Abusive Leaders and Faithful Shepherds

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Welcome to another week of solid biblical teaching with pastor, author, and apologist, J.D. Greer on Summit Life.

As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. You're joining us at the beginning of a brand new teaching series through the life of David. And today, Pastor J.D. highlights the radical difference between God's faithful shepherds and spiritual abusers. Throughout history and throughout the Bible, it is tragically common to find spiritual leaders who exploit and wound others. In the person of Jesus, we find a different kind of shepherd, faithful, gentle, safe, and true. He came not to wound, but to be wounded for us.

And thankfully, by his wounds, we're healed. So we'll get started here in a moment, but be sure to stick around for an exciting announcement in the middle of today's broadcast. So grab your Bible, turn to 1 Samuel, chapter three, and let's lean in for this important teaching right now. Good morning, everybody.

1 Samuel, chapter three, if you got your Bibles with you this weekend. One of the things that I love to do around the 4th of July is to watch patriotic movies. Anybody else? And a really good one that came out during COVID was called The Greyhound, starring Tom Hanks, which I think only happened because Nicolas Cage turned down the role. But the movie is based on the events now known as the battle for the Atlantic. The events in the movie were told originally in an incredible little book, if you've never read it, the 1955 novel called The Good Shepherd. The actual characters in the movie and in the book are fictional, but they accurately depict, historians say, the actions of several brave commanders whose heroism saved the day in that battle. In the movie, one of the commanders, Captain Krauss, played by Tom Hanks, who again is kind of a composite of different commanders that were doing things during that battle. Captain Krauss is charged with escorting a handful of allied ships across the Atlantic Ocean. Day and night, they are hounded by German submarines, sometimes getting so close to them that the submarines and the ships run into each other. Even when they aren't under direct attack, the terror of anticipation hangs over them. Captain Krauss's destroyers are the first wall of defense, the ones that the enemy submarines first target so that they can get at the rest of the convoy. The thing that is probably most remarkable in the movie is how through it all, Captain Krauss and those other commanders will not leave the convoy. They have multiple chances to save their own skin, to leave the convoy and flee for their lives.

In fact, in ways that most of us would not have blamed them to do. But even for those commanders, even if it means that they will die in the Atlantic, they are determined that they are going to see their commission safely through to the other side. For several days, Captain Krauss literally gets no sleep. The final scene of the movie is him lying down only after all those under his command are finally safe. Or maybe he dies tragically in a torpedo attack somewhere in the North Atlantic. I don't wanna spoil it for you, okay?

You're gonna have to watch it to find out. There's something inspiring about that. The reason I share it, there's something inspiring about leaders like that. Somebody, some man, some woman who puts his or her people's interest above their own.

Someone who is faithful all the way to the end, even if it's at great personal cost to themselves. And I share that because that is what is at play here in 1 Samuel 3. 1 Samuel 3 is about the kind of leader that Israel longs for, that we long for, and the kind of leader that we need. The book of 1 Samuel, if you recall, opens with Israel seeking a king. God was supposed to have been their primary king, of course. God was supposed to have been their primary protector, their provider. But they didn't trust God and they wanted an earthly king in his place. And so in the opening 16 chapters of 1 Samuel, what God does is he sets up a contrast for them between the king that they think they want and the king that they actually need. In the story of Hannah, which we looked at the first week, God showed them that an earthly king could never be their primary source of identity, security, and happiness.

Hannah, we saw, sought these things in a son. Israel sought those things in a king. We seek it today, I explained, through things like money, status, good looks, a great body, a healthy family, many other things that we think will give to us a sense of identity that distinguishes us from others. Security, knowing that the future's gonna be okay. Happiness, enjoyment in the present. We seek those things, like Hannah sought it in a son and Israel sought it in a king.

We seek a number of things to give us on those three things, identity, security, and happiness. And what God shows them is that they're found in God alone. Today, the focus is on the kind of shepherd that God wants to provide for his people.

What you're gonna see in this chapter is the difference between a good shepherd and a bad one. Look at verse three, chapter three, if you got your Bible open, here's how it goes. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. Eli who was the high priest during this time. You remember that Samuel was Hannah's son who was given to her miraculously in answer to prayer. She had dedicated him to the temple by means of what we call a Nazarite vow, which basically meant that she gave Samuel up for adoption to the temple.

He grew up there at the temple under the direction of Eli, the high priest. Now it continues, verse one, and the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no frequent vision.

At that time, Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The writer, follow this, the writer is setting up that this is a very dark time spiritually in Israel. The word of the Lord was rare.

There were not many visions at all. He points out the thing about Eli's eyes growing dim as a kind of metaphor. Just like Eli, the high priest, could scarcely see physically, so Israel can scarcely see spiritually. One cause of this blindness was the decadent state of spiritual leadership in Israel. In fact, he'd explained that at the end of chapter two.

We didn't read this, so let me jump back there for a minute. If you're in chapter three, just go back a few verses to chapter two, verse 22. It says, now Eli was very old and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all of Israel, how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Eli's sons who served underneath Eli, they're in the most significant spiritual leadership positions in Israel after Eli, or they're in line to take over for him when he died. They were sleeping with the female volunteers at the temple. Not only that, if you go back to verse 13 in chapter two, we see that Eli's sons were manipulating the offering. They were basically extorting money from the people and misusing funds that had been intended for temple ministry.

They were using those funds to enrich themselves. And so God says to Eli in verse 29 of chapter two, he says, why then do you, Eli, why do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people, Israel? Y'all, for as long as there has been ministry, there have been leaders who abused those positions of leadership ministry for monetary and even sexual benefit, as you see here with Eli's sons. But what God goes after here is Eli's silence in the face of those things. And so God said to Eli, verse 31 of chapter two, I will cut off your house, Eli, because of your silence. Verse 35, I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, unlike you, who will do according to all that is in my heart and in my mind.

I'm gonna put my heart and my mind into this faithful prophet. In the face of all of this degradation, God, he says, is going to raise up a new leader, a faithful leader, a selfless leader. Question, class, who is he talking about? Who's he talking about? Samuel? How many think he's talking about Samuel? All right, David, how many think he's talking about David?

Everybody's scared to vote. How many think he's talking about Jesus? Congratulations, class. No matter what you said there, they were all correct. He's talking about all three of them.

Talking about all three, you couldn't got that wrong, okay? Which brings us back to chapter three. This was a spiritually dark time in Israel, but verse three, the lamp of God had not gone out yet. Thank God. That means God's presence had not totally left.

There was still literally a glimmer of hope. Samuel was lying down as a young boy in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. The ark of God means Ark of the Covenant, which was a gold box with a couple of carved angels on the top. You know, you've seen Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, right? This golden box was the resting place of the presence of God.

On top of the lid of that box, the high priest would offer a sacrifice once a year on what we call Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for the sins of the people. Samuel slept next to the room where the ark of God was kept, and he laid down next to the candle that burned eternally with God's presence. Talk about an amazing nightlight, am I right? I used to think it would be scary for a little boy to sleep in a big old temple all by himself but sleeping next to a lamp that burns eternally and supernaturally with God's presence, I feel like that would make it better, right? I mean, how many of you sleep with a light on?

Be honest, okay? You're like, I sleep with a little bit of a light on. How many of you are more like cave sleepers, okay? You're like, I'm a cave sleeper.

I used to leave a small little light on, but as I've gotten older and more irritable, I need total darkness. But if you're gonna have a nightlight, if you're gonna have a nightlight, I would say that the presence of God burning eternally, that's a pretty good one. Verse four, then the Lord called Samuel. And Samuel said, here I am and ran to Eli and said, here I am, Eli, for you called me.

But Eli said, I did not call you son, lie down again. Parents, you know what it's like when you wake up in the middle of the night and there are two eyes just staring at you. It totally freaks you out. You kind of jump and scare you and your kids. Usually my kids want some water or to tell me they're scared or something and I say what any good dad would say. I'm like, your mom is right on the other side of this bed.

Okay, so just kidding. Samuel said, hey, Papa Eli, you called me. Eli said, no, I didn't son. I did not call you, go back to bed.

So he went and lay down. Verse six, and the Lord called again Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli a second time and said, here I am, here I am for you called me. But Eli said, boy, what's wrong with you? I did not call.

Translation, you better go back to bed and let me sleep. Don't you be coming here again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. By the way, that doesn't mean that he was still an unbeliever like he didn't know God and he was lost, just that he had not yet become a prophet. You see, there's a kind of knowing the Lord that makes you a Christian and there's a kind of knowing the Lord where you hear from his spirit and walk with his spirit as he directs you in ministry. Some of you know the former, you know the Lord in the salvation sense, but you don't know him in the latter.

And that's what I hope happens to many of you today. Verse eight, and the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And the third time he arose and he went to Eli and he said, here I am because you called me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore, Eli said to Samuel, go lie down and if he calls you again, you shall say speak Lord because your servant hears.

So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Thanks for joining us today for Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. We'll get back to today's teaching in just a moment, but first I promised you an exciting announcement at the beginning of today's broadcast. I'm excited to tell you about our brand new featured resource for all of our financial supporters and gospel partners this next month. It's a Life of David Bible study through, you guessed it, King David's life. There's so many lessons to learn from this man after God's own heart, both encouraging moments as well as some more difficult encounters. It includes eight weeks of in-depth study from key passages in 2 Samuel, along with important insights, thoughtful reflection questions and prayer prompts. It's a perfect companion to this brand new Life of David teaching series that we just began here on the program and where we'll be camping out for the next several weeks. Like all of our resources, we created it specifically to help you grow in your walk with the Lord.

You can get ahold of it with your gift of $35 or more to this ministry by calling us today at 866-335-5220 or by giving online at jdgreer.com. Now let's get back to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor J.D. Verse 10, and the Lord came and stood a fourth time, calling as at the other time, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, speak for your servant hears. Then the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I'm about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. Verse 12, on that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I'm about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew about because his sons were blaspheming me and he did not restrain them. Therefore, I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or by offering forever. Samuel lay until morning and he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli said, what was it that he told you?

Do not hide anything from me. Verse 18, so Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Specifically, Samuel prophesied to Eli that both of his sons would die on the same day and Eli would be left without an heir and that the ark of the covenant would be lost. I'll talk about a tough first sermon to give. My first sermon was given at my home church on a Sunday night when I was 16 years old. It was a terrible sermon, but everybody came up at the end and told me what an amazing job I did.

And my mom and dad took me out afterwards for ice cream. Samuel's first sermon was telling his mentor that both his sons would die on the same day and that the presence of God would be stripped from his ministry. But Samuel faithfully delivered the message setting an important precedent for his future. And that is that he would be faithful to God to relay whatever message God gave to him, no matter how difficult it was. I hope that you will pray for me or for whoever stands in this spot right here, whether it's me or anybody else, because I will tell you every single week I face the temptation to tell you things that you want to hear rather than what you need to hear, to affirm the culture in places that I need to contradict it to tell you things are okay when they're really not okay.

It's not that a course in my message is all negative. My calling, thank God, is to be a dispenser of good news. But see, part of sharing the good news is telling you the truth about the bad news.

And a lot of times people just don't want to hear that. And here's the thing, I like to be popular and I like to be liked and I like for this church to grow. So you need to pray for me because I know what you most need here is not a popular preacher, you need a faithful one.

In fact, your lives depend on it. Verse 18, and he, Eli, said, "'It is the Lord you let him do what seems good to him.'" One positive thing that you got to say about Eli, for all of his failures as a leader, which are substantial, he knows that you don't do yourself any favors by putting your head in the sand and ignoring God's word. And so he says, Samuel, you tell me exactly what God has said, which leads me to the first of five takeaways that I want to glean from this passage.

Number one, you need to put yourself at a place where you can hear hard truth. We'll go ahead and tell you right now, if you read the Bible or you listen to it being taught and you have any humility or the slightest degree of openness, at some point, the word of God is going to make you mad. If it's not, then you're not reading it right because there is nobody for whom the Bible just affirms the way they naturally are.

If what you get from the Bible is a continuous affirmation fest, you are reading it wrong. Let me be clear, sometimes I make people mad because I'm a bonehead and because I say things that are immature or insensitive. And I've had to learn how to say I'm sorry a lot over the years. I'm not talking about when I make you mad because I do something foolish like that. I'm talking about those times where I'm actually being faithful to the scriptures and it upsets you. Sometimes people start lighting me up about something I've said and I'm like, hey, are you mad because you think I'm misinterpreting the Bible? Because your angry letter to me doesn't contain any kind of scripture that's trying to show me why I'm wrong.

I think maybe it's that you just don't like what it says. Sometimes people are like, well, I don't think the Bible is really clear on this issue. And I say, you know, there's a difference in the Bible being unclear and it being unpopular. I mean, unsurprisingly, those places people today find the Bible most unclear just happen to be the places that are least popular in our culture. Oh, God's designed for sex and family. Yeah, it's been clear in the Bible for 2000 years, but suddenly we don't think it's that clear anymore. His complimentary design for gender.

Oh, that's not popular anymore. I bet it's unclear in the Bible. The dangers of Christian nationalism on the one hand or some kind of government dependent socialism on the other or our radical duties toward the poor, our responsibility to protect life from the womb to the tomb, our duty to surrender our cultural preferences when we come into the house of God so that we can pursue diversity in the church, our responsibility to put God first in our finances, our responsibility to make his kingdom the top priority in our family's schedules. Y'all, the Bible is not unclear on any of those things.

They're just unpopular. And there is a difference in the Bible being unclear and unpopular and you shouldn't confuse the two. Sometimes the ambiguity is not in the Bible, it's in your life. So put yourself in a place where the word of God is preached without partiality or without respect to your feelings. And if those who are preaching the word of God do not step on your toes every once in a while, either you're not listening or they're not really preaching. And pray for us, your teachers, to have both clarity and courage. Pray that we're able to separate our opinions from God's word and that we will be bold enough to tell you what God says, regardless of how unfashionable or how unpopular it is.

I need that so much and you need me to be that. Number two, second takeaway. God seeks surrendered vessels, not gifted ones. Every Jewish reader reading this would have recognized immediately that Samuel was second string when it came to ministry. First, he was from the wrong tribe. Priests were supposed to be from the tribe of Levi. You remember, I explained this, there are two ways you could become a priest in Israel. One was to be born to the tribe of Levi. That was the preferred way.

The other was to take a Nazarite vow where basically you renounced membership in your tribe, in your family, and you got adopted into the family of Levi. But that was the second string way. And that was how Samuel entered the ministry. He wasn't first string. He wasn't scholarship.

He was walk-on. In fact, verse 18 and 19 tells Samuel's mom came up once a year to bring him clothes, which means he wasn't even supported by temple dollars like the other young boys training for the priesthood would have been. In other words, he wasn't even on scholarship. He's basically an unpaid intern. And yet he's the one that God chooses to make the premier prophet and priest in Israel.

Why? Because God seeks surrendered vessels, not gifted ones. Samuel's response when God calls him is fundamentally different than what Eli or his sons were saying to God. Samuel's response is speak, Lord, because your servant hears. Speak, Lord, your servant hears.

Let me translate that for you. God, I'll say yes before you even ask the question. That's the spirit that God seeks in his servants. There's a phrase sometimes we use around here at the Summit Church. We say it, put your yes on the table.

You're like, what does that even mean? It comes from a story that the interim pastor before me, he used to tell a story about a young girl who was in a church service as a missionary explained what God was doing overseas. And he challenged the congregation to be willing to say yes to God if he called people from that church to go and join this team overseas. And so during the invitation, when he was praying that if God was calling them, they would surrender and say yes, this little girl steps out of the aisle, she goes down and she kneels down at the altar. While on the way home, her dad who would watch the whole thing go down and was trying to be really sensitive and be a good dad, he said to her, he said, sweetheart, do you believe that God is calling you overseas?

She said, no, dad, I don't know that yet. I just wanted to put my yes on the altar so that whenever God does call me to something, he will already know what my answer is. That's what Samuel does. He just says, speak Lord, your servant hears.

My answer is yes before you even ask the question. So much to think about as we consider what it means to be used by God as his vessel. Pastor JD, we're working through your sermon series of the life of David, which took you about half a year to preach. And since we're gonna be here for a while, can you give us the big picture? Well, you say that like it just seemed like it went on and on forever.

Is that what I pick up? I remember. You know, David represents, and this is what's so amazing about it, is he represents the best of Israel and he also represents the heartbreak of Israel. In fact, if you look at one thing in the Old Testament that made people ask, like, there has to be more. Because here's David, the best of the best, and even he ends up committing adultery and his best friend's wife, and then having him killed. And we need something more and it kind of sets you up.

Who is this king that is greater than David? So, you know, yes, we're gonna take some time to work our way through this slowly because literally every page, there's just such gospel richness on it. And as always, Molly, we wanna give you a resource that will help you go deeper in this series.

And I could not imagine anything in the Old Testament, exception maybe of the book of Genesis, that you'd wanna go deeper in than the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. So we wanna provide that in this. And so I would encourage you. I mean, I know that a lot of our listeners reach out for these resources regularly.

This is definitely one you wanna pay attention to. So just go to jdgare.com and we'll get you started. This study provides you with a unique look at David and the rest of the narrative of 2 Samuel. To get your copy, give your gift of $35 or more to this ministry by calling us at 866-335-5220.

Or you can always give online at jdgare.com. I'm Molly Vitevich. Make sure that you're with us tomorrow as we continue our five takeaways needed to be a faithful shepherd. Don't miss it Tuesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.