How You Lose Spiritual Power (Judges 16.1-22)

Introduction

Tonight, I’m going to talk about the strongest man that ever lived; someone dynamic, powerful and resilient. A man capable of carrying extreme loads without flinching. His enemies cringe before him. He sends all his foes into panic. Two weeks ago I was speaking about heroes. That’s what I’m talking about now - someone you look up to, a legend that inspires admiration.

But first of all, before we look at Samson and Delilah, let’s bring ourselves up to date with the story so far, which sets the stage for this chapter. Samson, you’ll remember, was born to parents who, up till that time, had been unable to have children.

He was set apart as a Nazarite, meaning he was special, consecrated to God, dedicated to his service. He lived under constant threat of the Philistines. They were a murderous and idolatrous people who, fuelled by a cult of their violent god Dagon, were a scary people to have as overlords. God anointed him with incredible physical strength for his mission to subdue the Philistines.

But instead of describing a Samson who restores order, who overcomes the Philistines and brings settlement, chapters 14 and 15 of Judges paint the picture of a petulant tit-for-tat conflict and revenge attacks that resolve nothing. Samson, if he’s not spending his time partying with his enemies, is picking out victims at random.

A couple of years ago, I watched Stephen Spielberg’s film ‘Munich’. It’s based on the terrorist outrage at the 1972 Olympic Games, when Palestinian extremists from the Black September organisation took hostage, and eventually killed, a dozen Israeli athletes. The film concentrates on the aftermath and in particular the Israeli response codenamed Operation Wrath of God. Mossad agents are given the mission of tracing the men responsible for Munich and eliminating them one by one. Which is what they do; in London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Beirut… all over the place.

But the film shows that their mission only provokes a new wave of attacks against Israel around the world. As for the agents, they begin as the hunters but end up in mortal fear of being tracked down themselves. The film ends with the team leader on the edge of paranoia.

Watching that film, I couldn’t help but think about Samson in Judges 14 and 15 and the situation in the Middle East today. 3,000 years on, it’s exactly the same cycle being repeated between Israel and Palestine, the direct descendants of Samson and the Philistines. It’s the same DNA.

And we saw last week how cycles of vengeance end in tragedy. If you’ve ever politely asked noisy neighbours to turn their music down – and they just turn it up - you know what it is like to contemplate settling the scores. Samson’s life is a reminder that getting even doesn’t work.

It feels good to write a really sarcastic and vitriolic e-mail to someone who has treated you badly, doesn’t it? Oh, the satisfaction when you click ‘send!’

Kathie once wrote a very stroppy letter to our bank after they charged us for an error they had made. I said to her “You can’t send that!” She said, “Why not?” So I said, “It’s written on notepaper with a Bible verse on it!” I wouldn’t have minded if the letter was written on plain paper! She didn’t send it but writing it helped get the anger out of her system.

As someone once said, when feeling cross, “Always apply the space shuttle principle; count down before blasting off!’ If Samson had always done that maybe history would have turned out differently. So that’s the background. Chapter 16 is really important because it gives us an insight into the root of all the rest, from Samson’s point of view. It helps us understand his indiscipline, his chaotic lifestyle.

The Flesh – The Root of Samson’s Indiscipline

When we open the chapter, Samson is in Gaza. True to form, he spends the night there with a prostitute. Tellingly, v1 says ‘he saw a prostitute and spent the night there.’ Samson always was led by his eyes.

How ironic that by v21 those very eyes that led him astray are gone. But, even here, even now, for reasons buried deep in the unfathomable supplies of God’s grace, Samson is still anointed by God. With his awesome, mighty strength, he pulls the city gates, their door posts and the metal bar that secured them, off their hinges and out of their sockets. The commentaries say that these massive doors would have been made from solid timber, studded with thousands of nails and covered in metal to prevent them from being destroyed by flaming arrows. Samson tore all that off the walls.

That feat alone is superhuman. But Samson, apparently just to make sure people got the message that he was not a weed, carried the lot from Gaza to Hebron. Hebron is over 50 kilometres from Gaza - and it’s mostly uphill.

Strongest man that ever lived? It’s hardly surprising that on three separate occasions in this chapter a band of armed Philistines did not dare take him on, even alone, exposed and defenceless - until they learnt the secret of his strength. There was something so unusual about Samson’s physical capability that only supernatural strength could explain it.

And all this despite apparently looking quite normal; as I said about a few weeks ago in case you were away, don’t be fooled by those pictures of Samson looking like the Incredible Hulk. If Samson had a physique like that, Delilah would never have asked him in v6, “Samson, what is the secret of your great strength?” It would have been self-evident. Samson was probably nothing special to look at.

The mystery behind his strength was not his muscle bulk; it was God’s promise to bless him as a dedicated, consecrated individual.

Remember; the spiritual battles you are called to fight and win will be in the strength God supplies, not in your own.

The Apostle Paul was a winner. He wrote about a third of the New Testament, planted churches all over the Middle East and Southern Europe, healed the sick, raised the dead and probably hit holes in one and played lead guitar with his teeth as well! How did he do all that?

Here’s his explanation; “insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities and distresses.” And he’s not talking about obstacles. He said that those weaknesses were the prime reason why the power of Christ showed so clearly in his life. “Insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities and distresses.”

Those things throw us on to God’s mercy until we are thoroughly dependent on him alone. This is what Paul is talking about when he says that the power of God is made perfect in weakness. It goes some way to answering questions like these:

• Why am I bullied and teased at school?
• Why can’t I find a job?
• Why do I feel trapped in this unhappy marriage?
• Why do I feel so tired all the time?
• Why is nothing working in my life?
• Why is my sister seriously ill?
• Why do I have no friends at work?

“Insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities and distresses.” “My grace is sufficient for you, it’s enough, when all is stripped down, it’s all you need. When you get to the end of your strength, God’s strength is all you’ve got left.”

Samson wasn’t satisfied by God’s grace though. Samson needed to satisfy his passions and desires as well - and even his amazing strength didn’t always bring glory to God.

Chapter 16 shows that, even though he was bold before men, he was powerless before women. In this chapter this unaccountable, proud, self-absorbed, disproportionately violent, ungrateful and sexually loose man finally finds out how strong he really is.

Cecil B. De Mille’s 1949 epic ‘Samson and Delilah,’ was a box office hit, but it was trashed by the critics. One, for example, dismissed it as “the most expensive haircut in history.” Another trashed it for its shallow excesses (containing more chariots, more temples, more peacock plumes, more beards and more sex than ever before in the history of cinema).

As for De Mille, he said this; “We’ll sell it as a story of faith, a story of the power of prayer. That’s for the censors and the women’s organizations. For the public it’s the hottest love story of all time!”

But the thing is, it’s just not. For Samson, though it says in v4 that he fell in love with Delilah, by v16 he was tired to death of her. How steamy is that? He spends his time winding her up. She’s just another chick in the long line of easy women he hangs out with. The hottest love story of all time? Give me a break.

She spends the entire chapter nagging him, grinding him down, plotting his capture and public humiliation. Oh, she probably kisses him with all the passion he wants, but we know she’s faking it. She’s arranging for her mates to put his eyes out. For money what’s more. The hottest love story of all time? I don’t think so.

In a word, as Terry said a few weeks ago, Samson’s Achilles heel is what the New Testament euphemistically calls ‘the flesh.’ Or in the version we have here in church ‘the sinful nature’. It’s fallen human nature under the power of sin.

It is the inclination in our make up to slide away from the right path; it’s like a traitor within who is in league with an enemy outside. It’s when I’d much rather read my books and magazines than God’s word. It’s that disposition we all have to resist or at least neglect God in our lives. Romans 7:25 warns that it has a power to enslave people. Romans 7:18 says that there is nothing good in it.

The flesh is what makes Delilah nag and manipulate and whinge instead of having a straight, guilt-free, conversation. Proverbs 19.13 says that a nagging wife is like a constant, dripping tap. Ladies, it’s excruciatingly annoying. Don’t do it!

It’s the flesh that makes Samson lie to her and play with her instead of simply saying, “Look, I’m not telling you, it’s a secret, don’t ask again.” Guys, teasing is patronising and ungodly. Don’t do it either!

It’s the flesh in Delilah that takes one look at the money in v5 and decides it’s more important than the relationship. It’s the flesh in Samson in v17 that gives away his priceless secret just for a bit of peace and quiet. It’s “Hey, I just can’t be bothered any more to uphold God’s standards in my life.” That’s the flesh.

For men, lust tends to work through what they see. That’s why Job said, “I made a pact with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” (Job 31.1)

Nicky Lee in the Marriage Book writes this; “Many men at some point in their lives, often during their school days, have been exposed to pornography… The danger of pornographic material is that it arouses our sexual desires in a way that leads to lust rather than to a loving relationship. It can easily become an addiction.”

For women, it doesn’t usually work the same way. Sila Lee, in the same book, writes this: “A woman can become addicted to fantasy through what she sees or reads, making real life seem dull, routine and empty of the love and intimacy she craves. Many popular novels encourage such fantasising. But seeking to escape from reality on a regular basis through what is often regarded as harmless entertainment can be dangerous for a marriage.”

The New Testament emphasises the need to train our minds. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things” (Philippians 4.8).

John Wesley once preached on the flesh and asked some provocative questions: “Have you betrayed your own soul to temptation, by eating and drinking to the full, by needless familiarities, by foolish talking, by levity of dress or behaviour? Have you used all the means which scripture and reason suggest, to prevent every kind and degree of unchastity?”

It hardly needs saying, but this is a difficult age for young people to think christianly about the opposite sex. And not just young people actually. Probably most of us, if not all of us, at some time in our lives, have battled with these issues.

In fact, let’s have a show of hands! Or perhaps not… No, of course we struggle. And yet the hormones that charge round our bodies, the libido we all have, our appetites and desires, our passions and drives were all designed by God. It is not sinful to appreciate the beauty of an attractive person of the opposite sex and I don’t think we should feel bad if we do. That’s God’s handiwork!

Food is good for you and overeating is bad for you. A little wine is good for the heart, too much is bad for the liver. Sex in the context of God designed it for is a vital component of building a healthy relationship of absolute trust. And when it is removed from a committed, enduring covenant, while usually pleasurable, it gets devalued and often ends up in unwanted children, sexually transmitted diseases and less stable relationships.

Jesus set the bar high when he said that looking at a woman lustfully is committing adultery with her in the heart. The Message paraphrase of Matthew 5.28 is brilliant; “Don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices - they also corrupt.”

By Jesus’ standard, who can boast tonight?

I’ve known people who like to spend the first six days of the week sowing their wild oats and the seventh praying for a crop failure. And they say, “Couldn’t we have a 21st century edition of God’s law and call it the Ten Suggestions?”

Let's be real. By Jesus’ measure, we all fall, just as spectacularly as Samson, the man who never had the stability or the gravitas of a real man of God and never fulfilled his potential. And what becomes of us if we have fallen?

Ending

I told you at the beginning that I would talk about the strongest man that ever lived; a tough and resilient man. One capable of carrying heavy loads without flinching, a man who sends panic into all his enemies, someone you look up to, a legend that inspires awe.

I wasn’t thinking about Samson. He must be one of the weakest men in God’s word. He was easily led and inadequate. A slave to all his passions, his outbursts and his excesses, he never mastered anything, least of all himself. He had zero character and no moral fibre. I wasn’t thinking about Samson at all.

I was thinking about the one we have come to worship tonight; the Son of Man, the Son of God; Jesus Christ. The cross behind me is our constant reminder of the heavy price he didn’t flinch from paying - in full - to deliver us from the powers of darkness and win for us peace with God.

If you were the only person on earth who needed to be freed from the tyranny of the flesh and the slavery of sin he still would have done it just for you.

The strongest man who ever lived was tied to a post and relentlessly flogged, his back torn open from 40 lashes. They take him out onto the street and load the bar of his cross on his shoulders.

• He climbs the Via Dolorosa leading up out of the city before a jeering crowd
• Unlike Samson, he refuses to return evil for evil
• He, at no moment, attempts to flee the hell that awaits him at the place of the skull
• Nor does he shrink back when they press a crown of thorns upon his head
• He determinedly stretches out his arm to be nailed down to his cross
• He can, if he wants to, call 10,000 angels to get him out of there - and he doesn’t do it He carries, alone and abandoned, the intolerable weight of the sins of the world
• He takes on himself our sicknesses, our sorrows, our sin and our shame
• He forgives all those laughing at him, insult him and spit at him
• He takes the blow of indescribable pain and distress
• He cries in anguish as his Father turns his face away and is torn from his presence
• Even then, in the jaws of death itself, he doesn’t give in – he goes on to the end
• He disarms, on the cross, the principalities and powers of evil
• He makes a public display of them, prevailing over them by his death and resurrection
• He plunders hell and crushes Satan under his feet…

That is the strongest man that ever lived, full of grace and truth.

He knows everything about of you; your highs and your lows, your great strengths and your lamentable weaknesses, that which you are proud of and that which you are not - and, amazingly, he still loves you just as much.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 24th October 2010

Praying Like Moses (Numbers 11.1-23)

Introduction

You know when you’re looking at someone on the train or in a park or somewhere and they catch your eye so you look away in case they think you’re staring at them? Well, last Sunday, today and over the next few weeks we’re looking at men and women in the Bible and how they prayed. We’re peering into people’s private prayers at delicate points in their lives; moments of great vulnerability and intimacy and particularly here with Moses in Numbers 11. It feels a little intrusive really. At least they can’t look up and embarrass you as they catch you doing it.

But the reason we do this is not to pry but to learn and grow. About these very Old Testament stories, like the one we just read in Numbers, Romans 15.4 says this: 

“Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”

This is about learning to go the distance, finding encouragement when life is against us. In Numbers 11 we’re at a crucial turning point in the history of God’s people. They have just been miraculously set free from 400 years of cruel oppression. For generations they had cried out to God to get them out of Egypt and lead them into the Promised Land. And God did that. The tyrant Pharaoh was overcome and they escaped unharmed as the mighty hand of God opened up the waters of the Red Sea. They celebrated greatly. The Lord led them through the desert with a pillar of cloud by day and a column of fire by night. He sent bread from heaven to feed them.

On the face of it, with a recent history as good as that, you’d have thought that the people would be really fired up.

The Toxic Power of Grumbling

So it’s a bit of a shock when chapter 11 starts with these words:

Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down… The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

You don’t have to be Einstein do understand that things were not going well. Hardships, fire, complaints, cravings, regrets, disillusionments, comparisons, eating disorders... They were in a desert. They were obviously hungry and thirsty. They had no directions and no map. They had baggage to carry. There was nothing to do. It was too hot. It was too cold. Yes, both! In that part of the world, it’s 40˚ by day and 0˚ at night.

We English hate to complain don’t we? We hate to make a fuss. We mumble to each other that the soup is cold but when the waiter comes and says “Is everything OK?” we say “Oh yes, fine thanks.” The Italians have noticed this. They have a proverb that says, “Step on an Englishman’s toe and he’ll apologise to you.” I met a man who was half German and he told me that restaurateurs in Germany save the worst wine for the us because they know we are the only ones who won’t object! Sometimes people should complain a little.

Let me tell you a story about a man who decided to join a monastery.

The chief monk told him that it would be hard. He would have to give up all his possessions, pray all day and remain totally silent with one small exception. He was allowed to say two words every five years. Five years go by and the Pope comes to visit. “How’s it going?” he says and the man replies with the two words available to him “Bed hard.” So the Pope says, “Terribly sorry, we didn’t know. We’ll take care of it right away.”

Five more years go by and at the end of that time, the Pope comes back again. “How are you my son, is everything OK now?” So the man replies, “Food cold.” The Pope says, “So sorry, I’ll sort it out for you today.”

Five more years pass by and the Pope comes back a third time. “Hello again! Is everything all right now for you?” The man says “I quit.” So the Pope says, “Well of course you quit. I’m not surprised. You’ve been here for 15 years and all you’ve done is complain!”

But there’s a difference between a reasonable drawing attention to under par service and the unhappy overflow of an ungrateful heart. These grumblings and murmurings are recorded here not to show us we should never complain about cold soup. But to show us how fickle human nature can be. There is an alarming contrast between chapter 10 and chapter 11! How quickly people can turn from celebration to griping.

Who do these complaints come from? Verse 4 talks about “the rabble.” It seems that there was an unwilling and vocal group at the heart of the community that soured the whole atmosphere. You know the sort of negative, unhelpful person who walks into a room and the temperature drops immediately. It’s like the bloke who says “I was going to buy a copy of that book the Power of Positive Thinking and then I thought “Ah, but what good would that do?”

Who were these people, this rabble in Numbers 11? The commentaries suggest that it was most likely a small number of Egyptian former slaves, non Israelites, who found their way into the exodus as well. These were people who did not share the identity of the people of God. They jumped on the bandwagon but they never really bought into the identity of being God’s holy people and the vision of where God was leading them.

God had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. He promised he would drive out their enemies before them. He promised them protection and blessing. It was to this people that he revealed himself as Yahweh Raphé (I am the Lord who heals you).

But the rabble only came along for the ride. They only joined in as long as everything was going well and as long as they were personally getting something out of it, but at the first sign of hardship, instead of hanging on to what God had promised, instead of facing adversity in faith, they complained and grumbled and moaned and whinged. And the result is that their negativity polluted the mood of the whole community.

The reality is this: just like the community in the desert here, in any church there are times of setback and discouragement. There are seasons when everything seems to go wrong. There are times when you have to fight in faith and pray with passion despite any evidence of God being with you.

A few weeks ago we showed a video clip of our young people’s work and we celebrated the great things God is doing amongst them. Next week there’ll be a clip about how God is blessing the Lunch Club ministry. We want to talk about what God is doing, not about what God is not doing! We love to celebrate that. But those clips don’t tell you the whole story. We could have showed you a video of the leaders and volunteers of those ministries crying out to God in frustration, praying and agonising, working late into the night preparing, being let down, dealing with crises and illness and exhaustion… That’s the other side of the same reality. It’s because the kingdom of God is both now and not yet. It’s here but it is yet to come. Sometimes we see the power of God break through and wonderful things happen. Other times we don’t. Some are healed. Others aren’t. Some come to faith. Others never do.

The basic problem here is that the rabble had ungrateful hearts. After all God had done for them they should have been overflowing with thanksgiving.

After all God has done for us in Christ so should we! 1 Thessalonians 5.18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Cultivate a grateful soul. You have been redeemed at a high price (the blood of Jesus), you are deeply esteemed by your heavenly Father, you are the apple of his eye, you have been salvaged from the gates of hell and an eternity of bitter regret by grace. You are held with affection in the mighty hand of God, nothing can tear you from his grip and nothing can separate you from his love. So learn to nurture a thankful heart. Don’t let the rabble get to you!

The Impact of Grumbling on a Leader

You talk to any leader and they’ll probably say that the hardest thing to deal with as a leader is the rabble. You get rabbles in businesses, schools, political parties, extended families, voluntary groups, hospitals, even churches … you name the organisation, and there’s a good chance that there’ll be a rabble.

They’re the ones who always say how much better things were before. A few chapters down the line, in Numbers 16, they describe Egypt, the country they had just left, as a land flowing with milk and honey. No it wasn’t! It was a land of hopeless toil and oppression and slavery with no dignity.

The rabble are the ones who spread a spirit of dissatisfaction. In v4 the whole community takes their cue from them: “If only we had meat to eat!” they all say. “We have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” Wait a minute! This is coming from people who have had miracle bread from heaven every day. The Bible says “It was like coriander seed and looked like resin.” Exotic. “You ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar.” Convenient. “You could cook it in a pot or make it into loaves.” Versatile. “And it tasted like something made with olive oil.” Sounds delicious. People say there’s no such thing as a free lunch – yet this didn’t cost them a bean. What did they want, jam on it!?

The rabble are the ones who, whatever goes wrong, whoever is responsible, blame the leader. “My car’s broken down. Well it’s no wonder is it, with David Cameron in charge?” “My pew sheet is a bit creased. Well that would never have happened with the last vicar!” Fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. Verse 2; the people cried out to… Moses. “Hey, what’s with all this fire from heaven singing my tent? It’s not very convenient Moses, sort it out!”

Poor Moses! He had met with God at the burning bush. He had seen a vision of the Promised Land. He had been at the forefront of God’s mighty deliverance. He had talked with the Lord face to face on the mountain that shook with the awesome grandeur of God’s holiness. He was excited and motivated about what God was doing. He could see where it was all going. He had given up living in a palace for that.

Hebrews 11 says “By faith Moses… refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” Even when he was just eating manna it doesn’t bother him that much because he had seen the future. The rabble could only see manna.

And now, because of their moaning and complaining, everybody in the whole camp - 600,000 of them - are wailing at the entrance of their tents. What does 600,000 wailing people sound like?

The ancient Romans had a tradition: whenever one of their engineers constructed an arch, as the capstone, the central stone at the top of the arch, was hoisted into place, the engineer assumed responsibility for his design and the workmanship of his builders in the most profound way possible: he stood underneath. Feel the pressure.

600,000 wailing people. Feel the pressure. The rabble and their negativity and complaining became the focal point of all the pressure Moses was under.

And this is how the rabble often affect leaders. Moses hears all that wailing and cracks under the pressure. And this is the prayer of a leader who is close to the edge. It’s not working. Maybe it’s my fault? And if you’ll allow me to share my heart with you one moment, I’m no Moses but in 20 years of pastoral ministry, I’ve been here many times. Every church leader I know has been here. It’s where you feel that God is calling you to do more than you can deliver. “I don’t know if I can do this, Lord! Maybe I’m the problem. Maybe I just haven’t got it. Maybe I should have just stayed in retail management.”

Verse 13: Hear the exasperation in Moses’ voice. See the tears rolling down his face. “Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, 'Give us meat to eat!' I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.”

Every pastoral leader asks themselves from time to time the same questions. What have I got to feed these people? Can I say anything that has even a grain of wisdom and doesn’t sound hollow? As I stare at a blank computer screen uninspired for a sermon I must preach tomorrow, is there anything in this book of any interest at all today? Paul said “I die daily.” I’m no Paul, but I die at least monthly!

Then you see how vulnerable leaders can be in v11. “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant?” says Moses. “What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?” Notice he’s getting things distorted. He’s starting to blame God for everything.

“Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant?”

Moses is feeling, “Maybe I should just move to an easier job that hasn’t got the hassle.” He’s saying “Why is this my problem? I don’t have to be responsible for this lot. If you so want to get them into the Promised Land, do it yourself, I can’t be bothered anymore.”

Why did all this happen? How did things get so bad so quickly that Moses actually wanted God to finish him off?

The answer is that he allowed himself to become worried about the problems instead of focused on his vision. The vision was “God is leading these people into a land flowing with milk and honey. But Moses is bogged down with the problems and ground down by the rabble. “How long will this take? How can I keep everybody happy? Where am I going to get meat from? I just don’t know how I’m going to sort that out. They want fish! How am I going to get fish in a desert? How will I ever have the time to do everything I have to do?

He needs to get to where Paul was in 2 Corinthians 3.4-5, “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”

In our vision to reach out to this parish, we’re going to encounter much opposition and many problems. Just one month into a 48 month vision and we already have encountered opposition and problems. There’ll be times when the rabble start to whisper and moan. There’ll be times when we’ll have to choose not to listen to that and decide that we’re going to overflow with thankfulness instead. There’ll be times when there’ll be too much to do, too little money and too few resources to do it. We will face ridiculous odds. But our confidence is in Christ and our competence comes from God.

Ending

So as I close, as we think about the 4 years ahead of us, how did God answer all Moses’ questions? In the way he usually does. He doesn’t answer all our questions; he questions our answers instead.

Verse 23: The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short?"

Is there anything God cannot do?
Is his arm too short to save?
Is God somehow unable to honour his promises to us?
Is anything impossible for God?


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 10th October 2010

Samson: Anointing and Character (Judges 13.1-25)

Introduction

Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Catwoman, Flash Gordon and the Incredibles - what have they got in common?

Apart from the fact that they all, without exception, wear their pants outside their tights, they’re all superheroes. Thankfully you don’t have to wear your Calvin Klein’s over your trousers to be a hero.

The role of a hero is to surpass human limits, especially physically.

If you went up and down the streets of Stockton with a microphone asking people to tell you what their idea of a hero is most people would talk about the armed forces. But for all their bravery and courage I suspect most people would say they feel our country is more vulnerable to terrorism than 10 years ago (before 9/11). You might get some who’ll talk about Winston Churchill. But would that be the cigar-puffing victor of World War II or the loser of the 1945 General Election? Still others will sing the praises of Wayne Rooney or John Terry. But they come in two versions as well; back page version or front page version. In the end, all our heroes often disappoint us.

The Bible is full of heroes and the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 11, contains a long list of them. Listen to these daring acts; “They conquered kingdoms … they shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; their weakness was turned to strength; and they became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.”

And in this list, in v32, we find Samson. Samson was the hero who shut the mouths of lions and who was filled with mighty strength, even though he was weak.

Samson, in fact, didn’t look like superman at all. Don’t believe it when you open an illustrated Bible and see a picture of Samson looking like the Incredible Hulk. He didn’t. If Samson had the physique of Mr. Universe why did Delilah say to him in chapter 16, “Samson, what is the secret of your amazing strength?” I

She asked that question because Samson was a bit of a weed physically. He must have looked a bit of a loser. The secret of his mighty strength was not his rippling biceps, or his washboard stomach and six-pack but in the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

God usually calls people who are (humanly speaking) unfit for service to be his heroes.

When God wanted a personal spokesman and envoy to the world’s most powerful man he took Moses who had a bad st-st-stutter.

When he wanted a fearless prophet for Israel’s darkest days he took Jeremiah, a boy who had barely broken his voice, was a sensitive introvert and who wept - a lot.

When he wanted a champion to take on Goliath, a giant warrior armed to the teeth, he took a shepherd boy David and gave him an elastic band and five stones.

Don’t be intimidated by the size of the problems you face. God will use you just as you are. That’s all he needs. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Never say, “Oh, I could never do that.” You can! In the strength that God gives…

Gideon and Samson – Calling and Character

During May and June we looked at the life of Gideon. And we made two important discoveries. First of all that God is a God who calls. And secondly, God doesn’t always call the equipped, but he does equip those he calls. He provides everything necessary to meet the challenges of his calling. Always. No exceptions. 2 Corinthians 9.8 says, in the context of the call to a ministry of generosity, “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

And the story of Gideon showed us how God can empower you to overcome your fears, to face up to your doubts, to grow in faith and authority, to trust in God when your life falls apart. Yes, when life falls apart. Because a call from God doesn’t mean a trouble-free life, it’s the opposite.

If someone ever says to you, and you sometimes hear this in church, “One day I became a Christian and then all my problems went away,” don’t believe it.

They’re either exaggerating, or lying or just haven’t been a Christian very long. Normally, when you become a Christian there is a period of euphoria and inexpressible joy, followed by challenges and setbacks and humiliations and suffering and indignity - but God is bigger than all that. The adventures of Gideon are extremely enlightening for us in that respect.

Samson too, like Gideon, was called by the Lord for a particular mission. In v5 of our reading tonight God says about Samson, “He will begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” His precise calling was announced even before he was born, before he had done anything at all, good or bad.

When you read Romans 9-11 you understand better this notion of God’s sovereignty. God knew that he was going to send Jesus to save people from their sins before the foundation of the universe. God has a purpose for your life too. It was established before you were born, before you were conceived. Before the creation of the world God already had a destiny for your life. So step forward in confidence! Pursue the Lord with all your strength, because he has already mapped out a future for you.

But the story of Samson is not really about calling. It’s about character, which is just as important if you are going to fulfil the purposes of God for your life. Samson was filled with the Holy Spirit in an amazing and unique way. The anointing of God on that man was particularly strong and powerful.

If Samson was around today he’d have his own show on God TV. He would be a star of the charismatic world. Samson would impress everybody. He’d have his own website; samsonmininistriesinternational.com. He’d be on stage at New Wine and Soul Survivor and Spring Harvest.

But tragically, Samson never fulfilled his potential. For all his Holy Spirit anointing Samson never had the stability or the gravitas of a real man of God and he wasted his life.

I say this with great sadness - and I’ve seen it time and time again in 20 years as a church leader; you can have amazing manifestations and incredible gifts, you can have charisma in spades, you can heal the sick and drive out demons, you can wow everybody around you with fantastic signs and wonders from heaven.

But if you aren’t showing the fruit of the Spirit; love, patience, goodness, gentleness, self-control, if you spend your life running after the next charismatic sensation instead, you will never build anything solid in the kingdom of God.

Let’s get this straight! God calls and God equips in unique ways, but the God’s desire for each one of us to grow up into maturity. And that is fundamental for a healthy spiritual life.

One of the great mysteries of life, for me, is that God doesn’t necessarily give the anointing of the Spirit for ministry to the most mature people.

Life would be less complicated if he did. And when I get to heaven I’m going to ask God “Why did you sometimes give the most powerful gifting to people who were unaccountable, unteachable, proud and self-absorbed?” Samson was the pick of the bunch; ungrateful, self-obsessed, sexually loose and excessively violent. And anointed by God!

The calling of God on his life (to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines) was, in the end, fulfilled - because God is faithful. But Samson’s death was even more tragic than his life. He died a pathetic hero, humiliated, blinded and tormented by the regrets of a wasted life.

Lanny Bassham, was gold-medallist in the Montreal Olympics in the small-bore rifle competition. And he once said this: “Our sport is controlled non-movement. We are shooting from 50 meters - over half a football field - at a bull’s eye the size of a small coin. If the angle of error at the point of the barrel is more than 0.005 of a millimetre (that is five one-thousandths), you drop into the next circle and lose a point. So we have to learn how to make everything stop. I stop my breathing. I stop my digestion by not eating for 12 hours before the competition. I train by running to keep my pulse around 60, so I have a full second between beats. You do all of this and you have the technical control. Then you have the other 80% of the problems - the mind.”

If we’re going to avoid ending up like Samson, wasted talent, we’re going to have to cultivate the attitude of a winner and learn to hate the excesses of Samson’s life.

His Parents – a Few Problems

In chapter 13 of Judges we get to meet the parents, Manoah and his wife. What does the Bible say to us about these two people? They were an ordinary couple. They had their cares and worries like everyone else: their people suffered under the oppression of the Philistines, a situation which had lasted 40 years already. Moses had warned the Israelites, in Numbers 33.55, that the Philistines would be “thorns in your side”. It’s a warning that God repeated word for word in Judges 2.3. When God repeats himself he has something important to say.

These Philistines were a serious enemy, constantly raiding the foothills from the coastal plain. Isaiah 2.6 speaks of their pagan divination; they were a people steeped in the occult. They settled on what we now call the Gaza strip - and they’re still there. And they’re still a thorn in the side of Jews today. In Samson’s time they were called ‘Philistines’, today they are called ‘Palestinians’ and many historians think they are their direct descendants. The more it changes the more it’s the same thing. The problems we hear about in 2010; kidnapped journalists and suicide bombers, could have been settled a thousand years before Christ if Samson had fully subdued the Philistines. Unfortunately he couldn’t even subdue his own passions.

But politics was the last thing Manoah and his wife were bothered about. Their greatest grief was that they couldn’t have a child. For years they waited, for years they tried. Years of visits to the doctor, years of praying, years of hopes, of doubt and finally of disappointment.

I think not being able to have children is a particularly painful affliction. In my own life, my most bitter tears, my most uncontrollable sobbing, have come at times of miscarriage. So I guess Manoah and his wife must have cried together, they must have shouted at the stars at night, “Why us?” Now this couple is already past the stage where they are inconsolable. Now they are simply resigned. There’s nothing they can do. They are totally powerless. And it’s then that God acts.

Maybe there are some amongst us this evening who are waiting on God for a breakthrough. For years, you have prayed for something and nothing has happened. What’s your thing? Spiritual barrenness, an insolvable impasse at work, a problem in the family, a matter of the heart, a long illness, a financial cul-de-sac… What if today was the day when at last God announced his deliverance?

Never give up hope. Even if long ago you gave up believing that God will hear your prayers, who knows if today is the day that he has ordained to act? There’s a situation in my life that looks no different than it did a decade ago. I’m still praying.

Manoah and his wife are my reminder that nothing is impossible with God. Every time I read this story I get the impression that Samson’s parents were a couple with problems. Perhaps that’s understandable. We usually find them physically apart - and the truth is surely that they were not all that happy together. They had issues with communication and trust.

In v10, she tells the old man that the angel has come back, but he doesn’t trust what she says. Why doesn’t he just take her word for it? In v11 he has to ask, “Are you the one who spoke to my wife the other day?” She’s just told him that. How to make your wife feel devalued, lesson number one; never take what she says seriously. And it seems that Manoah is well instructed in lesson number two as well. In v12 he asks the angel what he’s supposed to do about this son who is going to be born. And the angel replies a bit coldly that if he’d listened to his wife in the first place he wouldn’t need to ask that question. “I’ve already told her” he says, twice. How to make your wife feel devalued, lesson number two; verify everything she says with independent sources.

It’s so real, all this. Deep unhappiness in most couples traces its origin to small niggles like this. Frustration leads to bickering and scoring points - we’ve all seen couples like this and it’s horrible. It’s embarrassing. Tragic divorces often start with misunderstandings, inadequate communication, repressed anger, disagreement which is swept under the rug and lack of forgiveness. It’s true for couples and it’s true for all relationships. Maybe tonight the Holy Spirit is putting his finger on something you need to put right with somebody else. God heals broken lives and strained relationships.

Samson Himself – a Promising Start

To finish, what about Samson himself? Here’s an interesting statistic: the percentage of Americans who own a pair of running shoes and who never actually do any running. It’s 87%! That’s Samson, he’s got all the equipment, all the right gear, but what for?

And the last thing I want to say is v25. “The Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.”

God’s Spirit was starting to rouse him, to fire him up, to awaken passion for the mission God had for him to do. But it’s just a beginning. And the truth is that Samson wore the trainers but never trained for anything. He never even got out of the starting blocks with God. I wonder if there are people here tonight who feel that they are at exactly the same place?

Some of us here tonight have been Christians a long time. Maybe you had a powerful experience with God which started to set you on fire spiritually, but that was a long time ago, and the fires have long since cooled. Or maybe you have a spiritual or natural gift that you never use. The Spirit of the Lord started to stir you… Remember that?

For others here, God’s renewing work in your life is not fully developed. There may be reasons for that. Like apprehension about going deeper with God. Or the presence of unresolved sin might be blocking what the Spirit has started. Or perhaps it might even be a feeling of unworthiness. Can God really use me? Yes he can.

Still others of us are young in faith. So the Holy Spirit is stirring you and it’s the fresh start of a new adventure in your life. That’s great! Do you want to let Holy Spirit have more of you?

Ending

As I close then, Philippians 1.6 says “I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” There’s no prize awarded for a good start. God is looking for men and women who are going to stick to the road and finish the race. So I encourage you tonight to invite the Holy Spirit to relight the flame he has placed in you.

We’re going to give you an opportunity to do that in a moment. If you know God is speaking to you tonight about responding in faith to his call or if you want to seriously grow in godliness and Christian character –

Or if you, like Samson’s parents, are disappointed with God and are waiting on an answer to your prayer or if you’ve have let a relationship stagnate and go cold and you want that to change.

Or maybe, like Samson, you’ve only known the Spirit start to stir you - I believe God will bless and honour the step of faith and humility it will be for you to stand and ask for that.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 3rd October 2010