Christ Church

Conquest in Exile
Christ Church on January 23, 2022
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State of the Church 2020

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Introduction

The Lord has been blessing our congregation in many striking ways. We have been growing in remarkable ways, and an essential part of this growth entails the inevitable growing pains. Quite a few of you just moved to our community within the last year, and it may seem to you that you have jumped into the middle of a conversation that has been going on for forty years. But some of you newcomers might be puzzled over something else. Where you came from felt like a wilderness to you, and so you would devour all kinds of things that would come out of Moscow, and then when you arrived here, you found yourself more checked out about what is going on than some of the people who have lived here for years. Life is funny.

The Text

“And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” (1 Sam. 7:9–12).

Summary of the Text

On the threshold of battle, the prophet Samuel interceded on behalf of Israel, with a sacrifice and intense prayer, and the Lord heard him (v. 9). In the very moment of offering up the ascension offering, or whole burnt offering, the Philistines approached the Israelites to do battle (v. 10). But the Lord responded from heaven with loud thunder, so much so that the Philistines were thrown into confusion and Israel overcame them (v. 11). The men of Israel seized control of the situation and drove the Philistines back as far as place called Beth Car (v. 11). In response, Samuel in his gratitude set up a monument stone, and named it Ebenezer, saying that the Lord had helped them to “this point” (v. 12). The word Ebenezer literally means “stone of help.”

Earlier in the narrative, when the Ark of the Covenant had been captured by the Philistines, they took the ark from the place called Ebenezer to their city of Ashdod. This lost battle was a humiliation to Israel, and an indicator of their idolatrous faithlessness. Twenty years later, Samuel called Israel to return to God with all their hearts (1 Sam. 7:3), which they did. God granted them this victory, which Samuel memorialized, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel (1 Sam. 7:13).

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I’ve come
(Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing)

Our Ebenezer

I would like this message to serve as an introduction for our “new members,” and a reminder for our old timers. Our congregation is alive and thriving, and there were many occasions when it all might have gone otherwise. Thus far the Lord really has helped us. We have no right to still be here.

The Centrality of Worship

We believe that the most important thing that any of us can do in the course of a week is to appear here before the Lord. “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve [worship] God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28–29).

The Interconnectedness of All Things

But worship is not a disconnected important thing, like a diamond in a load of driveway gravel. Rather it is central and connected to absolutely everything else we do—the way the engine is central to the function of the car. “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:17). We believe that all things in the universe are related to one another, and they are related in Christ. In fact, the only reason why the universe can even be a universe is because of Christ. God is sovereign and therefore Christ is Lord.

Three Governments

Self-government—which is the fruit of regeneration—is foundational to every other form of God-given government. Those three other governments are the government of the family (Gen. 2:18), the government of the church (Eph. 4:11-12), and the government of the state (Rom. 13:1-2). The state is the ministry of justice. The church is the ministry of Word and sacrament. The family is the ministry of health, education, and welfare. Among other things, this means that you and your family all belong here at worship.

Chestertonian Calvinism

We are followers of Christ alone, and so it may seem odd to describe one of the attitudes that we are seeking to cultivate by using the names of two of the Lord’s more notable servants. But that is all that it is—odd. “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). Joy is not just an attitude we have going into the fray. That joy is one of our most formidable weapons.

All of Christ for All of Life

If there is one most noticeable thing that is missing in our lost generation, it is the fact of identity. They have had almost all of their old established (and idolatrous) identities smashed, and now are reduced to making up their own ad hoc identities as they go along. To this we answer, not with “traditional values,” but rather with the message of the crucified and risen Christ.

He is the risen one, and therefore the Lord of all. He is Lord extensively, and He is Lord intensively. There is therefore nothing in this cosmos that He did not extend His scepter over. Our task is to fan out and claim it.

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1 Samuel 16:1-13

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The Text

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Introduction

Ecclesiastes tells us in a number of different ways that ending well matters. in fact the implication running through the book is that starting well is easy; ending well is much more of a challenge: “The end of a matter is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

1 Samuel 16 is a transition point in the history of Israel. Samuel’s life and ministry is coming to an end and David’s kingship and the Davidic kingdom is just beginning. 1 Samuel 16 is an ideal lens to look closely at the end of a matter (Samuel’s life and ministry) and the beginning of a matter (David and his rule).

The End of a Matter (Samuel)

1 Samuel 16 is the last recorded event in Samuel’s life and ministry before his death in 1 Samuel 25:1 (aside a brief appearance in ch.19).

The way 1 Samuel 16 is carefully crafted in the context of all that has gone before suggests that it serves as a subtle rebuke/humbling of Samuel, one that has been building throughout the narrative.

1 Sam. 2:18-26

1 Sam. 3:2ff

1 Sam. 9:6-20

The Beginning of a Matter (David)

v.9 David is the ‘youngest’ of Jesse’s eight sons and has been left watching the sheep while Jesse and his sons attend the sacrifice arranged by Samuel

What about 1 Chron 2:15?

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The David Chronicles 32: A Study in Failure

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Introduction

As 1 Samuel comes to a close, the life of Saul comes to a miserable end. As we will see, the manner of his death was a fitting picture of the way he had lived his life throughout the course of his reign. His reign was a long pattern of self-destruction, and in the end, Saul took his own life—the final act of self-destruction. He died the way he had lived, destroying himself.

The Text

“Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. . .” (1 Sam. 31:1-13).

Summary of the Text

The chapter begins with the Philistines attacking, and they routed the men of Israel. As they fled from the Philistines, the carnage took place on the mountain Gilboa (v. 1). The Philistines were in hard pursuit of Saul and his three sons, and they successfully killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua (v. 2). In the next verse, the battle was going hard against Saul, and he was badly wounded by the Philistine archers (v. 3). The language here indicates an ongoing battle, which means it was not an utter rout. His wounds apparently made it impossible for him to continue the fight. Saul then told his armor-bearer to kill him, to keep the Philistines from abusing him. The armor-bearer refused, and so Saul fell on a sword, taking his own life (v. 4). When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he followed him, doing the same thing (v. 5). And so Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and a number of other men with him, all died on the same day (v. 6). The men on the other side of the Jordan (not very many miles away), when they saw that the battle had gone badly for them, evacuated their cities, which the Philistines then occupied (v. 7). The Philistines came around the next day to strip the dead, and it was then that they identified Saul and his three sons (v. 8). They decapitated Saul, stripped his armor, and sent the armor to their homeland in triumph (v. 9). They displayed his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth—similar to how the Israelites kept Goliath’s sword at the house of the Lord. Saul’s body was then hung on the wall of Beth-shan (v. 10). When the men of Jabesh-gilead heard what had happened, their valiant men went there and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons, brought them back and burned them (vv. 11-12). After that, they took the remaining bones, buried them under a tamarisk tree, and fasted for seven days (v. 13).

We should say a quick word here about the story of the Amalekite at the beginning of 2 Samuel who tried to ingratiate himself with David by falsely claiming to have killed Saul. The story was false (conflicting with this narrative), and David convicted him on his own terms. We should rather trust the author of 1 Samuel than a self- aggrandizing (and not very smart) Amalekite.

Burial and Cremation

The customary biblical approach to the dead is that of burial. The customary pagan approach is that of burning the body in cremation. The difference has to do with making a good testimony about the hope of resurrection, and not because it is somehow harder for God to raise someone who has been burned than one who has been buried. The resurrection is not threatened by any degree of decomposition, however it happens.

For example, Joseph gave instructions about his bones, and he did this because he wanted to make a declaration of his faith (Heb. 11:22). In this passage, the heroic men of Jabesh-gilead burned the bodies of Saul and his sons because wanted to prevent any further dishonor to the bodies. This was the whole point of their mission. Jonathan is not going to be short-changed on the day of resurrection. Later in the story, David has the bones of Saul and Jonathan (and presumably the others) moved from this place to the family tomb (2 Sam. 21:12-14). Among the Israelites, there is one other mention of burning bodies (apart from unique penal or sacrificial situations), and it is found in Amos 6:10, where the concern is apparently to stop the spread of contagious disease. Under ordinary circumstances, though, the biblical pattern for dealing with the bodies of the faithful is through burial—in sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

A Study in Failure

The trajectory of Saul’s life had certainly been one of spiraling failure. He was characterized by his stiff-necked and close-fisted jealousies, and it was by this that he destroyed himself. By the end of his life, it could not be said that the Philistines had killed him—he had done it himself. It could not be said that David had removed him from the throne—he had done it himself. It could not be said that anyone other than Saul was responsible for the disaster of his final days. Saul did all of this by his own hand or, more specifically, by his own devouring envy. His end was decisive—he was struck with arrows, pierced in his belly, had his head cut off, and then he was burned.

He was buried under a tamarisk tree. The last time we saw him there, he was holding a tyrant’s spear in his hand, and lying about David (1 Sam. 22:6).

And yet, despite the fact that Saul fell to his death in this great catastrophe, we see even in this tragic conclusion, the height from which he fell. The men of Jabesh-gilead who retrieved his body were the first Israelites whom Saul had delivered from their enemies (1 Sam. 11:5-11). They were still grateful for what Saul had done in his better days. This is true also of David, who delivers one of the noblest eulogies ever (2 Sam. 1:17ff).

40 Years for Nothing

This book begins with a leader of Israel dying, along with his sons, as the result of a disastrous battle. The book ends the same way. The book begins with the Philistines in the ascendancy, and the book ends in the same way. The book begins with a great Philistine victory in battle, and it ends the same way. And yet, Saul’s appointed mission had been to deliver Israel from the Philistines (1 Sam. 9:16).

Saul did not do what he was commissioned to do. We are devoted to good works that God has commissioned us to do (Eph. 2:8-10), but our lives will go exactly as Saul’s did—unless we trust in the greater David, the Lord Jesus. He is the only one who perfectly fulfilled the mission that was entrusted to Him. Therefore God has highly exalted Him—as He did with David in a type—and this is why we can walk in the good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do.

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