Sunday Morning

[Recap ]

Calling

Calling (Friday Night)

Downward Spiral

Lost It

Birth - calling and so much promise - truly the origin story of a hero

Maybe you’re in the downward spiral. You feel it.

Downward spiral as things go from bad to really bad to awful - Samson disobeys God

Maybe you’ve already hit that moment of rock bottom and you don’t know where to go.

And we left off in the story last night with Samson’s strength gone, his eyes gouged out, grinding grain into flour in the dungeons of Gaza

[ReCap ]

So this morning, I want to finish off the tragic story of Samson.

Read

When I was a sophomore in high school, my parents and I went on a road trip with the purpose of touring colleges. We drove to Illinois to tour Wheaton, we drove to Indiana to tour Taylor, we drove to Michigan to tour Hope and Hillsdale, and we drove all the way out to Virginia to tour Liberty.

I was only really considering schools where it would be possible for me to play college football.

So as we were leaving the state of Michigan and driving through Ohio, I realized that the path we were driving was going to take us right through a town in Ohio called Canton.

If you’re a football nerd like me you would immediately recognise Canton as the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A place where the greatest players and greatest moments in the history of professional football are put on display.

So we stopped when we got to Canton and went to tour the hall of fame. If you know anything about the hall of fame, you would know that each player who gets selected to be in the hall gets a bust made, a golden statue of their head that gets displayed inside the hall of fame.

There was one figure in particular that I wanted to see. One of my favorite football players of all time named Bronko Nagurski. He was part of the very first hall of fame class, one of the original members of the pro football hall of fame.

Bronko is a legend. Almost a myth. The story goes that Clarence Spears the head coach of the university of minnesota was in International Falls, MN to recruit a different player to come play for the Gophers. Once he got up there, he got lost and pulled over to ask for directions. Bronko was out in the field plowing by hand and when Coach Spears asked him which way he needed to go, Bronko picked up the plow with one hand and pointed down the road. A feat of almost superhuman strength. Coach spears gave him a scholarship on the spot to come play football.

It was no surprise to me that Bronko would be found in the football hall of fame.

Anika mentioned this yesterday in her message. If you’re familiar with the book of Hebrews, you’ll know that there’s a chapter in Hebrews that some could call the Hall of Fame or maybe better, the Hall of Faith. A list of people throughout the bible that displayed great faith in God.

All the people from biblical history that you would expect are found there:

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joesph, Moses, David...

Joesph, Moses

But if you read through the list, a name pops up that you might find surprising.

Samson makes the list

Hebrews 11:32 CSB

And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

So somehow, after everything that Samson did in his life, after all the ways in which Samson screwed up and messed up and failed. Samson the arrogant, the lustful, the murderer… The author of Hebrews still puts Samson in this list of heroes.

But Samson is not a glorious hero, the kind we should strive to be like...

Samson is a tragic hero, whose life should have ended much differently

But if you look back over the list of names in Hebrews chapter 11, it’s not just Samson that by all accounts shouldn’t belong. you will find no perfect people in Hebrews 11. You’ll find liars, drunks, cheaters, murderers - all of them sinful

But God is so good that he can even used messed up, broken, sinful humans to accomplish his plan.

We are SAMSON.

We have been called by God even before our birth.

But through our sin, our rebellion and disobedience to God, our lives have spiraled downward.

Even to the point of hitting absolute rock bottom just like Samson.

But I love the quote Zack shared last night: “Sometimes God allows you to hit rock bottom so that you find out that he is the rock at the bottom”

And it’s in that place of our deepest hurt, our most sinful moments that we see Jesus for who he is.

Samson’s last victory came only when he was broken, humiliated, and blind. In that moment he could no longer look to his own strength.

You greatest victory will come when in your moments of brokenness, humiliation, and blindness - when you stop looking to yourself and you look to Jesus.

Share Stories from this weekend:

As you go to have this final cabin discussion time, this isn’t time to hold anything back.

If there were things left unsaid last night because you were embarrassed, or unsure of what other people might think, now is the time.

If you have questions about what it looks like to follow Jesus or know his will for you life, now is the time to ask them!

Enduring Word Commentary

“Samson was a hero, even mentioned among the heroes of faith in (). Yet there is no glorification of Samson and his end; he was not a glorious hero to be emulated, as modern suicide bombers are glorified by some. Instead, Samson was a tragic hero, whose life should have ended much differently.

This could only happen with God supernaturally empowering Samson. This shows that God never forsook Samson, even when he was disobedient. God’s mercies were there for Samson even in a Philistine prison. All Samson had to do was to turn his heart back towards God and receive them.

This last great victory came only has he was broken, humiliated, and blind. He could no longer look to himself.

Samson shows the danger of underestimating our own sinfulness. He probably figured he had things under control with his own fleshly lusts, but his desire for love, romance, and sex led directly to his destruction. Samson was the great conqueror who never allowed God to properly conquer him.”