True to Yourself?

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would come with might and power and deep conviction,

not just now as we receive your word, but throughout the entire service.

Father, please, in your mercy, have your Holy Spirit so move the very center of who we are

to able to desire to come into your presence and to receive from you and to respond to you in a worthy manner.

And so grip us with the gospel that we will grow day by day into disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel,

learning to live for your glory.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I'm going to tell you something really boring.

One of the things that Jenny, who's the admin person, and I are going to do in a couple of weeks' time is we're going to set aside at least one day

to go over all of the QuickBooks line entries and all of the ways that we record income and expenditures in all of our funds.

And we're going to go right back to zero.

Am I putting you all to sleep?

But we're going to do this, right?

Every single line item of QuickBooks.

This is if the council on Monday night gives us permission.

This is what we're going to do.

Now, this sounds unbelievably boring, but it's one of those things which is boring, not urgent.

We could go another couple of years without doing it.

But it's actually really, really, really, really important.

And a lot of times in life, you have to do things that aren't urgent, but are very important.

In fact, there's a famous writer by the name of Stephen Covey who wrote a book called Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

And one of the things he does is he talks about doing good effective people do quadrant two things.

Effective organizations do quadrant two things.

That's something which is important but not urgent.

Most people live their lives dealing with the urgent, and a lot of the urgent is completely and utterly unimportant.

And to spend all your time doing urgent but unimportant things is just a definition to really accomplish nothing of worth in life.

So we're going to be spending this time doing something which is important, help have our finances clearer, but not urgent.

I mention this because in the Bible story that we're looking at today, there are several things which make this story sort of very distant from us.

But actually, the story is talking about, if you just sort of bear with me,

it's talking about something which is really, really important, but people rarely feel is urgent.

And since we all would like to be effective people, nobody likes to go around and say,

by the way, I'm an unbelievably ineffective person.

In fact, if somebody said that to us, they're probably hoping we'd say to them,

oh, come on, you're actually pretty effective.

They're fishing for a compliment.

But nobody likes to say that.

So this text, believe it or not, is actually dealing with something very, very important,

but most people never think it's urgent.

So if you turn your Bibles to Judges chapter 13, Judges chapter 13, verse 1.

Judges 13 · chapter mention Judges 13:1

And if you don't have Bibles, there's some up there.

You can come and follow along with me, and you can keep the Bible if you don't have a Bible of your own.

And we're going through the book of Judges.

And if this was a Netflix series, we're going to begin a three-part sub-story, so to speak, in a longer story arc.

And we're going to look at three stories or three episodes about Samson,

a person that many people have heard of, even if they're not Christian.

And if I was a—well, you'll see in a moment.

This week, we're going to look at the birth of Samson.

Next week, we're going to look at the battles of Samson.

And if I was a good Baptist, I would know another B to begin the third episode.

But all I can think of is the destruction, you know, the demise and death of Samson.

And so, by the way, if some of you can come up with a B to describe that third episode,

that would be very handy, and I'll announce it next week.

Samson is the last of the Judges.

It talks about this chaotic period in Israel after they've come into the Promised Land.

They're constantly being invaded.

And they're very, very disunified.

And Samson is the last of these 12 judges that the Book of Judges tells us about.

So that sort of gets you up to it.

And this week, we're going to look at the birth, which doesn't sound very interesting,

other than the fact that it's actually going to deal with something which is very important,

but is never urgent.

And here's how it goes.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

So the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years.

I haven't mentioned this very much, but Philistines who become eventually more and more and more important in the Bible,

a way to understand who they are, they're a little bit like if you lived in the British Isles in certain centuries,

and they kept being invaded by the Norse, people from what we now call Norway and Sweden and Denmark,

sea raiders who would come and occupy parts of the land or maybe just come and leave.

But that's what Philistines were.

They weren't actually native to the land.

They were sea raiding people who kept invading this land.

And for 40 years, they've been oppressing the people of Israel.

But here's the thing, which we're going to talk about it a lot more at the end,

but I want you to notice this phrase,

and the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

I coach people about how to speak, how to teach the Bible, and how to preach.

And one of the things I do when I'm coaching people about how to preach or teach the Bible

is I say that as part of their preparation, they should try to understand the entire text.

They should take time to look at the entire text and try to understand every bit of it.

I'm not patting myself on the back, but after the 8 o'clock service,

somebody asked me about a bit of the text which I didn't talk on,

and I could give them the answer.

Same thing happened last week.

I said, that's what you should always be able to do.

But usually in a text, in a sermon, you're not giving a university lecture.

You're giving a sermon, and it means you can't cover everything in the text.

You sort of have to pick a path through the text.

And so every week as we've been going through the book of Judges,

I've picked a path through the text.

And every week I've not mentioned this little phrase,

and the people of Israel had gained it what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

But it's actually one of the most important phrases in the entire book of Judges.

And you can see that in two ways.

But every week it didn't make the cut, so to speak.

But this week, and maybe in another one of the weeks,

I just want to, we're going to camp on that a little bit.

And this is actually getting at what is important but not urgent.

Seven different times in the book of Judges, this phrase has come.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Seven times is the number of perfection.

It means it's a very, very important idea.

It's part of the introduction,

and it's part of half of all of the stories of the Judges.

This phrase has come.

And this is the last time in the book that the phrase appears.

But the phrase appears, the idea appears in a different form two times in the conclusion of the book.

And it's when we see how it's phrased,

the semi-basic concept is phrased with different words that we understand,

in a sense, the sharpness of this idea.

If you turn in your Bibles to chapter 17, verse 6,

which is at the beginning of a very long conclusion to the book of Judges,

and you'll see this.

In those days, there was no king in Israel.

Note this.

Everyone did what was right in his or her own eyes.

Everyone did what was right in his or her own eyes.

And in the conclusion, you're going to see in the two-part conclusion,

just like massive foolishness and selfishness and horrendous things going on.

And you realize that this phrase is another way of getting at this fundamental concept

that's explained, said seven times about people did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

And another way to say that is that people were doing what was right in their own eyes.

And to help really bring home that this is an important idea in the entire book

is see the very last words of the book.

If you have your Bibles, it's 21-25.

And the very, very final words of the entire book say this.

In those days, there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Now, there's lots of things that are difficult about trying to bring a biblical text to bear.

For those of us reading it today in 2020,

in post-modern capitalist or post-capitalist,

a knowledge-based economy like Canada in 2020,

like Ottawa in 2020,

there's lots of things that make bridging that gap very, very difficult sometimes.

And that's why lots of times sermons can be unbelievably boring.

They don't attempt to bridge that gap between the ancient world and how we live today.

But here we see there's a huge problem that has to be addressed,

which I'm going to talk about in a moment,

which I think is this urgent thing, non-urgent thing,

but actually unbelievably important.

And that is, how is the fundamental way that most Canadians think about life is this.

Brother, only you know what is right for you.

Don't listen to your dad.

Don't listen to your brother.

Don't listen to religious figures like me.

Sister, only you know what is right for you.

And you need to pursue what is right for you.

And only, don't let anybody else,

don't let your roommate,

don't let your sister,

your mother,

your father,

your kids,

a church,

a school,

a coach,

don't let any,

only you know what is right for you.

And if you want to be really human and really whole,

you need to be authentic and pursue that.

In other words,

do what is right in your own eyes.

Now you see part of the problem.

The basic anthem of Canada is do what is right in your own eyes.

And the basic message of the book of Judges is,

if you do what is right in your own eyes,

you're more often than not doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.

And we see a huge gap between the biblical text and us.

And it would be one of the reasons why many Canadians would say,

like, chuck the Bible.

It's not helpful at all.

It's just oppressive.

Believe it or not,

the way the rest of the story goes actually points to a better way than how most Canadians think.

It captures the good,

the true good in how Canadians think,

without realizing how unbalanced and dangerous it is.

And the Bible is going to point in this story,

hint and show a direction towards a far better way

that actually answers the real longings to how Canadians think,

without the profound selfishness that goes along with how Canadians think.

So let's look at how it goes.

Look how the story goes.

So we've already said,

I have to get back to my text,

we've already said,

and the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

So the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years.

And then the story continues.

This is the birth of Samson.

There was a certain man of Zorah,

of the tribe of the Danites,

whose name was Manoah,

and his wife was barren and had no children.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her,

Behold, you are barren and have not born children,

but you shall conceive and bear a son.

Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink

and eat nothing unclean.

For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.

No razor shall come upon his head.

For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb.

And he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

Now just sort of pause there to understand what they're saying is,

if you go back later on and you read Numbers chapter 6,

Numbers 6 · chapter mention

which would have been a passage of scripture

that would have been available to them at this time,

you'll see that there's a special vow of a Nazarite.

And the vow of the Nazarite is for a person,

like a Jewish person back in those days,

who's in a time of crisis.

And not only crisis,

but a crossroads connected to the crisis.

And they really need God's presence

and they really need God's direction.

And so they take upon themselves for a season,

a special vow to live in a sense,

in a specially holy way,

because they want to be in God's presence.

They want to be able to call out to him

for his direction and for his help and for his strength.

And so the basic feature of the vow of the Nazarite,

apart from the fact that it's a special time of prayer

and seeking the Lord's will,

is that no razor will touch your head at all.

So your beard, if you're a man,

your beard will grow out longer

and your hair will grow longer.

If you're a woman,

your hair will just grow longer and longer.

And the second aspect of it

is that you don't have anything that's from the vine.

So you can't have raisins,

can't have grapes,

can't have wine,

can't have grape juice,

anything connected to the vine,

you're not allowed to have.

And the third thing

is that you're not allowed to be near dead bodies.

And it's just like,

it's just in a sense three markers.

On one level, it doesn't really matter.

It's the same thing

how Christians would understand fasting.

On one level, fasting doesn't matter

other than the fact

that it's a bit of a way to symbolize

that you're giving up something

to devote yourself more to seeking God's will.

That's sort of the heart of this practice.

And by the way,

for those of you who aren't familiar with this story,

Samson is going to violate

all of the conditions of a Nazarite.

Every single one of them.

Some of them spectacularly.

Don't be near dead bodies.

The body count in Samson's life

is going to be very high,

all at his hand.

So,

he's going to violate this all the time.

But that's the vow.

And God's angel is saying to the parents,

this baby that's going to be born to you,

he's going to be a boy

and he's going to be a Nazarite from birth.

And his purpose is to begin to save Israel

from the hand of the Philistines.

So, what happens is,

verse 6 and 7,

Then the woman came and told her husband,

A man of God came to me

and his appearance was like the appearance

of the angel of God.

Very awesome.

I did not ask him where he was from

and he did not tell me his name.

But he said to me,

Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.

So then drink no wine or strong drink

and eat nothing unclean,

for the child shall be a Nazarite to God

from the womb to the day of his death.

Now, just sort of pause here.

A little thing to notice in the story.

And I've mentioned this before.

The angel of the Lord is a being

that appears many times in the Old Testament.

And basically, it's a mystery.

It's an enigma.

If you go back and read theologians,

it's not clear whether it's a theophany,

like an appearance of God.

Some people actually think

that it's a pre-incarnate visitation

by Jesus himself.

Or it's an angel that has

a special relationship with God.

But it's very, very clear

it's a very unique type of being.

And that when this being speaks,

it's God speaking.

It's as if God is present right with them,

speaking directly and plainly to them.

And this being appears as a man.

So we know from the editor

that it's an angel of the Lord,

but they still think it's a man.

It looks like a man.

And that's how they refer to this being.

So she goes and tells her husband

these things.

So how does her husband respond?

Well, actually,

her husband believes her.

Verse 8.

Then Manoah prayed to the Lord

and said,

O Lord,

please let the man of God,

notice that,

the man of God whom you sent

come again to us

and teach us

what we are to do

with the child

who will be born.

And God listened

to the voice of Manoah.

And the angel of God

came again to the woman

as she sat in the field.

Sort of notice,

that's sort of interesting,

that the man,

Manoah's praying it,

but the angel doesn't show up

to Manoah.

He shows up again

to Manoah's wife.

But Manoah,

her husband,

was not with her.

So the woman

ran quickly

and told her husband,

Behold,

the man who came to me

the other day

has appeared to me.

And Manoah arose

and went after his wife

and came to the man

and said to him,

Are you the man

who spoke to this woman?

And he said,

I am.

Now just sort of pause

before I read anything else.

If I was in a social gathering

with my wife

and I meet somebody

that I haven't met before

and I said to him,

Are you the one

who spoke to this woman?

My wife would be upset.

Don't take any type

of marital advice

from this particular story.

Men who are married,

men who have girlfriends,

never refer to your wife

or your girlfriend

as this woman

as if she doesn't have a name.

Just a mere pointer.

Just because it's in the Bible

doesn't mean

that you should go

and do likewise.

A lot of times

in these stories

it's telling you

what not to do.

I just thought

I'd bring that out

just in case

any of you

were a bit confused by it

and started referring

to your wife

as this woman

because the Bible

told you to do so.

Don't do it.

Anyway,

verse 12.

Continue on.

And Manoah said,

Now when your words

come true,

what is to be

the child's manner of life

and what is his mission?

And the angel of the Lord

said to Manoah,

Of all that I said

to the woman,

let her be careful,

she may not eat

of anything

that comes from the vine,

neither let her drink

wine or strong drink

or eat any unclean thing.

All that I commanded her,

let her observe.

Now just sort of

notice here

for a second,

the angel actually

leaves something out.

He actually,

it's a bit of a rebuke

to Manoah.

He says,

Whatever I told her,

you need to both do it.

And he left out

something that he'd said

to the woman,

so he has to actually

listen to his wife.

But the main thing

in here is this,

just to notice this,

and this is going

to be really important

to understand that thing

which is important

but never urgent.

What Manoah wants

is he wants

to know the rules

and he wants

to know the steps.

He says,

Okay God,

this is really good news

that we're going

to have a son.

So okay,

what do we have to do?

Okay,

you've told me

a few things about her

and obviously

that implicates me

but what precisely

is it we should do?

And where precisely

is it that this is going?

And on one hand,

you'll notice

it's very interesting

because that was part

of Manoah's prayer,

right?

So the angel of the Lord

speaks to Manoah's wife

and Manoah calls out

to the Lord,

Could you please help us

and let us know

what exactly it is

we want to do?

And God is answering

his prayer

by sending the angel

of the Lord

a second time

and now Manoah asks

the angel of the Lord,

Can you tell us

the rules?

Can you tell us

the steps?

Can you tell us

everything that has

to be done?

So on one hand,

the angel of the Lord

is answering the prayer

but the angel of the Lord

doesn't answer the prayer.

He doesn't tell him

what to do.

So it's just sort of left

and let's see

how it develops

because in fact,

the angel of the Lord,

I didn't flip it,

the angel of the Lord

is going to answer

the request

but in a completely

out of left field

type of way,

not the way

that Manoah wants

to be answered,

not the way

he's expecting

and he might not

even have recognized

that the angel of the Lord

has answered his request.

But here's what happens.

Verse 15,

Manoah said

to the angel of the Lord,

please let us detain you

and prepare a young goat

for you.

And the angel of the Lord

said to Manoah,

if you detain me,

I will not eat

of your food

but if you prepare

a burnt offering,

then offer it

to the Lord.

Now this is actually

part of the Lord's answer

because if you read

other stories

with the angel of the Lord,

sometimes they do eat food

but his refusal

to eat food

and to have a sacrifice

to the Lord

is part of the answer

that the Lord

is giving to Manoah

and his wife.

The brackets

for Manoah,

verse 16,

did not know

that he was

the angel of the Lord.

Verse 17,

And Manoah

said to the angel

of the Lord,

what is your name

so that when your words

come true

we may honor you?

And actually,

every English version

of the Bible

gets the original

language incorrect.

What's happened

is that Manoah

has become tongue-tied

and in the original language

that sentence,

the question is completely

and utterly ungrammatic

because it begins

with who.

So he wants to say

who are you

but he starts to say

who

and then he switches

in the middle

of the language

and realizes

he shouldn't be asking

who are you.

So in Hebrew

it's completely ungrammatic.

It doesn't make any sense

because it's obvious

he's going to ask

who are you.

He starts to ask

that question

but then he sort of

switches and ends

his sentence

as if he's saying

what is your name?

And in English

they do a valid thing

they straighten it all out.

And he says

what is your name?

Verse 17

so that when your words

come true

we may honor you.

And the angel of the Lord

said to him

why do you ask my name?

Seeing

it is wonderful.

We're going to talk

about that in a moment

but let's just sort of

get to the next thing

that happens

which fits

with this

angel's name

being wonderful.

Not that that's

the angel's name.

So Manoah took

the young goat

with the grain offering

and offered it

on the rock

to the Lord

to the one

who works wonders.

And wonders here

means he does

the impossible.

He does the

inconceivable.

He does the big.

He does the wow.

He does the

whoa.

He does the

huh?

That's what wonders

is sort of

trying to get at.

To the one

who works wonders

and Manoah

and his wife

were watching

and when the flame

went up toward heaven

from the altar

the angel of the Lord

went up

in the flame

of the altar.

In other words

the angel of the Lord

the man

entered the flame

ascended with the flame

towards heaven

and vanishes

in the air above him.

Now Manoah

and his wife

were watching

and when they saw this

they fell on their faces

to the ground.

Now the rest of the story

just is about

whether the Lord

is going to kill them

and it's all important

but you get the basic

idea here

right now.

Now remember I said

that the

basic way

that Canadians

understand themselves

is that you know

George

you need to be true

to yourself.

Like only you know

what is really

true and needful

for you

to be the person

that you should be

and don't listen

to your wife

don't listen

to your kids

don't listen to

you know

don't listen

definitely don't listen

to the bishop

you know

don't listen

to the congregation

you've got to be

true to you

you need to pursue

being true

to you

and

and on one level

we Christians

have to agree

with part of

that sentiment

and I think

this book here

as I'll explain

in a moment

would be

understand that

obviously

there has to be

a way

that

whatever it is

that you're

supposed to be doing

that it should

somehow fit

with you

and that it

shouldn't be

completely and utterly

foreign to you

that there should be

something

if you in fact

are a unique person

that is unique

about you

that is

expressed

and reflected

but consider this

thought experiment

you know

from a very

very early age

I was profoundly

affected

by the story

of Martin Luther King

Jr.

and the civil rights

movement in the states

I mean I can't

communicate that to you

I'm older than

a lot of you

and Martin Luther King

died

when I would have

just been

in junior high

and so

you know

the early documentary

like I have many

memories of the

of newscasts

of seeing what was

going on

with Martin Luther King

and the civil rights

movement in the states

and I remember

going out of my way

to see documentaries

and other types

of things

because from a very

very early age

there was something

about that story

which I found

very very compelling

and even now

unbidden to me

I can see

just as soon as

I even tell you this

I can see in my

mind's eye

perfectly

some of the

some of the

iconic scenes

of Martin Luther King

and his leading

of the civil rights

movement

to deal with

the terrible

oppression

of African Americans

in the United States

but especially

in the south

I can picture

these times

even now as I speak

it's almost making me

choke up

of Martin Luther King

and his

and the other

other people

who are with him

it's surrounded

by beefy

white state troopers

and jeering crowds

and they're in a place

that the state says

they're not supposed to be

and they get down

on their knees

and pray

and as they're down

on their knees

to pray

first the water cannons

come and blast them

and then you can see

the troopers

coming in amongst them

and hitting them

with their batons

their wood

and you can see

just this

profound

dependence

upon God

and upon

what is right

and not showing

violence

as a way

to defeat

hatred

and it has had

a profound

effect on me

ever since I was

in junior high

and as a high school

student

and still to this day

I get choked up

just thinking about it

and

some of you

have heard this

but here's the thing

here's the thing

to think about

I hope

and I dream

that if I

could all of a sudden

if I was older

and if I was an American

I hope and wish

that I would be

one of the people

on my knees

with Martin Luther King Jr.

and every single

one of us

here in the room

probably does as well

most African Americans

weren't

and they were all

being true

to themselves

they were all

pursuing

what was right

for them

and most of them

weren't with

Martin Luther King Jr.

but were doing

what was right

in their own eyes

and what about

those beefy

racist

state troopers

and racist

jeering

crowds

they

were being

true

to themselves

they were doing

what was right

for them

how does the

basic message

of morality

in Canada

address

this huge

problem

it can't

it can't

see why

it's important

but not urgent

if the

fundamental

way

that people

talk to

themselves

about their

moral life

and their

self-identity

and their

quest

does not

help them

to distinguish

between a

violent racist

and Martin

Luther King

Jr.

then how

is it

helpful

and if it

doesn't actually

distinguish

between Martin

Luther King

Jr.

and the

people

who are

with him

and a

large number

of African

Americans

who weren't

there but

were doing

what was

right

how does

it help

you

how does

this fit

with the

whole story

see here's

the thing

which is

very very

interesting

about the

whole story

we have

this basic

sense

which I

think is

correct

that

you know

the worry

is

that there's

going to

be some

type of

a goodness

or some

type of

conformity

that will

squash us

that will

kill us

that will

kill what

is unique

in us

which is

beautiful

in us

which is

sort of

irreplaceable

in us

and we have

this deep

worry

so we go

to the

opposite

extreme

in terms

of our

moral

exhortations

but we have

this very

very very

interesting

story here

which is

in this

very very

very old

book

and the

thing which

is very

very interesting

in this

story

is that

first of

all it's

all in the

context

about being

worried about

what is

right or

wrong in

the Lord's

eyes

and for

most Canadians

when they

hear about

doing evil

in the eyes

of the Lord

they think

the Lord

is like

a scientist

watching rats

doing experiments

and the

scientists don't

care about

the rats

all they're

doing is

observing the

rats

and dealing

with the

rats for

their own

purpose

and their

own good

in a sense

they're oppressing

the rats

and many

people when

they hear

this phrase

they reject

it but this

story shows

us something

very very

different

you see

when the

angel of

the Lord

says to

the person

Minoan

his wife

my name

is wonderful

the angel

of the Lord

is saying

that my

name is in

a category

and who

I am

is in a

category

that you

have no

frame of

reference

for

there's no

words for

it and

there can't

be words

that come

from you

for it

there's

there's

something

in a sense

what the

story is

doing is

it's

modeling

the

Christian

doctrine

of

transcendence

and for

some of

us who

are very

philosophically

inclined

for some

of us

who love

abstractions

we hear

the word

transcendence

and we

get it

but most

of us

aren't

very good

at

abstractions

and what

you need

to understand

is this

story

that

there's

God

I'm

God

and I

am

transcendent

transcendent

means I

am

completely

other

I am

completely

different

and when

you have

something

which is

completely

other

and completely

different

it means

that there's

no words

for that

because it's

other

it's

different

like if

you think

about it

for a second

if for some

reason you

wanted to

try to

communicate

to a

slug

or an

earthworm

and you

were able

to try to

get down

into the

earthworm

and try to

communicate

to the

earthworm

the difference

between you

and an

earthworm

is a

finite

distance

but the

difference

between you

and the

infinite

God

is an

infinite

distance

an

infinite

distance

and his

name is

wonderful

there's no

human

category

for it

but at

the same

time

that

God

is saying

there's no

human

category

for it

God

is with

them

he's

right there

in front

of them

he's

talking

their

language

he's

listening

to them

he's

present

and there's

this other

Christian

doctrine

to try

to describe

God

is to

say that

God

is not

just

transcendent

he's

also

imminent

and

imminent

once again

is a

very

abstract

word

and some

of us

like

abstract

words

and sort

of get

it

when we

get

an

abstract

word

just as

some

people

get how

negative

one

can

have a

square

root

and I

can't

get that

but some

get that

I can't

get that

but some

abstraction

of

imminence

but those

of you

who can't

here's how

you look

at the

story

and you

have here

this

God

being present

speaking their

language

having stooped

to them

and speaking

to them

and with

them

and answering

their prayers

at the same

time

he is

transcendent

he is

completely

and utterly

other

but more

than that

why is

he present

he's there

because he's

heard their

prayers

and he's

answering

their prayers

because he

loves them

and more

than that

he's there

not just

to reveal

himself

to them

so that

the transcendent

can be

known in

some way

in an

imminent

manner

but even

more than

that

he's come

to announce

that God

is going

to do

something

to begin

to deliver

the people

of Israel

from the

Philistines

that he's

there

to deliver

them

and in

the story

arc of

the Bible

this is

going to

ultimately

point to

Jesus

because

Samson

is the

last of

the judges

he begins

to deliver

them from

the Philistines

but who

delivers them

from the

Philistines

who delivers

them from

the Philistines

is David

but what do

we know

about David

is David

does deliver

them from

the Philistines

but he

can't deliver

himself

from himself

he murders

people

he commits

adultery

he makes

rash vows

he can deliver

the people

of Israel

from Philistines

but he can't

deliver himself

and so

David himself

points to

someone who

needs to

come after

him to

keep the

arc of

deliverance

so that

he

David points

to his

greater son

and calls

him Lord

he's pointing

to the

person of

Jesus

who ultimately

will come

to deliver

us

and has

delivered us

from all

oppression

from all

slavery

and he

begins it

by abolishing

and dealing

with our

slavery to

sin

and our

slavery to

death

by defeating

death

and that

which causes

death

and his

death upon

the cross

the transcendent

God

who is also

completely and

utterly imminent

comes and

stoops

to speak to

us

to be present

with us

to be

in Christmas

God

with

us

among

us

but still

transcendent

and with

us

to

deliver

us

you see

if such

a being

does exist

if such

a story

is true

then to

know

from his

perspective

what is

really truly

good for

me

that fits

me

that is

the answer

to my

longings

and my

yearnings

is

because

every

single

human

being

if

they

are

at

all

self

reflective

knows

that

there

is

some

things

within

them

we're

all

confused

about

some

things

within

them

which

surely

will

continue

on

and

beyond

and be

something

which

is

great

and worth

keeping

but there

are

things

within

us

that

we

need

to

be

delivered

from

and if

we're

honest

we get

confused

about it

that's

what

maturity

is

about

what we

think

we

desperately

need

at

16

is

going

to

be

looking

very

different

we

laugh

about

it

when

we're

26

and

laugh

about

that

when

we're

36

and

46

and

some

people

never

learn

to

live

perpetually

confused

and the

Christian

gospel

is not

that we

Christians

have

figured

it all

out

but it's

the

complete

opposite

we

figure

it

out

that

we

can't

figure

it

out

and

we

need

the

one

who

is

completely

transcendent

and

completely

other

yet

is

completely

imminent

and

is

imminent

and

transcendent

to

come

and

deliver

us

from

all

that

binds

us

that

in

light

of

his

great

deliverance

that

we

can

now

call

out

to

him

and

know

that

he

is

the

one

that

can

see

the

uniqueness

and

the

beauty

in

each

one

of

us

that

will

last

for

all

eternity

that

part

of

every

single

human

being

that

only

we

for

all

eternity

can

contribute

to

the

great

music

of

heaven

where

we

praise

God

and

enjoy

creation

that

unique

bit

in

every

human

being

that

is

in

heaven

that

only

we

can

contribute

that

note

that

instrument

that

melody

that

unique

thing

out of

us

from

him

from

all

eternity

only

he

can

make

clear

to

us

what

is

really

true

to

who

we

are

and

it

begins

by

accepting

Jesus

as

your

savior

and

being

grounded

in

it

knowing

that

it

will

end

with

being

in

the

presence

of

God

with

great

joy

in

a

redeemed

creation

as

part

of

a

great

choir

declaring

God's

praises

and

enjoying

it

in

a

way

which

is

just

wow

and

answers

the

longings

of

our

hearts

invite

you

to

stand

and

just

in

this

moment

it's

time

to do

a

little

bit

of

work

with

God

not

only

now

but

throughout

the

rest

of

the

service

and

for

some

who've

never

yet

given

their

lives

to

Christ

there's

no

better

time

now

than

to

call

out

to

him

and

say

Lord

be

my

deliverer

and

Lord

help

me

to

trust

that

as

you

deliver

me

as

you

have

delivered

me

in

Jesus

and

continue

deliver

me

throughout

my

life

that

you

will

be

with

me

and

you

will

help

me

to

understand

what

is