Lost Before We Begin
Notes
Transcript
As you can tell from my phsyque I am a runner!
- No?
And When I’ve entred the odd half-marathon
, it would have been foolish for me to think I could win.
BEfore I have started, I am without doubt not going to win!
This weeks passage shows us the foolishness of trying to live under any other King, other than God himself,
It’s to choose loosing before you even begin!
but worryingly,
it doesn’t seem to stop us, or the Israeliets of the time, from trying.
Context
Context
Last weeks passage saw the private annointing of the future King Saul.
You may remember Saul was rather unsucessfully looking for his donkeys
- when his servant suggests consulting the prophet Samuel.
Don’t worry says Samue; - you’re donkeys are found,
and by the way - you’re going to be king!
The verbs ‘lost’ or ‘not found’ gets repeated 12 times in refernece to the donkeys
- it seems excessive if you read the passage again with that in your mind,
unless of course - we’re being prepared to relate the lostness of the donkeys to something else in this weeks passage.
1 - The People - Lost before they begin..
1 - The People - Lost before they begin..
We’ve had the private annoining of the new King,
but now it is time for the public crowning,
Here begins a community party,
a nations first coronation,
a first king,
trumpets,
party poppers,
a big cake,
this is one of those treassured moments to be alive..
This is what the people want… and have been asking for an waiting for.
This is bigger than the end of lock down street parties we’re all hoping for!
However,
as they begin,
there seems to be one very key ‘party pooper’:
Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah and said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”
It’s got ominous overtones hasn’t it -
After all I have done for you! say God - Present yourselevs before the Lord.
Like a military barraks inspection - Line up tribes of Israel,
no-one is to miss this.
I SAVED YOU OUT OF EGYPT.
No Small feat God points out.
The Egytpians were powerful!
He saved them from their power!
It’s got to a be deliberate reminder of the ironic request the people have presented to to God.
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
Give us a King they ask -one who will fight our battles!
You mean battles like being enslaved to the powerful Egytians with no possible hope of freedom!
Until your God/King himself intervened
and rasied up a leader Moses,
whom God the King rescued from death at the hands fo the egytians as a baby -
raised him in the very household of pharoe,
and brought him back to free his people,
A God/king who can send plagues of judgement and warning to your enemies, like the egytians,
- who spared you alone, the Israelites, at the passover,
- who led you out to freedom,
-who then parted the entire Red sea to allow you to escape
- and at the same time -
closed it behind you upon the enemy Egytian army, defeating them,
and making any further pursuit impossible!
You want a king like that?
A king that the surrounding nations fear and tremble at,
for they have even heard of the the power of this God/King who resuced the Israelites from Egypt,
back in chapter 4
Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?”
When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
You want a king who can defeat the enemy without even the presences of His people
- bringing terror and panic on all those who reject and refuse him,
as he did while the Phlistines maintained possession of the ark in chapter 5.
a King who without any servants or army
can even arrange a couriour of 2 ox and a cart to return the Ark of the Lord from the enemy, back to you!,
for the enemy cannot bear to be near this God/King!
So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it.
That’s the kind of King you want?
A King after God’s own heart,
Oh = wait - no, that is the kind of King God you already have!
What you want is a ‘king like all the other nations’!
The irony -
the sad reality of their short sightedness,
You want a king like all the surrounding nations.
A king like the ones that your very own God can overcome,
defeat
and over power whenever He so chooses!
You want a king that you have already been warned about in chapter 8 will take much and give little,
who
When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
The sad depravity and pride of mankind,
that despite seeing God’s grace,
despite hearing God’s warnings,
despite knowing that ulitmately no other God/King will bring the power and peace and joy they desire,
Still says - ‘yes please’
- cos I think I know better.
- give me that kind of deadend, no hope life I want!
The Israelites have lost before they begin.
They’ve bought a knife to a Gun fight.
or chop sticks to a soup lunch,
It’s going to get messy - and not is a good way!
that’s the foolishness of choosing a King like all the other nations -
over God!
They have lost before they begin!
And Do we live much differently?
“Oh Lord god, I didn’t get my prayer answered how I thought,
so now I’ll reject you for a bit and try my own path.
Ohh Lord, the bible says some things I find difficult,
so I’ll make my own mind up about those things.
Oh Lord, the church did somthing that I didn’t like,
or didn’t do something I think they should,
so I’, going to give faith a break for now.
I’ll try the ‘kings of this world’ - this ‘kings of my own choosing’!”
And I’ll have the cheek to ask you for these things in prayer!
The Almighty, saviour God of the bible wont take too kindly to our chop sticks.
The soup is hot and it’s going to scauld us!
We’re weren’t saved from Egypt, but we have been saved,
perhaps God would say to us:
“Don’t you remeber when i saved you out of slavery.
When I overcame the great power of sin and satan on the cross.
When I bought you with the price of my son.
When I rescued out of this world of no hope,
out of a life destined for judgement and an eternity of hell.”
And we have the ironic arogance to tell God
“- I don’t realy like your way,
I think I know a better way
- and it stems from the very thing you have saved me out of - sin and the world!”
There is a very serious warning here for those of us who claim to be God’s people,
and yet exchange our God/King Jesus,
for something like the rest of the world!
It’s a rejection of God himself.
19a
But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”
A true believer at the time would hear this sermon of the Prophet Samuel -
this reminder of the grace of God,
this warning that they are rejecting Him,
and they’d have repented earnestly on their knees.
Come back to the the one true king people of God.
Use a spoon to eat your soup - it’s foolishness not to.
Let us repent each day for even the smallest of thoughts and actions that seek a worldly way,
rather than God’s grace.
That seek a self chosen king, rather than the only true God King.
If we don’t repent,
and instead choose another king,
then we, the people, have lost before we begin.
2 - The King - Lost before they begin..
2 - The King - Lost before they begin..
It’s not just the people who are lost before they begin.
It seems God will not let the terrible choise they have made
pass without really making a point!
Every tribe is gathered
- and they begin to ‘ask God’ (the king they are rejecting)
- oh the irony - to reveal the ‘new king’ to them!
“Dear God, we don’t want you as King, so please help us choose a better option!”
They cast lots - an regular OT means of determining God’s will, as prov 16 33 says:
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.
(The irony, that the very God/king they (we sometimes) want replaced
- is the only power truely at work even in our feeble efforts to leave him!)
The lots draw out,
The tribe of Benjamin,
then the clan of Matri,
and then the man Saul!
No surprise to us - we knew already, but now the whole nation is certain...
Where is he - bring him forward!
Well, you’ve guesed it - he’s lost before he even begins! v21b
The New International Version Chapter 10
But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. 22 So they inquired further of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?”
And the LORD said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.”
I mean notice how dependant the people are on God
- even as they seek to betray him -they ask the Lord where Saul is.
Oh - he’s hiding in the supplies!
The irony is extraordinary!
Saul is cowering away in the supplies
- he is not found, - like the donkeys of chpater 9!
and yet they ignore all these warnings and problems,
becasue - well - he looks the part!
They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others.
Surely it’s with some mockery that Samuel then says
Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”
Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
This is what they want - a big tall man -
someone who looks impressive to the rest of the world,
even if he’s by character already dispplaying problems!
Saul had lost before he began
- becasue despite being miracously chosen, found, annointed by Samuel last week,
despite being chosen again very publically by God before all the nation,
he’s hiding!
He doesn’t trust God’s plan or purposes.
Perhpas we feel sorry for Saul
- I mean if he’s just heard Samuel introduce the proceedings
with this terrible warning from God
- maybe he doesn’t want to be king!
But he finds himself as king nontheless
The true God Kings plans never fail or faulter,
- a King who has lost before he begins is born.
It’s true for all idols, and false ways we align ourselves too.
Perhpas we pursue - and God allows us -
to seek the King of money or power or I’m right the bible is wrong.
They look so impressive - a head taller than anything else on offer!
But the reality - is those kings have lost before they begin.
You really do not need to look far to find that wealthy or powerful peple are far from happy!
Infact they are often the most miserable!
And yet - we still cry out - give us a king like that!
Give us what the world seems to have!
And as for the king of money or power being able to save us from death and judgement.... it’s foolishness.
Lost - lost before they begin.
Perhaps you immerse yourselves in work, or family, or status, or even your rights.
Give us a king like that Lord God - not a King like you who calls us to deny ourselevs,
give up our rights,
sacrifice for others and for God,
Put others first, not me,
]
Haa! These worldly things -
They promise so much - a head taller -
but total and utter distaster faces all the followers of other kings.
What sort of king are you asking God for?
conclusion
conclusion
So,
The people are lost before they begin,
and they are asking for a king who has lost before he begins.
It’s a sorry situation,
it’s indefensible before God,
It’s ilogical and foolish,
and yet we are all tempted,
The temptation is a head taller than everythign else we can see around us,
and so like a moth to a flame - we depart from the God King.
And within hours of King Sauls coronation - we have devision and strife amoung God’s people.
Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.
Saul has lost before he began
- but God still lays out for him the duties and rights of the King
- but we all know he’s not going to keep them:
Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.
The lost King can not resolve the devisions that already have started.
Even as readers we’re divided over what has happend!
Should they now follow and serve Saul as King - for God has now chosen him -
the text implies that’s the right thing to do now?
Or should they reject Saul and repent before the Lord and ask for a King after God’s own heart?
A king who can actually save them!
It’s a mess!
And it’s a mess today when we try bringing in worldly
ideals,
pursuits,
plans and
kings!
The church faces devisons and a mess when we pursue anything other than obedience to our God and King.
It’s why the only hope for the church is to study and preach God’s word the bible alone!
Otherwise we’re pursueing our own ideas and kings
- how could we know God our King any other way than in his revelation to us!
It’s why Saul was presented with the rights and duties
- so at least all were clear what should have been expected of him!
3 - Us - Are we Lost or Found?
3 - Us - Are we Lost or Found?
The bible has the truth and authority to speak into any and every situation,
while all other kings - like Saul
Well they will all just keep quiet,
They may scream and shout for our attention - but not truth or hope is found in them.
But the Bible is able to speak, becasue it does what I hope it has done for us today..
It shows us our need for a real King,
A God King!
A King who can fulfil all the rights and duties of a King after God’s own heart.
A King who can find a people who are lost before then begin!
Find a people like a you and me who are lost.
The people of 1 Samuel will find Saul a grave dissapointment.
But God has a king after his own heart in mind
- a good king is on his way - but they’ll have to wait!
But we do not!
King Jesus is alive a risen.
Ruler of the world!
It’s facinating that Jesus ‘finds a donkey’ before he entres Jeruslamn before his death!
His donkey isn’t lost and nor is he!
He’s won before he began!
He is found and he has found us!
We will do well to return to him in humble repentnace!
To remeber His rescue of us from sin and death,
as he sacrificed his life for us.
We will do well to give up on any and every king we seek in his place,
and to ask him - not for a king like the world wants,
But ask him to be our King - however he wants to be king,
for he is our only hope.
to be found.
PRAY