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Sermon Date:	May 11, 2008 (Redeemer, Sanford)
Sermon Text:	1 Samuel 8:1-22
Church Calendar:	TKC Week 19
Delivered By:	Rev. Brian Roberts

"Danger: Avoid Kings"

I heard about something last week that caught my attention. There is a group of people in Michigan, who are frustrated about all the frivolous lawsuits in our country today. So, they have decided to do something about it.

For the last 11 years, they have held the “The Wacky Warning Label Contest” to show the effects of what these frivolous lawsuits have done to warning labels and common sense.

Last year’s third place winner was Richard Goodnow of Lancaster, Massachusetts. He earned $100 for finding a label on a baby stroller that featured a small storage pouch. The label warns: “Do not put child in pouch.”

The second place winner was the Turin family of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, who won $250 for a label they found on one of those T-shirt stickers that you iron on. The label warned: “Do not iron while wearing shirt.”

And the grand prize winner was Kevin Soave of Farmington Hills, Michigan, who found a warning label on a small tractor that read: “Danger: Avoid Death.”

Alright, THAT one seems like a pretty good warning when you get right down to it. Well, that got me thinking about our episode of Thy Kingdom Come this morning. I think if God had considered using warning labels at the time of our story today, He would have put a label on the people of Israel that read: “Danger: Avoid Kings”

In our journey through the Bible we have come to the end of the dark ages for the Children of Israel. This time of the Judges has been the Dark Age, when the people of Israel fell into a pattern of rebellion against God.

They cycled between this rebellion and idolatry, which led to conquest and oppression by the surrounding pagan nations. This would cause the people to despair and call out to the Lord in repentance, and then God would bring deliverance by raising up a Judge.

But, then the people would get comfortable and complacent and fall back into rebellion. This cycle of the Judges went on for generations. Sadly, it was the same old story – time and time again. It truly was a dark age.

Now, today’s episode brings us to a turning point in the history of Israel. Last week we began the story of the Judges, and this week we have moved forward a few hundred years to the end of the story of the Judges – to the last Judge of Israel, Samuel.

By this time, because of all its rebelliousness and idolatry, Israel has succeeded in making itself only a weak, disjointed, and insignificant nation. God had planned to bring Israel into the Promised Land, making them a strong, unique, and glorious people of God. They were to be a people, at which the nations would marvel, saying, “Look at what God has done for His people.”

Instead, because or their rebellious unbelief, they have achieved irrelevance and mediocrity. They were virtually no different than the pagan nations around them.

So, when Samuel in our story today, appoints his dishonest and corrupt sons as the new Judges of Israel, the people say, “Oh, no you don’t!! We are tired of living this way. We are tired of being ruled this way. We are tired of you, Samuel. And we are tired of God. Clearly, He doesn’t know how to run this country.”

Of course, the problem here was not God, was it? The problem here was the fact that Israel refused to remain faithful to God. Through their faithfulness, GOD was to be their Ruler, leading and blessing them. But, it was their idolatry that kept them weak and fearful of the nations around them.

But, as human beings often do, they blamed GOD for the trouble that was THEIR fault.

So, because they are quite sure God doesn’t know what He is doing, they decide that their security and prosperity belong in the hands of – not God, but a king – just like “all the other nations have.”

And Samuel’s response is to put up the warning sign: “Danger: Avoid Kings” King are NOT a good idea. In verses 10-18 God explains why they don’t want to be ruled by a king.

“Kings are takers, not givers. Kings demand to BE served, with little attention to serving. Kings will tax you; they will burden you; they will draft you, and they will enslave you. The day will come when you will wish you had never had a king.” And in verse 19, the people say, “No, we don’t care! We want a king.”

The people of Israel believe that the road to strength, to prosperity, to blessings and peace will come through an earthly government. But you know, not all roads lead to the same place. It’s kind of the same thing when people say that “all religions lead to God,” or “All roads lead to heaven.”

The author Max Lucado illustrates how such odd statements just don’t make sense. He says, “Can all approaches to God be correct? How can all religions lead to God when they are so different? We don’t tolerate such logic in other matters. We don’t pretend that all roads lead to London or all ships sail to Australia; all flights don’t lead to Rome.

“Imagine your response to a travel agent who proclaims they do. You tell him you need a flight to Rome, Italy. So he looks on his screen, and he offers, ‘Well, there’s a flight to Sidney, Australia, at 6:00 a.m.’

‘Does it go to Rome?’ you ask. ‘No, but it offers great food and movies.’

‘But I need to go to Rome,’ you say. He says, ‘Well, let me suggest Southwest Airlines.’

‘Southwest Airlines flies to Rome?’

“No, but they win awards for on-time arrivals.’

“You’re getting frustrated, so you reiterate: ‘I need one airline, to carry me to one place – Rome.’ The agent appears offended: ‘Sir, all flights go to Rome.’

“But, every flight does NOT go to Rome. And every path does NOT lead to God.” And the Israelites desire for a king will NOT lead to the blessings they want. God is the source of their blessings, not the king.

But in their blind stubbornness, they will not listen. So God tells Samuel, “Give them a king.” It is amazing to me that God warns the children of Israel that they really don’t want the trouble that comes with having a king. But, then He allows them to learn the lesson the hard way, because, of course, everything God predicts about their future kings, comes true.

But, isn’t it also true, that sometimes we ONLY learn the lesson, when it comes the hard way? Sometimes we are tempted to run off in our own directions, because it seems that God’s ways aren’t working.

In fact, sometimes God’s ways even seem foolish. When everything is collapsing around us, God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) How is THAT supposed to work?

But here is the key. Here is what we believe. Here is what set us apart, as Christians. Here is what we hold on to. It’s that our lives are not a random series of accidental or coincidental events.

The people in your life, the events in your life, and the sequence of things that occur in your life are ordered by the hand of God. God has promised that He will cause all things in our lives to come together in such a way to advance His purposes for us – and the good He intends for us.

Now, that doesn’t mean that our lives will be trouble-free or pain-free. Sometimes we will only learn our lessons the hard way. But, it DOES mean that God is working with you, molding you, changing you, and growing you, so that your life – all the more – reflects the life of Jesus Christ to the glory of God. He is strengthening you and empowering you so that you will spiritually survive this earthly, sin-stained life and live for all eternity.

Think about it, for most of us here, to get to this blessed point in time, to be the people of God sitting in this church today, surrounded by God’s love and grace, with all the blessings He has given to us – to get to this point in time required struggle and pain.

If certain painful things had not happened in the past, if certain troubles in our lives had not happened, we would likely be somewhere else.

God is an awfully big God. He can use the disappointments as well as the triumphs in our lives. Even when we reach the lowest point of our greatest failure, God is big enough to transform our failure into hope, and our hope into opportunities, and those opportunities into the power to glorify Jesus Christ.

That’s exactly what happened to Jesus on the cross. What appeared to be the worst defeat, was in fact the greatest victory. What appeared to be humiliating failure, was in fact, God’s most glorious moment – the forgiveness of sins and the redemption of the world.

Now, because of the forgiving power of the cross of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, we have in our possession one of the greatest treasures in the universe – Hope. We have the hope of knowing that nothing is random or meaningless in our lives.

“Do you mean, Pastor, that when I feel the lousiest and most useless, even THEN Christ is glorified and at work in my life??” And the answer is, YES! For when we learn humility, we learn to trust Christ more fully – and God is glorified.

When we learn patience, we learn to yield ourselves to God’s timing – and God is glorified. When we experience suffering, we learn more deeply what grace really is – and God is glorified.

Once we begin to see that our lives are ordered by the loving hand of God working out His ultimate purpose in us and through us, then we will begin to have an entirely different attitude of heart and mind. We will learn that we have the power to “be content in any and every situation,” as St. Paul says in Philippians 4.

The people of Israel in our story today, could not do this. Their worldly hearts and lack of faith prevented them from seeing God’s Hand in their lives. And they could not be content.

But, it’s easy to believe that BLESSINGS come from God. It’s easy to see God’s hand upon us when we are receiving good things. How often do we picture God, as kinda like Santa Claus, handing out heavenly goodies?

But then, when the troubles of life come, too often we picture God, looking at us from heaven, scratching His head and saying, “Now what do I do?”

No, God works in ALL things. And He wants to teach us today, to look to Him, rather than the things around us – to look to Him, rather than some king. He wants us to focus upon Him, rather than the circumstances that are pressing upon us.

He wants us to turn our eye to Him in all things and say, “Oh Lord, give me the love, strength, and faith to trust You in all situations. Give me the power of the Holy Spirit to become more like Jesus.

“And give me the wisdom to know that whether I have pain – or peace, whether I’m fearful – or joyful, whether life is easy – or hard, Your love is upon me, and You are bringing about Your purposes and blessings for me.”

Amen.

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