We Want a King!

Intro

We are tactile creatures who live mainly by our senses. What we can see, hear, smell, and touch. And we trust these. We have built whole theories of epistemology, the study of how we know things, on the notion that all there is is what we can gather with our senses, called positivism or scientism. There, sense data is seen as the only way to determine the truth. If it couldn't be verified using the scientific method, then it was not true. So truth claims about God, although from a Romans 1 perspective can be verified, according to positivists do not meet the scientific method. So God is to be rejected, and the materialist attempts to build a worldview without respect to God.

In truth, it is much harder to live by faith than by sight. We want so desperately to be able to touch and handle the truth. And while there are blessings that attend the Christian life, much of God's promises await fulfillment in the age that is to come. We find ourselves waiting for a king and a kingdom that seems never to come. Couple this with our leaders' constant failure to provide our utopian dreams, we are left longing for something better. Those longings are good, but we get into problems when we take things into our own hands, attempting to usher in the kingdom of God. We end up making a kingdom that looks a lot like the nations around us.

Israel in our text today has enjoyed peace, and during the life of Samuel, there was justice and equity. But Samuel has feet of clay, and will soon go the way of all the earth. And like Gideon and Eli, judges in Israel before him, Samuel's sons do not follow in his footsteps. So a consensus is reached and a delegation is sent to tell Samuel that before he goes—they want a king. Forgetting of course that they had a king, they explain to Samuel that they want a king like the nations. DIscontent with the rule and protection of a heavenly king, they cast about for models close by and settle for a king like the nations. It wasn't necessarily that the monarchy was bad, but it was their motives. They would soon discover that what they wanted, would lead to some unhappy results. Yet they persist in their desire, proving to be un-teachable by Samuel's solemn warnings.

But we are called to live by faith as the author of Hebrews tells us after listing many of faith's heroes that "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth" (Heb11:13). We are strangers and exiles looking for a better country and better home. And since God is King, we must look to Him alone for salvation.

1 Samuel 7:15-8:22

Unsound Motives

Motives are everything, but motives are a tricky thing to pin down. We can scarcely determine if our own motives for things are good which means we are absolutely terrible at determining other's motives. But bad motives can ruin good works as Paul says in

1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV

3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Israel, under Samuel, owing largely to his faithfulness and his ability to lead the people toward covenant faithfulness, experienced peace from the philistines. But now, it would seem that Israel is in decline. Under Samuel's sons, Justice is being perverted as they take bribes—turning after gain. So the elders look for a remedy; they want a king. But not just any king, a king like the nations.

We know from Deuteronomy 17 that God makes provision in the law for a time when Israel will be ruled by a king. He sets specific boundaries around their rule, and warns them not to multiple horses, wifes, or Gold. The kings rule was to be carried out under the fear of the Lord and according to the law. But nowhere does it prohibit Israel from having a king.

But sometimes there is a great difference between the having and the wanting. The question is what motivates the elders of Israel to want a king, and what does that say about their relationship with God. Israel doesn't want to lose battles anymore. They want a king that will represent them on the world stage, fighting for them and keeping them from philistine oppression. They want one who will bring them success like the nations.

Samuel is clearly offended by their request but largely for the wrong reason. He thinks they are rejecting him—But God tells him what's really going in v. 7. "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." God is the king of Israel, they are his Chosen people and he is their covenant Lord, which is akin to being their king. But they want a king they can see, one that the nations around them can see, one they can be proud of, and put their confidence in. They don't want to walk by faith, they want to walk by sight.

It's all too easy to slip into this same kind of thinking. The outrage of the election seems to have simmered down slightly, but if anything, that reflected this kind of thinking. Thinking that what you see is what you get. But there is always more than meets the eye. While it certainly would help to have a godly president, I would contend that it would barely slow down the slide towards barbarism that the west is heading towards. But the truth of the matter is Jesus is king. And he is right now ruling and reigning. And in some sense, we reject him when we allow anxiety over our current cultural moment to crowd out our trust and dependence on Christ as our king.

Israel failed to stop and analyze its motives. They weren't self-reflective enough to say why is it that we want a king like the nations. perhaps then they would have seen that their motives were causing them to reject God as king over them. But we sometimes don't think of our own motives either. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:3 you can do all sorts of great things but if they are done from wrong motives they are wrong. That means you could read your bible, love your spouse, have children, eat, drink, serve in the church, plant a garden, pray, write books, make art, and on and on all with the wrong motives. Meaning those pursuits are meaningless, and will actually tend to your harm.

That doesn't mean we don't do them. But it does mean we need to be constantly going back and asking ourselves why. Why do I do this particular thing? What are my motives for doing it? Are they pride, vainglory, envy. What are your motives? It was not that having a king was wrong for Israel. God will later use David to be a type of messiah; he promises him that the messiah would come from his line and sit on his throne. The issue is not the having but the wanting. The issue is motives. As we examine our own motives always keep in mind that Since God is King, we must look to Him alone for salvation.

Unhappy Results

Samuel wisely brings the matter before the Lord in prayer. The Lord explains that Israel's motives are not really new, but since he brought them out of Egypt there loyalty to Him has been lacking. Every chance they got, they traded their allegiance to the Lord to worship and serve foreign gods. But God tells Samuel to obey the elders, but first to solemnly warning them of the consequences of having a king. You see, Although Israel thought it would be a blessing to have a king like the nations, Samuel shows that it will have unhappy results.

The solemn warning that Samuel gives is meant to lay out the costs associated with calling a king to rule over them, for he will take their sons and daughters to serve him (v. 11-13). He will take the best of their land and a tenth of their produce (v. 14-15). He will even take their servants to be his servants and their livestock (v. 16). In fact, they will really be his slaves (v. 17). He will take, he will take, over and over again. Samuel tries to drive home that calling a king to rule over them would be costly. Eventually, they will realize the result of their desires and cry out to the Lord to deliver them, but sadly he will not listen to them.

As Americans, we look sort of slant-eyed at kings. For we fought and won a bloody revolution against the tyranny of the British monarchy by declaring our independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote:

when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

We went to war and won our independence over fewer offenses than Samuel here articulates Israel will experience under a king. And it would seem from Samuel's solemn warning that he doesn't have in mind abuse—for things could surely be worse. In our own day, I daresay that our founding fathers would be shocked to see how our bloated Federal government has taken the place of a despot like King George. In fact, we have seen over and over in the guise of public health, the government strip more and more of our freedoms away. But as long as the government continues to provide womb-tomb care, our daily bread, and they keep us entertained we will gladly surrender more and more of our freedoms.

What we have seen is that it is not so much the throwing off of tyranny that leads to liberty, for under the guise of democracy our government has stripped away more of our liberty than would have been imagined by our founders. What we find instead is that it is when we throw off the restraint of God's rule over us that leads to tyranny. And we would happily endure tyranny if it means we can finally be free from the law of God.

But this is a false freedom. Really it's bondage masquerading as freedom. But the answer is not a new and better form of government. That would be only to heal the wound lightly and would end in the same outcome. What is needed is a recognition of and submission to the rule of God. One such example is a pastor who is imprisoned now in Alberta, Canada, and will not be released because he cannot sign the conditions of bail. He contravened public health orders when he organized and hosted church gatherings at Gracelife church in Edmonton, Alberta. First, in December, he was fined. But he persisted, believing that it is his responsibility to shepherd the sheep, he kept meeting. They issued a closure on the church, yet he still persisted in meeting. Finally, he was arrested, told not to gather the church, and released the next day with that warning. The next Sunday, he gathered the church and preached on Romans 13:1-4, the sheriff called him after the service and told him he had to turn himself in, so he did. He was then tried and told he would not be released unless he signed the undertaking, which stated that he could not conduct services, gather the church, or preach, or do any shepherding. He refused because it would violate his conscience, so he is in jail, still waiting for a trial in May. We should be praying for pastor James Coates, and his wife Erin, and their children, as well as Gracelife church.

In order to endure the kinds of tyranny that we will face at the hands of a government that is set in opposition to the Church, we must be resolved to have our allegiance to God higher than our allegiance to the governing authorities. As Peter said, “We must obey God rather than men." Since God is King, we must look to Him alone for salvation.

Unteachable People

God himself warns the people of the unhappy results that would follow them calling a king, and rejecting his authority as king over them. But his solemn warning is not heeded. Look at the response the elders give to Samuel

1 Samuel 8:19–22 ESV

19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

Hear the recalcitrance in their voices as united they insist on having a king like the nations. Despite all the evidence they were presented with and the fact that calling a king like the nations is tantamount to the rejection of God as king, they prove to be unteachable as they insist on getting what they want. Samuel proceeds to make this known to the Lord. It ends sort of anticlimactically with the Lord telling Samuel to give them what they want. This outcome is really not new either. In their desert wandering, they grumbled and complained against Moses and the Lord for having to eat manna all the time—they wanted meat. God responds by giving them what they wanted and then some.

Numbers 11:18–20 ESV

18 And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?” ’ ”

God gave them meat until it was loathsome for them. They had failed to learn that God was their provider and would care for them; they just needed to be content with what he had provided. Not because he would never give more, but exactly because he was planning on giving them more. If they couldn't depend on God while being utterly dependent on Him in their desert wandering, how would Israel act when they possessed the land? Well, of course, they would do what we see them doing in our text today—they would reject God.

What underlies their unteachable spirit is a hardness of heart. This is the Spiritual condition of being unresponsive to the word of God. In the OT is described as stubbornness, stiff-necked, uncircumcised the result of both our own efforts to turn away from the Lord, but also of the Lord's doing. As in the case of Pharoh, whose heart was continually hardened by God.

One of the most tragic hardening of hearts happened when Jesus came to His own people and they rejected him. Even to the point as we read earlier in our service of claiming that "they have no king but Caesar." But that was to fulfill what Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

We looked last week at the nature of repentance, recognizing that repentance is the sovereign work of God. There are of course times when God permits a hardening of the hearts of his people allowing them to turn away from them, but this is always for the purpose of wooing them back. He allows us to wander, he even hardens our hearts, so that for a time we learn that life apart from fellowship with God is not worth living.

Hebrews 3:7–14 ESV

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

We are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin having as the author of Hebrews says, an evil, unbelieving heart. Are you teachable? Perhaps the greatest litmus test is your ability to respond to correction. Married couples you see this clearly. I know at times, more than I would like to admit, I have responded very poorly to my wife's correction. Instead of thinking that her desire is for me to be more godly, to glorify God in everything, I will hear the correction and get angry. I may even see the validity and know it's something I need to change, but I'm unreachable when all I can see is her faults. I'm the one with the beam, and she has rightly pointed it out, but I can't take my eyes off that speck in her eye—such that the lesson God was using my wife to teach me is completely lost on me.

We've all seen the unteachable teenager, who would rather tread the path of the fool, rather than listening to lessons already learned by their parents. I mean dad and mom are so uncool, what could they possibly know—besides no one else is doing that. Everyone has a smartphone, with unfiltered access 24/7 to the internet, beginning at ages that would boggle your mind. Why should our family be different?

Were different precisely because God called us to be. That's what it means to be Holy. It means to be weird, to be set apart from the culture around you. It means you will not be like the nations. We are unteachable when chose models for living from nations—when God calls us to be the model. That means that our homes, our church, and our engagement in the public sphere should look different. But Israel didn't want that, they wanted a king like everyone else—one they could see, and one they could trust in to deliver them from their enemies. That was worth the cost to them. But the cost was far greater than they could imagine for over the course of the next roughly 600 yrs Israel would see how utterly failed their kings would be. But of course, this was to foster in them a deep longing for something better, a better king and better kingdom.

I daresay that longing is still with us, not for a better king but for the return of the king. Every failed leader, every new revelation that a hero in the faith was a deeply flawed individual who masked over their sin awakens that longing for the return of Christ. In the meantime, we are called to live by faith, not by sight, in allegiance to Christ alone as our Lord and king.

Charge

The charge is this. Check your motivations, heed the warnings God gives us in his word, and live lives marked by expectant faith—watchful for the returning King.