Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] You're listening to a live recording from Westside Church in Bend, Oregon. Thanks for joining us.
[00:00:06] Morning, everybody. I'm Ben Fleming, one of the senior pastors here and excited to be with you here on Father's Day. I'm wearing a shirt that I got for Father's Day just yesterday from my daughter.
[00:00:18] So be very impressed or suffer the wrath of Jovi, okay? And I'd also like to tell you what I believe to be my dad's favorite dad joke before we get started. Okay? So do you know where George Washington kept his armies up his sleeveies?
[00:00:39] Thank you. Thank you. We're in week four of a sermon series that we're calling Sunday School, where we go back and we revisit stories that you may have heard when you were in Sunday school. Or maybe they're just maybe some of the more popular Old Testament stories that you've heard of, whether you went to Sunday school or not. And some of you may remember the flannel graph or maybe, like you, maybe like me, you were a 90s kid, and you watched the greatest adventures cartoons inside of your evangelical church kids ministry. You know, ours was called Power Church, and almost everybody had a name kind of like that at that time in that era. And so we ripped off this idea from a pastor that I have a lot of respect for named Rich Velotas in New York City, where basically he used this as an opportunity to go back and revisit these stories with greater depth than maybe we learned them than with maybe. With greater depth. With greater depth.
[00:01:34] And Veloda's never preached on Samson. And we're going to do Samson today, which is such an interesting story that if you're not careful, the story can be really, really.
[00:01:46] You can't take away exactly what I believe the author intended. And that is the idea that Samson was a guy who was very strong. He had long hair that wasn't supposed to be cut. Delilah came in and cut his hair. Samson lost his strength, and then Samson pushed down these pillars, this temple, and killed lots and lots of people. It's a really funny story if you just look at it, kind of distilled down in that way. But this story is beautiful and deep and tragic and heartbreaking.
[00:02:12] And we don't want to reduce it to Samson was strong because he never got a haircut. This isn't a superhero story that takes place in scripture. Even though it can feel that way. Samson almost sounds like Hercules or the Hulk, where maybe he has this one tragic flaw that if it's taken advantage of Like Achilles, then the entire thing comes down. It's a lot more complicated than that. Samson's a complicated biblical figure and not a superhero.
[00:02:36] And when we turn to the actual story, which is going to be in Judges 13, and we'll visit it here in just a moment, 13 through 16, you discover there's this real darkness and sadness and really spiritually revealing story than the version that maybe you learned on the flannel graph. All right?
[00:02:52] And I want to make it clear that, like, with Samson, like a lot of Old Testament and New Testament even figures, he's not this model of godly character. Okay. I don't want the takeaway to be we learned about Samson, and now I'm going to do the five steps to living life like Samson. That's not the idea behind this story whatsoever.
[00:03:10] Because he's a man with extraordinary strength and shockingly little self control.
[00:03:16] He's chosen by God and also refuses to live life like he actually belongs to God.
[00:03:21] He's empowered by the spirit, and he's ruled almost completely by his own human appetites.
[00:03:29] And so, because this isn't a story about a strong man that loses his strength, what it's really about is when a gifted person never allows God to actually form their character.
[00:03:39] And that's the danger that a lot of us face today. We've got a lot of gifted, a lot of talented, a lot of powerful, a lot of influential people in this room right now. And that is actually an incredibly dangerous thing if we don't allow ourselves to be formed by God's character.
[00:03:54] And so we want to avoid the danger of confusing God's blessing with God's approval. This is a story about how a person can be used by God publicly while also completely unraveling privately. It's about the mercy of God meeting us when the illusions of our strength finally collapse. And so Samson was set apart. And we begin the narrative of scripture in Judges 13, verse 1, right here. It says, again, the Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years.
[00:04:25] If you've read a lot of the Old Testament, you're familiar with the rhythm of the Old Testament, which often sounds and looks like this. The Israelites rebel against God. They are then oppressed, and then they cry out. And then a deliverer is identified. The deliverer rescues the people, and then the people rebel again. And the nation of Israel goes in this loop over and over and over and over again.
[00:04:47] But the story of Samson for some reason, begins a little bit differently, right? And in a lot of the other stories, Israel cries out to God for help. But in Samson's story, there's no mention of Israel actually crying out to God.
[00:04:57] Now, I wonder if that's because they've become accustomed to their oppression. Now, this isn't really what this sermon's about, but I want to take a second to acknowledge that this can be one of the most dangerous spiritual conditions that we can find ourselves in, not simply being in bondage, but actually becoming so comfortable with our bondage that we no longer ask or have a desire to be free.
[00:05:20] And so into this situation, God comes to a woman who's been unable to have children, and an angel tells her she'll have a son. And so Judges 13:5 says this. You'll become pregnant and have a son whose head is. Is never to be touched by a razor. Because the boy is to be a Nazarite dedicated to God from the womb, he'll take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines. And so before Samson lifts anything or does any kind of crunches or curls, before he fights anyone and performs any great act, God says, this child belongs to me.
[00:05:54] And so if you know the rest of the story, I need you to understand before we jump into it, that the hair is not magic.
[00:06:02] It's this calling of God. It's not this strength that is stored inside the hair follicles of Samson, which, by the way, I'm really grateful for, because my hair follicles are not functioning properly anymore.
[00:06:13] I always imagine Samson is probably not biblically accurate, but Samson kind of looking into a mirror whole lot and just doing this with his hair, and it makes me kind of grumpy. It's probably just jealousy and bitterness, but I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that.
[00:06:27] It's not about the hair. It's about being set apart for God. The hair is this outward sign of a calling. And it's a visible reminder that life in his life, a regular reminder for him that he had been set apart.
[00:06:39] Okay? And so this is what it meant to be a Nazarite, by the way, according to number six, a Nazarite abstained from wine, avoided contact with the dead, and they didn't cut their hair. And these practices were these signs to themselves and the rest of the world of this very special consecration. Really, what it dials itself down to is these people. The Nazarites would say, my life is not my own.
[00:07:02] My life does not belong to me.
[00:07:05] But then that becomes the tension of Samson's life. Of course, God says, you belong to me. And then Samson lives this life where he literally just simply belongs to his own self.
[00:07:16] His first recorded words in scripture reveal the direction of his heart. It comes out right away. It says, one day in. In Judges 14, verse 1, when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. And when he'd returned home, he told his father and mother, a young Philistine woman in Timna caught my eye, and I want to marry her. Go get her for me.
[00:07:34] I wouldn't try that, guys. By the way, in this day and age, maybe this made a little bit more sense. But here's the more literal translation of the phrase and the more important translation of the phrase, it's much more literal in saying, she is right in. In my eyes.
[00:07:49] She is right in my eyes. Now, why does that phrase matter? Well, because the Book of Judges ends with these words. It says, in those days, Israel had no king, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
[00:08:03] That was the law of the land.
[00:08:05] That's how the Book of Judges ends.
[00:08:08] And so Samson, he's not like this victim of spirit of Israel's spiritual disorder. He actually embodies it. Like he's the perfect example of it. He's the poster child.
[00:08:17] He does what's right in his own eyes. So he sees something, he wants it, and then he takes it.
[00:08:22] That's the repeated pattern of his life.
[00:08:26] And this is good for teaching because many of us want God's power without God's authority.
[00:08:32] Okay, we want God to bless our plans, by the way, plans that we have already made and we've put on the calendar and we've booked in advance and we've already paid for. And then we want God to swoop in and go ahead and bless those plans. How many of you want that kind of a Christianity? Because I do.
[00:08:47] You know what kind of faith I want? I want to be able to come to church often enough to be able to go, man, I'm so faithful and I'm doing a good job. And so I've got the next five years of things planned out for me and God. I need you to get behind these ideas because they're good ones.
[00:09:02] That's the kind of faith that I want.
[00:09:04] Oh, my goodness. I want to outplan God.
[00:09:07] I want to out will power God.
[00:09:10] Now, I've seen this. I did young adult ministry for.
[00:09:14] What did I do it for? For like 12 years or something like that. And Young adults are the best example of this. Because the young adults, you know, they come to you and they're like, look, I really want to know. When I'm 20 years old, I really want to know what the will of God is for my life. And if you talk to them long enough, you'll understand. Especially the young boys. It's for sure. It's the young girls too. But especially for the young boys, what they really, really mean is not, I want to know the will of God for my life. They want to know who am I going to marry and how fast will this happen.
[00:09:42] That's what they want.
[00:09:44] And I go, well, because you want to have the conversation about what the will of God is for your life. It's a really simple one and you're going to hate it. Okay, you ready for this?
[00:09:51] The will of God according especially the apostle Paul, he says, whatever you find to do, do it with all you have, as if it's directly for the Lord. And so you have this conversation with the will of God. And I say, well, God would say the will of God for you is not necessarily that you should all these very specific boxes and that you follow the treasure map into God's purpose for you. It'd say whatever room that you're in and wherever you're at and whatever family you have and whatever relationships you have, that you would live that life in that way according to and inspired by the way of Jesus. That's the will of God for your life. And they would stare at me and go, that's not what I mean.
[00:10:28] Like, if you could help me predict the future a little bit. Help me, Ray.
[00:10:33] Cause I've got these plans and I've got these ideas. I want to be married by this time. And I've got like, you know, one option that is in English class with me and, you know, she doesn't know she's an option yet.
[00:10:45] I want God to bless this, right? I want God to support the desires that I already have to protect my reputation. I want him to empower the life that I already want to live.
[00:10:53] That's what I want to do.
[00:10:57] What we don't want is to have God tell us, no, that would be the worst.
[00:11:04] We like the idea that God has a purpose for us. That's kind of a base level, shallow understanding of Christianity. But we struggle with the idea that God has the claim upon our lives.
[00:11:16] And so this Christian life, just like the life of Samson, I need you to know, begins with this truth. Your life is not your own.
[00:11:23] It's not God's calling isn't just this invitation to do something impressive. It's an invitation to become someone who has surrendered. That's the whole idea.
[00:11:33] And so Samson is gifted, but he's not actually formed by God, right? And there's no question you can look at his body and his muscles and his strength. The spirit of the Lord comes powerfully upon him. And then all these things happen, these incredible things. He tears apart a lion with his bare hands. He defeats Philistine warriors with the jawbone of a donkey. He breaks up ropes as if they were threads. And he picks up the gates of a city and carries them away, which is like my favorite Samson flex. Right?
[00:12:00] I'm just gonna grab this gate and walk off with it. Here we go.
[00:12:04] Fantastic.
[00:12:07] He possesses this astonishing strength, right?
[00:12:11] But then tragedy comes in. Because the strongest man in Israel is repeatedly simply controlled by his own impulses.
[00:12:18] And what we learn over the course of the story is that he can break ropes, but he can't break his own patterns. He can kill a lion, but he can't actually master his anger.
[00:12:26] He can defeat a thousand men, but he cannot say no to his own appetites.
[00:12:33] He's strong everywhere except for where strength actually matters in this story.
[00:12:40] The book of Proverbs says this better is a patient person than a warrior, one with self control than one who takes a city.
[00:12:51] So according to the book of Proverbs, Samson at his worst, while at his strongest, is actually the weakest man in the room.
[00:13:00] You know, it kind of brings up. There's this whole.
[00:13:02] It's a really popular topic of conversation right now, what do we do with masculinity, right? And there was this really extreme side, in my opinion, that was like, look, any natural impulse that a man or masculine impulses that happen, these are toxic, right? Toxic masculinity. They must be completely thrown out. And it led a lot of especially young men to this point of wondering where they belong in this world, how they belong in this world. And I gotta say that that narrative is just as toxic as any form of toxic masculinity. And it is to be thrown out, okay? And then that has led rise to this. This kind of other swing of the pendulum all the way back where there's this big movement among. Among young men. Again, what I would say is kind of an extreme side of things that would say, let us do what is right in our own eyes. And actually any impulse that we might have is the very different of masculinity. And then we should figure out how to just simply continue to empower our own strengths to go ahead and dominate our world. This is also due to be thrown out because it is not the way of Jesus.
[00:14:01] We have to learn that strength exists in a lot of these different ways and shapes and forms. And masculinity in and of itself does as well.
[00:14:10] And so much of how we view masculinity, especially for men, is understood based on what our background is and what we experienced to be masculinity when we were young. My dad is in the room right now.
[00:14:21] Happy Father's Day, Dad. I already told you, but I'll say it publicly just to make sure all of you know that I wish my father a happy Father's Day.
[00:14:28] My dad wasn't. He's from Montana, and my dad wasn't a big fisher. And he never went and shot guns with me.
[00:14:35] The one time my dad. I remember my dad with a gun was with a shotgun sitting on a plastic patio chair in the middle of our front yard, waiting for a mole to make a move in the grass.
[00:14:52] We were.
[00:14:54] It's amazing, Dad. I know you're a great pastor and like a great coach and stuff. And that's like a top five image that I'm never going to forget for the rest of my life.
[00:15:04] So great. We weren't hunters, we weren't fishing. We didn't know how to fix cars. You know what I mean? I grew up in a small town in Southern Oregon where those are like the top three things. You gotta know how to fix your four wheeler, you gotta know where to hunt and what to hunt with, and you gotta be able to fish with a license and also know where the people were never gonna go to check your license. That was what you had to do.
[00:15:23] And so, like, masculinity to me manifested itself in, like, this different way. What.
[00:15:29] What real men did was when we played basketball, we were the first to box out and play hard defense, you know what I mean? You gotta get your butt down. You gotta get your butt into him. You understand?
[00:15:37] That's how you play this game. You sit hard screens. That's how basketball is played. Masculinity meant that you sang really, really loud when it came to worship music. And you also prayed really, really loud. Masculinity meant you showed up. Masculinity meant you help people move.
[00:15:53] Masculinity meant you stunk up for people that didn't have everything that you had, and we didn't have much of them first place.
[00:16:00] Masculinity meant you were faithful.
[00:16:04] Masculinity meant that you often were uncomfortable for the sake of the good will of other people. That was what it meant. That was real strength.
[00:16:12] And maybe your interpretation or your experience is different than mine. I'm not saying mine's right and yours is wrong. I'm saying we all have this understanding that comes from a lot of these different places based on how we've been brought up. And so to relate this story back to Samson, and it's not this objective understanding of what strength is, and that's all that matters. And because Samson was strong, that meant he was blessed and he did the right thing by God. Absolutely not. Samson was strong, and he completely whiffed on what real strength was.
[00:16:40] And I have no interest in that being a part of Westside Church or a part of my life and a part of your life.
[00:16:45] Cause ultimately, this whole thing, this whole Christian thing, isn't about how loud we could pray and how hard we can pray and how often we can show up to work and how often we can show up to church. It's about how we are allowing ourselves to be formed by the way of Jesus.
[00:16:59] Not that we're guided simply by our own appetites and our own feelings. Dallas Willard says this. He says feelings are good servants, but they're disastrous masters.
[00:17:10] I think we have a better master than that.
[00:17:15] And then Delilah enters into the story.
[00:17:17] By the time Samson meets her, he's practiced ignoring God's voice for so long that he can barely recognize the danger that he's in now. This is how spiritual collapse happens. And Samson's gonna show us exactly how it works.
[00:17:31] It's rarely done with one dramatic decision, and it begins with thousand single permissions. We tell ourselves, this isn't a big deal. I can handle it. I know where the line is. I'll stop before I go too far. God's still blessing me, so everything must be fine.
[00:17:48] That last one's probably the most dangerous.
[00:17:51] So Samson continues to experience supernatural strength even while his spiritual life is completely deteriorating. And he begins to assume that because that power is still present, the relationship with God just must be fine.
[00:18:04] And so he confuses God's patience with God's approval.
[00:18:09] I'll say it one more time. He confuses God's patience with God's approval. He mistakes his gifting for character.
[00:18:20] Now, this is important for leaders, because I want you to know something terrible about myself is that it's 100% within the realm of possibility for me to preach a good sermon and completely neglect my own soul.
[00:18:31] I can come up here and I can be funny, and I can be interesting, and I can give you something that you could walk away with, and I can be rotting inside all to say, I can do it. I have done it, and I hope to never do it again.
[00:18:41] It's possible to lead worship on this platform and neglect our own soul. It's possible for you to build a business and coach a team and raise a family and impress a room and accomplish something significant and make all the money and completely neglect your soul.
[00:18:55] And so eventually, Samson meets Delilah. Now, Delilah, by the way, and this was kind of takeaway when I was a kid. I don't think it's anybody's fault. It was probably my own takeaway. Delilah's like, the villain in the story, you know? And maybe if you were a 90s kid like me and you were watching the Greatest Adventure, you know, the animated version of the Samson Delilah story, maybe you came away with something similar, you know, Delilah was scary stuff, man. It got to the point where I would hang out with my secular friends in their car sometimes, and that woman would come on, you know, Delilah on the radio.
[00:19:30] There's a few more of you know it in this room than they did in the A15. I appreciate that, you know, and I remember the first time being like, Delilah, Delilah's about to talk to us.
[00:19:40] This is a temptress in the car with all of us. What's about to happen, you know, I need to hear from this Delilah. And it turned out, I learned, you know, as time went on, I was like, Delilah was just the kind of DJ that was like, hey, we're gonna get back to your soft rock here in just a moment. Why don't you make a sandwich, kick your feet up, and take a little nap here for you. I was like, oh, she's so nice. You know, she's not the devil incarnate at all.
[00:20:13] And it's funny because, like I said, it turns out she's not some kind of villain in this story, because what happens is the Philistine rulers offer Delilah money to discover the secret of Samson's strength.
[00:20:25] And again and again, she asked Sampson to tell his secret, and he lies to her. But then he gets closer and closer to the truth every single time. And then he kind of mentions his hair indirectly. And then finally, in Judges 16:17, he says it says he told her everything.
[00:20:40] So Samson tells Delilah that he's been a Nazarite, dedicated to God from his mother's womb. No razor's ever been used on his head. And so Delilah cuts his hair While he sleeps. And then one of the saddest scripture verses in this story happens. And I don't have it for you on the screen, but it's the.
[00:20:54] It says he awoke from his sleep and thought, I'll go out as before, and I'll shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
[00:21:05] I'll go out as before.
[00:21:07] I'll go out as before. It'll be fine.
[00:21:10] And he assumes tomorrow will be the same as yesterday. And he assumes what? That this power belongs to him.
[00:21:18] And so he assumes he can keep using God's gifts while disparaging God's presence.
[00:21:24] He didn't know the Lord had left him.
[00:21:28] So the Philistines seize Samson. They gouge out his eyes. They bind him in broad shackles, and they force him to grind grain in prison. And suddenly, this man who did everything that looked right in his own eyes suddenly had no eyes. And a man that couldn't understand boundaries for his own life is bound in chains.
[00:21:45] But then, in the middle of all this, there's this little, tiny stitch of grace, what I believe to be grace that comes out. It says in Judges 16:22. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
[00:21:59] Just a whisper of grace, the sign of his consecration that he was born with, begins to return.
[00:22:08] And so this is important as we get ready to close here.
[00:22:11] Samson's lost almost everything, but he hasn't moved beyond the reach of God.
[00:22:19] And so what happens is, the Philistines then gather in the temple of Dagon to celebrate. They praise their God by delivering Samson into their hands. And they bring Samson out as entertainment. And thousands of people gather in to go ahead and mock him.
[00:22:31] And Samson asks his servant to place him between the supporting pillars of the temple. And then Samson prays, sovereign lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me once more. Just once more.
[00:22:48] Now, we don't have, you know, an entire printout of Samson's life, but as far as recorded prayers, this is one of only two prayers earlier. He has this great victory. And then Samson prays because he's thirsty after the great victory. But here, he's stripped of his sight and his freedom and his reputation and his power. And Samson finally understands something that he failed to understand his entire life. That his strength was never his.
[00:23:14] And so the prayer comes out in Judges 16:28. God, strengthen me.
[00:23:20] I know that I don't just have this all on my own.
[00:23:25] I need you to breathe life into me. I need you to consecrate me. I need you to set me apart. Because that is the only way in which my life can be set apart.
[00:23:34] And so finally, he doesn't act as though his power belongs to him. And finally, in his weakness and his vulnerability, he acknowledges that every ounce of his strength was always a gift given to him from God. There is mercy, I will have you know today, in recognizing your weaknesses.
[00:23:53] There is mercy in understanding that you cannot control this world. And you are not God yourself. And ultimately, not everything can rely and count on you and your own self will. Because this illusion of self sufficiency that we love in the Western world today can often keep us from receiving the grace that God wants to give us.
[00:24:15] And so, as long as Samson believes just like he did before, I can just shake myself free. He doesn't pray. There's no communication. There's no connection with God. And the same is true for you. As long as you believe that through the sheer force of personality and willpower and calendaring and the accumulation of money and success and influence, as long as you think you can utilize all those things to control you and power over the things that happen in your life, you will refuse to have a connection with the God that created you and gave you gifts in the first place. It's a dangerous place to be.
[00:24:49] And so when Samson finally knows he cannot save himself, and when you finally truly understand that you cannot save yourself, that's when you'll finally cry out to God.
[00:25:01] Because way too many of us, I would guess, in this room have spent so much time saying, I'm just gonna go out as I have before.
[00:25:09] And one day you will find that you can't.
[00:25:13] You can't fix all of it. You can't manage all of it. You can't work harder, you can't hide it, you can't overcome it. You can't carry it all yourself. And you can't shake yourself free.
[00:25:25] There are so many chains. I want you to know that you can't simply break through the sheer force of willpower.
[00:25:35] Now, what I appreciate so much about so much of the Old Testament is that it's not very often a sanitized look at these heroes. Right? Samson's final act contains a bit of everything. It's a really complicated ending to a story we tell children all the time. By the way, it's very Shakespearean. Samson's final act contains faith and sacrifice and judgment and revenge and tragedy. Like it mixes all of this together, which is why God doesn't ask us to imitate everything that Samson does. It tells the truth about the broken people that God uses. And by the way, I hope that you can tell the truth about you being broken and that God can use you in the same way.
[00:26:16] But you should know that Samson's included in Hebrews 11among those who acted by faith.
[00:26:22] But that doesn't mean that every choice he made was faithful.
[00:26:25] I need you to know that God worked through Samson. But Samson's life also shows how much can be lost when a person resists the forming work of God. And so then Samson points us toward a better deliverer.
[00:26:42] We need something better.
[00:26:46] One of my favorite images of my kids was I remember taking a couple of.
[00:26:51] The keyboardist can come out. By the way. I'm feeling super lonely, sorry.
[00:27:00] Usually I have a friend up here by now, you know, man, we need.
[00:27:09] One of my favorite stories about my kids is I was doing some traveling and I had a couple bags. I remember this one time I came up. Thank you God. I love you, Brent, so much. And you put up with so much garbage around here.
[00:27:25] I remember taking this trip, having a couple bags and getting home. And then my kids who were younger. My kids right now are 11 and 9.
[00:27:31] And my kids are like, I want to say like 6 and 4 or something like that. And what they love to do is help dad or mom. And what a parent will know is that when a six or a four year old wants to help you, you know that whatever you're about to use, about to take about three hours longer than, you know, you're tempted to say, go clean your room. And then you're like, you know what, forget it, I'm gonna do it.
[00:27:51] And they would come out and they want to help me with the bags, right? And then both of them, you know, don't really know how to get the thing out so they can roll it and then when they start rolling it, it just falls flat on the ground. And then they got this little duffel bag, you know, and they're trying to, you know, they're carrying it and they're carrying it like this, you know, trying to get it to the front drawer.
[00:28:08] And I'm looking at them and I'm going, even in your most enthusiastic and servant hearted place is such a beautiful thing. It's so beautiful to see my kids like that.
[00:28:18] So beautiful.
[00:28:21] And I look at them and I go, you need someone better and stronger to pick up these stinking bags so we don't have to sit in the driveway forever. And so what happens, right, is the kids do their best and they get as close they can Usually they get up the steps and. And then dad comes in and picks it all up and gets it in the right place.
[00:28:42] We, by our own sheer willpower in this life, can only get the bags so far.
[00:28:50] You need something better.
[00:28:54] And that better thing is Jesus.
[00:28:57] And look, I know. I know who's in this church. I know so many of you are some of the most influential people in our city. You're some of the richest people in our city. You're some of the people with the most power.
[00:29:08] Some of you are the most fit.
[00:29:11] I know. I know the willpower that exists with so many of you in this room has accomplished so much.
[00:29:21] And I got horrible news for you is that it's not enough.
[00:29:24] You'll never feel completely satisfied on your own.
[00:29:27] You'll never find your greatest purpose by simply gutting it out and getting back to the calendar and burning the candle at both ends. You won't do it.
[00:29:34] Ultimately, we have to come around to this understanding that our life is not our own. That we need a better savior than ourselves. And that savior is Jesus. And I actually love how the story of Samson kind of lines all this up for you. Right? So here's a little bit of a list of how the story of Samson connects to the way of Jesus. Right? As the Bible tells us a different story of a promised child, that Samson was a promised child.
[00:29:57] A woman was told by an angel that he was coming.
[00:30:00] But we know of another child whose birth is announced before he's conceived. Another child who's set apart from God from the womb. Another deliverer upon where the spirit rests. And his name is Jesus. Samson and Jesus were both betrayed. Both handed over to their enemies. Both are mocked. Both stretched out their arms in death. And both defeat their enemies through their death. But they. But the similarities also reveal these enormous differences. Now listen to this.
[00:30:25] Samson's death is mixed with vengeance. And Jesus instead prays, father, forgive them.
[00:30:30] Samson's death kills his enemies. Jesus death offers life to his enemies.
[00:30:37] Samson gives his life after years of self indulgence. And Jesus gives his life after a lifetime of perfect obedience.
[00:30:44] Samson's strength is displayed by bringing a building down. In Jesus, strength is displayed by allowing himself to be lifted onto a cross.
[00:30:52] Samson dies with his enemies, and Jesus dies for his enemies.
[00:30:58] Jesus is the real strong man, not the one who lifted the gates of the city, but the one who said, turn the other cheek.
[00:31:09] The one who dedicated his life to caring for people who thought they were never going to be within the gospel of God.
[00:31:19] He came for the Jews and the Gentiles, the haves and the have nots.
[00:31:23] And he's the strong man because he possessed what Samson never actually learned until the very end.
[00:31:32] This perfect surrender to the father.
