I. Jealousy of Saul; Sunday, October 3, 2010 (Sunnyslope) Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. A. Good morning, church! B. Today s sermon is about one of the cornerstone Old Testament stories 1. About Saul s call from God 2. How he at first succeeded because of being anointed God s chosen earthly king 3. His subsequent failure to completely trust and completely follow God 4. And God s removal of His blessing C. But the story doesn t end there 1. God anoints the next king, David 2. Saul, instead of accepting God s choice, builds jealousy toward David 3. God doesn t strike down Saul; He just neglects to bless him as He once did 4. And the story comes to a conclusion as Saul is defeated on the battlefield and commits suicide (the ultimate act of failure to trust in God) II. But before we get into the heart of the Saul story, I d like to recount a different story; one that I witnessed many years ago: the story of Paul and Eric A. I started playing the violin when I was about 6 years old under the Suzuki program in Yakima (in the heart of Central Washington) 1. By the time I got into junior-high, about when I was 12 and 13, I was pretty good 1 of 10
B. Each year, typically in the spring, the campus at Central Washington University up in Ellensburg would come alive with young Suzuki violin students 1. There was a festival each spring that brought together the best of the Suzuki violin students from across the State to practice and perform together 2. There were workshops, break-out sessions, and eventually a concert at the end C. For years, a man named Paul ran the festival 1. He was well-respected 2. And he had been running the event for a long time 3. However, he got complacent in his leadership position 4. He started to phone it in a great deal 5. He d procrastinate, wait until the last minute, then rush to achieve the minimum 6. And as a result to many private complaints, he developed a passive-aggressive manner D. But one year, a new man came on the scene: his name was Eric 1. Eric was young, just out of college 2. He had a lot of energy 3. And he was a profoundly gifted violinist 4. He was also spectacular at organization E. At first, Eric ran a few workshops 1. And it wasn t long before people recognized Eric s talents F. Paul then had a choice 2 of 10
1. It seemed clear that later, much later, at some future time, Eric would be a natural successor to Paul 2. Paul could have decided to take Eric under his wing 3. Train him even more; equip him; give him increasing levels of responsibility 4. Instead, Paul decided to shun Eric 5. Paul became increasing jealous 6. He relegated Eric s workshops to the worst rooms and most inconvenient times G. It wasn t long before Paul s jealousy infected the entire program H. And so by the time I was half-way through highschool, the entire program itself had collapsed in on itself and no longer existed III. The story of Saul from the Old Testament parallels this in a number of ways A. It follows a similar pattern: 1. Saul is picked as ruler, anointed as king 2. Saul at first has successes 3. But then Saul starts to phone it in a) He doesn t wait for God b) He disobeys c) He turns his back and fails to trust 4. So God removes his blessing 5. God brings David onto the scene 6. And Saul s jealousy grows B. Let s look through a series of verses to get the scope of the story 3 of 10
C. First, Isreal asks for a king 1 Samuel 8:1-5 1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. 4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." 1. Samuel warns the elders and people that a king will bring them more hardships, but the people insist 2. So Samuel turns to God 1 Samuel 8:22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king." 3. So Samuel finds Saul and anoints him king over Israel D. So then a bit later, Saul engages the Philistines in battle 1. In chapter 13, we have an account of the situation 2. Saul leads and army to an encampment 3. And there he waits for Samuel to arrive to make a sacrifice to God 4. Saul s army is afraid of the Philistines 5. So they sit waiting Samuel s arrival 1 Samuel 13:8-14 8 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. 9 So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings. "And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 4 of 10
11 "What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, 12 I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." 13 "You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command." E. We have several key points here: 1. Saul was impatient 2. Saul failed to trust God s plan for Israel 3. Saul took matters into his own hands, directly disobeying God F. But we can also see and hopefully understand why Saul was so stressed-out: 1. He had waited the 7 days 2. And his army was starting to scatter 3. He felt desperate, like if he didn t do something, his army would collapse before the battle had even started G. In chapter 16 of 1 Samuel, Samuel finds and anoints David, son of Jesse as the next king 1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. 1. And notice here that even though David was anointed, he was still not king 2. Saul was still king 5 of 10
3. And David respected the king H. Because David was anointed and blessed by God, he was successful in all the missions Saul sent him out to do 1 Samuel 18:5 Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and Saul's officers as well. 1. But it was these successes and the people s response to them that set afire Saul s jealousy 1 Samuel 18:6-9 6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. 7 As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." 8 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" 9 And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. I. Saul turns violent and rages against David 1. Saul hurls a spear at him, but misses 2. He sends men to kill David in his bed at night, but David through the aid of his wife evades 3. When Saul was unable to find David, his anger turned on his son Jonathan 4. And Jonathan flees, finds David, and swears an allegiance to David J. The result of God s rejection of Saul is tragically apparent 1. His behavior becomes increasingly disturbed and deceitful 6 of 10
2. Even his children disobey him in favor of David K. Jonathan accepts David as God s choice, but Saul does everything he can to defy God s will L. Finally the story of Saul ends on the battlefield in 1 Samuel 31 1. By this time, Saul had sought after military advice anywhere he could a) God had rejected him b) And since Samuel had died, there was no one left to intercede for Saul c) In desperation, he turned to the witch of Endor, a practice he had outlawed himself earlier 2. Saul s reign ends in defeat and tragedy when he meets his old foes, the Philistines, on the battlefield and falls 1 Samuel 31:1-5 1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. 4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me." But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. IV. There are a number of lessons and applications for us to take from this tragic story A. And like all moments of self-application, don t allow yourself to fall into the trap of seeing yourself as David in the story 7 of 10
1. It s easy to spot Sauls in our life (provided we re looking outward) 2. The more difficult, but immensely more useful and beneficial practice is to examine how we ourselves may be acting a bit like Saul B. The first lesson I pull from this story is impatience 1. In 1 Samuel 13 when Saul was waiting for Samuel to arrive, he grew impatient a) His army was scattering, and he felt he could no longer wait on God s timing b) He took matters into his own hands 2. How often do we get impatient? 3. Do we start out with every intention of waiting for God s timing but then get impatient? 4. Do we rush in, push forward out of our own needs to see change now? 5. Or do we harden our hearts like Paul from the Suzuki school? 6. Do we become passive-aggressive, feeling in our hearts that we are righteous in our indignation and annoyance C. The second lesson I pull here is that God s choice for leader comes and goes 1. At one time, Saul was God s choice for leader 2. But then God s choice changed to David 3. In this story, God changed his choice to David because of Saul s failures 4. But I think sometimes God s plan for us means he changes our leaders even when the present leadership has made no error 8 of 10
5. Lloyd Moritz came into PNA leadership taking over from Ralph Dockter a) Ralph is a God-fearing man b) And as far as I can tell, Ralph never turned against God c) But it was in God s will that Ralph retire and that Lloyd should take over d) And so both men listened and obeyed e) Ralph did not become a modern-day Saul f) Instead, he welcomed the change 6. Church, I will not always be the senior pastor here a) I m the senior pastor now b) And I suspect I will be for a while to come c) But there will eventually be a day when God tells me it s time to step-aside d) If I listen and obey, God s favor will say with me; but if I try to hold on to my position and disobey God, his favor will certainly fade e) And when it s time for me to move on, that doesn t mean I will suddenly be cast aside, thrown out like stale bread f) Instead, God will have another job for me g) And I need to be willing, open, and eager to accept that change 7. Is there something you re holding on to now a bit too tightly? 8. Is there something you re not allowing to change out of fear, out of distrust in God s ultimate plan? 9 of 10
D. The third lesson I take away is that God s will is ultimately going to happen no matter what anybody does 1. Nothing we do or anything anybody can do will ultimate deviate the world from God s plan 2. We can take great comfort in this 3. But we should also take a great warning 4. If we want success, we can only really achieve it: E. [Closing] a) By aligning our plans with God s will b) By joining in communion with God c) By submitting and letting go of our own wants and desires 10 of 10