King Saul
The Masks We Wear • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 33:19
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· 61 viewsIn the second part of the series, we take a look at King Saul, and how his actions we hiding a deeper issue that many of us struggle with.
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Intro
Continuing our series, The Masks We Wear
When I was a youth, the group that I was a part of went to Lloydminster for a youth retreat. It was early spring, so the snow was starting to melt, and as good teenage boys, we started having a snowball fight in between events. We were in the parking lot of the church, and the signal came to get in the vehicles. Well I had been working on this snowball for a while, and much to my disappointment, I had to off load it. Now the proper thing to do would have been to drop the snowball. However, I decided to throw the snowball into the nearby street, and just happened to nail an unsuspecting Corvette driving by.
The driver proceeded to slam on the breaks and bail out of the car to find out who had done it. Well, the 6 teenagers that were in our van had already piled in and had the door closed. Our unsuspecting youth leader proceeded to get an ear full, then he threw open the van door and give all of us an earfull before driving off.
Want to talk about masks, I remained as emotionless as humanly possible, meanwhile imaging the 101 ways this man would tear me apart if I came clean about my mistake.
It is safe to say, what I did would be considered by most to be rash.
Question 1: What is a rash action that you instantly regretted?
Question 1: What is a rash action that you instantly regretted?
if I could have, I would have force pulled that snowball back into my hand.
King Saul
by way of introducing our next mask, we are going to look at King Saul. Now we aren’t going to read his whole story because he takes up a large amount of 1 Samuel. But we are going to look at key moments in Saul’s reign as king that not only highlights major parts of his story, but also happens to exemplify our next mask.
By way of introduction, Saul was the first king of Israel. Israel has established itself in the promised land, and they went through the era of the judges. These judges would rise up, rescue Israel, and lead the nation for a time until they died. Now, the nation is looking to Samuel, both the last judge of Israel, and a prophet of God, to give them a king. So God gives them the king they want; Saul. Saul was described as head and shoulders over everyone else. He looked intimidating, but when they wanted to annouce him as king, they found him hiding behind the luggage.
In chapter 10, Saul is annointed king over Israel, and by chapter 13, he makes his first mistake
He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash,
I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Saul is Losing Control
Two years have passed between chapter 10 and chapter 13. Saul is on the verge of going to war with the Philistines and the army is scared. People are starting to flee, and Saul rashly decides to offer the sacrifice. According to Old Testament law, only the priest is allowed to offer sacrifices. Saul is losing control, and he is grasping at straws, desperately trying to keep it.
And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food.
Now when all the people came to the forest, behold, there was honey on the ground.
And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright.
Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food this day.’ ” And the people were faint.
Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey.
How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great.”
Saul Curses His Son
Jonathan attacks the Philistines and sends them running for the hills. Saul, in his determination to finish off his enemies, is now in pursuit of the Philistines. The people are starting to get tired, and instead of stopping, eating, and rejuvenating the army, he curses anyone who eats anything before evening. Saul has concluded that eating would slow them down, and threatens a curse on anyone who acts outside of his drive. Saul has a plan, and expects everyone to share his determination and drive to finish off his enemies. Remember, Samuel told Saul that his kingdom would end, and now Saul is trying to earn back his kingdom. Saul is even willing to kill his son for breaking this vow, if it wasn’t for the intervention of his soldiers.
Then along comes a lowly shepherd boy by the name of David. David is a man after God’s heart, he has been annointed to be the next king of Israel, and he has proven himself quite the soldier
As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?”
And Saul eyed David from that day on.
The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand.
And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.
Saul Tries to Kill David
Saul continues to lose control. He sees David as a threat, and proceeds to try to kill David every chance he gets. He attempted to pin David to the wall on multiple occasions with his spear. He tries to kill him in his bed. He then proceeds to try to kill anyone who supports David.
Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”
Then Jonathan answered Saul his father, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had disgraced him.
Saul Tries to Kill Jonathan
Saul has completely lost it at this point. He is so threatened by David that he tries to kill his own son for defending David. Saul is not being rational, he is not putting the needs of the kingdom above himself. Saul has a plan, and everything needs to stick to his plan.
Question 2: Are you a planner? What happens when things don’t go according to plan?
Question 2: Are you a planner? What happens when things don’t go according to plan?
How do you handle things going sideways? Are your plans ironclad or do they have some wiggle room?
The Mask of the Overachiever
The Mask of the Overachiever
this mask can also be called the mask of perfectionism. This how the mask works. The perfectionist often gets complimented and high praise because they operate at a high level. They often have a plan in place, and as long as everything goes according to plan or fits in the mold that they have made, the world will not fall apart. Nothing bad ever happens, and everything is always good.
The problem that the overachiever or perfectionist has is that they are always at the mercy of something going wrong; they often go through life with a high level anxiety. They also often have barriers between themselves and loved ones because they can be stubborn, obsessive, and they have a lack of trust of anyone.
Parents, we can put this mask on with our kids. We can try to implement a plan that ensures our kids never get hurt, never get sick, never have anything bad happen to them. Because we can’t tell everyone the plan all the time, we often have fear that someone is going to act outside our plan and something bad might happen.
Its not just parents. This can happen in our marriages, our jobs; it can even happen in church. We can have a plan for a ministry we are involved with, and someone decides to go rogue and throw the whole plan off!
The plan becomes a means of control, because we become afraid of the possibility of losing control.
Taking Off the Mask
Taking Off the Mask
so if we struggle with this mask, what do we do about it? Now I realize when it comes to anxiety and fear, there is one passage that everyone always go to. But I hope that today, it will speak to those who really need it. And maybe it speaks to someone who didn’t realize they needed it.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Why Are You Anxious About…?
Jesus brings up food and clothing in this passage, but he actually gives us an example of the kinds of questions we need to be asking.
Follow the model. Why are you anxious about_________?
Kids? Don’t you believe that God has a plan and a purpose for them, and that he will protect them
The Future? Don’t you believe the words in Jeremiah, I have a plan for you, to give you a hope and a future.
When we begin to grasp the words of Scripture, we begin to realize that we never were in control, and that’s a good thing. God’s got this, and we need to trust him with all of the unknowns of life. We need to focus on the things that we can control
What can we control? We can control where we put our attention and energy. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
If we make the most of today, if we take the energy we exert on worrying about tomorrow and start being productive today, it sets us up to have a better tomorrow. How often do we get worried of about something coming, get distracted from the task at hand, and end of up making the thing we were worried about worse.
I will close with this from Philippians.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
How Often?
How often has your anxiety ultimately become something unreasonable? How often is the thing you are trying to control actually uncontrollable? Instead, take thing that is cauing you to be anxious, ask yourself, “Why am I being anxious about this?” and take to the Lord with thanksgiving, knowing that he is the good God that can take care of anything that comes our way. If we intentially take this approach, we will begin to experience the peace that surpasses understanding. Why? Because eventually, we will get to a place where the things that used to make us anxious, we don’t worry about anymore.
Let’s Pray