Blind Faith

Introduction

Today is last look in “Destined” series

Next week we start a new series called “Deep State”

We’re looking at someone in Scripture we don’t often make the center

This series is all about the Satan, or the Adversary

And we are studying him not because we should like him...

But because we need to understand him!

That begins next week, this week we will see the end of Samson’s life

Recap how messed up Samson is:

Mentioned he’s probably worst judge - why?

We have seen:

He didn’t honor his parents

Nazirite vow, lying to them, not respecting marriage wishes

He wasn’t loving toward his wife

Bad communication, left her but came back for relations, got her killed

He wasn’t kind to his Philistine acquaintances

Tricked them, murdered and stole from them

He struggled with Delilah

He lied to her, dragged out a bad romance, and was still foolish enough to trust her

He struggled with God

He spent time with unGodly people (he was supposed to eliminate), broke all Nazirite vows

Now, Samson sits in a prison cell

He was once the strongest man in the world!

But he told Delilah the secret - his hair was symbolic of his covenant with God

When he recklessly told her and she cut it, Samson rejected God’s role in his life

So the Philistine’s gouged out his eyes, sent him to prison, and forced him to grind grain at the mill

What does this tell us? He struggled with relationships

Even back when he returned to Israel (chapt. 15) , he lived by himself in the rocks - no one defended him

He was an angry, selfish, arrogant lone-wolf

Relationships are difficult - and there is temptation to stay away from them at times

There is one thing that makes them difficult - sin - PERIOD

Take away sin, relationships are easy

Today we’re looking at two angles - our horizontal and vertical relationships

We’ve been looking at Samson’s horizontal relationships (people)

So today, we’re going to look at his vertical relationship (with God)

YouVersion: Blind Faith

We’re in Judges 16:23-31 through the end

Judges 16:23–24 ESV

23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”

It’s important to remember something:

Samson’s life purpose was to be set apart, and to save Israel from the Philistines

That makes the Philistines the bad guys

HOWEVER, they’re not the enemies because they’re against Samson, or against Israel

They’re the enemies because they are against GOD

Everyone chooses a side

Had a friend - I’m not going to teach my kids about Jesus

I’m going to let them choose

Then you’ve chosen for them

That same friend came to know Jesus and now his kids are in church (and Christian school)

That is just a cop out

Matthew 12:30 (ESV)

30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Jesus makes it clear, there is no neutral ground

The top answer on Quora (Should I teach my kids about God)

Kelley Spartiatis: “Whenever (my kids) asked me do I believe in God, I would say something like, ‘It is a lovely idea’ or ‘Nobody knows for sure.’ If they wanted to go to church I took them. If they asked to be baptized I would have let them… They are well balanced in their religious views. They don't allow religion to dictate their life choices and they aren't anti possibilities. They are both agnostic by their own choosing.”

No, they are not

Is the pattern not clear - your kids ended up believing exactly what you told them!

It’s actually terribly sad - they don’t allow God to dictate their choices but they’re open to possibilities

And she calls that “balanced”

When it comes to truth, not using it but being open to it is not balanced

Is it against the law to commit murder?

Well I’m not going to let that change my actions but I’m open to the idea it might be a law...

Is that a “balanced” citizen? No! That’s a murderer!

Either you believe in God and He’s the Lord of your life, or you are against Him… that’s it!

We see that in Samson’s life too

Samson being captured didn’t only harm Samson

It gave the Philistines reason to celebrate their god Dagon

Essentially, the Philistines are saying: “Our god is stronger than the God of Israel, because we have conquered Samson.”

Remember your actions don’t just have repercussions for you

We are ambassadors for Christ - His representatives

When people know you’re a Christ follower, they’re watching you

When you cut someone off and give the finger… they see your little fish sticker

That doesn’t mean we don’t share our faith, it means we LIVE our faith

Don’t sit back quietly - know what that means?

I’m going to hide because God hasn’t really changed me...

Let the work that Christ has done in us shine, and humbly admit that it isn’t us!

It should be done in our marriages, our workplaces and in line at the grocery store

Let’s see what’s next:

Judges 16:25–27 (ESV)

25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

Let’s look at the mindset of these Philistines for a second:

They are mocking Samson, and in turn are really mocking Good

Just looking at the strong Israelite standing there was enough to entertain them

Ha! He has no strength! He has no eyes! He has no hair!

Well, he did have some hair - it was growing back...

Notice his guard - it’s a “young man”

The word na’ar (nahh-are) means “servant” but has a youthful, immature connotation

Means they had an immature little boy guarding him

Again, Samson is so weak and pathetic they can have a little boy guard him

There’s an interesting lesson here:

Growth comes from both struggle and success

For Samson, every time he does something well, he uses it as motivation to do something wrong

The more God blessed him, the more apt he was to make a mistake

Illustration: Silver Spoon Syndrome

Actual psychiatric condition

On one hand - low sense of nurturance, depression and low regard for private self

Yet the other hand - very high regard for public self

It comes from 3 things

1. You have a lot of gain

2. You don’t feel you have earned that gain

3. You are dependent upon that success

Example: Your dad starts a business and is very successful

You become the VP of sales with high salary, even though you don’t have the skills or education

Yet as a result, you become dependent on that salary and like the authority

What’s the remedy? They call it the silver ladder (instead of silver spoon)

It’s about opportunity with a challenge…

I think this is what Samson was going through

God walking that line is Samson’s life, and we see Samson gripping onto silver spoon tendencies

And so God draws a very clear line

When Samson denounced the last part of God’s agreement (cutting his hair) God let Samson face a challenge

And it’s a big one!

Judges 16:28 (ESV)

28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Immediately we see the effect of the challenge on Samson’s life

Samson calls to the Lord

Interesting: We’ve seen Samson lose his wife, fight 1,000 men, be tricked out of a bet, fight a lion...

And we have yet to see him call on God until now

Relying on the blessings of God is different than relying on God Himself

Why is it different?

One is asking God for “stuff” to get done what you want

The other is complete surrender - I want what you want, I trust you to arrange my life, I need you to direct my steps

I faced this dilemma while I had COVID

I felt no nauseous I was pleading with God

First, I asked Him to take it away - when He didn’t I got a little frustrated

So I prayed, “God, let me trust You. Please let me see your purpose in this. Let me see how this pleases You.”

And then when I started to feel better, my prayers changed

“God, thank You for this rest and relief. Help me to have compassion on those that don’t find relief like this.”

As a result, God and I are closer

Not because I’m so good at surrendering, but because God is a God worth surrendering to

So Samson has finally decided to surrender and seek God in his trial

I think up until now I think Samson has assumed it was all him

God knew Samson needed a reminder that this whole time it was always God’s strength

Now he no longer assumes God’s strength or leans on his own power

Isaiah 64:6a (ESV)

6 We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We need those reminders too sometimes - that every good thing we do is only because of God

How dangerous it is to forget, and to believe we are so great

Robert Mugabe (President of Zimbabwe): “Your first bath was done by someone and your last bath will be done by someone, so where are you going with your pride and arrogance?”

So Samson asks for one last victory against the Philistines - and it can only come from one place...

The power of God

Judges 16:29–30 (ESV)

29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

Samson’s death was bittersweet

He pushed the columns down around him, and the entire building collapsed

Killing everyone on the roof and inside the building - including himself

There is a sense of self-sacrifice here

I think Samson finally saw that his purpose was to serve God, and so he did it regardless of the cost

Makes me think of how we serve God

There are so many ways we serve God, and they aren’t all necessarily “what we want to do”

We do these things as followers of Christ because we want to serve God and His purposes

There are many reasons people don’t serve God

It could be selfishness, laziness, maybe you don’t know what to do, maybe you never thought about it...

But there is one thing that is never a reason - no one doesn’t serve because there’s nothing to do!

In our church we have a million ways to serve, with even more coming

Every month we serve 20-30 something families at our food pantry

We need people to unload, pickup food, distribute it...

CrossPoint Kids teaches our kids all about Jesus - there’s hardly a more important ministry in our church

Pastor Mark needs help over there constantly, even right now!

Our greeters who welcome visitors need help, our ushers need help, our sound people… the list goes on

Maybe God has been calling you too start something… and you just haven’t yet

Samson’s role for God, was defending Israel against a Godless people

He finally filled his role, and it cost him something

Actually his eyesight, strength, pride and hairdo

I wonder who was in that building...

Were the murderers of his first wife in there?

How about the men that swindled him out of those linen clothes

Was Delilah in there?

All these Philistines that hated Samson and hated God even more...

What was their final thought as the walls came down, and the roof crashed into them?

We messed with the wrong God…!

God is full of grace, and He is faithful

That goes along with what Pastor Mark taught 2 weeks ago

God is patient with us when we mess up - always giving us more chances

But He is also just and truthful - always doing the right thing

God accomplished His purpose with Samson with those two things

He was patient with Samson, giving him many chances - even at the end

And still, God followed through with what He set out to do - destroyed the Philistines

Judges 16:31 (ESV)

31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

In the life of Samson, it is interesting that he wasn’t remembered as a failure

In Hebrews 11:32, he is listed in the Hall of Faith

He was remembered for his faith, not his mistakes - that’s very important

See, the story of Samson has some very important pictures

Samson lived a life of selfishness, betrayal and wasted potential

Victory only comes by the power of God

This is more than just a story about a strong guy...

This is about God and what He was doing, and is doing

Conclusion

In the end this story should make us all grateful to Christ

Samson was beaten, tortured and humiliated because he mistreated and abused people

And he became Israel’s savior, but in the end he was dead - his victory was short-lived

For us, we turn to Jesus

Jesus too, was beaten, tortured and humiliated, but it was by those who mistreated and abused God

And He became the Savior of the world, who was resurrected - His victory over sin and death is everlasting

In that, we see the incredible gap between what it looks like to do things ourselves

And to do things with the power of God

In this, we see the best part of the story

Samson was a failure

He was a murderer

He was a sinner

He was an adulterer

He was a shyster

BUT, He saved Israel by defeating the Philistines

He brought honor back to the name of our God...

The question we need to think about is HOW?

Actually, the how here, is the same as the how in our own stories

We are also failures

Sinners, blasphemers, adulterers, gossips… and that’s just my history!

For Samson, he found victory

The HOW came because Samson realized his strength was never in himself in the first place

It had ALWAYS been God

Every time Samson put on an amazing display of strength, it was God!

For us, we find our victory the same way!

Hope, joy and new life aren’t impossible for us because those things have nothing to do with us either!

Just like Samson found his strength, purpose in victory in God alone, we do the same!