We are following the common lectionary in our preaching this summer, which journeys through I and !! Samuel and I Kings. This week's sermon was sort of a "ho-hum" for me. I never got into the sermon much. Leadership is a hot topic these days in our country, but my goal was to reflect on the role people play in the leadership process. Who we are as a church depends more on how the members are responding than on the particular leadership, although I do believe leadership is important. I also finished the sermon wondering if I should have reflected on the role the church has in relationship to secular leadership. The church is free to respond as it hears God's call and not bound to satisfy the desires of any political agendas.
“Why Are You Asking?” June 10, 2018, SAPC, Denton; I Samuel 8: 10-22
So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12 and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15 He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16 He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle[a] and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20 so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the people of Israel, “Each of you return home.”
Introduction: This could be a simple story transition in leadership for Israel.
the patriarchal style of leadership begun with Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, and carried on through Moses and Joshua had been replaced with regional judges and now seemed to be a time to move from judges to king.
In fact, from a leadership standpoint, one could argue that a leadership team of a king to lead God’s people and a prophet (the kings would have prophets having out with them) to speak God’s word might be a good leadership model.
But it gets complicated.
hard to reckon with human complexities.
Hard to figure out God.
In this time of transition, Samuel wants to know from God’s people, “Why are you asking for a king?”
A good question. And in the asking, we learn something about God’s people and about God.
Move 1: In their desire for a king, God’s people reveal their fickleness and their struggle to be faithful.
a. Stop for a moment and look at what is happening.
1. Samuel is the last of the judges.
2. You remember that judges are the leaders brought to power by God at particular moments to deal with particular issues.
3. when the judges save the people, it renews their faithfulness in God, but that never lasts very long. Soon the people are turning away from God.
4. Now we discover that God’s people are not satisfied with their leaders!
5. Let’s get rid of judges and bring in a king.
b. It seems to me, they take the easy way out - blame the leader for the failures of the people to be faithful.
1. admittedly, they have had some suspect leadership.
2. Samuel’s sons have abused their power, so the people do not want them taking over as judges.
3. this, of course, is a repeat from what the priest Eli’s sons did, which created the need for Samuel to become the leader of God’s people.
4. Here the people are again demanding change.
5. the leaders are corrupt. We need a change.
6. we hear echoes of this in our time during every campaign cycle it seems: “We need new leadership. We need new direction.”
c. Yet, each new leader or change in leadership pattern leader to the same result - God’s people falling away in unfaithfulness.
1. By the end of the biblical record, leadership will have gone from the patriarchal model, to judges, to kings, with a dose of prophets, all of whom are rejected by the people looking for better leadership!
2. Then, God sends God’s son to lead the people, and he gets rejected even to his death.
3. why are God’s people asking for a leader when none will satisfy?
d. Because they do not or cannot own up to their responsibility as God’s people.
1. Our commitment to be the body of Christ does not hinge solely on leadership.
2. yes, we elect leaders. yes, we expect good and faithful leadership, but the call to be the body of Christ is for all of us.
3. if we are not serving others and proclaiming the gospel, it is not just a leadership problem, it is an us problem.
4.
move 2: On top of their own struggles to be faithful, God’s people are struggling as they face an uncertain future.
a. Life in the Promised Land is full of threats and dangers.
1. They have come into this land that is bound by the coast on one side and the mountains on the other as they try and stake out their place in the region.
2. other nations are bigger.
3. Another power hungry for land always seems to be on the rise.
4. The Philistines may have been quiet for a number of years, but no telling when they will come after the land God’s people inhabit.
b. The future seems uncertain.
1. Trusting God with the future seems a bit daunting.
2. And, oh by the way, all those other countries that seem to have more power, they all have kings to lead them.
3. a strong warrior who promises a future that can be won or taken from others, like the tribes of Israel.
c. Maybe it’s time God’s people get a king.
1. Their fear of the future, their lack of trust in God’ to provide them a future, leads to focusing on the wrong things.
2. they forget God.
3. Samuel reminds them of this: why do you ask for a king when the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has chosen you as a special people?
c. We know the sense of uncertainty about the future.
1. Read the daily headlines or listen to our prayers of the people as we pray for our world.
2. the future seems scary and uncertain.
3. As we face the future, do we turn to God and trust in God to lead us into the future God has in store for us?
4. Or do we look around and cling to the powers and ways that seem to carry the moment?
Move 3: Finally, notice how God is at work.
a. Samuel does not want to deal with a king, but God
seems open to it.
1. Admittedly, God recognizes the rejection that comes with the request.
2. But God moves on quickly.
3. Faster than Samuel
4. three times God tells Samuel to “listen to the voice of the people”
5. each time, the Hebrew word used is slightly stronger working up to the imperative or command to Samuel to listen to the people.
6. God is willing to change styles of leadership because the point is not how Israel is led but if Israel will remain faithful to God.
b. A reminder that we serve a God who desires our faithfulness and what is best for us.
1. God wants to be in relationship with us, whether it be through a leader like Abraham, a judge like Deborah or Samuel, or a king like David.
2. the relationship is what matters.
c. In fact, God’s people asking for a king, looks forward to the day when Jesus Christ will ride into Jerusalem and be welcomed as a king.
1. turns out not the kind of king the world wanted.
2. but that’s another chapter in the ongoing story of how God desires and works to be in relationship with us.
Conclusion: A story I first heard attributed to Professor Albert Outler, who taught at both Yale and S.M.U. for many years.
Outlet described a Lutheran church in Ystad, Sweden. Six hundred years old, long and narrow. The pulpit was on a pillar about a third of the way back from the main altar. On the pillar opposite the pulpit was a crucifix, life-size and life-like. Why this strange arrangement?
The story goes back to a visit to the church of the great warrior hero king, Charles XII of Sweden in 1716. The visit was totally unexpected. The pastor was so overwhelmed by the king’s presence at his worship service that he put aside his sermon manuscript and began a passionate and brilliant eulogy of the king and the royal family. A few months later, the church received a gift from King Charles. It was a life-size, life-like crucifix and with it these instructions: This crucifix is to hang on the pillar opposite the pulpit, so that all who shall stand there will be reminded of their proper subject.” (found in sermon preached at farmersville First United methodist Church, http://www.marysvillefumc.org/Sermon/2003/June%2029.htm; there are also multiple references to this story on the Internet, although I was not able to find the original source fo the story)
King or no king? It does not matter. Faithfulness to God - now that’s what matters.
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