As a nation, we just finished the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. We don’t yet know who will be the next president, but we are closer than we were two weeks ago. Are you familiar with how a caucus works? The Iowa caucus was not one caucus, but in reality 1,783 smaller caucuses. It is a strange and complicated beast that entails much more than a simple vote. The participants are much more involved in the decision making process as compared to a simple primary.
Three thousand years ago there was a type of political caucus in the city of Ramah in Israel. The leaders of the nation gathered together to debate the merits, not of the next judge or the next king, but of the next political system. In a single verse we get a picture of what this Israelite caucus looked like. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” Do you recall what type of government the Israelites had up to this time? They were living under a theocratic rule, or a theocracy. Theo=God and cratic=rule; therefore, God’s rule. This was the theocracy set up by the Lord under Moses. The Torah explained in great detail the requirements of this government under Yahweh. The Lord was their king and he ruled with justice and mercy through the men and women he appointed. But now the people assembled and said to their leader Samuel, “We want a king!” What kind of government would a king bring them? With a king in power, Israel would become a monarchy ruled by one person, namely the king. This is why I said this was no simple vote—it was a major transition in moving from a theocracy to a monarchy.
Let me further explain how much of a radical shift this was in the history of Israel. From Abraham to Joseph was the time of the patriarchs—approximately 350 years. From Joseph to Moses was 400 years of Egyptian captivity. Moses appeared about 1400 BC, freed the nation from slavery, initiated the Law and theocracy during the time of the judges. Now, even though theocracy became formalized under Moses, as God’s chosen people, ever since Abraham was called to this new land, Israel had always been a theocracy. Therefore, during the first 1,100 years of their existence, Israel only had one ruler over them, and that was the Lord. Illustrated another way, their first 350 years was covered by a single book of the Bible, Genesis. The next 400 years is covered by the next six books of the Bible, and is actually crammed into the very end of those 400 years. The next 350 years is covered in only two books, Judges and Ruth. But when you get to the last 450 years of the kings, it took no less than 16 books of the Old Testament to cover this phase of Israel’s history.
Moreover, what happened during those 450 years of monarchy? It marked the beginning of the end of the nation of Israel. The days of the kings was a slow, painful decline into idolatry and apostasy from which Israel would never recover. Eleven hundred years of theocracy followed by 450 years of monarchy, all of which turned on single verse in this chapter: We want a king! Verse five of chapter eight is not the end of the nation of Israel, but it is the beginning of the end.
The next two questions I want to answer is, why was having a king such a bad thing, and second, what does this have to do with us today?
The first question: why was having a king over Israel such a bad thing? The short answer is given in verse six. But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. Transitioning from a theocracy to a monarchy was not just a matter of politics, but it was a much deeper matter of the heart. Their request for a king was an outright rejection of God. When they said, “We want a king,” in effect they were saying, “We want things to go our own way…we want to be calling the shots….we think we know what is best for us.”
Have you ever said something similar to God before? Perhaps you haven’t because we are a too polite to come out and say to God, “I am rejecting you because my way is the best way.” Only the most arrogant of people would be so bold as to be that direct. Even the Israelites weren’t that obvious. They did not approach Samuel and tell him, “Look, Samuel, this Yahweh as the King of Kings thing, it’s just not working out for us. We think the Lord Almighty is headed in the wrong direction. As of today, the Sovereign Lord is being demoted to god (little “g”) second class. Sure, we’ll let him have his say from time to time, but from this day forward, we are numero uno. Ya got that Sam.” Notice this—they did not say this, but their request for a king was exactly the same level of rejection of God’s lordship over their life. Their polite request for a king was the same thing as an outright rejection of God.
In the same way, we are too polite and “too Christian” to tell God to just go away. That would be scandalous. And besides, we don’t like to imagine that we are rejecting God. But to reject God in one area is to reject him in all areas.
Bradey is now a Marine private, second class, starting his MP schooling. How likely is it that Bradey will be able to pick and choose which orders he would like to obey? Let’s be generous and say that Bradey plans to obey 90% of his orders. The average Christian probably doesn’t obey 90% of God’s commands, right, so if Bradey is doing 90%, that’s pretty good. How long will he last in the Marines at the 90% obedience level? Would it be fair to say that a 90% Marine is no Marine at all? We can’t make an exact comparison to the Christian life, because our life as Christians is a life-long process. There is no such person as a 100% Christian. However, if we outright reject a part of God’s kingly rule over our lives, then it is the same thing as rejecting God as king. This is easily illustrated with a simple question. What are you not willing to do to obey God? Are you willing to forgive that person who hurt you? If not, you are in rebellion. Are you willing to ask forgiveness of the person that you hurt? If God asked you to share the gospel with a co-worker would you do it? If God asked you to lay down your rights in your marriage, would you do it? Are you willing to actively and consistently train your children in the fear and instruction of the Lord?
These are just a small sampling of the things that God requires of us, and if we aren’t doing them, there can only be two reasons why? Either we honestly don’t know how to do them, or else we are in rebellion. Guess what? God does ask every husband and every wife to lay down their rights before their spouse. That is a fundamental part of what it means for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and for wives to submit o their husbands as to the Lord. So if we are not routinely laying down our rights in our marriage, we are in rebellion. We may think it is a small thing, a quiet, personal issue, but in reality it is the very worst kind of rebellion—a quiet rebellion. It’s not the blatant rebellion of a raging atheist who shakes his or her fist at God, but the quiet rebellion of a church-going, hymn-singing—maybe even Bible-reading Christian—who quietly shakes their fist at God so that no one else in the church can see their rebellion. They may have even hidden their rebellion from themselves. But it’s time to call things as they are—disobedience is nothing less than all out war on God’s authority. Disobedience is rebellion.
(2. Going our own way looks like freedom, but it is slavery…)
Samuel was the leader of his people and because he had the heart of a shepherd, he tried his best to talk the people out of rejecting God by choosing a king. Listen to his dire warning. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use.
Here is a summary of Samuel’s warning:
· He will take your sons
· He will take your daughters
· He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves
· He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage
· He will take your menservants and maidservants
· He will take the best of your cattle and donkeys
· He will take a tenth of your flocks
What happens when more and more of what you have is taken away? As Samuel said, eventually, you yourselves will become his slaves. If more and more of my possessions and my freedoms are taken away, eventually I will become a slave to whoever owns most of my things. Here is what happened to the Israelites. What they were demanding was freedom from God. They rejected God’s lordship and demanded a king. They thought they were asking for more freedom, but the reality was they were enslaving themselves. Their freedom was a mere illusion for their own bondage.
How true this is today. Those who want freedom from God’s interference think they are achieving freedom when they say, “Give me what I want.” But their freedom is just an illusion because they are actually enslaved. It is easily illustrated by the so-called “big three” sins—money, sex and power. If you reject God’s rule in these areas you believe that you are liberated and free. Isn’t that what the world teaches us—to throw off our religious straight jacket and seek the freedom that is ours to grasp? It’s an illusion. It’s a trap. The freedom is nothing but more slavery to whatever it is you are pursuing. If you pursue sex, you become a slave to sex. If you pursue power, you become a slave to power.
This can be easily applied to the home as well. Let’s say you are a young person struggling with obedience and respect to your parents. Let’s see, that would include everyone here from 2-18 years old, right? Every child struggles sometimes with obedience and respect. When you say to your parents, “Give me what I want,” you may think you are seeking freedom from their rules but you are actually enslaving yourself to your selfish pursuits. But then, how many children are brave enough to look their parents in the eye and demand: “Give me what I want”? We are too polite—and too smart—for that. You know that tactic won’t get you anywhere, so children develop a different strategy. Children and teens, listen carefully—were you aware that you are military geniuses? When it comes to the epic battle between parents and children, all kids are naturally skilled at winning battles. They know how to get what they want. If the great generals of old, like Napoleon Bonaparte or Douglas MacArthur, could have harnessed the military genius of the average five year old, they would never have lost a single battle. You see what children do is this: instead of facing the enemy in direct battle, they resort to a quiet rebellion. Moping around the house; complaining all day, not listening the first time their parents ask them to do something—all of these are brilliant tactical maneuvers intended to slowly win the battle. This is a quiet rebellion that kids believe will lead to more freedom in their lives. Let me say it again: your freedom is an illusion. If you keep it up, you will soon be a slave to whatever it is you seek. Your quiet rebellion will lead you to a prison of your own making.
Adults, we know this is true for us as well. Our quiet rebellion—call it a polite rebellion—looks like freedom, but our selfish choices will lead us into a powerful bondage. Isn’t this what sin is? Sin is bondage that we have imprisoned ourselves in.
It’s bad enough that we lock ourselves in our own prison, but here comes the really terrifying part. Look what happened to the Israelites in verse eighteen. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
This has to be one of the most terrifying verses in the Bible: The Lord will not answer you. Our lives as Christians are built upon the fact that God is a God who hears. We assume that when we get into trouble and we cry out to God, in his mercy and compassion, God will hear us and answer us. God is a God who hears and answers prayer, but when we say to the Lord, “Give me what I want,” he just says, “OK, here you go.” We get what we want, we are enslaved by this thing we asked for, but worst of all, the Lord will not answer us. He lets us live with bondage of our poor choices. He allows us to live with the natural consequences of our selfish demands. He gives us what we want, and then we may have to live with that for the rest of our lives.
There is a simple solution to this, and it’s found in verse five. The people said to Samuel, “now appoint a king to lead us.” In other words: Give us a king! But the king that we need is not a human king who will place us in bondage, but THE KING who will set us free from bondage. The solution to our quiet rebellion is to exclaim, “Give us THE KING!” The solution is to cry out in repentance to the only one who can truly rescue us. Now you may still have to bear the natural consequences of your choices, whatever they may be. If you demanded something and God gave it to you, you may be stuck with it. The Lord may not answer you to remove that consequence—but he will forgive. He will release you from the bondage of your sin.
Rich Maurer
December 13, 2007