Sermon Tone Analysis

Saul Did It His Way - 1 Samuel 31

Intro: [Some lyrics from “My Way” by Frank Sinatra - lyrics by Paul Anka - 1st verse and 1st and 2nd refrains]

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and every highway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way

[…]

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew

When I bit off more than I could chew

But through it all, when there was doubt

I ate it up and spit it out

I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

[…]

For what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has naught

To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows and did it my way

Besides the fact that this song was a huge hit by Frank Sinatra in it’s day (1969), and a live version by Elvis Presley was released after his own death (1977), it remains popular both as an iconic Frank Sinatra hit as well as a song symbolic of secular society’s version of going out with triumph.

A 2005 survey by Co-Operative FuneralCare showed that this track was the most requested one at funerals in the UK.

Spokesman Phil Edwards said, "It has that timeless appeal – the words sum up what so many people feel about their lives and how they would like their loved ones to remember them."

(https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/franksinatra/myway.html)

I would say this is considered the be the defiant triumph of the human spirit, even at the last, even at death’s door.

In a post-modern world where uncertainty and relativism reigns, I suppose “I Did It My Way” is an effort to express some kind of confidence in a life well spent.

Here’s the significant problem with that—it’s dead wrong.

A life well spent is not one of self-determining defiance at all, but one of dependence on God and submissive service for His Kingdom.

God himself tells us that this is the case.

The way to true honor in this life is to honor God.

The Bible gives us both positive and negative examples of lives well spent or lives (and opportunities) wasted.

In our series through the book of 1 Samuel, we have seen how David’s submissive spirit is continually being shaped and trained by God to be the kind of leader God desires.

But Saul, by stark contrast, has turned from God to do things his own way.

Despite repeated warnings from God regarding this path and the sure destruction it will reap, Saul does not repent but continues in faithless defiance.

When we come to the end of Saul’s life in 1 Samuel 31, we reach the unfortunate conclusion of a wasted opportunity to belong to a loving God and be used by Him for his good purposes.

PRAY with me and we will study the text together…

Last time we saw David… He had returned to Ziklag, after God providentially rescued him from fighting against Israel alongside the Philistines, to find that the Amalekites had taken the wives and children of him and all his men.

At this desperately low point of consequences for his sin (faithlessly going to live in Philistia when God had earlier told him to stay in Judah), with his own men ready to stone him, David turned to renew his strength in God and to seek God’s will.

God providentially restored all of David and his men’s families, belongings, and more!

David headed back home in triumphant blessing from God while at the same time Saul was fleeing for his life from the Philistines.

Last time we saw Saul… He had desperately sought information from God through a means directly prohibited by God… the use of a medium to try to speak to the dead.

God providentially brought up the real Samuel (even to the shock of the medium) to bluntly remind Saul yet again of his error in rejecting God’s commands and the coming result of continuance on this faithless path:

Rather than plead for mercy from a repentant heart, Saul went away dismayed but resigned to his fate.

And God fulfills his promise in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel.

The Final Scene (vv.

1-3)

Down in the valley with their chariots (Iron age), the Philistines definitely had the advantage.

Israel perhaps thought the Philistine enemy wouldn’t want to pursue them all the way into the mountainous region of Mt Gilboa… but they did.

Saul’s three oldest son’s are killed, perhaps the last stand to halt the oncoming forces from reaching their father, the king.

Although we are saddened by it, we unfortunately don’t know any details of Jonathan’s end.

- The youngest son, probably absent from the battle altogether, Eshbaal (later known also as Ish-bosheth, “man of shame” bc of his cowardice and poor leadership qualities)… he is the one whom Abner sets up as king of Israel in the near future (while David becomes king of Judah).

Saul is pinned down by the enclosing archers, and badly wounded, knowing there is no escape.

Saul’s Tragic End (vv.

4-6)

In desperation, Saul gives his armor-bearer two reasons to kill him: dying at the hand of the uncircumcised… and the almost certain torture that would precede his death.

Whether Saul’s servant refuses for fear of God or fear of repercussions from men, we do not know.

(But after all the narrator has told us of David’s insistence on not taking the life of the Lord’s anointed, we can’t help but take this positively.)

Still determined to not go out in any greater pain, Saul falls on his own sword, bringing an end to his own life.

His armor-bearer does the same.

- If you read ahead you might wonder whether he finished the job successfully or if the Amalekite who claims to have helped him finish the job is telling the truth.

(David certainly believes him, and he dies for it!)

But bc of the conclusiveness of the text here about his death, I take that later episode to be a tale by this other man in hopes of ingratiating himself to David.

Wrong move!

But back to Saul taking his own life: “Bluntly, he is more interested in avoiding pain than in obeying God (not harming God’s anointed).”

Deffinbaugh

A Difficult (but Necessary) Discussion: Suicide and Assisted Suicide

I desire to make every effort to deal with this issue sensitively, but honestly and directly.

Suicide is a sin because it is self-murder.

- It is disobedience.

Suicide is a sin because God alone has rightful authority over life and death.

Suicide is a sin because it reveals a heart that does not trust God’s ability to solve our problems.

Perhaps most fundamentally, suicide is a sin because it reveals a heart that is not trusting God’s faithful goodness beyond and even through our painful circumstances.

No, suicide is not an unpardonable sin that automatically sends one to hell, even one who professed faith in Christ.

The Bible doesn’t teach that anywhere.

(The unpardonable sin in Mark ch. 3 is attributing the Holy Spirit’s work to the devil.

Or some might say it is rejecting the Holy Spirit’s work.

Either way, no where does the Bible say that a true believer who commits suicide has somehow forfeited his faith.)

When Christ died for sin, he died for all of it.

So if God saves me by granting faith in Jesus, then Christ’s sacrificial death and perfect righteousness covers all my sin, from first to last.

- Now, if an unbeliever commits suicide, they have in fact removed any chance for repentance and faith, and they do indeed remain condemned.

One helpful qualification for our understanding: “We need not allow medical technology to prolong pain and the death process, but we should not seek to end the life which God gives, and which only God takes away (Job 1:21).

Whenever men wish to die in the Bible, it is not commended; it is clearly seen as a failure of faith.” - Deffinbaugh

Suicide is tragic and wrong, but it isn’t something we should avoid thinking rightly about or that we should take seriously.

We need to be willing, most of all as God’s people, to deal with it as directly as is possible in our relationships so that we are the best help to one another that we can be.

How can we help one another in severe mental and emotional distress?

(I don’t claim to be an expert.

But I do believe these are a few suggestions that are biblically sound.)

Be present.

And if we make efforts to comfort them, we must not do so with worldly words but with gospel truth: God loves you.

God cares.

Jesus died for you.

Jesus lives so that you may truly live.

Let me help you see the goodness of God.

Take depression and anxiety seriously and make sure people are getting ongoing help.

(Depression isn’t something you just “bounce” out of… like your kid going right back to playing a game even though he has a gorgeous goose egg on his head from only moments before.

You wouldn’t tell your friend who just dislocated his knee and tore his ACL downhill skiing, “You’re fine.

Walk it off.

Or walk the bottom of the hill because that’s where help is.”

In other words, the internal damage is more severe than outward appearance suggests, and you can’t simply tell them to do a better job of trusting God or to get out their Bible and seek God.

They need your help to get there, maybe on stretcher.)

Church, I’m not calling us to be worldly and ignore the spiritual realities that are always connected with out lives as humans.

But I am suggesting that we be more alert and more sensitive to helping and getting people help.

(How will we even know if people are deeply hurting?) Be involved in each other’s lives.

Carry one another’s burdens.