side. Orcs are following them.

And so the people escape to this place of retreat, a fort cut from the side of a mountain known as Helm’s Deep. So they prepare for battle at this fortress. But they don’t have enough men, and they know it. So one of the good guys, Gandalf, leaves them to go find more men, and he tells them to wait for him on the dawn of the third day.

So the people of Rohan stay at the fort, but while they are getting ready, this enormous army of orcs is being assembled. The warriors stretch as far as you can see.

But before they can even see this army that they are up against, the people at Helm’s Deep can hear the troops - there are so many of them - marching closer and closer.

Just watching it on a television screen is scary. I can’t imagine how scary it would be in real life.

It’s similar to what’s happening here in 1 Samuel 13. Verse 5 tells us that an army much greater than Saul’s is being assembled, so many troops and chariots that it looks like sand on the seashore. Soldiers as far as you can see.

Look back at verse 6. One glance at this army, and the people of Israel know that they are in trouble. So the people start defecting from Saul’s already relatively small army. Verse 6 says that they are running for cover. They are hiding anywhere they think that they can escape the Philistine army. They are crawling into caves and holes, and even in old tombs. Can you imagine the terror these guys must have been feeling to hide in somebody’s grave?

Verse 7 says that some of them are just running in the other direction. Now remember, the Philistines were one the western border of Israel. Some of these guys were so afraid that they were running all the way across to the east side of the Jordan river. They are like, “I’m outta here!”

At the end of verse 7, we see that the few guys who did hang around are trembling. Their knees are knocking together from fear.

And I can totally understand why. Skip down in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 13:19-23:

“19 Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears." 20 But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle, 21 and the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. 22 So on the day of the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan his son had them. 23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.”

Did you catch that? There were no blacksmiths in Israel. Because there were no blacksmiths in Israel, Israel had no metal weapons. All of their weapons were made from stone, or wood, or bone. They did not have metal.

Now that may seem strange to us now. We can’t imagine a time when metal wasn’t common. But this took place during the Iron Age 3000 years ago. Being able to make metal was a new technology at the time, and the Philistines were much more advanced than the Israelites were in metal making.

It’s like advanced technology in warfare today.

This obviously worked to their advantage. Apparently, the things that the Israelites did have that were metal were tools for farming. But even to get those sharpened, guess who they had to go to? You got it. The Philistines.

The only people who knew how to work metal were the Philistines. It kind of sounds like arms trading that is going on today. You have to go to the enemy, certain Philistines, who for a ridiculous price, would sharpen your farming tools so that you could fight against their own nation.

Somehow, Israel had managed to get their hands on two swords. Verse 22 says that King Saul, and his son, Jonathan had one. No one else.

So picture the scenario with me. A battle is about to break out. You had 3000 men, but most of them have run away. Verse 15 speaks of 600 who were still with Saul. Maybe as many as 2400 had run off.

Even worse, your whole army only has two swords.

Your enemy, on the other hand, is amassing an army so big that you can’t count it. Every Philistine soldier has a sword, because they have more advanced technology in the arms race.

The men that you do have are trembling from fear.

You see, the Israelites need God’s help if they are going to stand a chance in battle.

Let’s go back to the passage. Take a look at verse 8:

“8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.”

Now, in chapter 10, verse 8, apparently Samuel had given Saul instructions about what to do when this battle came. In that verse, Samuel said, “Go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

Now keep in mind, Samuel was God’s prophet. His job was to speak God’s Word. Saul was the king. And the way that God had set things up was that a king was meant to extend God’s rule to the people. And the only way that a king could do that would be to listen to God’s Word.

That make sense? So if Saul were to fulfill his role in extending God’s rule, it is absolutely mandatory that he would listen to and obey God’s Word.

And God’s Word to him through the prophet Samuel was to wait for seven days until Samuel arrived. Samuel said that when he got there he would offer sacrifices to the Lord and then tell Saul what to do next.

Well, chapter 13 verse 8 tells us that’s what Saul did. He waited for seven days. In the meantime, he’s seeing this huge army of the Philistines come together. He’s watching as his own men run away and hide. He’s only got two swords.

Maybe, like the people at Helm’s Deep, he could hear the ground shake with the footsteps of the oncoming army. In that story, Gandalf said that he would come on the dawn of the third day, but by the time that he had arrived, they had almost lost the battle.

Maybe Saul thought that by the time Samuel arrived, the battle would already be over. Whatever the reason, Saul decides to take matters into his own hands. Take a look at verse 9:

“9 So Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering."”

Saul had waited until the seventh day, but not until the end of it. Just as he said he would, Samuel arrived that day. But when he gets there, Saul has just finished offering the sacrifices himself.

Now listen, a lot of people think that the problem here is that Saul took on priestly duties and made this sacrifice himself. That could be. However, David did a similar thing in 2 Sam. 24:25, which makes me believe that the problem here isn’t so much that Saul offered a sacrifice. The problem is that Saul disregarded the Word of the Lord.

Samuel spells it out for us in the next verse:

“13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you.”

The problem here is that Saul disobeys God’s Word. And when Samuel confronts him on it in verse 11 by asking, “What have you done?” all Saul has are a bunch of excuses.

The reality is, this offense doesn’t seem so terrible. But look at the consequences, starting halfway through verse 13:

“For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."”

It doesn’t seem like what Saul did is that big of a deal. But, as John Wesley once said, “There is no little sin, because there is no little God to sin against.” You see, Saul disregarded the Word of God.

And the reality is, everyone of us, at some time or other, will do the same. We will disregard God’s Word. But when Saul is confronted with his disobedience, he justifies himself with excuses.

And because of that, Samuel says that God is going to raise up a man after his own heart who will be prince over God’s people. That’s David. I think that one of the biggest differences between Saul and David is not how sinful they are - David blows it big time on several occasions - What makes the two different is how they respond once confronted with their sin.

David repents. Saul makes excuses. Let’s take a look at Saul here, because I think that what he does in this passage is really a mirror. I think that it reflects quite well what many of us do when we are confronted with our sins. We make excuses.

First, Saul blames others.

This is an age-old problem, starting back in the garden of Eden, when Adam wouldn’t own up to his sin. He points to his wife, Eve, and says, “She gave it to me, and I ate” (Gen. 3:12).

We are so prone to blame everyone else when we are the one who is in sin. Check out verse 11. Saul blames his men for scattering. Saul blames Samuel for not coming. But Saul doesn’t point to himself and say, “It’s my fault. I did it. I didn’t do what you told me. I disregarded God’s Word.”

He’s pointing to everyone else, but not to himself. And I think that all of us, at times, do the same thing. Let me encourage you that it will not help your situation.

Confession and repentance is the only way.

Second, Saul credits his circumstances.

The reason Saul did this, he says in verse 12, is because the Philistines had come down against him. Samuel hadn’t come. The Philistines had gathered. So, he says in verse 12, “I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”

He forced himself. He had no other choice. He had to do it. Look at the circumstances.

This line of reasoning is dangerous, and let me tell you why. There will always be circumstances that press us. There are going to be times when you don’t have money to pay the rent. You look for a job, you wait, and you wait. You can’t find anything. No money is coming in. The deadline is approaching. Your landlord has threatened to evict you.

What are you going to do?

You steal. You had no other choice, right? You forced yourself.

You sell drugs. You didn’t have any choice in the matter, right? Wrong! That is an excuse that will not hold up against the Word of God!

The ironic thing here is that Samuel came when he said that he would. Now, it was at the last minute, but he did come. And I want to remind you that God often comes through at last second. I think it gives Him greater glory.

I’m not saying that your rent is always going to show up at the last minute, but it may. And there are always going to be circumstances in life that will squeeze you, tempt you, prompt you to entertain the thought that you should take matters into your own hands and disobey the Word of God. And I am telling you right now that crediting your circumstances with your sin is an excuse.

Third, Saul justifies his motivations.

In verse 12, he says that he hadn’t sought the Lord’s favor yet before the battle, so he decided to make these sacrifices to God.

Isn’t that ironic?

Here we have a guy claiming to seek God’s favor by disobeying God’s Word.

Let that sink in for a moment. Have you ever done that?

Have you ever “sought God’s favor” by going against the Word of God? As Samuel tells Saul in a couple of chapters after Saul blows it again, God prefers obedience over sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22).

As it happened with Saul, it can happen with us in performing some sort of religiosity. Let me give you some examples of what I mean:

The pharisees were notorious for this in Jesus’ day. They would refuse to take care of their elderly parents, saying that their money had been set aside for God (Mark 7:5-13).

That’s pretty obvious. And there are several obvious ones in Scripture. For instance: Do you ever fast and yet at the same time neglect the needs of the poor as Isaiah 58 condemns? Do you fast in hopes to be observed by others as Matt. 6:16-18 prohibits? Do you give to the church, hoping that other people will see you do it, as Matt. 6:1-4 describes as sin? Do you pray, in hopes that others will admire your devotion, as Matt. 6:5-6 bans? Do you seek God’s will by consulting fortune tellers or palm readers, as Deut. 18:13-14 forbids?

We can say that we are seeking God’s direction, His favor, His help, His blessing, while at the same time doing exactly what He’s told us not to do!

It can be very obvious, like the examples I just gave. But this can also be very subtle, like refusing to give generously or serve in missions in the name of being a good provider or keeping our families safe. It can be a refusal to commit to a local body of believers because we say that God is with us everywhere. It could be hopping from one church to another because we say that we aren’t getting fed, but the reality is that we come to church as consumers instead of vessels of Christ’s love to serve others.

We need to be careful about justifying our disobedience behind some facade of spirituality. It is an excuse.

But even though we are prone to sin, prone to wander, and prone to make excuses, we can hope in the fact that God’s deliverance is not dependent upon our obedience.

Chapter 13 is just the prelude to the battle. Full blown war is about to bust loose. And next week in 1 Samuel 14, we are going to see God’s amazing deliverance despite the fact that Saul disobeyed God’s Word and subsequently made excuses about it.

And just as they received God’s help despite their own rebellion, so can we. You see, God did exactly what He said He would in verse 14. God raised up David, a man after God’s own heart. And all of us can hope because David’s greater Son, Jesus Christ, has saved us even though we are often in disobedience, and even making excuses for it.

Whereas Saul made sacrifices in hopes to earn God’s favor, Jesus Christ made the perfect sacrifice in giving Himself on the cross. When we were making excuses for our sin, Jesus was reconciling the world to Himself. We don’t have to try to earn God’s favor because the ultimate sacrifice has been made! We don’t have to try to earn God’s love. We don’t have to clean up our acts to get it. As Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”

You see, in Jesus, there’s no need to make excuses for our sin! We are free from that!

It’s not like God loves us if we can justify ourselves before Him as worthy of His love!

Here’s why: He loved us while we were yet sinners! He loved us before we ever thought to try to make excuses for our sin by blaming others, crediting our circumstances, or justifying our motivations.

Do you see how freeing that is? You are free from excuses, free from trying to make yourself look good, free from pointing the finger at everyone else. Just as He saved Israel that day despite Saul’s disobedience, He saves us despite ourselves.

How great is our God! How loving! What grace, what mercy!

God saved Israel despite Saul’s disobedience. And “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”

Colossians 1:13-23 - The Excellencies of Christ

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 14:37:42 EST

I want to begin by telling you how glad I am that you are here today. Easter is such a wonderful time, and this is such a wonderful day; I’m glad that we get to share a little bit of it together this morning.

I remember every year as a child my parents would buy my sister and me a new outfit for Easter, along with a new Bible. One year they got me a grey suit with a vest and a pink tie. Man, I thought I looked good! Every year I couldn’t wait to waltz into church looking my very best with my brand new shiny Bible.

Easter was a very formal occasion in my family and in the churches that I grew up in. Maybe that’s true of your experience as well.

So in that spirit, I decided to entitle my message this morning, “The Excellencies of Christ,” OR, since our church is a little more laid back, “Why Jesus is Freakin’ Awesome.”

I’m going to do everything I can this morning to raise your affections for Christ by exalting His character. I so wanted to take a shotgun approach this morning and just list out all of the awesome things about Jesus that I could think of, but I believe that God’s book cannot be improved upon, so I decided instead to walk with you through one of the most Christ-exalting passages in all of Scripture this Easter morning.

Why don’t you turn in your Bible to Colossians chapter 1? We will begin in verse 13:

“13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

There is a Bible scholar named Al Mohler that says what many people get in church today is not the gospel, but instead moralistic, therapeutic, deism. Let me break that down. 1. Moralistic: God wants us to be good. 2. Therapeutic: God wants us to feel good about ourselves. 3. Deism: God is there, but He’s not going to get very involved in our lives. Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism.

I want to tell you this morning that the verses we just read come against that notion in full force.

This passage is not Moralistic. It doesn’t start out with the good that we have done, or the good that we should do, but how good God is: Verse 13 - He has delivered us - that “He,” is God the Father. So it’s saying, “God the Father has delivered us.” Christianity is not simply that God wants us to be good. God frees us and enables us to be good.

Neither is this passage Therapeutic. This passage doesn’t tell us how good we are. It’s purpose isn’t to make us feel good about ourselves. It says that the Father has delivered us from “the domain of darkness.”

I know that it’s not common sentiment to think of yourself as coming form the “domain of darkness,” but that’s what the Bible says. Can you imagine meeting somebody, asking them where they are from, and then they tell you, “I’m from the domain of darkness”! Not what most of us would expect. But it is biblical.

Before we can really appreciate who Jesus is and what He has done, before we can contemplate the excellencies of Christ, we need to keep in mind who we are and where we come from. Without Jesus, we are sinful and blind, wandering around in darkness. That puts everything in perspective.

Nor is this passage Deistic. This is not an uninvolved God. In fact, this passage shows just the opposite: He’s very involved in our lives. He has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,” - that’s Jesus.

So this passage is in sharp contrast to common beliefs from the very get-go. This is not a do-good, feel-good message, where God is out there, but pretty much uninvolved.

This passage counters all of that. It starts off by saying that we are bad, but God has done something good, and He’s intimately involved in our lives. And in describing what this good thing is that God has done for us, the focus shifts away from God the Father to God the Son, Jesus Christ.

And this is where we begin to see how awesome Jesus is. Go to verse 14: According to this verse, it is in the Son that we have redemption and find forgiveness for our sins.

Now, there may be other ways of breaking down this passage according to the Greek sentence structure, but this Easter morning, I’m not primarily concerned with that. What I want to do today is take us on a guided tour through this passage and point out 8 observations that should be made in this passage when considering the excellencies of Christ.

Here’s the first one:

1. He is Redeemer

Paul writes in verse 14 that in Jesus we have redemption. To appreciate that, like I said a moment ago, requires that we understand who we are and where we’ve come from.

The Bible doesn’t pull any punches in describing humanity as lost in sin, bent in upon ourselves, hating God, and hating each other, craving and lusting after evil. That is the state of fallen humanity. It’s a pretty bleak picture.

And that’s what makes this observation about Jesus so wonderful. He redeems us from that. He forgives us of our sin.

In Roman culture, to be redeemed meant much more than it does to most of us when we hear those words today. To be redeemed means to be bought back, saved from slavery, and given freedom.

You see, apart from Jesus, not only are all people completely lost, blind, and craving after evil, but even worse, all of us are enslaved to sin.

We have stood on the slave blocks, sold into sin. It’s our master who beats us down, and controls our thoughts, and leads us astray, and wars against our own souls. We wander around with our backs beaten and whipped, hunched over, unable to gain freedom from the sin that we hate and yet love, and we can’t help but commit that same sin over and over again.

Sometimes we can even see that it is destroying us, yet we are enslaved by it, helpless to be freed from it, and under the penalty of our own disobedience.

Now, I realize that some of you may feel that this is dark, especially for Easter morning, but unless you see the black velvet backdrop you don’t appreciate the beauty of the diamond that gleams on it. And our lostness, our sinfulness apart from Jesus is the backdrop against which Christ shines.

You see, it was that sin that He saves us from. By going to the cross, Jesus, the God-man who never sinned, became sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God. Death is the penalty for sin, and what happened that dark Friday was Jesus standing in our place, for our sin, by dying on the cross as our substitute.

If Jesus had not done that for us, none of us could go to heaven, because God won’t allow sin in His presence. (There will be no sin in heaven, which is a really good thing - trust me!)

But God’s justice must be satisfied. We had broken His law by our sin. We had rebelled against Him. And so, in order to uphold both His justice, and show His great mercy, God the Father poured out all of His wrath against sin upon His own Son, Jesus Christ.

That’s why Paul can now say in Colossians 1:14 that in Jesus, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the redeemer! By spilling His own blood and dying on the cross, He has bought us out of slavery and paid the penalty for sin. All who trust in Jesus for salvation are now free and forgiven!

How awesome is that?!

But Paul is only getting warmed up. Take a look at verse 15: “He is the image of the invisible God.” Not only is He redeemer,

2. He is God’s Image.

The Greek understanding of this is really interesting. To be the image of something meant to attest to the reality of the thing whose image one would bear. Similar to a mirror, really.

It’s like the reflection of sunlight on the surface of the water. You see, a person can recognize the reality of the sun by the reflection that we see.

But there’s even more to it than that. Paul isn’t saying that Jesus is simply a mirror for God, but that He is a bodily representation of Him. It’s not coincidence that Jesus resembles the Father; He is from the Father, of the same substance with the Father. He is God in the flesh!

He’s the image of the invisible God! Although you can’t see God the Father, and may question if He’s even out there, you can see the Son. And as Hebrews 1:3 tells us, Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature.

That’s why Jesus could respond to Philip in John 14:8-9, after Philip asked to see the Father, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”

You may wonder today if God is there, if He cares for you, if He’s involved in our lives, if He even exists - because He’s invisible. But Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Have you seen Him? Do you see how awesome He is?

It may be hard for us to get our heads around the idea of an eternal, invisible, infinite God. But Jesus shows us who God is, and God is love. It’s another reason why He is so great. He’s God’s image.

But even more,

3. He is Creator

The last part of verse 15 tells us that Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation.” That’s given some people the idea that Jesus Himself was created by God the Father.

That’s really a misunderstanding of this passage. In fact, Colossians 1 is teaching the exact opposite. By calling Jesus the firstborn of creation, it’s not referring to Him as the first created, but first in status. He is the heir of all creation. It all belongs to Him.

Verse 16 makes this clear:

“16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

Have you thought about that before? Way back in Genesis 1, when the earth was formless and void, Jesus was there. He was there when darkness was over the face of the deep.

Jesus was there participating with God the Father and the Holy Spirit in separating the heavens from the earth, the waters from the land. He was there, speaking in unison with the Father and the Spirit, “Let there be light.”

Jesus was there when the mountains were made, and the stars were hung in the sky. He was there when the earth sprouted vegetation, and the oceans swarmed with living creatures.

And Jesus was there, when you were conceived, knitting you together in your mother’s womb. He gave you your brown eyes, your curly hair, your deep voice.

You were created through Him and for Him. He is Creator. How awesome!

Morever,

4. He is Eternal

Carrying this thought about Jesus as the Creator to its logical conclusion, Paul states in verse 17 that Jesus is “before all things.” He already existed when the world was created. He lived in eternity past, in perfect union as Trinity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

And yet, God the Son, Jesus Christ, was compelled by such overwhelming mercy and love, that for 33 years, He would step out of eternity and into time, being born as a baby in some dusty town in the Middle East 2000 years ago.

Can you imagine being eternal and yet only 5 years old? How foolish our choices must have seemed to One who had the wisdom of eternity on His side.

But yet, Jesus, the eternal God, walked on earth, motivated by an eternal love, leaving His throne for a time, to die at the hands of the ones He came to save.

I’m telling you, Jesus is awesome.

5. He is Sustainer

Jesus not only created us, but He also sustains us. Verse 17 tells us that “in Him all things hold together.” Without the sustaining hand of Jesus, all of creation would fling into chaos.

There’s a Christian speaker named Louie Giglio who likes to tell the story of when he bumped into a molecular biologist. Giglio was about to give a message on the glory of God in the way that He has made our bodies, and so this biologist wanted to hear all about it.

Giglio wasn’t exactly prepared to share his message with a scientific expert on the human body, but he did anyway. Afterwards, the guy asked him, “What’s your left hook? You’ve gotta have a left hook!”

Giglio said, “I don’t have a left hook.”

Then the molecular biologist said, “Laminin. That’s your left hook.”

Giglio was like, “Okay... What’s laminin?”

And the molecular biologist went on to explain exactly what laminin is. It’s a cell adhesion protein molecule in our bodies that holds our bodies together. It’s like rebar in concrete. It’s what holds our skin on, it’s what keeps us stuck together the way that we are. It’s almost like glue for our bodies.

And ironically, it’s shaped just like a cross.

I’m pretty sure that Paul did not have laminin in mind when he wrote this letter, but it is a reminder, that God has his fingerprints throughout His creation, and that “in Him, all things hold together.”

Christ is the sustainer. He is the laminin, the One who holds all things together, even our bodies.

At the equator, our earth spins at over 1000 miles per hour. In addition to that daily rotation, we are speeding around the sun at over 66,000 miles per hour. We don’t even feel it.

The fact that our planet can sustain life is a miracle in itself, requiring a very, very “improbable combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances.” Too close to the sun and we fry. Too far away and we freeze. No rotation, and half of our planet is constantly exposed to the sun while the other half is always in darkness.

In fact, there are many experts who say that the likelihood of life on earth depends upon a perfect combination of around nine very rare factors. It’s a fascinating area of science. The fact that we can even live on this earth is due to a very narrow window of factors that all must exist at one and the same time.

And yet they do.

Have you ever wondered how? Ever wondered how that could be?

Is it coincidence, or is it because Jesus sustains us and holds all things together?

6. He is Head

Verse 18 begins, “And he is head of the body, the church.” Not only is Jesus the cosmic ruler who created all and lives forever and sustains everything in the world, He also has created a people for Himself, the church.

Church just means “called out ones.” So Jesus has called out a group of people for Himself, and shaped them into a body, of which He is the Head. The head is the control center for a body. The body follows the lead of the head. The head makes sure that the body is taken care of because the head is connected to the body.

Jesus is the shepherd of His people. Christ loves the church in the same way that a husband is to love his wife; unconditionally, sacrificially, and tenderly.

So this Jesus that Paul is describing here isn’t just some raw force to be reckoned with; He’s also the loving Head of His church, whom He leads and cares for.

7. He is First

Back to verse 18. After telling us that Jesus is head of the body, the church, Paul also refers to Him as “the beginning.” This is an interesting word in that it can be used in a variety of ways. So, let me see if I can give you a sense of two ways this word can be used.

First, as the Bible version I’m reading from puts it, Jesus is the beginning. In other words, He is the source of all things. He is the first Cause. He is the headwaters from which everything flows.

Second, He is also ruler. He is chief. He is above all. Jesus is King. He is First.

So, let’s just stop for a minute, and consider this list that Paul has made for us so far:

He is Redeemer - vs. 14, “in Him we have redemption”
He is God’s Image - vs. 15a, “He is the image of the invisible God”
He is Creator - vs. 15b-16, “He is the firstborn of creation”
He is Eternal - vs. 17a, “He is before all things”
He is Sustainer - vs. 17b, “In Him all things hold together”
He is Head - vs. 18a, “He is head of His body, the church”
He is First - vs. 18b, “He is the beginning”

Do you see the excellencies of Christ that Paul describes here? Do you see why Jesus is so awesome?

The interesting thing here is that every item on this list falls in the shadow of that first one: He is Redeemer. They all fall under the shadow of the cross. They all fall under the shadow of the death of Jesus.

And because of His death, all of us should be thankful. He died in our place. The cross is bar none, without equal, the defining event in world history.

But the cross alone would pack no punch if Jesus died and that was it. He dies. It’s over.

But that is not where the story ends.

And that’s not where Paul finishes his list, either:

He is Redeemer
He is God’s Image
He is Creator
He is Eternal
He is Sustainer
He is Head
He is First

And,

8. He is Alive

Yes, Jesus died. But He also rose! He’s alive!

As Paul says in verse 18, He is the “firstborn from the dead!”

Jesus was the first to be raised by God the Father, insuring that we will be raised with Him on the last day as well. The list begins with His death and ends with His life!

Thank God for the cross, but don’t forget the empty tomb! It authenticates every one of these truths about Jesus:

How do we know that he secured redemption by His death? Because He rose.
How can we tell if He’s truly God’s image, God in the flesh? Because only God has power over death.
How can we believe that He’s Creator? Because unlike His creation, the grave can’t hold Him.
How can we see that He’s eternal? Because He lives forevermore.
How can we buy this line that He holds all things together? Because we see how He was in control, even of His own death, knowing that it would soon be swallowed up in life.
How can we trust that He’s the loving Head of the church? Because He laid down His life for the church, but also took it up again. He can take care of His people.
How can we have faith that He’s first? Because He’s also last.

As Paul says in verse 18, He is “the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

On that dark day when Christ died, how hopeless everything must have seemed. For a moment, it seemed as though satan had won, sin had gone unchecked, death had conquered.

Matthew 27 tells us that a man named Joseph took Jesus’ lifeless body, and wrapped it in a clean cloth, and put Him in a tomb that had been cut from rock. And he rolled a great stone over the entrance to the tomb.

Those who hated Jesus knew that He had spoken of rising again, and they wanted to squelch any hope that the followers of Jesus may have had, and so they set up a guard of soldiers outside the tomb so that no one could steal the body away.

That way, no one could claim that Jesus had risen.

But history tells us that He did.

Let me read the account from Matthew 28:

“1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."”

Jesus is risen in order that in everything He might be preeminent!

There is no one like Him!

The common people loved Him. Pharisees didn’t care for Him. Demons were afraid of Him. The disciples didn’t know what to do with Him.

The rulers decided to kill Him.

The beatings didn’t prevent Him. The crown of thorns couldn’t dissuade Him. The nails - the nails - they wounded Him.

But satan could not match Him. Sin couldn’t overcome Him. Hell could not stop Him.

The power of death could not keep Him. The grave could not hold Him.

In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.

He is the Risen One! He is the Living One! He is the Only One - that in everything He might be preeminent.

Do you know Him? Is He preeminent in your life?

The rest of the passage in Colossians goes like this, starting in verse 19: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” - in other words, Jesus is God in the flesh, “20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Like I said, it’s only through the work of Jesus on the cross that we can be saved.

“21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

And there it is.

The question that all of us must ask of ourselves: Can the same thing be said of you? Paul, in writing to the Colossians, says that they have been brought near, reconciled to God, forgiven of their sin. Can that be said of you? Has He reconciled you? Do you have peace with God through the blood of the cross? Is the Risen Savior preeminent in your life? Have you seen how awesome He is?

I’m going to pray here in just a moment, and I want to encourage you to believe in the gospel if you never have before. Trust in Jesus as your Redeemer, your Creator, the eternal Sustainer, and living Head of His church.

1 Samuel 11:1-15 - Bullies

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:35:59 EST

I’ve never liked bullies.

Growing up, it seemed like there was always at least one kid making life miserable for everyone else. I remember one bully who punched me in the face twice because I got between him and some other kid he was picking on.

I don’t know if it was that, or something else, but somewhere along the way, a switch was flipped in me, and I began to scheme up ways to get back at bullies, in a Robin Hood sort of way. He stole from the rich to give to the poor. I looked for ways to pick on those who were always picking on everybody else.

I remember one time conspiring with a number of other kids to shoot one of the worst bullies in our town with a BB gun. We got ‘em.

Now, listen, I was a bad kid who did a bunch of bad things, and I’m not suggesting any ideas here. I’m just telling you how it was.

I never did like bullies.

And I’ve got to tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the next passage in our study through the book of 1 Samuel, because we’re about to hear about a bully who gets it in the end.

He’s not the first bully that we’ve run into in this book. Remember the guy who was stealing people’s sacrifices, and threatening to take it by force if they didn’t hand it over? He was the first bully we saw.

And this guy we are going to read about today won’t be the last one that we see, either. There will be several more as we work our way through this book, namely Goliath, that giant who bullied God’s people.

But the guy that we are going to read about today, although he’s not the first, and he’s not the last, he may be one of the most cruel. This guy is a snake, if there ever was one. Even his name, Nahash, means just that - “snake.”

Let’s read about him. Why don’t you open your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 11? Let’s read verse 1:

“1 Now Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us and we will serve you."”

Can you see what’s happening?

Take a look at a map to understand what’s going on in this passage.

You can see that to the west of Israel is the land of the Philistines. Up to this point in 1 Samuel, that’s who has been giving them trouble. They keep having to fight off the Philistines to the west as they encroach on Israel’s land.

But in verse 1, we are reading about another group, the Ammonites. These guys lived to the east of Israel.

These Ammonites attacked a city called Jabesh-gilead, which was on the east side of the Jordan river. Now, if you remember your Bible history, in Numbers 32, when Moses led the people of Israel into the land, three of the tribes of Israel, Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, all requested to settle on the east side of the Jordan river.

That wasn’t really in the plans, but Moses allowed it.

But it also left those tribes exposed to threat on their eastern borders. For the rest of Israel, the Jordan river provided a natural boundary, as well as protection from neighboring nations. But for the tribes that settled east of the Jordan river, they didn’t have that. They were exposed.

And Nahash, the king of Ammon, wanted that land.

And there is reason to believe that Nahash had a particular reason why he attacked that city. Listen to this quote found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some translations of the Bible include it at the end of 1 Samuel 10:

“Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.”

Like I said, this guy is a bully.

Take another look at your map.

Nahash has been tormenting these tribes of Israel who lived on the east side of the Jordan river, by gouging out all of their right eyes.

He doesn’t kill them, because if he killed them they wouldn’t be any good for slaves, or servants. They couldn’t work as cheap labor for him if they were dead. But he couldn’t have them be capable of any type of uprising, so he devises this way to keep them alive, and suitable to work for him, but incapable of waging war against him.

It’s a pretty good plan if you’re a bloodthirsty dictator looking to expand your borders.

The problem was, apparently 7000 men had escaped from him. And they ran to the town of Jabesh-gilead for safety. I think it’s safe to say that this is the reason why he attacked that particular city.

The people of the city are scared to death. They know that they are no match for the Ammonites. And so they ask Nahash to make a peace treaty with them.

Let’s see how this bully responds. Take a look at verses 2-3:

“2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "I will make it with you on this condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it a reproach on all Israel." 3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to deliver us, we will come out to you."”

What a snake.

They ask for a treaty. He responds, “Poke out your eyes first, then okay, we can make a treaty.” As you would expect, the elders of Jabesh-gilead are like, “Uh, let us think on that one, Nahash.”

They don’t want Nahash to poke out their eyes, so they tell him up front: “Give us a week to look for help. We are going to try to muster up an army so that we can kill you, but if nobody comes to help us, sure, come on over and poke out our eyes!”

And as unbelievable as it sounds, Nahash says, “Sure! No problem!”

The tone of the conversation sounds like neighbors talking about a borrowed lawnmower. I go to my neighbor: “Hey neighbor, can I borrow your lawnmower?” Neighbor responds: “Fill it up with gas first, then okay, you can borrow my lawnmower.”

I respond, “Okay, I’ll think about it. I may have another friend who will let me use their lawnmower without filling it up. If he won’t let me borrow it this week sometime, come on over, and I’ll fill it up.” Neighbor says, “Sure! No problem!”

These guys are talking about war, but the tone of the conversation sounds so casual that I laughed out loud while I was reading it this week. But just because the tone is casual, don’t miss the key word in verse 3: deliver. We already saw this word once in that quote from the Dead Sea Scrolls. There it said that Nahash would gouge out their right eyes, and would not grant Israel a deliverer.

You see, although the passage may read funny, this is serious business that we are talking about. Jabesh-gilead needs somebody to deliver them. They need to be saved. They need someone to rescue them from this bully, Nahash.

And so they send word out for help. Take look at verses 4 & 5:

“4 Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and he said, "What is the matter with the people that they weep?" So they related to him the words of the men of Jabesh.”

If you’ve been with us the last several weeks, you know that Israel is in this transitional period, moving from having regional judges to a monarchy. And not surprisingly, this news makes it way to the town of Gibeah, where Saul lives, who has just been anointed as Israel’s first king.

It makes sense. You are under threat from a hostile nation. Who do you tell? Well, you tell the king.

This new king is more used to being a farm boy than royalty, and he hears the news as he’s coming in from working the fields.

Now there are some very interesting connections that we need to make here. Keep your eyes on your map, because I think that it can help us see what’s going on. Normally when we read the Bible, we skip over things that we think are insignificant, like the names of places. But I don’t think we should do that here, because this can give us some unique insight into the passage.

I think that one of the reasons that Nahash was so willing to let Jabesh-gilead send for help is because he was convinced that they wouldn’t get any. If that was his reasoning, it makes good sense.

Here’s why: Not very long before this, at a time when the rest of Israel needed help, Jabesh-gilead had refused. You can look it up in Judges 21:8-12. A great crime had been committed in Gibeah, in the land of Benjamin. A woman had been raped by a gang of men until they killed her.

And in Judges 19:29-30, her husband cut her body up into 12 pieces, and sent it to every tribe of Israel to ask for help. All of Israel responded. They approached Benjamin, where this crime had been committed, and said, “Hand over the men who did this.” But the people there would not bring the man to justice.

So all of Israel gathered together in order to discipline the tribe of Benjamin for protecting these guys from the town of Gibeah.

Everybody from Israel came to wage war against Benjamin. Everyone except Jabesh-gilead. They didn’t send a single person to help.

But now in 1 Samuel 11, they are the ones needing help. And what is so ironic is that they are asking for help from Gibeah. Just a generation or two before Gibeah was the city where lawlessness reigned, where this great crime had been committed, and where the rest of Israel had come to wage war against them.

Let’s see what happens when the news reached Saul. Take a look at verses 6 & 7:

“6 Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he became very angry. 7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, "Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen " Then the dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man.”

We see the Spirit of God rushing upon Saul again, and he gets angry. The Spirit fills him up with this righteous anger. This is the same description as when the Spirit rushed upon Samson, or other judges to empower them for God’s service.

Saul does the same type of thing that the husband did in the book of Judges; this time livestock is cut up and sent throughout the land. It sends a powerful message. The dread of the Lord falls on all the people, and they respond.

Now, I don’t know if this is the best recruiting strategy, but it seems to work for Saul. I guess that when you are the studliest guy around, threat works pretty well as motivation.
--
If you can, step back and think about this whole scene. Isn’t this ironic? The one town that refused to help everyone else - Jabesh-gilead - is now asking for help, and the one town that rebelled against God in the past - Gibeah - is the place where this help will be found.

I think that there are a couple of lessons that we can pull from this passage: First of all, God can take people who have been rebellious in the past, and by His Spirit, He can transform them into instruments for His glory.

Make no mistake about it. The Holy Spirit is the Deliverer here. In fact, if you were to break down this entire chapter, we would find that the rushing of the Holy Spirit is the center point, the hinge on which this whole chapter hangs.

Maybe you’ve been rebellious in your past, and at times you feel as though God could never use you. You may feel that because of certain things that you’ve done, or certain sins that you’ve committed, you’ve wasted your life. God couldn’t use you anymore.

If that’s how you feel when you look at the rebellion of your past, I want to encourage you that 1 Samuel 11 would indicate otherwise. As long as you have breath, your life isn’t wasted yet. God can take you, and by His Spirit, transform you into an instrument for His glory if you will submit and surrender to Him.

The question is, “Will you?” Will you surrender your life to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit?

That’s exactly what Saul does here. Let’s see how God uses him. Go back to verses 8-11:

“8 He numbered them in Bezek; and the sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. 9 They said to the messengers who had come, "Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have deliverance.'" So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10 Then the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you." 11 The next morning Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.”

After Saul sends word out, three hundred thirty thousand soldiers show up! They send word to the people of Jabesh-gilead: “By noon tomorrow, you will have your deliverance.” There’s that word again. Deliverance.

Obviously, the men of Jabesh-gilead were overjoyed: “Yay! I don’t have to get my eye gouged out!” And it’s about this time that they get it in their heads that they ought to mess with this bully, Nahash. So in verse 10 they basically tell him, “I guess that there’s no one to deliver us, so we’ll come over tomorrow and you can poke our eyes out.”

Well, how do you think the Ammonites responded to the news? They let their guard down. The soldiers probably had a few drinks that night in celebration of their easy victory.

Little did they know that the new king of Israel had 330,000 troops broken into three companies who would all pounce on them somewhere between 2 AM and 6 AM in the morning, during the first watch.

Verse 11 tells us that they so slaughtered Nahash and his men that no groups escaped, only a straggler here and there.

Obviously, this served to unify the people of Israel, and solidify Saul as the new king. Look at verses 12-15 with me:

“12 Then the people said to Samuel, "Who is he that said, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring the men, that we may put them to death." 13 But Saul said, "Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has accomplished deliverance in Israel." 14 Then Samuel said to the people, "Come and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there." 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal There they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.”

In the last chapter, we saw a few guys who didn’t want Saul to be king. Now people are calling for their heads: “Who was it who objected to Saul as our king? Let’s kill them!”

But Saul says, “No, no. Not today. Today the LORD has accomplished deliverance for us!” There it is again. Deliverance.

So all the people go to Gilgal and they renew the kingdom. In chapter 10 verse 1, Saul was anointed as king privately. In chapter 10 verses 17-24, he was announced as king publicly, though their was some opposition. And now here, we see him installed as king by general agreement among the people.

The story ends on this note of joy. Israel was unified by a common threat. Their new king had proven himself. And they are filled with joy.

And so the town of Jabesh-gilead was delivered.

In the book of Judges, chapters 19-21, which recounts that entire story we referred to a moment ago, Jabesh-gilead was the single town of Israel that was so self-centered that they refused to come to the aid their brothers.

The town that had refused to help anyone else in the past was now the recipient of help.

I think that the second major lesson that we can pull from this passage is that deliverance is not something that is deserved, but is something that is given to undeserving people by the Spirit of God.

Jabesh-gilead did not deserve the grace, mercy, and help that they received in their time of need. But they received it anyway.

And ultimately, this passage points us beyond the people of Israel 3000 years ago, when the selfish little town of Jabesh-gilead was being bullied by Nahash, and desperately needed deliverance.

You see, there is another bully, every bit as cruel as Nahash, who won’t stop at gouging out our eyes, but according to John 10:10, comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He’s the accuser, the father of lies, the serpent, the god of this world, that dragon of old.

He bullies humanity around, leading us astray, blinding the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

But what makes matters worse is that we are selfish, like that little town of Jabesh-gilead, bent in upon ourselves in our own sin. We don’t care about anybody else; we look out for our own interests. We are fallen and lost.

We don’t deserve deliverance. We deserve judgement for our sin. The town of Jabesh-gilead deserved to be left out there all alone to be devoured by Nahash. But that’s not what they received.

They received help, and mercy, and grace, and deliverance in their time of need.

And I want to tell you today, that though we don’t deserve it, we can as well. You see, our ultimate deliverance from sin and satan and hell and death were won by Jesus Christ on the cross, when He died in our place, as our substitute for our sin.

Deliverance is an underserved gift that is applied by the the Holy Spirit, as Titus 3:3-7 says:

“3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Jesus bore the Father’s wrath against sin that we deserved, and He has rescued us by His cross! And now He calls all people everywhere to turn away from their sin, and come to Him.

And if you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you need to come to Him today and be delivered from the penalty of your sin.

Romans 6:23 says that the wages, or the penalty for sin, is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The penalty for sin is an eternity apart from God in hell. It’s a terrible truth.

So come to Jesus. Don’t wait another day! Don’t go home the same way that you came in!

And for those of you who have already come to Jesus, although He has delivered you from the penalty of sin, all us us still need to be delivered from the power of sin in our lives.

All of us, even after we experience salvation, are still fallen creatures who struggle with sin. That’s why Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 6:13 to pray like this: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Take an honest look in your heart this morning. Is there a stronghold of sin in your life that you need to be delivered from? Are there areas in your life where you continue to be enslaved in sin?

Be honest with yourself. Are you enslaved to grumbling? Are you constantly gossiping about others? Can you not help yourself from thinking negatively of everyone around you? Do you put down others all time time to make yourself feel better? Do you abuse drugs or alcohol? Can you not control your anger? Are you addicted to lustful thoughts or pornography? Are you legalistic? Do you feel constantly prideful about your accomplishments, your money, your looks, your possessions, even your knowledge of God or the Bible?

Don’t be enslaved by sin.

See, not only does the Holy Spirit apply salvation to us, He also empowers us to live freely. As Ephesians 5:18 says, “Don’t be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery (in other words, loose living), but be filled with the Spirit.”

You see, Paul is making a comparison here. He’s saying, “You don’t have to be controlled by alcohol anymore; you can be controlled by the Spirit of God.” In Christ, you don’t have to be a slave to sin, but you can be empowered by the Spirit of God to live freely!

If there are areas of your life this morning where you know that you need deliverance from the power of sin, I want to encourage you to ask the Spirit of God to fill you, and control you, and give you deliverance. Pray that line of the Lord’s prayer, “Lord Jesus, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.”

And know that sometimes that deliverance comes to people in amazing ways, where they are instantaneously delivered from some type of stronghold in their lives. Other times, it is the slow struggle and battle against sin every single day. But make no mistake about it: whether it comes in one moment, or over a lifetime of struggle and surrender, it is still undeserved deliverance from God.

And one day, we can all rest in the hope of Romans 16:20, that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet! One day, we will not only be delivered from the penalty of sin, and the power of sin, but we will also be delivered from the presence of sin.

And bullies.

1 Samuel 9:1-10:27 - Wild Goose Chase

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:56:14 EST

The book of Esther in the Bible is a really unique book of the Bible. During the canonization process, Esther was one of the last books to be accepted into the Old Testament. And here’s why: The book of Esther never mentions the name of God.

Did you know that? Did you know that we have a book in the Bible that never mentions God?

The funny thing is, even though His name is never mentioned, you can see God’s fingerprints all over that book! If you’ve never read the book of Esther before, go home and read it sometime. There’s a crazy twist at the end that only God could have done.

See, even though God is never mentioned in that particular book of the Bible, God was leading, directing, and guiding the events that took place, even those events that didn’t seem all that significant at the time.

That’s called providence.

The providence of God is the doctrine or belief that God accomplishes all things according to the counsel of His will, just as Ephesians 1:11 says He does. You see, God has a purpose in all that He does, and in His providence, He governs and directs all things to accomplish His purposes. Even the everyday, ordinary things in life. Even the things that don’t seem very important.

I want you to keep that in mind, because today we’ve come to a passage in our study through the book of 1 Samuel that reminds me of the book of Esther. God is mentioned in this passage, so it’s not exactly the same. But there is this sense of the ordinary about it. This is not a passage filled with miracles of God that you can’t help but notice.

Instead we are going to encounter a normal guy who that starts off on a normal task on what begins as a normal day. But don’t miss God’s fingerprints all over it.

Take a look with me at 1 Samuel 9:1-4:

“1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. 3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, "Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys." 4 And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.”

So here we have this guy named Saul.

This is the first time that we’ve met him in our study through 1 Samuel. Now, if you remember from when we first started this series, I said that we could break 1 & 2 Samuel into four major parts: 1) the life of Samuel, 2) the life of Saul, 3) David’s life before he became king, and 4) David’s life after he became king.

So today is our first day in this second section. The book is about to take a major turn. But you can’t tell it by the way chapter 9 starts.

Here’s Saul, this rich young man. His dad owns a big farm. He’s taller than everyone else. And he’s a stud. Verse two says that no one from Israel was more handsome than he was.

Rich, tall, and handsome. Probably didn’t have much trouble getting a date. But he doesn’t have time for that right now, because his dad has lost some donkeys.

Now, listen, I get it that most of us don’t have much affection for donkeys, or even care that Kish has lost them. But 3000 years ago, that was worth some money. Imagine that you were looking in your wallet, and you couldn’t find your cash that had been there. Imagine balancing your check book, and realizing that two of your most recent paychecks had never been deposited. You’re sweating it. That’s how Kish was feeling.

And even though Kish had some money, it was still a big deal to lose a bunch of donkeys. So Saul is sent out with one of the servants to find them. Verse 4 says that he went all over the place, but they still couldn’t find them. Eventually, Saul starts thinking that it’s a lost cause, and he’s ready to get home so that his dad won’t start worrying about them being gone.

Take a look at verses 5-10:

“5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, "Come, let us go back, lest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us." 6 But he said to him, "Behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go." 7 Then Saul said to his servant, "But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?" 8 The servant answered Saul again, "Here, I have with me a quarter of a shekel of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way." 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, "Come, let us go to the seer," for today’s "prophet" was formerly called a seer.) 10 And Saul said to his servant, "Well said; come, let us go." So they went to the city where the man of God was.”

This is turning into a wild goose chase. They can’t find the donkeys, they’ve been all over, gone for three days, and now the servant has this idea that they should go find some seer, or prophet, who could maybe help them find their lost donkeys.

Ironically, Saul has no money on him, but the servant does. And both of them are naive enough to think that they can buy some information from this seer. So, what the heck? They go looking for this seer in verses 11-14.

“11 As they went up the hill to the city, they met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, "Is the seer here?" 12 They answered, "He is; behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry. He has come just now to the city, because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place. 13 As soon as you enter the city you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately." 14 So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.”

Did you catch that? They saw Samuel. That’s who this seer is. Samuel. This doesn’t speak well of Saul, and here’s why: Saul grew up within 5 miles of Samuel’s center of ministry, but he had never heard of Samuel before. Samuel’s home was in Ramah (1 Sam. 7:17); Saul was from Gibeah (1 Sam. 10:26). Those two towns were right beside each other.

Samuel was the greatest spiritual leader that the people of Israel had followed since the days of Moses and Joshua. 1 Samuel 3:20 told us that, “all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD.” In 1 Samuel 4:1 we are told that, “the word of Samuel came to all Israel.”

Samuel had served as a priest, preached as God’s prophet, and led as Israel’s judge for his entire lifetime, and yet Saul, who grew up in Samuel’s backyard, has no idea who Samuel even was.

Okay, let me see if I can bring this into our context. Imagine if you grew up less than five miles from Billy Graham’s house, and you never knew who he was. But you’re having a bad day, because you lost your donkey, or your dog ran away, or someone stole your car, and you’re out trying to find it. You’ve been looking around for three days with no luck.

Then your buddy had this idea that maybe will help. He has a silver dollar in his pocket, and he’s heard that there is a preacher-man who lives nearby. Maybe if you gave it to him, he could tell you where your donkeys went.

Is it just me, or does that sound absolutely ridiculous to you?

This doesn’t bode well for the future leader of God’s people. Later on in life, we are going to find him consulting witches; as time goes on, he doesn’t make much progress.

Given the fact that Saul has no idea who Samuel was, I think that it is safe to say that Saul isn’t exactly aware of what God has been doing in Israel.

That’s what makes this story even more amazing. From the outside, this has all appearances of a wild goose chase. A random thing. Coincidence. Saul is looking for a donkey, but he’s about to find a prophet.

But it’s clear why this string of events is happening. It’s not coincidence. It’s Providence. God’s Spirit is providentially leading this whole catastrophe, starting with the escape of a bunch of donkeys.

You know, the early Celtic Christians used to refer to the Holy Spirit as the Wild Goose. One person described it this way, “Doves were docile and delicate, but the wild goose was untamable, free, and unpredictable. Instead of a soft coo, the wild goose was noisy and raucous. And it seemed always to be on the move.”

Maybe this is a Wild Goose chase, but not the kind that we would normally speak of. God is on the move. He is at work in the world in unseen ways.

The passage itself makes this clear. Even though Saul had no idea that the Wild Goose was directing his steps, God had already filled Samuel in on what was going to happen.

Take a look at verses 15-17:

“15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: 16 "Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me." 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, "Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people."”

See, this isn’t happenstance. This isn’t accident. This isn’t coincidence. This is providence. God said it, He planned it, and comes to pass just as He says.

In fact, God so directs all of this, Samuel doesn’t even need to approach Saul after God tells him that this is the guy. Saul comes up to Samuel. Look at verses 18-19.

“18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, "Tell me where is the house of the seer?" 19 Samuel answered Saul, "I am the seer.””

Saul has no idea that he’s approaching Samuel. He has no idea that his whole life is about to change. He has no idea that the people of Israel have rejected God as their King and have asked for a man to lead as their king. All he’s looking for are some lost donkeys!

He thinks that maybe this seer can help him out. He sees some old guy in town, and thinks, “maybe this guys knows where the seer is.” Saul has no idea that he’s going straight up to Samuel himself.

Before my wife and I were married, my wife was a school teacher for a little while. She taught junior high and high school. Well, one day, she was leading her class down the hall to a book fair, when a parent volunteer stopped the class, and asked her, “Where’s your teacher?” Kate said, “I am the teacher!”

That’s kind of like what just happened here!

And before Saul gets the chance to ask about the lost donkeys, Samuel tells him that the donkeys are fine, forget about them, they’ve already been found. Instead, he’s supposed to join Samuel for dinner.

Then Samuel tells Saul that all of Israel desires him. Saul responds that he’s from the tribe of Benjamin, the least of all the tribes in Israel, which is true, due to the civil war that just about decimated the tribe in the book of Judges.

But Saul is whisked into this world, really with no idea why! Samuel gives him a place of honor at this big feast, and gives him a special portion of the meal to eat. In verse 24, Samuel told Saul that this portion was kept for him until the hour appointed. In other words, even though Saul had no idea what was happening, God was ordering every one of his steps.

Even that portion of the meal was appointed for Saul in that moment.

After dinner, Saul is invited to stay the night at Samuel’s house. I get the feeling that it’s one of those invites like the movie, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” You will sit down and eat, and you will keep eating even after your stomach hurts. I imagine that it was kind of like that - “You will stay the night, Saul. Sleep well!”

In the morning, Samuel wakes him up, sends the servant on ahead a bit, and says that he’s going to make the word of God known to Saul.

Now, if we just pause here for a moment and imagine what it was like for Saul, it’s not a stretch to think that this must have been like drinking from a fire hydrant.

This is information overload, man! He’s trying to find donkeys. He winds up at the head of the table at some feast. He spends the night at Samuel’s house. I wonder if he dreamt that night that he was back at home, in his own bed?

Whether he did or not, I’m sure that it was a jolt to his system when, at the beginning of chapter 10, this prophet is pouring oil on his head and telling him that the Lord had anointed him to be prince over Israel!

Take a look at chapter 10, verse 1:

“1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, "Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies."

That’s a lot to take in all at once, know what I mean? And I’m sure that God was very aware of that, so He told Samuel to give Saul three signs that would take place to confirm all that had just happened.

Skip down to chapter 10, midway through verse 1:

“And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. 2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, 'The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, "What shall I do about my son?"' 3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do."”

Like I said, all of this must have been information overload for Saul. So God tells Samuel to give Saul three signs to confirm that all of this is legit.

Samuel says, “First, you’re going to meet two men by Rachel’s tomb, and they are going to tell you that the donkeys have been found, and your dad is worried about you. Second, you’ll meet three men heading to Bethel. One will be carrying 3 goats, one will have 3 loaves of bread, and one will have wine. The bread dude is going to give you two of his loaves. Third, you’re going to come to Gibeath-elohim, and run into a big group of prophets along with their personal marching band, at which point you’ll prophesy along with them!”

In case you didn’t notice, this isn’t exactly like reading your horoscope in the paper, “Be prepared to meet someone who may change your future. Don’t argue with special people in your life. You have positive energy today,” or some kind of nonsense like that which could apply to anyone.

No, Samuel gives Saul three distinct signs, all with very specific details, in order to confirm to Saul what had just taken place.

Now, can you imagine Saul at this point? He’s part of a nation that has no king, and yet this old man has just told him that the Lord is going to make him a prince. He’s obviously not a very religious guy; he had no idea who Samuel was.

Even if he wanted it all to be true, as he was walking home that day, I wonder if he’s thinking that Samuel is some senile religious nut job.

But now, the providential hand of God becomes more obvious, because, just as Samuel said, he sees two guys as he passes by Rachel’s tomb. One of them tells him to hustle up, because the donkeys have been found and his dad is worried sick.

Next thing he knows, he bumps into three guys, and one of them gives him two loaves of bread. He has no idea why.

But the thing that pushes him over the edge are the prophets with their marching band. In fact, verse 10 says that in that moment, the Spirit of God rushed upon him, in the same way that the Spirit of God had rushed upon Samson in the book of Judges, and empowered him to serve God. Saul has been changed, at least to the degree that he sees things differently.

Now some people have different ideas about what took place in this moment, but I know an Old Testament scholar who believes that Saul probably just got caught up in a musical worship experience where he forgot completely about the people who were around him. I think that’s reasonable.

When Ben and Jeremy lead us in music and singing, I find myself at times getting caught up in a worship experience where I’ve forgotten all that’s around me.

That may be what happened with Saul, which was out of character for him. He encountered God in a way that he never had before.

But we can tell that Saul still doesn’t know what to make of all of this yet, because when gets home, and his uncle asks him what happened, in chapter 10, verses 14-16, Saul only gives him part of the story. Quite a bit had taken place over the last three days. But Saul only reveals a little of what happened: “We met Samuel, and he told us that the donkeys had been found.” He didn’t tell his uncle anything about the matter of the kingdom.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Hardly anyone has any idea of what’s going on, but God continues to work under the surface, in unseen ways.

Who knows if Saul had hoped that all of this was going to come true, and he was being shy about sharing it with others, or whether he just wanted life to go back to normal. We don’t know how Saul was feeling about all of this.

But it didn’t really matter either way, because Samuel was moving things along. In verse 17, he calls everyone together to make this private anointing a public announcement.

It’s strange how Samuel begins his inaugural speech for Saul. This isn’t how you’re supposed to inaugurate a king! You know, in our nation, whenever we inaugurate a new president, there’s a pastor there who says a prayer.

Imagine if the pastor began his prayer by saying that the new president was elected because America had rejected God! It’s not very PC!

That’s pretty much what Samuel does here. Take a look at verses 17-19:

“17 Now Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah. 18 And he said to the people of Israel, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.' 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, 'Set a king over us.' Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands."”

The way Samuel begins is the same way that prophets throughout the Old Testament would begin a sermon of judgment!

As we saw in chapter 8, the people of Israel wanted a king because they were rejecting God as their King. Well, there’s going to be a consequence for that. That consequence is Saul.

We read just a moment ago in chapter 9:17, that Saul would “restrain” the people of God. Almost always, that word restrain has a negative sense, similar to imprisonment. Saul was going to be God’s instrument to judge the nation of Israel.

But Samuel doesn’t just announce Saul as the new king of Israel. Samuel casts lots to determine who’s going to be king. It’s like rolling the dice! It may well be that Samuel does this in order to keep people from various tribes from bickering that someone from their tribe isn’t picked to be the king. This way nobody has anything to complain about.

Take a look at verses 20-24:

“20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the LORD, "Is there a man still to come?" and the LORD said, "Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage." 23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen? There is none like him among all the people." And all the people shouted, "Long live the king!"

See, God is directing every event that takes place here, even down to the way that the lots fall. It’s no surprise to us by now that Saul is the one chosen to be King.

But where is he? Of all the people who could have been chosen, it comes down to Saul, but he’s nowhere to be found. Lots of people had to travel to Mizpah for this event, so they had luggage. Apparently they all piled it in one area. That’s where Saul was, hiding among the bags.

Now listen, I don’t want to be too hard on Saul. He’s not a one dimensional character with no redeeming qualities. He does have some promise, especially early in his life. God worked on his heart, and the Holy Spirit came upon him earlier in verses 9-10. We are going to see in 1 Samuel 14:47-48 that he was a capable military leader. He began as a forgiving man, and he seemed to maintain popularity with the people.

So Saul certainly had some good qualities.

But it’s hard for me to buy into the idea that some commentators say that Saul is just being humble here. Really? Hiding among luggage is an act of humility? I don’t think so. This seems to me to be more like a Jonah moment. He looks to me to be running from God, but even Saul can’t thwart God’s providential plan here.

And as soon as the people see him in verse 23, they are captured by his appearance. Even Samuel seems to be impressed with Saul’s appearance in verse 24. He looks so kingly. And all the people begin to shout, “Long live the king!”

So we see at one and the same time, God gives the people a king, and yet He denies their request. He gives them a king, but not like the other nations. In chapter 10, verse 1, when Samuel anointed Saul, he calls him a prince. It could also be translated as “leader.” But he doesn’t call Saul a king.

You see, God still intends to be their King, and Saul must rule under God’s authority. Samuel makes this clear to Saul in verse 25 when he spells out the guidelines for being Israel’s king.

Take a look at verses 25-27:

"25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, "How can this man save us?" And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.”

The people finally got the king they had wanted. Saul’s life would never be the same.

He went from doing donkey search and rescue to leading a nation as king. And he didn’t get there through political campaign, or pulling strings. He got there by obeying his father in a not-very-glamourous task. Trust me, trudging around in central Palestine for three days looking for lost livestock isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time. How could God use that?

You may feel the same.

You may wonder how God could use the small and insignificant tasks that you have to do in life. Your job is to change diapers every hour. How could God use that? Your job is to work in a factory. How could God use that? Your job is to sit in a cubicle and push papers. How could God use that?

Take heart. Your life is not a wild goose chase in the sense that it’s random and without significance. In His providence, the Holy Spirit, the Wild Goose, directs us. As Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”

One pastor put it this way:

“In this passage we see that God is sovereign in all things, even the small details of our lives. Saul will be anointed and appointed as God’s first king for Israel, yet in reality the path to that position is far from glamorous; in fact it is through the ordinary that God brings about the extraordinary. The lesson is writ large, the great God of heaven can use the minute detail of your lives, however insignificant you may think them to be, and use them as mighty channels of opportunity and blessing.”

God is interested in the details of your life, and we can rest in the assurance that God, who knows the end from the beginning, is working out His purposes even in the small, monotonous, insignificant details of our lives today. We have no idea how God may use even the most mundane things in our lives. Take heart.

I’m convinced that Saul didn’t wake up that morning when he had to chase donkeys, and think to himself, “Today I’m going to become king.”

I’m positive that the little boy who brought a sack lunch to go hear Jesus, never anticipated that Christ would feed five thousand from his lunchbox.

I’m sure that it never crossed his mind, the day that man tied up his colt in Bethany, that Jesus would borrow it to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

I’m certain that Simon of Cyrene, when he went to see what the crowd was hollering about, had no idea that he would end up carrying the cross upon which Jesus would hang, upon which his sin would be paid for in full.

But that was not coincidence. It was providence. It was God at work in the world in unseen ways, leading, guiding, and directing.

And when you rolled out of bed this morning, you may not have anticipated being here this morning. You may not have known when you woke up that you’d be listening to some guy holler at you from the Bible.

But you’re here anyway. That’s not chance. That’s not random. That’s not circumstance. That’s God’s providence.

And God has a purpose for you. He wants you to hear this:

Apart from Jesus, all of us are lost and without hope in the world, but Jesus came to save sinners. Our sin is wicked and evil, and it separates us from God.

But, as John 3:16 tells us, God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

I heard Max Lucado say once, “You are a ‘whoever’.” I love that.

Jesus came to pay the penalty for sin by dying on the cross as our substitute.

Do you see your sin and your need for a Savior? Do you believe in Him as the only Savior? Will you put your hope and trust in Him to save you?

I believe that God, in His providence, brought you here, to ponder those questions. Who is going to be King in your life?

1 Samuel 8:1-22 - Everybody's Doing It

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 10:21:55 EST

I think that one of the most powerful influences in our lives is our desire to fit in with everyone around us. My wife and I have three kids, the oldest being in the 3rd grade. He’s not even in double digits yet, in terms of age. But we can already see this influence of wanting to fit in.

Apparently, most of the other kids in his class have a Sony PSP, or a Nintendo DS, a handheld video game system. Our kids don’t. Many of the other kids have seen certain movies, but our kids haven’t.

I took my daughter on a date this week, and she was telling me about how all of her friends know certain songs that she doesn’t know. They will sing them together, but Abigail has never even heard of them before! She told me that one of her friends at school told her that all she knows are church songs!

I thought that was funny. I want to send her to school with my ipod filled with Lecrae and Shai Linne - some Christian rappers - and see what her friends at school think about that.

The point is, my kids want, just as most people do, to fit in. Sometimes our greatest desires are just to be part of the crowd, to fit in, to belong, to not stick out like a sore thumb. Everybody else is doing it, so we do too. Sadly, at least from time to time, our highest aspirations are to be a nameless face in the crowd. We just want to blend in with everyone else.

Now listen, I have no desire to live in a cave. I don’t want to make my kids stick out on purpose, to be the weird, socially awkward preacher’s kid, who has no relational skills.

More than that, there is nothing godly about depriving my children just for the sake of deprivation.

That being said, I cannot, and will not allow my family to be held hostage to the pressure that just because everyone else is doing something, we should be as well.

The problem is, that’s tough to do.

It’s difficult to be different. But here’s the real challenge: In many ways, that’s exactly what God has called us to be - different, unique, holy.

Why don’t you open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 8? Over the last couple of months, we have been working our way through this book of the Bible, and we have now come to this eighth chapter. What we are going to find here today is that this desire to be like everyone else is at least a 3000 year old problem.

Take a look:

“1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.”

Now, if you’ve been here the past few weeks, you may feel like you’re getting whiplash with every chapter that we read. In chapters 1 & 2, the spiritual state of Israel is terrible. In chapter 3, God called Samuel to be His prophet, and things began to look up. By chapter 4, verse 1, we see that Samuel’s preaching is having widespread effect. But then the rest of chapter 4, along with chapters 5 & 6, Israel is behaving like knuckleheads again. Then last week, in chapter 7, we saw that the nation repented, and so again, it seemed like things were going really well.

So how is it that by the time we get to chapter 8, Israel is in a funk again? What’s their deal?

Well, let me point out two things. The first is that Israel is a bit schizophrenic. They do go back and forth a lot.

But the second thing that we need to realize is that these first seven chapters cover a significant period of time. In chapter one, Samuel wasn’t born yet. But now, we see in the first verse of chapter eight, that Samuel is an old man.

So what we are reading is the cliff notes. This is a condensed account of what took place over the lifetime of Samuel. And thank God for that. Imagine how many chapters you’d have to read a day to get through the Bible in a year if it contained all the details!! It would be about as long as the 32 volume Encyclopedia Britannica!

Have fun with that.

So, that’s why it seems like things are back and forth all the time. Anyway, up to this point, Samuel has been God’s prophet to Israel, as well as Israel’s judge.

Now, this was a unique leadership structure that God had put in place in Israel. Generally, these judges were kind of regional leaders during their lifetime that God had raised up for a specific purpose.

On occasion we see these judges making their kids the next judge of Israel, but that wasn’t the norm. Typically, God just raised up judges who would lead the people out from under the oppression of neighboring nations, call the people back to faithfulness to God, and oversee disputes or conflicts among the people.

That was the role of a judge.

It seems a bit haphazard. It wasn’t highly structured. Many of the judges had glaring faults. And yet, that’s how God had organized things.

Now, one of the things that we see in verse one is that Samuel made his sons judges. We only see this happening a few times in the Bible, and most of the time, it doesn’t turn out well. It apparently didn’t work out this time either.

There’s kind of a sad parallel here that you can’t help but notice between Eli and Samuel. Up to this point, Samuel has been a rock star. The guy is a stud. He has been nothing but faithful to God, and obedient to His call.

But his sons turn out to be idiots. And it brings to mind Eli, and his sons. Eli was alright, I guess. He was pretty thick, not very sensitive to the Lord, but his boys were awful. And now, we see the same thing with Samuel. How sad.

And by the way, this is something that we are going to see all the way through 1 & 2 Samuel - flunking dads. Eli, Samuel, Saul, and even David. So dads, I hope that you’re taking note of this. Even guys like Samuel and David, as great as they were, apparently dropped the ball in the home. And if we don’t want to follow in their footsteps, we as men and as fathers have to be very intentional to honor God in this area of our lives.

But back to the story at hand. Samuel made his sons judges, but neither of them were men of integrity. We see how important it is to pass torch well in every generation. Samuel didn’t.

And because of poor spiritual leadership, the people begin to make poor decisions.

Whether you are a leader in the home, or in the church, you need to take note of this. When we lead poorly, those under our care may very well wander away from God.

Let’s read how the people respond. Take a look at 1 Samuel 8:4:

“4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."”

Samuel is old, and they know that he won’t be around forever. Both of his sons are taking bribes and perverting justice. I can understand why they don’t want these guys to be the judge that’s over them.

And so the elders of the people approach Samuel with another idea: “Give us a king.”

Now, verse 6 tells us that Samuel wasn’t really happy about the request, and you can imagine why. It’s a slap in the face: “Hey Sam, we know that you’re the judge and all, but you’re gonna die soon, and we don’t like your kids, and we’d really rather have someone else leading us.”

Ouch. That probably hurt to hear. But Samuel really is a godly man, so the first thing that he does with their request is pray about it. He asks God what he should do in verse 6. God answers him in verses 7-9, and says, “They want a king? Let them have a king. Just warn them first. Tell them what they are really getting into. And remember this, Samuel. They are just doing to you what they’ve already done to Me. They aren’t really rejecting you, Samuel. They are rejecting Me. They no longer want Me to be their King.”

So Samuel does exactly what God tells him to do. He makes sure that the people are going into this king-thing with their eyes wide open. Take a look at verses 10-18:

“10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day."”

Did you hear anything repeated in that passage? I think that there’s a theme that Samuel wants them to see. Look back at verse 11. “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take...” Skip to verse 13, “He will take...” Verse 14, “He will take...” Verse 15, “He will take...” Verse 16, “He will take...” Verse 17, “He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.”

He’s going to be a taker, not a giver. For all intents and purposes, you’re going to end up being his slaves. He’s going to require a tithe of everything you have. Your sons are going to serve him in battle. Even your daughters will be drafted into his service. And verse 18 culminates with the warning, “in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

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Now, I want to suggest this morning that the request for a king, in and of itself, is not a terrible thing. Here’s why I say that: God already told the people that it would be okay for them to have a king. He didn’t say that they should try to get a king in place, but He didn’t forbid it either.

In Deuteronomy 17:14-15, it says:

“14 "When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,' 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose.”

In this passage, God says that they can have a king that He will choose. But in 1 Samuel 8:18, God says that they are choosing this King.

See, it’s not so much the request that’s wrong as much as the motivation for the request. Why do they want a king?

Well, ultimately, as 1 Samuel 8:7 says, it’s because they don’t want the Lord to be King over them. That’s the ultimate problem. They are rejecting God.

But let’s hear it from their own mouths why they don’t want the Lord to be their King. Take a look at verses 19-20:

“19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.””

The Israelites refuse to listen to the wisdom of Samuel. He’s warning them, but they won’t hear it. I wonder if we are any different.

These people don’t want God to be their King, because they want to be like everybody else. They don’t want God to pick a leader for them, who would truly be a prince, and not a king, who would shepherd the people on behalf of the Lord, who is the true King. That’s not want they want.

They aren’t willing to be patient for God to choose a new leader for them. They want a king now, and not the type of leader that God would choose. They want one like all the other nations.

It’s ironic, you know, that they don’t like how Samuel has appointed his sons to be judges over them, so they suggest a new form of national government that is continually perpetuated by heredity and bloodline. Once that system is in place, it won’t be the unusual case where the current leader appoints his son to be the next leader; that will be the norm!

But they want to be like all the other nations. Can’t you hear them talking to Samuel: “It’s the Iron Age, man! We need to catch up with the times. We aren’t in the Stone Age anymore. Everybody else has a king. That’s what we need. He can judge us, and he can fight our battles, and then we will be like everybody else.”

But here’s the problem. The Kingdom of our God is not like the kingdoms of this world.

It is so easy to forget this, especially if we have our eyes fixed on what everybody else is doing. When our motivation is just to fit in, and not stick out, and not be different, and blend in with the crowd, we are likely to lose sight of the fact that God’s economy turns everything on it’s head.

It’s an upside-down kingdom: You wanna be first, you have to be last. You want to lead, you better serve. You want to gain your life, you need to lose it first.

See, the Kingdom of our God is not like the kingdoms of this world.

But when there was a leadership crisis, the people of Israel lost sight of that. Instead of looking to Yahweh as their King, they were looking at everyone around them for answers, and ignoring the wisdom of Samuel.

It’s sad that God’s people throughout history, and even now, look to the world for models of leadership. This same thing happens even in the church today. There’s certainly a leadership crisis in the church right now. So we look all around, and we see business models that are extremely effective in the marketplace, and out of a desire to be like everybody else, we ignore the wisdom of Scripture, and we lead the church with CEO’s and CFO’s and Business Managers instead of a plurality of shepherding elders.

We want to be like everybody else.

We do this on a personal level as well. We ignore the wisdom of Scripture, and look to everyone around us to determine how we ought to live. We see that everyone else has a bigger house, or drives nicer cars, and, along with that, has much more debt, and we want to be like everybody else, so we follow suit. Then when someone loses a job, or when a couple unexpectedly has a baby, they don’t know how they are going to make it financially.

Or, we see everyone around us having sex outside of marriage, or cheating at school, or experimenting with drugs, or not paying taxes, and we want to be like everybody else, or at least we figure, “if they can do it, so can I,” so we follow suit.

And in doing so, just like the Israelites, we are rejecting God as King of our lives.

You see, this pursuit of being like everyone else leads Christians to a place where we don’t want to go. Here’s why: the reasoning, the motivations, and the ultimate goals of a sinful, fallen world are diametrically opposed to God.

Let me give you an example of what I mean: The world says, “acquire as much as you can as fast as you can.” Jesus says to sell all that you have and follow Him.

The world says, “if you need to step on people to climb the ladder of success, do it.” Jesus says to pour out your life for others. The world says, “look out for your own interests.” Jesus says to look out for the interests of others.

So we can only travel down this path of wanting to be like everyone else so far before we come to the crossroads of who we are going to follow. And then we have to ask ourselves the question, “Am I going to listen to the wisdom of Scripture or the wisdom of men?”

And if at that point, we choose the wisdom of men over the wisdom of God, and we waltz right through that intersection, just like the people of Israel did, we are rejecting God as the King of our lives.

And you know, what’s interesting in all of this is that, along with this desire to be like all the other nations, is fear. Remember verse 20? It says there that the Israelites want to be like all the other nations, they want someone to be their judge, and they want someone to go out before them and fight their battles.

Well, they already had judges; that wasn’t anything new. But since Samuel’s sons were not honest men, they could use that as justification for their real reasons, which were 1) wanting to be like everyone else, and 2) wanting someone else to fight their battles.

Having a judge, but no king, and no army meant that they felt like they had no security. They were afraid. The Philistines had caused them more headaches than they could count. It seemed like they were always at war in those days.

And they were afraid.

I wonder how often our fear and lack of security causes us to look for answers from those who are around us instead of God, especially those we see as being secure. I wonder how often our fear drives our desires to fit in and be like everyone else.

I wonder if our fear of what others may think of us, causes us to reject God as King of our lives, in our attempt to be like them.

But let’s keep going and find out how God responded to all of this. Go back to the passage. Let’s pick up in verse 21:

“21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey their voice and make them a king." Samuel then said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city."”

God gave them their request. That’s kind of scary, isn’t it? God gave them what they were asking for. The only conclusion that we can draw here is that sometimes God answers our prayers when we are insistent and demanding certain things, even if they aren’t for our best.

The next time you feel like God is not answering your prayers, you may want to come back to this passage and ask yourself if you are demanding something from God that He’s trying to save you from. Thank God for all of the unanswered prayers in our lives. God may be saving us from ourselves!

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Many of you already know this about me, but over the last few years, I’ve struggled with discouragement and even some depression in ministry. And to be completely honest with you, it’s because at times I’ve lost sight of the truth that the Kingdom of our God is not like the kingdoms of this world.

And I look around me, and see huge, thriving churches with paid staff and shiny new buildings that they don’t have to share with five other ministries, and then I look at how we are a very small church, with no bells and whistles, and I start to believe the lie that my worth is directly proportional to the size of this ministry.

But instead of listening to the wisdom of Scripture, and looking to God for my security, all I could see were the people around me. I saw how they looked so secure, and so successful, with such thriving ministries.

And I began to ask God for that.

Now you gotta realize, that up through college, I had this burning desire to achieve or accomplish something with my life. But since I had graduated, it seemed like every career choice I made was a demotion from my prior position.

That only made me feel worse about myself. Can you tell that I’m extremely self-centered? Anyway, I kept asking God to give me what I perceived that other people had.

And then to my surprise, He did. Someone from another ministry, a much larger ministry than Wellspring, asked me to come be their pastor.

I was so excited. It was just what I had been asking God for. Now, I had hoped that God would grow Wellspring, but, as I was considering the invitation, I was justifying in my mind that it would all work out okay.

This church was just like what I was seeing that other people had. If I took the position, then I wouldn’t fear what other people thought about me anymore. I’d no longer feel like a failure. I could be a part of a bigger ministry with shiny new buildings, and all of the people whom I wanted to view me as a success couldn’t help but think I had made something of myself.

And as I was enjoying the imaginary approval of other people, 1 Samuel 8 came to mind. I knew that God had called me to plant this church. What if God was now giving me what I was asking for because I demanded it, but not because it was what was best for me?

I stubbornly had to admit that it wasn’t. You see, my reasoning, motivations, and goals for wanting that position were diametrically opposed to God. The Kingdom of our God is not like the kingdoms of this world. Like I said, it’s an upside-down kingdom: You wanna be first, you have to be last. You want to lead, you better serve. You want to gain your life, you need to lose it first.

And in my particular situation, I think that taking that position would have been tantamount to rejecting God as my king, and replacing Him with the god of “success.”

So, as an act of worship, I chose to stay put where God had planted me. Now listen, it’s scary being one of the pastors of a small church plant. We have no idea what we are doing half the time! We are still trying to figure things out. I feel like we are being attacked from all sides by Satan.

And yet, I’m so thankful that God kept me right where I am. There’s no other place that I want to be. Because I believe that this is a place where Jesus reigns as King.

I want to ask you this morning to consider your own life. Are there areas of your life where you’ve been like the Israelites, where you’ve been like me, and you’re more concerned about being like everyone else than you are about Christ and His Kingdom?

Are you compelled by fear to be like everyone else?

Are there areas in your heart where you’ve ignored the truth and wisdom of Scripture, and pursued things that everyone else has, to the detriment of your faith or family?

Take a look at your prayers. Is there anything that you are demanding of God that’s really not in your best interest?

Have you tried to pursue, at one and the same time, both the wisdom of this world, and the things of God? Are you prepared to let go of those things, as an act of worship, and let Jesus reign as King in your life?

Ultimately, Jesus already reigns as King. He is God in the flesh. And when humanity was lost in sin and guilt and darkness, King Jesus came to earth as a baby, lived a perfect life, and died a perfect death as the substitute for our sins.

If you have never experienced His salvation, surrender to Him today as King of your life. Tell Him that you’ve sinned against Him, that you are lost, and that you need Him to save you.

Quit living in fear, and trying to be like everyone else.

Put all of your hope on Jesus to save you. Put your faith in Christ’s work on the cross to rescue you from your sin. Don’t wait another day! Turn away from your sin, and from trying to save yourself, and turn to Jesus as the King and Lord of your life.

You see, there really is no need for us to fear, no need for us to try to be like someone else. In Christ, we are God’s forever, saved by His blood, protected by His power. What can other people do to you? Kill you? To die is gain! Let you live? To live is Christ! Make you suffer? We want to know Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings!

If you want to be like someone else, be like Jesus! He is strong and tender, wise and compassionate, gracious and kind. He is mighty and powerful, understanding and forgiving, holy and true. He laughs with us in our laughter, and cries with us in our pain. And He loves us even in our silly pursuits to be like everyone else.

What a Savior! What a King!

May we never reject Him as King of our hearts.

1 Samuel 7:2-17 - The Front Porch of Religion

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:12:34 EST

My wife, Kate, loves looking at homes. House shopping is probably one of her favorite hobbies, even though we aren’t shopping for a house. She just loves looking at homes. I wonder sometimes if she should have been an architect. She loves trying to come up with the perfect layout.

One of her favorite features on a home is a big front porch. She’s from the south, where many of the houses have these beautiful wraparound porches.

Front porches are great. We don’t have one on our house now, but we used to. We’d hang out on the front porch all summer long, especially in the evenings, drinking lemonade, talking to the neighbors.

On that old house we used to own, when we bought the house, we had to fix the front porch right away. The footings were sinking into the ground, and the entire porch was pulling away from the rest of the house.

We had to fix it, because you couldn’t get into the house without first stepping on the porch to get there. And every time we stepped on the front porch, we were putting more weight on it.

That posed a problem for us, because you had to step on the porch to get in the front door. There’s no other way.

John Wesley, one of the leaders of the Evangelical Awakening in Great Britain in the 18th Century, once said that when it comes to religion, repentance is the front porch. He said that faith is the door. And holiness, he said, is the house itself.

Think about that. Repentance is the porch of religion. You don’t come to the door of faith unless you first step onto the porch of repentance. And you can’t enter the house, and experience a relationship with God, until you’ve stepped onto the porch, and walked through the door of faith.

When you think of it in those terms, the front porch is pretty important. Here’s why: There is no real faith, there is no real relationship with God, if there is no real repentance.

And if that’s the case, then it would be wise for us to consider what Biblical repentance looks like. So this morning, we are going to consider the front porch. We are going to talk about repentance.

And let’s just define our terms right out of the gate. What I mean by repentance is to turn away from sin, and instead turn to God. So to repent means that there is a change that takes place.

Now, there are two ways that this can happen. First, repentance can be an initial turning away from our sin of self-sufficiency to Jesus Christ for salvation. In other words, if you have been depending on your own goodness to get you to heaven, you have to turn away from that to Jesus to be saved in the first place.

Second, repentance can be the subsequent, ongoing, repeated turning from our sin to God for forgiveness every time we fall into disobe-dience. You get what I’m saying?

It’s repentance, whether it’s happening for the first time, or for the millionth time. We see examples of both in Scripture.

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So, we are now in our 7th week in a new series of messages from 1 Samuel, and what we are going to find this morning is an account of God’s people, after a long time of wandering from Him, turning back to the Lord.

Why don’t you turn in your Bible to 1 Samuel 7? Now, if you remember from last week, we left off the story at the beginning of chapter 7 here. The Philistines had beaten Israel in battle. They took with them the ark of the covenant as a war trophy. And everywhere that they took the ark, plagues followed. Pretty soon, they didn’t want the ark anymore. So they sent it back to Israel, and it ended up in this town called Kiriath-jearim. Let’s pick up the story in 1 Samuel 7:2:

“2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.” 3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only. 5 Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you." 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philis-tines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines." 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. And Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car."

Okay, if you’ve been here for the bulk of this series, something probably jumped out at you when we read this. Eli & Company are gone. Samuel’s back. He was nowhere to be found during that whole mess when the Israelites lost the ark in battle. The last time he made an appearance was in chapter 4, verse 1. But he’s here again, and things seem to be going better again.

Now, don’t forget, prior to this chapter, the people of Israel had acted like knuckleheads. They had tried to manipulate God, and they had lost the ark of God’s covenant in the process. And apparently, they had realized what they had done. It was sin.

What we are going to see here throughout this chapter is their jour-ney of repentance. There are several changes that take place within the people’s hearts. Their whole attitudes change, at least for a while. I want to take us on that same journey today. So I’m going to party like preachers used to in 1585 and make 8 observations concerning repentance from the passage today, along with a final application.

And if you’re wondering how I know so much about this topic, it’s because I’m an expert at repenting because I have to do it all the time, because I’m a big sinner. But that’s beside the point.

Let’s get busy. Take another look at verse 2. Do you see the first step in their journey to true repentance here? It tells us that the Israelites lamented after the Lord. That’s an interesting way to put it, isn’t it? They lamented, they mourned after the Lord. 2 Cor. 7:10 puts it this way, “godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.”

The first observation that I want to make here is that godly sorrow is the prerequisite for repentance. Until we come to the point that we grieve over our sin, we will not and cannot experience biblical repentance. You see, real repentance starts in the heart. We feel it. It doesn’t do anyone any good to logically acknowledge that they committed sin if they have no sense of remorse over it. We can’t trick God here. He knows if we are just going through the motions. We see here that repentance is a heart issue.

But just because repentance starts in the heart, doesn’t mean that it stops there. Look back to verse 3. Samuel tells them, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you.”

Repentance begins in the heart, once we’ve been pricked by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but it moves beyond that to action. That’s the second observation I’d like to make about biblical repentance. It involves a clear and decisive break with sin. Samuel tells the Israelites to put the Ashtaroth and foreign gods away from them. That may not seem like a demand that required much of the Israelites until we understand that Ashtoreth was the goddess of love and fertility, and sexual orgy was part of that religious ritual.

Sin can be a pretty good church growth strategy, know what I mean? People quit skipping church when this is the incentive. These people couldn’t wait to get to the place of worship.

But Samuel calls them to repent. And if that’s really going to happen, then a decisive break with sin must be made. You can’t get out of the swimming pool and keep one toe in the water.
Samuel tells the people here that they’ve got to get completely out of the trouble that they’ve been swimming in.

And I want to tell you the same this morning. Take a look at your life, especially areas where you know that you’ve struggled with sin. Have you tried to keep one toe in whatever it was that you were doing, and at the same time follow Jesus? If that’s been your strategy up to this point, let me just save you some time. That doesn’t work. There must be a clear and decisive break from sin. Samuel would tell you to put that sin - whatever it is - completely away from you.

And then in verse 3, Samuel follows that up by telling the people to direct their heart to the Lord. In other words, God’s people must combat sin with a regular reorientation of our hearts to God. That’s the third observation I want to make about the nature of repentance.

Every time we sin it is because somewhere along the way, even though it may not be at the conscious level, we’ve begun to believe the serpent’s lie that God does not have our best in mind. Just like Adam and Eve, we begin to believe that we know better than He does about what we need. And so we take matters into our own hand, eating whatever forbidden fruit we happen to be lusting after in that moment, and we justify it by calling God’s good character into question.

So when the Holy Spirit pricks our hearts, and we feel that godly sorrow over our sin, and we make a break with sin, we must also reorient our hearts to God. That’s part true repentance, because sin is more than us just doing something that God has told us not to do. Whenever we sin, whether it comes out of our mouth or not, we are saying, “God is not good, God does not love me, God is not right, God doesn’t know what I need, God can’t take care of me.”

Even more, we are saying, “I know more than God does. I am in control of my life. I can do whatever I want. God can’t tell me what to do. I am king of my own castle.”

Pretty soon, we are quoting Henley’s poem, Invictus. This poem is what that movie with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon was named after.

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

It’s a great poem, isn’t it? It moves me every time I read it. Unfortunately, it’s perpetuating the same lie that Satan was peddling to Adam and Eve in the garden: “You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your soul.”

No you’re not!

You have no control over the future. You life hangs in the hands of God. We are here, not because we are masters of our fate, nor because we are the captain of our soul, but because Jesus Christ holds all things together.

Every time you and I sin, we must direct our heart, we must reorient our hearts to God. Instead of saying, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul,” we say, “Lord, You are the Master of my fate. You, Father, are the captain of my soul.”

As the Fireproof movie says, don’t follow your heart. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. Don’t follow your heart! You must lead it. As Samuel says, direct your heart to the Lord.

Part of true repentance is reorienting your heart to God.

Take another look at verse 3. Samuel says, “put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only.”

The fourth observation that I’d like to make about repentance this morning is that it should bring us to a place of undivided service to the Lord.

The funny thing about God is that you worship Him only, or you don’t worship Him at all. Have you ever noticed that before? These people can’t continue to worship Ashtoreth, the goddess of love and fertility, and Baal, the son of Dagon, who was the male deity of fertility and the god of the storm, AND still worship Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Our God is not “the more the merrier” type. He wants our undivided service.

Now, this is very similar to what we said a moment ago about making a clear and decisive break with sin, but here’s the distinction: real repentance involves more than just the absence of sin. It also involves the presence of God in our lives. And we are talking about that second part here.

See, there is such a thing as godless morality, or secular ethics, but neither of those are biblical spirituality, because they are both godless. Real repentance from sin is a God-filled, God-centered enterprise.

In your spiritual journey, if you haven’t travelled from a place where you are in sin to a place where Jesus Christ reigns as central in your affections, then you haven’t experienced real repentance, because that’s the end game. This is where we should end up, with undivided hearts toward God, ready to serve.

When we have experienced real repentance, there are often some corresponding evidences of that in our lives, and see a few of them in this passage this morning. Take another look at 1 Samuel 7:6.

Samuel has preached to the people. They heard, and they responded. They put away the false gods, and served the Lord only. And verse 6 says, “So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day and said there, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.”

The fifth observation I want to make about repentance is that it is oftentimes accompanied by outward displays of the internal change that is taking place. The people here poured out water before the Lord. This is a very unusual thing in Scripture, and there’s some debate about what exactly this means, but I think that Lamentations 2:18-19 give us some insight here:

"18 Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
19 "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street."

Pouring out water was a symbol of heartfelt distress. We need to be careful here: When the people poured out water, it wasn’t for show. They were moved to do it.

I am not suggesting that you and I need to dump out a bucket of water every time we sin, nor am I saying that we need to conjure up some ritual as a display of how sorry we are for our sin. All I am saying is that oftentimes, real repentance is followed by some sort of tangible action that reflects what’s taking place in our hearts.

It may be that you ask someone for their forgiveness. It may be that we get rid of something that has been causing us to sin. It may be something else. But don’t be surprised if repentance requires some sort of outward display for you or me.

After pouring out the water, the people fasted. This is much more common in the Bible. Fasting may be another one of the corresponding evidences of real repentance in our lives. I don’t want to spend a lot of time here, except to say that fasting is an outward, biblical way to tell God that we desire Him more than even our most basic needs. It’s a way to remind ourselves not to get so stuffed with all that the world has to offer, and instead feast on God.

And when fasting is coupled with prayer, as it always is throughout Scripture, it can be a cry to God for Him to break the hold of sin in our lives. I want to encourage you today, if you are finding that you have been going through that cycle of sinning, repenting, being restored, and then you find yourself back in the same type of sin over and over again, maybe you should consider spending some time fasting and praying over it.
It may be that God would used a period of fasting and prayer to bring you freedom in that area of sin.

Now again, I want to be careful here. There can be real repentance in a person’s life without fasting. The end goal of our repentance is that we are experiencing a restored relationship with God, and all of our affections are centered on Christ. Fasting is just corresponding evidence of that repentance, not a requirement for it. That make sense?

Now, the last part of verse 6 tells us that the people said, “We have sinned against the Lord.” That’s the seventh observation I want to make. Repentance requires that we own up to our sin. If I were God, and I got to rewrite this passage, I would have put this up towards the beginning, right after godly sorrow. But, I’m not God, so there we are!

But this is huge, and it has to happen. Notice that the people of Israel didn’t make any excuses for their sin, they didn’t lie about it, they didn’t argue with God, they didn’t try to cut a deal with him. They owned it: We sinned. We messed up. We rebelled against you, Lord.

Let me ask you: How do you respond when you are confronted with your own sin? If you try to get around it, or push it on to someone else, or justify it, or minimize it, then you are not owning it. And if you do not own up to your sin, you are persisting in that sin.

Confession is crucial here. 1 John 1:9 says that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Until we confess, you and I will continue to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, pricking our conscience. Until we confess, we will continue to feel the heavy hand of God upon us.

David knew what this felt like, and he wrote about it in Psalm 38:

“1 O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! 2 For your arrows have sunk into me,and your hand has come down on me. 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.”

He goes on for 17 verses telling about how heavy his sin is, and then finally confesses in verse 18, and that’s exactly how we will feel until we confess our sin to God.

Real repentance involves honest confession.

--

Now, after all of this took place, the Philistines caught wind of what had happened. I don’t know how they knew, but it seems like the Philistines always know what’s happening with the Israelites. And they are a pain in the backside, you know? So, in verse 7, we learn that they gather the Philistine troops to attack Israel. It’s like whenever something good is happening, then there’s a setback. Maybe you’ve been there.

Anyway, the Israelites are freaking out about it. They are scared. And in 1 Samuel 7:8, the people ask Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philis-tines.”

Now, isn’t that interesting? These are the same people who, when threatened by the Philistines in chapter 4, resorted to manipulating God. But now, here in chapter 7, they are resorting to prayer. And that’s the eighth observation I’d like to make this morning: Real repentance leads to new dependance upon God in prayer.

The people of Israel knew that they couldn’t do anything about their own situation apart from God’s strength, and the reality is, neither can you.

So Samuel prayed. And verse 10 tells us that the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines. Yahweh shows the Philistines who the true God of the storm is! It’s not Baal. There was panic in the Philistine camp, and Israel ended up routing them in battle.

In other words, Israel experienced God’s mercy.

And let me add this: Israel’s repentance is not the cause of God’s mercy here, but it was preparation for it. And God, in His goodness, poured out His mercy on His people here.

The last few chapters have made it very clear that God doesn’t feel obligated to give Israel the kind of success that they want. In chapter 4, He let them get smoked by the Philistines in battle. They suffered heavy losses. In chapter 6, a bunch of Israelites died because they were gawking at the ark of the covenant.

But here, God intervenes. He helps them. They are afraid of being defeated in battle again. The last battle cost them 30,000 soldiers. They don’t know what to do. They are scared. They pray.

And God lavishes His mercy on them. He saves the day. He thunders, and the Philistines panic.

But here’s the problem. It is so easy to forget God’s mercy. It is so easy to forget His help. So Samuel does everything in His power to make sure that Israel won’t forget. Take a look at verse 12:

“12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, "Till now the LORD has helped us." 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. 15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the LORD.”

Samuel took a stone, and set it up as a reminder that God had helped them. He called it Ebenezer, which means, “the stone of help.”

He said, “up to this time, God has helped us.”

You know, there’s an old song that has been sung in church for a couple hundred years called, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” And there’s a line in that song that goes like this, “Here I raise my Ebenezer; Here by Thy great help I’ve come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.”

And I imagine that most people over the last hundred years have sung that song, and have had no idea what in the world it’s talking about. It’s a reference to 1 Samuel 7. Up to this point, God has helped us. And we have no reason to believe that He won’t continue to help us until He brings us home.

That Ebenezer stone signified the help that God had given to Israel, not only that day, but throughout her history.

And this morning, I want to call to mind another Ebenezer stone, a stone that reminds us of God’s help, up to this point. It was the stone that was used to seal Christ’s tomb after He had died on the cross as our substitute for our sin. It was the stone that was meant to squelch any belief in a living and present God who helps us. It was a stone that was meant to seal the death of belief in Jesus.

But it didn’t.

It didn’t, because that stone was rolled away from the tomb. And that stone now reminds us of Christ’s suffering and death, but even more, His victory over sin and Satan, and His everlasting life. That stone is an Ebenezer stone, in that it reminds us of God’s help.

Whenever you you are tempted to forget how God has intervened in your life, how He has shown you mercy, or how He has helped you, remember the stone that was rolled away!

You were lost, and without a Savior. You were stuck in your sin, unrepentant. You were without God and without hope in the world. And you couldn’t even repent on your own! Repentance is a gift that God grants, as Acts 5:31, Acts 11:18, and 2 Tim. 2:25 all indicate. So you were completely lost without any hope.

But thank God for the Ebenezers in our lives, the stones, the mark-ers, that remind us of His help! Thank God most of all for that stone that was rolled away, and that empty tomb, and most of all, for that Risen Sa-vior!

When you are having a hard time seeing God’s help, remember the stone that was rolled away! Because if God would give you His own Son, what would He withhold? Romans 8:32 says that “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

What an amazing thought! God already got over that terrible decision of giving His own Son to suffer and die. What is more precious than that which He could withhold? Nothing.

Pray with me that God would give us repentance every time we sin, that He would continue to give us Ebenezer stones to remind of His help up to this point, and that we would never forget that He already gave us the most wonderful gift in His Son, Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 5:1-7:2 - The Heavy Hand of God

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 14:38:11 EST

My wife and I are big movie buffs. About two weeks ago, we watched a movie called “Stone of Destiny,” which came out in 2008. It’s based on some true events that took place in 1950 when three Scottish college aged guys and one gal broke into Westminster Abbey to steal the historic “Stone of Scone” and return it to Scotland.

Now, I had never heard anything about this Stone of Destiny before watching the movie - maybe that’s a reflection on how poorly I’m informed on world history - but regardless, there are a number of legends surrounding this stone.

After watching the movie, I looked into it a little, and here’s what I found. Now, I’m no scholar on scholar on Scottish/English relations over the last 700 years, but here’s my understanding of what took place:

In Scottish history, kings would sit on this stone during their ordination into that position. It is a symbol of Scottish culture, and carried some significant meaning to the people of Scotland.

However, in 1296, the stone was captured by England as a war trophy, and was brought to Westminster Abbey in England. The stone was built into the seat of a wooden chair, upon which most subsequent English kings were crowned.

What a slap in the face!

The English had defeated the Scottish in battle. They took with them one of Scotland’s most prized national symbols, and then they began to use it when they would install each new English ruler, who reigned not only over England, but also over Scotland.

Apparently, about 30 years after the stone was taken originally, England made a treaty with Scotland that they would return the stone, but 600 years later they still hadn’t. So, on Christmas day in 1950, these college students decide to take matters into their own hands. That’s what the movie is about.

It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Six hundred years later, and the people of Scotland are still feeling the sting of losing the Stone of Destiny in battle.

--

We have been in a study through 1 & 2 Samuel together, and last week we came to chapter 4, where the people of Israel ill-advisedly brought the ark of God’s covenant into battle against the Philistines. They were under the impression that they could force God’s hand if only the had the ark in tote. They thought that they couldn’t lose in battle if they carried the ark with them.

But we saw last week that God so loves His people that He will allow us to misunderstand His intentions and be disappointed in Him for a time, in order to bring us into a correct relationship with Himself. So God let the people of Israel lose. They got pounded in battle. And at the end of the day, the Philistines were carrying away the greatest spoils of war that the world had ever seen - they were carrying the ark of God’s covenant back into Philistine territory.

That’s where we pick up the story in 1 Samuel chapter 5.

Now, in case you weren’t here last week, let me just fill you in real quick what this ark of the covenant is all about. It was a chest about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide and 2 feet high. The whole thing was overlaid with gold, and inside it was where the Ten Commandments were stored.

In Exodus 25, God had instructed the Israelites to make this ark, and place it in the Tabernacle, the place where God wanted to be worshiped. It was from that place that He said He would speak to Moses.

So it was a pretty big deal when it got taken in battle. When the high priest, Eli, heard about the ark getting captured, he fell out of his chair, broke his neck, and died. When his daughter-in-law heard the news, it sent her into labor. She gave birth to a son, and just before she died in the process, she named him Ichabod, meaning that “the glory has departed.”

Let’s find out what happened next. Take a look at 1 Samuel 5:

“1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.”

Now, Dagon was a Philistine god. In the past, there were a number of Bible scholars who thought that Dagon was a fish-god. Now more scholars think that maybe Dagon was a grain or harvest god. It doesn’t really matter. Either way, the idea is clear.

The Philistines believe that Dagon was victorious over Yahweh in battle. They’ve taken the ark of God’s covenant as a war trophy, and they’ve decided to set it up in Dagon’s temple, beside Dagon, like Yahweh is Dagon’s assistant helper.

So that’s what’s happening. But let’s keep reading:

“3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.”

Did you catch that? The people wake up the next morning, and they find their god face down in front of the ark. His face is in the dirt, in a posture of worship before the ark of God.

And what’s ironic is how they believe that their god was so powerful that he defeated the Israelites in battle, but he’s not powerful to stand himself up again. He needs their help!

But it gets even better. Take a look at verse 4:

“4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.”

So they wake up the next morning, and here’s their mighty god, bowed down again, face in the dirt, in front of Yahweh! Only this time, he’s decapitated! Even more, his hands are cut off!

Now what’s incredibly ironic here is that in the ancient world, severed heads and hands were considered battlefield trophies!

You see, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, turns the table on Dagon. I’m sure that they marched home with the ark of the covenant, excited about their shiny, new trophy of war. And as a slap in the face to the Israelites, they stick the ark in their temple, where Yahweh can serve as Dagon’s assistant.

But within two days their god is face-in-the-dirt-decapitated, suffering from the “I’ve fallen and I cannot get up” syndrome! Dagon’s head is now one of Yahweh’s trophies.

Yet it doesn’t stop there. It gets worse:

“6 The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god." 8 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" They answered, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath." So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, "They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people." 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people." For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.”

This whole episode is so ironic. Now this trophy of war is bringing plagues wherever it goes. Nobody wants the ark anymore.

Also, did you notice a line being repeated? Look at verse 6: “The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people.” Verse 7: “His hand is against us and against Dagon our god.” Verse 9: “The hand of the Lord was against the city.” Verse 11: “The hand of God was very heavy there.”

Does it strike you as ironic that immediately after God breaks the hands off of the idol Dagon, that the Philistines feel the heavy hand of God against them?

You see, the message is clear. Dagon is powerless, but Yahweh has all power in His hands. The God of the Bible is above all other gods. He will not share that place with anyone else. Apparently, not all gods are the same.

I want to encourage you today, if you’ve been under the assumption that different religions just have different names for the same God, or that all roads lead to the same God, you need to take another look at 1 Samuel 5. This chapter doesn’t give us the luxury to accept pluralism or relativism.

The God of the Bible is unique. I realize that this may be offensive to some of you, because our culture says that it is intolerant to believe this. But the clear teaching of 1 Samuel 5 is that Jesus Christ is above Dagon and every other god. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

1 Samuel 5 teaches us that the gods of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, Bahai, Shintoism, Taoism, or any one of the New Age movements, cannot save. Jesus is the only Savior. There is no one like the Lord our God! As Acts 4:12 puts it, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Even more, 1 Samuel 5 shows us that the God of the Bible doesn’t need our help. The Philistines have to pick their god up off of the ground and glue him back together. But the God of the Bible needs no help in getting the ark back to Israel. He’s all-powerful. He’s above all other gods.

Chapter 5 of 1 Samuel makes that very clear.

--

Seven months go by. Something, perhaps bubonic plague, has spread in every city the ark has come to. By the time it reaches Ekron, the people from the city are saying, “Are you trying to kill us? We don’t want that thing!”

So the Philistines decide to send it back. But how? How are they going to get this gold chest back to Israel without getting killed, either by the handling the ark itself, or by the Israelites when they drop it off?

It’s not like they are returning a library book. They’re afraid they are going to get killed in the process. So in 1 Samuel 6:2, they call together their priests and diviners, and they ask how to go about getting rid of this thing.

Let’s take a look at 1 Samuel 6:3-6:

“3 They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you." 4 And they said, "What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?" They answered, "Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed?”

I can barely read this without smiling. Both of these chapters are crazy! If we aren’t smiling after reading this, it’s because we aren’t getting all of it yet.

First of all, these guys are the priests and diviners. The priests likely worked in the temple of Dagon. The diviners would be like witch-doctors. They would be our equivalent of tarot card and palm readers.

And their advice to the Philistines in verse 3 is to send a guilt offering, and in verse 5 they tell everyone to give glory to the God of Israel! Doesn’t that strike you as odd? Of all people, they are the ones saying to glorify God?

And then, the way that they tell the people to do this cracks me up: make images of rats and tumors and send them with the ark back into Israel.

It’s probably them trying to practice magic: they are sending away the things that have been plaguing them.

But it’s completely backwards: God isn’t a big fan of images, rats were considered detestable, and they are giving God little gold statues of unclean tumors! Yuck! On top of that, we find out in verse 7 that they are going to put the ark in the back of a cart, which is forbidden in Numbers chapter 7!

So the whole thing is kind of a train wreck.

But the Philistines aren’t quite ready to give up this incredible token from war if they aren’t 100% sure that all of these plagues are from God. So they add in a little twist to make it interesting.

Verse 7 says that they hitched this cart up to two nursing cows. Their instinct would be to make a U-turn the moment they hear the cry of one of their calves. So the Philistines reckon that if these cows pull this cart straight into Israel, it must have been God who brought the disaster on them. But if the cows don’t, then they figure that it’s just coincidence, and they can keep the ark.

Well, the cows go straight across the border into a small Israelite town called Beth-shemesh.

God was making it clear, even to the Philistines, who He was. The question is whether they will respond to the Light that’s been given. And the same is true for us.

But here’s where things get dicey. So far things have been strange, but not necessarily difficult to understand. But what happens when the ark arrives back in Israel is somewhat shocking.

Take a look:

“13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the LORD. 16 And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.”

So far, so good. Now skip down to verse 19:

“19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?" 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to you." 7:1 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the LORD. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”

Don’t you think it’s ironic that they thought the ark needed a guard?

Anyway, check out what happened here. The ark makes it way back to Israel, and the people at Beth-shemesh are all overjoyed. They make a burnt offering to the Lord there, they set the ark on a rock so that everyone can see it, and then in verse 19 God kills a bunch of them.

Why? These are His people!

Well, according to Joshua 21, Beth Shemesh was one of the towns that had been given to the Levites, and in particular the Kohathite clan. That may not mean much until you take into account Numbers 4, where we find that the particular job of the Kohathite clan was to care for all of the holy things in the Tabernacle, and in particular, the ark of the covenant.

In other words, of all the places that the ark could have come to, this should have been a place where the people would know exactly what to do. The Kohathites had been instructed in Numbers 4 to avoid looking at the ark, and certainly not to touch it, so that they wouldn’t die. When transporting it, they were supposed to cover it with a goat skin, and carry it with poles so as not to touch it.

But here they are gawking at it, setting it up on a large rock so that everyone can take a peek. It’s total disregard for God’s Word. And so we see the severity of God here.

But what’s sad is that they want to send the ark away.

I said a moment ago that the God of the Bible is unique. And this is one of the things that is incredibly unique to Him. The God of the Bible is, at one and the same time, both holy and forgiving. He judges sin, and He calls us to be reconciled to Himself. He is far above us, and He wants to be near us.

When the ark first pulled into town, the people of Beth-shemesh had forgotten about the first part - His holiness, His judgment, and how high He is. They showed no respect for the ark, no awe in God’s presence, and no fear of disobeying His Word.

But after a number of them lost their lives, the ones that were left forgot about the second part - He is forgiving, He calls us to reconciliation, He wants to be near us!

But they wouldn’t hear that. And so, tragically, they sent the ark away. You see, our tendency when we sin is to get as far away from God as we possibly can. We are just like the people of Beth-shemesh.

It may be because we feel guilty, or we feel shame, or we get mad at God because of His discipline in our lives, but whatever it is, oftentimes, our mode of operation is to shrink away. All we see is His power, but not His mercy. We see judgment, but not grace.

So this passage ends on kind of a sad note. As far as I can tell, the people of Beth-shemesh did not get to experience the forgiving, cleansing love of God.

Because of the work I do, sometimes I think people either want to spend time with me, or they avoid me, based on how their walk with the Lord is going. I’ve known a few people who, when their walk with the Lord is good and strong, we connect all the time. They call me, they keep in touch.

But when things start to falter, I don’t hear from them for awhile. They get isolated. Whatever church they are a part of, whether it’s here or somewhere else, they kind of slip out for awhile.

Now don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that if you miss church a couple weeks, you’re obviously in some deep sin! That’s not what I’m getting at!

But I want to ask you: Do you do what the people of Beth-shemesh did after you sin? Take an honest look at the pattern of your own life. After you sin, what do you normally do? How long does it take you to repent? How do you interact with other believers? What happens to your devotional time?

The bottom line is that all of us are going to sin. We all do. Hopefully our sin becomes less and less frequent, and hopefully we spend shorter and shorter amounts of time staying in that place, but every person in here is going to sin. We are sinners by nature and by choice.

The question is, what are we going to do after we sin? Are we going to hide from God, like Adam and Eve did? Are we going to avoid our Christian friends and our church because we did something we know is wrong?

Are we going to send the ark away?

You know, this is an age old problem. When Jesus walked this earth, there was a time when He went to the Gerasenes. And there was a guy over there who was so filled with various demons that he ran around like a crazy person: naked, crying out, cutting himself with stones, living among the tombs.

There were so many demons inside of him that they just called him Legion.

But then He met Jesus. And Jesus cast the demons out of the man. The demons ran into a herd of pigs, and then they fell off a steep bank into some water, and died.

Listen to the words of Mark 5:14-17:

“14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.”

They are sending the ark away. They beg Jesus to depart from their region. These are some of the saddest words in all of Scripture.

And here’s why: Jesus is unquestionably holy, and mighty, and perfect, and He will discipline us when we sin. Yet He loved us so much that He came to earth to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin.

You see, it makes no sense when we, because of our sin, send away the One who pays for our sin! It makes no sense, because of our guilt, to hide from the One who cleanses us from guilt!

Yes, our God is holy, and He judges sin, and He is far above us. But He is also the source of forgiveness, He calls us to be reconciled to Himself, and He longs to be near us.

So run to Jesus today! No matter where you are at, no matter what you have done, no matter how deep your sin, no matter how long you’ve been there. His love is deeper! His mercy is greater! His forgiveness runs farther.

Run to Jesus today, whether you are an old saint, or a wicked sinner. Jesus is the Source of reconciliation, the Wellspring of mercy, the Hope of the world. And as we found out today, He’s also the only Savior.

So, as Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us: “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

1 Samuel 4:1-22 - The Glory Has Departed

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:45:23 EST

I want you to think about the last time that you really felt manipulated by someone. Let that sink in for a moment. Can you remember how you felt at the time?

I don’t like that feeling. When it’s apparent that someone is manipulating me, it makes me feel like an object. It makes me feel used. It makes me feel like someone is taking advantage of me. I feel walked on. Unvalued. Abused. And let’s just be honest: I feel flat out angry.

My guess is that many of you feel some of those same things when someone is manipulating you.

I’ve probably gone and stirred up a hornet’s nest in some of you. But I want you to keep those feelings in mind as we consider the next passage in our study through the book of 1 Samuel. We’ve come to chapter 4. What we’ve seen so far is how God has raised up a new leader for the people of Israel: Samuel.

The old leader, Eli, along with his two sons, have proven themselves to be an absolute train wreck when entrusted with any type of power or authority. Eli is blind to everything around him. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, have total disregard for all things holy. They’ve even stolen people’s sacrifices to the Lord so that they can grill out with the women that they’ve picked up at the Tabernacle.

The whole lot of them are a complete mess. Yet there’s hope. God has raised up Samuel. The Lord has sent a message of judgment to Eli twice now, telling Eli that he and his sons are going to be cut off. The only problem is, at this point, they are still in power.

So this is kind of a transitional time. In chapter three, we saw how God called Samuel, and we saw how the Word of the Lord was let loose through his ministry. So some good things are happening.

Yet there’s still this problem with Eli and his sons.

And under their leadership, the people of Israel have developed some skewed views of God and how He works. What we just read a moment ago is an account of God’s people attempting to manipulate God.

As you can imagine, it didn’t go over very well.

Let me set the stage for you about what’s going on here: Ironically, Samuel is only mentioned in the first half of the first verse of this chapter, and then he disappears. We don’t see him again until chapter seven. The silence of Samuel here is deafening. The whole book, up to this point, has revolved around his miraculous birth, his purity and devotion, and his calling. Yet, in this whole debacle, in this whole attempt to manipulate God, he’s nowhere to be found.

Now, the Israelites are at war with the Philistines - again. The observation has been made that during this period, Israel’s relationship with the Philistines is really a barometer of their relationship with the Lord.

The Philistines were encamped at Aphek, which is around twenty-some miles to the west of Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle had been set up. The Israelites set up their forces in Ebenezer, which was probably about two miles to the east of the Philistines. (As an aside, there’s actually some very interesting archeological findings that support the events as they are recorded for us here in 1 Samuel 4.)

They go to battle, and verse 2 tells us that 4000 Israelites died that day. There is no record of the Philistines pursuing the Israelites, which was typical in a lopsided victory, which has led some to believe that perhaps the Philistines also suffered heavy losses.

Regardless, there was time for Israel to regroup before the next wave of battle. So when the troops came back to camp, the elders are confused. “How could we, God’s people, lose in battle?” In verse three, they ask the question, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines?” It’s a good question to ask. But just because you are asking the right question does not mean that you are going to hear the right answer. Unfortunately, they don’t even wait to hear God’s answer.

They go on in verse 3, saying, “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”

Before we go any further with the story, let’s just back up for a minute and talk about what this ark of the covenant is all about. It was a chest overlaid with gold, a little under 4 feet long, and a little over 2 feet wide and 2 feet high, which contained the Ten Commandments.

On the top of the ark were two cherubim, creatures that flanked the throne of Yahweh. The picture conveyed was that God sat there on his throne. It reminded the Israelites that it was from this place that God ruled.

Because the Ten Commandments were stored inside the ark, it also reminded God’s people that He had spoken specially to them. The lid itself was referred to as the mercy seat, every year being sprinkled with blood, reminding them of God’s forgiveness. So this was a very significant reminder of God’s covenant with His people.

In fact, in Exodus 25:22, while speaking to Moses, God says, “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.”

God said that it was at that place that He would speak. The ark was a very powerful symbol and reminder of God’s covenant.

This ark was placed behind a thick curtain in the area of the Tabernacle called the Most Holy Place. It was considered the most sacred of all the utensils used in the worship of Yahweh.

Now, every good Hebrew boy and girl had heard the story of that famous warrior Joshua, whom God had called to defeat Jericho, just by marching around the city with the ark of the covenant in tote.

And so, after Israel lost 4000 men in battle against the Philistines, they got it in their head that it would be a good idea to recreate what happened at Jericho. All they needed to do was go fetch the ark, bring it into battle, and voila, they’d mop up the Philistines.

This is a fool-proof plan. Just add water and stir.

Or so they thought.

God had not intervened in the way that they had wanted Him to. They had lost 4000 men. They’re God’s people. God is supposed to be on their side. But as far as they can tell, He didn’t even show up.

So now they are going to force His hand. They’ve got it all figured out. All they need to do is grab the ark, and lug it into battle. Then God will have to show up. Otherwise, if they lose the battle with the ark of the covenant in tote, it’s going to make God look bad. So now He’s going to have to show up. They can’t lose.

Guys, this is like volunteering your house as the hub for poker night before you’ve run it past your wife.

This is like a kid asking his mom if his friend can sleep over while his friend is standing right there. She can’t say no now, can she? She will look like the bad guy.

That’s what the Israelites are doing here. We will bring the ark into battle, and God will have to give us victory.

Let’s be clear here: This is not faith. This is superstition. This is manipulation.

According to 1 Samuel 4:4, we find Hophni and Phinehas (surprise, surprise) leading the pack carrying the ark. Verse 5 says that when it got to the Israelite camp, everybody was shouting from excitement.

Have you ever seen a group of people get worked up over religious superstitions before? I saw it happening this weekend. I was flipping through the channels, and came to a particular televangelist that was getting a whole crowd worked up over the idea of “sowing seed” into that ministry (in other words, giving them money), so that they could receive back health and wealth. That’s superstitious emotionalism, not passionate Christianity.

And that same type of thing is what’s happening here in 1 Samuel 4. They are treating the ark like a relic, or some religious trinket that offers magical protection against their enemies.

And let me tell you, they are pumped. They’re yelling so loud that verse 5 describes it as the earth resounding. But all of their hooping had an undesirable effect. Verses 6-8 tell us how the Philistines got scared. So in verse 9 we see them encouraging each other to “take courage and be men.” In other words, they fought all the harder because they were scared of the God of Israel being carried into battle.

Let me read the results to you from 1 Samuel 4:10-11:

"10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died."

Verse 10 describes it as a very great slaughter. It’s the same Hebrew word used to describe the plagues in Egypt. They suffered heavy losses. Thirty thousand people died, including Hophi and Phinehas. Moreover, the ark was captured by the Philistines.

I think that we can safely say that their plan to twist God’s arm did not work. You see, the people did not care to know God, but they wanted to control Him. They didn’t want to follow Him, but they did want to use Him.

And I think that all of us should take a minute here to evaluate our own hearts. Am I like that? Be really honest with yourself: Do you come to church because if you do that, now God owes you one? Do you spend time reading the Bible so that bad things won’t happen to you?

That’s not faith. That’s manipulation at its worst, and superstition at its best.

And this is what the Israelites were guilty of.

Now remember, the battle was happening about 20 miles west of Shiloh. So all the people who didn’t go to battle were waiting to hear word back of what was happening.

Eli was sitting by the road, as verse 13 describes it, his heart trembling for the ark of God. He knew that it was a bad idea from the get-go, but again, we see him being passive, sitting there waiting, instead of standing up and using the authority that he had.

A man ran into town. His clothes were torn. He had dirt on his head. Anyone who could see the man would know that he was bringing bad news from the front lines. But Eli couldn’t see. Verse 15 tells us that he was completely blind at this point.

Apparently this guy ran right past Eli on the road, and didn’t even bother to stop and tell him. Instead, Eli heard the uproar of the crowd from town as they heard the news. Finally, in verse 17, this guy fills Eli in. Listen to how he breaks the news. It just keeps going from bad to worse:

"Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured."

I’m sure that the anxiety that Eli was feeling just kept getting worse as he’s hearing the report: “Israel fled - that’s terrible. There has been a great defeat - oh no! My sons were killed in battle - O Lord! The ark has been captured - O God, I’m sorry!”

And at that point, Eli can’t take any more. He literally falls out of his seat, he’s so shocked and horrified by all that’s happened. His chair tipped backward, and verse 18 tells us that because he was so heavy, he broke his neck and died. Not only did Eli fall off his chair, but his dynasty fell. Both of his sons also died that day. God’s message of judgment on Eli’s house had finally come to pass.

But the chapter doesn’t end there. Almost as an epilogue to everything that happens in chapter 4 is this little story recorded in verses 19-22. Eli’s daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant and close to full term when all of this happened. In one day, her brother-in-law, her father-in-law, and her husband died. And when all of that was capped with the news that the ark of God had been captured by the Philistines, she went into labor.

Giving birth, even today with all of our medical technology, can be a scary thing. I remember when my oldest son, Joshua, was born. My wife was in labor for 18 hours. At one point, a nurse threw me a set of scrubs and said, “Put these on, Dad.” They were just about to perform an emergency C-section. It was scary for awhile there.

But 3000 years ago, giving birth was often fatal. And the midwives were trying to encourage her by telling her that she was giving birth to a son. Yet, instead of being encouraged, she named her son Ichabod, which means that “the glory has departed,” because the glory had departed from Israel because the ark of God had been captured. Then she died.

Cheery, huh?

But there’s an interesting play on words here that we miss entirely because we are reading this in English. Eli fell off his chair and broke his neck because he was “heavy,” or, in Hebrew, he was “kabod.” That word “kabod,” can mean that something is literally heavy, like Eli was, or it can mean “weightiness,” or “glory.” That’s why Eli’s daughter-in-law named her son “Ichabod” as she was dying. The weightiness of God’s glory had departed from Israel.

Let’s be clear here. The glory had not departed because the ark had been captured. The ark was captured because the glory had departed. Yet to the Israelites at the time, it must have felt like God had done away with the covenant when this happened. It must have seemed as though God wasn’t there. Like He didn’t care. Like He no longer loved them.

What was God doing in all of this? Why would he allow all of this to happen?

I don’t know about you, but I know that I’ve been in that place before. I’ve wondered where God is, and why He hasn’t shown up. I’ve felt like He didn’t care. Like He must not love me. I’m left asking the question, “Where is God in all of this?”

What about you?

In his fabulous little commentary on 1 Samuel, Dale Ralph Davis writes this, which in my opinion, sheds a lot of light on these questions: “The text forces two important implications upon us: Yahweh will suffer shame rather than allow you to carry on a false relationship with him; and Yahweh will allow you to be disappointed with him if it will awaken you to the sort of God he really is,” (1 Samuel, 55).

See, the people thought that they couldn’t lose the battle with the ark in their camp. They had begun to place their hope in an object instead of in God. Even more, they had begun to see God as an object to be used instead of the Lord who needs to be worshiped.

And God was not willing to allow them to stay in that place.

You see, God will allow us to misunderstand His intentions and be disappointed in Him for a time, in order to bring us into correct relationship with Himself.

He is willing to put his own Name on the line so that we won’t remain in a place where we don’t know Him rightly. You see, God could have brought victory to the Israelites when they carried the ark into battle, but it would have left the Israelites thinking that God was some lucky charm instead of the free, sovereign, loving, Creator God of the world.

And God didn’t want that. So in His mercy and love, He let the people be disappointed in Him. He let the people get mad that He didn’t “come through for them.” He let the pagan nations think whatever they would, rather than allow His people to go on not truly knowing who He is.

Have you ever been mad at God because He didn’t come through for you in the way that you wanted Him to? Could it be that God, in His mercy and grace, has worked in such a way as to force you out of a false understanding of who He is?

I know that He has done this in my life. I know that I’ve been hard of hearing in the past, so through the pain of feeling like a failure while planting this church, God has spoken loudly to me.

He has let me go through seasons where I’ve felt as though Wellspring was never going to grow. He has let me wait in that place for several years feeling disappointment and sadness and anger. God has left me feeling alone at times, as though His glory has departed.

But I believe that He has done it so that I will not worship Him as useful or helpful or handy or efficient, but so that I will worship Him as worthy and holy and majestic and true. He so loves me that He is not willing to let me see Him as a commodity to be used, but as a Father to be praised.

When the ark was captured, it seemed as though the glory had departed. It seemed as though God had abandoned them. It seemed as though God was weak. It seemed as though He didn’t care. It seemed as though He wasn’t upholding the character of His name. It seemed as though His people were not in a special relationship with Him.

But God was up to something.

Dale Ralph Davis goes on to write, “In any case, Ichabod and 1 Samuel 4 teach us that sometimes God must depart from us in order that we might seek him rightly. And in the meantime we do well to ponder what a tragedy it is when the presence of God no longer abides among the people of God. Could ‘Ichabod’ be justly written over many of our church sanctuaries?” (1 Samuel, 57).

And that’s the irony of this whole chapter. The day that Ichabod was born, the day that the “glory had departed” from Israel, was the day that God was taking decisive action to uphold the glory of His Name.

First of all, God was ensuring the purity of worship. The Tabernacle had become a joke, as we saw in 1 Samuel 2:12-25. Hophni and Phinehas were stealing people’s sacrifices to eat themselves, and they were having sex with the women who worked at the entrance of the Tabernacle. God wasn’t going to allow them to profane His worship any longer.

Second, God was ensuring the truthfulness of His Word. Twice He had sent a message of judgment on Eli’s house for all of their sin, but it hadn’t yet come to pass. But on this day, God’s Word proved to be true.

Third, God was ensuring a right relationship with His people. He didn’t want His people to misunderstand who He is, and so He worked in a way that took them by complete surprise. He didn’t meet any of their expectations. He didn’t come through at the “right time.” He let them experience disappointment, pain, and even death, in order that they would know Him as He really is.

And if we honestly read the Scriptures, this is what we are going to find time and again.

We probably see this most often with Jesus. People wanted Jesus to be something that He wasn’t. They thought Messiah would be a political leader that would lead them out from under the oppression of a corrupt government and Roman occupation. They thought that He should reign as King, not just in our hearts, but upon a throne.

The Pharisees thought that He should be more holy. The Zealots thought that He should be more revolutionary. The government officials thought that He should be less polarizing.

Nobody liked Jesus for the way He was.

Even the disciples didn’t like all of His talk about dying on a cross. Peter pulled Him aside to rebuke Him when He spoke of suffering and death. Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. He allowed Himself to be arrested. He put some poor dude’s ear back on his head after Peter chopped it off. He willingly went to the cross.

He took the whippings. He took the crown of thorns. He took the mocking and the spitting and the shouting of the crowds. He took the nails. And He died.

All of His followers must have wondered what was going on: “Jesus, why did you do this? Why didn’t you let us fight for you? Why did you insist on going to Jerusalem? Why wouldn’t you run away from them when they came for you? Why didn’t you defend yourself when they accused you?”

If only they could see three days into the future.

If only they could see that it was on the cross that Jesus absorbed the punishment for their sin. If only they could see that it was the greatest act of love the world had ever known.

I’m sure that they were asking questions similar to God’s people after they had lost the ark: “Why did you go and let yourself get captured? Why have you departed from us?”

“Now you’ve left us abandoned. You’ve left us alone. You’ve left us wandering. Don’t you love us? Don’t you care for us? Don’t you see us here in pain, crying out to you? Why, Jesus? Why did you do that?”

And whispering through the pages of Scripture is the answer, even way back in 1 Samuel 4: “Because I want you to truly know Me.”

How about you? Do you see God as a genie in a bottle? Do you follow Him because when you do, things seem to go better in your life? Or do you chase after Him because knowing Him is the greatest reward that there is?

What if you ask God for something today, and He says “no”? Are you prepared to worship Him as King even though you may be hurting and confused?

As we see in 1 Samuel 4, and as we saw at the cross, God will stop at nothing in order to bring us into a correct relationship with Himself.

As we close, my prayer this morning is that A.W. Tozer’s description here would be true for all of us:

“The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately, and forever.”

-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

1 Samuel 3:1-4:1 - The Word of the Lord

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:09:09 EST

Just a couple of weeks ago my wife and I went out for coffee with another couple, and at one point in the conversation we couldn’t hear what the gal was saying. My wife is a little hard of hearing, and we told them that. The husband said that his wife his wife had a tendency to mumble from time to time when she spoke.

And then she instructed us, if we couldn’t hear her very well, just to holler out, “Mumbler,” like Johnny Depp did in his weird remake of the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

We laughed and laughed about that. Later on in the conversation I hollered “Mumbler!” at her, and she spoke a little louder.

It reminded me of that old Seinfeld episode with the low-talker. Jerry and Elaine go out for dinner with Kramer and his new girlfriend. They can’t hear anything that she’s saying. What happens later on in that episode is that Jerry had inadvertently volunteered himself to wear a puffy pirate shirt that she’s designed when he makes his appearance on the Today Show.

When Jerry finds out what he accidentally signed up for, he cries out that famous line, “I don’t wanna be a pirate!”

It’s important to be able to hear what somebody is saying to you!

And I want to suggest today that it is every bit as important to be able to hear God’s voice as it is to hear another person.

We have come to chapter 3 in our study through the book of 1 Samuel. I realize that some of you older kids have already covered this in Sunday School, so maybe some of you can help your parents out here. In this chapter, we are going to see the little boy Samuel hear God’s voice, as he lays in bed during the quiet of the night.

Why don’t you turn there with me? Let’s read the first verse together:

"1 Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision."

Now, we know that something significant happens in this chapter, because by the time you get to the first verse of chapter 4, the whole situation has changed:

"1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel."

So it’s obvious that something significant takes place in this third chapter. We begin by reading how the Word of the Lord is rare. There aren’t frequent visions. As Amos describes it in the eighth chapter of his book, what’s happening here is a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. It’s a sign of God’s judgment. This is something that people cannot manufacture.

But by the end of this chapter, all of Israel is hearing the word of Samuel. So something significant is taking place.

This passage describes several stages in this process of moving from a situation where the word of the Lord is rare, to a place where everyone in the nation is hearing God’s word. Today, we are going to take a look at each of those five stages.

1. The Word of the Lord was rare.

I listened to a sermon by an Anglican pastor on this passage, named Angus Macleay, and I’m going to borrow a couple of ideas from him this morning. He made a very interesting observation here. These people certainly did not have the Bible the way that we have it now, in full. But they did have the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. They also had priests, people who were supposed to teach them the Word of the Lord.

But yet, the Word of the Lord was rare in those days. Visions were infrequent. Even though they had a portion of God’s written Word, and people who were supposed to be teaching it, it was not being accessed and applied.

Isn’t that interesting? I’ve heard the story before of a guy who was so poor that he almost had to sell his ranch. His family was living on welfare. Finally, someone approached him about drilling for oil on his property, and he realized that he was a multi-millionaire. There were huge oil reserves underground that had not been tapped into.

That’s similar to the situation described in 1 Samuel 3. The Word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. And yet the first five books of the Bible was sitting under their noses the entire time.

That’s something that all of us need to be aware of. Just because a person has a Bible in their house, and just because a person attends church does not mean that a person is hearing the voice of God.

We are about to find out what it takes for a nation to move from being under a famine of the Word of the Lord to a place where His Word is going out to everyone.

Let’s pick up at verse 2:

"2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel, and he said, "Here I am!" 5 and ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. 6 And the LORD called again, "Samuel!" and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the young man. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place."

This is kind of a sweet picture of Samuel, you know? Here’s this little boy, probably around 11 years old. Take a moment just to imagine the scene. Can’t you see him in his nightgown, hopping out of bed because he keeps hearing a voice speak to him? He assumes that it is Eli calling.

He is laying there in the holy place by the lamp stand in the tabernacle, just outside of the holy of holies where the ark of God stayed. He’s sleeping there because it’s his job to keep the candles burning. He’s asleep after a hard day’s work.

While he’s sleeping there with the light from the candles flickering across his face, the Lord called to Samuel for the first time. Samuel hops out of bed, puts on his pink fuzzy rabbit slippers, and scoots down the hall to Eli’s side. “Here I am, Eli. You called.”

Eli is still half asleep. With his face still in his pillow he grunts: “Ugggh. Go back to bed Samuel. I didn’t call.” Samuel walks back into the holy place, where the candlelight still shines, scratching his head. “Oh well,” he must have thought. He kicks off his slippers and snuggles back under the covers and is about to fall back asleep when he hears the Lord call again, this time using his name, “Samuel!”

This time he’s sure that he heard Eli calling him. He throws the blankets back, puts his rabbit slippers back on, and runs out to Eli, slides to stop in front of Eli’s bed, taps him on the shoulder a couple of times, and says, “Here I am, for you called me.” “I know you did,” Samuel’s thinking. “I’m sure of it this time.”

Eli He rolls over, and peels open one eye. “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.”

Samuel is wondering what in the world is going on. Why does he keep hearing Eli call him, and then when he gets there, Eli tells him to go back to bed? Weird. It was usually him waking Eli up for something, like a drink of water.

He walks back into the holy place, and lays down in his bed there.

Now, something that’s very interesting to me is verse 7: It says that the reason Samuel keeps hopping out of bed, and running over to Eli is because Samuel did not yet know the Lord. He thought that he was hearing Eli’s voice.

Before this point, Samuel is described as ministering to the Lord, being in the presence of the Lord, and growing in favor with the Lord. But this is where Samuel truly comes to know the Lord. And verse 7 tells us why he hasn’t known the Lord up to this point: the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Him. And that’s our second point.

2. The Word of the Lord was revealed.

Now listen, I know that we live in a day and age where we have the complete canon of Scripture. God’s Word has been revealed in that sense. We are not waiting for any new revelation, like the people in Samuel’s day were. We have the Bible in full. Please don’t go away today thinking that I said that new revelation of Scripture will come to you. It won’t.

But there’s more than one sense in which God’s Word is revealed. There is a parallel here for us. When it says in verse 7 that the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed, it is speaking in reference to Samuel as an individual. The Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Samuel. Samuel did not yet know the Lord because the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

And all of us are in Samuel’s shoes until the Lord reveals His Word to us. We won’t know Him until He reveals Himself to us. See, God is taking the initiative here. God is pursuing Samuel. God is calling Samuel to Himself. God is revealing Himself to Samuel, just as He did to all of us who know Him.

And notice that God is patient with Samuel. He doesn’t get upset. He doesn’t give up because Samuel runs to Eli when God calls. He keeps calling Samuel over and over again. Matthew Henry wrote, “The call which Divine grace designs to make effectual shall be repeated until it is so, till we come at the call.”

That’s exactly what happened with Samuel.

The Lord called Samuel a third time. I imagine Samuel at this point getting out of bed, but not quite so eager. “What is it now?” He gets up, and walks over to Eli. “Here I am, for you called me.”

Verse 8 says, “Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the young man.” Now Eli, as we’ve seen since the beginning of our series in 1 Samuel, is not spiritually perceptive. Verse two describes him as having bad eyesight so that he cannot see. His inability to see is true in more ways than one. He’s eyes have grown dim to the world around him, and he’s also blind to who God is and what God is doing. He’s old, and he’s the high priest. Even though Samuel doesn’t know what’s happening, Eli should be able to discern by now how God works.

When Eli finally realizes what’s going on here, he tells Samuel in verse 9:

""Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place."

The reason that the word of the Lord was rare up to this point is twofold: it wasn’t being revealed, and it wasn’t being received. For a group of people to move from a situation where the Word of the Lord is rare to a place of rich spiritual vitality, all depends on whether people’s hearts are prepared and positioned to receive God’s Word when He does choose to reveal it. And that’s our third point.

3. The Word of the Lord was received.

Take a look at verse 10:

"10 And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant hears.""

The Lord came and stood. Some think that this one of those pre-incarnation manifestations - in other words, here’s Jesus showing up before He was ever born, calling Samuel to Himself. The observation has been made here that a word of God is coming to Samuel through the Word of God, Jesus Christ.

And when the Lord stood there, calling him, Samuel responds, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

Just last week, Tom spoke on the parable of the soils in Matthew 13. And in that passage, Jesus describes different types of people, or soils, who receive the Word of the Lord with various levels of fruitfulness. Jesus said, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

In other words, Jesus is speaking, but the question is, are we listening? In Matthew 13:14-15, Jesus even quotes Isaiah, saying, “You will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can hardly hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”

Sometimes the problem is on the receiving end. There can be a famine of God’s word in a nation where people have multiple Bibles collecting dust on the bookshelf, who go to church every week and listen to a sermon every Sunday.

People can starve because no food has been given, or they can starve because they don’t eat the food that sits on their tray.

When Samuel comes to Eli, it takes him three times to perceive that God is calling Samuel. Some would even look at this passage and see symbolism in the place where both of them were sleeping. Samuel is laying there by the lamp of God - he’s in the light - while Eli sleeps in the darkness. Samuel is sleeping where the ark of God was. He’s positioned himself to be in a place where God could speak.

Samuel was positioned and prepared to receive the Word of the Lord, but Eli wasn’t.

What about you? Are you positioned and prepared to receive the Word of the Lord?

When the Lord stood there, calling his name, Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

What about you? Do you hear?

But what Samuel hears isn’t a message for the faint of heart. The sweetness of the moment kind of dissolves here as you consider the content of this message that the Lord gives to Samuel.

In verses 11-14 God tells Samuel that he is going to judge Eli’s house. He says that the sin of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.

It’s a message of judgement. God says that there will be no forgiveness for him. I want to tread lightly here, but we need to ponder this before we throw around the phrase, “there’s always forgiveness.” Is there forgiveness when we reject the One who is the source of forgiveness?

Heb. 10:26-27 is a warning to us:

"26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries."

I am not suggesting that a person can lose their salvation, but I am saying that we need to be very careful in the way that we treat sin. If we don’t treat all sin with complete seriousness, it may be that we don’t know God.

I don’t pretend to know the condition of Eli’s heart here, but this is a message that I wouldn’t want to hear if I was him, and it’s a message that I wouldn’t want to have to give, if I was Samuel.

Take a look a verse 15:

"15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." And he said, "Here I am." 17 And Eli said, "What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you." 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.""

Apparently Samuel didn’t want to have to give this message either. He’s only a little boy. But he did. And that’s our fourth point:

4. The Word of the Lord was relayed.

Samuel didn’t keep this to himself. It was relayed. It was passed on. He told everything to Eli; he didn’t hide anything, even though he’s a little boy, even though he’s afraid, and even though it’s a hard message.

And I’ve got to tell you, I feel like that a lot of the time. The stories in the Bible aren’t always sweet and warm. Contrary to what K-LOVE says, it’s not always “positive and encouraging.” The fact of the matter is, half of what’s in the Bible is downright scary to have to confront someone else with.

Yet I think that Samuel here, even as a little boy, leaves us with a great example of what God wants from especially from pastors and teachers, but also from all of us who follow Jesus.

If we have any hope that our nation will go from being in a famine of hearing the Words of the Lord to a place of spiritual awakening, then we all need to pray that God would raise up men like Samuel who will preach the Word of the Lord with both compassion and piercing truth.

We don’t need any more ear ticklers, people who preach prosperity and not pain. We don’t need preachers who avoid the holiness of God or the utter sinfulness of sin. We don’t need any more preachers who can work crowds and entertain people. We’ve got plenty of those.

Neither do we need men who preach damnation with hatred in their hearts. We don’t need anymore preachers who would just as soon see their city burn as they would turn and repent.

We need God to raise up Samuels who relay His message in full, as difficult as that message may be. We need preachers who preach as a dying man to dying men. Pray that God would raise up more men who love the Word, love His church, love this city, and will proclaim His message faithfully, unashamedly, and without fail until we die or Jesus comes back.

Moreover, if we ever hope that our nation will move from a place where the Word of the Lord is rare, to a place of renewal, all of us have to play a part in relaying that message.

When you have heard the Word of the Lord, you now have a part to play. Tell others the complete gospel: Yes, Jesus loves you. Yes, God forgives all who come to Him.

But at the same time, we must tell people that Jesus is the only way of salvation. They need to know that they are sinners by nature and by choice. They need to know that God is holy, and will not allow sin in His presence. They also need to know that Jesus came and died as the satisfaction for God’s anger against sin. He died as our substitute, on the cross, for our sin. They need to be told, “Turn to Jesus. There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved.”

And they need to hear it from you.

Take a look a what happened as a result of Samuel’s obedience here:

"19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD. 21 And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD."

5. The Word of the Lord was released.

It was given free reign. It was released throughout the land. Verse 20 tells us that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. Dan was north of Judah, and Beersheba was just south of it. In other words, that whole region was being impacted by the Word of the Lord through Samuel.

My pastor from college used to tell me, “Mike, the Bible is like a lion. You don’t need to defend it. You just need to let it out of its cage.”

That’s exactly what Samuel did. He didn’t conjure up a message from the Lord. He just took what God said, and let it loose. Samuel had been faithful in his first opportunity to relay the Word of the Lord. And his influence just expanded from there.

It says that he grew, and the Lord was with him. God did not let any of Samuel’s words fell to the ground. In other words, God established everything that Samuel said. God made sure that everything Samuel said came to pass.

I’ve heard Henry Blackaby interpret that verse in exactly the opposite way: That Samuel didn’t let any of God’s Words fall to the ground. I think that Blackaby’s interpretation is wrong, but the idea is right.

I believe the reason that God didn’t let any of Samuel’s words fall to the ground is because Samuel didn’t let any of God’s Word fall to the ground. He faithfully relayed the messages that God gave him.

And it says that the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, the place of worship. God’s presence was there. The truth is, wherever God’s Word is given free reign, God is pleased to work and move and dwell.

I believe that just like Samuel, we live in a time and place where the Word of the Lord is relatively rare. That may be, first of all, because God has not revealed Himself. If you have never come to the point where you see your need for a Savior, I want to encourage you to ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you. I believe that He will.

But His Word may be rare in our lives, not because He hasn’t revealed, but because we haven’t received. Ask yourself this morning if you are positioned and prepared to receive the Word of the Lord. Make sure that you are ready to hear.

Once He has spoken, who are you going to relay that message to? I’m not necessarily talking about prophetic messages of doom concerning the future. I’m talking about anything that God is teaching you. Who are you sharing that message with? Who are you telling Jesus about?

Finally, pray with me that we would be the kind of people who let none of His Words fall to the ground.

Pray that God would raise up men like Samuel who would proclaim God’s Word with love and power until the day when the Word of the Lord is given free reign and released throughout our land.

And all of you, pray along with me, that the Word of the Lord would be let loose in our city like a lion, so we could say along with Amos, “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem.” (Amos 1:2)

1 Samuel 2:11-36 - Leaving a Legacy

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 11:24:20 EST

Everybody has heard one of those stories about a preacher’s kid who was terrible. I would imagine that I grew up hearing those stories more that most, because I am a preacher’s kid. Everybody likes to share those types of stories with kids whose dad happens to be a pastor.

Regardless, there’s some truth to many of those stories. For some reason, lots of pastor’s kids rebel. They go their own direction. It’s really sad, and it happens for a number of reasons, but it’s very common.

And we are going to find out today that, apparently, it’s nothing new.

We are now on our third week in a new series of messages through the books of 1 & 2 Samuel. Today we have come to the second half of chapter two. What we are going to find here is one of the very first rebellious-preacher’s-kid stories.

But we are also going to see something else, because woven throughout are these references to a little child, Samuel, whose mother, Hannah had dedicated him to the Lord before he was ever born.

What we are going to find in this passage today is really a tale of two families. Take a look with me at 1 Samuel 2:11. We will start with the verse we ended with last week: “Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the boy ministered to the LORD in the presence of Eli the priest.”

So there’s Samuel, unobtrusively serving God, not calling any attention to himself. He’s quite a contrast to Eli’s sons, who were named Hophni and Phinehas. Let’s read the next few verses:

“12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw." 16 And if the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish," he would say, "No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force." 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.”

Now, a moment ago I referred to these guys as preacher’s kids, but let’s be clear: both of Eli’s sons are grown men at this point. They are priests themselves who are supposed to be leading God’s people in worship. Yet, according to verse 12, they are worthless. They don’t know the LORD. So how in the world are they supposed to lead anyone else? This is corrupt spiritual leadership.

Check out what they are doing. In verses 13-14, it says that they would send out one of their servants with a big barbecue fork to take meat out other people’s pots. And verse 16 says that if people pushed back against it, this guy was like some mafia enforcer who would threaten to take it by force.

These guys sound more like the Godfather than like a pastor: “Give me your meat or I’ll break your kneecaps!”

But don’t miss this: What’s happening here is more than some hungry guy trying to steal somebody’s lunch. This meat was an offering to the Lord. Now, I know that this may seem strange to us, but in the Old Testament, God had established a sacrificial system. The Israelites offered up animals as blood sacrifices. In His mercy, as these sacrifices were made, God passed over sin from year to year.

But, as Heb. 10:4 says, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” So Jesus came into the world as our once for all time sacrifice, dealing with the problem of sin permanently.

That’s why John the Baptist could look at Jesus and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

So we don’t have to offer sacrifices for sin anymore. The sacrifice has been made. But we need to remember that the events we are reading about here in 1 Samuel were a 1000 years before Jesus came. The sacrificial system was still in place.

And God had established a particular way of carrying out these sacrificial offerings to Himself. According to Lev. 7, the priests were supposed to get a portion of these offerings. They were supposed to get the right thigh and a breast. But that’s it. The priests were allotted a certain portion, but these guys were trying to take more that what was designated for them. On top of that, all of the fat was supposed to be offered to the Lord.

That’s why verse 17 says that the sin of Hophni and Phinehas was so significant. All sin is an offense against a holy God. No sin should be taken lightly. It’s bad enough if its just bullying someone around and stealing their meat. But verse 17 tells us that this sin was particularly evil in God’s eyes because they were treating the Lord’s offerings with contempt.

These two sons of Eli were greedy, gluttonous, and slothful, but their greatest sin was that they had no respect and no honor for the Lord, or for the offerings that were being given to Him.

Look at the description of them in verse 12: They were worthless men who didn’t know the Lord. These guys are supposed to be in ministry, but they don’t even know God. They are lost.

Now check this out. Verse 11 briefly described Samuel. Then verses 12-17 described Hophni and Phineas. Next, the author of 1 Samuel is about to contrast Samuel against these brothers a second time, only this time around, he’s going to expand his scope, and look at each of these two families.

Take a look with me at verses 18-26:

“18 Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. 19 And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "May the LORD give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the LORD." So then they would return to their home. 21 Indeed the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the young man Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD. 22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, "Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death. 26 Now the young man Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.

Do you see what’s happening here? There is this oscillation between Samuel and Eli’s sons throughout this entire passage. Samuel’s purity is contrasted with their wickedness.

There is no doubt left by the writer here that Samuel is a special child with a special relationship with the Lord. In verse 11 it said that Samuel, as a little boy, was ministering to God. Here in verse 21 it says that Samuel was growing up in the presence of the Lord. Verse 26 says that Samuel grew in stature and favor with both God and man. Luke, when describing Jesus as a child, basically cuts and pastes this verse into Luke 2:40.

It’s obvious that there is something special here about Samuel. The author is going to significant lengths to make that clear.

At the same time, the picture of Hophni and Phinenas only gets worse. Not only are they stealing people’s offerings to God to eat for themselves, verse 22 tells us that they are having sex with the women who served at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

Now, there’s debate about what these women were doing there. We don’t need to get into all of that this morning. But the fact of the matter is that these guys had basically taken the place where God was supposed to be worshiped in awe and reverence, and they had turned it into something that was no different from the pagan temples with cult prostitutes.

It doesn’t take a Bible scholar to figure out that’s not exactly how God wanted it to be.

But one of the things that is fascinating to me here is that this author, just as he has been very deliberate in showing how unique Samuel is in contrast to Hophni and Phinehas, he is also deliberate to pull the entire family into this narrative. Remember what I said a moment ago? He contrasts Samuel against these two guys in verses 11 to 17. But the second time around, he expands the scope to look at both families involved.

If you remember the story from the last two weeks, Hannah prayed for Samuel before he was ever born. Sometimes I hear about people talking about things being birthed in prayer -- well, Samuel was! Before Samuel was ever conceived, Hannah had dedicated his life to the Lord. And even though Hannah had given Samuel back to the Lord to serve Him at the Tabernacle, she was still involved in his life.

Take a look back at verses 19-21. As much as Hannah could be in Samuel’s life, she was. Every year she made him a new robe when they would make the pilgrimage to Shiloh to worship. I imagine that Hannah never quit praying for Samuel. My guess is that Hannah couldn’t wait for their annual visit so that she could spend time with her son. And God blessed that entire family. Hannah, who had be unable to have children, ended up having five more after Samuel.

Compare her to Eli. Verse 22 tells us that by this time he was very old. He knew all that his sons were doing. He even chided them for turning the Tabernacle into their personal brothel, but they wouldn’t hear any of it. Eli knew that there would be serious consequences to their continuing sin, but he didn’t take any action. He knows that they are sinning against God and that there won’t be anyone to intercede for them.

But Eli doesn’t do anything about it. He’s the high priest. His responsibility is to ensure the purity of worship at the Tabernacle. 1 Sam 4:18 refers to him as the judge of Israel for 40 years! Eli had the authority and the responsibility to confront, correct, and if need be, remove his sons from office. But he never did.
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So, why does chapter 2 contrast Samuel with Hophni and Phinehas twice, and on the second go-around, the families are pulled into view?

I think that the author is making a point: Samuel’s uncommon devotion to the Lord can be traced back to his parents, and in particular, his mother Hannah. The opposite is true for Hophni and Phinenas. Now, Eli is not described as being a wicked man, but he is portrayed here as dropping the ball as a father and as a spiritual leader.

See, both Hannah and Eli left a legacy, just as all of us will. The question is, what kind of legacy are we going to leave? If you have never entertained that question before, it’s time that you do.

You will not live forever, and neither will I. What will your legacy be? What will you leave behind once you are gone?

Hannah’s legacy is her son, Samuel, the boy who grew up in the presence of the Lord. He’s the future spiritual leader for the nation. After this, we don’t hear anymore about Hannah. She slips out of the story, and we never see her again. But her legacy carries on: Passionate prayer, emptiness, absolute dependence upon God, and a heart of praise.

Eli’s legacy is poor spiritual leadership, a lack of perception about who God is and what God is doing. A Tabernacle that is in disarray. And we can’t forget his two sons that are a plague on all of Israel.

What a disappointment.

The hopeful part of this story is that you’ve got a chance to help shape what your legacy will be. You have a chance to shape the legacy that you will leave behind. But will you? Or will you be like Eli?

I’m reading a book right now by a guy named Wayne Cordeiro, a pastor in Hawaii. He writes this:

“I am realizing that my greatest ministry will be in the next generation. The life of David reminded me of that some weeks ago.

There came a point where he started storing gold and building materials so that his boy Solomon would have a free hand in building the Lord’s temple. He had to switch his thinking when his life crossed the halfway point. He had to coach more and do less. His greatest contribution would be leading others to their greatest potential rather than accomplishing more personally. Of course he would still achieve much more, but he would soon come to grips with his humanity.

Now as a grandparent, I am finding that truth coming to bear on my life in ever-increasing ways. My responsibility doesn’t end when my empty nest begins. It continues. (I offer a silent prayer here.) It must carry on into the generation of my grandchildren. I am not done yet!

Exodus 10:2 gives us our initial glimpse of this assignment. Here is the New Living Translation: ‘You will be able to tell wonderful stories to your children and grandchildren about the marvelous things I am doing among the Egyptians to prove that I am the Lord.’

Deuteronomy 4:9 tells us: ‘Do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and [be sure that] they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.’

At the time of this writing, I have two grandchildren and another on the way. I hope to have my quiver full of them one day, and I know that my influence cannot be apart from them. It must be inclusive of them, and that inclusion is intentional. No one else will fight for this. I must” (Leading on Empty, 141-142).

Your greatest legacy will be in the next generation. What is the legacy that you are leaving behind?

Do you have children? If you do, think about them. Think about when they were little. Think about their little hands and how helpless and precious they were as babies. Have you considered the incredible responsibility it is to be entrusted with not only the physical but also the spiritual nourishment of another person? Have you felt the gravity of this? Let that sink in for a moment. That’s your job, mom and dad! Are you leaving a legacy for your kids?

Maybe your kids are grown. Like Wayne Cordeiro said, your job isn’t done! What are you doing to invest in your children, regardless of their age?

While this obviously applies directly to parents and grandparents, it has implications for us all. Maybe you don’t have children now, but one day you will. What legacy do you want to leave behind for your kids? Are you becoming the kind of parent that you want your kids to have?

Maybe you don’t have children, but you have younger brothers or sisters or nieces and nephews and other kids in your life. Do you have any kind of impact in their lives? What kind legacy are you leaving for them?

Maybe you don’t have any children in your life, and never will, so you feel like this message doesn’t apply to you. But I want to remind you that if you are part of this church family, then you need to remember that all of us have a responsibility to the children that God has entrusted to us.

We are busting at the seams downstairs most weeks. And each one of those children needs not only teachers to lead their Sunday School classes, they also need adult mentors and friends who will take the time to invest in their lives.

So even if you have no children of your own, you are part of a church family that has been blessed with many kids.

And if I’m not mistaken, I remember the day that we baptized my son, and just as we do when anyone from Wellspring is baptized, we asked all of those present if they would help in his spiritual growth as he follows the Lord.

I was standing out in the lake, so I could have heard it wrong, but I’m pretty sure that on shore I heard a resounding, “We will” from everyone there. See, many of you have already signed up for this, and you didn’t even know it!

And not only have do we owe this to my son, we owe it to every child that God has brought under our care.

We also owe it to every person who is new in the faith, regardless of age. It is likely that there others in the faith who are newer to all of this than you. Have you been intentionally investing your life into theirs? Are you involved in discipling anyone else?

See, this is for everybody. All of us will leave a legacy of some sort. The question is, “What will it be?”

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You may be thinking, “Okay, Mike. I’m convinced. So what do we do now?” Well, that’s a good question. I’d like to spend the bulk of the rest of our time this morning teasing some biblical principles out of this passage that can help us as we consider how to leave a legacy with our lives.

If we hope to leave a legacy like Hannah did, we need to:

1. Pray like Hannah

We need to pray like Hannah prayed. If we know nothing else about Hannah, we know that she was a woman of prayer. The defining event in chapter one is Hannah’s prayer to God. The first ten verses of chapter two record another one of Hannah’s prayers.

Hannah prayed for Samuel before he was ever born. In chapter 1, verse 11, Hannah committed Samuel to the Lord in prayer before she had ever conceived.

We only get this small glimpse of her life, and it’s bathed in prayer. Though the text doesn’t explicitly say so, I think it implies that Hannah continued in prayer for Samuel throughout her life.

If you want to leave a legacy for your children, your grandchildren, your brothers or sisters, nieces or nephews, the children in our church, or a person that you are discipling, then you need to pray for them. Pray that God would do a work in their life, because only God can change lives.

I believe that many wayward children have come back to the Lord because of the faithful prayers of parents and grandparents.

2. Lavish Love & Invest Time

Although Hannah had committed Samuel to the Lord’s service, and fulfilled her vow by leaving him at the Tabernacle to serve, we see in verses 18-21 that Elkanah and Hannah went back to the Tabernacle every year to worship and spend time with their son. Verse 19 says that Hannah would make a little robe for Samuel and take it to him each year. You know that robe was sown with love.

Think about it. Maybe you have similar experiences: My mother made a quilt for each of my children when they were born. She spent hours and hours on each one. It was an act of love. My mother-in-law knits sweaters for my children about once a year. It takes a lot of time, but she does it as a labor of love.

There is no question that Hannah was lavishing love on her little boy in the best way that she could given the circumstances that they were in.

If you want to leave a legacy, then you need to lavish love and invest time in your children. And let me add this: If you are a dad, but you have a hard time saying the words, “I love you,” and you think that it’s understood, you need to man up and tell your kids (and for that matter, your spouse) that you love them. You’re not tough because you avoid those words; you’re cowardly.

Leaving a legacy requires lavish love.

3. Reject Passivity

In chapter 2, verses 24-25, Eli scolds his two sons for stealing sacrifices and sleeping with the women who served at the Tabernacle. But he should have gone much further than he did. He had both the authority and the responsibility to guard the purity of worship at the Tabernacle, but he didn’t.

He was passive. But if you are going to leave a legacy, you must reject passivity. You can’t just sit around and let things happen and hope that everything turns out well. You have to be intentional. You have to be deliberate. And you have to be engaged.

You can’t sit around disengaged, passively watching TV all the time, and expect to leave a legacy. Eli sat around at the Tabernacle entrance, stopping someone like Hannah from praying because he mistook her as being drunk, but he won’t discipline his own sons when they are messing with people’s offerings to God or turning the Tabernacle into a night-club where they can pick up chicks.

There is something amiss here. And I know that I’m picking on dads today, but, well, tough. Dads, we are often the most guilty of this sin. We sit around surfing the web, or reading the newspaper, passive and isolated, while we let our spouse take care of everything around the house and discipline the kids.

We will never leave a legacy if that’s our mode of operation.

4. Honor God First, Even Above the Kids

This was Eli’s problem. We find God speaking to Eli through an unnamed man of God in verse 29, asking the question, “Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?”

You know, sometimes we get so excited about this idea of leaving a legacy for our kids that we end up putting the cart before the horse. Sometimes, when we say we want to leave a legacy, what we are really doing is making our children the objects of our worship.

But clearly, God doesn’t want that either. Eli cared more about keeping his sons happy than he did about pleasing the Lord. Yes, we need to pray for our children. And yes, we need to love them lavishly and invest time in them generously, but we do not want to make them the center of our lives. That place is reserved for God alone.

That may be very difficult for some people, but it is absolutely essential if you want to leave a legacy for your kids. If you want your children to treasure Jesus above all else, then they had better see that you treasure Jesus above all else.

Moreover, as Eli discovered, if you put your children as your first priority, at some point, you’re going to find that their desires are in conflict with God’s best, and at that point you will be forced to choose.

Unfortunately, for Eli, because he chose to honor his sons above the Lord, God decided to bring judgement upon his family. Like I said a moment ago, an unnamed man of God came to Eli and gave him a message from the Lord in verses 27-36. He told Eli that his house would be cut off, and that both of his sons would die on the same day.

In verse 30, God said, “those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” And finally, in verse 35, God said that He will raise up a faithful priest, who will do things according to what is in God’s heart and mind. That priest would have a sure house, and he will go in and out before the Lord’s anointed forever.

I think that this message from the man of God reminds us of two things as we consider leaving a legacy:

The first is the truth of Gal. 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” God will judge sin, just as he did in Eli’s case. He will also honor those who honor Him, as He said in verse 30.

Second, God’s purpose will come to pass. According to verse 25, it was the will of the Lord to put them to death because of their persistent rebellion. God gave Hophni and Phinehas over to their sinful desires. But verse 35 reminds us that God is going to raise up another faithful priest.

And just like Eli’s family, God is giving us an opportunity to be a part of His purpose for the world, but He doesn’t need us, and if we squander it, God will raise up someone else. His purposes will not fail.

But ultimately, all of us have failed. We all have gone our own way. Each of us has gone astray in sin. So, according to Hebrews 2:17, the Father raised up Jesus, “so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Ultimately, Jesus is the faithful High Priest that God raised up, and He made propitiation for the sins of people. In other words, by His death on the cross, Jesus satisfied God’s wrath against sin.

And, as 1 Samuel 2:35 says, I believe that this is what was “in [God’s] heart and in [God’s] mind.” Way back in the days of Samuel, it was in God’s heart and mind to raise up a faithful High Priest who would make propitiation for sin.

But if you are hoping to leave a legacy, you need to remember that you can’t leave something behind that you don’t have. So you need to ask yourself if you have Jesus. Do you have Him? Do you know Him? Do you know that you have failed, that you need a faithful High Priest who has satisfied the Father’s wrath against your sin? If you never have before, will you turn from your sin and turn to Jesus to save you?

You can’t leave something behind that you don’t have.

--

Jonathan Edwards is considered by many as America’s greatest theologian – he was a prolific author, a graduate of Yale, and the president of Princeton for 3 months before he died. He’s a pretty smart guy. He wrote several very heady theological classics.

Moreover, Jonathan Edwards was a critical leader in the First Great Awakening. His church was experiencing revival in 1734-35, while the Great Awakening didn’t really take hold until the early 40’s. What had happened in his church really was a spark which spread elsewhere.

People who love Jonathan Edwards point out that he was also a bold missionary in a dangerous mission field. After his pastorate, Jonathan Edwards became a missionary to the Native Americans in New England in the midst of a battle zone during the French and Indian War.

Finally, Jonathan Edward’s biography of the missionary David Brainerd in many ways inspired the modern missionary movement. William Carey, who is considered the father of modern missions, looked at Jonathan Edward’s book of Brainerd’s life as the model for missions.

Although Jonathan Edwards died at only 54 years of age in 1758, he accomplished a lot. He left behind quite a legacy. But his greatest legacy was the impact he made on people’s lives after he was gone.

Listen to this quote:

"An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards of which 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice-president of the United States, 80 became public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries."

All of us will leave a legacy of some sort. The question is, “What will it be?” This morning, if you find yourself longing to leave a godly legacy:

1. Pray Like Hannah
2. Lavish Love & Invest Time
3. Reject Passivity
4. Honor God First

And remember that God honors those who honor Him. His purpose will come to pass.

1 Samuel 2:1-10 - Full

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:13:05 EST

Any of you watch that TV Show “American Idol”? My wife and I used to watch it some, but we don’t keep up with it anymore. If I were ever to be on that show, I’d be one of the guys that they show in commercials that’s painful to watch. Yeah, that’s me.
I’m terrible at singing. Always have been. In fact, I think that I’m musically challenged in every way. I remember being in the fifth grade when every single kid was in band class - except for me.
I never learned how to play an instrument. I really wanted to, but it never worked out for me. In college, I even took an introductory course on piano, because I wanted to be able to play, but I was terrible at it. My saving grace in that course was that the instructor liked me because she was a Christian, and I had made a positive impact in her husband’s life.
That’s it! I squeaked by! I tried hard, but I was pitiful.
And I so admire people who have the gift of music. My wife always says that maybe in heaven I’ll get to have a rock-star voice. Unfortunately, that’s not the case now.
But I love to listen to people who can really sing. I can get so caught up in a song because music is a powerful medium. Music, in many ways, drives our culture.
In Feb of 2008, the New York Times posted an article on their website called, “Under the Influence of...Music?” In that article, it said that teens listen to about 2.5 hours of music per day, and that 1 in 3 songs contain explicit references to drug or alcohol use. According to the article, “That means kids are receiving about 35 references to substance abuse for every hour of music they listen to”!
So the average kid is exposed to 30,732 explicit references to substance abuse every year just in the music that they hear!
No wonder so many kids are dealing with these issues.
Music is a powerful medium that connects with a person on a very deep level, and it influences us in ways that we may not even be aware of.
And I believe God knows that. That’s why music and singing are so central in our worship of God.
You know, some people will say that music is bad, but it’s not. Music isn’t bad. In fact, in Scripture, we see music and singing as one of the most fundamental and profound expressions of worship that there is.
And as we continue in our study in 1 Samuel, we are going to see a great example of worship being expressed through a song.
Take a look with me at 1 Samuel chapter 2. While you are turning there, let me just remind us of a couple things.
Last week we started a new series of messages from 1 & 2 Samuel, and Lord willing, we are going to walk through both of those books together.
Now, 1 & 2 Samuel record the history of Israel, and these books are full of stories. Stories that give us unique insight into God’s dealings with humanity. And the structure of 1 & 2 Samuel can be broken into four parts. First, there’s the life of Samuel. Then there’s the life of Saul, who became the first king of Israel. The last two parts focus on David - before he was king, and then after he was king.
So there you go. Those are the four major parts of these two books: Samuel, Saul, and David before he became king, and David after he was king. Let’s remember those.
Now, we are still at the very beginning of the first part. In fact, we haven’t even gotten to Samuel yet. His mom is such a rock star that we’ve got to find out what happens with her.
In chapter one, we learned that Hannah was married to a guy that also had another wife. How that likely happened was that Hannah was unable to have kids, so he married again in hopes of having a son.
If that wasn’t bad enough, this other gal was a real pain in Hannah’s neck, always giving her trouble about how she’s unable to have children. She waited until they took their annual trip to go worship, when she would rub it in Hannah’s face. And Hannah is just heartbroken, as expected.
So on one of their trips to worship at the Tabernacle, Hannah just pours out her soul to the Lord. She weeps and prays and asks God to give her a son, promising God that she will give him back to the Lord to serve Him his whole life long.
Well, we found out in chapter 1, verse 19, that the Lord remembered Hannah. He answered her prayer. He gave her a son, who she named Samuel.
And so chapter 1 ends with Hannah, after weaning Samuel, dropping him off as a very young child, at the Tabernacle to serve alongside Eli, the priest.
--
Now, let me ask you a question: How many of you have witnessed a mother drop off her child at kindergarten for the first time?
I’ve witnessed a number of moms do this. Of course, I’ve seen my own mother do this. I’ve seen my wife do this with Joshua and Abigail.
At my kids school, I always drop off the kids. They like me to walk them in and hug them goodbye, so most every morning, I walk right by the kindergarten class.
For four years now I’ve walked by that classroom on the first day of school. I’ve seen what moms look like after dropping their kids off for a 1/2 day of school.
They are weeping. They are crying.
And they are going to get their kids back halfway through the day!
Shoot, when I was in college, I saw mothers dropping off their 18 year old sons, just weeping.
So, how do you think Hannah must be feeling right now? She’s been unable to have children. She’s wanted children so desperately. God finally answers her prayer, gives her a son, and now that he’s weaned, she’s just dropped him off at the Tabernacle permanently. He’s probably 3 or 4 years old.
I can’t leave my kids for an overnight without holding back a lump in my throat.
You’d think that Hannah would be crying uncontrollably.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not saying that it’s bad to cry when you drop your kid off at school for the first time. It’s not. And it’s not wrong to be moved to tears when you help your kid move into their dorm room at college.
And maybe Hannah did spend some time shedding some tears. But that’s not what’s recorded for us.
Let’s read what is:
1And Hannah prayed and said,
"My heart exults in the LORD;
my strength is exalted in the LORD.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 "There is none holy like the LORD;? there is none besides you;? there is no rock like our God.?3Talk no more so very proudly,? let not arrogance come from your mouth;?for the LORD is a God of knowledge,? and by him actions are weighed.?4 The bows of the mighty are broken,? but the feeble bind on strength.?5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,? but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.?The barren has borne seven,? but she who has many children is forlorn.?6 The LORD kills and brings to life;? he brings down to Sheol and raises up.?7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich;? he brings low and he exalts.?8 He raises up the poor from the dust;? he lifts the needy from the ash heap?to make them sit with princes? and inherit a seat of honor.?For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,? and on them he has set the world.
9 "He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,? but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,? for not by might shall a man prevail.?10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;? against them he will thunder in heaven.?The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;? he will give strength to his king? and exalt the power of his anointed."

This lady Hannah is amazing to me. She’s just dropped off her little boy at the Tabernacle, and the first thing that’s recorded as coming out of her mouth is, “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in the LORD!” She sings a song.
Wow.
You know, sometimes I can be so hypocritical. I’ll ask God for something. He answers my prayer exactly as I’ve prayed and begged Him, and then when He answers, it requires something of me.
Something that I knew way back when I was praying and asking God to hear my prayer in the first place. But after He answers, instead of following in Hannah’s footsteps here, and praising God while following through with the commitment it would take on my end, I get resentful toward God that He would require so much of me.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say I pray and pray that God would use me as His instrument to lead someone else to Christ, to have an impact on someone else’s life. But then after God answers my prayer, I get frustrated that this person may need help - may need some of my time - as they grow in Christ.
It’s completely selfish.
Let me give you another example. Say you pray and pray that God would give you a house. You want to buy a house. And you work and save, and find a nice home that you like, and you put in an offer, and it’s a God-thing. You end up getting the home at a great price. But then later you find yourself muttering to God about all of the upkeep that needs to be done around the house that you begged Him for.
It’s time for us to quit complaining about how God’s answers to our prayers often require something of us.
We are so quick to forget that oftentimes the things that we grumble and complain about are actually answers to our prayers.
But Hannah isn’t so forgetful. She remembers that God had remembered her, even when what was required of her in answer to her prayer was so valuable - her own son.
And so, instead of weeping bitterly at the prospect of giving away her son to serve the Lord at the Tabernacle, Hannah praised God.
Instead of complaining, we need to remember how He has filled us to overflowing with blessings, just like Hannah.
Look again at what she says here in verse 1:
"My heart exults in the LORD;
my strength is exalted in the LORD.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
The old King James Version put it this way: “My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.”
I like how the King James Version translates this passage. It sticks a little more closely to the Hebrew here. When other versions translate it so that it says Hannah boasts over her enemies, they miss a really cool word picture here.
Hannah says that her mouth is enlarged over her enemies. She’s saying that she’s been blessed so much that “her mouth must open wider to give thanks to the Lord” (Keddie 30).
In chapter one, Hannah is barren. She can’t have kids. She pours out her soul to the LORD because she’s empty.
But here in chapter two, Hannah’s mouth is enlarged because she’s so blessed. That’s why she’s not seen here weeping bitterly at the prospect of leaving her son at the Tabernacle. In chapter one, Hannah was empty. But here in chapter two, Hannah is overflowing with praise. She’s full.
And she can’t contain it, so she sings a song.
But before we hop into what Hannah says, I want to ask you if this is something that you have experienced. Have you ever been so full of praise that you weren’t able to contain it?
If you haven’t, I want to suggest that maybe your perception of the world around you is off. Hannah could have chosen to see that she had to give up her son, but instead she saw how God had answered her prayers and blessed her so much.
So she sings to the Lord.
Now, I don’t know if she just made this song up, or if this was a song she already knew. Who knows, maybe Hannah is like one of these rappers who can just bust a new rhyme at the drop of a hat! Some people think that this may have been a hymn that was sung at the Tabernacle in worship, and she started singing it because it fit her circumstances.
We don’t know where she got this song. But we do know what she sang:
She starts off in the first verse praising God for the way that He delivered her. She says, “My heart exults in the LORD,” “My strength is exalted,” “My mouth is enlarged,” “I rejoice in your salvation.”
This is all about God’s deliverance in Hannah’s life. And that’s no surprise. That’s how most of us operate. We see what God is doing, or what God has done in our life, and in response, we are filled with praise.
But then in verses 2-8, Hannah immediately begins to meditate upon His character, and the way that God rules in general. She gives us a course in basic theology on the attributes of God. It’s obvious here that Hannah has a high view of who God is. As A.W. Tozer said in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, what comes to our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us. It affects everything that we do.
As Tozer said, most people entertain views of God that aren’t worthy of Him. We think of him as a genie in a bottle who gives us three wishes, or Santa Claus who brings us presents, or a puppy dog that does whatever we want, or a senile old man who lives upstairs.
But none of those ideas represent the God of the Bible.
Look at verse 2: "There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you.”
Hannah begins with God’s holiness. Our God is holy, not only in His moral perfection, but also in that He is the only God. As Hannah says, there is no one else like Him.
So, He is completely perfect, without stain or flaw. He is light. In Him, there is no darkness at all. He has no sin in Him, has never sinned, and hates sin in all of its forms. He is inherently pure, lovely, excellent, and worthy - unstained by sin.
At the same time, He is the only One. He is transcendent, completely other-than. As I have said before there is a distinct line between God and everything else in all of creation. There is God on one side of the line, and then there is not-God on the other side. There is Creator on one side, and then there is created on the other side.
Only God is on this one side of that line. And everything else -- stars, planets, oceans, mountains, people, animals, demons, angels, Satan -- everything else is on the other side.
Our God is unique. He is the only One. He is holy.
But Hannah doesn’t stop with His holiness. Look at the end of verse 2: “there is no rock like our God.”
Not only is God holy, but He is also all-powerful. Referring to God as the Rock is one of the most familiar images of refuge and strength in the entire Bible. When there is no place safe to go, you can hide in Him and be protected.
He is a Rock that cannot be moved or shaken. He is powerful to protect us from all of our enemies. He is the foundation of our lives, the hope upon which we stand, He is strong and mighty to save. He is all-powerful.
But there’s more. Let’s keep going. Look at verse 3: “Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge.”
Now, if you know the backstory very well, you can’t read this without thinking Peninnah. We found out last week that she’s the one who gave Hannah such a hard time. She would mock Hannah because Hannah wasn’t able to have kids. And here Hannah is singing, “Talk no more so very proudly.” In other words, she’s saying, “Shut your trap. Don’t be so arrogant!”
But Hannah also communicates another truth about God’s character; He’s the God of knowledge. He knows when people do things like this because God knows everything. Nothing is hidden from His sight because our God is all-knowing. He’s omniscient.
And after praising God for His personal deliverance of her, and then meditating upon His holiness, omnipotence, and omniscience, Hannah speaks of His justice.
Look back to the last part of verse 3:
“by him actions are weighed.?4 The bows of the mighty are broken,? but the feeble bind on strength.?5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,? but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.?The barren has borne seven,? but she who has many children is forlorn.?6 The LORD kills and brings to life;? he brings down to Sheol and raises up.?7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich;? he brings low and he exalts.?8 He raises up the poor from the dust;? he lifts the needy from the ash heap?to make them sit with princes? and inherit a seat of honor.?For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,? and on them he has set the world.”
Hannah knows that God rules in justice. By Him all actions are weighed. There are a lot of reversals in these verses. For instance, take a look at verse 5: Those who were full are now working for food. Those who were hungry are now full.
The barren woman now has seven children. In Hebrew culture, seven is the number of completeness. It was the ideal number. We find out in verse 21 that Hannah eventually had six kids total - one shy of the perfect number.
So, the barren woman now has seven children, but the woman who had many children is now forsaken and hopeless.
These verses are not meant to communicate that God arbitrarily reverses everyone’s fortune in the end. What Hannah is communicating here is that God rules in justice.
Now, let’s take a step back here for a moment. This is Hannah speaking about 3000 years ago. She did not have the benefit of the New Testament at this time. It had not happened yet. In fact, most of the Old Testament had not been written yet.
Even so, in her song, she tells us that God is holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, and that He rules in justice. That’s her view of God.
What about you?
We have the benefit of history on our side. We have the complete Bible to learn about who God is. And yet, many of us would describe God in a way that is not worthy of Him.
It’s time for us to quit trying to reinvent God in our own image, and instead turn our eyes to the beauty of God’s character and the justice of His rule as described in the Bible.
He is not just some mystical experience, or shared consciousness. Our God is a distinct, personal being, infinite in all of His perfections.
He is unstained, transcendent, and holy.
He is our refuge and strength. He’s all-powerful. He’s our Rock, a very present help in times of trouble.
He knows everything, sees everything, hears everything, and has all wisdom. He’s omniscient.
He sovereignly rules in justice.
--
So, let’s remember how we got here. First, Hannah praises God for the way He personally delivered her. That led her to meditate upon His character, and the way that God rules in general. Which brings us to this last part of Hannah’s song, where Hannah describes how it will be one day when the LORD completely, fully, visibly rules.
Let’s read it again:
9 "He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,? but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,? for not by might shall a man prevail.?10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;? against them he will thunder in heaven.?The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;? he will give strength to his king? and exalt the power of his anointed."
Hannah recognizes that there will be a day when Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth, when we will experience the consummation of His salvation. God will be exalted on high. Every one of His enemies will be put down.
And then, in a very unassuming way, Hannah sneaks in these last two lines. You could almost miss them if you weren’t paying much attention. Take a look at the end of verse 10: “He will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.”
It’s so cool to me how God put Scripture together. Verses like this confirm the fact that God inspired Scripture - that God did it just as Peter described in 2 Peter 1:21, “No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men [and women like Hannah!] spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Think about this. At the time Hannah sang this song, there was no king in Israel. There is a prophetic ring to this; one day, very soon, there will be a king in Israel. We will read about that when we get to chapters 8-9.
But I believe that this also points to a coming King, Jesus Christ. Hannah says that God will give strength to his King, and exalt the power of His anointed. That word for “anointed” is the same word for “Messiah.”
You see, Jesus is the coming King. Jesus is the Messiah of God. And the Father will one day exalt Jesus’ power and extend His rule to the ends of the earth. As Paul describes in Philippians 2:8-10, Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
It’s no wonder that Mary, when she was pregnant with Jesus, would sing a song of praise to God in Luke 1:46-55 that is almost identical in theme to Hannah’s song.
When Mary sang her song, the King, the Anointed, the Messiah was almost there!
And now, you and I can take Hannah’s song, and sing it again, knowing that the One who came is still coming again.
Hannah sang in anticipation that one day He would come.
Mary sang, knowing that He had arrived.
And now we can sing, because He has come and He’s coming again!
Apart from Jesus, we are lost and wandering, not knowing which way to go. Apart from Jesus, we are separated from God, neck-deep in our own sin, miserable and bent in upon ourselves. Apart from Jesus, each of us owes a debt, because of sin, to a holy God that we cannot pay. Apart from Jesus, each of us faces an eternity of torment and despair.
But Messiah came! Jesus came as a baby, lived a sinless life, and died on the cross to deliver us from the penalty for sin. Although He had never sinned, He died on the cross as our substitute. He took our sin upon Himself on the cross, and satisfied God’s just wrath against sin once for all time! He secured salvation on the cross!
He rose again in power, offers Himself to us, calls us to abandon everything to follow Him, and reigns right now as King.
But He told us one day He would come back to rule completely, fully, and visibly, just as Hannah describes.
And it’s time for us to learn from Hannah, to take every instance in our personal lives where God has delivered us, and remember that is only a deposit on the ultimate deliverance that we will one day know.
On the cross, Jesus saved us from the penalty of sin, but one day, we will also be delivered from the presence of sin!
I can’t wait for that day!
It’s time for us to quit complaining about how God’s answers to our prayers often require something of us, and instead remember how He filled us to overflowing with blessings.
It’s time for us to quit trying to reinvent God in our own image, and instead turn our eyes to the beauty of God’s character and the justice of His rule.
And it’s time to remember that every small act in our lives where we see God at work is just a foretaste of what’s to come, a little clue that Jesus is King, and a small demonstration of what God will do “when He does it in grand style.” (Davis 25)
And because of that, we sing.

1 Samuel 1:1-28 - Empty

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 09:48:56 EST

Just this week I read a story about one of these radio psychologists who takes calls and gives people advice over the phone. A lady called in asking for help from this psychologist about her boyfriend, who had been living with her, but disappeared three days before. Apparently he didn’t even leave a note.
So the psychologist asked her, “Well, how long have you known him?” The caller said they had known each other about four months. Then this psychologist asked, “How long has he been living with you?” The answer was three months.
So she proceeded to ask the caller, “Have you called the place where he used to live before?” She didn’t know the number or the address. “Have you called his work?” She didn’t know where he worked.
What about his friends? Had she tried there? Well, she didn’t know any of his friends. What about his parents? She didn’t know anything about his parents, or even if they were still alive.
Finally, the psychologist asked, “Where did you meet this guy?” She had met him in a bar. Then the psychologist asked, “Well, what did he tell you when you asked him about friends, family, and work?”
The called responded, “I never asked.”
The radio psychologist was stunned. “You never asked? And you say that you love this man?”
The caller responded, “Yes, I love him very much, and I’m worried about him.”
At that, the psychologist proceeded to tell this lady that she had met her husband at a party, where, in the first 30 minutes, she found out all about his parents, where they lived, what he studied in college, where he worked, and all kinds of other details.
And then she said, “I knew more about him in 30 minutes than you’ve learned living with this guy for 3 months! How can you say you ‘love’ him? You know nothing about him!” (adapted from What Christianity is All About, Alan Scholes, pg 13).
It’s hard to love someone that you don’t really know. If you say that you love someone, you’re going to want to know all about them.
And I would contend that one of the best ways to get to know someone is through stories. You know, I could list out a number of facts about myself - and facts are extremely important to know, by the way - but if all I did was give you a sheet of facts about myself, you could walk away knowing a lot about me, but not really knowing me.
But stories introduce you to a person in a different way. I could tell you that I don’t like driving in the rain very much, and you would know a fact about me. Or, I could tell you the story about when I was riding along with a buddy, late at night, in the pouring rain, when we came over a hill, the highway was covered in water, we hydroplaned off of the road, and proceeded to fully submerge his car underwater in ditch beside the road that, in this flash flood, had turned into a muddy river.
See the difference?
You see things in stories that you cannot see any other way.
And I believe that this is one of the reasons the Bible not only is full of instructive portions of Scripture -- like many of the letters in the New Testament that are full of doctrine and rich theology about God -- but the Bible is also full of stories. Stories about how God has interacted with humans throughout history.
And we can learn a lot about God through those stories. Something that may be stated as a fact about God in other portions of Scripture may be illustrated through one of these stories.
So we are going to do something here at Wellspring that we’ve never done before. We are still a relatively new church. We are going to take an extensive walk through a portion of the Old Testament that is rich with stories.
We have studied shorter books in the Old Testament like Nehemiah, Amos, and Jonah, but the longer studies we have done have been in the New Testament, like Luke and 1 Peter. But together, Lord willing, we are going to take a long walk through First and Second Samuel. We are doing it because we love God, and we want to know Him better, and we know that these stories are rich in content.
Now, the structure of First and Second Samuel hangs on the stories of three guys: Samuel, who the books are named after; Saul, who became the first king of Israel; and David, who gets the most attention in these books. Really, his life can be looked at in two parts: before David became king, and after he became king.
So as we get into these books of First and Second Samuel, I want you to remember the four parts of this storyline: Samuel’s life, Saul’s life, David before he became king, and David after he was king. Those are the four parts of this storyline.
But the character throughout, the One that we want to keep an eye on most closely, is God. Because we are going to see things in these stories about God’s interaction with humanity, in ways that other portions of Scripture cannot fully capture.
But that’s enough about structure. Let’s get into the story. And this story begins, as all of our stories do, with a mom.
Why don’t you flip in your Bible to 1 Samuel, chapter 1?
In the first verse of this book we are introduced to a guy named Elkanah. And this guy has two wives. Verse two tells us that one of them, named Hannah, had no children. The other, Peninnah, did.
Before we even get into the story, there’s this issue of polygamy that many of you may be wondering about. We live right next door to a state where this is still an issue.
Let’s keep in mind a couple of things:
This story took place about 3000 years ago, roughly 1100 B.C. Polygamy was a common practice at this time in this part of the world, especially if someone’s first wife was unable to have children. That’s likely the case here. Hannah couldn’t have children. And so, her husband takes another wife in hopes to have a son.
Now, in Deut. 17:17, kings were told outright not to multiply wives for themselves, but it’s never explicitly condemned for your ordinary Joe in the Bible. That being said, the complications and horrible results of polygamy are seen all over in the Bible. That’s not to mention the fact that God’s design in marriage is that the two will become “one flesh,” as Gen. 2:24 says. It’s kind of difficult for two to become one flesh when there are three people involved.
But, the time that we are dealing with here is toward the end of the time of the Judges. And if you’ve ever read through the book of Judges before, there is a line in that book that’s repeated a few times. In many ways, it’s the theme of the book of Judges. Can you think of it?
The very last verse in the book of Judges reiterates this line. Here’s how it goes -- this is from Judges 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
The spiritual vitality of Israel was at a very low ebb at this point in its history. Things were bad.
And so, relatively speaking, this guy Elkanah, even though he’s a polygamist, is considered a stand-up guy.
But that’s enough about him for now, because the heart of this story has to do with Hannah. Try to put yourself in her shoes for a minute.
First of all, she’s unable to have children. This is such a painful and sensitive issue even in our culture. Some of our very best friends have wrestled through infertility, and it is an extremely painful experience. Why would God give that to someone else, but not you?
Now, take that feeling, and magnify it to the nth degree.
In Hannah’s culture, being unable to have children was the ultimate tragedy for a married woman. Her husband’s hopes and dreams rested on her providing him with a son.
But that’s not all. As if that weren’t enough, Elkanah goes out and marries another woman. Now, I can’t imagine how difficult this would have been for Hannah. Wives, if you’ve ever felt like you weren’t enough for your husband, you may have a taste of the rejection that Hannah must have felt when this happened.
So now they are all living together. And pretty soon, Elkanah and his new wife start having babies. I don’t care how much Elkanah told her that he loved her, she had to start feeling like she was the third wheel. Know what I mean? Here’s this nice little family - and then there’s you.
Well, Elkanah did care about her, and he wanted her to know that. Verse 5 says that he loved her.
But the worst part about it all was that every year when they would travel to Shiloh to worship, which is where the Tabernacle was for awhile, this other wife, Peninnah, would harass Hannah.
Talk about nasty person! It was like putting salt in a wound every year when they would take a family trip to worship and sacrifice at the Tabernacle. Take a look at verse 3:
3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?"
Listen to how one writer imagines how Peninnah treated Hannah:
“Now do all you children have your food? Dear me, there are so many of you, it’s hard to keep track.”
“Mommy, Miss Hannah doesn’t have any children.”
“What did you say, dear?”
“I said, Miss Hannah doesn’t have any children.”
“Miss Hannah? Oh, yes, that’s right - she doesn’t have any children.”
“Doesn’t she want children?”
“Oh, yes, she wants children very, very much! Wouldn’t you say so, Hannah? Don’t you wish you had children too?”
“Doesn’t Daddy want Miss Hannah to have kids?”
“Oh, certainly he does - but Miss Hannah keeps disappointing him; she just can’t have kids.”
“Why not?”
“Why, because God won’t let her.”
“Does God not like Miss Hannah?”
“Well, I don’t know - what do you think? Oh, by the way, Hannah, did I tell you that I’m pregnant again?! You think you’ll ever be pregnant, Hannah?” (Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Samuel, pg 17).
Don’t you just want to strangle her? I mean, she’s awful!
No wonder Hannah is so depressed that she can’t even eat, like verse 8 says. But perhaps the most difficult thing here for Hannah to deal with is that this imaginary Penninah said one thing that is true: God won’t let Hannah have kids.
In verse 5, it says that the LORD closed Hannah’s womb. It’s repeated again in verse 6. The LORD closed her womb. The LORD did this.
God made Hannah barren.
And one of the first things that we see about God in this story is that God starts with us when we are empty and at the end of ourselves.
Until we come to the point where we are barren, empty, and broken, we really aren’t ready for God to show forth His strength in our lives. If we think that we can do it, that we have the power and ability to accomplish what needs to be done, then we won’t be driven to cast ourselves completely upon Him.
What about you? Are you skilled, trained, equipped, prepared to handle life all on your own? Are you ready, experienced, self-sufficient, able to tackle the world? Are you full of yourself?
If you think that you’ve got it covered; if you think that you can handle it all by yourself; well, basically are - all by yourself, that is.
You see, it’s in our weakness that God is made strong. It’s in our inadequacy that He’s more than sufficient. It’s in our emptiness that He is our portion. In our pride, we can forget that, and begin to operate as though we’ve got life under control.
The truth is, we don’t. What’s sad is that much of the time we don’t even know it.
But Hannah is barren. She is empty. And she knows it.
And in her emptiness, Hannah decides to go to the Tabernacle to pray. Take a look at chapter 1, starting in verse 9:
9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head."
12 As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, "How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you." 15 But Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation." 17 Then Eli answered, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him." 18 And she said, "Let your servant find favor in your eyes." Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
It is when we are empty that we truly learn how to pray. Take a look at Hannah’s praying. Verse 10 says that she’s deeply distressed. She’s weeping bitterly. Verse 13 says that she’s just moving her lips. No words are coming out. Verse 15 says that she’s troubled in spirit, so she’s been pouring out her soul before the LORD. Whatever was left in the tank, she just poured out to God. Verse 16 notes her anxiety and affliction.
Notice Hannah’s posture in prayer. She’s praying out of utter desperation with an uncommon boldness. The only people who know anything about praying like this are people who have tasted pain.
What are your prayers like?
I’ve got to admit that most of the time my prayers seem so silly when placed alongside Hannah’s. I’m praying that God will help me get everything I need to get done that day. I’m driving around praying for a parking spot. You ever prayed for a parking spot before?
Now listen, I’m not saying that it’s wrong to pray for God to help you through your day, or even to pray for a parking spot.
But I do want to suggest this morning that until our prayers begin to sound like Hannah’s, we haven’t truly come to the end of ourselves. I don’t mean to say that every prayer we pray must be one where we are crying while experiencing deep distress. But I do wonder whether we know anything of brokenness and emptiness if we have never cried out to God in prayer before.
And it is in this bold, desperate kind of prayer, that Hannah makes a promise. Take another look there at verse 11. Hannah promises God that if He were to give her a son, that she would give him back to God to serve Him. She makes this reference that no razor would touch his head. What Hannah is referring to is what’s called a Nazarite vow. It was a special type of dedication to the Lord that a person could choose to commit to.
Numbers 6 lists the requirements for someone who wanted to take on a Nazarite vow for a period of time. Now, what’s remarkable here is that Hannah is promising God that if He gave her a son, she would give Him back to the Lord as a permanent Nazarite. And she’s saying that this son would serve the Lord in the tabernacle from his earliest years.
Hannah is such an incredible example for us here. God wants us to see that in this story. And I love how God works. Because, throughout this first chapter of 1 Samuel, we’ve been focusing primarily on her, and we should. But in that little section that we just read, another character was woven into the story: Eli.
Did you notice him? He’s the guy sitting there in verse 9, regulating worship at the Tabernacle. And I think that this chapter has something to teach us not only about emptiness, but also the danger of being too full.
A person can be so full that they don’t perceive where God is at work. Verse 12 says that Eli watched Hannah’s mouth when she was praying, but since he couldn’t hear what she was saying, verse 14 tells us that he took her to be drunk.
This guy is about as perceptive as a rhino. Here’s this woman, crying bitterly, obviously shaken up about something, and here comes Eli, the Tabernacle bouncer, ready to kick her out for being drunk.
Can you imagine!?
Eli, as we are going to see as we get further into the book, is not spiritually perceptive. When Samuel keeps coming to Eli in chapter 3, thinking that Eli is calling him, it takes Eli forever to figure out that God is the One calling Samuel.
He’s kind of dull, you know. In chapter 2:29, we are going to learn that Eli and his sons were eating parts of sacrifices that were supposed to be burned, and God asks him, “Why are you fattening yourself by doing this?” In fact, in chapter 4:18, where Eli dies, we learn that his death is due to the fact that he fell out of his seat and broke his neck because he was so fat.
He’s the opposite of Hannah. You see, not only does God like to start with people who are empty, and empty people are the ones who truly learn how to pray, but also, as Eli demonstrates, we need to beware of becoming so full of ourselves that we are desensitized to God’s activity.
Even so, Eli finally realizes what’s going on, and in verse 17, he blessed Hannah, and she went on her way. And down in verses 19-20, it tells us what happened next:
19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, "I have asked for him from the LORD."
God answers Hannah’s prayer. He gives her a son. Verse 20 says that she named him Samuel, because she asked for him from the LORD. Now, in Hebrew, the original language that this was written in, the name “Samuel” sounds like the word, “asked for.”
She asked for him. And verse 19 says that God remembered her.
And this morning, I want to tell you something that is very important for empty, burdened, and distressed people to hear: God has not forgotten you.
In this case, God answered Hannah’s prayer the way that she had hoped for. As we all know, that’s not always the case. God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way that we want. You may pray for something your whole life long and never experience that.
However, I want to contend that God has not forgotten you. He remembers you. He knows right where you are, just as he knew how hard it was for Hannah to have no children. He was with her every year when she was being mocked for being barren. His eye never left her when she felt all alone, empty, and at the end of herself.
And He remembers you, too.
And if you remain empty, never receiving the gifts that you ask for in prayer, I want to encourage you to remember Eli. It could be that our emptiness is what keeps us sensitive to, and focused on God.
But Hannah’s story doesn’t stop here. Let’s keep reading:
21The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. 22But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the LORD and dwell there forever." 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the LORD establish his word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. And the child was young. 25Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26And she said, "Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. 27For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD."
And he worshiped the LORD there.

Remember that promise that Hannah made in verse 11? Well, here is where she fulfills it. She made a promise, and so now she gives her son back to the Lord.
Now, the Bible never calls us to make a promise to God beyond simply obedience to what is revealed in the Scriptures.
However, I do think that we can learn something from Hannah here:
Everything that God fills us with really belongs to God. Anything that God would choose to give Hannah, she’s already offered back to the Lord. Because it’s His. Hannah is a model in holding onto things with an open hand.
Think about all the things that you’ve cried out to God for. Think about all of the things that God has given to you in answer to your prayers. How do you hold those things?
Before you were married, did you pray for a spouse? Did you pray for children? Did you pray for a house? Did you pray for your car?
Did He answer any of those prayers? Did He give you any of those things? Now, here’s an important question: how do you hold on to them? Have you given them back to the Lord? Have you acknowledged that they really belong to God?
For instance, I know of people who have done this with their home. They’ve said, “Lord, you’ve given us this house, and we want to give it back to you.” And so they serve God through the use of their house.
Think about the things most dear to you: your parents, your husband or wife, your children, your best friends. God has given them to you, but have you given them back to God?
----
I love Hannah’s story. She is a true hero of the faith.
But the thing that I love most about her story is how Hannah’s life points to Jesus.
Hannah made a significant sacrifice to give her son to the Lord’s service, but that is just a shadow of the sacrifice that was made when the Father gave the Son to die on a cross and become the sin-bearer for humanity.
I love how Hannah prays to God so boldly, but the reason that we can come so boldly to the throne of grace is because what Jesus did.
All of us are sinners by nature and by choice, and according to the Bible, what we deserve for our sin is death and hell. But Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay that penalty for us. And when He did so, Matt. 27:51 tells us that the curtain of the temple was ton in two. The place where God dwelt, the Holy of holies, could now be approached because of what Jesus did.
We no longer have to go through a priest to get to God, like Hannah did, because Jesus became our High Priest! We no longer have to go to the Tabernacle to pray, because now, for those of us who are in Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within us! We are the temple of the Holy Spirit!
Because of what Jesus has accomplished, as Heb. 4:16 says, we can draw near to the throne of grace with confidence to receive mercy and find grace in time of need!
And Hannah’s story reminds all of us that:
God starts with us when we are empty and at the end of ourselves.
Have you come to the end of yourself? Have you realized that you can’t save yourself and that you are in need of a Savior?
Have you told God that you are empty and can’t handle other life issues on your own?
It is when we are empty that we truly learn how to pray.
Do you desperately and boldly “ask for” what’s on your heart, the way Hannah did?
A person can be so full that they don’t perceive where God is at work.
Have you examined your own life and asked God to keep you hungry? What areas are fat that distract you from where God is as work?
Everything that God fills us with really belongs to God.
Are you prepared to give God’s gifts back to Him?
As James 1:17 says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
And finally, remember this: it could be that some of our emptiness - some unanswered prayer in our lives - keeps us alert and sensitive to God.
It may very well be that some of that emptiness that we experience is actually a gift, which keeps us hungry for God.
So pour out your soul to Him. The LORD remembered Hannah. And He remembers you.

1 Peter 3:1-7 - Beautiful Submission & Considerate Leadership

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:54:31 EST

How are husbands and wives meant to interact with one another? Peter has some timeless wisdom.