Have you ever sinned in such a way that you felt that God would be so disappointed in you that He would turn His back on you? Have you felt that you just couldn’t come to Him for forgiveness, because you knew, going in, that what you were about to do was sin, but you did it anyway, and you were just too ashamed to ask God for forgiveness? I think probably most of us have.
Well, that’s what Israel did when they asked for a king. Samuel told them that this was a bad thing that they were doing, but they wanted it anyway. You know how it went. God told Samuel to go ahead and grant their request, because they were rejecting God, not Samuel.
So in chapter 12 today, Samuel reminds Israel of all the good things that God had done for Israel, how he had delivered them so many times, and he reminded them that in asking for a king, they had sinned. This caused them to plead to Samuel that he would pray for them, that they would not die because of their sin.
And Samuel’s response is what I want to bring to your attention today. Here is what he said: “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. (((Here’s the important part…)))) 22For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.”
Because God *decided* to make them His people, He will not forsake them.
When you became a follower of Jesus, you became one of God’s family. I don’t have time to go into details, but what He did when you became a Christian was a legal, formal adoption. You became His, and He will no more forsake you when you sin that He would forsake Israel when they sinned.
So move forward. Forsake your sin, follow the Lord and serve Him with all your heart. You are His son or daughter. Rest in that. Don’t let the enemy convince you of the lie that you have gone too far astray. You haven’t.
Chapter 11 began with a message that would not come from an old, jaded, cynical Scrooge-type man.
He started with the advice that you should be generous with those in need, because your giving is like a farmer sowing grain. It will yield a return. And if you have the ability now, you never know when your fortunes may change and you may need someone else’s generosity.
And then Solomon advised that the young should enjoy their youth, keeping in mind that God will be the judge of all that we do. So we should avoid evil.
Chapter 12 says the young should keep the Creator in mind, because in our old age life becomes difficult. Our senses dull and our bodies become weak. And ultimately, we die.
And at the very end of the chapter and the book, Solomon refers to himself in the third person and calls himself the Preacher. And he says that after observing all that he could, he wrote down the best words that he could; words of truth. Words that could hold you steady in the storms of life. Words that were given by God.
And his conclusion was this: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Because God will judge every work, every act, whether good or evil.
Beloved, the only true and lasting happiness and peace is found in knowing God and pleasing Him. Anything apart from that will only bring emptiness, heartbreak, spiritual bankruptcy and ultimately eternal separation from God. And as Christians, we know that the only way to truly know God is when we have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Solomon didn’t know Jesus by name, but he came to know that God was his only hope, and I am sure that God credited his account in the same way as He did with Abraham because of that faith.
I’ll be 61 years old in a few months, and even though I have not lived my life with the same privileges as Solomon did, my experiences have taught me the same lessons. When I have gone my own way, veering from the path that I knew God would want me to travel, I have always found nothing but emptiness and sadness. It is only when I cling tightly to Him that I find that unshakeable peace, that joy which is independent of my circumstances, that *knowing* that everything will be alright.
I hope you have found that marvelous truth in your own life. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” That is what God wants for you. And so do I.
As I read this today, my attention was drawn to the first couple of verses of chapter four, where Paul talked about how believers, Christians, should walk in unity. The scripture says, “I beseech you…”
Do you understand what “beseech” means? It means to ask someone urgently and fervently to do something; to implore; to entreat. Paul was pleading with the Ephesians here.
What was he beseeching them to do? “To walk worthy of the calling with which you were called…” We are called Christians. We are carrying the name of Christ. Paul was beseeching us to be worthy of that name.
And he continued. “…with all lowliness and gentleness…” So we should be humble, not making like we’re special or better than anyone else. And we should be kind and gentle to those around us.
“…with long-suffering…” That means we should be patient. Patience is something that is often in short supply these days. We’ve become so ADD and so used to fast technology that we sometimes expect everything to be quick. But people don’t always do things quickly. We should be long-suffering with people.
“…bearing with one another in love…” And this is the one that stopped me in my tracks. I read that as meaning I should forgive my fellow Christians with the same kind of love that Jesus shows me. And the reason this one grabbed me like it did is this. I know God forgives me for my failures because of what Jesus did on the cross. Sometimes I have a hard time forgiving myself, but I know God forgives me. So by faith, I forgive myself. But…and now this is the really hard part…I don’t always forgive others in the same way. And now I’m going to get really transparent here. We’re family, right? Is it ok with you if I’m not perfect?
Ok, here goes. There is this person at my church with whom I have been angry for a very long time. I suppose the reason I’ve been angry really doesn’t matter, but I have rationalized with myself that this person did something that warranted my anger, and as far as I know, they have never made things right. So I have held this grudge.
Now what sort of condition would I be in if Jesus held a grudge against me? I can’t even entertain the thought of Jesus holding a grudge against anybody. Can you?
So, given Paul’s beseeching, and for the good of my own soul and the unity of the Body, I have decided (and yes, it is a decision, not a feeling) to forgive this person. To bear with them in love. From this point on, I will pray that God allow me to see this person through His eyes, and be mindful of the forgiveness he has given me, so that I can forgive them.
Is there someone in your life that you need to bear with in love? I encourage you to heed the Apostle Paul’s beseeching.
Why do you suppose Saul was hiding among the equipment when it was time for the people to see who it was that God had chosen to be their king? Doesn’t that strike you as an odd thing for Saul to do at this particular time?
So get the picture. Samuel has already anointed Saul’s head with oil and confirmed that he was the one whom God has chosen, but this was done when it was just the two of them. There were no witnesses. And then Saul has had several miraculous things happen that have really transformed him. And now, Samuel has called all the nation of Israel to Mizpah, and he has given them a message from God: I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed you.’ 19But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’
So what do you think is going through Saul’s mind at this point? I don’t know about you, but I’d be thinking, “Wait a minute. God has just announced through Samuel that these people, who are about to become my responsibility, have up until now been taken care of by the Lord God Almighty. He took them out of Egypt after bringing some terrible consequences to Pharaoh. He brought them to this land that had been inhabited by some very scary people, and He defeated those people to give the land to them. How in the world am I going to even begin to be worthy to be their leader? Oh, and God isn’t very happy with them, by the sound of things. They have just insulted Him by their rejection of His leadership. Do I really want this job? And by the way, the Philistines have been a real problem lately. How am I going to deal with them? Maybe I’ll just hide over here. Maybe if I don’t show myself, God will have to choose someone else.”
Sound about right to you? It’ll be fun to see how Saul’s reign progresses, won’t it?
At the end of our last reading in Ecclesiastes, the end of chapter 8, Solomon had said that after setting his mind on understanding wisdom, after watching what happens here on earth, he concluded that it is impossible for man to understand it all. And this is coming from the wisest man that ever lived.
And the beginning of our reading today began with the words, “So I considered all of this carefully, examining all of it: The righteous and the wise and their deeds are in God’s hand…”
I have discovered, in my life, that this is a good place to be. Before Jesus left this world he said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid.”
If we try to make sense out of the world, as Solomon did, we will become like he did. We’ll become cynical and jaded. Solomon spent many years in pursuit of the things the world tells us will bring happiness. And near the end he threw in the towel and said, “It’s too much. I can’t understand.”
When I was a few years younger, ok, when I was many years younger, during the Jesus Freak days of the late 60s and early 70s, there was a popular bumper sticker around that said, “Let go and let God.”
Of course, like most bumper stickers that’s overly simplistic, but it fits in our discussion here.
When we are willing to admit that we’re not in control, that it’s all in God’s hands, it becomes easier to let go and let God. Jesus came to give us peace, which is good, since all the things that the world says will give us peace fall sadly short.
It’s good to remember that I am not God. Which is good, because I don’t even want that job.
The first couple of chapters here in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians are a wonderful restating of the Good News, the Gospel, the message of how a loving God made a way to save his beloved creation from an eternity of separation from Him. If you are ever in doubt, come and read and reread what Paul wrote.
The ironic thing is, in the closing paragraphs of chapter two, Paul talks about how Jew and Gentile are united as one in Christ, but just a few sentences before, he wrote a couple of sentences that caused a split in the body of Christ that lasts right up to today.
He said in verses 8 and 9, “You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. 9It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.”
The King James Version might sound a little bit more familiar to you: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
These are the words that sparked Martin Luther’s thinking that led to the Protestant Reformation, effectively splitting the Christian church in two. The Catholics and the Protestants.
I obviously don’t have time here to discuss the differences between these two schools of thought, but suffice it to say that whether you are Protestant or Catholic, Jew or Greek, it is your faith (or lack thereof) that determine’s your eternal residence. Nothing else. And if reading these chapters in their complete context doesn’t tell you how much God loves you and wants to save you, then I don’t know what will. I pray that you respond to His love with gratitude and open arms, because I want to get to know you when we stand together around His throne in Heaven!
If you’ve been listening to my podcasts for any length of time, you know how how important I think grace is. What a marvelous and awesome (in the true sense of the word) gift is grace. To receive forgiveness and favor from a righteous and holy God, not through my efforts at all, but because of the shed blood of his sinless son, is something that, when I think of it, I am often driven to my knees in thanksgiving.
Grace is something that we do not at all deserve. There is nothing that I can do to deserve it, nothing that I can do to earn it. If I worked my entire life, 24/7, doing nothing but good works, I would still not deserve God’s favor. Grace is the gift of God. But it is a gift, bought and paid for by our Savior, Jesus Christ.
But here’s the thing. We who are the recipients of this most valuable gift the Universe has ever seen, often take this grace for granted. When we sin, we hardly give any thought at all to our, “Forgive me Lord” confessions.
As a dad, there were so many times when my kids were young, that one kid would do something to the other that, when I found out, needed to be apologized for. I would tell the offending child, “Apologize to your brother.” And he’d say, “Sorry” in one of those voices that said, “I’m not really sorry, but Dad’s making me say it.”
This is often how I think we ask forgiveness of God. “Forgive me Lord. I blew it again.” But there is no real remorse. Of course, God knows the heart. And if there is no remorse, He is not impressed by your false confession.
But even if we are truly remorseful, many times we give scant thought to what it cost Jesus to buy our forgiveness. And we rarely do anything more than ask for forgiveness. We don’t, to use an old but meaningful word, *lament* over our sin.
I think we cheapen grace when we don’t lament over our sin.
In the beginning of our first chapter today, 1 Samuel 7, we saw that Israel truly demonstrated their lament after Samuel told them what they should do to turn back to the Lord. They obediently got rid of their false idols, and they worshipped only the Lord. But they didn’t stop there.
When they met at Mizpah, where Samuel was to pray for them, they drew water from the well and poured it out as an offering to the Lord. On that same day they went without eating to show their sorrow, and they confessed they had been unfaithful to the Lord.
Not satisfied to just give lip service to their repentance, they actually did something concrete, something that required a sacrifice on their part. They truly wanted to show God that they really meant what they said.
Yes, God knew their hearts. But putting action where their words were was a way for them to really make an outward demonstration that they were on the level.
Let’s endeavor to never take God’s grace for granted. Let’s not cheapen grace with a flippant, “Sorry.”
Of course you’ve heard the phrase, “Be careful of what you wish for. You just might get it.”
The Philistines wanted the Ark of the Covenant because it was known far and wide that the presence of the God of Israel was there. (Of course, from our perspective here in the 21st century, we know that God is omnipresent, but then it was true that God clearly manifested Himself through the Ark.) It was also known that the God of Israel did some miraculous and powerful things to Egypt’s pharaoh to cause him to release the people of Israel from slavery.
So the Philistines wanted the Ark, and they wanted it badly. And as we read in the last chapter, they captured it in a great battle.
Be careful what you wish for.
When the Philistines brought the Ark home, they set it near the image of their god, Dagon, in the temple of Dagon. Guess what. God does not want to be associated with other gods, and over the course of two nights He causes the idol to fall over, and the second night it gets broken.
Then the people begin breaking out in some sort of skin disease, and they panic, knowing that the God of Israel is the cause, because they took the Ark. They make plans to get rid of it.
We look at this story and think how cool it is that God made Himself known this way. And of course He would not want to be in the temple of an idol. And the Philistines deserved to suffer.
Be careful though. We have idols today, too. They may not be carved out of wood, and we may not confess with our mouths that they are our gods, but they are idols, nonetheless.
The thing that gets your devotion, that gets your attention above all others, is your God. Is there something in your life that gets more attention than God? I could rattle off a list of possible suspects, but if my question caused something to spring up in your mind right now, I’d like to encourage you to carefully examine your relationship with that thing and ask God if it is a problem. He wants to the the center of your attention and devotion. He deserves it, don’t you think?
These chapters, while not entirely inspiring, seem to be a *little* less hopeless sounding than the first two, don’t you think?
There’s a lot here to think about, but in our limited time, I’d like to focus for just a moment on chapter four.
Halfway through the chapter, Solomon talked about the man who works so hard he has no family, no son or even a brother. And he said that this is a bad and senseless thing. No disagreement there, right?
But then he talks about a better alternative. The next four verses explain that two are better than one, and three are even better. Like Solomon, in my older years I have learned that this is true.
My dad was very much a loner. A “self made man”. He worked literally seven days a week until he got too old to work. In all my childhood years, until I moved out of the house at the age of 21, he probably took no more than a total of a month off work for a very few short vacations. He did pretty well for himself, financially, though never rich. But for a guy who barely finished the eighth grade, he did well.
When I was a boy, he taught me that friends would always let you down, and that it is better to keep people at arm’s length. Don’t let anyone in. Do things on your own. Don’t ask for help. Figure things out yourself. Be your own man.
It wasn’t until many, many years later that I found out just how poor that makes you, even if you have a lot of money. When my dad died, he had no friends at his funeral. No one but my mom, my sister and her three children, my wife, my kids and me to mourn him.
My father-in-law was the exact opposite of my dad. He was giving, warm, caring, loving man. He worked almost until the day he died, not because he was trying to accumulate money, but because he barely made enough to pay the bills. He was an integral part of our church and was there whenever the doors were open. I can’t tell you all the jobs he had at church over the years. Suffice it to say that if he saw something that needed to be done, he did it. Everyone loved and respected Rip Collins. And when he died, there was not an empty seat in the church nor a dry eye in the house. Rip Collins died a rich man. And I have no doubt that when he met Jesus he heard a hearty, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
My father-in-law knew that it is better to be with people than go it alone. There is no virtue in being a self made man if you close out the world in the process.
Paul had spent some time with these people on one of his missionary journeys, and they had received him well. However, after he left them some false teacher had come in who told them that Paul was not to be respected as an apostle, and they began teaching the Galatians that they had to follow the Jewish Law, undermining the freedom that belongs to those who believe in Jesus.
Paul opens the letter by establishing that he is an apostle, chosen not by men, but by Jesus Christ Himself and God the Father. Those are some pretty impressive bona fides, wouldn’t you say? He’s not doing this to impress them, but to answer the charges brought against him by those who made their way into the Galatian church who were questioning his qualifications.
After this, Paul expresses his amazement that they have allowed themselves to be sidetracked to a different Gospel (or Good News) such a short time after becoming believers. He says, “There is no other message that is the Good News, but some people are confusing you. They want to change the Good News about Christ. 8 We told you the true Good News message. So anyone who tells you a different message should be condemned—even if it’s one of us or even an angel from heaven! 9 I said this before. Now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. Anyone who tells you another way to be saved should be condemned!”
Other translations say “cursed” or “anathema”. Those are strong words. And I’m sure you noticed the part where Paul said, “even if it’s one of us (who tells a different Gospel” or even an angel from heaven!”
Folks, over the years there have been, and there now are, people who try to change the Good News. Many of them are great salesmen. They often bring a message of love and sunshine and prosperity. And they even sprinkle their message with snippets of scripture. And so did Satan as he tempted Jesus in the desert.
And another message that is popular today is, “Well, listen. There are many ways to interpret scripture. There really isn’t an absolute truth. My truth is this. Maybe your truth is that. That’s cool. Whatever your truth is, is ok.”
I’m here to tell you that Scripture is clear. There is no equivocation in the Good News message. God’s truth is absolute.
Confusion comes only from Satan. God is the author of Truth, not confusion. If you want to know the truth, spend time with God. Get to know what the scriptures say. Study them. Pore over them. Meditate on them. If you have questions, pray to ask for wisdom and seek godly guidance if need be. We have the benefit of over 2000 years’ worth of literature to help us. If you are unsure of the teaching of one man or resource, use a variety of resources.
We live in an age where information is easy to get. Use that to your benefit. But with everything, use discernment. Anything that contradicts the teaching of Scripture is to be discarded.
If you diligently search the scriptures, you will be rewarded with a clear understanding of what the Good News is. God wants you to use all the mental capacity He gave you. Christianity is not about checking your intelligence at the door. As the author of all truth, as the creator of all that is, God is not afraid of your questions or doubts. There are answers, and God will reveal all that He want you to know if you diligently seek Him.
That’s not to say the He will reveal all the mysteries of the universe to you, because not everything is knowable, but you can be sure that of the things that man can know, there are clear and absolute answers.
That may an unfashionable thing to say today, but there truly is black and there truly is white.
Have you ever sinned in such a way that you felt that God would be so disappointed in you that He would turn His back on you? Have you felt that you just couldn’t come to Him for forgiveness, because you knew, going in, that what you were about to do was sin, but you did it anyway, and you were just too ashamed to ask God for forgiveness? I think probably most of us have.