Well, good morning. I'm so grateful for you guys
over here saying good morning. Good morning.
I have the rest of you. It's great to be with you.
My name is Andrew Evans, I'm one of the pastors here.
Let me invite you to open up your Bibles to First Samuel
Chapter 9, our passage today. Thank you, Matthew for reading.
Our passage is what Matthew read as well as the second-half of
the chapter and then the first half of the next chapter.
So it's a really long passage. We are going to, we'll look at
the entire passage, but I'm actually going to read this, the
middle part in the last bit during the sermon.
So it'll be really helpful for you to have your Bibles open so
that we can look at this together.
Before we get started. Let me pray for us, Father, I
praise you and I thank you for your love for us and the way
that you call us to join you in your work in the world, a work
that began before us and includes us and will continue
after us. So I pray that you would this
morning help us to see you and to see your work more clearly
and our call to it. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
So my sons are of the age where we discussed the, the life and
work of Spider man a lot. And we have a book that has sort
of the origin story of Spider Man.
And maybe you know the story. There's Peter Parker, you know,
he's, you know, good looking guy, athletic, but he's just a
normal guy, right? He likes school, works at the
newspaper, very normal things. And then one day, fate
intervenes with him, and he fate intervenes in the form of a
radioactive spider who bites him.
And then all of a sudden he has these superpowers.
And with great power comes great responsibility.
And so he he has this calling now because of the way that his
life is suddenly changed. He has this calling to go off
and fight the bad guys. It's a it's a, it's a
traditional narrative arc in certain ways, right?
So you have, you know, a normal guy, sudden transformation and
then his life is called up into this great grand story.
And this is not original to Spider Man.
It's you see it in so many different books, in different
movies. You see it in Star Wars, right?
Luke Skywalker, just a normal guy, had a rough life and he
gets called up into this big grand galactic story.
Harry Potter has it in its way. Lord of the Rings has it,
particularly with Sam Wise Gangi, I see that head nodding.
Oh yeah, Chronicles of Narnia has it.
This family, these kids, they're just trying, trying to not get
bombed, and they end up in Narnia and pulled into this,
this amazing story. Their lives are called up.
And the story of Saul actually has that same narrative arc as
well. This passage here is our
introduction to the person of, of Saul.
And we have been primed to expect a king first.
The last, last verse of the previous chapter, the Lord said
to Samuel, obey their voice and make them a king.
OK, so I guess we're going to meet our king here, right?
But as, as we as we meet Saul, we should be a little bit
confused. He's the son of a rich man.
That seems pretty standard in politics, right?
He's tall and handsome. It really makes a point of that
again, that that checks out, I guess.
But that's in in a way, it seems like all that he has going for
him at this point. He's from Benjamin, which is
this little rebellious tribe He and then he there's the story of
the donkeys that just keep keeps going.
And he seems in this story to be just so utterly unexceptional.
He's so normal. His dad has lost his donkey.
Saul faithfully goes to find them.
And for days he's just out there searching for them.
He never actually finds them. It doesn't seem like in this
story. He's just flummoxed.
He may be a handsome guy, but things just don't seem to work
out for him. Verse 4, they go through
Ephraim, Shalisha. They did not find them.
They pass through Shalim, but the donkeys aren't there.
They pass through their home territory of Benjamin.
They're not there either. Where are these donkeys?
So we're set up to expect this new king of Israel.
But this man isn't showing the the ingenuity or the insight
that we would expect from the next king of Israel.
And since this is the Bible and since these are, is this Israel,
the people of God, we would expect, you know, a modicum of
piety as well. Like at least he's, you know,
doing like George Washington and those little cutouts, right?
He's like kneeling there at the cross praying.
He doesn't do that. He doesn't, he doesn't do
anything. He, they wander near the great
prophet Samuel. He doesn't think to talk to go
talk to Samuel. It's a servant.
His this guy who's with him who says, why don't we go talk to
this guy? And it doesn't seem like he
actually knows who Samuel is in the 1st place.
Like a little later, they run into him and be like, hey, do
you know where Samuel is? And Sammy was like, it's me.
I'm the guy you're looking for. So so here's here's Saul.
He's tall, he's handsome. He's a loyal son working for his
dad family business, sent out on a mundane task.
And he's just frustrated at every turn.
Doesn't seem very religious. In other words, Saul is in so
many ways a normal guy. Just a normal guy may hasten
have some good looks, some money behind him, but he's not
changing the world. He's not setting the world on
fire. He's just trying to make it
through life, love his family, deal, deal with his
responsibilities, no matter how frustrating the they are.
Saul is a normal guy. And in this way, the story
invites us to see ourselves in Seoul.
Now, maybe you're just making your way through life.
You're trying to take care of your family, do right by your
responsibilities. Not everything falls into place
for you. You struggle like boiler won't
turn on. I don't know why it won't turn
on. I'm struggling.
And you just don't. Don't think of yourself as
particularly religious. Our story meets us today in our
ordinary lives and invites us to see God's extraordinary call on
all of us. Saul is just a normal guy, but
God calls him up into a much bigger story, one that's more
majestic, one that's more grand than any fantasy novel, any
movie. And the same is true for us.
God calls us ordinary people into his grand, majestic story
of redeeming the world. So we first get a hint,
actually, that something bigger is happening when Saul and his
helper walk up to the city and they meet these young women
coming out to draw water. And it's this, this little
detail of the women like he, the writer doesn't have to tell us
that they're going out to draw water, but it's this little
detail that actually is really a clue there.
It's here for a reason. When you hear of women drawing
water in the Bible, you should start listening for wedding
bells. Think about it.
Engagements happened to women at wells.
Abraham's servant finds his son Isaac a wife at a well.
Isaac's son Jacob finds a wife at a well.
Moses finds a wife at a well. At the college I went to,
there's a well. People get engaged at Wells.
And so when we hear of these women coming out to draw water,
it's like the bridesmaids are walking down the aisle of the
church and we're looking for the bride.
Where is she? And so we're to ask the
question, is Saul about to get married?
And as we go on, this theme will actually develop.
There will be a feast. He will sit at the place of
honor at the feast. I'll have a bed made for him.
But the idea isn't that he's marrying a woman per SE, but
rather than God is calling him into a covenantal relationship
with God's people, to lead them and to defend them.
God is calling Saul, our normal guy, into something greater,
something higher, something grander than just hurting
donkeys. So let's look at the specifics
here of God's call to Saul in our passage.
So turn with me back in your Bibles to first Samuel Chapter
9. I think it's on page 216 and
2:17, and we will read together starting at verse 16, showing
verse 15. Actually, now the day before
Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel.
Tomorrow about this time, I will send to you a man from the land
of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be Prince over my
people Israel. He shall save my people from the
hand of the Philistines, for I have seen my people, because
their cry has come to me. When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord
told him, Here is the man of whom I spoke to you.
It is he, he it is who shall restrain my people.
Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, Tell me,
where is the House of the seer? Samuel answered Saul, I am the
seer. Go up before me to the high
place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I
will let you go, and we'll tell you all that is on your mind.
As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set
your mind on them, for they have been found.
And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel?
Is it not for you and for all your father's house?
Saul answered. Am I not a Benjaminite from the
least of the tribes of Israel? And it's not my clan, the
humblest of all the clans of the tribes of Benjamin.
Why then have you spoken to me in this way?
Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into
the hall, and gave them a place at the head of those who had
been invited, who were about 30 persons.
And Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion I gave you, of
which I said to you, Put it aside.
So the cook took up the leg and what was on it, and set them
before Saul. And Samuel said, See, what was
kept is set before you eat, because it was kept for you
until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.
So Saul ate with Samuel that day, and when they came down
from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul
on the roof, and he laid down to sleep.
Then at the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof.
Up, that I may send you on your way.
So Saul arose and both he and Samuel were out, went out into
the street as they were going down to the out turns of the
city. Samuel said to Saul, tell the
servant to pass on before us, and when he is passed on, stop
here for your stop here yourself for a while, that I may make
known to you the word of God. This is the word of the Lord.
So there are two things that are I pretty blindingly obvious from
this passage. The 1st is that Saul has no idea
what is coming. He is completely ignorant.
He's just a guy trying to find some donkeys.
That's just what he's, that's all he's trying to do, man.
But the second thing is that God does know.
God has been at work preparing for exactly this moment.
The day before Saul showed up in the city, God spoke to Samuel
and told him who was coming. God was at work in the donkeys
being lost in order to make Saul and Samuel's paths cross.
When God spoke to Samuel, he told him what he was going to
call Saul to, and this call is nothing less than to saving
God's people. Saul will be a Prince over God's
people. He will rule, and the result of
his ruling will be that Israel will be saved from their
enemies. Apparently the surrounding
Philistines has started to oppress Israel again, and so
they needed saving. But not only will Saul defeat
these external enemies, but he will also, in verse 17 it says
restrain God's people. He will direct them, keep them
from their worst impulses. This is what salvation always
means for God's people. Salvation means defeating our
enemies outside of us. Yes, sin, death, the devil, but
it also means restraining us, redirecting us, directing our
hearts to what is truly good. This is the call that God is
about to put on Saul's life. Saul doesn't know it.
Saul may not want it. It's a big call, perhaps the
biggest call, and I wonder if some ways we can feel this way
about the call of Christianity itself.
We believe we're walking in faith, but then but then there's
some kind of crisis or trial in our life.
Things just blow up and we cry out.
God, I didn't sign up for this. I know you wanted me to love my
enemies and forgive my enemies, but I didn't know that that
person would be my enemy. I know you wanted me to tell
people about you, but I didn't know you wanted me to tell them
there. Can't my call just be small?
Can't I be a comfortable Christian?
The reality is, though, that God calls us all into the same story
that he's calling Saul into here.
We're not called to be a ruler in the same way, but we are
called into this same grand story of salvation that God has
been writing since the beginning of time.
God is on the move, He's at work saving the world, reconciling
all things to himself, and He calls you, yes, you, to enter
into that story with him. We get a sense for the sweep of
this story in the words that God tells Samuel.
If you look at verse 16, at the end of the verse, God says he
shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines.
For I have seen my people because their cry has come to
me. This is almost exactly the same
language that God uses with Moses when he's about to save
Israel from slavery in Egypt. And this language of saving my
people from their enemies is very, very similar to the words
that God uses about Jesus when he says that He will save his
people from their sins. The story of the Bible is one
story of God saving his people from their enemies.
And He is calling Saul here to step into that story and to play
a role in that story. Saul may not be asking for this
call, but God here is preparing him for it by lavishing all
these unasked blessings on him. He doesn't need to worry about
his donkeys first of all, right, they're found.
This is verse 20. Don't worry about these smaller
things the Lord will provide. God has already been at work.
Trust him. Don't worry about your donkeys.
But God doesn't stop there, does he?
He's been preparing this feast for Saul to come and eat at.
Before Saul even showed up, Samuel had asked that the prized
part of the sacrifice would be set aside.
Verse 24, Samuel says, see, what was kept is set before you eat,
because it was kept for you until the hour appointed that
you might eat with the guests. This is about about the leg of
the animal. It's about the feast, but it's
not way more than the feast, isn't it?
Samuel calls Saul to step into this role.
This role has been kept for him. He is to take it up.
It's a hard role, but like this prized part of the sacrifice,
this reserved plate, it is the best call.
There is nothing better than stepping into this story and
playing your role in God's redemption of His people in the
world. My friends, you may not have
chosen the path that God gave you, but He still calls every
single one of us into his story of saving the world.
That calling can be hard, but God has been at work even before
you knew him, even before you knew of him.
Preparing A feast for you, eager to set it before you.
He's inviting you into something that's far better than you could
ever dream of. Following Jesus, submitting to
his kingship, working for Him, seeing where he leads, it's both
the hardest and the greatest thing you could ever do with
your life. This is God's call to Saul.
It's God's call to us. So let's read on to see how he
actually delivers this call to Saul.
Let's read chapter 10 verses one through 16.
Let's turn there. Then Samuel took a flask of oil
and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, Has not the
Lord anointed you to be Prince over his people, Israel?
And you shall reign over the people of the Lord, and you will
save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.
And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed
you to be Prince over his heritage.
When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by
Rachel's tomb in the territory, Benjamin Zelzot, and they will
say to you the donkeys that you went to seek or found.
And now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys, and
is anxious about you, saying, What shall I do about my son?
Then you shall go on from there farther, and come to the oak of
Tabor. Three men going up to God at
Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats,
another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a
skin of wine. And they will greet you and give
you 2 loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand.
After that you shall come to Gibieth Elohim, where there is a
Garrison of the Philistines, and there as soon as you come to the
city, you'll meet a group of prophets coming down from the
high place with harp, tambourine, flute and lyre
before them, prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will
rush upon you, and you will prophecy with them and be turned
into another man. Now when these signs meet you,
do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
Then go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I'm coming
down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace
offerings. Seven days you shall wait until
I come to you and show you what you shall do.
When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another
heart. And all these signs came to pass
that day when they came to Gibeah.
Behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God
rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.
And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied
with the prophets, the people said to one another, What has
come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?
And a man of the place answered, And who is their father?
Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high
place. Saul's uncle said to him and to
his servant, Where did you go? And he said to seek the donkeys.
And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.
And Saul's uncle said, Please tell me what Samuel said to you.
And Saul said to his uncle, he told us plainly that the donkeys
had been found. But about the matter of the
Kingdom of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him
anything. This, too, is the word of the
Lord. So it's only here the Psalm
learns what the call actually consists of.
Samuel here formally lays before him the call to be king.
But notice the word that God and Samuel never use in this
passage. They never actually refer to
Saul as a king. They never use that word king
melek. They use a different word,
nagid, which means Prince, leader, head.
And the big point here seems to be that Saul isn't to be the
absolute ruler over Israel. He's a Prince or a vice region
under God. God is the one who reigns even
with a king on the throne, and Israel needs in their king a
representative of God in their midst.
So in effect, we're to see Saul not as an autonomous king, but
rather as God's son and even Samuel's son ruling in
accordance with what God wants. Did you hear that question there
about the prophets? And who is their father?
Who is their father? And this is one of the greatest
provisions for Saul and it should have been a tremendous
comfort to him. But God continues to provide
more and more lavishly in order to confirm this call.
He provides the donkeys. He provides food for the
journey. It's verse four.
He provides most importantly, his his spirit.
Verse 6 God will be with Saul and give him all that he needs
to rule, and all of these things come to pass.
God gave Saul a new heart. Verse 9 God's Spirit rushed on
him such that Saul became one of the prophets.
God here is calling Saul up into this magnificent story, but he
did not leave Saul alone in that call.
God provided all that he needed most of all by providing his
Spirit. And how much more is this true
for us when God calls us to Himself?
God calls us to trust Him in faith, to follow Him, to join
Him in His story. And then He provides.
He doesn't leave us alone, He provides.
He provides for our lives. He makes us new.
He gives us new lives and new hearts.
He provides bread and wine not just during the week, but how
much more at the table where we eat true food and true drink
provided by His Son. And he provides his Spirit who
connects us to Christ and gives us all that Christ has, eternal
life, righteousness before God, reconciliation with the Father,
a new identity, hope and courage for the future, and all of these
ways God provides for his call just like he did for Saul.
The question then for Saul and for us is what then will we do?
What then will he do? God calls, how will we answer?
Verse seven, I think is one of the most remarkable and
encouraging verses in this whole chapter goes Now when these
signs meet, you do what your hand finds to do, for God is
with you. The immediate context seems to
be that Saul is to go out and figure out how to defeat the
Philistines that are stationed there near these prophets.
But God doesn't dictate to him what exactly he should do or how
he should do it. God just calls him to step into
this story with courage. Go forth and act.
God is with you. Be bold and courageous.
Will Saul act? That's the question that this
passage presents us with. When Saul runs into his uncle
and his uncle's like, oh, what did Samuel say?
What did Samuel, what did Saul say?
It's only a partial answer, right?
He told us that the donkeys were found, but the end is such a
cliffhanger. But about the matter of the
Kingdom of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him
anything. Will Saul answer the call God is
calling? Will he answer?
And will you answer the call God is calling?
Will you answer? Maybe you're listening to this
sermon and and you're not a Christian or you're, you're not
sure exactly where you stand. Maybe you're just exploring the
faith. Maybe you're baptized as a kid,
but you've, you know, you've fallen away.
You're not sure exactly what you believe, not sure about the
whole Christian thing. You're like Saul in a lot of
ways, right? Seeking to be faithful, not
particularly religious, just making your way through life as
best you can. And this story invites you to
see God's call to your life enter into his story of
salvation, first of all, by receiving his salvation of you.
Trust Jesus for your salvation. Trust that his sacrifice on the
cross is all that you need in order to stand before God as
righteous and then follow him where he leads.
You might think that you don't know exactly where he's going to
lead. That's true.
You don't. None of us know exactly where
he's going to take us. But what we do know is that
there is nothing better, nothing greater, nothing more exciting,
nothing more meaningful, nothing more glorious than following our
Savior Jesus. Your life will never be the same
and at the end of time you will enjoy the great feast with our
King. Now maybe you're you are
following Jesus. Maybe you recently came to
faith, or or maybe you've been a Christian your entire life.
Now for you this story actually poses a very similar question.
Will you follow God with courage?
You are in God's story. The wedding bells have already
told you are in God's people. You have joined the covenant
family. Will you speak of the matter of
the Kingdom? Will you act with courage, or
will you concern yourself only with the donkeys in your life?
My friends, we may be ordinary people, but God invites all of
us, every single one of us, up into his grand story of
redemption of the world. There is no greater adventure
than following Jesus wherever he leads.
My friends, I urge you, follow him with all your heart.
Follow him with courage. Follow him today in the name of
the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen.