Fir Lane 6 June 2021
Notes
Transcript
Samuel
Samuel
Opening music
Welcome
God of truth,
Help us to keep your law of love,
And to walk in ways of wisdom,
That we may find true life,
In Jesus Christ your Son.
51 Great is thy Faithfulness.
Prayers
Unclutter our lives, Lord
we have too much,
consume too much,
expect too much.
Grant us perspective;
to see this world
through others’ eyes
than just our own.
Grant us compassion;
where there is need
to play our part
not turn aside.
Grant us gratitude
for what we have,
our daily bread
the gift of life.
Unclutter our lives, Lord,
give us space,
simplicity
thankful hearts.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sin
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
56 King of Glory, King of Peace.
READINGS
Samuel 8:4-19
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so, he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day, I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots.12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.
16Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18When 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.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 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.”
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the Lord. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.
Psalm 138
HYMNS 504 May the mind of Christ my saviour.
Sermon
THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
Children often get hooked on jokes for example and they say to you “do you want to see something ugly” then hand you a mirror, you then have to laugh about it, and you may have to do the same over and over again and still act surprised much to the pleasure of the child.
And 1 Samuel 8 this does that to the people of God, I guess if someone said to Israel do you want to see something ugly then they would pull our 1 Samuel 8.
Sometimes a mirror speaks to us and we just don’t like what we see and I Samuel chapter 8 is a mirror just like that, it shows us the ugliness of Israel heart, there attitude towards God in the days of Samuel, but it also revels the ugliness of our own hearts.
It a mirror held up to Israel that they always have face, it’s also a mirror that revels things about us and the people of God and the Church.
When you look at the request of the leaders in light of the behaviour of both Eli and Samuel’s sons, there should have been alarm bells. Eli was a direct descendant of Aaron and a priest to the people and as tradition his sons Hopani and Phinehas would be priest but didn’t follow in their fathers’ footsteps they are described as worthless scoundrels using their position to their advantage. Samuel had appointed his sons, as Judges they used their position to take bribes and worse.
So, who thought it would be a great idea to have a King that would mean this is a hereditary title, so one the death of the king then his oldest son would be crowned?
You feel that the people have learnt nothing over the previous 350 years we have seen the successes and failure of Israel. When they try to do things in their own strength and turning from God, they even had the ark of the covenant taken in battle, when they felt lost, they cried out to God, God then provided Judges to save and lead the people.
Someone who reads the title of the book of Judges will probably be quite surprised to find that the “judges” of Israel were different from our modern-day judges. The Hebrew noun shopet, which means “judge,” comes from the verbal root shapat, which means “to judge,” “to execute judgment, govern, or vindicate.” So, the shopet in ancient Israel was one who did all of these things. The book of Judges would perhaps be better named as the book of “deliverers.” They were the ones who were called by God to save the now repentant Israelites from oppression. They didn’t sit behind desks and render verdicts but carried out God’s instructions when He called them. They “executed judgment” judgement upon enemies who had oppressed Israel.
Samuel is one of the few biblical characters to have a detailed birth narrative his mother Hannah was baron and prayed for years to have a child, eventually promising God if she was blessed with one, she would dedicate him to God, she became pregnant with Samuel and we can read about his childhood under Eli, as a boy we find him serving in the temple this is where he hears the voice of God for the first time.
We know at the age of around sixteen he was told by God to admonish Eli due to his son’s behaviour because he didn’t stop their misuse of power.
There is then a gap of 20 years, the next activity we find Samuel doing, is bringing Israel to repentance, coming to the aid of the people to beat the Philistines (1 Sam 7:9-10) After the death of Eli he became Judge over Israel. Spending his time traveling around what we would call a circuit.
Now we find him in his old age, there is not a lot of information about the time in between, but we can be sure he walked faithfully before God.
now maybe partly due to the aged Samuel the people are frightened they are rightly so. What will happen when he dies?
When things change dramatically in our lives are we to tempted to ask the question what can I do?
Where do I go to get help?
More to the point what should the Israelite leaders have done? They should have gone to God. Talked with Samuel to pray on their behalf but Instead, they believe a physical king would provide the security they desire.
TIME FOR A CHANGE
So, unperturbed we find the elders gather together at Ramah they came to visit Samuel their intention is to demand a king, time for a change they say.
The people now want a King but why?
Well let’s look at it from the people’s point of view.
As we know Samuel is old.
But what if the King or his son is corrupt and leads the people into sin?
A bridge they will have to cross.
So, what is the real reason?
The main argument is that they want to be like everyone else. God knew this time was coming,
(Dt 17:14) in Deuteronomy God predicts that the Israelites will want a king rather than have God as their King.
“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’
They had tried to make a King this before with Gideon (Judges 8:22-23)
Gideon turned down the request, he knew the Lord God should rule over them.
Now they have reached a point they want a change they want a king they can see.
Ask yourself who is your King?
Do we face a time when we consider we don’t need God we will be our own God?
I think many today believe this is the case statements like “I am a self-made man or woman.”
But truly can anyone be self-made?
The famous song many times now heard at funerals “I did it my way.”
Should that not really be “I did it God’s way?”
We live in a time where people seek fame by any means, bombarded by the promise of good looks and happiness if we by a certain perfume or aftershave.
If we look closely at these things and how they infiltrate us on a daily basis, it is difficult to remain untouched.
Do we call out we want a new king?
This is the situation we face today, is the Church looking to God’s word or succumbing to to popular demands, to comply to the desires of people rather than God’s.
Are we affected by what is happening around us?
SAMUEL’S REACTION AND GOD’S RESPONSE
When the leaders approach Samuel its not a request for a discussion about the future of God’s people it is a demand for a king, how would you feel after years of service to the people its no wonder Samuel sees this as an afront to himself as a Priest and a Judge.
Is his reaction like yours would be?
Would we grumble and feel resentment to the people?
What Samuel did was, he went on and prayed would that be your first choice, or would you brood over it? I not sure what I would do.
But God tells him it is rebellion against him. God tells Samuel to obey the voice of the people give them a king. It’s as if they have forgotten every battle, they won was because of God, when on their own they lost.
The message to the leadership is they can have a King like other nations rather than God, but it will cost them, the king will make demands on the people for land and possessions and on their children.
Even so they don’t count the cost. they are convinced that having a king to rule over them would not only give them a figure head to follow, but also make them like the other nations around them. They would fit in better.
FOOLISH CHOICES
What can we take from this morning’s reading?
The Israelites had every need to worry about the future, what they should have done was to go to God, but instead they made this decision to make a demand. Give us a King!
Are we like that at times wanting a visible King we can follow?
The desire to fit in, is a stumbling block, we are called to be different.
We are not called to be like others who crave money and power, we are called to serve.
We are called to go against the flow of self-first, to God first.
We see that sometimes God will deny our request, and sometimes allows his people to make the wrong decision, The Israelites did get what they asked for which eventually led to exile to Babylon and ten of the tribes disappearing.
We need to be careful when we come to God, not to make demands, instead we need to listen to what God wants to tell us.
There is no doubt in my mind that he loves and cares for each one of us, but we constantly let him down, by our actions, thoughts, and deeds.
Do we want to be like Samuel and Eli obedient to God or like their sons?
Let’s take a lesson from todays reading and come humbly to our God in repentance.
303 I know that my redeemer lives.
Prayers
God of all creation, you hold the depths of the earth in your hands.
You are closer to us than the air we breathe.
Fill our souls with your wonderful love and light.
Give us strength and courage to reflect that love and light in the world.
Let us never shrink back from who we are in you or hide our light inside ourselves. Renew in us a sense of joy,
painting the dark shadows around us with your light, your love and your salvation.
Hear us today as we pray for a world too often darkened by hatred, evil, power and greed.
Within our darkest night, Let your light shine.
God of power and might, your broken world cries out from the depths,
a world dominated by the darkness of war, terror, pain and suffering.
We think of the on-going and deepening conflict in [Syria and the middle East].
We share the pain and anguish of those who have had to flee from their homes,
countries and livelihoods, who risk their lives,
desperate for a new start free from fear and war.
May they see your light, feel your strength and power.
and know the truth of your promise.
that we shall not be overcome by the dark shadows of life
or the darkness of human nature.
Within our darkest night, Let your light shine.
God of compassion and grace, we share with you our love and concern.
for people in a dark place today.
We have on our hearts the friends and loved ones of the victims of violence and hatred.
We pray that they will find your strength.
in the compassion and love of those around them.
We pray for tolerance in our society.
We pray for all Muslims suffering from Anti-Islamic hate crimes.
Let your light shine through the darkness of all their pain and their suffering.
Within our darkest night, Let your light shine.
God of life, we ask for your healing power,
on those who are enduring pain and illness.
We especially think of ………………………
and all those we name quietly in our hearts……………………
We share the grief of people close to us, who’ve recently lost loved ones.
We especially think of ………………………………………………………
We remember that as we weep with the grieving,
we embrace the joy of ……………….
We know your everlasting light shines with us,
in moments of great sadness and great joy.
Within our darkest night, Let your light shine.
God of love and hope,
Renew in us a deeper sense of who we are in you.
Help us to be aware of your presence each and every day.
Make us instruments of love and praise.
May our words, actions and lives be living examples
of your forgiving, healing, life-giving love.
Amen.
690 The Church is one foundation
Blessing
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you,
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face towards you
and give you peace;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.
Closing music
