Yearly Archives: 2014

A heart for God is more than skin deep (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

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One of my mother’s favorite sayings was that “beauty is only skin deep.”  I don’t really recall when she would use that phrase – perhaps when she thought I should be interested in some girl that I was not finding interesting? I remember that happening a lot. Haha! Or maybe she was just quoting the lyrics of a 1966 song of this title by The Temptations? Nah… had to be the former!

The phrase actually dates back to literature from the 1600s. But the truth of its meaning dates back essentially to the beginning of human history.

There is no doubt that we live in an age of external appearance. Name a couple of musical stars who are ugly. When is the last time you saw an unattractive female news anchor?

Without doubt, the natural proclivity we have is to judge a book by its cover – to make evaluations about people by external appearance over inner character and quality. God is not given toward this malady however.

And today as we begin our readings that introduce the character of David, we have one of the great verses in all of Scripture – a quote of God himself speaking and saying that “people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Samuel Anoints David

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

Have you ever heard of someone described as “loyal to a fault?”  That was Samuel. Even while fully faithful to God, he so very much longed to see Saul be a successful king with a desire to obey God. But it was not in Saul’s character to ever be that person. God wanted Samuel to move on, sending him to a tiny place called Bethlehem and to the family of a man named Jesse.

Samuel’s concern, given the broken relationship he now had with Saul, was that the King would eliminate him for anointing the next king. But God directs that the purpose need not be identified … that going as the spiritual leader in Israel for the purpose of sacrifice and worship was sufficient reason for the occasion.

4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

Perhaps some of you have worked for very large companies with multiple sites. And then a day came when the CEO arrived unannounced at your little location. What would you think? Why is he there? Is it good news or bad news? Did your facility perform something extraordinary, or is he there to consider shutting it down?

Bethlehem was not a place a person of Samuel’s importance came without some reason. But there he was to sacrifice and to invite, among others, the family of Jesse.

As with all the greatest of families, the home of Jesse consisted of a household full of boys.

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

As a father of five boys, I’ve always laughed at this point of the text. What? Seven boys aren’t enough?

The outward appearance criteria of judging by size had certainly not worked well in Israel with King Saul – who was head and shoulders taller than anyone else. And Jesse had one hunk after another of sons to present. And when the parade stopped, Samuel presumed there had to be another.

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

And the final son was called in from the fields to stand before Samuel. We can clearly infer from this passage that he was almost an after-thought – not much more than a servant kid in his own household. Literature from the time would seem to indicate that a seventh son was highly favored; but add one more, and you were really into extra innings.

12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

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 powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

It is not at all certain what the brothers, or even David himself, thought or understood about this anointing. I don’t think it was perceived at the moment to be for the role of the king of the nation. Perhaps he was seen as being randomly selected to be set aside for training and education by Samuel at varied intervals – a sort of college scholarship. Whatever, we later see that his oldest brother was not impressed with the youngest boy when he shows up where Goliath is threatening the Israelites.

Timeless lessons – This passage today at once gives us both a challenge and an encouragement.

The challenge is to be reminded about what it is that God really values and to make our lives disciplined toward the cultivation of an inner heart for God – to know him and to value that which he values, having an eternal values system. Rather, our natural tendency is to be consumed with the things of this world in terms of material assets and places of prestige. We work hard at maintaining an outer image, while too often neglecting the more important inner character of knowing God and walking in truth with him.

The encouragement is that though we are all pretty much mostly plain and ordinary people, we can be extraordinary by virtue of relationship with the creator of the universe. That is pretty amazing. Probably most of us don’t know practically anyone important – like congressmen or governors or the President … or anyone else of fame and prominence in the news and culture. But we can know God intimately – which is better than anything else we could imagine. That is pretty awesome, and it is more than skin deep.

A Monument to Monumental Stupidity and Disobedience (I Samuel 15)

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An engineer friend of mine many years ago was attempting to help me – a more artsy sort of person – understand why engineering types of personalities were more cold and precise about the details of everything. He said, “When you’re an engineer with your name on a project, you’re always afraid that when you build something, if it is wrong, it will stand as a monument to your stupidity for years to come!”

In today’s reading – our third background passage on Saul before we turn to stories focused upon David – we see a final breaking point of the first king in Israel’s relationship with God and with Samuel. Saul would disobey God’s directives to the extent of even building a monument to himself, and thus he was rejected by the Lord in favor of a younger man after God’s own heart.

The Lord Rejects Saul as King

15:1 – Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

God is really good at keeping records. Some four centuries before the time of Saul, the Amalekites (descendants of Esau) had brutally attacked Israel for no reason during the time of the exodus of the nation from Egypt (Exodus 17). At that time, God had said that a day of punishment would come. The day had come, and Saul was to carry it out.

Yes, this seems brutal, though understand that God had been gracious for years with these people who had never turned from their evil ways that included the sacrificing of children to idols, etc. (see verse 33) They needed to be completely eliminated, down to the youngest of them all, or they would rise again with their evil. Think of ISIS x10 and you get the picture of what these folks were like.

4 So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5 Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6 Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8 He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

So Saul did pretty much everything God wanted him to do, except kill the Amalekite King Agag; and the livestock of these people was amazing – good and fat – too valuable to destroy. So why not take it all as trophies of victory?

10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

When you read in this passage and some others in Scripture where it says that God “regretted” something, don’t read it as if he was admitting to some sort of mistake. We even use the phrase to say that something is “regretful” – meaning that it is very sad. And that is the context here. God was saddened by the outcome of allowing the people to have a king whose heart and character was simply not toward God. Rather, Saul’s focus was on himself – building a monument and a name for himself among the people.bleating sheep

13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

Saul’s answer about the bleating flock of sheep is the ultimate “I ate half the cookies in the jar just to make sure that they tasted alright for everyone else” sort of excuse. No, instead of being the leader and making sure that God’s directives were carried out, Saul allowed the desires of his men, along with his own proud heart, to tweak God’s word.

16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

Pretty good isn’t good enough when it comes to obeying God. And one of the most interesting statements of Scripture follows …

22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

The issue of a person’s heart continues to percolate throughout this entire section of Israel’s history. And a heart for God and truth was simply not Saul’s inner default drive. He was good at going through the motions of things, but the real “HIM” was not oriented toward God in a big way.

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

26 But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”

27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore.28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. 29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

30 Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”

Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.”

And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.

34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Samuel finishes what Saul did not do in eliminating the Amalekites and their king. Though Saul would actually reign for about another 15 years, the decision was made that he and his household would be replaced.

There is a timeless truth which reverberates even down to us today – that we need to fully obey God. It is easy in the Christian life to be content with getting a B+ average when God desires us to maintain a higher GPA through his empowerment to make it possible through us.

When it comes to the giving of our resources to the Lord, or the investing of the priorities of our time in things that have eternal value, does God hear the “bleating of our sheep” or the beating of our hearts for the things that He values?

If God Won’t Fix Things, I Will! (1 Samuel 13:1-14)

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Are you good at waiting for things to happen? I know I’m not, I’d rather do something to try to fix it than wait around.

I always joke with women about how much more difficult childbirth is on the husband than the wife! Really, it is! If you’re the woman having the baby, at least there is something you can DO. You can push and grunt and work (labor) at getting that child outa there. All the husband can DO is watch and encourage. And it is terribly frustrating as a man to have to sit around and not be able to fix something!

When times are difficult, it is difficult to sit around and wait for God to do what you even know and have been told by His Word you must do in trusting him with the situation rather than taking it on in your own strength.

This was Saul’s dilemma is our chapter today. He had been told by Samuel to wait for the spiritual leader in Israel to come and sacrifice before heading into battle. But Samuel had not arrived, and Saul was very much pressed by the Philistine forces arrayed against him.

Samuel Rebukes Saul

13:1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.

There is a textual problem here. In other Scripture it says that Saul reigned for 40 years, and the number 30 is not in the original text. Probably it originally said that Saul was 40 when he became king and the events of this chapter were in his second year.

2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.

Saul had put together a regular army of 3,000, divided in two forces with the rest of the nation on standby duty in a crisis. This is the first of three major military events during Saul’s reign.

3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!”4 So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

5 The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.

The war was on, and the Philistines outnumbered the Israelites and had pushed them to Gilgal, which is very near Jerusalem. The situation was quite critical, and some of the Israelites had fallen back so far as to cross to the east of the Jordan.

Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. 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.

Saul had waited the prescribed time, but Samuel had not arrived. This was not good, as some of his forces were abandoning the lines. Surely God would not mind if he took matters into his own hands, even if it was inappropriate for him as a Benjamite to assume the Levitical duties that Samuel would do. Hey, it had to be done. The situation was intolerable!

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 Mikmash, 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 have done a foolish thing,” 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 ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

Saul had committed a grievous error of judgment and sin against God’s command and structure. What it did was demonstrate the cold nature of a heart that was not inclined toward trusting God. Because of this, God would not establish the house of Saul over Israel; it would go to another who had a heart after God … and we know that this will ultimately be David.

We read this story and think, “Wow, Saul is such an idiot!” Yet how often do we fail to trust God when he appears “delayed” in answering or providing what seems surely to be a reasonable need or request? I have seen it when people jump into wrong relationships with even unbelievers, rather than trust God in his timing and supply. And I’ve seen people justify jumping out of marriage relationships simply because they are unhappy with how it has gone – surely God understands that.

And it is not just in the area of relationships. We could ponder other categories – such as prioritizing God in life over the pursuit of material gains or positions of prominence. We could talk about how so, so many find every reason to “forsake the assembling together” with others in regular church family attendance because there is always some other “good thing” to be doing on Sunday mornings instead.

I’ve often found myself at a point of exasperation in a counseling setting with someone who is giving me every excuse as to why their (frankly sinful) choices are justifiable. And I finally say to them, “Do you really think that God would right now say to you, ‘You know what? What you’re doing normally really ticks me off as sinful, but just for today in your case I’m going to overlook it because your circumstances are special.’” Really?

Obedience always trumps everything else, as we will see emphatically in tomorrow’s reading.

Be Careful About What You Desire (1 Samuel 8 + 11)

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As we approach eight weeks and 38 days of Scripture readings to accompany our sermon series on David, we need to get some historical background that will help us make sense of the stories about David. So for today and the next two days, let’s look at several select passages about the king just before David. And that would be King Saul – Israel’s first king.

After Israel had conquered the Promised Land and settled down, they were ruled by a series of leaders called “Judges.”  The government was actually a “theocracy.” And it would have worked well if the people obeyed God and lived in accordance with the covenant that the Lord made with his people. But, they did not.

The period of the Judges was known for being a time when Israel would gradually fall into more and more sin, a neighboring nation would be the instrument of judgment, they would call out to God and repent, God would deliver them through one of the Judges, but the cycle would then only repeat itself over and over. And the book of Judges ends famously with the summary statement, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”

As it turns out, the last of the Judges was Samuel, who we also see historically as the first of the great prophets in Israel. Over time, Samuel grows old and his sons do not turn out to be honorable leaders.

Israel Asks for a King

8:1  When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. 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 follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

So the leaders of the various tribes and clans come together to Samuel and tell him that the solution to the crises they were facing was to be like the other nations around them – to have a king who would be the leader for the country.

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 follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

This must have surely been very difficult for Samuel to hear. He had been faithful to God, yet not all was going well in Israel. His instincts told him that their desire was not a healthy one – that it was not really addressing the core issue, which was obedience to the covenant. But God speaks to him …

6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

Surely Samuel was surprised to hear from the Lord that he should listen to the people’s superficial plan, and he relates to the people the warning about what would follow if having a king would come to fruition …

10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for 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 groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

Samuel certainly hoped that this revelation would dissuade the people from this direction. But it did not, and again Samuel laid it before the Lord…

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 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.”

21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”

It was not God’s preferred way of working with his people. God so desired for the nation to live in a faithful covenant relationship with him, yet even at the beginning, it was known that times would come when the people would yield to sin and walk away from the Lord.

As in the times of Samuel, we today are too often in our natural condition prone to “if only …” thinking. If only we were more financially secure … if only we were born into a different family … if only we lived somewhere else … if only we had were more attractive and healthy.

And we follow that train of thought with, “then … everything would be better.”

This thinking comes from looking around us and falsely believing that externals are everything, when in fact the real issues are most often internal issues of trust, faith, and obedience. If everything we wished for would come true, none of it would satisfy or make us ultimately better off if the internal issues of our heart relationship with God were not properly aligned.

The inner issues of life are what we need to be more focused upon, and that introspective way of thinking and living is what set David apart – from King Saul and others in his generation. Though he was not perfect, we may learn from a study of his life what are the timeless principles to apply that can make us people with a heart for God.

(The following passage is also included in our reading today to give you the actual story of the events culminating in Saul being named the King in Israel …)

Saul Rescues the City of Jabesh

11:1 Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.”

2 But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.”

3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.”

4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. 5 Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.

6 When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. 7 He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out together as one. 8 When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and those of Judah thirty thousand.

9 They told the messengers who had come, “Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be rescued.’” When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated. 10 They said to the Ammonites, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever you like.”

11 The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

Saul Confirmed as King

12 The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it that asked, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Turn these men over to us so that we may put them to death.”

13 But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel.”

14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the Lord. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.

 

Beginning Sunday – New Sermon Series on David

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This post is more advertisement than devotional, but we want you to be prepared for our next sermon series and related writings. These will be on the biblical character King David, and we are entitling it “DAVID: Wearing the Crown, Carrying the Cross.”

As a series description:

Everyone loves a good underdog story.  Tales of people whose determination confounds their doubters.  Yet we only remember the stories where the underdog turns out to be the hero.  And no one ever feels like a hero when they’re in the midst of battle.  Today’s world is one of struggle, fatigue.  You’ve traded in your childhood dreams of being the hero, and would give anything to settle for “getting by.”  Your budget is stretched, your heart is strained. 

David was the ultimate underdog.  Born the misfortunate son of a Bethlehem farmer, David would eventually rise to become King over all Israel.  But the journey to the throne would take him through a path that felt far from royalty.  And in this way, his journey points to a truer, better king, a King who would emerge from Bethlehem to ascend to the agony of the cross.  Both men—Jesus and David—remind us that sometimes the crown of glory comes only after a crown of thorns.

David is a guy we can relate to. He comes from humble beginnings, like most of us. He is a very flawed person, like most of us. But he has a profound heart for God, like most of us… like most of us?… like some of us?

With all of his commendation in Scripture and his life blessings, David lived a hard life. Though it would be through his lineage that the Savior would come, he dealt with an unbelievable array of sorrows. Circumstances were often unjustly against him, and he shot himself in the foot multiple times with his own sin nature getting the best of him.

Yep, we can relate to this guy.

And in spite of it all, he was called a man after God’s heart.

So, be with us on Sunday for the first of eight weeks of teaching, and do check in on weekdays for our total of 38 devotionals on David – reading through sections of 1st and 2nd Samuel, some of 1st Kings, and a few Psalms and other passages as well. This story is full of practical applications of timeless truth.

A True Story (John 20:30-31; 3:9-15)

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John was Jesus’ closest disciple. For him, Jesus was a teacher, a leader, a best friend. But most significantly, Jesus was the Son of God. The Roman postal system was highly advanced, allowing early Christians to distribute information with surprising speed—what one scholar calls the “Holy internet.” This meant that stories of Jesus had spread rapidly, though their meaning had yet to catch up. Peter and Paul had tended Christianity’s fragile soil, but both men would die before seeing it blossom. In John’s own city of Ephesus, Christians were limited to the traditions of John the Baptist (Acts 18:25). Caught between a fading past and an uncertain future, the need arose to record not only the facts of history, but also their significance.

“Jesus performed other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples…But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)

John’s message is therefore uniquely suited to a culture like our own. For the first time in recent memory, Western society has re-emerged as a mission field. In the modern world, scholars sought to reconcile a Biblical “Christ of faith” with the so-called “Christ of history.” The gospels’ supernatural elements proved too much to accept, and so scholars such as Gotthold Lessing found themselves standing at the edge of an “ugly broad ditch,” unable to make a “leap” of faith. But today’s postmodern world is vastly different. We’ve crossed Lessing’s ditch only to find ourselves standing in a hall of mirrors. If the modern world was asking: “Should I believe in Jesus or not?” the postmodern world asks: “What kind of Jesus should I believe in?”

John’s purpose, therefore, doesn’t leave this question up to the individual, but anchors it in objective history. To read the Bible, therefore, is to surrender our expectations of who we think Jesus is, and to worship him as he actually was.

A STORYTELLING GOD

In John 3, we see this through the eyes of an elderly preacher. Earlier, Jesus had attracted attention by overturning the tables in the Jewish temple, a symbolic gesture that rang out with a singular message: The Messiah is here. Jesus’ arrival had been less an act of worship than an act of arson. Yet Nicodemus had yet to sift the gospel’s brilliance from the ashes of dead tradition. He comes to Jesus expecting another Rabbi, another scholarly debate. Jesus’ response lays him flat. You must be born again.

Yet Nicodemus fails to comprehend this message. His teeth chip on the stark literalness of it; he can’t digest the underlying meaning.

Nicodemus replied, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things? I tell you the solemn truth, we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:9-15)

In 2005’s V for Vendetta, Stephen Rea portrays a government inspector seeking to unravel a massive conspiracy. As he closes the gap between himself and the truth, he connects with a mysterious informant. “I believe you have some information for me,” he says. “No inspector,” the informant replies. “You have all the information already. All the facts are inside your head. What you want—what you really need—is a story.” Nicodemus didn’t need another sermon or debate. His head already contained more Sunday School lessons than anyone else in Israel. No; what he needed was a story, some means of bringing these plot points into a cohesive whole.

Jesus tells him the story of the snakes in the wilderness. Israel, during her years of wandering, fell victim to a plague of poisonous snakes. To deepen the nation’s trust, God has Moses craft a bronze serpent and attach it to his staff. If you were bitten, you had only to look at this staff and be cured. What is Jesus saying? He’s saying that there’s something deep within us—something dark and venomous—that can’t be cured by altering our behavior. In other words, Jesus says, You’ve been thinking of sin all wrong. Origen, a writer from the earliest days of the church, said that “everyone who enters the world may be said to be affected by a kind of contamination.” Our hearts are darkly flawed and profoundly selfish—just ask anyone who’s ever worked retail. Altering behavior may serve to bandage sin’s wounds, but it’s the poison that’ll kill us.

Do you see now the necessity of rebirth? Like wine stains on carpet, you don’t need spot remover; you need a time machine. Religion may conceal my past, but only the gospel promises forgiveness and transformation.

With all the wildness of the wind, the gospel takes the human heart by storm. When Jesus is “lifted up”—that is, exalted in his death and resurrection—he draws the poison from our hearts and replaces it with the pure “water” of his Spirit. And into man’s heart, God speaks a wisdom unsearchable, a love unthinkable, a grace incalculable, and a mercy unending. It’s no wonder, then, that Luther once wrote that “the cross alone is our theology.” For there is no other answer, no other remedy for the human condition, save for the cross of Christ. In the first exodus, Moses lifted up his staff. In Jesus’ new exodus, he lifts up himself. In his humiliation, he is exalted. In his death, life flows free.

 

Important Final Words – Revelation 22:16-21

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When people talk about the final book of the Bible, you will sometimes hear it called “Revelations.”  And yes, it contains revelations. And we often just singularly call it “Revelation.”  But the full name is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Written by the elderly Saint John on the island of Patmos, some people think of it as John’s revelation. What it records is John’s angelic vision of Jesus Christ in his final work in the consummation of time. And it is a wonderful book that ties together so much of the rest of Scripture, including particularly other prophetic books like Daniel and Ezekiel.

This writing has been subject to more extremes of interpretation than probably any other Scripture, as it is from a genre of literature known as “apocalyptic.” And our purpose today is not to detail any of that, but to look at the very final words of John – the concluding paragraphs of the Bible.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

The purpose of this revelatory account was to encourage the early churches, and by extension the church of Jesus Christ – the body and bride – down to our day as well, as this is God’s institution and work on the earth from the day of Pentecost until now, and until the rapture.

Jesus is seen in fulfillment of Scripture as the offspring of David – speaking of his rightful place as the King – the King of Kings.

Early in the morning, just before dawn, there is often the bright sight of Venus (or sometimes Mercury) in the eastern sky – a beautifully shining “star” that gives evidence that a new day is about to unfold.

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

People think of the book of Revelation as all about curses and judgments, of which there is plenty of information. Yet it also contains an extraordinary amount of promises and blessings for those who will trust and follow the Lord. The Gospel is an open invitation and the gift is free indeed to all who will come and take of it. No judgment in the book has to fall upon anyone, if only they will come to God through Christ.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

These verses are of special interest for our Framework study. The scroll being talked about is in specific reference to the Book of Revelation, but the truth and concepts here would apply to all of Scripture. God’s Word is complete, it is finished, it is final, and it is perfectly sufficient. Adding to it by coming with a Bible in one hand and a bible in the other will put a person in line for the very destruction spoken within for those who do not accept and obey God’s revealed truth. And failing to acknowledge all of it – like accepting only those parts that are politically correct and make current cultural sense – also puts an individual on the other side of the line of truth.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer is nice, but honestly, this is the prayer for the Church – Come, Lord Jesus. Weighing the vision of the judgments of God alongside the magnificence of Christ … it all left John with the exclamation of “Lord, yes, just come soon!”

Do you feel that way? Are you looking forward to that? Have you lived and cumulatively suffered enough of the inevitable sadnesses of this life – physically and otherwise – to be very much ready for the Lord’s return?  I know this: it gets easier to have this very viewpoint the older one gets! With each passing day, this looks better to me than the day before … the week before … the year before. Yes, Christ’s coming would be a great thing!

You Should Already Know That (1 Samuel 28:3-19)

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The problem for most folks in living a successful Christian life is not that they don’t know what is the right thing to do, it is more that they don’t do what they already know is the right thing to do. In other words, people suffer more from a lack of obedience than a lack of knowledge.

When I was in elementary school, I remember having a teacher read to the class the famous children’s book called, “Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos.”  It was about this mouse that lived in Franklin’s old fur hat – a sort of Ratatouille character – who was really the brains behind the founding father.

Just because we do not have God sitting on our shoulder or whispering in our ear with specifics about every situation of life does not mean that what we have is insufficient. We have a complete revelation from God to give us direction for life, along with the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit living within. We just need to be yielded to this truth.

As we look today at an Old Testament story at the end of King Saul’s life, we see the weak leader of Israel in big trouble. His crutch and connection to God – Samuel – was dead. Saul was in a difficult position. The Philistines were arrayed before him in battle and he did not know what to do. God was silent and there was no prophetic word.

So Saul took matters into his own hands and went to consult with a witch – a medium … a category of people he had previously sought to have eliminated from Israel. He needed Samuel to help him, and this was the only way he knew to get to him. So he disguises himself to get the woman to cooperate without fear.

The woman calls up Saul from the dead, and she is totally surprised herself that it actually worked! This indicates that she was something of a fraud … that what she dabbled in was not a real connection to the dead, but rather to Satanic spirits. Such would be true of similar practitioners today.

Saul delivers the devastating news of pending defeat in battle and the deaths of Saul and his sons the next day. The reason for this had to do with an incident in chapter 15 – how Saul had not obeyed God in the total wipeout of the Amalekites. (Rather than go into this is great detail now, let me simply advertise that you be sure to read our next devotional series on the life of David, where this chapter and topic will be covered on October 8th.)

Being the king in Israel was really not that difficult. God had set up a great system for his people and their leaders – be they priests, prophets, judges, or even the first of the kings, like Saul. Obey God and honor Him and his word, and things would go well and everyone would find that they had plenty of everything that was needed in life. Disobey, and just the opposite would happen. The truth they possessed was sufficient. Simply stated, Saul should’ve known better than to do such a thing.

The truth you possess today in God’s Word is sufficient, especially with the Holy Spirit’s internal residence to enlighten and lead. Yet people today go to their own “Endors” … hoping to find some magical answer from God that is the fruit of their own efforts.

Be found using your energies to grow in your knowledge of God’s Word.

Saul and the Medium at Endor

3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.

4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”

“There is one in Endor,” they said.

8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”

9 But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”

10 Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.”

11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”

“Bring up Samuel,” he said.

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”

13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”

The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth.”

14 “What does he look like?” he asked.

“An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said.

Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

16 Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David.18 Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. 19 The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”

“And now you know the rest of the story.” (Acts 8:26-40)

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Those of you out there who are perhaps a bit older than a bit younger will remember the famous radio broadcasts of Paul Harvey with his distinctive voice. His daily program would present some story with little-known facts or some isolated piece of interesting information, and the key element of the story would often not be revealed until the very end. And Harvey would sign of with the final line, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

The very first believers were folks with a strong Hebrew Jewish background. Soon we see that there are Hellenistic Jews in the early company of Christians – these being ethnically Jewish people who had adopted the Greek culture and language of the Roman world. Today’s passage will give the story of a proselyte coming to Christ – this being a Gentile who had fully adopted the Jewish faith and God as the one true God. In the soon-coming story in Acts, Cornelius comes to faith, he being a “God fearer” – one who believed in the one true God, but who had not become Jewish. And finally we will see the Gospel extending to fully Gentile peoples. So … Hebrew Jews >> Hellenistic Jews >> Proselytes >> God Fearers >> Full Gentiles.

We today read about an Ethiopian official of some high office who had travelled many miles to Jerusalem to worship and was now on his way home. This was quite a long journey, and it certainly indicates a person very serious about faith and knowing God. Such is also evident by his study of Scripture, as in this passage he is laboring over the meaning of Isaiah 53:7,8 – about the prophecy of Christ as the Lamb of God.

This man knew that he had a part of the story, and that it pointed to something yet to come that he did not understand. Philip is divinely placed in the path of this man to explain this passage in the preaching of the Gospel and the completed work of Christ. The Ethiopian gladly receives the truth and publically proclaims his faith through baptism.

We who live toward the end of time have the great resource of God’s complete written revelation of the whole story of God’s redemptive work. We have the rest of the story.

Notice the vast heart of God in this expansion of the Gospel. This was not simply a message for the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham … it was growing to be universal for all lost peoples. God always had a heart for the nations of the world. His desire was that Israel be a missionary nation to the countries around them, but they blew that assignment over and over. But this new message of Christ’s forever payment for the sin of all people presents a great new era of a message of God’s abounding grace. And Luke is recording the growing network of believers – this new program of God called “the church.”

We are the Church, and we have all that we need. The Bible makes us sufficient, along with the work of the Spirit in us, to live and serve well as God’s people.

Philip and the Ethiopian – Acts 8:26-40

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37]   38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

If you are a really careful reader, you may have noted that verse 37 was omitted. In some manuscripts it is contained and says: Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”  This would appear, from the evidence of manuscripts containing it, that this is likely a later addition and was not in the original writing of Luke.

For those who heard the sermon this past Sunday where I showed a page from a Greek New Testament, this is an illustration of what I meant about those relatively few passages where some ancient manuscripts say one thing, while others may say something else, or as in this case completely omit it. In any event, you can see that there is no theological controversy attached to these simple words.

When Seeing is not Believing – Luke 16:19-31

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Having so far in this Framework series talked about the Authority and Inerrancy of Scripture, we turn now to the third of our four topics – the Sufficiency of God’s Word.

Have you ever thought about how much easier it would be to have faith and confidence in God, or to also testify to other people about His reality if only you could physically see and experience Him? That would make all the difference, right? You could bring your needs directly to Him; people would have to believe and obey, because there would be no denying, right?

Today we read in Luke’s gospel about Christ’s telling of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The background for this is the ongoing debates of Jesus with the Pharisees. They believed they were in good shape with God because they were rich and righteous – the obvious signs of God’s blessing and approval. Beyond that, they constantly pestered Jesus for a sign – something incredible to verify his claims.

The parable details a rich man who had no mercy or compassion for a poor beggar at his gate named Lazarus. Both men die and go to their appropriate abode – each a temporary place for Old Testament era departures from this world – Hades and a place called “Abraham’s side.”

These areas were able to see from one to another, though there was an impassable chasm in between. The rich man in torment begs for relief, but learning it is impossible, he then resorts to begging for someone to return from the dead to warn his five brothers. His reasoning was that a person raised from the dead would be so impressive that anyone would listen to such.

But Abraham says that is not true. The brothers – obviously representative of the Pharisees – possessed a sufficient resource in Moses and the Prophets. In other words, they had the Scriptures – God’s Word – and that was more than sufficient. If they would not belief that, they would not believe someone raised from the dead.

At the end of the day, the issue honestly for most folks who do not believe the Bible is not that they can’t get there intellectually – though that is what they truly believe is their hang-up. Actually, it is that they don’t want to be the creature of a creator, and thus they deny even the inner intuitive sense that there is a God to whom they should be subservient. It is more comfortable to be their own captain than to yield to an external set of guidelines for living.

It really is amazing to see the Pharisees interact with Christ. He heals someone on the Sabbath, and rather than be impressed with the miracle, they are angry that it happened on that day of rest. Eventually, the pinnacle moment of power is the raising of a man from the dead – so happens that his name is Lazarus! And even then, instead of accepting the sign as a display of divine power, they jointly resolve from that time forward to have Christ entirely removed from the scene with his execution by the Romans.

Without going into all the details of end-times events, during the 1,000-year rule and reign of Christ on the Earth, there is a rebellion at the end where even in the visible presence of God, many rise up against him to their demise.

Seeing would still not be believing. The Bible is sufficient. It contains the whole story – a macro story of God’s plan of the ages as it unfolds through dozens and dozens of other stories and historical events. And it all tells us how we may know God and be connected with Him for eternity.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”