“Courage to be different” RUMC 1/12/2014

“Courage to be different”

RUMC 1/12/2014

Think for a moment of a time when you were rejected.

·        It might have been a phone call to that special person asking them to the dance… and the answer was, “no thank you.”

·        It might have been the day the divorce papers were delivered... saying, “I don’t love you anymore.”

·        Have you ever put in a job application and really had your heart set on a particular job… then you wait and wait… to discover that they hired someone else?

·        Maybe you have been on a team when a better player came along and suddenly you are warming the bench.

·        It might be when the lady at the DMV says, I’m sorry you can’t have a drivers license this time.

·        It might be that you were part of a group of friends, but something changed. Someone changed and you don’t get invited anymore.

We have all felt rejected at one time or another. It is a sad, lonely, embarrassed disappointment.

Rejection is like a kick in the stomach… in fact many of us would rather be kicked in the stomach than be rejected because rejection is an emotional kick in the stomach is much harder to take.

That’s how God felt in First Samuel. Along with the Genesis remark right before the flood, that God was sorry he had made humans; this is one of the saddest chapters in God’s upper story.

Remember when we talk about the upper story, we are talking about God’s perspective over salvation history. We are talking about what is happening in heaven.

When we talk about the lower story, we are referring to what is happening to people in the biblical story. What is happening on earth. It is the history, the people, places and events that make up our lower story lives.

So let’s start with the lower story today as we dive into chapter 10 of THE STORY. You may remember the time of the judges as a rollercoaster for Israel. God would raise a great judge and the people would be raised to be faithful to God, but then they would fall away. God raised another judge and the people would come back to God, and then they would fall away. So up and down went their relationship with God.

Samuel is the last of the judges. He came into the picture when the people had fallen away from God. The Bible says, “The word of the lord was rare in those days.” The priest at Shiloh, named Eli had two sons to take up his footsteps, except they were both corrupt. They took more of the offering for themselves than they deserved. The Bible says that they would stick a three-pronged fork into the offering and take everything they could get. They were greedy and did not have the best interest of the people or God in mind.

Here comes Samuel into the picture. Early in chapter 10, we read the story of Samuel’s birth to Hannah. It is one of those stories we have seen before with a woman being apparently barren until God intercedes and in this case it says he, “remembered her prayer” at the temple when she was weeping and praying to God for a child.

As promised, at about the age of three she brought Samuel back to the temple to offer him to the service of the Lord. He was to be a servant of the priests. There is that great story about God calling Samuel and Samuel thinking it was Eli. Until both of them realize it was the voice of God. That is the night that Samuel became a prophet, who would soon become a judge over Israel. While Samuel judged Israel, there was a revival. People came back to God in droves. Samuel called them to task for worshipping other God’s and they heeded his warning.

When Samuel was getting older, he started thinking about a successor. Who would take over the job of Judge? His sons (the logical candidates) were corrupt taking bribes and perverting justice. Therefore, the people came to Samuel asking him to appoint a king. They say you are old and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us. (P135)

That was the first reason they gave for wanting a king: that Samuel’s sons were corrupt. And there would be a leadership vacuum in Israel. But I think that was an excuse. The real reason is revealed in the next few words when they say, “Give us a king such as all the other nations have… Then we will be like all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” (p136)

That’s the real reason they want a king. They want to be like all the other nations. They felt different. We might even say they felt left out because they didn’t have a king like everyone else. They just wanted to fit in, and not be rejected.

One of the best examples of fitting in, in our story is fashion, particularly clothes in High school. When I was in High School in the late 70’s there were some very… shall we say “distinctive” styles. Those multicolored silk shirts with the wide collars and no buttons from here up were in style. Also in fashion were bell-bottom pants, necklaces for men (Think like Mr. T) and long hair.

So, I had it all. I dressed just like everyone else, with my hair down to my shoulders, and my ahnk necklace hanging around my neck. I was cool… NOT. But I was like everyone else.

We are tempted every day to be like everyone else.

·        The commercials tell us that everyone has this kind of phone and you’ll be rejected if you don’t have one.

·        They tell us that all the cool people are driving around in this kind of car and if you don’t have one you are just a reject.

·        Whether it is conscious or not, if one friend gets a boat, or a new RV, or a new car, or a cabin on the lake we want to be just like them and have those things so we are not rejected as being different.

I just heard a story this week about a man who has quit drinking which wasn’t hard for him. What was hard was facing the family at Christmas time for fear of rejection. But he had the strength do to it without judging others. Many of us do not.

It goes to our values too. When you are around people who think one way are you tempted to talk that way even if it goes against your values. It might be politics, it might be homosexual marriage, it might be family values, or your religious values. If you are around people who say bad things about the church, do you tend to join in so you won’t be different? Maybe you keep quiet, which is the next best thing to joining in.

Are you kind off a chameleon turning into whatever the people around you expect you to be? Way too many Christians are chameleons. Way too many of us fail to stand up for our values and our faith when confronted with a situation in which they are afraid they might be different or even rejected if they speak up. The consequences of that spineless faith are dire. Let’s jump up to the upper story to see those consequences.

What is God’s response to Samuel’s request for a king on behalf of the Israelites? God says, ‘they are not rejecting you Samuel they are rejecting me as they have rejected me ever since I lead them out of Egypt to this day.” OUCH!

God had always provided the leadership they needed in Moses, and Aaron and Miriam, and Joshua, and the judges. The people just couldn’t trust God enough to provide the leadership this time. God had never let them down, yet they couldn’t trust God one more day and were demanding a king. Actually, they already had a king… God… and they were demanding a new king. In effect they were saying, “Any king but God… give us any king but God because we don’t want to be God’s people any more… we want to be our own people… actually we want to be like those people.

And God’s heart was broken … again.

No one likes to be rejected, not even God.

But isn’t that what we do when we place other kings on throne of our lives? Isn’t that what we do when we allow other things or people to get in the way of following God?

The Israelites cried, “Give us a king,”

·        In our story, we cry give me more stuff because things is my king.

·        We cry give me popularity because being liked is my king.

·        We cry we don’t have to stand up for our Christian beliefs, because being like everyone else around me is my king.

·        We cry give me more money because the almighty dollar makes a mighty fine king.

·        We cry don’t ask me to serve on anything in the church because I want to be king of my own free time.

·        We cry don’t ask too much of me preacher because you’ll mess up this fine balance I have of looking like a Christian for an hour a week, but being my own king the rest of the week.

·        We cry don’t ask me to serve because I’d rather fish.

·        We cry don’t ask me to teach because I’ve done my part- in other words I’ve retired from God’s kingdom to be my own king now.

·        We cry don’t ask me to give because there is nothing I love more than having money in the bank.

·        We cry don’t make me join a small group because time is my king and I won’t give any of it up.

Do you know what God’s answer was? God’s answer to Samuel was, "OK give them a king." I won’t stop them. But they need to know that the king will conscript their children, steal their servants, take their land, and tax them to death. The king will soon be their master, and they will be right back to being slaves as they were in Egypt.

In OUR STORY … To those of us who have been saved by God over and over and over God says, "OK have your own king.” I won’t stop you. But you need to know that

·        your king will take over your lives,

·        your king will not love you as God has loved you,

·        your king won’t forgive you as God forgives,

·        your king won’t protect you or

o   heal you or

o   give you a thousand chances like God has.

·        your king will soon be your master, and you will be right back to being slaves as you were before you knew God.

God says, you can have your king but any king but Jesus will leave you empty. Any king but Jesus will leave you directionless. Any king but Jesus will leave you without purpose. Any king but Jesus will leave you without hope. Any king but Jesus will leave you without a relationship to the one who will never reject you. It will leave you without a relationship to the one who has always accepted you, always loved you, always forgiven you, always lead you, always guided you, and always cared for you in every way you can imagine… and always will.

On the other hand, accept Jesus as your king, and you might have to live differently from others. You might have to stand up for what you believe. You might have to show your true colors even if it means risking rejection.

But it also means that King Jesus will fill you with good things. King Jesus will give you direction, and purpose, and hope, and relationship, and he will never reject you. King Jesus will always accept you, always love you, always forgive you, always lead you, always guide you, and always care for you- no matter what. Let Jesus be your king.

AMEN