Jesus In: The Kings

2 John 12

When the Israelites asked for a king, they were asking for more than a political leader. They were asking for peace and security from some source other than God. This week, we’ll look at the

disappointments we will always encounter when searching for peace and security outside of God, and God’s surprising response to our rejection of Him.

Unknown: Ephesians 5:15 through 21 look carefully. Then how you walk not as unwise, but as wise making the best use of the time because the days are evil, therefore, do not be foolish. But understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine for that as debauchery, will be filled with the spirit, addressing one, another in Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs singing and making

Unknown: King Melody to the Lord with your heart giving. Thanks always and for everything to God, the father and the name of our Lord. Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Unknown: Thank you, Joanna.

Unknown: So over the past year, we as a church, in our weekly Gathering time have sung over 300 songs together. If we account for repeating songs, my records show that we sang 113 different songs and of those 113, 57 of them are songs that you can find in your Hymnal in front of you. The average service had about 25 minutes worth of music. So for the

Unknown: I estimate that we sang about 1,300 minutes together that's over 21 hours of singing.

Unknown: So what's the deal with singing? Why do we sing so much in church? And as we explore today's passage in Ephesians together, we will look at why we seeing what we sing and how we sing. That's why we sing what we sing and how we sing. So, why do we sing? First of all, we are created to sing

Unknown: You've probably heard these words from Psalm 139 that's a for you formed. My inward Parts, you knitted me together. In my mother's womb, I praise you for. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Unknown: I praise you for. I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and, and scripture is filled with language like this, especially in the Psalms it says, I praise you. I exalt you, I bless you. I sing to you. In fact, it says that all of creation, sings and worships God, Psalm 64 says all the Earth worships, you sings praises to you, they sing praises to your name.

Unknown: But humans have an, especially unique ability to worship and sing. See, we are made in the image of God. And speaking of being created to sing, did you know that human vocal cords? Develop, when a baby is still in the womb, the vocal cords are in place around week 12 and functional long before a chart. A child is born. You could sing before you could breathe are on your own.

Unknown: Tell me if we weren't created to sing. Why do I struggle? Struggle? To remember what I had for breakfast, but I can remember the lyrics to obscure B-side songs that I haven't heard in 20 years. Why do I struggle to memorize simple? Passage of scripture, but I can sing to you all 50 states in alphabetical order and I can sing the u.s. presidents in order. Washington Adams, Jefferson Madison Monroe Adams Jackson Van Buren Harrison, Tyler Polk, Taylor Fillmore. And so on.

Unknown: And we are created to sing.v

Unknown: Not only are we created to sing? We are called to sing. Not only do we have that ability to sing, but we should want to sing God. Started this conversation through creation and then he continues the conversation through scripture so we can know him. And how do we respond to that Martha? Martin Luther sums it up like this. He says, let God speak directly to his people through the scriptures and let his people respond with.

Unknown: Grateful songs of praise.v

Unknown: So, what does Scripture say about singing? And it's quite a lot, actually, apparently singing is a big deal to God, because there are over 400 references to singing in scripture. At least 50 of those references are direct commands. Psalm 9 says, sing praises, to the Lord who sits enthroned in Sion tell among the people, his deeds, Psalm 96, oh, sing to the Lord, a new song, sing to the Lord, all the Earth, sing to the Lord blesses.

Unknown: Name tell of his salvation day today. Psalms not only give us these direct commands to sing. They also give us Reasons. Why We Sing Psalm 147, says praise the Lord for, it is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasant and a song of Praise is fitting. Some 106 gives us Hicks historical examples of singing. It says, then they believed his words, they sang his praises.

Unknown: Raise Psalm 95 acts as a call to worship a call to join together and singing it says, oh come let us sing to the Lord. Let us Make a Joyful Noise to the rock of our salvation.

Unknown: And of course the book of Psalms would talk about singing. I mean it's literally a collection of 150 worship songs. So let's look at other examples in scripture of singing and second Samuel, when the Ark of the Covenant is brought back into Jerusalem David and the house of Israel celebrated by singing playing instruments and even oh yes dancing in second Chronicles when King Hezekiah cleanses the temple after they offered a sacrifice on the altar, the whole congregation

Unknown: Saying and they played symbols Harps liars, and they blew trumpets.

Unknown: When they celebrated the Passover under King Hezekiah still in second chronicles, it says that they praised the Lord day by day singing, with all their might to the Lord in Nehemiah. As they dedicated the rebuilding of the wall, they celebrated with gladness with Thanksgiving and with singing Isaiah explains what will happen when God redeems. His people in chapter 51 it says joy and gladness will be found in her Thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

Unknown: And therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting, Joy, shall be upon their head. We moved to the New Testament, both the gospels of Matthew. And Mark, they both document that after finishing, the Passover meal in the upper room Jesus and his disciples saying a him in Acts 16, we read that while in prison Paul and Silas together prayed and sang hymns, both Ephesians and Colossians.

Unknown: Us to address one another with singing and in Revelation 5 after the slain lamb took the scroll from the right hand of him who is Seated on the throne, all of the creatures and Elders in the throne room sang, a new song saying worthy, are you to take the scroll and to open its seals?

Unknown: That's less than 20 of the 400 references to singing in scripture. So, God spends that much time. Talking about singing, We had better, pay attention. So we are created to sing. We are called to sing. And if singing is such a big deal,

Unknown: what is it that we should be singing?

Unknown: What should we sing Our passage today tells us to address one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. I have to admit. When I started doing research for this message, I was excited to finally discover what Paul meant when he said Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs in his letters to both the Ephesians and the Colossians

Unknown: And after hours of research, the answer is we're still not sure. I mean, we can draw some conclusions. There's things were going to talk about here. But in reality, I've heard people use this passage to justify why hymns are better than modern worship songs, and we should only sing hymns and worship. I've also heard people use this passage to say, why modern worship songs are better than hymns. And we should only sing modern worship songs in church.

Unknown: This passage doesn't say either one of those things. This passage can't be used to put one style over another. And so, let's take a look about why. It says that Psalms hymns and spiritual songs starting with Psalms, the Greek word for Psalms to, No, Surprise is a direct reference reference to the Book of Psalms. We call it the psalter a collection of 150 songs written throughout Jewish history. Several

Unknown: All of which written by King David himself, they were used for prayer for times of devotion and in their services and in their festivals, it was part of the scripture that they had available to them. When Paul wrote this letter, the root word of Psalms though, predates the psalter itself. It literally means plucking of a string or the sound from a stringed instrument because the Psalms were originally accompanied songs, they were accompanied by

Unknown: The instruments commonly available in their day, you'll notice as you read through psalms, many of them have instruction or two names at the beginning. For example, Psalm 61 starts out to the choirmaster with stringed instruments. Psalm 45 says, to the choirmaster according to the lilies and the Hebrew word here, translated, according to the lilies is believed to either be the name of the tune that you would sing that song to or it was the instrument that

Unknown: It played the tune that you would, that would accompany the singing of that song. So the Psalms were accompanied, they were sung. And so, we know Paul is, at the very least, instructing us to sing songs from available scripture, and possibly, even encouraging us to use the common available instruments.

Unknown: Okay, so now the word hymns, the word Paul uses here has a much broader meaning than one would think. And to be blunt, hymns doesn't mean sing songs out of the hymnal, that you'll find in the Pew in front of you.

Unknown: It can't mean that because in reality, none of the songs printed in the hymnal that we have here. Existed, when Paul gave this instruction to sing to one another in hymns, in fact, the oldest him Melody. We have printed in our Hymnal and that you'll find printed in most modern hymnals is be thou my vision.

Unknown: And that dates back to the early 8th Century more than 600 years after Paul's letters. And even be thou, my vision has been edited changed re harmonized and sounds nothing. Like it would have sounded over 1,000 years ago. So even the oldest hymns that we have record of were at some point considered contemporary and modern, even the hymns and Corrales written in harmonized by Bach, would have sounded modern and edgy to the earlier generations of Hill,

Unknown: The guard Von bingen and Guillaume do fi and Giovanni palestrina and for those listening that aren't as excited about music history. As I am, those are Church composers from the 12th 15th and 16th centuries. All that to say back when st. Francis of Assisi wrote, the hymn All Creatures of our God and King a whopping 1200 years. After Paul wrote his letters back then the music of Bill Gaither and I love Bill Gaither. But back then the music of Bill Gaither might as well have been heavy metal and would have been

Unknown: hemmed as too. Radical inappropriate in the harmonies outlawed in the church.

Unknown: All of the music, we have record of now at some point.

Unknown: It was Modern. And Paul's, Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Cannot be used to justify one generation or style of music over. Another, in any direction.

Unknown: Okay. So what does the word hymns mean? Or what did it mean? When Paul wrote this letter in the Greek word for hymns, who noise?

Unknown: That's used in Ephesians, and in Colossians was a common word in Greek culture. Meaning a scription of praise to the gods, it was used throughout Antiquity both in and out of the church with both sacred and secular meanings in the first century. The one difference is Jewish and early Christians, really would have meant a song of praise to our God, to the one true God, but it was also used throughout all of the culture with

Unknown: a wide variety of style. Sing hymns of praise to the one true God.

Unknown: All right, in the third word is songs. The Greek you word used here for songs as oh, dice. It's simply the word for song. It's a word used both in and out of church and it's a word with as Broad and generic as a meaning as possible. It could have meant love songs. It could have meant Tavern songs or battle songs. It's the word you would use when referring to a song by Garth Brooks or Taylor Swift. It's the same word. We would use to say when I'm done preaching, we're going to sing a song. It's the

Unknown: Same word used in Revelation 5 when the elders sang a new song, it's the all-encompassing word for song, any genre any style. So Paul makes a modification here and he uses the word spiritual sing spiritual songs. He's not modifying the style, simply the content, sing the songs for the church, not the songs for the culture.

Unknown: Song related to the spirit, not the culture, he's not modifying the style, simply the content. So while Scholars continue to bait debate, the fine points of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And some thinks that thinks that me and sing Jewish songs, Greek, songs and other songs, or some thinks that means scripture songs, praise songs and personal testimony songs or some even assert that Psalms, hymns. And spiritual songs means old songs, new songs, and spontaneous songs made.

Unknown: Up on the spot, there is agreement among scholarship on one point and that is Paul is drawing from a variety and diverse collection of music available to the church and the Psalms in the early hymns that they would have had included, upbeat songs songs of lament songs of reflection songs with theological instruction, thought songs with personal testimony songs with historical facts and songs that span the entire Continuum of human emotion.

Unknown: So, what should we be singing? When we address one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs as we gather together as a church.

Unknown: All of this, we will sing variety.

Unknown: Variety, we're going to sing old songs. Will sing new songs will sing old songs that sound like new songs. Will sing new songs that sound like old songs. Will sing songs of instruction songs, have testimony songs that quote scripture songs to God, songs about God songs to each other. We will focus more on content than style or genre.

Unknown: When we were coming out of the pandemic shutdowns and we were looking at relaunching our in-person gathering Services here at Bridges. The leadership asked me, what would our worship look like and sound? Like it was challenging for me to think through if if you weren't here before the pandemic, we had two different Services, each Sunday morning, the same sermon. But two different styles of music and now we would be joining together in one service.

Unknown: I was excited about that choice and I'm grateful that we are all together at the same time in the same place. Now, it is such a joy to gather together but I got asked, are we going to sound like this church over here or we going to sound like that church over there? Are we going to sound like the music? I found online? Or are we going to sound like this church? I heard on the radio, are we going to use instruments? I heard in this CD or we going to use the instruments in this YouTube video.

Unknown: And it became obvious to me. What the answer was. No.

Unknown: We're not going to be any of those. We're not going to try to be any of those churches or music teams. No matter how famous or popular at least not on purpose and we're not going to try to mimic anyone except Bridges Community Church.

Unknown: So I dubbed our worship style uniquely Bridges, not unique, in the sense that were unlike anyone else or that. We're going to go out of our way to be different. But we are going to worship God, in a way that God has uniquely gifted this body of believers.

Unknown: And I believe that God has truly gifted this body of Believers with talent. That is beyond measure. I am absolutely spoiled by the teams of people that I get to work with every week. So On Any Given Sunday rather than sounding exactly like the new song that you just heard streaming on Spotify, this room is going to be filled with sounds like like Mike Rivers sitting down at the piano. Like he does so well and it's going to be filled with the sounds of David's

Unknown: I'm playing piano or cello or let's face it any instrument we put in his hands because that man is a genius. That's right.

Unknown: I told you I'm spoiled and we'll have Danny on drums and most weeks. We'll have Billy on the base or this month. Billy is touring Chile. So we get James on base.

Unknown: James you have been a fantastic addition to this team and I'm so grateful we got to work with you this month and I really hope that we get to work with you. Long after January is over. Thanks for being with us. Can we thank James for being with us one more time? Seriously thanks man.

Unknown: And when we have enough violin, Viola and cello players in town will have a string section and when we have enough trumpets and trombones and saxophones will have a service with big band Tunes like we did back in December or like Al's email to me called it. It sounds like Chicago was leading worship today, I'll take that as a compliment by the way.

Unknown: And no matter who sing the original track that streaming on Apple music here at Bridges, it's going to sound just a little bit better because Laura is going to be leading it.

Unknown: Along with Beth and along with Pat and Jane and Dean and Kirby land on harmonies like we've never heard and no matter how hard I try, I've been accused that everything icing is going to be just a little bit country and listen and let's be honest when I get going when I'm thinking about what we're seeing about, I am not going to stand still because I just don't have the ability because let's face it. If this afternoon, I jump off the couch in a fun.

Unknown: Burris Applause because the 49ers score a touchdown, I better do the same thing. When we're singing about the resurrection of Jesus.

Unknown: And then when we can will later in the choir, as many people are willing to show up whether seasoned Pro or a rookie vocalist, and you want to sing in the choir, you let me know. We will sign you up.

Unknown: And all of that everything that's happening on this platform up here, we are going to join together with all of you. A couple hundred of our dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ and we are going to lift up a sound and it will be glorious. It'll be beautiful. It will be an offering tube of praise to God. That will be uniquely Bridges.

Unknown: And above all else. There is one thing that I promise it will be

Unknown: It will be true.

Unknown: We will sing the truth more than carefully crafting and curating, the style, the songs, this church sings will be filled with the truth. The truth matters, and the top criteria of any song we choose to lead in this church must be true. Whether it was written yesterday or hundreds of years ago, it must not compromise, the truth of scripture, the parallel passage from Ephesians 5 is Colossians 3 and it says and let the word of Christ dwell in

Unknown: Well in you richly teaching and admonishing, one another and all wisdom singing, Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the word of God matters, truth matters. And to be honest with you, I care far more about truth in song than style or genre in stone in song.

Unknown: So, more than everyone in here, liking a song that we sing. I would rather each person in this room be infected with the theologically true earworm. Instead of loving a song that we sang together, I would rather the resurrection of Jesus, infect your mind deeper than baby shark instead of thanks for the him. I would rather hear I can't stop singing that song about the cross. So what will we sing? When we gather together we will sing a variety of musical styles.

Unknown: Tile and we will sing the truth.

Unknown: So, the next question, how will we sing?

Unknown: We return to our passage. It says singing and making Melody to the Lord with your heart giving. Thanks always and for everything to God, the father, in the name of our Lord. Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Unknown: When we worship we worship vertically. I think that part is obvious, many of us know that we sing to God, and that's vertical worship, and it's obvious on songs, like, Lord, I need you or I need thee every hour, or even a song, like Battle Belongs because we say The Battle Belongs to You.

Unknown: But if we only sing vertically, we are missing a vital piece of worship, because we can sing vertically alone.

Unknown: I do that all the time. Big surprise usually when I'm driving in the car but we are instructed here in verse 19 not just dissing vertically but to address one another, you can't address one another and song by yourself. You can't address one another cozied up in your pjs watching an online service.

Unknown: Psalm 149 says, praise the Lord sing to the Lord, a new song, his praise in the Assembly of The Godly in the assembly together with the church in order to address one another, we must be with one, another sing and make Melody with one another to one another. That's what we're doing when we're singing. So many of our worship songs just a few minutes ago. I sang the words to this I hold my hope is only Jesus for my life.

Unknown: Life as holy bound to his. Oh, how strange and divine I can sing all is mine yet. Not I, but through Christ in me. Who am I singing that too?

Unknown: I certainly singing it to Jesus himself, he can hear, he knows my heart when I sing those words.

Unknown: That's also for everyone else in the room. That is horizontal nature of singing together. We need both to sing vertically and we sing horizontally. So the next time you sing it Is Well with My Soul. Remember that you're telling God, it Is Well with My Soul but you're also telling everyone else in this room and everyone else in this room is telling you

Unknown: Seminary, professor and esteemed church music historian. Donald husted, says music in church is fourfold. It's Proclamation, education, pastoral care and fellowship. It's Proclamation because we Proclaim God's Mighty works. Like when we sing A Mighty Fortress. Is Our God. A bulwark. Never fading.

Unknown: It's education As we sing to one another. We make instructions with like take-home theology, we call it. Like, when I sing the words, nothing in my hand. I bring simply to the cross. I cling, we're teaching theology.

Unknown: It's pastoral care as Houston says because since music isn't acknowledged healer of the human spirit.

Unknown: That made me think of when we Sing Because He Lives I Can Face Tomorrow.

Unknown: Because He Lives all fear is gone.

Unknown: And it's Fellowship. Like when we sing, like, when we sang this morning, come let us worship the king. Come, let us bow at his feet. Now, any of these songs Could Be Sung vertically, they could be sung in the spirit of testimony, but they cannot fully function without the horizontal aspect of congregational singing, You Can't Proclaim educate offer care or Fellowship in musical isolation.

Unknown: So we sing vertically and we sing horizontally.

Unknown: But I know what you're thinking.

Unknown: You're thinking what if I can't sing? What if I don't sound so good?

Unknown: That answer is pretty simple. Do it anyway.

Unknown: The psalmist, says, Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord. See, singing is an act of worship and scripture teaches us that worship should be a sacrifice of. Praise Hebrews 13:15 through him. Then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Unknown: Romans 12:1, Steve just preached on this a couple weeks ago. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's Murphy, Mercy to offer your bodies as Living Sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. That is your true. And proper worship worship is an offering of sacrifice to God in response to what he has already done for us.

Unknown: So we sing vertically. We sing horizontally and we sing sacrificially.

Unknown: The Book of Leviticus outlines the sacrificial system of worship. And while we don't worship by offering animal sacrifices anymore on the altar, we learned that these sacrifices start with sacrifice.

Unknown: It sounds a little weird at first but bear with me here, the animal that was to be offered was to be without blemish whether a bowl or a lamb or a goat. It must be the best that you have from your flock with out blemish. See offering up your leftovers isn't a sacrifice.

Unknown: But if you continue to read through Leviticus you see that if you couldn't afford a lamb or a goat often, you could bring two turtledoves or two pigeons, see the sacrifice or the offering of worship was based on your ability to produce the offering, bring the best that you have to the temple.

Unknown: I'm reminded of the Widow's Mite. Jesus tells the story of the Widow who only has two small coins to us for her offering.

Unknown: Bring the best you have to offer to the temple.

Unknown: The may be the best, you have to offer as an out-of-tune out of time fumbling and stumbling through the lyrics that more closely resembles an injured alleycat rather than an operatic oratorio, but let that be your Widow's Mite of melodic worship.

Unknown: I can think of plenty of wonderful vocalist who sang beautifully.

Unknown: But don't know the Lord so can't offer musical authentic musical worship. And I've known many people who would self-diagnosis not having a musical bone in their body who regularly bring a sacrificial offering of song that would not please your ear but would melt your heart.

Unknown: And just this week my wife Casey reminded me of the lyrics to a song called dandelions by the Christian ska punk band Five Iron Frenzy. Yes I said Christian ska. Punk band

Unknown: But dandelions is a song that describes a mother receiving freshly picked Dan dandelions from her child and cherishes them as yellow flowers instead of weeds.

Unknown: The lyrics, say all that I've ever wanted was to give my best to you. Lord search my heart. Created me, something clean dandelions. You see flowers in these weeds?

Unknown: C.s. Lewis says it like this all our offerings weather of music or martyrdom.

Unknown: Are like the intrinsically worthless present of a child, which a father values. Indeed. But values, only for the intention

Unknown: Our best attempts to recreate a Bob Ross landscape would never come close to the overwhelming beauty of God's creation. Yet the one who spoke into existence every last detail of the Yosemite Valley receives a toddler's cran scribbled. Stick figure attaches it to the fridge and says you made this for me. Well done.

Unknown: God wants our heart intention over, Perfection. So we sing with our heart, sacrificially, with the best that we have to offer. He doesn't want lip service. No matter how lovely Jesus makes this clear when he chastises the Pharisees saying you Hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, in vain, do they worship me?

Unknown: He wants authentic sacrificial Melody that flows from an understanding of what God has done we sing because even on the days we otherwise can't muster a peep and let's face it. We don't always feel like singing We Are compelled to sing anyway.

Unknown: Paul writes in second Corinthians for Christ's love, compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore, all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Unknown: On the night, Jesus was to be arrested.

Unknown: He gathered with his disciples in the upper room, he knew what was coming.

Unknown: He explained to them, that he would be betrayed. He instituted the Lord's Supper saying, this is my body given for you. And this cup is my blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the Forgiveness of sins.

Unknown: He knew what was about to happen.

Unknown: And yet, he gave, thanks.

Unknown: And then it says, right before they went to the Mount of Olives, you remember the Mount of Olives where Jesus would ultimately pray, my father. If it be possible, let this cup pass from me right before they went to the Mount of Olives. It says, they sang A Hymn.

Unknown: Jesus knowing full. Well, what was about to happen? Sang with his disciples.

Unknown: And as Jesus was hanging on the cross, he cried out with a loud voice. My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me?

Unknown: Now, he may have been crying out in anguish, but he was quoting a song.

Unknown: Psalm 22 to be exact.

Unknown: And there on the cross, he breathed his last.

Unknown: And he gave up his spirit.

Unknown: Jesus gave up his songs so that we may lift up a Melody. Jesus lost his song so that we may find our voice Jesus saying alone, isolated lonely and broken. So that we might sing together United and with grateful hearts and when Jesus rose from the grave on the third day, he made sure that all who Trust on him will never lose their song again. He ensured that death would no longer be the final Cadence, but only a segue into the next movement. Oh,

Unknown: Death. Where is your Victory death? Where is your sting for the melodic? Overtones of the redeemed will ring out throughout eternity.

Unknown: And on that day, when we see the throne room all who are adopted into the family of God will be singing a new song and it will not cease.

Unknown: That's what it means, singing and making Melody to the Lord with your heart giving. Thanks always and for everything to God, the father, in the name of our Lord. Jesus Christ.

Unknown: Not that I'm happy for my current circumstances right now.

Unknown: but remembering that, no matter the circumstances I'm in now

Unknown: even though I don't deserve it.

Unknown: Jesus, Paid my debt.

Unknown: My sin has been forgiven.

Unknown: and so,

Unknown: We sing.

Unknown: Would you pray with me?

Unknown: Lord. God, we thank you for the gift that is music. We thank you for the gift that we can lift our voices together in a uniquely Bridges way that we, as a family can come together and we can sing to you and we can sing to each other and that through those songs, we can remember things like nothing in my hand. I bring simply to the cross. I cling.

Unknown: And God, we can remember that yet. Not I but through Christ in me.

Unknown: We can remember what your son Christ has done for us.

Unknown: And we thank you that Jesus gave up his song on the cross.

Unknown: We thank you that he cried out on the cross and three days later he rose from the grave so that we will be singing for all eternity and God I am. So grateful for that God, I pray that on the days. I don't feel like singing you fill my heart.

Unknown: With a Melody that I can just burst out in singing remembering what you have done for us.

Unknown: And for that, we thank you. We love you. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.


Sermon Transcript

1 Samuel 8:4-20. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord, And the Lord said to Samuel, obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them, according to all the deeds that they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so that they are also doing to you.

Now then, obey their voice. Only you shall solemnly warn them and show them that the ways of the king who shall reign over them. So Samuel told them all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, these will be the ways of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipments of his chariots.

He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the 10th of your grain and of your vineyards and give it— or he will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys and put them to his work. He will take the 10th of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 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 in that day. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, no, but there shall be a king over us, that we may also be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.

One of our elders, I won’t say who because I didn’t ask if I could use this story, it’s not incriminating, don’t worry, but he made an offhand comment in one of our meetings, the best form of government, if you could pull it off somehow, the best form of government would be to have a good king. Unfortunately, of course, there’s no way to guarantee you will get a good king, And if you get a bad king, and you often do, then a monarchy is the worst form of government. And there is certainly truth in that observation. We here in the U.S., by God’s grace and by some fantastic leaders nearly 250 years ago, have never been under the rule of a king. If you’ve seen the Hamilton musical, When King George sings his song that is my favorite song in the musical, you know, You’ll Be Back, he tells the colonies like, you’ll be back, you’ll miss me, you’ll come back to my rule someday.

Well, he was wrong, right? We never did. We never went back. In fact, what our founders came up with so long ago, it worked so well that it helped to undermine and diminish the power of of England’s monarchy. And today, of course, right, democracy has spread around the world and it generally wins out over every other system of government.

So we have very little experience with kings and thrones and sovereign authority as a political system. But that does not mean that we don’t have functional kings in our lives, that we don’t serve something as if it has complete authority over us. We do. We all serve something as if it were a king. So as we look at this text today, which is about kings in the Old Testament and Israel asking for a king, it is not as far removed from our experience as we might think that it is.

In fact, as we study, we will see the desire for a king, which we all have, the problem with kings, which they all have, and then the true King. The desire for a king, the problem with kings, and then the true King. So first, the desire for a king is really a desire for peace and security. Israel cries out here, verse 4, and then verse 20, that they want a king. And specifically, they say they want a king, verse 20, who may judge us and may go out before us and fight our battles.

So the reason they say they want a king is because they want, one, a judge, and two, a competent military leader. It may sound strange that they would want a judge. You’d be like, why would anybody want to be judged? But what that means is simply that they understand they have problems as a nation. Like internal problems, disputes among the people, and they want someone who’s going to fix all that and someone who’s going to do that fairly.

They want internal peace across their nation. They don’t want their neighbor to be able to rob them and get away with it. If somebody is cheating or being greedy, they know in order to have justice, they will need a judge, and they want justice. They want an authority who will bring peace and stability. So, that’s one thing they want from a king.

And then, of course, they want someone who will fight their battles, which would include both defeating threats that come against the nation and also in that day going out and conquering other nations. So, in other words, they wanted a king who would lead them to greater and greater power and influence in the region and across the world. So, they wanted prosperity, Security, advancing the nation, securing the borders, military conquest, or just favorable trade relations, you know, that get them into a better position than everyone else around them. That’s what they wanted, which means they wanted the same things we want: security, peace, prosperity, problems solved, threats eliminated, wealth, no worries. That is what we want.

And sometimes, like Israel, we look to a human leader to provide those for us. That’s pretty much what we hear from presidential candidates every 4 years. Doesn’t matter which candidate it is, whoever it is always promises peace at home, prosperity abroad, right? Which would be a pretty good campaign slogan if you happen to be running for office. You can have it.

For free this morning. So some of us may believe if we got the right leader elected, we would get all of those things. That’s some of us. But more frequently, our desire for peace and security reaches out and trusts something other than a political leader. When we feel afraid, when we feel unstable, Maybe our job is in jeopardy, our health is in jeopardy, our family is in jeopardy.

We all reach to something to give ourselves a sense of stability. And it might be a political leader, we’ll talk more about that in a second, but often we will say something like, I’m gonna be okay because, how do you finish that sentence? Because I’m gonna work all these extra hours. I’m gonna be okay because I have the best healthcare plan in the world. I’m gonna be okay because even if this relationship doesn’t work out, I’ll find one that does.

We run to something in this world to provide us with peace and security, and whether we are Christians or not, we probably all trust in very similar things to stabilize ourselves. We have to calm ourselves down somehow. If we are anxious, and we will latch on to whatever it is that we believe is stable. That’s what Israel was doing. Give us a king so we can have internal peace and external prosperity.

Now, where would they get that idea that a king could do that for them? Where do you get the idea that a relationship or a job or a certain waistline can give you the peace that you think that you want. Where do you get those ideas? We get them by looking at everybody else. We look at our friends on social media and the cool things they’re doing, and we say, I would like that.

I need that. We get the idea by looking at our coworker who was promoted and then can buy the house, and we say, that looks pretty good. In just the same way, Israel says, verse 20, give us a king that we may be like all the other nations. Israel was looking around at how everyone else seemed to achieve security, stability, peace, and all those nations had a king, so that’s what they thought they needed too. And frankly, there’s a little bit of truth in that.

A king does provide a good deal of certainty. You know who’s in charge. If you have a problem, you know where to go. If there’s an enemy at the gate, it’s up to the king what to do about it. And if you had a good king, you probably would have victories over other nations.

So Israel says, give us a king that we may be like everyone else. The sad part is Israel was not supposed to be like everyone else. They were supposed to be different, set apart, distinct, supposed to trust God to be their king, supposed to trust God to be their peace, their stability, their safety. They should have felt okay in the world simply because they belonged to Him, period. And if they had trusted Him in that way, then they would have been able to show the greatness of God to all the other nations.

They would have been a light to the world, which is what they were supposed to be, but they didn’t want that. Instead of influencing other nations around them to hope in God, They let all these other nations influence them to hope in not God. Rather than being the leader, they became followers. They wanted to be just like everyone else. So, they reject God as their king.

Verse 7, God tells Samuel, they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Israel wanted to run to the arms of another. Now, what’s the problem with that? What’s the problem with looking for security and stability in something other than God since it kind of works? What’s the problem with kings who are not God?

The problem is they rob instead of provide. That’s the problem. Israel peers over the fence at all the other nations who have a king and they think, wow, that looks great. Let’s have that. It is very alluring to trust in something tangible for peace and security.

You know, for us, we think, I’m going to be okay because of my education, my experience. Those things are concrete. We think it’s a solid place to stand. But it’s a little bit like bait on a hook. We only see the shiny bit.

We don’t see the sharp bit. And Israel did not see what a king would cost them. Looking at all the nations, they didn’t see the problems that a king brings. So Samuel, tells them. Samuel explains to the people exactly the problem with a king, verses 11 to 18.

He says, these will be the ways of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots to be his horsemen, and he will appoint for himself some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take a 10th of your grain, of your vineyards, and give it to his officers and his servants.

He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and of your donkeys and put them to work in his field. He will take a 10th of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

Samuel says, this king will crush you. This king will rob from you. Maybe there will be a measure of peace and security, but it is going to eat you alive. That thing you hoped in that would be your salvation, that will actually end up enslaving you. That’s what Samuel predicts.

And historically, it really happened. That’s what their kings did. Those of you in BSF right now, you’re learning about the kings. They were not fantastic sacrificial leaders. They were selfish.

They were sinful. Even Solomon, who was the king who expanded Israel’s borders to its farthest extent and created a type of prosperity and influence that Israel has really never seen since, even him, even Solomon, after he died, some of his officials came up to his successor and they said, hey, can you not push on us as hard as your dad did? Can you lay off a bit? The burden Solomon put on us was— it was too much. Can you give us a break?

Solomon’s successor says, no, I’m going to push you even harder, and then the kingdom divides. But the point is what they hoped in for salvation, for peace, security in these kings, it came at a cost. The king robbed from them as much or more than he gave to them. So, Solomon says, if you’re hoping in something other than God to be your stability, it’s going to end up being a net negative for you. A king will kind of work, but there’s a hook in that bait.

And don’t we know that? Haven’t we experienced that? If you are trusting in your career to give you a sense of security, can you ever work long enough hours that you really feel totally secure? Isn’t true peace always a little bit beyond you? Isn’t there always another loose end you need to tie up?

Isn’t there always someone who does better than you and gets what you want? Always? Isn’t there always another performance review that pushes you off balance? And if career isn’t your thing, but if you feel like you need to be in a relationship to feel secure, maybe you feel awkward when you’re not in a relationship, you feel insecure. Incomplete if you don’t have a relationship.

When that day comes that you actually are in a relationship, does it provide what you thought it would? Or are you instantly anxious that you’ll lose it, anxious that you’ll mess it up somehow? Doesn’t true peace remain just out of reach, right? If you’re trusting in your waistline, isn’t there somebody who walks by who always makes you feel bad about yourself even if you attained what you thought you needed? Isn’t that always the case?

And since this text here specifically talks about peace and security through a national leader, let’s talk about that. We are 2 years out from another presidential election, and it might take 2 years to prepare our hearts as Christians for that event. The last election, 2020, some of you may remember, There were moments I thought we were going to rip ourselves apart as a country and even a congregation in some instances. Brotherhood, sisterhood in Christ didn’t seem to count for much if the person was on the other side of the aisle, and I would prefer not to go through that again, which means we need to prepare our hearts. So let me just ask you, if you hung your hopes on the guy who won in 2020, Did you find peace?

Everything working out for you? You feel settled and stable?

And if your guy didn’t win in 2020, just go back to 4 years when the guy who you thought must win won.

Were you pretty calm from 2016 to 2020? Would you say peace reigned in your heart during those 4 years? Did you feel nice and settled while he was in office? Of course not. Of course you didn’t because there is no peace there.

You can’t hang your hope there. You can’t. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be involved. You should be involved. You should be informed.

Of course you should be part of the process. That’s your duty and your privilege. Praise God for democracy and we get to be a part of it, but listen, If you have your ear to the ground all the time listening to what’s happening on the political scene and you believe XYZ must happen or all will be lost, you know, the country will disintegrate, if XYZ is your hope, you will never find hope. It is not there. It will crush you.

It will rob from you. How does your soul feel when you’re all wrapped up in all of that? How is your heart after listening to political coverage hour after hour, night after night? How’s your heart? It’s stealing from you.

It’s making you its slave. Can’t you see that? It’s diminishing you. You are becoming less, not more.

So, that’s what Samuel tells the people. This king you want, this thing other than God where you are hanging your hopes for peace and security, it is going to end up crushing you and robbing from you. That’s what Samuel warns.

But then what do the people say? Studying this text is just devastating. Because Samuel has outlined exactly what would happen if they had a king. And then the people say, we don’t care. We want a king anyway.

Verse 19, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, no, there shall be a king over us. They doubled down. They couldn’t let go of it. They were asking God for it, essentially, by asking Samuel. Even though the king would crush them and rob from them, they demand to have one.

They plead with God, essentially, to give them the thing that will crush them. And this is why this passage is so devastating to read. It’s like they were addicts. If you go back to the thing that emptied you in hopes that it will fill you, You’re an addict.

If you know the thing is robbing from you but you still go back to it, you’re an addict. They were addicts. Have you watched someone make those kind of decisions? Maybe it was someone going back to a relationship that was hurting them, or maybe it was actually a substance addiction, and every time they use more, they run themselves further and further into the ground. Have you seen someone do that?

It’s heartbreaking to watch because it’s so obviously killing them, but they keep going back for more.

But here’s the thing, do we not see that we’re the same, that we are the same? Because what is the thing in our hearts that we believe we must have or all will be lost, that thing that we’re totally consumed trying to get? But the more that we pursue it, the more empty we become. What is that thing? Career, relationship, status, recognition, approval, promotion, comfort, sports championship, political victory.

How many times have those failed to fill us? How tired are we of pursuing them? How many compromises have we made in order to try to secure them? How many things have we done that we said we would never do in order to attain them? How many people have we hurt in service to our king?

If career is our king, we’ll be tempted to fudge our resume. We’ll cross ethical lines to get a promotion. If relationship is our king, we’ll be tempted to go along with whatever our date desires, no matter if it involves breaking promises that we made to ourselves or to God. If comfort is our king, we’ll believe that we need more and more extravagance, likely at the cost of being generous to others. If political victory is our king, we’ll burn relationships with people from the other side of the aisle.

We will do anything for our king, and yet we will never be whole.

Those kings demand more and more and more, but they never deliver.

But if it really is our king, just like an addict, we will continue to pursue it. We will continue to go back. We will act as if it is the answer that we need. It’s Proverbs 26:11, as a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. We’ll even pray for it.

We’ll ask God for the vomit. Like the Israelites, we ask God to give it to us over and over and over again. Now, here’s the question. If we continue to ask God for something that will never satisfy us, what do you think he’ll say? What would you want him to say?

If getting the thing we’re asking for will ultimately disappoint us, should he grant it? Would you want him to?

We may assume that He wouldn’t, that He would spare us that, but that is not what happens in this passage. It is a little shocking when the people say they want someone other than God to be their king, God says, okay, and gives them one. It is like, hey, God, we want to place our ultimate hope in someone other than You, so can You go ahead and give us that thing? They’re asking God if they could be idolatrous, and God says, okay. He gives them a king.

It’s terrifying God would do that. It’s terrifying God would grant our idolatry, that God would grant us that much free will. So, warning, if God gives us the deepest longing of our hearts that isn’t Him, if He does grant that request, it may not be the blessing that we think it is, that promotion, that relationship, that political leader, that good doctor’s report, that sports victory. Sure, it sparkles for a minute, but if it is our ultimate hope, that’s okay to enjoy all of those things. Great, those gifts, enjoy them.

But if it is our ultimate hope where we are really hanging our peace and security, and without it we can’t have peace and security, if it is our ultimate hope, there is death in that cup. It won’t deliver. It will disappoint. A much better prayer would be, God, please only give me this thing if it’ll give me more of you. And if getting this thing will diminish my hope in you, or if it will diminish my ability to show you to others, to be a light for you, then I don’t want it.

Don’t give it to me. That would be a better prayer. But that is not what Israel prayed. Instead, they wanted the thing that would erode their peace and security. That’s the problem with a king.

It’s hurting us. We believe it’ll be liberation, but really, we only become further enslaved. Which is why we need the true King.

There is a King who gives instead of takes, who frees instead of enslaves, who comes for us and liberates us even though we have rejected Him. And more than that, there is a King who will break the attachment we have for our false kings, who will change the very thing that we hope in, That’s really the biggest battle that we need Him to fight for us because we love and we continue to serve these false kings even after they have hurt us. We have deep attachments to them. It’s hard to get free. We need help, all of us, Christian or not.

Even if we know it’s a dead end to look for peace and security in a relationship or a career or someone’s approval, even if we know that, it’s hard to stop hoping in it. If the promotion we pined over for months ends up going to someone else and we feel worthless, it’s hard to stop feeling worthless. It’s hard. Even if we tell ourselves, I shouldn’t have been so wrapped up in getting this thing, it’s hard not to be wrapped up in it. If the pathology report is terrifying, it’s hard to find peace.

It’s hard. Our hearts really do cling to anything other than God for peace and security, even though we know we shouldn’t hope in them. It is hard to stop hoping in them. It is hard to let go. We are trapped in a sense.

The king that we have chosen to serve has captured us and we can’t get free. We are addicts who can’t get out of the cycle, so we need a king who can change what we hope in. We need a King who will overpower our hearts so that we are no longer bound to these false hopes that have enslaved us. We need a King who, even though we have asked Him to provide us with a different king, we need Him not to listen to our prayer and come be our King anyway.

Like Israel, they weren’t asking for God, they were specifically asking for not God. They had rejected God, which blew up in their face, of course. So, now what did they need? They needed a king who would liberate even though He had been rejected by the ones He came to save. They needed a king who, though they didn’t seek Him, He would seek them.

That is what we need too. God promises to be such a king. Isaiah 60:61, God says, there will come a time when I will break all the chains. I will set up a good and majestic rule, really kind of in spite of you. I’m going to do it anyway.

And then when Jesus shows up, He says He is that liberator. The true King is Jesus, of course. Jesus publicly reads Scripture in Luke 4. He quotes Isaiah and says He is the one who is going to bring liberty to the captives. He is going to set free those who are oppressed.

He is going to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He is going to proclaim favor really to those who didn’t earn it. He is going to set those free who were bound by their own choices. Jesus is the one who will break our cycles of addiction. He will liberate our hearts from our voluntary oppression.

He is the King that the more you return to Him, the more you will have.

His yoke is easy, His burden is light. Everything that we think is a restriction with Him is really salvation, and I pray you can see Him for who He is. I pray He will work in your heart today in such a way that you will place your ultimate hope in Him. I pray you’ll have peace and security simply because you belong to Him. Period.

If He was willing to pay your debt on the cross, then you can trust Him with whatever else He brings into your life, whether it’s pleasant or painful. He’s always only for you. Every other king will take. Every other king will take. Jesus gives.

Every other king says, give your life to advance mine. Jesus says, I will give my life to advance yours. Every other king makes you a slave, but Jesus becomes a slave for you on the cross, paying what you owe to set you free. Jesus is the only one who liberates. Jesus is the one to whom all the other kings and even all the other leaders of the world point, because where they fall short, Jesus doesn’t.

Where they empty, Jesus fills.

He can do that for you. You’re going to place your hope in something anyway. You are going to serve something no matter what. So you may as well serve the only one who first served you. By giving His entire life to save yours.

Look to Him and trust in Him. Let’s pray. Father, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the good King. Thank You that You come and save us even though many times we have rejected You in our lives, Lord.

We pray that we would all look at You today as sweet and salvation That you would bind our wandering hearts to you, Lord, that you would bring us up out of the oppressions that we have chosen for ourselves and that you would set us free. Lord, thank you for never giving up on us. Thank you for never leaving us, for never forsaking us, even though we often forsake you.

Please continue to do so, Lord. We need it, every single one of us. We pray those things in Jesus’ name. Amen.