Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

[Video: King of Kings] 3 minutes

Tension

Good Morning Church,

We are continuing in our series of the Gospel Project and specifically the unit entitled “A Kingdom Provided”.

And this morning we are going to meet the very first in the long line of earthly kings appointed by God to rule over the nation of Israel.

Some of us love the old romanticized stories of the mighty kings and queens of old.

I think of the times that we have read to our children the stories of C.S. Lewis in the land of Narnia, where four children from Great Britain are magically transported to a fantastical world where they grow up to rule as Kings and Queens.

I love these stories, and many like it, but even as I read them they do feel so very far away.

I can wrap my head around the story of a King in a far off land like Narnia, but I have a much harder time wrapping my head around a King ruling over my life today.

But the truth is that everyone of us has a King who sits on the throne of our lives.

One who rules over our perspectives, our inclinations, our decisions and actions.

We are either ruled by the inclinations of our sinful selves, or we have given that role and rule to another.

So as we dive deeply into the age of the Kings of Israel, remember that this is not just a distant story of Kings and kingdoms, but opportunities for us to understand what living under the rule of a King truly looks like.

What does it mean for a people to choose to submit to a King.

What does it mean for a King to execute sovereign rule over a peraon.

Is having a King to rule over us a good thing or a bad thing?

So as we dive deeply into the age of the Kings of Israel, remember that this is not just a distant story of Kings and kingdoms, but opportunities for us to understand what living under the rule of a King truly looks like.

What does it mean for a King to execute sovereign rule over us.

Is having a King to rule over us a good thing or a bad thing?

Depends on the King.

So far we have looked intently into this character named Samuel, who became the spiritual guide to all the 12 tribes of Israel.

It is

Tension

Over the past several weeks we have looked intently into this character named Samuel, who became the spiritual guide to all 12 tribes of Israel.

It is Samuel’s name that we know these books of the Bible by today, but this was not always the case.

In the original Hebrew these two books were just one book called the book of “Samuel”, but when translators went to translate the original Hebrew text into Greek or Latin they found that the book was way to long to include on one scroll.

This is because ancient Hebrew did not have any vowels, only consonant letters.

That is why we are so uncertain how to pronounce words in Hebrew because we don’t know if the word should have an “a,e,i, o, u or sometimes y” sound.

That saved a lot of room on the scroll, but made it really long when translating to another language.

My point in leading you down this historical narative of Bible translation is that for many years these two books of Samuel were actually called 1st and 2nd Kings, and the books that we know by that name were titled 3rd and 4th Kings.

The idea being that the establishment and role of a King in these stories is central to their meaning.

So what is a King?

And how did the Israelite people go this long without one?

or did they?

And most important to us today, what does it mean when we say that Jesus is our King?

That is what we are going to take a look at in our text for today, so if you would open up your Bibles to , pg 230 in the Bibles in the chairs, Ill’ pray and we will learn of King together.

It is What is a King? vs. a judged

get this far as a people before they had one?

Well It is What is a King? vs. a judged

God requires that a king be humble and patient waiting on Him, trusting in Him, in order for that King to be a blessing to his people.

They were tribes at the beginning of 1 Samuel, but they will become a nation by the end of 2 Samuel.

Truth

The people reject God as their true King ()

1 Samuel 8:1-3

This is such a sad reoccurring theme, the sons of the servants of God reject the ways of God.

We saw it in Eli the priest, and now it comes back at us again in the life of Samuel.

The truth is that it will be a reoccurring theme throughout the stories of the Kings of Israel.

Apparently, parenting well is difficult, even when children are brought up in a life of privilege.

There are lessons here for each one of us parents.

We might be working hard to give our children every advantage this world has to offer, but have we gone after their hearts?

The prophet Samuel missed this...

The idea of a King was not new to the Israelites, they went up against Kings of other nations all the time, but now they wanted a King just like everyone else around them.

Do you see how they are completely missing the big picture here?

The people of God are to be “holy” or set apart from every other nations of the World.

Their relationship with the LORD was to be such a radically different and radiantly better way to be human that the nations of the world would desire to change and be like them, instead they are asking to change and be like the nations of the world.

They wanted to trade in their relationship with God as their King for a broken earthly version like everyone else had.

Theme #1: The people reject God as their true King ()

1 Samuel 8:

1 Samuel 8:4-

Samuel was their judge, the prophet of the LORD so their call for a King was a rejection of his guidance.

He took this rather personally, but the LORD was clear with him that it was much worse than that.

This was a rejection of the LORD as their true King.

They were rejecting the role that God had given them to be His subjects and instead wanting to be the subjects of some earthly King.

As we look back on it, it seems crazy, but if we were honest, how many times have we traded in the good that God has given for a counterfeit earthly version that it seems everyone else has?

So Samuel follows the LORD’s instructions and he “solemnly warns them” about what will happen if they have an earthly King, and the key word found throughout this direct warning is the word “take”

An earthly King will take your sons to be his charioteers, horseman and foot soldiers.

He will take your sons to be

He will take you

He will honor some as Generals, or captains but others He will take to plow his fields and work as his blacksmiths

He will take your daughters to cook and bake and make perfumes for him

He will take the best of your fields, vineyards and olive groves

He will take your servants, your harvest, your cattle, your donkeys, and your flocks

And you will become his slaves, you will cry out to God on that dayand he will not answer you

And you know what the people said to Samuel, the prophet of God: Na, that won’t happen.

Look at everyone else who has a King.

They seem like it works for them, we want to be like them.

So the LORD agreed to give them what they were begging him for.

Some of the most difficult lessons in life come when God finally agrees to give us something that we begged him for.

Because sometimes God’s “yes” is not given with his approval, but for our discipline.

An opportuntiy for us to see how sinful and selfish our will can be.

That is why Scripture talks so often about seeking first the will of the LORD.

In the same prayer whereJesus taught us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread” and “deliver from evil” he also taught us to pray “You Kingdom come your will be done”.

We ask God for things as a loving child would approach their loving Father, but we do it in full submission of the fact that His will is best.

As the speaker told us last night at Man Camp, we don’t always get our questions answered, but we hold tightly to that truth that God’s will is best.

And Jesus didn’t just teach us this in words, he showed us what this looked like.

Because this is exactly what he prayed before he experienced the most evil thing that has ever happened here on earth.

Before he went to the cross Jesus prayed:

We are free to come to the Father with the desires of our hearts, but it must always be bathed in our submission to the will of the Father.

So the LORD gave them what they begged for and provided them a King just like the area nations had.

From the Biblical description he had everything that we would look for in a King, when looking at the outside.

He stood head and shoulders above other men, a ruggedly handsome guy named Saul.

Still God did give them a King, and from the Biblical description he had everything that we would look for in a King, when looking at the outside.

He stood head and shoulders above other men, a ruggedly handsome guy named Saul.

But when God told Israel He would give them a King, he gave them a king inside and out.

Saul had everything that he needed to be a good King.

This is something that seemed to just jump off the page to me this past week as I prepared for this message.

In the past, I wrote Saul off as someone who looked like a King only on the outside.

As if he was doomed from the start because He never had the heart of a King.

But don’t forget, God gave Israel this man for their first King.