Posted 7 years ago by Lawrence

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Posted 5 years ago by Anonymous

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Posted 5 years ago by Anonymous

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Summary

TITLE: Kingdom Bound: Would You Reject Your King? – I Samuel 8:1-9 AIM: Develop kingdom of God thinking – ways we reject God’s rule. INTRO: In 1972, at age of 87, E. Stanley Jones wrote a book entitled The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person. In the introduction he made the claim that “Jesus made the kingdom of God His central emphasis.” That being so, then he further stated that “the greatest need of man, as [he saw] it, is to rediscover the kingdom of God.” “The Church,” Jones wrote, “has lost the kingdom of God,” not by outright rejecting it, tho some may do so, but by reducing it to “a reward thrown in at the end” (eternal life). “The central sickness of our age” is that we have lost “God’s redemptive totalitarianism, the kingdom of God.” It is the kingdom of God & obviously the person of the King (Jesus) that gives meaning & belonging & direction for life. Rhetorical nonsense? Or foundational thinking? I challenge you to seriously think about what the kingdom of God has to do w/you, & what it means to know & follow & obey the King. Think about what it means that the kingdom of God is not just a not yet, future glory to be anticipated, but a here & now reality to be surrendered to. Theme: Kingdom Bound – bound for the kingdom, yes! But also bound by the kingdom – it touches my life now, & should mark/shape my life now. And, as we look at the scripture passage we have for today, we ought to consider ways in which we reject our king, outright or subtly reducing the kingdom of God & the King to something/someone out there in time/space. We’ve talked about how God desired/designed a kingdom from the beginning. From Scripture we know that the spiritual realm of God’s kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting. His throne, the Psalmist wrote (103:19), is “established in the heavens” & “His kingdom rules over all.” But He has desired a people in connection w/this kingdom – a people to follow Him, to be His people. Created Adam & Eve, thru whom mankind was multiplied. But thru the 1st few centuries, He was known only by a few, like Job, Enoch, Noah, etc. Called Abraham out from Ur of the Chaldeans, in order to raise up a nation/people of His own thru him. Established the Hebrews as a formidable people, delivered them from captivity in Egypt thru His servant Moses. Promised thru Moses that He would make them a “kingdom of priests & a holy nation.” Established them in the promise land/Canaan, led them 1st thru Moses (got them to the Promised Land) & then thru Joshua (led them in conquest of the land), & then by the judges. But it’s imp to emphasize that it was God who ruled over them & led them – thru the leaders He established. They had no king but God. The problem was that from the beginning of their being a nation they continually rebelled against the God who made them a nation. In discipline, God gave them over to crisis, oppression, & then when they turned back, cried out to Him, raised up judges thru whom He delivered them. Judge was leader raised up by God for a specific time/need. They had no “government” per se, but led the people thru time of difficulty, the hand of God upon him/her. Gideon expressed what the heart of the judges was to be (Judges 8:23) – “I will not rule over you, & my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” But time & again, they rebelled, the closing verse in bk of Judges (21:25) pronouncing the sad commentary: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” No king? What about God? Move to book of Samuel. God raised up Samuel to judge over Israel & he called the nation to return “to the Lord w/all your heart…& serve Him only…” (7:3). Samuel “judged Israel all the days of his life,” traveling on a circuit year by year to various places where people could come to him & he could hear their disputes & counsel them concerning their difficulties. As he grew old & not as able to travel, he appointed his sons Joel & Abijah to be judges under him. Then an imp transition took place, certainly under the sovereign hand of God, but against His rule over the people. I Samuel 8:1-9 [READ]. According to commentator Robert Jameson, “Samuel was about 54…, (old?) having been the sole judge of Israel for 12 yrs. Growing infirmities [rendered him] unable to prosecute his circuit journeys thru the country [& so he] confined his magisterial duties to Ramah & its neighborhood, delegating to his sons, as his deputies, the administration of justice in the southern districts of Palestine, their provincial court being held at Beersheba.” But Samuel’s sons were not like him – they were shady characters at best – selfish, dishonest. What would happen if/when Samuel died? It wasn’t wrong, but right & good for the elders of Israel to recognize the problem & gather to decide what to do & to (as David Gudzik wrote) “not accept leaders who were obviously ungodly & unfit to lead.” The people of every nation of the world should be so discerning. But the thing they wanted stung Samuel & essentially spit in the face of God. They asked Samuel to “appoint a king to judge us like all the nations.” I think it significant that they didn’t say “rule over us” but “judge us.” They were short-sighted in their understanding of a king. Again, God raised up judges for a specific time & need. A king would hold office & rule over them as long as he lived & then his office would pass down to his descendants. A judge didn’t have a government, but a king would establish a standing government, accompanied by bureaucracy bringing both blessings & curses, provisions & demands. Note that God told Samuel to explain to the people what they were asking for, what it would mean. David Gudzik wrote, “It was not entirely wrong for Israel to ask for a king. 400 yrs before God gave instructions to Israel about their future king (Deut.17:14-20).” A king was in God’s plans for Israel – in His time, of His choosing. Yet, Gudzik wrote, “the reason they wanted a king was wrong. They wanted to be ‘like all the nations.’” G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “This is the revelation of the supreme wrong. They had been chosen to be unlike the nations, a people directly governed by God,” which by the way is what God intended to restore thru Christ. But Israel, by asking for a king “like all the nations,” was essentially “rejecting this plan of God & declaring that they do not want the Lord God to rule over them.” Samuel was shocked/taken aback, perhaps in part because they were rejecting his sons & thus his judgment in appointing them as judges, but God said to him – “they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” In reality, Israel had rejected God over & over. Vs8 - “According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking Me & serving other gods…” This request simply formalized their rebellion. It was prophetic really. Jesus knew this same rejection of His own. John 1:11 – “He came to His own, & His own people did not receive Him.” And Jesus heard a similarly formalized rejection statement during His trial. When Pilate brought Him before the people & sought to release Him, he said “Behold your King!” - to which the people replied, “Away w/Him…crucify Him!” “Shall I crucify your King?” Pilate asked. “The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar’” (John 19:14-15). They formalized what they had long done, rejecting God as King. Israel continued to reject God’s rule thruout their history, & but for a few they rejected His Christ, the King who came to earth to ransom those who believe & usher in God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” We understand from Scripture that it was part of God’s sovereign plan that Israel reject Christ, so that we Gentiles could be grafted into God’s vine. Whosoever will to the Lord may come, & be made part of His family & Kingdom. Yet many of the world have also rejected God’s rule & rejected Christ as Savior/Lord/King. Yet, the very fact that you are in church today suggests that you would not outright/openly reject Christ as King, the rule of God in your life. However, you may still reject Him, practically speaking. How so? Consider the ways. We reject the rule of God & the reign of Christ as King of our lives if: 1)We do not embrace Christ by faith as Savior & Lord. We can only come into relationship w/God by accepting His rule in our lives & embracing Christ as Savior/ Lord. Most want the saving grace of God for eternal life, but haven’t a clue about what it means that He is Lord. He is Savior & Lord, not one or the other. Understand, if Jesus is not your Lord, He’s not your Savior. 2)We consider Christ a “get out of hell free” card only. Titus 2:14 – “…who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness & to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.” We are God’s people & Christ is our King. It’s not “pie in the sky,” but partaking of Christ now, taking Him into our lives by faith, understanding the ramifications of belief – surrender to His rule. 3)We don’t follow Christ. If you/I go our own way, we’re rejecting God’s rule. We are not our own anymore. We belong to Christ. We must follow Him – no ifs, ands or buts. Jesus is our Lord & King. Our lives are to be about Him – doing His bidding. It’s not about me living my best life, being the best me I can be, because this is who I am. Jesus said, “If you’re going to follow Me, deny yourself, die to yourself, & follow Me” (Mt.16:24-25, my paraphrase). It’s not about Bruce Burks, but about Jesus living in me, & that’s hard! So, we reject God’s rule & the reign of Christ w/in if 4)We are not surrendered daily to our Lord. Obviously, this is a day by day, ongoing surrender. We’re to be, as Paul wrote, “living sacrifices.” Someone has correctly said that the problem w/living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the altar. We say we surrender all, but then the daily decisions of our lives betray us. We do what we want, & we don’t always want what Christ wants. That’s the conflict of our lives, isn’t it – to put Christ 1st & seek 1st His kingdom & righteousness. We must continually realign, & we need God’s help. We need Him to do it in us as we look to Him, set our gaze on Him. 5)We’re not “battle ready.” David rejected God’s rule when, at “the time when kings go out to battle…[he] remained at Jerusalem” (II Sam.11:1). He would have avoided his sin w/Bathsheba & all that came w/it if he had been about God’s work as God’s steward. How much wrong could we avoid if we would be about God’s work. We are soldiers of Christ, armed not w/guns or swords, but w/God’s word & His love & the truth of the gospel. We’re to go forth conquering, not as the crusaders of old who tried to force faith, which can’t be done. Rather, we are to take Christ to the world, 1st in our homes, families, neighborhoods, but essentially to all the world, preaching the same message Christ Himself proclaimed: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Brothers/sisters, we are kingdom bound – bound for the kingdom, yes, but also bound by the kingdom. Let us be kingdom minded & King focused!