1 & 2 Samuel: Wrapping up the Story
Readings: 2 Samuel 23:1-7
Over the past 11 weeks we have explored the book of Samuel. We have heard stories of God at work amongst his people, of raising leadership and providing hope. We have also heard stories of brokenness and pain and human failure.
This morning is an opportunity for us to reflect on the series, to take a look back at some of the big themes, to look at today’s passage, and to reflect on how reading Scripture can transform us and shape our lives.
So firstly – let’s take a moment to look back at some of the big themes we found in the book of Samuel that we explored together.
Overview of the Big themes in 1 & 2 Samuel:
GOD
-God’s sovereignty & power
-God’s victory over his enemies
-God’s promises to his people. God builds a house, a legacy, and fulfils all his promises. He is faithful.
HUMANITY
-David the “Hero” and the “Human” The humanity of biblical characters. They are a mixed bag, even the ones held up as heroes – like David.
-The role of lament in our worship.
-The invitation to wholehearted and reverent worship
HEALING & HOPE FOR A BROKEN WORLD
-The Holiness and the Mercy of God. When we make a mess of things, God is there to bring reconciliation, healing, forgiveness, and hope.
-Reading Samuel with Jesus in mind – Jesus as the true king in the line of David.
As we have dug into this book, I think we can see once more the way the Bible interacts with our lives – the human characters that we can identify with, and the God who never gives up on his people, who is faithful and just – who redeems and heals and who is always at work.
2 Samuel 23:1-7
In today’s passage we hear the “last words of David.”
This doesn’t mean they were the last thing David ever said – rather they form the closing message of David, and they sum up his life in lots of ways. They are as one commentator puts it, David’s “last will and testament.”[1]
These words are in the style of an “oracle” or a “prophecy” – This means that these words are seen as something that God speaks through David. David says “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me, his word is on my tongue.
So, what is it that comes through in this passage:
At the heart of the passage is a comparison between the one who rules righteously and the one who is described as “worthless.”
The righteous ruler is one who brings flourishing to the people. To capture what this looks like – David, ever the poet uses two metaphors: sun & rain.
He says, “When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.”
You don’t have to be a biologist, or even a farmer to know that crops need both sun and rain to survive, and to thrive they need both in good quantities. David says that is what it is like when a leader rules justly – the people flourish, society flourishes.
David isn’t arrogantly making a claim about his own talents here.
He goes on to affirm that it is the everlasting covenant, the promise that God has made to his people that makes all the difference. Throughout the whole story we see that David’s kingdom rises or falls upon God’s blessing and leadership of it.
The very beginning of David’s oracle highlights that David came from humble circumstances, he was a son of Jesse, nothing particularly special – but God raised him up. And not just any God, the God of Jacob raised him up – in David we see a continuation of the promises made to Jacob and the nation of Israel, long before the time of Kings that we read about in Samuel. God had chosen his people to be a blessing to the world, and David was part of this longstanding promise.
Reading the story here too, we know that there is more to come after David.
Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar says in this passage we see three motifs which highlight David’s rule.
These three motifs then—God’s sovereign power (vv. 1–2), God’s moral expectation (v. 3), and God’s abiding fidelity (v. 5)—provide the clues to the shape and significance of David’s rule…The New Testament found this language readily appropriate for Jesus—who is raised to power, who ruled justly, and who bears God’s abiding commitment.[2]
So, God keeps his promises to David and through David, and then through all the ups and downs of the story of Scripture, we see his promises fulfilled in a decisive way in Jesus.
One of the big messages of Samuel – God keeps his promises to bring healing and hope to this broken world.
Our calling is to be faithful covenant partners with God. To trust in his promise and to respond with faith.
And so, this morning, I want to reflect a little on what we might take away with us from this sermon series.
Our response to the Series – Listening and Engaging with Sermons for Transformation…
For me as a preacher, I believe that there is a skill not only in writing sermons that illuminate the stories of Scripture, there is also a skill in listening to sermons.
That might sound strange to you.
It might not be what you feel like you signed up for when placing your bottom in the pew this morning. But there is a long tradition of reflection on this.
Listening to a sermon requires a certain amount of work.
Martin Luther once said:
“Some plague the people with too long sermons; for the faculty of listening is a tender thing, and soon becomes weary and satiated.”
I hope that you feel like we don’t make it too hard for you here at St John’s.
But the point is this – a sermon isn’t just part of the service to fill time, or to entertain us, or even simply to inform us.
A sermon is a space in which God can make us more like Christ, using his word to inspire us, guide us, shape us, and bring transformation.
One preacher and thinker, Christopher Ash, puts it this way:
“Preaching that makes a church Christ-like under grace takes a double miracle: the sinful preacher must be shaped by grace to preach; and sinful listeners must be awakened by grace to listen together week by week in humble expectancy. Only God can do this. So, praying before the sermon is not a formality. Unless God works, the whole thing will be a waste of time.”
-Christopher Ash
He has written a great short resource too, a book called “Listen Up: A practical Guide to Listening to Sermons” Available on Kindle for $3 or $4 dollars
So, in short – some practical tips for us engaging with sermons.
HOW TO LISTEN TO A SERMON
1) Come expecting God to speak
2) Pray – ask God that he may speak to you through the sermon. The Holy Spirit is the one who reveals the truth of the Gospel to us.
3) Pay attention – Don’t expect to hear anything if you don’t listen.
4) Think! – Be discerning about what the preachers says
5) Read –Bring your Bibles, do your own reading outside of church.
6) Do! – Don’t just listen but let God transform you, let the word of God impact your life.
The big question is this – Am I allowing the Scriptures to transform me?
The reason we gather around the Bible and hear it read and here it preached week after week after week after week is that we believe that it is God’s word to us. We believe that God speaks to us through it. We believe that the Bible contains “all things necessary to salvation.”[3]
Jesus invites us to be not only hearers of the word but doers of the word. We are invited to let it shape us, form us, and guide us as we follow Him.
And so, as we wrap up our series in 1 & 2 Samuel I want to leave us with some “discipleship questions – reflecting on David’s life.”
Discipleship Questions – Reflecting on David’s life…
One of the things I have appreciated about this series is looking at David’s life honestly and openly – seeing him not as a simple hero but rather a multi-faceted and complex character working out what it means to trust and worship God. David’s life offers up lots of questions for us to think about when it comes to following Jesus…
-How easy do I find it to trust God and to trust that what God has promised will come to fruition?
-Am I a worshipper? How can David’s exuberance inspire me? What about the lessons David learns about being reverent too?
-Am I self-aware in terms of knowing my weaknesses and areas of temptation? What gets in the way of me following Jesus wholeheartedly?
-When I mess things up, do I find it easy or difficult to say sorry and seek forgiveness?
-Am I quick to forgive others and seek reconciliation?
-In my life is Jesus king? Or do I elevate other people or things in his place?
I’m convinced that God wants to shape us and form us as we read the Bible together and as we hear the good news of a God who keeps his promises.
May we be refreshed and inspired as we look back on our journey through Samuel and may God work in us and through us as we reflect.
Let’s pray.
[1] John Woodhouse, 2 Samuel: Your Kingdom Come
[2] Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation Series:1 & 2 Samuel.
[3] See the 39 articles of religion – article 6.