Here are the notes and questions from last night LightHouse:
1. Where do you feel the pressure of living differently as a Christian? What creates that pressure and how do you respond to it?
2. A friend says to you ‘God is a cosmic killjoy’ how would you answer them?
How do you solve the problem of a lack of good leadership? That is the question confronting Israel (1-3), they know that leadership matters, they have experienced that throughout the time of the judges and then while Samuel has been their judge. But it’s clear that his sons are not good leadership material; they are corrupt and pervert justice, so what now? There can’t be a leadership vacuum because that has been disastrous in the past, so the elders have a brainstorming session and (4-5)come up with an answer; a king.
It is a logical answer, a good management solution, in fact it even seems like a biblical answer. In Genesis 49 as Jacob blesses Judah he pictures a king coming from Judah’s line, in Deuteronomy 17 God gives his blueprint for kingship. And at the end of judges the problem is bluntly described like this “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” **What is the implied solution to the problem in that phrase? A king. Even in 1 Samuel 2 kingship has already been mentioned, in Hannah’s prayer - which acts like a theological primer to the book - she praises God who will give strength to his king and exalt his anointed one.
The elder’s suggestion of a king seems both logical and biblical. But as this chapter makes clear this request is born out of a hard hearted rebellion against God. They don’t want God’s king and they certainly don’t want God as king or to be his people living distinctively under his good rule. This request reveals Israel’s hearts. It shows us 3 serious heart problems that can afflict God’s people. As we work through them it is worth running a bit of an MOT on our hearts and seeing if we are suffering from any of these problems.
Not wanting God as our King
(7)God sees the heart behind this request, the issue is more than just a vacuum of leadership and the answer they propose is more than just a logical management solution it is a rejection of his rule. (7)“it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” ‘Samuel don’t take it personally it’s not about you it’s me.’ That rejection of God is made all the more implicit in (19-20)**what is it they want the king to do? “lead us... go out before us... fight our battles.”
Turn back to ch7, here the people of Israel are being oppressed by the Philistines, Samuel gathers Israel together and the people repent and turn back to God. The Philistines choose just this pivotal moment to attack and Israel ask Samuel to cry out to Yahweh to save them. (10) “the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with a loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Philistines.” Israel are in danger and they cry out to God to fight for them and he does winning the battle and providing security for Israel.
The irony is that Samuel sets up a memorial so that Israel won’t forget that God is their helper, their deliverer, their rescuer, their warrior King. But here by chapter 8 they have forgotten already and want to replace him because they need a warrior king who will fight their battles for them. And this isn’t a one off, this incident is Israel’s history in a miniature scale model, (8)gives us a brief overview of Israel’s historical struggle with this call to have God as King “...they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods...”
Israel has a history of spiritual adultery, of worshipping other things, of rejecting God’s kingship, of running after other deliverers, other rescuer, other saviours, and of believing life will be better without God.
This call for a king is a rejection of God’s reign as king, and God knows and call sit exactly what it is.
Not wanting to be different
I’m sure you’ve noticed something else about their request, **look at verse 5 and 20 how is it phrased? They want to be just like the nations round about them, they don’t want to be distinctive, they don’t want to stand out. They feel the peer pressure, they see the things the other nations do and enjoy and want to be just like them.
In requesting a king they are also rejecting God’s call for them as his people. When God called Abram and promised him a people what marked them out, what made them distinctive, was being his people called to be different because he was their God and they lived life enjoying relationship with him. Having been redeemed from Egypt they were redeemed to be different, to be God’s distinctive people, but they want to be just like everyone else. Again that keeps on happening throughout their history; they want to act the same, live the same, worship the same as everybody else.
Don’t we feel that same pressure? It’s not just children who are moulded by peer pressure. Everyone else is doing it why can’t I? Why can’t I flirt with someone in the office everyone else does? Why can’t I read or watch whatever I want it won’t do me any harm? Why should I be the only one who defends the boss, or stops the gossip, or is honest? Why should I pursue purity? Why shouldn’t I put career before everything else? Everyone else is reading it and watching it why shouldn’t I, after all if I don’t I won’t be able to talk to them about it? But I’ll just look odd if I don’t do it? What if I’m missing out? Why does God make it so demanding to be a Christian?
Don’t we sometimes find ourselves thinking like that? We experience and feel peer pressure all the time; in what we wear, what we find funny, what we watch, the words we use, our likes and dislikes. Not only that we subtly put peer pressure on others when we talk about those same things.
But the real issue in 1 Samuel and for us is not behavioural it is a heart issue. The real issue isn’t about being different; it is about who and what I treasure above everything else. Israel think that having a king who will make them like everyone else will bring them real happiness unlike having God as their king. They believe the lie that there is a better king than God, a better way of living than God’s way, a more loving ruler than God. That being just like everyone else will bring them satisfaction.
It goes back to Eve in the garden who believes that same lie – you are missing out, God is holding you back, if God really loved you he would let you have ... And that same process goes on in our hearts when we find ourselves tempted to make something else our greatest treasure. To believe the lie that this will fulfil me in a way God can’t. To forget that God calls us to be exiles and strangers, to be different precisely because this world cannot satisfy and it is not all there is. To question whether God is our good and loving heavenly father who has our good and his glory at heart.
Not listening to God’s word of warning
**What does God tell Samuel to do in response to Israel’s request for a king(8)? To warn them, and it is quite a warning isn’t it. The king you want will take your sons, take your daughters take your food, take your livestock, and take your flocks. That tells us something about the nature of anything else we put in God’s place it will not love us and graciously give us, it will take, take, take, with a rapacious appetite which has to be fed.
Why on earth would you choose that, and yet (19)Israel’s rulers “refused to listen to Samuel...” and so God tells Samuel to give them a king. They reject God’s loving and good rule, his rescue, his blessings and purposes and choose a substitute that will take, take, take because it is what they want, what they have set their hearts on.
And they will not listen, they are deaf, to any warnings, they want what they want and will not be dissuaded. They won’t listen to anything else their mind is made up and even the word of God will not unstop their ears. And the irony is God gives them a king who is exactly like he warned and who is just like them and will not listen to God’s word and warnings as we will see as we look at Saul in the coming weeks.
God’s people rebel and reject his rule and his loving purposes for them and yet still in grace he warns them. But God takes them at their word and instructs Samuel to give them a king. It is dangerous to ignore God’s gracious warnings about the consequences of pursuing anything other than him as our treasure.
Three dangers: not wanting God as our King, not wanting to be his distinctive people, and not listening to his warnings. All three have something in common each fails to see God as he truly is, his rule as gracious and for our good and his warnings as loving calls to avoid trouble and to live life at its best.
But ultimately you will only love and enjoy having God as your king and thriving under his rule when you grasp the lengths to which his love will go. God had a plan for a king of his people, a king who would follow the blueprint of Deuteronomy 17 who would shepherd his people, David as we will see points us to Jesus as God’s ultimate king of his people.
Turn to Romans 8:31f where we see the nature of God’s king explained and his rule pictured. Jesus is God’s king whose rule it is a delight to live under. He is the king who doesn’t take, take, take but who graciously gives us all things. His is a rule that liberates us from slavery and calls us to really live, but whose rule will run counter to the culture we live in now, because he calls us to live with eternity in view, to be kingdom people in exile living out of step with the world but in step with the Spirit.
How has your MOT gone? What problems has it diagnosed? Not wanting God as King? Pursuing something else? Not wanting to be different? God is graciously warning us tonight, don’t ignore the warning? Look again at God’s rule seen in Jesus, this is the king who calls you to live under his rule which liberates, to enjoy his grace and care and to entrust your future to his unbreakable love and faithfulness.
Application:
1. What things are we tempted to place our trust or hope in instead of God and why? Is this always a heart problem? Why?
2. In what ways might we try to drown out God’s words of warning to us? Why is that so dangerous. How might we encourage someone we fear is doing this?
3. How can we help one another enjoy living as God’s people under Jesus rule?
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