The Gospel According to Samuel: The Ways of the King (1 Samuel 8:4-22)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

Thank you for listening to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast.

Newsong Church exists to lift high Jesus Christ in Port Perry as we worship, grow, and serve.

We'd love to connect with you.

You can find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca.

Today we continue our sermon series, The Gospel According to Samuel.

The Lord says to Samuel, obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

So, Father, it's in the context of grace that we come to you this morning.

Because that's the only context we can come to you, Lord.

Renew us in awe and wonder, according to your word, the wonderful excellencies of our King Jesus, whose kingdom is not of this world.

It's in his precious and powerful name that we pray.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Well, our journey through the book of Samuel, 1 and 2 Samuel, this series, the gospel according to Samuel, brings us to 1 Samuel chapter 8 this morning.

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

Chapter 8 is a turning point in the whole history of God's people Israel.

It's a transition from the tribal leadership of judges to the national leadership of a king, which pivots the rest of the story of Scripture.

But 1 Samuel chapter 8 is not an uplifting story of success.

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

Rather, it's a story of rejection.

It puts Israel's self-interest and faithlessness on full display.

And the Lord makes it clear what's really going on here in their request for a king.

They have rejected me from being king over them.

Israel wants what it wants, so much so that they're willing to reject their generous heavenly king for an earthly one, even a brutal earthly one.

Have you ever wanted something so badly?

You'd do anything to get it, regardless of the cost.

See, when we as God's people put our own self-interest first, we're not securing what we really desire.

We're really just rejecting the Lord.

We're trading heaven for earth.

Israel in 1 Samuel chapter 8 rejects the Lord as their heavenly king by requesting an earthly king like all the nations, who will provide a status and a security that they want for themselves without the vulnerability that comes with depending completely on God.

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

Do we do that?

Do we want status and security for ourselves so badly that we're willing to trade in our sovereign God, from whom all status and security comes?

There's a word for that.

Rejection.

But there's good news for us this morning, saints.

Israel's self-interest and faithfulness, it's true, is on full display in their request for a worldly king.

But so too is God's wild generosity to a completely undeserving people.

And that for us, friends, is good news.

So let's begin here.

Why does Israel want a king?

What's going on at this point?

Well, last Sunday, Bishop Charlie walked us through how the Lord has showed up and faithfully helped and delivered his people through the first seven chapters of Samuel.

It's been characteristic of the Lord through the whole story of Scripture.

Now in chapter 8, about 20 years or so after chapter 7, Samuel is in his twilight years.

The memory of God's deliverance seems dimmer in the minds of Israel's elders, and the future of their nation seems shaky to them.

Samuel has appointed his sons as judges in verse 3, but they're greedy and corrupt.

And perhaps the elders are wondering how they can have any hope for a just society if they're led by such immoral men.

So recognizing Samuel's spiritual authority, the elders make a request of him.

Behold, you are old, ouch, but true.

Your sons do not walk in your ways.

Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.

So this is not an inherently sinful request to make.

We'd be wrong to think that Israel has no business requesting a king, and that what goes wrong with this story comes from the very request itself.

Scripture makes it clear that no matter what, the Lord is Israel's ultimate sovereign.

He is their ultimate king.

And the law does give permission for Israel to be ruled by an earthly king.

Deuteronomy chapter 17 says, You, Israel, may indeed set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose.

Deuteronomy 17 · chapter mention

This request for a king troubles Samuel.

Not because they're requesting a king, but because of the motivation for which they're requesting a king.

So he goes to the Lord in prayer.

And the Lord makes it clear to him obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they've rejected me from being king over them.

See, this request for a king is really just rejection under a very thin veil.

A king may be good, but Israel's self-interested motivation for requesting one isn't.

They want the benefits of an earthly monarch, which in their imaginations comes without the vulnerability in trusting and depending upon their heavenly king, even if their heavenly king has proven himself faithful, time and time and time again.

So there's two things we can see that Israel expects from their king, two reasons, for which they request an earthly king, and for which this request really ends up being a rejection.

And those two things are status and security.

Let's look at status.

Zoom in with me on their request in verses four and five.

All the elders gather together, they say to Samuel, Appoint for us a king to judge us.

And here's the key phrase, like all the nations.

Did you catch that?

We should notice the contrast between Israel's request here in chapter 8 with God's permission for an earthly king in Deuteronomy 17.

In Deuteronomy, the right king is the one whom God will choose, representing his character, upholding his law in keeping with Israel's calling to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

God's chosen king will undoubtedly call Israel to stand out from the pagan nations, and he would rule differently than the power-hungry and brutal kings around them, just as Israel's completely holy, utterly unique, and supremely strong God stands out from among the idols and false gods of those nations.

But what is it that Israel wants here?

A godly king?

A king who's going to stand out?

They want a king like all the nations.

They want a king who conforms.

Why conform to the nations around them?

See, conformity brings a certain kind of status, doesn't it?

Standing out can be a vulnerable place, and it doesn't always attract welcome attention.

If we can think back to the experience of being a freshman in high school, which is always a wonderful thing to think about, then perhaps we can remember the power that conformity has.

I'm willing to bet that those of us who most fiercely asserted our individuality and our independence to our parents were also those who dressed the most like our friends, listened to the same music, and generally went along with the thinking of our group.

Maybe the voice of our mother still rings in our ears when we hear, if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff?

Conformity brings with it a status, doesn't it?

It brings an identity, it brings a respectability that's standing out from the crowd doesn't.

So again, it's not Israel's a quest for a king that's inherently sinful.

The sin is found in the motive.

As one commentator writes, Israel wants to exchange their unique glory as the people of the incomparable God for status in the world in order to be like all the nations.

If we're going to compete with the other nations, thinks Israel, we need a king just like all the other kings, one who plays to win.

When we as God's people desire worldly status above everything else, and we're willing to conform, what we've really done is rejected the Lord.

Now we knew covenant Christians aren't susceptible to the lure of status and conformity, are we?

Going along with the flow of the world isn't something that appeals to us, is it?

Perhaps Paul's words to the Church in Rome come to our minds.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

What does Paul mean here?

Well, the world in its present age, the one that we live in, characterized by sin and death and opposition to Christ, undoubtedly puts Christians or pressure on Christians to compromise, to conform, to seek acceptance and status by looking just like the world around us.

We feel it in our workplaces, in our schools, perhaps even in our own families.

We value most, and the way we conduct ourselves looks exactly like the world around us, then perhaps we ought to humbly consider have I really just rejected the Lord and his calling to stand out for the sake of the world for worldly status.

So the people want a king to bring them the national status that they want, but as the saying goes, they need to be ready to get more than they bargained for.

So the Lord sends Samuel back to the leaders in verse 9, you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.

And verses 10 to 18 outline the cost of a king's way, the kind of justice that he's going to implement, his kind of rule.

And overall, this is not an appealing picture.

Some costs of kingship that are outlined are normal and administrative, like taxes and soldiers in verses 12 and 15.

But other costs speak to the predictable abuse of power of these earthly kings.

Verse 14: He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants.

So the best that an earthly king, like all the nations, can bring, ends up really just being another form of slavery.

And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you that day.

It's as though Israel's request has once again landed them back in Egypt, under the iron fists of Pharaoh, only worse.

Samuel solemnly warns Israel's tribal leaders against the cost of a king, against the cost of pursuing worldly status, but they're adamant.

Why is that?

Let's look at verses 19 and 20.

The people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, but there shall be a king over us.

Why is that?

That we may be like the other nations.

Status, and that our king may judge us.

And that, here's the point we don't want to miss: to go out before us and fight our battles.

Israel wants a king to provide them with security.

Security through military strength.

Israel wants to feel safe from what threatens them, and they want a king to guarantee that safety.

Now, is it wrong to appoint a king to oversee the military?

Again, no.

But what Israel wants from their king is security, which really only the Lord can provide.

And Israel should know this from their own history, from their deliverance from Egypt, which is referenced in verse 8, to the recent history of the return of the ark in chapters 5 and 6, and their deliverance from the Philistines one chapter earlier.

They've raised an Ebenezer to show how faithful God is from generation to generation.

Israel has every reason to rest assured that the victory belongs to the Lord.

But Israel wants security.

Without the vulnerability it takes to trust completely in this covenant God for that victory.

They believe a king is the way to guarantee it, which is really a faithful rejection of God's capability to protect and save.

Now the future King David will write in Psalm 20 that some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

David is talking about Israel's true source of security, not in military might, chariots and horses, but in the Lord who delivers, rescues, and saves.

David understands something about his kingship in Psalm 20 that Israel misses here in 1 Samuel 8.

There is no other means of security worth trusting apart from the Lord.

The Lord alone is mighty to save, and at best the king can only be a means, not a guarantee of that salvation.

So I doubt any of us living here in Port Perry in 2021 have ever thought to trust in chariots and horses, or to expect Queen Elizabeth to show up and fight our battles.

But nevertheless, I think we all go looking for security, don't we?

We all want to know it's going to be okay.

And we all have our go-tos to guarantee that.

A couple of months ago, I just found myself compulsively opening my CIBC app, checking the bank accounts, checking the investments, multiple times a day, every time it came to mind, until I had this thought, what is it that you're looking for?

The numbers aren't changing.

Truth is, I'm looking for security, aren't I?

We go looking for earthly means of guaranteeing that everything is going to be okay, and we neglect the faithful God, from whom all security comes.

When our heart is ultimately set on anything apart from the Lord to give us security, we've really just ended up rejecting our God who alone is mighty to save.

How do we remedy this?

Perhaps we begin by keeping close to mind the many times God has shown up in the past to provide for us exactly what we need, even in ways we wouldn't have expected.

Thus far, the Lord has surely helped us, so we grasp onto God and the promises that we find on his word, and we grab onto them tightly, and we hold loosely the earthly means of security that God may use to provide for us.

When God's people put what they want first, they've really rejected the Lord.

And this is where Israel ends up in verse 20.

As self-interested and self-reliant as this request is, the truly surprising thing is how God responds to this request.

Let's look at verses 21 and 22.

Let's land here.

When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them to the ears of the Lord.

And the Lord said to Samuel, Obey their voice, make them a king.

God doesn't say squash these impertinent little worms.

God says, obey them, make them a king.

Go ahead, Samuel, give them the king they want.

Why would God say yes?

I think there's two reasons for us to consider.

God's yes, number one, means that the king they get is the king that they asked for.

They get King Saul.

Saul is introduced in the next chapter.

We're going to see more about him next week.

He's anointed king by Samuel in chapter 10.

Saul is a king like all the nations.

He even looks like the kind of king that they'd expect.

He's tall, he's rugged, he's handsome.

He secures the status that they want and wins military security.

While Saul is initially faithful to the Lord, his true character, his true character is ultimately found out.

He's arrogant, prideful, and outrageously self-centered.

His leadership infects the moral life and covenant faithfulness of God's people, and it leads to God's rejecting Saul in King 15.

God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

There are times, according to his wisdom, where God exercises his sovereign judgment by giving us exactly what we've asked for.

And walks with us through the consequences that follow.

And then there are other times in his mercy where God withholds the thing that seems best to us and invites us to trust us for something better still.

God's yes means that the king they get is the king that they asked for.

But the second thing God's yes means is this his yes means his wild, startling grace to a completely undeserving people.

Here's what one commentator says.

Kingship was Yahweh's gift to a highly undeserving Israel.

It provided additional evidence of his covenant fidelity.

Israel's yes is both a judgment and a generosity.

It demonstrates that God is more fiercely committed to his people than his wayward people ever could be to him.

It's God's yes here that leads us first to Saul, but God's yes here also leads us to King David, who's remembered as Israel's ideal and faithful king, to whom God promises that an heir would sit on his everlasting throne.

See, God's surprising and generous yes here to his undeserving people brings us to the one who fulfills God's promise of an ultimate king, and that's our King Jesus.

He suffered the ultimate rejection of his people on the cross for our sake, so that through his resurrection we, a holy undeserving people, can reign with him in his eternal kingdom.

The cross is proof that God remains faithful even when his people are utterly faithless.

And the cross shows us that our ultimate status in Christ as those who are forgiven, and it shows us our ultimate security in life everlasting through his resurrection.

We read earlier in Hebrews, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, that's us flesh and blood human beings, he himself partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

The cross has delivered us from slavery and bondage to sin and brought us to new life in him.

When we as God's people put our self-interest first, it's true we're really just rejecting the Lord.

We trade heaven for earth.

And yet in Christ the Lord does not reject us.

He trades our sin and death for heavenly citizenship and inheritance.

We are in Christ a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, who proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So writes Peter.

Friends, this is our generous, heavenly King, better than we could ever hope for or request.

Let's proclaim his excellencies.

How great is our God.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

We worship a generous God who calls us to follow him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially.

Newsong Church's mission and ministry is 100% funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us.

If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit newsongportperry.ca slash giving for more information on how to do that.

May God bless you and keep you today and every day.