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Pentecost 2 – June 6, 2010
IT’S TOUGH TO BE A KING
Part 1: A Lesson On Obedience
I Samuel 15:17-26
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,
How many of you have a copy of the Lion King movie at home?
How many have seen the Lion King at Disney World?
That movie has a lot of good songs, and I want you to think of the one where the lion cub
Simba sings: “I just can’t wait to be king.” He’s so much looking forward to being the
king and being in charge of things! The song goes like this:
“I’m going to be a mighty king, so enemies beware.
I’m going to be the main event, like no king was before.
I’m brushing up on my looking down and working on my roar.
I just can’t wait to be king.
No one saying, Do this, No one saying, Be there,
No one saying, Stop that, No one saying, See Here.
Free to run around all day.
Free to do it all my way.
I just can’t wait to be king.”
Oh how, we like that song, not only children, but adults too! We want to be on top, want
to be in charge, want to be the boss of our own lives and feel free to do what we want.
We want to be king! But Simba found that it isn’t so easy to be king. It was a tough job
with huge responsibilities. Much more importantly, the Word of God teaches us a few
things about wanting to be kings and queens of our own lives. In the next three weeks,
we’re going to see how:
IT’S TOUGH TO BE A KING.
We’ll explore that theme through the lives of the first three kings of Israel: Saul, David
and Solomon. Today, we learn A Lesson On Obedience through:
I. The Failure of King Saul
First of all, how did Saul get to be king? He didn’t apply for the job. At first, he didn’t
really want it. But the Lord had chosen him and picked him out. The Lord used the
prophet Samuel, the earthly leader of God’s people at the time, to search him out and
anoint him as king. Samuel had gathered all the tribes together, and used a divine
casting of lots to narrow down the search for the king, first the tribe of Benjamin was
chosen, then Matri’s clan, then Saul himself. But Saul was nowhere to be found! The
Lord revealed to Samuel: He has hidden himself among the baggage. 1 Sam 10:22.
At first, Saul showed a spirit of humility. He tried to hide himself, although he was not
easy to hide. The Bible says he was an impressive young man without equal among
the Israelites – a head taller than any of the others. 1 Sam 9:2. Physically, he stood
out in the crowd, and spiritually he stood out as well, because of his humility.
Some years later, at the time of our text. Samuel said, "Although you were once small
in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD
anointed you king over Israel. 15:17 At first Saul was small in his own eyes. In his
own estimation, he was not worthy. It’s only when it went to his head, and when he
started thinking and acting a head taller than anyone else, that he got himself in trouble.
It led to his downfall.
Dear friends, this also has something to say about our own position before God. Why has
God chosen you and me to be his children? Did he see something special in us that he
chose us and picked us out of the crowd? Did we somehow stand taller in his eyes than
the rest of the world? Just the opposite. You see, the Lord often chose the weak and the
worthless, the little and the lost to be his. Jesus found some simple fishermen and made
them fishers of men. In 1 Cor. 1 Paul writes: Brothers, think of what you were when
you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were
influential, not many were of noble birth. And Paul goes on to explain how God chose
the foolish things and the weak and the lowly, even the despised things. And that is what
we once were. Foolish and weak and lowly and despised. There is nothing in there to
boast about. We can only boast in the Lord and what he has done for us!!
But for Saul, once he became king, it was all soon forgotten. It only took a couple of
years and he was living for himself instead of for the Lord. He had made a number of
mistakes before this, but the incident in our text is what sealed his doom. What was the
main problem? Samuel says: [18] And he sent you on a mission, saying, `Go and
completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until
you have wiped them out.' [19] Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you
pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?"
He had disobeyed the Lord. He thought he knew better. And then he began to make
excuses. 20 "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the
LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag
their king. [21] The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of
what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at
Gilgal." I already see guilt speaking here—Saul already feels out of touch with the
Lord, he’s lost the connection and he knows it. Why else does he say to Samuel: “The
Lord, your God.” Isn’t the Lord his God also? At any rate, he makes excuses, “I obeyed
the Lord. I carried out what God intended against the people. Didn’t I wipe them out?
Sure I’ve got their king here alive, but being in jail and humiliated is a suffering worse
than death for him. And the soldiers deserved something for their efforts, why waste all
those good cattle? And besides, the best of them we’re going to sacrifice to the Lord.
Samuel, God, be reasonable!!
Have you ever been tempted to say that? God be reasonable! I haven’t stolen anything
or cheated anyone. What’s so bad about a little coveting, or greed? I haven’t committed
adultery. What’s so bad about a little lust? I haven’t killed anyone. What’s so bad
about hating the one who hates me? I haven’t intentionally misused your name, how can
I help it sometimes when you hear bad language all day? And so it goes on and on,
when instead of seeing God’s commands and obeying or at least trying to, we try to
justify sin. But it doesn’t work and it didn’t work with Saul.
22 But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as
much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to
heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and
arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the
LORD, he has rejected you as king." Oh, it’s tough to be a king. When the Lord puts
you in charge, he expects you to be an example to others. Here we have our Lesson on
Obedience. To obey is better than sacrifice. Worship the Lord all you can, but if you
don’t obey him, what good is it? And when Saul disobeyed God’s explicit commands, it
was the sin of rebellion, the sin of arrogance. Saul thought he knew better than the Lord.
For Saul this was just as bad as witchcraft and idolatry. And because of that, on the day
Saul won the victory, he really lost it all. In victory he found defeat.
Oh it’s tough to be a king. And you might be saying to yourself, well I don’t have to
worry about that! I’m not a king or queen of anything! Are you sure about that? In
Christ, we have the royal robes of salvation and the crown of righteousness. In his name,
we rule! In heaven, the angels are singing about us:
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will
reign on the earth. Rev. 5:10. The function of a king is to rule. When Jesus talked
about the kingdom of God, he told parables that showed God’s rule in our hearts. And
we will reign on earth, not just with Jesus in heaven. We have the power of the kingdom
when we have the Gospel and sharing it is what gives us authority on earth. By our
sharing the Gospel, we have the power to bring people from being lost to being found,
from being blind to being able to see! Through the Gospel, we have the power to bring
people from death to life!!
And it’s tough to be a king, without getting arrogant, or thinking we know it all. As a
congregation and a synod, we claim to teach the Word of God in its truth and purity.
And that means that there are a lot of other Christians out there who aren’t doing that,
who have false teachings mixed in. So, do we let that go to our heads? Or are we
humbly trying to share the truth with others and show that we care about them too? To
be arrogant about pure teaching does more damage than some false teaching. How could
that be? It’s because false living and pride does more damage to the Gospel in the eyes
of others than some false teaching. What good is it if we have all the teachings of the
Bible down exactly right, but then don’t try to obey them? There are other Christians
that can put us to shame in how we follow the Lord and talk about him. We have no
room for pride.
But now I’d like to show you a more excellent way. It’s time to learn a lesson on
obedience from another King. Saul had failed. Let’s hear a little about:
2. The Success of King Jesus
Oh I know the Lord Jesus is not specifically mentioned in our text, but you didn’t come
here just to hear about the failures of King Saul, you are here to hear about your Savior
and to worship him and honor him and learn from him! And Paul says this in
Philippians: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in
very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death, even death on a cross! Phil. 2:5-8
The true King humbled
himself. He did not consider his equality with God to be booty, like Saul’s soldiers just
had to have, He didn’t consider his equality to be something to show off or boast about,
but instead made himself nothing. He put himself lower than God the Father by
becoming human. He gave up all his power and might and glory in order to appear as a
man in the womb of a young woman named Mary. And then he lost it all, he became
obedient to death, even death on a cross. And he did it for us. He humbled himself and
died to pay for all our sins of selfishness and pride and arrogance.
And in losing it all, he won the victory! Therefore God exalted him to the highest
place and gave him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow! And so we humbly kneel before the one who gave us the victory
over sin and death and hell. We bring our sins before him and know that he has paid for
every last one of them, and assures us of our place in his kingdom.
But isn’t that what Saul did too? 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I
violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people
and so I gave in to them. [25] Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with
me, so that I may worship the LORD." 26 But Samuel said to him, "I will not go
back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has
rejected you as king over Israel!" Saul was sorry all right, but only sorry that he got
caught. He didn’t want to lose his place as king. Samuel knew that his sorrow was not
sincere, knew that things were going to get worse in Saul’s life. And he rebuked Saul to
wake him up. Samuel then walked away from Saul and never spoke to him again. He
was filled with sadness and sorrow for Saul who lost it all, right when he had the victory.
So dear friends, what’s it going to be for us? Sham repentance? Or sincere sorrow for
our sins and then sincere joy that we have Jesus as our King of grace? When we have
Jesus, then we want to serve him in his kingdom.
Instead of worry and fear and
insecurity, we have peace and joy and confidence! Oh I just can’t wait….to live for the
King! Amen.