4.4.31 6.28.2020 Giant Job-Giant Man1 Samuel 9-10

Entice: Heroes are created and born. They are chosen and must choose. The combination of natural gifts, intentional development, and responsiveness to God is function together to present us with our Bible hero's. Not every hero who starts well ends well. Some who appear to fail, fail forward. Some who evidently succeed-fail. An illustration which I think is pertinent. R.E. Lee. Is a hero to the south. To me he was a talented traitor, guilty of treason. Romantic hindsight turned him into a tragic hero. Yes there were strengths. But maybe, more weaknesses.

He was like a chess player who takes all the pawns only to lose track of the objective of the game.

He only lost three...campaigns; Antietam, Gettysburg, Appomattox...the latter two were essentially his Queen and His King.

Engage: I rehearsed all that to arrive at this question.

What do you know or remember about King Saul?

Was he even a hero?

1 Samuel 9:1–2 ESV

1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

Expand: The people wanted a king to "fight their battles for them." God was willing, against Samuel's wounded protestations, to grant them their wish. Which leads us to the introduction of Saul, an abandoned donkey-recovery journey, his meeting with Samuel, anointing and presentation as King-and a on-again off-again process of assuming control. I am interested in...

How Saul was like and unlike other Biblical hero-leaders?

Why did he succeed in some ventures and fail in others?

How can you and I emulate his good behaviors and avoid his bad behaviors?

Excite: It is easy to look at outcomes and criticize. Losing the war, being rejected as king. Outcomes flow from choices. Saul did not need to make some of the choices he made. Today we want to look at the advantages he had. It helps us to frame the mistakes we will look at next week and to understand how this heroic figure flames out.

Explore:

Whether we become a hero or a zero depends on how we each respond to God's Choice of us.

Explain: A hero needs...

1. Clear purpose.

1 Samuel 9:16–17 ESV

16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.”

1.1 Lead God's People.

1.2 Save God's People.

1.3 Restrain God's People.

2. Transformed heart.

1 Samuel 10:1–9 ESV

1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. 2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’ 3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.” 9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.

2.1 Submission to God's will.

2.2 Presence of God's Spirit

2.3 Evidence of God's Work.

3. Willing Support.

1 Samuel 10:20–24 ESV

20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

3.1 Participation.

(A voice, and a vote)

3.2 Acclamation.

A tale of two giants...

I don't know if you caught it or not...but from a physical standpoint, Saul was a giant. He could lead from the front cause everyone could see him. Like Goliath he was a champion of his people. But...we don't remember him for that. Not for the initial support. Not for what was a very public conversion experience. Not for his initial sense of purpose. We remember him slinking off to a fortune teller after years of trying to murder a faithful subordinate.

What happened? Saul forgot that every decision matters. Every choice has consequences. Every road taken leaves one...untaken.

Maybe you got off to a good start and faded. Maybe you are still looking for lost donkeys. Today could be the first step to being a hero for God, a leader of his people, an integral part of His good work in Grayville. The choice is in your hand not only to begin well...but to finish well.