President Bush gave his final State of the Union address this past week. Coming the week before Super Tuesday as it did, it was quite uneventful. I voted for Bush twice and though I don’t dislike the man, I don’t think anyone believes he will go down in history as the greatest president. Regardless of your opinion of George Bush, imagine if his State of the Union had sounded like that of Samuel’s.

Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. ^2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. ^3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these, I will make it right.”

What do you think—could President Bush pass such a rigorous examination? I doubt he has ever literally taken an ox or a donkey, but you get the point. But Samuel did pass this test. The next two verses make this clear.

^4 “You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”

^5 Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”

“He is witness,” they said.

Notice what Samuel was claiming. He said…

Whose ox have I taken?

Whose donkey have I taken?

What does this remind you of? Samuel is no doubt referring back to the consequences of asking for a king. Remember he told them that a king would take their cattle and their donkeys, among other things. The new king would take and take and take from them. Saul, Israel’s new king, had just rescued Israel from the invading Ammonites. After this great victory they reaffirmed Saul as their king. In effect, this was the day of King Saul’s inauguration. And on this most auspicious day, Samuel declared his innocence and the integrity of his leadership by in effect saying, “You have your new king who will take from you, but I never took anything from you. I am innocent.”

It’s not only President Bush who could not pass this test of integrity, but no modern politician could pass this test. In fact, even out of a list of the greatest leaders in the Bible, Samuel may be one of the few who could pass this test. On this very day, Saul was riding high off of his military victory, but he would not pass this test. Most of his life Saul was guilty of taking, cheating and oppressing. David, who will come onto the scene shortly, did not pass this test. Overall he lived a life of integrity, but he had his moments of taking, cheating and oppressing.

Samuel is the model for finishing strong. We must not make the mistake of saying that Samuel lived a sinless life, for only Christ did that, but he was obviously innocent of these public sins against the people. What habits do you have in your life that will help you to finish strong? What are you doing now that will help you grow to maturity to the last day of your life? Do you realize that every Christian starts strong? As Jesus said, unless the seed of the gospel is stolen away by the devil, it takes root and pushes its way through the ground and becomes a sprout. This is what my conversion was like. I was converted when I was 16 years old. I did not wake up the day after my conversion like from a bad dream and say to myself, “Man, what did you just do, Maurer? That has to be the worst decision of your life!” I certainly did not understand all that happened to me, but I tell you this—I was excited! I started strong. Without parents or friends to guide me, I found my own church, joined the choir, attended Bible studies and generally got off to a good start. All Christians start off this way. All Christians begin with a bang, but far too many of them end with a dull thud. They don’t finish strong.

I will ask the question again. What habits do you have in your life that will help you to finish strong? If you don’t plan to finish strong, you not only won’t finish strong, you may not even finish at all.

There was a young boy with the nickname of Soso who had a good start. He was schooled with a religious education and after graduating at the top of his class, he received a scholarship to attend seminary to become a priest. While at seminary he joined the choir and was such an accomplished singer, he was able to supplement his income by singing at weddings. In addition to his singing ability, Soso was also a gifted poet. But while he was in seminary the direction of his life changed radically. The little boy who sang Christian hymns in the choir later became Joseph Stalin—president of the Soviet Union and a man responsible for the deaths of approximately 30 million people.  Listen to how his daughter described the moment of his death. "He suddenly opened his eyes and cast a glance over everyone in the room. It was a terrible glance. Then something incomprehensible and awesome happened. He suddenly lifted his left hand as though he were pointing to something above and bringing down a curse upon all of us. The next moment after a final effort the spirit wrenched itself free of the flesh."[1]

At least by outward appearances, Joseph Stalin had a good start, but it’s a gross understatement to say that he did not finish well. I am not suggesting that we have any future Stalins in our church body, but I am saying that good beginnings count for very little. Every Christian has a good start, but few finish well. Samuel finished well and he did it in the midst of a faithless, idol worshipping nation of people. During his farewell speech, Samuel recounted the previous 450 years of Israel’s history.

^6 Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt. ^7 Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.

^8 “After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

^9 “But they forgot the Lord their God.

It is easy to see the pattern of Israel’s unfaithfulness.

· They cried to the Lord for help (v. 8)

· The Lord sent help (v. 8)

· They forgot the Lord (v. 9)

This is how Samuel summarized 450 years of history. When you read from Exodus through the book of Judges, you see this exact same pattern repeated again and again. But Samuel was not recounting this history merely to point out the unfaithfulness of the Israelites, but rather to emphasize the faithfulness of the Lord. After the people declared that Samuel was innocent of wrongdoing, he addressed the crowd. Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.

I love the way this is worded. Samuel begins with a confrontation—“I am going to confront you.” If I stood up to preach and said to you, “Alright, everyone, get ready, because I am going to confront you,” what would you expect that I was about to tell you? You would naturally think that I was going to confront you with some massive sin. The normal sense of confrontation happens when we tell another person that they are wrong. But this was not Samuel’s purpose. He said, “I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.” The confrontation that Samuel had in mind was not the faithlessness of the people but the faithfulness of God. Yes, the Israelites had sinned in asking for a king. Samuel makes that clear in verse seventeen. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king. They really messed things up. As I hope I have made clear the past few weeks, their selfish demand for a king was a major turning point in their history. It wasn’t the end, but it was the beginning of the end. Nevertheless, Samuel’s primary goal was to confront the people with the greatness of God.

Herein lies a valuable secret for finishing strong—we need to continually confront one another with the greatness and glory of God. This is my chief desire as I bring messages to you every week. Sometimes sin needs to be addressed. Usually the story line needs to be understood, but fundamentally my goal is to confront you with the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ. We did this two weeks ago when we talked about the idols of our heart. We need to name and repent of these idols, but it does not good if all we do is focus on the idols. If we confront one another with the glory and majesty of God, the idols will begin to lose their power and hold over us. As God increases, the power of sin and temptation will decrease.

If we can do this for ourselves and for one another, we will finish strong. Why do we read our Bibles? When you sit down to read your bible, you are confronting yourself with evidence of the glory of God. What do you do when another person needs encouragement? In reality what you do is to confront that person with evidence of the glory of God. Of course you don’t say it quite like that. Imagine if a friend says to you, “Hey Joe, I gotta tell you. I’ve really been struggling at work lately.” I do not recommend that you respond by saying, “Gird your loins man, and stand firm, because I am going to confront you with evidence of the glory of the Lord!!” But instead we listen carefully and attempt to encourage them with evidence of God’s glory and faithfulness. What else can you do? If we were men and women without any hope in the world, we could say something like, “Yeah, work is a bummer, isn’t it,” or, Hang in there, I’m sure it will get better.” But we have hope and we literally are sitting upon a priceless treasure of evidence for the glory of God. So we encourage one another by listening—really listening. Not just a “nod-your-head-up-and-down-pretend-I’m-listening,” but genuine, compassionate listening. Listen to the other person as if his or her life depended upon you listening.

I was able to do this at Christmas with a friend who does not know the Lord. I encouraged her to read the birth of Jesus from the first two chapters of Luke. Then in a later email, I wrote this. “After we spoke on the phone, I prayed for you. I prayed that the Lord would make his word clear and true for you, and that he would sustain you in your time of trial. I continue that prayer.” Listen to others and gently confront them with evidence of the glory and faithfulness of God. What else can you do with a person who has rejected the gospel their entire life? Present the truth in love and pray for them. God must do the rest.

After Samuel confronted the people with evidence of God’s faithfulness, there is no mention of a response on their part. They were confronted with the evidence, but were unmoved by it. Samuel seemed to up and ante by what happened next.

“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! ^17 Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”

^18 Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.

^19 The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

^20 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ^21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. ^22 For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.

Samuel confronted the people with evidence of the glory of God and then he confronted them with his raw power through a miracle of nature—the sudden onset of thunder and rain. This was to show their great sin in asking for a king. Samuel wanted them to feel the full force of this grave sin of theirs. He laid it on heavy until they cried out for the Lord to spare their lives. This was no ordinary admission of sin. This was not your average confession. The people experienced a trembling fear of the Lord. They trembled and cried in the presence of God’s holiness and power.

But then an amazing thing happens. At a point like this you might expect the storm to consume the people. The people knew their history and they were well aware that when the righteous anger of the Lord broke out, sometimes people were swallowed up by the earth; sometimes fire would consume them; sometimes a plague would destroy them. But not on this day. On this day, in the midst of their great sin, the people received mercy from the Lord. Verse twenty is an amazing verse. ^20 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil. How can these two phrases exist back to back? How can they be guilty of such a great evil but Samuel encourages them to not be afraid?

The answer comes at verse 22. For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. The people were spared the wrath of the Lord for the sake of his name. Throughout Scripture, the “name” of the Lord is synonymous with his entire character and reputation. Above all else, God is chiefly concerned with his own reputation. Everything that he does is done for the sake of his name, his glory and his fame. And on this day, like so many in Israel’s past, God chose to put his reputation on display by offering the incredible gift of mercy. Just as his holiness makes God look good, so does his mercy. Once again we are confronted with the glory and majesty of God, especially shown by his tender mercy. Mercy makes God look good.

But some of you might be troubled with the idea that God does everything for the sake of his name. Let me ask you this. What would the Grand Canyon say if it could talk? It would probably say something like this. “Everyone, look at me! Gaze upon my beauty! Paint beautiful pictures of me. Take stunning photographs of me. Declare my beauty to all of your friends.” The same would be true if Angel Falls in Venezuela, the highest waterfall in the world, could talk. It might say, “Now that you have seen me, whenever you speak of beauty for the remainder of your life, always tell others about me.” If these breathtaking wonders of creation could talk like this, would we fault them for being conceited? Could we charge them with pride and egomania? No, because we would all agree with the singing of their own praises. We should not struggle then, when God sings his own praises and seeks the glory of his name above all else. It is not pride or ego that makes God seek his own glory, because his glory is the highest good.

So then, this is how we finish strong. We need to be confronted with the glory and majesty of God until God becomes our greatest treasure. And you see, the overflow of God’s glory is for our good, because among other thing, we get mercy. Like the Israelites, we have done all this evil, yet God says to us, “do not be afraid.” Fear not because God is rich in mercy. That means no matter what you did this week, you can start with a clean slate, free of sin and blame. When God wipes away our sin through the blood of Christ, how much sin is left? Your head tells you that not a trace of sin is left, but your heart still wants to carry the load of sin. Receive God’s mercy again, and then freely give it away to others. This is why we lack mercy and patience with others, because we do fully experience the mercy flowing into our lives. If we could truly feel that mercy, I believe we would never be impatient again. If we could experience this mercy, we would never hold a grudge or bitter feeling ever again.

Rich Maurer

February 3, 2008