Purpose
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Backstory:
God established Israel as a nation
Last major leader - Joshua - left with message
Keep your end of the covenant - show the world who God is
The book of Judges - Israel completely misses the mark
Not like a modern “judge,” but a tribal chief
Israel spiraled down in a cycle
God wanted Israel to be holy - and remove immoral Canaanites
However, they just basically moved in and adopted their behavior
So they sinned, God allowed oppression, Israel repented, A judge would deliver, find peace, back to sin
There was a cycle, but also got worse every time
First, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah - pretty good judges
Then Gideon AKA Super Chicken - gets a little worse
Starts off cowardly, but gets better and saves Israel
Eventually murders and creates idol for worship from earrings
Leading them back into the cycle
Then Jephthah comes in and he’s pretty bad
Basically a hill dwelling gangster - doesn’t know God
Treats Him like a Canaanite god - offers to sacrifice next thing he sees if he wins a battle
Wins, comes home, sees his daughter, sacrifices her
Atheist still use this to prove God is evil
However, this is something God did not want! That was why He wanted the Canaanites out in the first place
In any case, Jepthah does it anyway leading Israel into more idolatry
Then we land on arguably worst judge yet! A very famous man named Samson
But there’s an important theme in Judges - one that Samson lives out
Even when His vessels are messed up, God is still faithful
He will still keep His promises, even when he has to use messed up people
Like Gideon, like Jephthah, like Samson, and even like US!
Let’s get into the life of Samson
YouVersion: Purpose
In Judges 13:1-25
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
As I said, Israel was in a cycle
Sin to oppression
Means next steps are repentance and rescue by a judge
Here’s how it begins
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.
This guy lived in Zorah, about 14 miles west of Jerusalem - tribe of Dan
That’s not why I picked this story BTW!
Now there is a promised son
There shouldn’t be one (barren) but there will be
And so this child has a unique purpose from God
Here’s what the angel says:
4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Samson is going to become a “Nazirite”
This is a special vow from God described by Moses in Numbers 6
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord,
and then he lists off the rules of the vow
No grape drinks
No alcohol
No cutting your hair
No going near dead bodies
Living this way, was to SEPARATE someone to the Lord
To be sanctified, means to be set apart
To be sanctified, means to be set apart
Watch this:
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”
Samson’s vow is a little bit special
Most Nazirites lived their vow for a time
Maybe a few months or years
But Samson was supposed to do this for life!
Beginning from birth - before he could make the vow himself
Ending only at his death
This means God had a purpose for Samson, whether Samson wants it or not
I also want us to see who is talking
“The Angel of the Lord”
The way this name is used in the Old Testament suggests that there is a very special “Angel”
Many think this is just a very special angel
Others think this angel is the Father Himself manifesting as a human (Theophany)
Others, including myself, believe these are appearances of Christ before He came (Christophany)
There is good Scriptural evidence for this (and a lot of it):
Jesus existed before time
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:14 (ESV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...
2. The angel takes personal credit
To Hagar:
10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”
To Abraham:
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
Many other examples
Melkizedek, Gideon, Jacob, Moses, Joshua… on and on
3. Angels don’t do that!
Revelation 22:8–9 (ESV)
8 I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you...
Ultimately, I believe these are Christophanies, Theophanies, or maybe a Triophany?
God has a purpose for Samson, Samson may or may not want it, it starts at his birth before he has a say
So who does God go to first? His parents...
Let’s see more:
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
There are some really important things for us today in there
This is a fantastic picture of Godly parenting - they started out right!
Here’s what we can learn from Samson’s mom and dad
Lessons about Godly parenting
Lessons about Godly parenting
1. Both parents are important
1. Both parents are important
Think about the times Angels appear to childless parents in Scripture
Woman is barren, gives birth to special baby, who receives the news?
With Isaac, He appeared to Abraham and later Sarah!
With John the Baptist, he only appeared to his father Zachariah
With Jesus it was Mary first, but later His step dad Jospeh
In this case, it’s Samson’s mom first, but later to his father Manoah
This shows God values both positions in a child’s life
Both Scripture and modern sociology show the importance of both roles
Kids that grow up without mothers are:
More likely to struggle with adult relationships
More likely to be socially distant ands suffer anxiety
More likely to abandon their own children as adults
Kids that grow up without fathers are:
More likely to commit suicide, murder, child abuse, rape and arson
More likely to drop out of school
More likely to become homeless and abuse drugs and alcohol
Sounds to me like God created the family to have moms and dads for a reason
2. Godly parents are on the same page
2. Godly parents are on the same page
Notice first that mom hears from the angel
Menoah jumps in - I want to talk to this guy too!
This can go either way, but in general, dad’s struggle more being active in their kids lives
I understand if you’re the bread winner, blah blah
BUT Dad’s were not meant to be absent from their kids lives
I also love that when he wasn’t present, Samson’s mom ran as fast as she could to get her husband!
For one thing, that shows how much she respects her husband
For another, the fact that Menoah got up from whatever he was doing to see an ANGEL...
Shows he trusted his wife, and he was invested in his son
I will say this, statistically speaking dads, we’re trending in the right direction in that category
Know how much time dads spent with kids in 1965? 15 minutes a day
I spend more time in the bathroom looking at Amazon...
Too much info? Sorry...
Today, dad’s have tripled the time they spend with their kids
Moms? You guys still spend 3x that amount with our kids
The goal isn’t to be the same, the goal is to be healthy
that brings up the 3rd point...
3. Godly parents put God first
3. Godly parents put God first
Sounds obvious, but it’s super important
Parenting is not about living vicariously through your kids - they’re not the next LeBron or Tiger
It’s not about making sure their childhood is full of memories of a million Christmas presents, family vacations and never hearing “no”
It’s not about pushing them to be perfect, setting impossible standards and helicoptering to protect them from everything
Parenting is all about curling
You give momentum because the stone cannot
Like a baby totally dependent on you
You hold on and steer directly
Like a small child you have total say over
Then you let go and sweep
Like a teenager you can only help from the outside
Then you hit a line and let it go to see where it lands
Like an adult you have to let go
Hopefully they hit the target of God
Some may not hit the target because you’re not actually aiming
You’re busy coloring flowers on the stone, or using it for a hockey puck, or smashing other peoples stones...
In curling, you have one goal - hit the target
In parenting, you have one goal - point them to God
When they get to heaven and Jesus says, “Depart from me I never knew you.”
“But I was really good at baseball!” - That won’t matter one bit...
Here’s a wake up call
Moms and dads, we’re spending more time with our kids
That’s great, but we’re not encouraging our kids to spend more time with God
25% of millennial Christians say church is irrelevant
Same percentage as non-Christians who think we’re irrelevant
What’s interesting is this:
85% of people accept Christ before they’re an adult
61% who attend as kids, keep going when they grow up
So believing the church is irrelevant is flat wrong!
Now, guess what percentage of kids go to church today? 16%...
Only 16% of kids today grow up in church
Only 16% of kids today grow up in church
It’s heartbreaking - 84% of kids don’t go to church!
What if I told you 84% of kids were molested at home
What if I told you 84% of kids were starving
What if I told you 84% of kids were being bullied at school
That would be terribly unacceptable and devastating
The fact that 84% of kids don’t go to church is also devastating
What does that mean for the eternity of these children?
I think we can do better! And it starts with this: parents living out an active faith with their kids
Talk about a chance to change the world!
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”
This is further evidence we’re talking about God
He’s concerned about the Spiritual, not the temporal
Reminds me of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness
Satan encourages Him to make bread, Jesus quotes Scripture:
4 But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Then He doesn’t want to say His name
Actually that word “wonderful” is easier to understand with “full of wonder”
He’s saying, “My name is beyond understanding.”
They’re about to see just how wonderful He is:
19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
Yeah, I would too!
Can you imagine an offering going up just like that!
It’s funny that sometimes we ask God for a blessing...
Then we get it and it freaks us out!
It seems like they realized that this messenger is more than just “a man” as he was referred to
Watch:
21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”
Manoah thought this for a reason
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
But Samson’s mom knew better - I think she understood the heart of God
No, He did this not so that we will die
He has another reason for us to see this
And soon that reason came:
24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Even here we see a picture of the body of Christ
God has a purpose for one person - like Samson
But he couldn’t live that purpose without the purpose of his parents
Faith is infectious - whether you are helping the church, your children, or your friends
Conclusion
Conclusion
Consider your purpose
Consider your purpose
My challenge for you is to think about your purpose
What are your gifts?
What are your resources?
Where is your relationship with God?
Take those things, and use them for the betterment of others
Share the love of God