Birth of Samson - Judges LFA

Chris laws

Judges LFA • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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JUDGES: The Birth of Sampson

SAMSON - Judges 13:1-25

BLANK SLIDE: Introduce yourself. Been gone but back. Pneumonia.

Recap the timeline…. SLIDE: We’ve been in this series all summer, we took a break last week for the picnic. Weren’t the baptisms amazing?! It was so fun to be together with Glasstown church too. So since we took a break I want to just do a brief recap of Judges up to where we will be in Chapter 13 today. SLIDE:

Joshua dies - and the people need a leader. In that transition the people do evil in the sight of God and serve false gods that they were supposed to overthrow when they came into the land. As a result, God allows for oppression to come on the people so that they would repent.

Cushan-rishathaim - 8 years

40 years of rest - othniel

Eglon - 18 years

80 years of rest - Ehud

Jabin - king of Cannan - 900 chariots - 20 years

40 years of rest - Deborah

Midian - 7 years

40 years of rest - Gideon

Abimelech - 3 years

Shamir - 23 years

Jair - 22 years

Philistines Oppression - 18 years

Jephthah - 6 years

Ibzan - 7 years

Elon - 10 years

Abdon - 8 years

Philistine Oppression - 40 years

SLIDE: Timeline: Photo

About 240 years of this cycle

SLIDE: Judges Cycle: Photo

This cycle starts to change though….after Gideon there are no more instances recorded in the book of Judges where it records any periods of ‘rest’. Instead of being steps 1-6, it goes down to 1-5, and as you’ll see, it ends up reduced pretty much to just step 1.

I don’t know that it was the later judges that weren’t all that successful in fighting enemies, but I don’t see any of the later group of leaders that really called the people to the heart of God.

After Gideon we actually have self-absorbed leaders who seem to be in it for themselves, for their kids glory or the prestige of a position. During the time of those later leaders you don’t even really read much about oppression from outside forces because the people of God were so stuck on in-fighting and mis-treating each other. They were destroying themselves from the inside out. So none of these later judge-leaders really pan out.

And we find the story back in an “unwanted familiar place". The hand of oppression has to come upon the people again. And wouldn’t you know it, we enter back into the story at another low point for the people of God. Judges 13….

The Birth of Samson

SLIDE: 13:1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

40 more years of oppression, granted by God.

Last time I spoke I said,

Sometimes, oppressive authority is better than self-governance. It may be necessary for us to ask, is the oppression I experience self-induced? Is what you’re experiencing because of something ‘evil in God’s sight’ that are you are giving your allegiance to? Not everything is, but it’s worth doing that kind of soul searching.

This oppression is on the people again - Remember 240 years ago, if the people of God had followed what God told them to do, this problem would have been long solved.

So what’s going to happen now? What do you think God is going to do with His people?

One ore Judge. Today is just the first part of his story, you’ll hear the rest in the weeks to come. Judges 13 breaks down for us into 4 Episodes-Scenes. Let’s find out what God is going to do for His people.

SLIDE: EPISODE 1

2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

Did you catch what God is going to do? He’s going to pick a judge for the people even before conception! God is taking the opportunity to do something new - A new generation.

SLIDE: STICKY STATEMENT: God is always creating a next generation of leaders.

I believe this chapter lays out some essential things that are needed by the current generation to help raise up the next generation.

Something about young adults, singles, youth here…..When stories like this come up where a woman can’t have kids and then gets told she is going to have a baby - it can take a couple of cross sections of the room and make them check out. If you are a young adult, a single or unmarried person, even a teenager - don’t check out. What we’re going to see in this story today is something God is inviting you to be part of to. You have a chance to be on the front end of something beautiful. Raising up & Leading the next generation is not solely the privilege of parents - this reality is for us all to embrace. So let’s unpack this story more.

An angel appears to Manoah’s wife and tells her she’s going to have a baby. That’s good news! But not just any baby. A baby set apart for God - a Nazarite - a baby with a mission statement: ‘begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines’.

SLIDE: v. 5b - for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

We need to pause for a minute and understand what the Nazarite vow is.

SLIDE: NAZARITE:: An Israelite consecrated to the service of God, under vows to abstain from alcohol, let the har grow, and avoid defilement by contact with corpses. (Nazirite means one separated, or one consecrated).

Numbers 6 - 1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.

6 “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. 7 Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.

The goal of this vow is to separate oneself from good things, in order to be devoted to God for a period of time. In the case of this next generation judge, in order for this baby to be fully set apart - this woman is asked to change some things in her life - HER eating habits - so that the will of God for this child can happen.

She has to take up the eating habits of the Nazarite vow. Monoah’s wife has to take on discomfort and disruption to her normal flow of life so that this next judge will be set apart.

SLIDE: God is always creating a next generation of leaders. And sometimes for that next generation to be set up well for God’s plan, the current generation has to take on discomfort.

When we think of the next generation, do we think of them with what God has in mind for them? Or do we think of them because of the discomfort they cause us?

I’m so thankful for how Living Faith looks at it’s youth. The focus and attention given to spiritual formation & discipleship, the primary role of parents, the partnership of the church, leader training and mission experience though summer ministry. We really go after their hearts well. But I have to be honest, not every church is like that.

ILLUSTRATIONS: I've been a youth pastor for over 20 years now. I’ve literally served in churches where adult people have said to me “these kids are always asking for money but we don’t get anything in return. These kids are lazy.”

Let me tell you, kids are busier than ever. What they actually need is rest. For those things we used to ask money for, they were so kids could go to things that changed their hearts and let them hear God’s call on their life.

I’ve heard of churches where the youth band was told their music was an abomination to God and they couldn’t play it on the church property. They only wanted to sing songs like “Lord I Lift Your Name on High, or I don’t want to be a casual christian, or Pharaoh, Pharaoh . But because they were told they couldn’t play in the church, those kids went to the bar where they would let them play.

I was in one church where the youth area was upstairs, and underneath the youth cafe area was the library. For some reason there was a bible study in the library at the same time youth was happening upstairs. And I kid you not, a man came to me and told me to get the kids quiet because it was his ‘God given American right to have a Bible study in peace and quiet.”

SLIDE: When we think of the next generation, are we willing to take on a little discomfort if it means they get to do what God made them for?

- Might there be some things we need to change in our adult worlds to make this happen?

- Why is children’s ministry, youth ministry, and young adult ministry always hurting for leaders? (The number 1 reason kids have come to our church and left is because of inconsistency in leaders. Don’t get me wrong, we have excellent leaders here, but far too few of them. )

Every child that walks through our doors - God has a plan for them & there is value on their lives! If churches do not take the development and formation of the next generation of leaders that God is creating - and has even yet to create - something else will take those kids and form them.

And as the book of Judges has taught us - false gods don’t produce healthy life giving realities. Are we willing to embrace a little discomfort - or to say it another way, to let go of some ‘good things’ in order that the next generation is able to live out their God given destiny?

SLIDE:

Therefore, the current generation

This may require discomfort, or letting go of ‘good things’

SLIDE: EPISODE II - That was our first episode in chapter 13, let’s go on to episode 2.

8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”

This is actually a really significant moment in the book of Judges. This is the only time the word ‘prayer’ is used in the entire book. There are other prayers and inquiry’s of God and speaking to God and angels speaking for God- but this is the only place the author gives us this word. Look at this prayer:

SLIDE: v.8 Manoah prays. “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”

This is a prayer by a man who is asking how his life will impact the next generation - of a child who hasn’t even been conceived yet. There is something in Manoah that he knows he needs to learn about how to invest in the next generation.

We might even be seeing some foreshadowing here of John the Baptist & the last words of Malachi in the Old Testament:

SLIDE: 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” - Malachi 5:5-6

There is something inside Manoah that knows he needs to ask how to do this right. And he prays that he would know.

SLIDE: God is always creating a next generation of leaders.

& the next generation needs prayer. This requires the next generation to pray. I will even go so far as to say the next generation needs men - not just dads - to pray! This man was praying about this before he became a father.

Sidebar: For you youth and young men in this room. What you do with your life right now will have an impact on those who will one day come after you.

I’ve heard lots of stories about how young men have snuck out of their house to have a good time and then sneak back in and creep by their parents bedroom and hear their mom praying for them and how much It changed their lives. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a young persons story where they caught their dad praying for them.

Pray about your life as it pertains to raising the next generation of leaders.

ILLUSTRATION: I just sat in my office on Friday to write more of this sermon and was staring at the pictures of my wife and kids in my office. And I started to cry. So many times as someone who parents and leads the next generation I feel like Manoah - “O God, how am I supposed to do this!”

Many times I feel that way even about leading youth - I’m leading kids in youth group who weren’t even born when I started being a youth pastor. And then I got a message like this from a kid in a church I used to be at this week: “I don’t know if you remember me it’s been years but we were talking about you at church the other day and I hope you are doing well I miss you and ur family so much. Thanks for being such a great teacher I wouldn’t have a relationship with god if it wasn’t for you.” I don’t share this to make me look good in any way - I share this because I believe God wants to use your life to impact the next generation. What you do with your life - good or bad - will have an impact on the next generation.

What if we prayed the prayer of Manoah for our lives? O God speak to me on how to raise/impact the next generation”. Pray for the kids in this church. Pray for the kids wandering the mall aimlessly. Pray for the kids who are hurting. Pray for the kids in your home. Pray for the kids next door. Pray for the generation after the upcoming one.

SLIDE: God is always creating a next generation of leaders.

Therefore, the current generation

This may require discomfort, or letting go of ‘good things’ This requires the current generation to pray .

SLIDE: EPISODE III - Let’s look at our 3rd episode….

11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.s

Manoah’s prayer gets answered. The angel returns. He asks the question he prayed about: what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?”

The angel answers: I’ve already told you. Make sure you and your wife follow the word of the Lord. The answer is: Lead so that this child who is to come into the world is separated - consecrated - set apart for God,… before they even come into existence.

I don’t know the motive behind Manoah wanting to detain the angel. So I’ll just take him at his word that he really wants to give honor where honor is due. From this desire to give honor, the angel directs him to honor God. So he does. He prepares a sacrifice and offers it to God and the angel went up in the flame and Moaoah and his wife fall on their faces.

This is such a sensational story. There’s two things that happen here I want to make sure we don’t miss.

SLIDE: God is always creating a next generation of leaders.

& They need leaders who obey the word of God

& They need leaders who honor God with their worship

Worship is always an excellent response to revelation.

Worship: Your heart-felt interaction with the reality of God. Worship God because His words are always true. Obeying His words never leads to ruin! Worship God because he has a plan for the next generation. Worship God because you have a role to play in that plan.

SLIDE: God is always creating a next generation of leaders.

Therefore, the current generation

This may require discomfort, or letting go of ‘good things’ This requires prayer. This requires the word of God & worship.

SLIDE: EPISODE IV - let’s look at our last episode…

21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

I don’t know what it is, but it is always perplexing when you go from an encounter with God, to despair. Manoah has a little freak out and then his wife talks some sense into him. And from here they go about making the changes needed so that this child enters the world set apart for God.

SLIDE: God is always creating a next generation of leaders.

& this revelation comes with responsibility.

The word God gives us is iron clad. Yet He still requires us to carry the responsibility of hearing HIs words and acting on them. To Manoah it felt like he was going to die. To his wife, it became new fuel for life. And we see the results at the end of the chapter…

SLIDE: And we see the results of their faithfulness - V.24-25a - 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…

Samson is the first judge chosen before conception. Could this same thing be written about our kids, the kids in this church, the kids next door? That as they grew the Lord blessed them and his Spirit stirred them? It could if the current generations take this example laid out in chapter 13 of Judges seriously.

As Sampson comes of age and what Sampson does in life - you’ll learn about in the next couple of weeks…but as for this part of his life, it was what God wanted for him.

SLIDE: God is always creating a next generation of leaders.

Therefore, the current generation

This may require discomfort, or letting go of ‘good things’ This requires prayer. This requires the word of God & worship.

- This Revelation comes with responsibility.

What do you think the next generation of leaders that God wants to raise up would look like if we did these 4 four things?

Closing: Reflection time.

SLIDE: Faith Talks:

1. What’s one way you would want God to use your life to shape the next generation? Write it down and share it with a trusted friend. Commit to pray over this for 1 year.

2. What ‘good things’ in your life can you set aside to devote yourself to God? Name them and setup an accountability relationship to help you.

LEFTOVERS:

Sum up the good pieces of the characters that point to Jesus?

= Chosen before birth

Other judges…

The Nazirite Vow

6 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

9 “And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 11 and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day 12 and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

13 “And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 and he shall bring his gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, 15 and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. 16 And the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, 17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. 19 And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration, 20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

21 “This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the Lord above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite.”

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