Christian Perspectives

This sermon on 1 Samuel 18 focuses on how even though Saul tried to go against God, no matter what God’s purposes will stand.

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1 Samuel 15-16

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1 Samuel 13-14

Christian Perspectives is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://christianperspectives.net/

Christian Perspectives is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://christianperspectives.net/

Christian Perspectives is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://christianperspectives.net/

1 Samuel 7-8 Gimme Gimme Sometimes Gets

A few weeks ago, brother Antoine complete chapters 5-6. We saw the Philistines who took the ark could not contain God’s power. God is not a dependent. He’s not some weak idol who depends on our belief. He doesn’t need me, He doesn’t need you. He is God. “Our God is in the heavens and he does all that he pleases” Psalm 115:3.

The people of Israel start to realize this when the Lord starts operating against them. At the end of chapter 6, 70 men perish because they looked upon the ark (perhaps with contempt). They recognize their major error, treating God like a lottery ticket or a good luck charm instead of knowing him for who he is they cry out, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?”

You know where revival starts? A recognition of who God is! Not treating him as a means to an end, but seeing him as the holy God, sovereign of the universe! The problem is, these men did not feel bad about not knowing who God is, but that they got a consequence for their actions. They felt bad about getting caught.

So, they behaved similar to the Philistines and hire another city, Kiriath-Jearim to take the ark. Most likely, the people of Kiriath-Jearim were known to be religious experts. This brings us to our first few verses:

1 Samuel 7:1-2

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.

We don’t exactly know from where the people who took care of the ark came; however Eleazar is a common priestly name; so it is likely that they were a Levitical family. Notice we have a large time lapse in between verse 1 and 2 of twenty years. The Israelites are lamenting this whole time, and their selfish sorrow slowly transformed into a godly sorrow. Godly sorrow always leads to spiritual renewal. Let’s look at the results:

1 Samuel 7:3-6

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[1] 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.

Notice something here. When the Lord struck down the 70, the people were sorrowful. They’re response? Get rid of the ark. Now, the people are still sorrowful, but their current response is to get rid of their idols. Why? Because godly sorrow always leads to spiritual renewal. Let me give you some biblical examples of this.

Ungodly sorrow is focused more on the consequences.

Heb 12:16-17

16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Esau sought a chance to repent with tears! This was not disingenuous sorrow; this was the real thing! What was he really concerned with? The consequences of his action. Ungodly sorrow is a hidden form of pride. Pity-parties act this way. You sound self-deprecating, like Eeyore (from Winnie the Pooh), but what are you really doing during these times? Sympathy hunting. I need people to sympathize with me. Since ungodly sorrow pushes God away, it causes you to parasite that God-need onto other people.

2 Cor. 7:10

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Notice the two types of sorrow laid out plainly in this verse. Godly sorrow leads to salvation without regret; worldly sorrow produces death.

Sorrow is an unavoidable part of life (cf. Ecc. 3). Sadness has a way of taking off our masks and showing us who we really trust in. Maybe we say we believe in Jesus, but we created some unbiblical version of Jesus as the one we worship. Similar to what the Israelites must have done. They were aware of the law, to make no other gods, to worship no other gods; yet, they believed Yahweh was tolerant, not jealous, and began using idols. Sorrow shows who you trust in! Do you trust you can do it on your own? Do you see a parent, spouse, or friend as the one you can trust in? Do you have some genie in the sky you trust in? Is your heart mixed, that is, do you partly trust in God and partly trust in something else?

Samuel commends the people in the verse, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods.”

Some diagnostic questions we can ask ourselves in our sorrow (an aside about my lack of perfection on these things):

Why am I sad? Is my sorrow rooted in selfishness? Am I upset at God?

Am I sad even when I’m alone? Sorrow over sin grips the soul, rips it out, and does it in. Are you torn up about your sin, or just acting to save face?

Is my sadness leading me to God or away from him?

Godly sorrow always leads to spiritual renewal.

Let’s see what happens in the rest of our story

1 Samuel 7:7-14

Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah[2], the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 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[3] with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated 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.

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen[a] and called its name Ebenezer;[b] 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.

The main point of this passage is: Put the Lord first and he will deliver you from your enemies.

But we need to do some work of defining here. Within the context these are real physical enemies coming at the Israelites with swords and spears. What kind of enemies do we face today? Well, surely we can face human advisories. They may not come at us with weapons of swords, but probably with weapons of words, harsh looks, putting us down every chance they get. How did Jesus teach us to deal with these enemies?

Matthew 5:43-47

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[i] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

But physical enemies are not the only enemies we face. We fight the devil and his demonic forces (Eph. 6:12). We face our old sinful self (Rom. 6). And please hear me, you can have victory over your sin. Don’t live in defeat. Don’t be satisfied in your pity party. Listen to Samuel’s advice: ““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.” You’re fighting your sin, you’re struggling against it, yes! But in Christ, you are no longer sin’s slave! It has no power over you, you are victorious in Christ. Only seek the Lord with a pure heart, unmixed to devotion to other things and you will find victory over sin!

But there’s another enemy we face: death. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:26). Here’s a song, I call “modern poetry” by Any Mineo on the topic:

I hopped off the plane

My God, what a scene that I seen on that TV screen

People huddled round, hands on they mouth

Not again, same problem, it hit a new town

26 dead, 20 of ’em kids

Where do you begin when some lives just ended?

And everybody got the question:

If God’s so good how He let this happen?

Is it mental health? Is it gun control?

Is it we make superstars out of animals?

Is it the movies we make? The video games?

I dunno, but God I want an antidote

All I know is this world is broken

Our sin is the reason it ain’t like it’s supposed to

Words fall short tryna comfort the grieving

But you gotta know that there’s hope to believe in

One day my God gon’ crack the sky

He gon’ bottle up every tear that we ever cried

Bring truth to every lie, justice for ever crime

All our shame will be gone and we’ll never have to hide

No more broken hearts, no more broken homes

No more lockin’ doors, no more cops patrollin’

No abusive words, or abusive touches

No more cancerous cells that’ll take our loved ones

No more hungry kids, no more natual disaster

No child will ever have to ask where his dad is

No funerals where we wear all black

And death will be dead and we’ll lock the casket

One day death will die! Put the Lord first and he will deliver you from your enemies!

Samuel lives out his days and it’s about time for him to retire. But he’s got a succession problem. His sons are a little bit corrupt.

1 Samuel 7:15-8:3

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. 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.

There are several reasons why the Israelites rejected the judge system in favor of a king. Our selfish desires, even if they seem good, can reject God. These are listed out by the commentator Robert Bergen:

1 Samuel 8:4-9

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.”

So, God tells to warn them and give them what they want. . . but they’re going to get a warning. Listen to that:

1 Samuel 8:10-18

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[a] 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.”

You know, this always makes me think of the parenting examples or even teaching. A child or student wants to make an unwise decision. Sometimes, as a teacher I give them choices, “You can either stop talking, or you can get a write up and stop talking.” Other times I could give someone a warning like, “Sure, you can jump off that high fence post, but here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re pants leg will get caught, you’ll fall wrong off the post, land on your head, crack your neck, and be paralyzed for the rest of your life.”

Usually students decide not to go through their bad decisions. Well, this is kind of what Samuel does here. You want a king? Sure you can have that, but here’s what’s  going to happen: he’ll take your kids as he pleases, command the army as he pleases, make you pay taxes, take your land, take some of your servants and animals, and you’ll basically be his slave. You’re life will become so miserable that you will cry out to the Lord to rescue you. Sounds pretty great right? So, what did the people decide to do?

1 Samuel 8:19-22

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.” 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.”

So like little kids: “Gimme Gimme Gimme.” You know how toddlers can be. I know Judson, my three year old, something bad will happen to him, maybe he bonks his head or something, and he starts to cry. I come over to him and say, “Judson, why are you crying?” He responds, “I just wana watch Scooby Doo.” Which really had nothing to do with why he was really crying, but never waste a tragedy as the socialists say. (tongue in cheek)

Anyways, I imagine this like vanilla extract. You know, you’ve all cooked with vanilla extract. It smells WONDERFUL, but tastes awful. I imagine a scene where a child comes to help a parent or grandparent cook. The child gets a whiff of the vanilla extract, “MMMMM that smells good, can I try some?” The parent, of course knowing better, says, “No, you wouldn’t like it, trust me.” But the child insists over and over again, “gimme gimme gimme!” Finally the parent resolves, “fine, you can have a teaspoon.” The child in excitement takes the spoon, drinks it down, then their face turns sour.

The parent gave the child what he wanted, not out of some capitulation to the child’s will, but to teach a lesson. Sometimes we may want something. We may even have some good reasons for why we want it. But be careful to assume that just because God gives it to us means it’s a blessing. Sometimes God gives us what we want as a form of judgement.

What do you want? An easy comfortable retirement? Why? The American dream? Family life with no quarreling? Less responsibility? A different form of government? A new life? Gimme gimme sometimes gets. And just because you get doesn’t make it good.

You see, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, Christianity as a religion does not just train your “to do’s” it trains your “want to’s.” That is, it’s not just WWJD, “what would Jesus do?” but WWJW: “What would Jesus want?”

You have needs in life, needs to eat and drink. How did Jesus teach his followers to attain these needs? “Seek ye first whatever you want, who cares if that’s what God would see as best for your life?” No! “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”

Most of us here recognize Joel Osteen’s book Your Best Life Now is heresy simply because our best life, for those of us in Christ, is yet to come. However, most American Christians have bought into the lie that the best God has for your life is to become successful, or famous, or have a nice house, no worries, have no problems, no earthly troubles, just be comfortable. No, Satan would have you comfortable. So comfortable that you’re not concerned with the things of God!

Is it sinful to want nice things or want comfort? Not necessarily. But it is certainly wrong to think that this is God’s highest desire for you. What is God’s greatest want for you? To make you more like Jesus. Rom. 8:29, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”

Jesus died to make you holy, Jesus didn’t die to make you comfy.

So, we’re left at a cliff hanger in our story. What will happen now? The king is obviously not the best for Israel. Who will be chosen? What will he do? These are things to be considered next week.

Pray.

[1] Poured it out is in ref to drink offering. People were essentially saying they needed God more than water.

[2] Probably not supposed to gather large groups

[3] This fulfills what Hannah prayed concerning the LORD, The ancients believed that while an physical war was going on, there was simultaneously a war going on in the air as well. The Philistines would have taken this loud thunder as a bad omen.

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*Note the audio quality for this sermon recording was very poor

1 Samuel 2-3

Transcript

*Autogenerated

well good evening it’s a pleasure to be with you all and I’m thankful to be here all of you are in a very dangerous territory this evening because i didn’t manuscript my sermon like i normally do and i don’t think we’re live are we? We are live? i hope right um but anyways if you would turn in your bibles to first samuel and we’re going to look at chapters three and four we’ve been working through the book of first Samuel Sunday evenings um last week or i guess that was it last week or was it two weeks ago two weeks ago because of uh memorial day right um brother Antoine spoke to you about the prediction that was gonna happen that was gonna befall the house of eli where the man of god came along and told him all the things that was going to happen we see also hannah’s care for samuel in that passage where she wouldmake the linen um clothes every year bring it to him umthis chapter is gonna discuss his call and this story is very familiara lot of times we hear the story growing up about samuel’s call and what we’re going to see as thefirst point is that samuel is eager to hear the lord’svoice we’re going to see this in these first verses he’s eager to hearthe lord’s voice and just because a little story aboutlistening youth pastors often doembarrassing things um like i just found my other bible that ihaven’t found in a while and literally just now saw it that’s uh that’s an embarrassing thingum but and honestly there’s this story i found when i was researching i was trying to find some good stories aboutlistening and this one particular youth pastor took his youth group on a ski retreatas for some reason youth pastors get tortured with doing such things in the snowand so he sees this interesting pair of skiersone looks like the student the other looks like the instructor they’re going down the slope very slowlybut very close together the instructor in front is saying these commandsvery monotonously straight left slow downright and so the youth group kind of looks at this and they think this is the strangestthing i’ve ever seen and they kind of start to giggle among themselves youth pastors you know how they are theycan be embarrassing and so this youth pastor decides thathe’s going to call out contrary commands to try to throw this student offand so if when the instructor says left he would yell right try to you know just to mess around besilly be funny and he does this for a while but the thestudent is intent on listening to his instructor later on the skier thestudent he turns and he sees on the front a label that says blind skistudent and so the the student wasn’t even able to see he was completely reliant upon hisinstructors instructions to be able to ski properly you can imagine that youth pastor thatmoment i promise it wasn’t me i promise i i try to avoid ski tripslike the plague so he was severely embarrasseduh by that event um but what we noticed about thisstudent was that he was able to drown out all the other voices being directed athim and listen intently on this instructor and one of the things thatwe’re going to see about samuel is his ability to listen his eagernessto listen and that he drowns out other voices contrary to the lord so look at me with me atverse 1 says now the boy samuel was ministering to the lord in the presence of elihe’s probably young to late teenagers according to most scholars and the word of the lord was rare inthose days there was no frequent vision so let’s think about today is the wordof the lord rare in our day you think there’s a yes and no right there’s a lotof pulpits around our country and around the world that exist but do not upholdthe word of god you have some speaker get behind some podium and give you some goodadvice on your life or your marriage or here’s three tips and how to be happy todayand you might leave the church feeling happy like cotton candy but like cottoncandy there’s really no substance there to sustain you so in the sense yes but in another senseno because we have more copies of the bible than ever before and so our problemnowadays is really having to do with selective hearingverse 2 at that time eli whose eyesight had begun to growdim so that he could not see was lying down in his own place the lamp of god had notyet gone out and samuel was lying down in the temple of the lord where the ark was now this isat shiloh before jerusalem before david is king all this other stuff so this is veryearly on just after the time of the judges samuel is that transitionary figure between thetime of the judges into the time of the monarchyyou can see eli he’s going blind he’s very old in agethe time is passing you’ve already seen the pronouncement of judgment in chapter2 verse 4 then the lord called samuel and he said here i am and ran to eli and said here i am youcalled for me but he said i did not call lie down again so he went and lay down and the lordcalled again samuel and samuel arose and went to eli and said here i amyou called for me but he said i did not call you my son lie down againnow samuel did not yet know the lord and the word of the lord had not yet been revealed to himkind of like in a side note for us modern day reader so we know hey this is before everything was goingon this is the initiation of samuel’s calling verse 8. and the lord called samuelagain the third time and he arose and went to eli and said here i am you called for methen eli perceived that the lord was calling the boy and i just want tonote there we see the grace in the perception of the blind eliwhose judgment is coming who’s not reared his sons as he shouldhave he can still yet understand and perceiveeven though he is his eyes are growing dim what is really going onin this situation it’s a it’s a supernatural grace from the lord verse 9 therefore eli saidto samuel go lie down and if he calls you you shall say speak lord for your servant hears sosamuel went and lay down in his place listening to eli’s adviceto listen to the lord samuel could have said i don’t really want to go listen to thelord i want to be like your other sons hoffnai phineas they seem like they’rehaving the best life they ever have but instead he goes right away lies downeager listening for the voice of the lord can we say the same thingfor ourselves are we eager to listen to the voice of the lordpastor tony evans probably one of the greatest preachers of our day he gives anillustration about kids and giftsone time he went on a trip he gave his children a little gift he came homegave his children the gift they were all excited you know and so he being the fatherthought oh well they’re excited that i’m home this is great so the kids are playing with their toy their new stuff andfinally one of the kids comes up to him and says damn when are you going to goawaken they were more interested in the stuff that he was givingthan having him himself in the home can’t we see a similarindictment in our own life so many people go to churchnot to listen to the word of god but so that god would give them a blessing they want to gofor their best life now we though as the true people of godknow that the lord has sincerely spoken to us he has given us his love letterand we come to hear his voice you have that same fervor that samedesire that samuel had when he’s laying there waiting lord please call againwe have that same desire when we come to church when we come in our private timesin the word lord give me a word today let me hear what youhave to say because he’s given to us right here perfectly inherentlyit’s all here everything that we need the bible says that it is able to equip us for everygood work not some right 2nd timothy 3 16 but every good wordverse 10 next point is that despite fear samueltells god’s word and the lord came and stood calling asit other times saying so this is the fourth time here samuel samuel and samuel saidspeak for your servant hears then the lord said to samuel behold i’m about to do a thing in israel atwhich the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle i’ll pause there doesn’t that sound like a greatverse to sew on your pillow until you read the next verse and find out it’s talking about judgmenton that day i will fulfill against eli all that i have spoken concerning his housefrom beginning to end and i will declare to him that i’m about to punish this houseforever for the iniquity that he knew because his sons were blaspheminggod and he did not restrain them eli was a all bark no bite parentmaybe you’ve seen those parents who will yell and scream at their kids but never givea consequence and so the child learns well as long as i can just endure thislecture i can go off and do whatever i want because i’m not really being held accountablethis is the parenting style that we see eli havehe did not restrain the evil of his children verse 14 therefore i swear to the houseof eli that the iniquity of eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrificeor offering for ever hebrews 9 reminds us that the bloodof bulls and goats could never be enough and had to be a humansacrifice and this is a gospel tie-in right here in this passage we seeit is jesus who had to die for us because only a human cansubstitute for human lives and only god can take on the wrath of god and survive this is the importanceof jesus’s full humanity and his full divinity verse 15 samuel lay untilmorning then he opened the doors of the house of the lord and samuel was afraid to tell the vision to eliso as you can imagine you hear about someone if god tells you yeah so and so is going to die i’m going to destroytheir house and they can never be atoned for you’d probably be a little afraid to share that message as welland guess what that’s the that’s the gospel message you look at the book of romans forexample romans 1-3 paul pains all the bad newswe are in sin we have no hope right or think about it like this whatif you went to a doctor they scanned you found out that you hadstage four cancer that’s bad news right but the doctor’s so nice andloving that he just can’t bring it to tell you the bad newswhat would you think about that doctor it’s terrible right for you for him to not let you know thatyou could die soon that is awful well the same thing goes on us aschristians we know the bad news we know that sin has infected the human soulthat people the book of romans says they don’t even seek for godthey ball up their fists in rebellion against them they hate god but it’s against the blackness of thisbad news that the stars begin to shine the golden gem of the gospelthat even though we were sinners christ died for usthat’s the beautiful news of the gospelso samuel as it says he’s afraid to tell the vision to eli verse 16 but eli called samueland said samuel my son he said here i am and eli said what was it that he told you do not hideit from me may god do so to you and more also if you hide anything from meof all that he told you well that’s a pretty convincing argument right verse 18 so samuel told himeverything and hid nothing from him and he said it is the lord let him do what seemsgood to him so eli’s response seems to beone of humble submission to what the lord is going to have happen here verse 19 and samuel grewand the lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground so whatever samuel saidwhen it says fall to the ground you can probably get the picture um something’s grounded has no effectnot any good it’s useless so the lord made it worse none of samuel’s wordsfell to the ground verse 20 and all israel from dan to beersheba knew that samuelwas established as a prophet of the lord and the lord appeared again at shiloh for the lord revealed himself to samuelat shiloh by the word of the lord to hear that repetition of words there with lordremember when lord is in all capital letters like that in your translation it’s representing the fact that it’s talkingabout yahweh the one true god the name that god revealed to moses in exoduschapter three so again here the point is despite fear samueltells god’s word the same thing is true for us we live in a culture that is extremelyhostile to christianity and everything that has to do with christianity we livein danger of being ridiculed being looked down upon all these sortsof things because of what we believe what we hold to is absolutetruth there’s certainly fear involved when we speak the truth but the questionis for us are we going to stand and say itanyways there is a man who lost his businesshe was an immigrant here or a second generation i believe hispanic individual named joseriesco he started a business right i believe it was hisparents business it would start out as a grocery and then it ended up being a deliin the chicago area as you know there’s some politicalturmoil and other types of turmoil going in that cityand people were protesting out in front of his deli and he decided to proclaimon the loudspeakers you don’t really care about black lives all you careabout is continuing your political positionand because of the influx of what we see going on in our culture thiscritical race theory all these terrible ideas happening yes if you have your windows down youprobably want to lift them up it’s kind of raining hardum we live in a culture that is increasingly antithetical to whatwe believe in christ and and the scary thing isyou could potentially lose everything for standing up for what the scriptures sayis true an australian rugby player lost his job on a on a rugby teambecause he quoted romans 1 on his social media just quoted a passage of scripture thatwas all lost his position on the team countless stories of believers speakingthe truth and being shunned or cancelled by our culturedespite fear we must speak the truth that’s something we can learn fromsamuel’s life look at chapter fourand the word of samuel came to all israel now israel went out against thephilistines they encamped at ebenezer ebenezer means stone of helpand the philistines and encamped at aphek the philistines drew up in lineagainst israel and when the battle spread israel was defeated before the philistines who killed about4 000 men on the field of battle and when the people came to camp the elders of israel saidwhy has the lord defeated us today before the philistines let us bring the ark of the covenant ofthe lord hear from shiloh that it may come among us and save usfrom the power of our enemies so if you guys haveheard of a talisman or a good luck charm i brought with methis evening anyone know what this is it’s a rabbit’s foot yeah someone i hadas a as a child i never believed it had any power orworked or anything but supposedly they bring good luck um the israelites hereretreating the ark of the lord like a rabbit’s foot well maybe if we bring the arkinto battle we will win because surely the lord is with us you rememberin the book of joshua where the angel of the lord the leader of the lord’s army comes and visits with joshuaand uh joshua says whose side are you on ourside are theirs and the angel right there the angel of the lord is like nope that’s not how itworks the question is are you on god’s sideand we can’t manipulate god god is not a good luck charm andthis is how the people were viewing him so let’s find out what happened verse four so the people sent to shiloh andbrought from there the ark of the covenant the lord of hosts who’s enthroned on the cherubim and the two sons ofeli hoffnein phineas were there with the ark of the covenant of god as soon as the ark of the covenant ofthe lord came to the camp all israel gave a mighty shout so that the earth resoundedverse 6 and when the philistines heard the noise of the shouting they said what what is this great shouting in thecamp of the hebrews mean and when they learned that the ark of the lord had come to the camp thephilistines were afraid for they said a god has come into the campand they said woe to us for nothing like this has happened before woe to us who can deliver us from the power ofthese mighty gods these are the gods who struck the egyptians with every sort of plague inthe wilderness take courage be men o philistines lest you become slaves to the hebrewsas they have been to you be men and fight so the philistines are trying to counterthis rightit’s crazy they even know the stories about what the lord did in egypt verse 10so the philistines fought and israel was defeated and they fled every man to his home andthere was a very great slaughter for thirty thousand foot soldiers of israel fell and the ark of god was captured and thetwo sons of eli hofney and phineas died okay so we see a lot of things in this passageone we see fulfilled prophecy what sin what god told the samuel is true it’shappening in this very moment the point or one of the main points i want to pullfrom this passage is treating god like a good luck charm does not honor himthe people even the pagans know that this god is powerfulwe modern church goers we know that god is powerful we know that god can bless us but treating godlike a good luck charm is not honoring himhow do people treat god like a good luck charm i was trying to think of some examples there’s a lot of poststhat go around on facebook by inspirational people that will say things like i will neverencounter any harm i will always be prosperous i will always have lots of money and anice house in the name of jesusyes that’s right don’t forget that part you’ve got to make sure that you send itto others because you’ll break the chain the magic will wear off and then you’ll be cursedand a lot of times as well the the name jesus has an extra syllable at the end it says in the nameof jesus you got to say that just right so that you can get your blessingwhat does in the in the name of jesus mean though it’s not you know it’s not a magicincantation it’s not a magical phrase that you automatically add it to the end of your prayer and thenall of a sudden all your wishes come true doing something in the name of someonewhen we put it in a different context maybe it’ll help us understand a little bit better if i gosomewhere an ambassador maybe maybe i become an ambassador i go to another country i’m there in thename of the president and i’m doing these things in the name of the president right what does that mean that means myauthority doesn’t come from myself but it comes from the president what i’m doing as a representative ofwhat he would want when we pray in the name of jesuswe’re praying not because we have authority but because jesus has authority when wepray in the name of jesus we pray what jesus would actually want us to praymaybe jesus doesn’t want you to have a really nice house what does jesus want for you accordingto romans 8 28-29 to be more like jesusbe more holy be more christ-like maybe that doesn’t include a nice house it could maybe it doesn’tthe lord knows what’s best for us even when we don’t so treating godlike a good luck charm does not honor him the word honor is a word that’s used a lot in thispassage it’s also used glory weight and honor all around thatsame word honor weight and glory okay that kind of goes i didn’t explain the titleand you’re probably wondering what in the world does this title mean um you know it was based uponthe phrase you hear someone say someone’s throwing their weight around when they’re abusing their authorityokay um and so my encouragement to us was to throw our weight awaythrow away what we when we glory in ourselves when we give ourselves weight so tospeak we take it away from god the one who actually deserves it we need to give the weight to god weneed to give the glory the honor to him what we see with eli’s lifeeli was someone who was intent on giving the weight to himself literallyphysically so he was picking portions of the sacrifice that he wasn’tsupposed to and literally getting more weight by doing what he wasnot commanded to do and we’re going to see the result ofthat in this passage look at verse 12 a man of benjamin ran from the battle lineand came to shiloh the same day with his clothes torn with dirt on his head verse 13 when hearrived eli was sitting on the seat by the road watching for his heart trembled for the ark of god another signof grace by the way and when the man came into the city and told the news all the city cried outwhen eli heard the sound of the outcry he said what is this uproar then the man hurried and came and toldeli now eli was 98 years old and his eyes were setso that he could not see and the man said to eli i am he who has come from the battle ifled from the battle today and he said how did it go my son verse 17. he who brought the news answered andsaid israel has fled before the philistines and there has also been a great defeat among the people your two sonsalso hof nine phineas are dead and the ark of god has been capturedverse 18 as soon as he mentioned the ark of god eli fell over backward from his seat by the sideof the gate and his neck was broken and he died four the man was old and heavythere’s that key word again he had judged israel for 40 years look at verse 19. now hisdaughter-in-law the wife of phineas was pregnant about to give birthand when she heard the news that the ark of god was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead she bowed and gavebirth for her pains came upon her and about the time of her death thewomen attending her said to her do not be afraid you’ve borne a sonbut she did not answer or pay attention and she named the child ichabodsaying the glory has departed from israel because the ark of god had been capturedand because their father-in-law and her husband and she said the glory has departed fromisrael for the ark of god has been captured last pointchurches live in danger of ichabod when they cease to listen to godchurches live in danger of ichabod when they cease to listen to godi might have rhymed that on purpose ichabod is talking about the glory departingin this case israel in our case churcheswhen we cease to listen to what god has said to us we riskthe danger of the glory of the lord departing from us and a lot of ouryour sunday schools i believe you’re even talking right now about what does a healthy church look like from the letters in revelationand what a beautiful picture they paid for us not to lose our first lovein being in christian college and seminary a lot of differentchurch models are thrown at you as far as what is a what does a goodchurch do what does it mean for a church to really reach out to people and really do what a church needs to doto make things happen back in the 50s 60s 70s80s early 90s big push was programs we’re gonna haveprograms for the kids we’ve got programs for the young adults we’re gonna have programs for the older adultseveryone has their own little program so that they keep to entertain because goodness we don’t want people bored todeath with god nowadays it’s a little bit opposite nowthe push is well i think they realize what happened was they looked at their churches and they’re like oh my goodness we have 5000 programs and so now the push is well let’s simplify it simple church is the new methodologythat’s pushed i’m going to read to you something i wrote a while back thinking about what itmeans to be a true and healthy church one of the things that was often debateda long time ago was something called the regulative and normative principle and now no oneeven talks about those things the regulative principle commands that we do only what god has explicitly commandedwhile the normative principle rules out only what god has explicitly prohibited so these two groups woulddebate and say well we can’t do this we can do this that sort of thing now by the way nowadays everything’s thrownyou know that that debate’s thrown away we just do whatever we want in church because why not as long as it workspragmatism is key nowadays whatever works do it tony morganuh recently posted 20 politically incorrect thoughts on the church in america recently thiswas 2014 so not as recent anymore in his article mr morgan makes severalpithy matter-of-fact statements on church matters he founded the unstuckgroup it’s an organization that operates like a doctor for churches they diagnose problems try to fix it and try to healit so he is very pro modern church servicemodel and he works around that buzzword that imentioned earlier which is simple make the church simple so after thedebate over the regulative enormous principles were never mentioned again the biblical foundations for churchmodels vanished instead these models were swallowed up by programs appealing to the worldage segregation and relevance you’ve got to be contemporant right toget a crowd this produced churches that maintain several programs and different worshipservices all trying to captivate people so they can get bored with church the rebellion symbol came ontothe scene recently here’s a quote from mr morgan it’s not possible to offerthree different types of worship services and do them all well it’s also confusing to the people you’retrying to reach i agree with this at face value but there’s several things that arewrong that he assumes the first thing is that the church’s main purpose excuseme let me make this very clear the church services main purposeis not evangelism the church service where weare gathered together the main purpose is not evangelism let me be very clearof what i’m trying to say i’m not saying that evangelism can’t happen or shouldn’t happen that isgreat when it does visitors should come in but the main focus for a pastorpreaching should be to equip his flock to go out of the walls and be on missionevangelizing the lostso did you notice one of the reasons morgan stated it was not good to have multiple types of worship services hesays um because it’s confusing to the congregants no it’s confusing to the people you’retrying to reach the line between worship service and evangelismhas been blurred for so long that there seems to be no difference any longer one of the bible’sreferences in the words of church is the assembly a believer nowhere in the bible dobelievers invite unbelievers to church for evangelism that’s how i was trained to evangelize as a youthjust invite them to churchin the early church in the book of acts the assembly the church gathering was designed toencourage and exhort believers so that they could go out and evangelize you don’t see anybody inthe book of acts going around saying hey you should come over to the the solomon’s portico in the templethe apostle peter he’s really hip and cool and you’re gonna love that music it’s great that’s that’s not whathappens stephen goes out and he proclaims the gospel and he’s stoned for it that’s missionthat’s what the church looks like number two another wrong assumption isthat the church should cater to culture what appeals to modern americans todaybe simple be real look at all these businesses and their mission statements now they have to incorporate somethingthat sounds very humane and nice you gotta add it all in make it simplewhy though should we cater to what unbelievers desirelet’s say we start a book club in this book club we read books i know that’s shockingone day we notice that we’re not very popular and it’s a suit we assume that it’s because most americans enjoywatching movies so we decide to set aside books and start watching movies at our club meetings but we still call ourselvesa book club when appealing to the culture does theculture assimilate to the church or does the church assimilate to the culturesimple church services stopped exhorting or encouraging believers through biblical preachingtrue fellowship and biblical worship and they have turned to the culture forrelevant messages or as mr morgan puts it every church should do a marriage seriesa money series and a series on life purpose every year christians need it i’m guessingunchurched people do too they have gathered for themselves so many peoplethat there can be no true fellowship in that body they have turned aside everything that makes a church what it is but theystill call themselves a church this practical denialof the sufficiency of scripture is the word of god enough or do you needto add something to it do we need to go to the sociologist out in the culturedo we need to go to the secular media and find out what they want what they think is best and bring it inhere or is god’s word enoughsimple church looks to the surrounding culture to determine its services it draws a crowd andassimilates it to their particular entity whatever etherealnature you want to call your church the rock church or the river or i’m not sorry i say thesenames i’m not calling out churches that happen to be named by that in our community anything like that sodon’t hear what i’m not sayingthe point of the church is by the power of christ we set aside all our extremedifferences and come together for one purpose jesus it’s not to separate out differentpeople groups to cater to their fleshly desires jesus was born in a manger he wentoutside the camp to the outcast when the church service models cater to the majority of the societythey put out those that the society outcasts we have outcasts in our societytoday that these simple churches they don’t service because they’re not looking to the wordof god to find out what they should be doing they’re looking out to what the culture wantsthree another wrong assumption every church should be actively planning to add a service at a campus or plant achurch the modern protestant church model has somewhat been drawn back into theroman catholic model rome’s motto is sola ecclesiawhatever the church says it’s good it’s right the bible describes the church as thepeople that make it up makes sense the building itself is not the church we are as thepeople under the new movement what we see withthe modern churches though is whatever relevant name they come up withit’s this hierarchy it’s like it’s almost like another entity that existsoutside the people of god maybe i can make this clear we are thechurch sandy valley baptist church is not some entitythat we worship and look to you i e our sandy valley baptist churchnot some sort of thing that goes above us when you when you see a lot of thesestickers on people’s cars that say i heart my church what are they sayingare they really saying i enjoy the fellowship i have we’re gathering with these other peoplea lot of times what they’re saying is i love the services my church providesme the way my pastor i’ve never met in person speaks the things people i don’t even know oridentify with my church do that are put on display in the servicesthat’s how one church entity can have multiple services multiple campuses or multiple plants andstill be considered one church just like the roman catholic churchthen i’m all for planting new churches that’s a great idea but the new churches should be separateand autonomous it’s one of the baptist marks that brother tim millwood came and spokeabout not that long ago they don’t need to identify with some higher entitysandy valley part two we are the churchand all of this is a result i’m sorry i told you guys you were indangerous territory all of this is a result of us notlistening to godwe churches face the danger of ichabod when they stop to listen or cease listening to godwhen we think about a church that truly honors and glorifies godwe need to look to what he says throw away our weight to the world withour money to the world with our success we need to honor him glorify himand listen to him let’s pray togetherfather grateful for who you are we’re so thankful for your word for your scriptures for your truth forthe example of samuel the prophet who listenslord i pray that we would catch the same vision a vision to listen to what you have tosay to not glorify ourselves lift up ourselves to throw outour programs as something for others to consider wow this isamazing this is great look at what they have to offer but we would focusinstead on making you our first and primary goal to glorify you to putyou first and if you increase us so be it if you smother our name intodust so be it all that your name might be glorified because it’s allabout you it’s not about us help us to seelord help us to see amen

Christian Perspectives is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://christianperspectives.net/

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A few weeks ago, we saw Hannah’s faith and drew out some implications to apply to our own faiths: sincere, simple, sacrificial, submissive, and stimulating worship. We left off considering the object of her faith: God himself. Genuine faith is in and only in the God of the Bible. But there lies a warning in the opposite: Misplaced faith with all of the right attributes is the root of all maladies of our age.

During the most recent graduation at CFCA a few days ago, the Valedictorian was sharing the struggles she endured during her highschool career. She described her life and experience as being under such pressure that she just felt broken. She used an analogy of a particular Japanese art form to describe her life. This Japanese form of art takes pottery that has been broken and useless and uses gold to mend the pieces. The end result is something that is more beautiful and valuable. As this senior described her as a broken piece of pottery, I was waiting for what she said was the gold. “Surely, she will say God” I thought to myself. “My life was broken and I finally took a step back to breath and breath,” she said, “and in that moment, I saw something. I little glimmer, a shiny little yellow metal. I finally opened my eyes to the gold that held my life together. I was broken, broken beyond (I thought) repair. Then I saw who God placed in my life: my best friends, a loving boyfriend, amazing teachers, an awesome supportive family, and most of all, a will to keep going.”

I have to admit that I was disappointed. The very thing that held her life together was not God. At least she gave credit to god for placing it there. But I agree, and I believe most of us would agree that our lives can feel broken, or out of our control. Instead of broken pottery, the Bible often uses the image of water to depict powerful and chaotic forces that seemingly take hold and sweep our lives out to control. This can come in the form of enemies (individuals or ideas), circumstances, or even disabilities. For Hannah, she dealt with the trial of infertility. She could not have a baby. And, on top of that, her husband’s other wife “let her have it” because of it.

But her case, God saw fit to give her a son. The chaotic sea began to calm, and on where did she rest her feet? Was it on her husband and his unfailing love? Was it on her newborn son? Was it on her newfound ability to conceive? Did she just complete some counseling on self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-acceptance? The world has 1,000 answers of where you should place your trust and faith, and none of them are going to satisfy your soul. If you place your faith in the wrong thing it will lead you to misery, depression, anger, pride, confusion, and the list goes on and on. Today, I want to invite all of us to take a step back, maybe even a few deep breaths, and consider, “who is my rock in the chaotic waters of life?”

 Listen to the beginning of her prayer:

“And Hanna prayed and said,

‘My heart exults in the LORD;

My horn is exalted in the LORD.

My mouth derides my enemies,

Because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is none holy like the LORD;

For there is none besides you;

There is no rock like our God.”

1 Sam 2:1-2

Hannah prays and the first line strikes me. The word “exults” in the ESV, and “rejoices” in the NKJV is usually something foreign to conversation about God. The word “exult” is something foreign in and of itself. But the truth is the same: Do you find God exhilarating? Is your walk with God marked more by joy or duty?

Christian Hedonism is the conviction that God’s ultimate goal in the world (his glory) and our deepest desire (to be happy) are one and the same, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Not only is God the supreme source of satisfaction for the human soul, but God himself is glorified by our being satisfied in him. Therefore, our pursuit of joy in him is essential.

Christian Hedonism claims that the Christian life should be the pursuit of maximum joy in God — joy both in quality and quantity. Fullness of joy and joy forevermore (Psalm 16:11) are found only in him.

“Heart” here refers to Hannah’s mind, will, and emotions; her entire being rejoices in God.

The next line is synonymous, “My horn is exalted in the LORD.”

Now this was an interesting phrase that took a while for me to figure out. But to simplify it, have you ever heard the phrase that someone is “tooting their own horn?” A phrase dealing with shouting one’s own praise, usually in a prideful way. Well, Hannah is not tooting her own horn, she’s tooting the LORD’s horn. In other words, her pride, her esteem, is not in herself, in her abilities, in her accomplishments, but rather her esteem in in the LORD’s character.

She goes on, “My mouth derides my enemies.” The NKJV says she “smiles” at her enemies. The Hebrew word behind this phrase is sort of an mystery how it’s supposed to be understood. Literally, she says, “I broaden my mouth at my enemies.” What she and other others who use this phrase means usually has to do with mockery. In Isaiah 60:5 the person who “broadens” his mouth also sticks his tongue out. Why does she do these things?

“Because I rejoice in your salvation”

Her enemies no longer have power over her, because she looks forward to her day of deliverance. We have a natural tendency to put human enemies in our mind when we hear verses like this. And there is some truth to this. We do face human advisories who can belittle us. But the question we have to ask is if these individual are our enemies on account of Christ or for some other reason. Even still, because these human enemies are still breathing, we must hold out hope for their salvation. Mockery in this case is not the answer. “Pray for those who persecute you” Christ commands. We can have peace though, knowing that one day he will return and make all wrongs right.

So, what enemies should we mock? Death, sin, and the devil are enemies that deserve derision. They all go on only temporarily and will one day death will die. We rejoice that Christ has saved us now from the power of indwelling sin. We rejoice that one day Christ will save us from all sorrow.

“There is none holy like the LORD;

For there is none besides you;

There is no rock like our God.”

Hannah emphasized the holiness of God, out of his uniqueness. Remember the biblical image of the waters and waves representing chaos and danger? The rock here is the firm ground in which you can trust. Who is the rock in which you trust? For Hannah that was God.

There’s something else about Hannah’s prayer that I want to observe: it is not a quaint, “Thank you LORD for giving me a son,” and then move on with life

Hannah focuses on God’s character rather than her life’s circumstances

It’s easy to look at our circumstances, on focus only on them. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t bring our circumstances to God in prayer, we should do that. There are several examples in the Psalms where individuals bring their circumstances to God in prayer. What I’m saying is that we should not have faith in our circumstances, we should have faith in the character of God.

All the pagan worship surrounding Hannah was concerned with manipulating the gods or spirit in order to get what you want. Hannah could have looked at her circumstances and thought, “Well, I successfully figured out how to get Yahweh to do what I want.” When we have this perspective, ultimately we believe we’re in charge of our circumstances.

A couple of reasons we should be God focused rather than circumstance focused

Some years back I was working as interim youth pastor at a church up in Cleveland, GA. I had been in the position for about a year and a half. The search team was on to fill the position and I had put in my resume. I was fairly confident I could get the position, the senior pastor was even rooting for me. Abby was just born that April, and I had just graduated with my undergrad in Christian Studies that May. We had even moved into a house planning to stay up in the mountains forever.

I was sort of caught off guard when the search committee decided to go with someone else. I was stuck there with a house, no job, and young family, and no other family nearby to offer support. I went out immediately in search for a job.

If I were circumstance oriented what would have happened? (And I think in some ways these doubts did creep in). I could have believed that God did not call me to ministry. I could have started to believe I wasted my undergrad getting a degree I would never use. I could have wallowed in self-pity, unmotivated to continue on and give up on trying. I could have grown angry with God for allowing me to grow so close to that church and those youth and then snatching it away from me. This anger and distrust would lead to a false belief that I’m in control of my destiny and circumstances. If God isn’t going to do this for me, then obviously, I need to take this into my own hands. When you believe the lie that you’re in control, not God, you can never meet your standards and will always live in failure. Or you set achievable standards that are self-centered, achieve them, and only use God to get what you want.

I wouldn’t say I was that holy or pious at the time. I believe I was more motivated to just get a job to provide. And I did, I started off as a manager at the new Chick-fil-A opening down the road. You see, God knew how I was going to need experience at Chick-fil-A to help continue my family. Without that Chick-fil-A experience, we may have not been able to adopt.

And I know that this circumstance can seem miniscule to what pain some of you here have experienced. But the principle is the same: Trust in God, he knows what’s best.

“Talk no more so very proudly;

Let no arrogance come from your mouth,

For the Lord is the God of knowledge;

And by Him actions are weighed.

From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+sam+2&version=NKJV>

4 The bows of the mighty are broken,

    but the feeble bind on strength.

5 Those 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.

From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+sam+2&version=ESV>

When our joy is circumstance oriented we blame God for when things go wrong and ignore him when things go right. We presume to know what God is supposed to be doing in our life and then rise up and accuse him in our arrogance. Circumstances are like the waves of the ocean, always changing around us. Who is your rock in the midst of this sea? Oftentimes, we dream of a life with no problems, no change, where we can just put down our roots. Back in 2000, a pastor named John Piper gave this powerful illustration.

Three weeks ago, we got news at our church that Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon. Ruby Eliason—over 80, single all her life, a nurse. Poured her life out for one thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the sick and the poor in the hardest and most unreached places.

Laura Edwards, a medical doctor in the Twin Cities, and in her retirement, partnering up with Ruby. [She was] also pushing 80, and going from village to village in Cameroon. The brakes give way, over a cliff they go, and they’re dead instantly. And I asked my people, “Is this a tragedy?”

Two women, in their 80s almost, a whole life devoted to one idea—Jesus Christ magnified among the poor and the sick in the hardest places. And 20 years after most of their American counterparts had begun to throw their lives away on trivialities in Florida and New Mexico, [they] fly into eternity with a death in moment. “Is this a tragedy?” I asked.

The crowd knew the answer, calling out, “No!”

“It is not a tragedy,” Piper affirmed. “I’ll read you what a tragedy is.”

He pulled out a page from Reader’s Digest.

(“I don’t know where I got it, because I didn’t subscribe,” Piper remembers now. “I must have found it in a doctor’s office somewhere.”)

He read it to them:

‘Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.’

“That’s a tragedy,” he told the crowd.

And there are people in this country that are spending billions of dollars to get you to buy it. And I get 40 minutes to plead with you—don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you—don’t buy that dream. . . . As the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account with what you did: “Here it is, Lord—my shell collection. And I’ve got a good swing. And look at my boat.”

From <https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-john-pipers-seashells-swept-over-a-generation/>

What sort of circumstances do  you plan for your life? Do these circumstances build God’s kingdom or your own? If you are right now plotting circumstances, what happens when it doesn’t go your way? Do you get mad at God? Planning your life is sailing on uncharted waters. You don’t know what’s going to be over the next horizon. Don’t trust in what you have planned for your life. I’m not saying don’t make plans, or don’t be wise. What I’m encouraging you to do is not place your trust in your plans because circumstances can change, but God’s character will never change.

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.

From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+sam+2&version=ESV>

One result of believing God is not in charge of circumstances is not being satisfied with who you are. I’m not talking about our sin, we should not be satisfied with that. I’m talking about our personalities, looks, et. Al. One article by Dr. Albert Mohler highlights this issue.

A plastic surgeon tells us that in the old days patients might come in looking for a face or a neck lift, eyelid lifts, a brow lift, skin resurfacing procedures or Botox injections. The typical patient back then would ask, “What do you recommend?” The doctor then said, “This is the kind of work I got into my profession expecting to do. And these are the consultations I expected to be giving.” But that was then and this is now. What’s changed? He writes this, “Today my average patient according to the records we keep in my office is 38 or 39.” We’ll stop there and say that’s almost a full decade younger than in times past. “She’ll come in fixated on a specific ‘flaw’.” Again the word flaw is put in quotation marks, “and often knows exactly what procedure she wants. Her nose is crooked she’s sure or her chin is too small or large or her eyebrows appear droopy…

But all of that is just a setup for the thesis statement of the doctor’s piece which is a single sentence paragraph of just a few words, and these are the words. “There is a reason for this rapid and radical change, selfies.” 

The self-taken photograph is warping the confidence of many younger people in unsettling ways. They come to my offices, show me selfies and point to say an asymmetry on their lips. A totally normal variation,” he says. “Often they will have already searched online until they found someone with a similar ‘issue,’” again put in quotes, “who fixed it with surgery.” “In one informal consultation,” he writes on realselfdot.com, a site that lets people ask questions of plastic surgeons, “A woman asked me if plastic surgery could give her cat’s eyes, rounded feline eyes of the sort that some photo filters can add to selfies.” The doctor says, “I told her that wasn’t a sensible goal.” “Once,” he says, “a 20-year-old having studied countless images herself said she needed a facelift.” The doctor then responds, “No 20-year-old needs a facelift.”

From <https://albertmohler.com/2019/03/20/briefing-3-20-19>

From <https://albertmohler.com/2019/03/20/briefing-3-20-19>

Perhaps the saddest recognition when you read this article is understanding how profoundly unsatisfying all of these surgical procedures are going to be. Even when they might temporarily achieve the improvement to the selfie that is sought, it won’t last. It will turn into yet another form of obsession with the self. It will turn into another concern with representation or misrepresentation. 

From <https://albertmohler.com/2019/03/20/briefing-3-20-19>

Read excerpt from Trusting God by Jerry Bridges pg. 169-7

Think about the man born blind in John 9. The disciples assume this disability from birth is due to some sort of sin. But what does Jesus say? “Not because of sin, but so that the works of God may become known.” Do you trust that God is not only in control of your external circumstances, but also in control when he created you? The earth is his, he is in supreme control. “Our God is in the heavens and he does all that he pleases” Psalm 115:3

Christian Perspectives is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://christianperspectives.net/

Christian Perspectives is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://christianperspectives.net/

Turn with me in your Bible to John chapter 1, verse 6

Our civilization is on the brink of destruction. Our very lives are at a precipice of no return. The precise origin of this destruction is difficult to pinpoint, but let’s begin in the 1800’s when the foundation of the Bible was removed from higher education, even theological training. Eventually, we come to the 60’s when the sexual revolution took over. “Freedom!” was the serpent’s lie while family was on the altar ready to be sacrificed. And that’s exactly what we’ve seen: the destruction of the family.

After the nuclear family was successfully destroyed, something else was noticed. Kids’ egos deflated more and more. Of course, now with parents no longer being respected (or even being parents), and the family being something that just “gets in the way,” no wonder children had no foundation to prepare them for the rest of their life. In stead of trying to fix and heal families, the culture decided the best way to fix the problem was to inflate the kid’s ego. Self-esteem training became in vogue in the 80s and 90s. There’s only so much the air pump of flattery can pump up before the balloon pops.

So, what happens when the balloon pops? Well, then the scotch tape of therapy is applied so that the ego can be inflated again. Therapeutic culture is upsurging in our country right now. Essayist Joseph Epstein notes this in his article for the Wallstreet Journal, Today’s College Classroom is a Therapy Session. He taught for years at Northwestern University. He says instructors are to have safe, nurturing, ant-racist spaces. What’s left behind is that teachers are ought to teach. He saw seven teachers were awarded with a teaching award. Of those seven award winners, a majority are so welcoming and supportive, so ready to foster inclusive learning spaces. No where was anything mentioned of their teaching skills. Feeling safe and good about oneself is the fastest growing religion in our country.

The church in America, by in large, instead of standing firm on the gospel, has combined this new religion with itself. Jesus is just one of the ways you can now feel safe and better about yourself. People go to church, read their Bible, pray, and all the rest just to “feel better!” But be warned: Jesus is not a means to an end.

Let me be clear. Therapy is not bad. Going to church does in some sense can make us feel better. The distortion comes in when our only and primary goal within Christianity is to attain something other than God himself. What can be better than God?

The moments in life that are most fulfilling are not self-inflating, but self-forgetting. One of my favorite hobbies when I lived in North Georgia was to go and hike in the mountains. What if, I climbed 3 miles up to the top of Mt. Yonah, looked off the top of the cliff face at the amazing view and proclaimed, “Wow! I am just so great!” Many of you would think I’m crazy. The point of taking on the arduous task of climbing a mountain is to get to the top and lose your self in the wonder of the view. I want to submit to you that many people go to churches across this nation just like that crazy person. Many people wake up early Sunday morning, get pampered up, drive to the church, walk in the door, “Wow! I feel better. Look how great I am. I’m sure Jesus will make me safe. I’m sure Jesus will make me feel better about myself.” The point of worship is not to make you feel good, but so that you lose yourself in experiencing the wonder of our glorious Christ. Him I proclaim to us today.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

John the evangelist opens his epistle with proclaiming that Jesus is God and with God. Jesus is also the Word, the very revelation of God. John switches his metaphor in verse 5 to “light,” a light which is the life of men. The commentator D.A. Carson notes that light and life are universal religious terms (every religion uses these terms), but these aren’t generic terms we can interpret anyway we want. John is a man fully immersed in the scripture (just see how often Revelation alludes to the Old Testament, for instance). To fully understand these metaphors of light and life, we need to understand how the Bible utilizes them.

The Bible pictures all of humanity dwelling in darkness. Darkness is a place of destruction. Jeremiah prophecies concerning the lying prophets, “Therefore their way shall be to them

    like slippery paths in the darkness,

    into which they shall be driven and fall,

for I will bring disaster upon them

    in the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.” Jer 23:12

Darkness is a place of ignorance, confusion, and oppression. One of the curses for disobeying the Mosaic covenant is, “The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29 and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. “ Dt. 28:28-9

Darkness is a place of depression and hopelessness. Job laments in Job 30:26, “
But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.”

Darkness is a place of death. The psalmist sings in Psalm 107:10-11, “Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
    and spurned the counsel of the Most High.”

Darkness is a metaphor for chaos. In the beginning darkness was over the face of the deep (Gen 1:2) which God brough order to. The Fall of mankind in Genesis 3 brought all mankind to dwell in darkness, a place of death, destruction, disorder, desolation, and dumbness. We sat in chains, prisoners to our own selfish desires, groping with a way out to no avail. In our dark dungeons, we demand safety, comfort, and therapy, but none of those things bring us light.

Into this environment enters Jesus, the light of the world. This light brings salvation to our dark dungeons of existence if we accept Jesus’s message about himself. This light is so amazing displayed to all men. Like the stary host shining bright on a dark night. Like the mountain peek view that can bee seen for miles. Like the endless ocean in the breezy salt air. John stands up when this light appears and shouts, “Glory!” Like John, Christians live to put God’s grandeur on display.

When we sit on the mountain peak, we converse about the view. When we watch gymnastic, we dazzle in the performance. When we live in the light of Christ, we proclaim that to others. Are you so enamored with what Christ has done for you that you have it on your lips?

The passage goes on from John the Baptist talking about two responses to Jesus. The first group rejects him. Look at verse 9-10

 “9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. “

When we notice that we are not blown away by the light Christ brings, we need to find out why. Perhaps, like the verse says, it is ignorance. An untrained ear listening to a classical violinist may find it uninteresting or even scoff, “So what?” But the violinist whose trained so hard his fingers bleed knows just how immaculate the performance is. In the same way, when we loose sight of how dark the darkness is or how glorious Christ truly is, we too can lose the awe factor in our savior.

Look at verse 11. “11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

Now, in this context, “his own people” is specifically referring to the Jewish people. He was the Jewish Messiah promised long ago, come to dwell with his own people. But he was rejected. Outright rejection is easy to spot and it’s becoming all too common in our society. It should still be shocking nonetheless. People who dwell in darkness, misery, enslaved to their own passions leading them to destruction are thrown a rope of escape, but instead, like bugs after a rock has been lifted up, scurry to bury themselves further into their filth. Thus, it says in John 3:19, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” People like this hardly find themselves in church, but if that describes you, if you’re sitting here in appearance only but secretly deep down you despise the things of Christ and love your wickedness, repent! Christ cares for you! He’s not looking for you to clean yourself up first, run to him, cling to Jesus!

The other form of rejection is far more insidious and self-deceptive. One time, a missionary to India shared a story that has stuck with me over the years. As you may know, Hindus (the majority in India) are very Polytheistic. They worship a loooot of gods. Maybe upwards of even 33 million! This missionary was using an evangicube to share the gospel through a translator with one particular Hindu in his little shop. An evangicube is a pretty handy device that has pictures, it can fold, unfold, fold back up explaining man’s sinful condition and what Jesus did in his death, burial and resurrection. Well, this particular Hindu seemed very interested, so interested in fact that he offered to buy the cube off of the missionary.

At first the missionary was taken aback, “did he just understand this, get converted and want to share the gospel with others?” he wondered. But then he looked back and saw an insence bowl and several other little statues. He realized that the Hindu wanted to add Jesus to his collection of gods. The missionary took the depiction of Jesus and slammed it against itself proclaiming, “this is just a picture, Jesus is at the right hand of God!”

It’s easy to see the problem when someone is adding Jesus to their collections of gods to be used just like the others. People here in America also use Jesus to meet their ulterior motives.  People dwell in darkness and bask in the light for its benefits, but turn around and walk in darkness. Do not be deceived. “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6). Are you in a relationship with Christ for the benefits he provides? Are you waiting on the millions Jesus promised you via the false teacher on TV? Are you waiting for therapist Jesus to inflate your ego? Are you waiting on Genie Jesus to grant your wishes? Are you waiting for Heaven is for Real Jesus to whisk you into heaven? Do you feel most loved by God when he makes much of you, or when He, at great cost to himself, allows you to make much of him?

Your greatest joy is not found in all your needs being met, but instead when you lose yourself in the greatest thing in all the universe. Anything we want or desire more than Jesus, anything, is an idol. Whether it’s fame or famine, fortune or folly, freedom or friendship, anything we want more than Jesus is an idol.  We must seek and savor Jesus, because only in him will we truly find satisfaction and joy.

But there’s another response to Jesus: receiving him. “12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

A beautiful promise is given to those who receive Jesus, you are given the right to become children of God. What does it mean to “receive” Jesus? Does that mean to walk the aisle, pray a prayer, and forget about it? Like opening your door to a needy neighbor and letting them in for a few hours so you feel better about yourself as a human being. And when that neighbor leaves, you remark to your spouse, “I’m sure glad he’s gone.” That’s how a lot of evangelists paint Jesus. Jesus just needs you to open the door, come on now, he’s too weak to do it on his own! Your life is great already, just add Jesus on top!

The verse itself gives clues as to what receive means. The word refers to welcoming, for sure. The verse goes on to say, who believes in his name. “Name” is a figure of speech. When we pray, “in the name of Jesus, “ that is not literal. We don’t bend down, write his name in chalk on the ground, stand in it and begin to pray. So, what does it mean? It’s not a magic formula we add to the end of our prayer so he can grant our wishes. Say, that your running down the street and someone yells out, “stop in the name of the law!” Well, you better stop running and pay attention. Name here, carries the weight of authority. If I say, “I preaching in the name of our pastor,” or an ambassador says, “I proclaim in the name of the king,” it’s referring to that very person. Their whole self, authority, teaching and all. When one believes in the name of Jesus, this is not talking about buffet Jesus. The Jesus where we pick and choose what we like and leave behind the rest. Beleiving in Jesus name is “acceptance of Jesus to the full extent of his revelation”.[1]

Belief implies an element of risk because the believer is literally staking his life upon the claim that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. [2] Thus, receiving Jesus is staking your entire life on the claims that Jesus made. We receive Christ as whole, all of him and his claims. We receive Christ with our all, not double-minded. We receive Christ as our sustenance, nothing else can satisfy.

What happens in result of receiving Jesus in this way? Becoming children of God. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1. The Bible often uses the phrase “children of man” as a generic term for humanity. “Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.” Psalm 66:5. Thus in Christ we become “children of God,” a new type of humanity. Hosea 1:10 says, “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Your condition as a child of man is one of darkness and gloom and misery, seeking for answers, maybe even using Jesus and a church to satisfy your own selfish desires. But when we turn to Jesus we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son. If you have rejected Jesus outright or even by just using him to get something else, now is the time to receive him fully. “Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts” Heb 3:15 and Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. Heb 4:1

For you, Christian, who call in Jesus name, whose soul is satisfied in nothing else. Today, we need the reminder we are children of God. This year, 2020, has been marked by far more chaos than other years in recent history. Fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, viral epidemics, racial injustices. The children of man are in darkness are groping for an answer: more safe spaces, more education, more government, more comfort, more prosperity, more psychologists, and on and on the list goes. Listen, you are a child of God. Your hope and faith cannot be ultimately places in any of these things. Our only hope is Jesus.

Look at verse 14, “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” If what can bring us the most joy is discovering and savoring the greatest good, the most loving thing God can do for us to glorify himself. God desires out of his loving-kindness to give us joy. And oftentimes we distort not only God into our own image, but what we think is best for us into our own image. What is the thing that will make you the happiest? What can you not live without? That is the thing that you believe it would be for God to give you. And if he withholds that “thing” (item, idea, individual. . . anything) from you then you conclude one of two things: Either God does not exist –or- God does not want the best for me.

What do you want the most? To feel safe? To feel loved? To feel good about yourself? That other person you lust after? A happy home? A successful career? Good grades? The clock to run forward so you can get out of this place?

The greatest need you have is to get a glimpse of the glory of God and put your face in the dirt like Moses. To see the very throne room of God and cry out, “Woe is me, I’m undone!” like Isaiah. God has been gracious, patient, and intentional to make that very thing happen.

What prevented God from moving in and doing this right away? More than Satan, more than your stubbornness, it was his own justice and wrath. You see, when God dwelled with his rebellious people in the wilderness, plagues and fires often broke out. Not because he was some capricious tyrant trying to capitulate a people to his will. But rather, because in Him, the judge of all the earth, justice must be meted out. “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?”

How can God give us the very best, his very presence, without giving us what we deserve? This is what his cross accomplished for us. God’s wrath headed for our sin went on our substitute. Our wicked ways were placed on him and put to death. Fellowship with God once broken by our rebellion Christ reunited in a glorious exchange!

Jesus became human and put his tabernacle among us! Don’t you see? This is Yahweh of the Old Testament come in the flesh, and we have seen his glory! Like Moses, like Isaiah, look to Jesus. Look and live!

Let’s pray.

[1] Word Biblical Commentary; Beasley-Murray

[2] Paul Washer The Gospel Call and True Conversion 49.

Christian Perspectives is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://christianperspectives.net/