Sermon Tone Analysis
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Series Review
When I was a kid I will really into Star Wars.
I regret that I didn’t hang on to my action figures, I wonder how much $ they would be worth.
My favorite character was Han Solo; he was exciting, daring, courageous, confident and funny.
I was disappointed when they killed him off in The Force Awakens) Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen it yet.
Looking back at this Han Solo character, I can see character traits that I probably shouldn’t admire: He was arrogant, sarcastic, selfish, greedy; and a womanizer (won’t recognize it as a child).
Because of these character traits, he can be considered an anti-hero, at least for the first 2 episodes.
Sermon Intro
I think history has a way of distorting historical characters - celebrating their accomplishments, without paying careful attention to the suffering they caused others.
Our 1st and 3rd presidents were brilliant and brave visionaries, but many of them were slave owners.
Samson, today’s antihero, is a good example of how we can glorify someone who accomplished good for a lot of people, and yet he had deep character flaws.
Just to give some biblical context, I’ll remind you that last week we talked about Rahab, who lived during the time when the Israelites were about to enter the promised land.
After conquering their enemies, Israel established themselves in that land.
This period in Old Testament history is called the time of the Judges.
There’s a simple cycle in the book of Judges: Israel forsakes God, God allows their enemies to defeat them, but then raises up Judges to lead them to victory over their enemies.
Samson, who is given the gift of supernatural physical strength is one of these Judges.
Here’s his birth story:
The first thing we learn about Samson is that he is a Nazirite.
This was a public way of showing that you were set apart by God for a specific purpose.
Keep your hair long.
No alcohol.
No unclean foods.
Don’t touch dead things.
Many of us have taken public vows.
Think of making public vows.
Politicians.
Marriage.
Ordination.
When we violate our vows, people know about it.
Signature.
When we go through the Samson story, we notice that he disregards all of these physical signs.
He goes to wild parties, comes into contact with dead things and allows his hair to be cut.
Here’s the paradox of Samson: he’s not a spiritual leader.
Even though he was deeply flawed he was, we see that
God Appoints and Empowers.
…the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb.
This is actually comforting for us today.
Politicians, and celebrities dominate the news headlines.
All someone has to do is put 2 sentences on Twitter and millions start talking about it.
(I really don’t get Twitter - 140 characters?)
Churches across the globe serving the poor, people made whole through Christ, but you won’t hear about it unless something bad happens.
Those things don’t matter to the media.
But Samson reminds us that God appoints all leaders and servants, big and small, good or evil.
Just think of the Christmas story: Jesus Christ, didn’t make the headlines: he was a peasant baby in the Roman Empire.
And yet God appointed both Jesus…and Caesar.
Paul said it this way in...
That’s the most important thing about Samson.
There’s nothing else really good to say about him.
Let me show you a few things:
Let’s read about some things that this servant of God accomplished.
First of all he wanted to marry someone outside of God’s people.
This was considered to be a bad thing, as they would be tempted to worship other gods:
To really appreciate this, we need to understand what kind of marriage this is.
First of all this marriage that did not have his father’s approval - something which was required in ancient Israel.
Also, this was not a marriage where the bride came to live with the groom.
Samson is what some ancient Arabic cultures called “a visiting husband.”
The bride would stay in her parents home, and the husband would drop by whenever he felt like it, and would bring gifts.
It was an inferior sort of marriage.
Now, Samson gets angry with the Philistines - they take away his wife.
The burning of standing corn was a common method of retaliation or revenge in the ancient world and its effect in an agricultural community was very serious.
The prompt reaction of Joab to the ruse of Absalom to attract his attention may be instanced (2 Sam.
14:28–31).
We can imagine the delight with which the Israelites would tell this story of revenge against the nation which was to oppress them so sorely.
But such wanton cruelty to animals, whose sufferings must have been hideous, cannot be condoned
The burning of standing grain was a common way for a nation to retaliate against enemy nations.
This was an agricultural world, so you’re burning up the food supply.
From the perspective of ancient warfare, you could celebrate this as a victory over an enemy nation.
But this is a dark, cruel way to do this - catching 300 foxes on fire.
Samson was a cruel man.
Judges 15;3-5
Here he attacks the Philistines again.
Here he attacks the Philistines again:
Attacking and killing enemy soldiers might be something to celebrate.
Still, this is not a guy trying to rescue God’s people from oppression, this is someone with serious anger issues settling a score.
This is a pretty gory scene, (Sunday School, desensitizing).
To summarize what we know about Samson: He was called by God to save God’s people from their enemies.
He ignores his parents and marries the wrong kind of woman (women were his kryptonite), lashes out in raw anger and brutally kills a lot of people and animals.
He was not a good man, he’s not a wise man, but
God Uses Foolishness for His Purposes
“I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
“I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.”
“I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
He is different from all the other Judges, because he was not a military leader.
He was just a strong guy with serious anger issues.
He doesn’t organize the Israelites and lead them into victorious battle and bring them back to God.
He spends his time chasing women and pursuing a personal vendetta against the Philistines.
“I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.”
We read in:
God is using Samson’s weakness for women to work out a plan for his people.
This does not mean God is okay with Samson, but it means God can work through deeply flawed people.
The Bible constantly urges us to seek wisdom.
It’s more valuable than any gift or talent we have.
God told King Solomon to ask him for anything - he asked for wisdom.
To reward Solomon for his choice, God gave him wisdom and wealth.
The point is not that God wants to make us rich, but we are to value wisdom above all else.
How different would our lives be if we prioritized the pursuit of God’s wisdom, rather than just asking for stuff?
The Bible constantly urges us to seek wisdom.
It’s more valuable than any gift or talent we have.
God is not dependent on human wisdom to accomplish his plans - it’s a good thing too.
Imagine what this world would look like if God were completely dependent on us making the right decisions.
But even though we are urged to seek wisdom, God is not dependent on our wisdom to accomplish his plans - it’s a good thing too.
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