Today on Summit Life with J.D.
Greer. Thanks for joining us today for Summit Life with J.D. Greer, lead pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Today on the program, Pastor J.D. shows how all of us, religious or irreligious, Christian or not, we seem hardwired to chase after someone or something to make us feel okay. Like the people of Israel, we desire a, quote unquote, king to rule us. We need identity and security, happiness and freedom to make us feel worthy. And what 1 Samuel 8 teaches us is as simple as it is profound.
Every king promises us freedom, but any king besides God only delivers slavery. Remember, this is a brand new and never before aired teaching. So if you missed anything so far, be sure to catch up online at jdgreer.com. Let's join Pastor J.D.
now for this teaching. He's titled, God is Great, But Give Us a King. 1 Samuel chapter 8, if you have your Bibles, and I hope that you brought them this morning.
1 Samuel chapter 8, I'm reading a great book right now called The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman. And one of the things that the author points out is that my generation, known usually as Generation X, will probably go down, he says, as the generation who experienced the most dramatic technological and scientific shifts in history. Gen Xers, along with some of the baby boomers, and maybe a few of the millennials, ex-ennials, I think they're called, the ones right between the millennial and Gen X generation. We're the only ones that really fully experience the world without the internet and cell phones, and then a world with those things. Most of you millennials and all of you Gen Xers, for the most part, have never really known a world without those things. And I know this makes me sound like a cranky old man, but people my age remember when the only place you could receive a phone call was at home.
Y'all remember that? And if you were waiting on an important phone call, you literally would not leave your house. Also, once you left the house, whatever plans you had made with somebody were fixed. There was no, hey, I'm running five minutes late, or hey, let's meet at Chipotle instead of at Panera.
Back then, it was back then when fast food was actually fast and it never even pretended to be healthy and didn't cost like $18 for just one person. Any of you Gen Xers or boomers remember how when you wanted to go on a road trip, there was no Google or Apple maps. You got one of those giant unfolding Atlas maps and spread it out across your dashboard and charted your course like you were Christopher Columbus.
How many marriages almost ended trying to interpret one of those things? If you want to go on vacation, there was no jumping online and searching for hotels on Expedia. You had to dial up an operator and get the number of a Holiday Inn in the city you wanted to go to and book a reservation that way or hire a travel agent.
Or you could just show up in a city and hope for the best. I can remember my parents and I going from hotel to hotel to see who had rooms like we were Mary and Joseph or something. You millennials and you Gen Xers, I'm telling you, you have it so easy and stay off my lawn, okay? Another thing that we had to deal with was the onset of computer viruses. We didn't have all the fancy programs to block them that we have now. Plus, this was all so new, so we were still so gullible because we just didn't understand how viruses work. So we'd be like, what, a Nigerian prince wants to wire me a million dollars?
I should at least have the decency to open up this attachment and check it out. There was this one virus that would take over your email and start emailing all your friends solicitations for money or lewd pictures from your account. One of the worst computer virus stories that I heard was from a friend who was working on his master's degree thesis. He said that he was putting the final touches on his term paper when suddenly he watched as every single line of his paper methodically turned into a series of X's and O's. Because computer had downloaded a virus that systematically erased his computer's entire memory. And this was before Google Drive and automatic backups and all that kind of stuff, which meant his entire paper, the grade for the whole class was gone. He had to start over completely.
How many of you had something similar happen like that at some point in your career? Well, the reason that I take you on down this little trip down memory lane or for you Gen Xers into this foray into the land before time is because Israel's demand for a king that we're gonna see in 1 Samuel 8 is gonna function like a computer virus. That king is gonna promise so much and it's gonna look so appealing like he can do so much for them.
But when they download him into their system, he's just gonna take over and destroy everything. Let's start reading 1 Samuel 8, we're gonna pick up in verse four. Here's how it starts. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, verse five and said to him, behold, Samuel, you're old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. That's a very important phrase in this story. Let's keep reading verse six. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us because his feelings were hurt.
He felt like it was a personal rejection of him. So Samuel prayed to the Lord. He said, then the Lord said to Samuel, no, no, no, obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you for they have not rejected you, Samuel. They've actually rejected me from being king over them. First thing I wanna clear up because a lot of people get this wrong. It was not categorically wrong for Israel to ask for a king.
That is a very common misconception. It was not wrong for them to ask for a king. Here's why I say that in the book of Deuteronomy, God had actually told them that one day he would provide for them a king. Deuteronomy 17 even lays out for them the characteristics of the king that they should look for. So it was not wrong for them to ask for a king. The problem was not in their request.
The problem was the motivation behind the request, namely that it came from a place of fear, not faith. They were not saying, hey God, we're just asking for the king that you promised, but only on your timetable and only by according to your choice because we trust you. No, they were demanding a king for two reasons. The first one you see there in verse five, we want to be like the other nations. And in verse 20, they even clarify that.
It's the second reason. We wanna be like the other nations that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. They looked around at other nations and they saw that, well, the other nations had a king that seemed to give that nation a sense of national pride, an identity, somebody to look up to and just really have your heart swell with pride when you saw him, a king that rode out into battle for them and guaranteed their security.
Now, of course, that was all untrue. It was an illusion. Lots of nations had kings and did not experience those things, but Israel thought they needed one. All they had, they were like, all we got are the promises of some invisible God.
This is all we got. They wanted a king that they could see and touch and put their pride in. As you see in this passage, God considered this a rejection of him. Israel wasn't supposed to be like the other nations. They were supposed to be different. They were supposed to be set apart. They were supposed to be distinctive.
And how were they supposed to be set apart and distinctive? Well, they weren't supposed to trust in the same things the other nations trusted in. They weren't supposed to feel secure because of the size of their army like the other nations.
They weren't supposed to be constantly and feverishly striving to achieve great things in order to give themselves a sense of identity and pride in front of the other nations. No, their relationship with God was supposed to give them those things. So God says, they've rejected me. Verse eight, according to all the deeds that they have done from the day that I brought them up out of Egypt unto this day forsaking me and serving other gods. So now Samuel, they are also doing to you. From the very beginning, God says, from the very beginning of my relationship with them, I've never been enough for them.
Y'all just think about that. I know not everybody here just grew up around the Bible, but for those of you that know kind of the story of Israel, the brief history leading up to this moment, just think about it. From the Exodus, they've never trusted me. A few days after the Exodus, God brought Israel by means of a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. He brought them to Mount Sinai to give them the law. Moses went up into the mountain to receive that law and he was gone a few days longer than Israel thought that he should be. So the people panicked and they demanded that Aaron, who was like the vice Moses, the second in command, they demanded that that he make for them a golden calf so that they could have a God to protect them like the other nations.
Now y'all just think about what they had just seen a couple of weeks before. God had delivered them miraculously by means of the plagues and the Passover, delivering them out of slavery from Egypt without them even lifting a finger. And then he had destroyed the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea, right, without them doing a single thing.
And now you're saying that God is not enough to protect you and provide for you, that you also need this golden calf? Then as they made their way from Mount Sinai through the wilderness, they started to complain that they wanted to go back to Egypt where they had fresh supplies of water and gardens that they could grow vegetables in. This was despite the fact that God had promised that he was taking them to a land that overflowed with milk and honey and every day before they got there, provided them by means of manna that was spread out on the ground. And whenever they needed water, he would make it miraculously gush out of whatever rock that Moses spoke to.
Yeah, but that wasn't good enough. God's promises were just not enough. So here they are again, 1 Samuel 8, and they're still saying, God, you're great and everything, but you're not enough.
We need a king like other nations who can go out for us and fight our battles. What is especially ridiculous about this right here, right now, is that in the chapters leading up to chapter 8, which we skipped over, God had just defeated Israel's greatest enemy, the land of Philistia, the Philistines. He had defeated them by means of a cart and two cows. God had led the Philistines. Here's a quick story. God let the Philistines steal the Ark of the Covenant as a punishment for Israel's persistent unbelief and disobedience. This story is told back in chapter 4, if you want to read it later. That was the fulfillment of what we looked at last week, where God promised to punish Israel because of Eli's disobedience. But just as quickly, just as quickly as they lost the Ark of the Covenant, God brought back the Ark to them through no effort of their own.
It's actually a pretty entertaining story. After the Philistines had captured the Ark, they put it in the temple of their God, Dagon. Well, the next morning, Dagon's statue was lying face down in front of the Ark with his hands chopped off. They thought, well, that's weird. So they set Dagon back up, taped his hands back on.
Next morning, same thing. Then all the men of the city, where the Ark of the Covenant was being held captive, all the men of the city woke up the next morning smitten with tumors. So the men of the city are like, get that thing out of here. And the Philistines take the Ark to a different city and the same thing happens there. Eventually the Philistines are like, get this thing out of our country.
It causes problems everywhere it goes. So they put the Ark on a cart and they attached it to a couple of young cows and the cows miraculously turn in the direction of Israel and walk the Ark straight back to the Israelites. Israelites did not do a thing. With no battles, through no effort, the Ark just showed back up on their back porch, carried along by a couple of Philistine cows. It was utterly amazing. Thanks for joining us today for Summit Life with Pastor J.D.
Greer. We'll be back to today's teaching soon, but first, did you know that each month we offer a featured resource for all of our gospel partners and financial supporters? We create them to grow your relationship with God and this one is certainly no exception. It's a study through the life of David that expands on our new teaching series here on the program. It's an eight week study that'll take you through key passages in Second Samuel with important talking points and thought provoking questions to deepen your faith and your understanding of God's word. There's so much that we can learn from David, both things to do and things not to do. This makes it a perfect resource for your own spiritual life or a discipleship resource for someone looking to grow in their knowledge of scripture. To get your copy, give your gift of $35 or more to this ministry or become a monthly gospel partner by calling us at 866-335-5220.
You can also give online at jdgreer.com. Now let's get back to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor J.D. When you have a God who fights for you like this, why do you demand to have a king also? Couldn't you trust this God? That's the entire point of chapters four through eight.
On one level, these chapters are kind of silly and the author intends for them to sound silly, but they make a very serious point. Israel has a God who fights for them. Why isn't that enough? And sure, they have an army and one day God's going to give them a king, but they're not supposed to trust in those things. They're supposed to trust in the God behind those things. Their security was not supposed to be found in the size of their army like the other nations, or their identity was not to be found in the glory of their king like the other nations. They were supposed to find those things in God.
Now listen, this is important. In none of the stories that I've shared with you from Israel's history, and not one of them did Israel want to totally walk away from God. They wanted to add to God. They needed something in addition to God to feel secure and significant and at peace. And that leads us to a very important insight.
If you're writing stuff down, write this down. Usually we reject God, not by walking away from him. Usually we reject him by adding to him. Usually we reject God, not by walking away from him, but by feeling like we need to add something to him in order to feel safe and significant.
I would guess that that is true for the majority of people, if not every person listening to me right now. It's not that you want God out of your life. If you wanted God out of your life, I'm not sure why you would be here. You want God in your life, but you feel like I need God plus something.
So let me just ask you, where are you doing this? Where have you said, God, God, you're great and everything, but you're not enough. I need something else in addition to you and your promises to ensure my significance and my happiness.
You're great. I'm glad to have you, but without this other thing or things or person, my life is going to feel incomplete. What is it that you look into the future and you demand that God provides you with this thing in order for you to feel secure and significant? Maybe you've said, for example, God's great. God is great, but I have to have a husband like everybody else or I can never be happy. So you're asking for a spouse and I want to be clear, that's not wrong in itself.
Just like asking for a King was not wrong. The problem is like Israel, you're asking from fear, not faith. You have this fear of being alone, fear of being unwanted and unloved. And you think that only by having a spouse, can you escape that fear? Even if you have God, he's not enough. So it's God plus a spouse. Or maybe you're saying, God, I have to see some career advancement.
I have to see some increase in my income like other people. In fact, you've got yourself a little mental map where you track everybody else's progress who graduated when you did to track how much better they're doing than you. And you think, well, how come I'm not advancing as fast as them? I can't feel, I just don't feel like I have any value. I don't feel significant. I don't feel secure until I'm going to get to this level professionally. It's not wrong to ask for career advancement.
It's just that when you depend on career advancement or the income increase that goes with it to feel happy and secure, you've rejected God. And you said, you're not enough. Or you say, God, I have to look like this. I have to weigh this in order to feel like I have value. So change my body so it looks like this. Otherwise I could never be happy with myself. Again, there's nothing wrong with wanting to look better.
There's nothing wrong with eating better and working out. But when that's driven by a fear that you'll never have any value until you look a certain way, like all the other beautiful people, well, see you've rejected God. Or you say, God, I have to have this healing. I don't even want to live unless you heal me. Again, you're being motivated by fear, not faith. The desire for healing is not wrong. But when you say I cannot be happy or secure unless I have that healing in addition to God, that's where you go wrong.
Whatever that thing is that you demand in addition to God is your king. You see, it's easy for us to shake our heads and bewilderment Israel and say, what was wrong with those people? Christians today do this as easily and as frequently as the Israelites did in 1 Samuel. Listen, one of the many problems with the prosperity gospel, probably the most famous preaching in America goes under the rubric of prosperity gospel. The idea that if you believe in God and you trust God, he'll give you what you need. The problem with it is it's built on the premise that life is not good without physical and monetary prosperity. And so the idea is if God is good and you have faith, he'll make you healthy and rich because that's the essence of a good life. But God's people were supposed to be different. They were supposed to say, yes, I would love material and physical prosperity, but you know what?
I can be happy and secure without them. As long as God is present, I can have joy and I can be at peace. Like I've told you before, I was watching one of those TV preachers one afternoon, very famous one whose name you probably most of you and many of you would know. And he encouraged his viewers.
He actually said this, I'm not exaggerating this one, not one bit. He actually encouraged the people watching to give sacrificially to his ministry, even if it meant going into significant credit card debt to do so. He said, and I quote, maybe you've only got $3,000 of credit left on your credit card. And you're wondering how in the world you're gonna pay those bills.
If you will give at least half of that remaining balance to this ministry, in other words, put in at least $1,500, you'll watch in amazement as God turns around that debt and delivers you from it. Then he said this, and this is the part that probably was the most disturbing. Your neighbors will be amazed when they see you driving that new BMW, but that big old smile on your face.
Now all that is abusive and manipulative on so many levels, but probably the most dangerous thing is the premise that undergirds that, which is a lot more subtle than the abusive and manipulative tactics that he's using. That premise is this, you can only have a smile on your face when you're driving a BMW and that your neighbors will be amazed when you have a smile. Anybody can have a smile on their face when they're in a brand new car. God's people were supposed to be different. What was supposed to amaze our neighbors is not that we have joy when we have joy in the same things they have joy in. What was supposed to amaze our neighbors is how joyful and secure we felt even when we didn't have a lot of those tangible things. When we were able to say, no, the Lord is my shepherd.
And as long as he's close by, I have no needs. Israel, church, you were supposed to be different. You weren't supposed to be like the other nations. Now again, I want to be clear. There's nothing wrong with asking God for blessings. God is a good God who loves to bless people. And when he does, you should thank him for those blessings and then use those blessings for his kingdom. It's when you depend on those blessings, when you demand them in order to feel significant and secure, that's when you have become like the Israelites in this chapter. And you have rejected God by saying to God, you've rejected God by saying to him, you're not enough. The Lord is my shepherd.
I have a few things that I need in addition to that. And God, I demand that you give them. That's not how Psalm 23 reads. No, the Lord is my shepherd.
I have no needs. As long as I have the presence of the shepherd, I'm good. In the New Testament, James, the half-brother of Jesus picks up this concept and he calls it praying like an adulterer. James 4-3 was the verse. James says, you have not because you ask not. In other words, you guys are missing a lot of blessings, he says, simply because you don't ask for them.
But then James clarifies. He says, but sometimes you ask and still do not receive. Why do you not receive? Why does God not give you what you ask for? Because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions, you adulterous people. Sometimes you don't receive a blessing because you don't ask, but sometimes you don't receive it because you're praying like an adulterer. Now, what does that mean, praying like an adulterer? Well, think about adultery. Adultery is when one spouse finds certain delights in somebody else that he or she should find in their spouse. Spiritual adultery, therefore, is when you find something in somebody or something else that you ought to be finding in God. So how do you pray like an adulterer?
Well, you ask God for certain things, believing that your life cannot be complete unless he gives them to you. That's a serious warning to all of us about being sure that we are giving our lives to the right things. This is Summit Life, and today's teaching is from our brand new series, Through the Life of King David. Pastor JD, to go along with this teaching series, we also have a Life of David Bible study that's available this month to our donors.
What can we expect from this study? So yeah, this guide offers an in-depth look at the various phases of David's life. Think about it. He starts as a humble shepherd boy, so insignificant that his dad literally forgot him. So he starts that, it leads to probably the most famous battle in history, him versus Goliath, to being the boy king who is on the run.
And then just all the the ins and outs goes from being one of the most successful kings to a king who, yeah, fell tragically. But David finds forgiveness. You know, at every point of your life, no matter whether you're in the best of times or the worst of times, there's something in David's life that just ministers to you. You'll find it practical.
He's a great example of courage and leadership. It's like stereo. It's like so many things coming at you at once that they all blend together in a beautiful picture. So you'll want to really dive in on this one. We always try to give you resources that will take you deeper.
This is an important one. So just go to jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch, and I'm excited to be back with you tomorrow for part two of today's teaching called God is Great, But Give Us a King. That's Thursday right here on Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.
