1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,400 My name is Andrew Evans, I'm one of the pastors here at Church of 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:04,880 the Resurrection. It's great to be with you this 3 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:06,240 morning. Great to be worshipping with 4 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,040 you. We are continuing our series 5 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:14,360 looking at the story of First Samuel, the story of Saul 6 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:16,720 Primary. I guess at this point it's, it's 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,560 the, the story of King Saul then later becomes the story of King 8 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,560 David. So let me encourage you to turn 9 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,320 in your Bibles to that, to chapter 14. 10 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,000 It's on page 221 of the Pew Bible in front of you. 11 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,920 This is a long chapter. It's like 4. 12 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,360 Well, it's, I think it's over 50 verses in total. 13 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:36,760 We will, we're actually going to look at the four first 46 14 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,080 verses. We read the first third and we 15 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,120 will actually read the next 2/3 as we're going through it. 16 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:46,360 So we've got a lot to cover. Let's get started. 17 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:47,480 Before we get started, let me pray. 18 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:54,000 Father, I praise You for Your Word, how it challenges us and 19 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,640 comforts us. Pray that you would meet us this 20 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,480 morning in Your Word by Your Spirit, so that we would know 21 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,280 You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more 22 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:09,200 nearly every day. I pray this in the name of our 23 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,440 King Jesus, Amen. Now some of you might know that 24 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:18,000 for a brief time after when I first came to this city, I 25 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,320 worked as a reporter. I was a pretty bad reporter, 26 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:27,880 frankly, but our boss assigned everybody a, an assignment to to 27 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,200 buy and read this autobiography by, I believe by, by at that 28 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,280 point, the deceased reporter Robert Novak title was the 29 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:40,000 Prince of Darkness, sort of captures the vibe of reporting 30 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,920 frankly. And we, the, the assignment was 31 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,440 to read it and to learn about how to be a really good 32 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:53,360 reporter, learn from him, from his first person account, how he 33 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,040 went about his work. And this is so often why we read 34 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,240 autobiographies, isn't it? We want to learn first hand how 35 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,160 somebody got through, got through life, navigated the 36 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,880 different trials and things. And then we can learn from their 37 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:08,360 successes and from their failures. 38 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,600 Maybe, maybe we find inspiration in their focus, in their 39 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:16,000 determination. Maybe we we learn they're like 40 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:18,840 tactics for negotiation or something like that, or how to 41 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,800 how to manage A-Team, things like that. 42 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:26,600 Whatever we want is we want to learn from their life story. 43 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,880 Now, autobiographies aren't new. You could trace them back to the 44 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:36,640 4th century, 5th century AD, but they are everywhere today, it 45 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:38,440 seems. It seems like every prominent 46 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,280 person writes an autobiography. Or maybe they pay somebody to 47 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,680 write an autobiography. Maybe some of you have been paid 48 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:50,240 to write an autobiography. The number one non fiction book 49 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:55,560 right now on the New York Times bestseller list is not You know, 50 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,680 how to Live Longer. But it is Kenny Chesney's 51 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:04,880 autobiography that is the right reaction. 52 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,680 That's right. Deeply, deeply meaningful. 53 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,080 I'm sure Kenny Chesney's great. He's fine. 54 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,760 And I think that frankly, if we we're getting really off track 55 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:23,440 here, I think that if we needed to, every one of us in this 56 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,160 room, if we really had to, we could probably write our own 57 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,520 autobiography. Maybe we don't want to. 58 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,360 Maybe we realize we need to live a few more years, but if we 59 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,880 really needed to, we could write our own autobiography. 60 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,400 I think there are a couple assumptions under assumptions 61 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,720 underlying our our understanding of autobiographies. 62 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:48,200 And these assumptions, I think are really telling. 63 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,200 The 1st is that we can understand life or our life as a 64 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:53,720 story. It's a narrative that begins 65 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,080 somewhere that that's going somewhere that that has a sort 66 00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:59,200 of narrative arc. And we can capture this in a 67 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,080 book and the book is sort of comprehensible. 68 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,240 We can understand it. There's a story that we can see 69 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,840 in the world and in our lives. I think this is exactly right. 70 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,280 We naturally think this way, right? 71 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,000 We naturally think about our lives in terms of stories. 72 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:17,560 But the second assumption is that my life is its own story. 73 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:23,800 My life has a has a discreet narrative arc, and my life can 74 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,680 be captured between the covers of a book. 75 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,200 Now, I think that these assumptions undergird what we 76 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,720 could call an autobiography mindset. 77 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,840 And I think this mindset is really pervasive today. 78 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,760 You've probably heard the phrase, I love that for your 79 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,320 story. Now, probably most of the time 80 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,600 it's a joke, right? Sometimes it's serious, 81 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,400 sometimes it's serious, but underlying it are the same 82 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,240 assumptions that allow us to write autobiographies at all. 83 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,720 My life has a story. I'm writing it right now with my 84 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,400 choices and my decisions. My life is going somewhere and, 85 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:05,840 and I'm actively discerning that story and I really want my life 86 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:11,200 to have a happy ending. And I suspect that all of us to 87 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:15,920 1° or another have this autobiography mindset. 88 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,680 How many times are we invited to to think about our story? 89 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:21,680 I was at the Apple Store the other day and they were talking 90 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,560 about pictures and like how you can use it to tell your story. 91 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:28,000 Like, look, I just want to take a picture, but it's about your 92 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,160 story. It's just everywhere. 93 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,920 We're just sort of swimming in these cultural waters. 94 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,880 What is your story? Are you writing your story? 95 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:36,840 What? What direction is your story 96 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:42,160 going now? Our passage meets us in this 97 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,640 autobiography mindset, and it challenges it. 98 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,040 It challenges it not by by asking if our lives are in fact 99 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:56,400 a narrative, but it asks us this question, Whose story am I in? 100 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,480 Am I the star of my own story, or is there something else, 101 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,200 maybe something bigger going on in my life? 102 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,640 So we'll we'll look at this question by looking at 3 103 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,400 characters in our story. We'll look first at Jonathan, 104 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,600 and then we'll read the middle part of the of the passage and 105 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,160 look at Saul. And then finally we'll read the 106 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:21,600 last third and look at the people of Israel, those 3 107 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:22,920 characters. That's where we're headed. 108 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,520 So at the start of our story, at the start of our passage, Israel 109 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:29,920 is in a really bad spot. This seems to be sort of a 110 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,440 recurring theme in this book. Chapter 13. 111 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,200 King Saul, he mustered his troops. 112 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,560 Jonathan won a victory over the Philistines. 113 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,520 But this victory over the Philistines seems to have just 114 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,000 sort of kicked the hornet's nest. 115 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,720 And the Philistines, they're now swarming across the land and 116 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,480 striking fear into the hearts of Israel. 80% of Saul's troops 117 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:55,600 have abandoned him. Saul presumptuously, prematurely 118 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:59,040 offers a sacrifice to God. And this is the first of three 119 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:03,200 mistakes that he makes in that chapter, this chapter, and the 120 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:04,800 next chapter that we'll look at next week. 121 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,040 And as a result, God promises that he will take the Kingdom 122 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:13,720 away from Saul. At the end of chapter 13, we 123 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,320 learn of these Philistine raiding parties that are sort of 124 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:22,040 spreading out across the land like Hornets, just sort of 125 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,040 swarming. And we also learned of this 126 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,560 embargo that the Philistines have on weapons, on metal 127 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,720 weapons. The people of Israel, Gods 128 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,200 chosen people are outnumbered, they're weak and they're I'll 129 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:41,680 equipped. And it's into this bleak scene 130 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:47,840 at the beginning of chapter 14 that Jonathan steps Prince of 131 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,400 Israel. In this first verse, he, he 132 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:55,840 tells us, he invites his armor bearer to join him in going over 133 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,280 to the Philistines. We don't know exactly what he's 134 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,360 going to do, right? But we know that he leaves 135 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,800 secretly. He traverses this rocky terrain. 136 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,240 And then in verse 6, Jonathan clarifies what he's up to. 137 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:10,080 Look there with me, he says to his armor bearer. 138 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:14,040 Lieutenant, come, let us go over to the Garrison of the 139 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,400 uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will 140 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,800 work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by 141 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:28,800 many or by few. Jonathan wants to save Israel. 142 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,720 He knows that Israel is in a really bad spot and he need and 143 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:36,640 that they need help against the Philistines. 144 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:41,280 But notice here how he sees himself in relation to God. 145 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:47,920 He himself is not Israel's savior, not strictly speaking. 146 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,800 He is working for the Lord. He is an agent for God's 147 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,040 purposes. Who will save? 148 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,560 It will be the Lord. And the Lord can save with 149 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,280 either a big army or just two people out on a secret mission. 150 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:07,920 And Jonathan out loud here is wondering, maybe God will work 151 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:12,360 through me. Jonathan here is putting himself 152 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,160 forward for God to use. He's not presumptuous. 153 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:18,960 He's not assuming that God will work through him. 154 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,080 He's not trying to force God's hand here. 155 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:23,760 Perhaps God will work through him. 156 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:25,680 Perhaps God won't work through him. 157 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,800 But Jonathan here is acting out of a confidence that God will 158 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,800 save his people. And he's looking around for how 159 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,880 God could be at work. He's he's trusting God is at 160 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:39,120 work. Where is he at work? 161 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:45,520 He's looking around for that. And I think we actually see this 162 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,120 in this little epithet that he uses of the Philistines. 163 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:52,560 He calls them the uncircumcised. Feels kind of like a throwaway 164 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:54,520 word in a way. But I don't think we are to 165 00:09:54,520 --> 00:10:00,080 simply read this as the Jewish way of saying those dirty dogs 166 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,640 over there. That's not that's not what what 167 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:03,880 he's saying. I don't think it's there's 168 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:05,480 something, there's a lot more going on here. 169 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:10,240 Circumcision was the covenant sign of God's people, the 170 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:13,920 covenant sign of God's promises that he made to God's people. 171 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:19,480 It's analogous to baptism today. Hebrew boys wore God's promises 172 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,800 on themselves, just like all of us who have been baptized are 173 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,880 wearing God's promises on ourselves now. 174 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:32,160 And God promised that his people would grow and spread and be a 175 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:37,320 blessing to the world. Nothing will destroy God's 176 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:43,160 people, not then and not now. God had promised that 177 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,560 generations before and given them the sign of circumcision to 178 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:51,840 help them remember that. Jonathan knows this. 179 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:54,040 He knows that God has chosen his people. 180 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,880 He knows that he's made these promises to them, that he will 181 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:02,800 not abandon his promises. All Jonathan is called to do now 182 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,400 is to look around and to see where God is at work, because he 183 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:13,400 must be at work. In other words, Jonathan is in 184 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:17,960 God's story. He's searching for his own part 185 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:22,120 in the bigger story of God's salvation of his people. 186 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,040 He's not focused on his own story. 187 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:28,080 God is central. God is the main character. 188 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,240 God, in fact, is informing every part of Jonathan's life. 189 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:36,760 And the result is this kind of beautiful, humble courage, isn't 190 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,960 it? He's not presuming of God, but 191 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:44,960 he eagerly steps out into the world to see where God is at 192 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,920 work and what role God is calling him to In that. 193 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,560 And in this way, Jonathan here is a model of faith for us. 194 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,640 He's living all of his life before the presence of God. 195 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,480 And the result is that he gets to participate in God's 196 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,720 salvation. He goes up on this apparently 197 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:07,560 hopeless mission, discerns how God is directing him there, then 198 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:09,920 defeats a score of the Philistines. 199 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:11,680 You can sort of picture this in a movie. 200 00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:17,440 And God then uses that defeat to throw the entire rest of the 201 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,600 Philistines into the into confusion. 202 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,600 Verse 15 says that the earthquaked there was literally 203 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:29,320 a panic from God spreading among the Philistines. 204 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:34,320 Jonathan is participating in something bigger than himself, 205 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:38,120 and the result is something that's so much bigger than him. 206 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:40,600 Friends, what an exciting way to live. 207 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,360 What an exciting way to live. Do you live this way? 208 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,440 Do you live looking for how God is at work in the world, 209 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:53,040 bringing salvation to His people wherever they are? 210 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:58,560 Are you living with this humble courage that's the inevitable 211 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:04,320 result of looking first at God and not at yourself? 212 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,680 Or are you trying to write your own autobiography? 213 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:14,080 Do you see yourself as part of God's story before your own 214 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,760 story? Jonathan here is inviting us to 215 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:22,320 view our lives in this way. Saul, though, is a different 216 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,280 story. So let's read this next section. 217 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:28,920 It'll be verses 16 through 30 to see what kind of story Saul is 218 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:34,040 writing. And the Watchmen of Saul and 219 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,560 Gibeah Benjamin looked and behold, the multitude was 220 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,480 dispersing here and there. Then Saul said to the people who 221 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,280 were with him, count and see who is gone from us. 222 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,440 And when they had count, and behold, Jonathan and his armor 223 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,560 bearer, we're not there. So Saul said to Ahijah, bring 224 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:54,680 the ark of God here. For the ark of God went at that 225 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:58,760 time with the people of Israel. Now while Saul was talking to 226 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,000 the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines 227 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,960 increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, 228 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,200 Withdraw your hand. Then Saul and all the people who 229 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:09,760 were with him rallied and went into the battle. 230 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,840 And behold, every Philistine's sword was against his fellow. 231 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,120 And there was very great confusion. 232 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,880 Now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before that 233 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,480 time, and who had gone up with them into the camp, even, they 234 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,360 also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul 235 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:29,040 and Jonathan. Likewise, when all the men of 236 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,120 Israel who had hidden themselves in the Hill Country of Ephraim 237 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,360 heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too followed hard 238 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:39,080 after them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that 239 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:44,440 day, and the battle passed beyond Beth Haven, and the men 240 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:46,520 of Israel had been hard pressed that day. 241 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,640 So Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, cursed to be the 242 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,520 man who eats food until it is evening, and I am avenged on my 243 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,880 enemies. So none of the people had tasted 244 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,400 food. Now when all the people came to 245 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,960 the forest, behold, there was honey on the ground. 246 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,520 And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was 247 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:11,080 dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the 248 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:15,600 people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his 249 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:17,600 father charge the people with the oath. 250 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:21,040 So he put out the tip of his staff that was in his hand and 251 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:24,400 dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand into his mouth and 252 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,240 his eyes became bright. Then one of the people said, 253 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:32,080 Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying 254 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,080 cursed be the man who eats food this day. 255 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,840 And the people were were faint. Then Jonathan said, My father 256 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,360 has troubled the lamb. See how my eyes have become 257 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,480 bright because I tasted a little of this honey. 258 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,080 How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the 259 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,600 spoil of their enemies that they found. 260 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,240 For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great. 261 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,280 The word of the Lord. So Saul, here's the commotion 262 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:05,800 caused by Jonathan's attack and he musters his army to see who 263 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:08,280 might be missing. He figures out that his son is 264 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,440 gone with his armor bearer. And so he then goes to consult 265 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:15,040 with God. The reference to the ark here is 266 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,000 likely a a reference to the ephod, which is kind of a, a 267 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,520 holy vest that the priest would wear. 268 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:25,480 And then they could use that to discern God's will and function 269 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,160 kind of like a mobile ark, you could say. 270 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:31,600 And so Saul here calls the priest to consult with God. 271 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,120 Now, I think at this point we should have questions about 272 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:40,520 Saul. Why is Saul only now consulting 273 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,520 with God? Things have been dire for a 274 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:47,480 while now. Shouldn't Saul have been praying 275 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:51,360 to God, seeking his face, seeking his counsel perpetually, 276 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,640 particularly since he is Israel's king? 277 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,160 But then the battle grows louder, and Saul tells the 278 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:01,600 priest to withdraw his hand from the holy vest. 279 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:03,600 There's no time to consult with God now. 280 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,640 We got to go. So Saul rallies the army, they 281 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:08,839 head into battle, and they defeat the Philistines. 282 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,720 Now, the reality is that sometimes we have to make quick 283 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:17,400 decisions that don't allow for a lot of time of discernment or 284 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,680 prayer. That's just, you know, we've all 285 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,960 been in those situations, right? It's precisely in these 286 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,520 situations, though, that it's so important that we have been 287 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,320 cultivating a constant communion with the Lord. 288 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,880 Saul wasn't doing that. He goes to pray and then he 289 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,640 withdraws his prayer and he acts based on his own wisdom. 290 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,720 And the difference here with Jonathan is Stark, isn't it? 291 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,720 Jonathan is actively searching for where God might be at work. 292 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:51,520 His father doesn't even think he has time to pray. 293 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:56,880 And the result is that Saul makes perhaps his his biggest 294 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,960 mistake to date. And the narrator tells us in 295 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:05,640 verse 23 that the Lord saved Israel that day. 296 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:10,360 But in the very next verse, we see where Saul's focus is the 297 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:11,680 salt. The soldiers had been fighting 298 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,920 hard all day, and Saul then lays an oath on them. 299 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:20,040 Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am 300 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:25,440 avenged on my enemies. His focus is myopically on 301 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:30,160 himself, isn't it? He must be avenged on his 302 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,320 enemies. Forget that it was the Lord who 303 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,120 saved. Forget that Israel is God's 304 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:38,280 people, that these are ultimately God's enemies. 305 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:42,680 Saul must be avenged on his enemies. 306 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,200 Whose story is Saul writing? His own. 307 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,160 Who's the main character in his story? 308 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:57,160 He is. What role does God play in his 309 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,240 story? A shrinking one, apparently. 310 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:08,520 If Jonathan is part of God's story, God is only part of 311 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,040 Saul's story. Saul here I think is is a 312 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,360 classic example of this autobiography mindset. 313 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:20,040 He's so focused on his needs, on his circumstances, his problems, 314 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,680 that he cannot attend to what God is doing. 315 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:26,480 It's like Saul's life is a puzzle. 316 00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:30,680 God is just one piece that he fits in when he can. 317 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:36,240 But the reality is that God isn't a part of the puzzle of 318 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:40,840 our lives at all. God is the table that the puzzle 319 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:45,360 is laying on in the 1st place. Without him, we do not exist, 320 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,280 our lives do not have any support, any coherence at all. 321 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,400 Augustine's Confessions is considered to be the first 322 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,440 autobiography in the West, written around 400 AD. 323 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,440 But there is a really big difference between The 324 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:06,760 Confessions and The Prince of Darkness or Kenny Chesney's 325 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,880 autobiography. If our autobiographies are 326 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:13,960 written in the first person, you know what I did, what I felt, 327 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:18,800 what I experienced, This funny story that happened to me, his 328 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:20,720 was written in the second person. 329 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:28,360 His entire autobiography is a prayer, and he's praying to God, 330 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:33,760 searching for how God has been at work in his life even before 331 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:40,400 he ever realized it. In his writing, he's discovering 332 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:47,400 who he is in relation to God, how God is at work, how God has 333 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:49,760 been at work to draw him to himself. 334 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:55,280 This is true of us as well, whether we realize it or not. 335 00:20:55,280 --> 00:21:00,120 God is the one holding our lives in His hands, and so we should 336 00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:04,080 live our lives in the second person, always looking for how 337 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:09,800 God is at work, how you Lord are at work, always thinking about 338 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,160 ourselves, not in reference to my story, but in reference to 339 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,480 him. And a quick way to do this is to 340 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:21,320 think about when do you pray? Do we pray like Saul, only 341 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,840 offering up prayers, quick prayers, you know, short prayers 342 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,040 that we drop off in the middle of crisis? 343 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:32,960 Or are we, like Jonathan, living all of our life in the presence 344 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,360 of God? Are you talking to God 345 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:38,280 throughout the day? Are you wondering when you see a 346 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,200 traffic jam? God, what are you doing here? 347 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,360 It could be God, what are you doing here? 348 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,320 Or God, you know, how are you? How are you at work even here? 349 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,840 Are you offering little praises to God when you see a 350 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:57,320 particularly glorious fall tree? Are you orienting yourself all 351 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,720 the time to God and what he is doing, how he is at work? 352 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:03,480 I'm not talking about performative spirituality. 353 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,760 I'm not talking about walking around saying praise the Lord 354 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,200 all the time. That's what the Pharisees did. 355 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:13,400 There's not necessarily something wrong with that if 356 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,360 it's deeper than performance. But I'm not talking about 357 00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:17,680 performance here. I'm talking about a real, deep, 358 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,920 abiding sense that you were going through all of your life 359 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,960 in the presence of God, seeking His face, curious about His 360 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,520 action in the world. Of course, this does mean 361 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:33,680 spending focused time with Him in prayer and study, but it 362 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:39,040 means more than that as well. It means focusing our attention 363 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:45,240 not on ourselves and on our story, but on God and what He is 364 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,320 doing, the story that he is writing in the world. 365 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,040 The result of of Saul's autobiography autobiography 366 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,160 Mindset, is catastrophic. Saul is so focused on himself 367 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:00,200 that he can't see how tired his army is. 368 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,680 The land is literally flowing with honey. 369 00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:06,920 This is what God promised, and yet the people can't partake of 370 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:11,720 the blessings of the land. Jonathan inadvertently puts 371 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:17,680 himself under a curse. Saul is so focused on himself 372 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,960 that he cannot bless his people, and he ends up cursing his son. 373 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,040 So that's Saul. Let's now look at the final 374 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,680 section of the story and think about God's people. 375 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:37,400 Verses 31 to 50 to 46. They stroke down the Philistines 376 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,080 that day from Mick Mash to Ajalan, and the people were very 377 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,280 faint. The people pounced on the spoil 378 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,280 and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on 379 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,400 the ground, and the people ate them with the blood. 380 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,080 Then they told Saul, behold, the people are sinning against the 381 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,720 Lord by eating with the blood. And he said, you have dealt 382 00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,960 treacherously. Roll a great stone to me here. 383 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,920 And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and 384 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,040 say to them, Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and 385 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,920 slaughter them here, and eat, and do not sin against the Lord 386 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,840 by eating with the blood. So every one of the people 387 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,680 brought his ox with him that night, and they slaughtered them 388 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,000 there. And Saul built an altar to the 389 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:19,840 Lord. It was the first altar that he 390 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:24,680 built to the Lord. Then Saul said, Let us go down 391 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,640 after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the 392 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,080 morning light. Let us not leave a man of them. 393 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,480 And they said, do whatever seems good to you. 394 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:38,400 But the priest said, let's draw near to God here. 395 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:42,960 And Saul inquired of God, shall I go down after the Philistines? 396 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:44,720 Will you give them into the hand of Israel? 397 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:47,600 But he did not answer him that day. 398 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,720 And Saul said, Come here, all you leaders of the people, and 399 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,240 know and see how this sin has arisen today. 400 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,680 For the as the Lord lives, who saves Israel, though it be 401 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,840 Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. 402 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,760 But there was not a man among all the people who answered him. 403 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,320 Then he said to all Israel, you shall be on one side, and I and 404 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:12,720 Jonathan my son will be on the other. 405 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,600 And the people said to Saul, Do what seems good to you. 406 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,160 Therefore Saul said, O Lord God of Israel, why have you not 407 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,480 answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in 408 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,640 Jonathan my son, O Lord God of Israel, give Urim. 409 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,600 But if his guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim. 410 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,440 Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped. 411 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,680 Then Saul said, cast a lot between me and my son Jonathan, 412 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,960 and Jonathan was taken. Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell 413 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:46,640 me what you have done. And Jonathan told him, I tasted 414 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,240 a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. 415 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:54,800 Here I am, I will die, and Saul said, God, do so to me, and more 416 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,800 also you shall surely die, Jonathan. 417 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:02,760 Then the people said to Saul, shall Jonathan die who has 418 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:04,680 worked this great salvation in Israel? 419 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,720 Far from it. As the Lord lives there shall 420 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,320 not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked 421 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,680 with God this day. So the people ransomed Jonathan 422 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,240 so that he did not die. Then Saul went up from pursuing 423 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,160 the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own 424 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:28,480 place, the word of the Lord. If Jonathan and Saul and Saul 425 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,120 show us two different approaches to our story, the character of 426 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:36,760 the people here shows us what happens when God's people lack a 427 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:44,000 leader who was attentive to God. Verses 21 and 22, we saw how the 428 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:50,360 the how God's people found new courage when God saved Israel. 429 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:52,360 The turncoats returned to Israel. 430 00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:56,680 Verse 21, the hiding cowards emerged with strength in verse 431 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,200 22. And this is all because God 432 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,240 saved Israel that day. Verse 23, you could say that 433 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:09,480 because of God's action they were becoming like Jonathan, but 434 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,840 the result of Saul's self-centered leadership is that 435 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,080 the people become very faint. This is verse 31, the second 436 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:17,640 time that that's repeated in this story. 437 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:20,720 Not only are they not able to completely defeat the 438 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,640 Philistines, but they're so hungry that they jump on the 439 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,840 Philistines animals and eat them with the blood, which the Mosaic 440 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,720 Law explicitly forbids. There's just swinging wildly 441 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,880 right from newfound courage to faint weakness to lawbreakers, 442 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,400 all in the span of hours, and all because their king is doing 443 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:44,920 just such a bad job. But Saul continues his myopic 444 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,600 self centeredness, doesn't he? He proposes that his famished 445 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:53,160 army now March through the night to pursue the Philistines. 446 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,080 But the priest, probably in kind of a good political move, 447 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,560 proposes, hey, why don't we stop and consult with God about this? 448 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,760 And here the story reaches its highest point of tension. 449 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:11,280 God doesn't answer. Saul assumes it's because 450 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,440 somebody has sinned, and he finds out through this sort of 451 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:19,280 casting of lots that Jonathan unwittingly broke Saul's rash 452 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:24,840 vow. Jonathan agrees to die, but the 453 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:29,120 people then step in to save him. The people have to step in to 454 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:31,960 save their Savior from their king. 455 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:37,600 It's just all so backwards. A king should save his people. 456 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:43,280 A king should lay down his life. But Saul here is proving that he 457 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,520 is just not that kind of king, is he? 458 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:47,880 He is the center of his own story. 459 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,760 And the result is that the people are left leaderless, 460 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:57,560 swinging wildly from courage to weakness to sin to desperate 461 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:02,720 defiance of their king. If God is only part of the 462 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:08,240 King's story, then the people are left searching for a story. 463 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,480 They need a better king, a leader like Jonathan, who is 464 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:17,640 gladly finding his part in God's bigger story. 465 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,840 Only then, when they find that leader, will they find their 466 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:24,440 meaning. Will they find their direction? 467 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,520 Only what then? Will they be able to fully feast 468 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:33,880 in the land of milk and honey? Now, this is the penultimate 469 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,840 sermon in our series looking at First Samuel. 470 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:40,280 We'll finish it next week on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time 471 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:41,960 and then Sunday after Thanksgiving. 472 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,840 Yes, Thanksgiving is that close. We will be an Advent and we will 473 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:50,760 be preparing for Christmas. The story of Saul really feels 474 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,480 like it's ending on a downer. It doesn't get any better next 475 00:29:53,480 --> 00:30:00,600 week, guys, and it doesn't seem like it fits with this season 476 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,960 that we're moving into, of, of Thanksgiving and good cheer and 477 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:08,440 parties. Saul seemed like such a 478 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:13,040 promising king, but he's ending so badly. 479 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:20,200 We're disappointed with him, but his story also calls us to look 480 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:24,480 for the greater king. We see how badly things are 481 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:29,160 going there and how much is that like things that are happening 482 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,320 here? We long for leadership that can 483 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:37,320 just keep the government open, feed the poor, protect the 484 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,280 vulnerable, pursue peace around the world. 485 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,160 Sometimes we might even think that we found such leadership 486 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:48,320 and our leaders might succeed for a time, kind of like Saul. 487 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,240 But at the end of the day, we will always be disappointed. 488 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:59,240 If our hope is in earthly leaders, we will continue to 489 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:06,080 swing wildly, just like Israel. We need a faithful king to come, 490 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,800 just like Israel did. So all story here is pointing 491 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,920 us. It's preparing us for Advent by 492 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,360 pointing us to our need for Christmas. 493 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,880 We don't need presents and lights and parties. 494 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,040 We don't need good cheer. We need a king. 495 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:32,240 We need a king who loves the Lord and who is focused squarely 496 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,160 on him. It's only by the coming of our 497 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:41,040 King that we can find our place in God's story. 498 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:47,160 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, our King. 499 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,240 In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 500 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:51,200 Amen.