STANDING TALL, FALLING HARD Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church, Rochester, MN April 2-3, 2016

Transcription

1 1 Week 10: The Story of Scripture Scripture: 1 Samuel 1-4, 8-13, 15 STANDING TALL, FALLING HARD Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church, Rochester, MN April 2-3, 2016 We are engaged in an ambitious project to follow The Story of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Our goal is to understand the purpose of God in giving us the Bible and to find his plan to bring us back to himself. Along the way, we want to discover how the sixty-six books of the Bible all fit together. Today we come to the book of First Samuel where we meet two men who were leaders of Israel. Their names are Samuel and Saul. You can see the years when they lived on this timeline. First, we meet Samuel. He was the 13 th and last of the judges of Israel. Now there are times in the history of a nation when a single man is of more value than a multitude of men. This is because individual character is more effective than numerical force. Samuel was that one man who made a difference in his day and generation. When Samuel came to power the nation of Israel was in deep trouble. The permissive society that developed during the period of the judges had brought the nation to its lowest moral and spiritual level. As Charles Kingsley said, There are two freedoms -- the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; and the true, where he is free to do what he ought. Samuel sought to encourage God s people to do what they ought to do, not what they wanted to do. Samuel is a remarkable leader. He wears six hats. He is a priest, a prophet, a judge, a king-maker, an educator, and a nation-builder. He ranks with Abraham and Moses as one of the great architects of Israel s destiny. So WHAT MADE SAMUEL SOAR? We want to know because we need men like Samuel today. We find three vital influences in Samuel s life.

2 2 First, there is his mother. Her name is Hannah and she is brokenhearted because she can t get pregnant. She desperately wants a child. In her deep anguish she turns to the Lord, weeping bitterly as she does so. Having prayed, she left the Tabernacle and we are told, Her face was no longer downcast. (1 Samuel 1:18) Hannah has left the matter with God so she is now at peace. This reveals her confidence in God. To her great joy she becomes pregnant and has a son whom she names Samuel meaning heard by God. When the boy is weaned Hannah fulfills her vow of taking Samuel to Eli in the Tabernacle. Hannah and Samuel before Eli by Lambert Doomer She explains, I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord. (1 Samuel 1:28) So little Samuel is the doorkeeper of God s house in Shiloh. He runs messages for Eli. He opens the doors of the Tabernacle in the morning and he shuts them at night. He lights the seven-branch candlestick at sunset and he puts it out at sunrise. He does everything he can to keep the house of God in order. Once every year his mother comes to Shiloh to see her son and to bring him a coat that she made a little bigger every year until he grew to be a man. This story shows the enormous influence mothers have on their children. Samuel was blessed to have a praying mum. As parents we have many dreams for our children, but our greatest longing should be for them to serve the Lord all their days. So you mums, daily bring your children to God however old they are. Sometimes we think our children aren t listening to us, but survey after survey shows that middle schoolers and high schoolers, when asked who are the most important people in their life, will say it is their parents. The second person who made Samuel soar was his mentor. Eli was the priest in charge of the Tabernacle. He had the responsibility of training Samuel to become a man of God. We have a beautiful example of how Eli did this. One night Samuel is lying in bed when he hears his name called. He assumes it is Eli needing something and so goes to him. "But Eli said, 'I did not call; go back and lie down.' (1 Samuel 3:5) Eli Instructing Samuel by Gerrit Dou

3 3 The same thing happened again, and then a third time. At this point Eli recognizes that God is the one calling and instructs the boy, Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. (1 Samuel 3:9) Eli is teaching Samuel how to talk to God. All of us need this instruction for we don t naturally know how to pray. The disciples begged Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray. In response Jesus gave them the Lord s Prayer. As a result of Eli s teaching, Samuel became a man of prayer. He told the leaders of the nation, Assemble all Israel...and I will intercede with the Lord for you. (1 Samuel 7:5) Samuel recognized it was wrong not to pray for others saying to his people, Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. (1 Samuel 12:23) Samuel prayed for the leaders of his nation and he would tell us to do the same. Some of us are frustrated with the quality of the candidates running for president. I wonder if we pray for them half as much as we criticize them. Do we pray for their salvation? Have we asked God to give them a compassionate heart for all people? In times of national crisis Samuel s first response was prayer. Sir Joshua Reynolds painted a famous picture showing little Samuel saying, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. (1 Samuel 3:10) That s a great prayer not just for a boy but for a man. The Infant Samuel by Sir Joshua Reynolds The third person that made Samuel soar was his master. Samuel was God s man. We are told, "The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel s words fall to the ground. (1 Samuel 3:19) God taught Samuel through some defining moments in the life of Israel. On one occasion the Israelites went to fight their old foes the Philistines. Israel was overwhelmingly defeated. They felt they needed to bring some extra fire power into their attack, so they said, Let us bring the ark of the Lord s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies. (1 Samuel 4:3) The ark represented God s presence but they were using God in an inappropriate way, almost like a lucky charm.

4 4 So when they went into battle again, The ark of God was captured. (1 Samuel 4:11) The Capture of the Ark by Gerrit Bleker This was a disaster for the nation. It meant God s presence had left them. Three things then happened. First, when Eli heard the news he was so shocked that he fell off his chair, broke his neck and died. Second, Eli s daughter-in-law gave birth to a son whom she named Ichabod, which means The Glory has departed from Israel. (1 Samuel 4:21) And so it had, God s glory had left Israel with the ark. It is a dreadful thing when God writes Ichabod over a church. There were days in the past when God s glory was present, when people gathered to read his word, and intercede for his world. But over time those churches lost confidence in the word of God. They no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to God. They become social or political organizations and God writes Ichabod over their doors. How do we avoid that fate? By always seeking God s glory and obeying his word. Third, the Philistines take the ark to Ashdod where they put it in the temple to Dagon their god. When the Philistines went to their temple the next day, there was Dagon, fallen flat on his face and broken in pieces before the ark of the Lord, as all false gods must bow before Yahweh. The Ark in the Temple of Dagon The Philistines then played a game of keep away with the ark, sending it to Gath then Ekron then Beth Shemeh, and finally to Kiriath Jearim.

5 5 Everywhere it went the ark caused problems. In Ashdod the people suffered terrible tumors. The Plague of Ashdod by Nicolas Poussin Eventually the ark caused so much trouble they sent it back to the Israelites. Through the adventures of the ark Samuel learned that God is holy and will not take second place to anybody. But we mustn t imagine Samuel was perfect, for none of us are. Towards the end of his life Samuel wanted to appoint his sons as Israel s leaders. But like Eli before him, Samuel had sons who did not follow his faith. Rather, they were known for accepting bribes and perverting justice. The leaders of Israel said to Samuel, We don t want your sons, we want something better. Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have. (1 Samuel 8:5) All the other countries around them had a king, so they wanted one, too. But God has specifically not given Israel a king because Yahweh was to be their king. Samuel tried to warn them that they would come to regret having a king, but the people insisted. We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles. (1 Samuel 8:19-20) We have a God of amazing patience and mercy so while this wasn t his ideal plan for Israel, God granted them their wish and gave them Saul. Samuel Anointing Saul Then "Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul s head and kissed him, saying, 'Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?... The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy and you will be changed into a different person. (1 Samuel 10:1&6)

6 6 Saul was a natural choice to be king. He came from a leading family. His father was a man of standing. (1 Samuel 9:1) His was physically strong and attractive for we are told, "Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else." (1 Samuel 9:2) Saul had been filled with the Spirit in days when the Spirit didn t indwell every believer but came and went. It was a real mark of divine favor to have the Holy Spirit rest upon you. Yet Saul was a man who lost his kingdom. He was given a great opportunity but messed it up. In the Bible there are two Sauls. One is the Old Testament king. The other is the New Testament apostle whose name is changed from Saul to Paul. They couldn t have been more different. Saul the king lost his crown through foolish and arrogant behavior. Saul the apostle gained the crown of righteousness by living for Christ. So WHAT SUNK SAUL? Saul identified the problem himself at the end of his life when he told David, I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong. (1 Samuel 26:21) How did Saul play the fool? First, he ignored confession. Saul did not see that sin is serious so instead of confessing his sin, Saul excused it. He was quick to blame other people for what he had done. So he blamed Samuel. He blamed Jonathan and then he blamed his people. Saul would agree with Mr. Trump who recently said he has never asked God for forgiveness because he doesn t do anything that would require it. But there is only one man who can say that. His name is not Donald. But that was Saul s attitude to forgiveness. So we don t find Saul confessing his wrongdoing to the Lord. In this way he is very different from David who did far worse things. But we see David pouring out his heart in confession in Psalm 51 and other places. It is important that confession is one of our spiritual disciplines. Confession needs to be part of our worship and, indeed, part of our daily routine for the Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That s why the Jesus Prayer should readily come to our lips. It goes like this: Lord Jesus Christ, be merciful to me, a sinner. If we don t do this daily, our life piles up with garbage. Every week I give thanks for our garbage collector. Perhaps it is because I was one for a couple of summers when I was a seminary student. Imagine how horrible life would be without garbage collectors. Initially we could keep the trash in the

7 7 garage, but after a year it would be packed with stinking, rotting, decomposing rubbish. The smell would drift into our house and make it impossible to live there. We would start to get sick and have diseases. Well that s what happens if we don t take the garbage of sin out of our lives. It begins to pile up. But when we confess it Jesus comes and takes it away. Saul didn t do this and it affected his rule because you can t lead others if you can t lead yourself. Now the decline is gradual. Initially nobody notices. But if we don t deal with our sin it will overwhelm us. Saul began by walking tall but after a while he began to fall. At first he was humble but then pride came in and with pride came envy. He envied David s success and popularity. Then hatred followed envy and murder followed hatred. The second thing that sunk Saul was that he lacked integrity. Integrity is essential for all of us. Saul was a double-minded man. Scripture tells us that A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:8 KJV) At the beginning of his reign Saul did serve God. He did what God wanted him to do. But then gradually he began to serve God and himself. Saul used his opportunities to get what he wanted. Finally Saul started using God to serve him. Saul had skillful hands. He could throw a spear and wield a sword. He was a skilled archer. But he did not have integrity. Third, Saul was sunk because he failed to develop. Saul had great natural gifts so he did not bother to develop his spiritual gifts. We must build our spiritual lives or we will fall. As we look at the life of Saul we don t find him building anything. We don t read that Saul ever prayed. Rather he depended on his natural gifts. He probably thought, I m the first king and God has appointed me. I am a great warrior so I will succeed. But he didn t because he failed to build his spiritual life. It is essential that we do this. Jude tells us, Build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God." (Jude 1:20 ESV) The root problem was that Saul did not understand that obedience is the key to victory. We must make God s will our will. When God tells us what to do we must do it. Saul s career as king began at dawn as the sun was coming up. His career ended with the sun going down. For one night Saul disguised himself and went to consult a witch. The next day he went out on the battlefield where he committed suicide. It is a tragic end to a tragic man.

8 8 This is how it came about. Samuel is now dead so Saul has no one to give him counsel. The Philistines have attacked again and Saul is terrified. He knew that God s people are not to dabble in the occult but he wants to see Samuel again. So in his despair Saul goes to visit the witch of Endor. It is a pathetic spectacle to see a once proud king disguising himself and slinking off in the dead of night to consult a medium. Saul guaranteed her immunity from punishment and asked her to use her incantations to call up Samuel from the dead. (1 Samuel 28:3-25) To the consternation of both the witch and the king, God interrupted the séance by causing not an impersonating spirit but Samuel himself to appear in person. Shade of Samuel Invoked by Saul by Bernard Cavallino Now this passage has its problems of interpretation, but it does explicitly state Then Saul knew it was Samuel... Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?'" (1 Samuel 28:14-15) This seems to preclude the possibility that it was an evil spirit impersonating Samuel. It seems that God permitted Samuel to appear to Saul but only to deliver a final terrible message. For Samuel told Saul, The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me." (1 Samuel 28:19) In other words you will be dead. Saul played the fool and there are thousands of people in Hades today who are lifting up their eyes in torment because during their days on earth they played the fool. They weren t necessarily evil people, many of them were respectable. But in the things that really matter, like the word of God, the will of God, and the Spirit of God, they played the fool. They preferred self-will to God s will. They lived for themselves. They missed the real meaning and purpose of life. They lived and died alienated from God and now their unavailing confession is, I played the fool. So what s the important lesson for us today? The answer is to let God be our king. If we have disobeyed him, let us confess it and accept his forgiveness. Let us allow Jesus to rule our life. Let us submit to Christ with gladness and joy. That is the key to a God-glorifying life.