First Person Sermon Samson10-12-08  

            Enters an old Samson led by a small boy. 

Where are you leading me boy? 

(There are some people here who want to see you, and hear your story.) 

They want to shout obscenities at me, and make fun of me more likely.  I tell you right now if they’ve come to hear a cheery tale they… best go someplace else. There is nothing cheery or uplifting about my story, but if they want to hear about a wasted life, and a tremendous gift wasted, well…maybe they’re in the right place.  

            My life started out with such promise too, in fact there have been very few people whose birth has been foretold by angels, and I was one. I wish I could tell you where or how my life went so terribly wrong, but I think it may have been so subtle that no one even noticed.  My parents wanted a child in the worst way, and I was what they got.  I think my dad was a little too old to take an active interest in raising a son, didn’t even want to name me, so he let my mom do it. She named me Samson, Little Sun, it means as if to say a new day was dawning for the people of Israel. Wow, what a disappointment.   I guess I really can’t blame Dad; how was he to know how to raise a kid who was going to deliver his people from the cruel oppression of the Philistines. Dad even prayed that the angel would come back and tell them how to raise me. But how hard could it be? Teach me a love for the Lord, teach me his law, teach me to work hard, and instill in me good moral values.  I guess you might think I’m blaming Dad for my screw ups, and maybe I am, but at some point I really knew better.  I don’t remember much about childhood other than the kids were scared of me and I was always very strong. I never had any friends growing up.  In fact when I was 18 and I fell in love, no that’s not true, why call it what it’s not, when I fell in lust, I didn’t even have any ma friends to invite to my wedding, didn’t even have a best n. Anyway I fell in lust with this little Philistine hottie when I went down to Timnah. I went on family business, yea right funny business more like. I was just a wild teenager just looking to get into trouble. Timnah was a Phillistine town and they were our enemies, but the girls, they weren’t like our girls, they for sure didn’t dress like our girls.  They hardly wore any clothes. When I first saw her she was standing in the doorway of her house, long light colored hair, a little ball of muscle and she wore one of those shrink fit dresses, the kind that don’t leave much to the imagination. I had to have her, so I went back and told mom and dad.   I wish they would have said no, not that it would have done any good, by this time, and I was pretty much a spoiled brat. He even took a spoiled brat teenager, my rebellion and used it to bring about His plan. Of course He would have liked it better, my leading a good life, doing His will all along. He’s never pleased when we sin, he will never lead anyone into sin, but we are each carried away by our own lust and this is definitely what was on my mind. I was testing the boundaries, to see how much I could get away with and was meeting no resistance. I wish mom and dad would have stopped me. I wish I would have tried to see how good I could behave instead of seeing what I could get away with. I even went into a vineyard to see what all the fuss was over grapes.  See the Angel who  told Mom about me being born also told her I was to never eat any grapes or anything made from grapes, part of the Nazarite oath, so I just had to check it out and see for myself why grapes were so bad. Anyway this lion jumps out, and man let me tell you, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and I had some supernatural power, I tore the lion in half. I just grabbed its jaws and ripped them apart and the whole body ripped open in my hands, and then, I just threw it aside. I look like a regular guy, m maybe a little stronger than some but there is not a man who ever lived could do what I just did  It, not by my own strength that I tore that lion in two. Looking back I think the Lord was trying to show me what He could do through me, trying to turn me from my evil intent. But I was still intent on my sinful ways. I knew it was against God’s law to inter marriage but like I said, I was in lust.  I came back a few weeks later with Mom and Dad.  On our way to the wedding, I turned aside to see the lion I killed and coming out of his side was a swarm of bees. Some people run from bees, but they don’t hurt me. I stick my hand in and scoop out honey, from the inside of the lion. I give some to my folks but don’t tell them where I got it, because then I would have to fess up to being in the vineyard.  Wedding is all set to take place, took a week. Like I said earlier I didn’t have any friends, I guess nobody wants to hang with a spoiled brat teenager, anyway my father in law gets some guys to hang out with me; rent a friend. So 30 of these guys pretend to be my friends for the week. We had a little wine, even though it’s against my Nazarite vow, and that wine made me stupid I guess, because I made this bet with them that they couldn’t guess my riddle,” Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet”. I bet them 30 sets of clothes. I thought it would be fun to watch them run home naked. I didn’t much care for my new friends. I gave them a week to come up with the answer. So what do they do, they threatened my wife, tell her that if she didn’t find out the answer to my riddle they would burn her alive in her fathers’ house. She never told me this of course but she begged and pleaded, even in tears, to know the answer.  She wears me down, so I tell her, and lost the bet. I was so mad I knew how they got the answer. I went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 men just for their clothes. My Nazarite oath is getting broken right and left. Part of that oath was I was never to touch anything unclean, and dead people are unclean. I rationalized that they were so recently dead that they weren’t entirely done living yet so it didn’t really count.  Funny; how we can rationalize our sins and justify our actions.  I wish I could say that was the last time I ever drank wine or went against God’s will but no, I ‘m a slow learner. That’s the way with rebellion and sin, when it gets its hook in you it always takes you further than you want to go and keeps you their longer than you want to stay. I was so mad I left before we got to the actual ,”I do”, part of the wedding ceremony, but I come back in a few weeks after I’ve cooled off to claim my bride only to find my father in law has given my wife to my best man. I left in a huff I hated everyone. I went out and caught 300 foxes took a couple weeks and tied their tails together with a torch between each pair. Talk about a disaster, 150 little fire balls running around through all the standing grain that was all dry just ready to harvest. The whole place was an inferno, vineyards and olive trees all burned. My father in law and my bride got burned up as well, by the Philistines, I just wanted her back but they killed her.  So I killed a bunch of them. Violence always brings more violence. The Philistines were pretty sore at me and they went up to Judah and told the men of Judah if they didn’t hand me over it was going to go bad for them. I told you I didn’t have any friends, even my own countrymen wanted to be rid of me and turn me into the vilest people on the planet.  I tell them to tie me up and take me to a certain valley. Then leave. The Philistines come there to take me, 3000 of them. I tell you when the Spirit of the Lord came on me I was unstoppable. The ropes fall off like they are threads and I start killing. It felt like everything was in slow motion but me. At my feet is a jaw born of a donkey about 16 inches long and I using this for a club. The valley we’re in had steep sides so only about half a dozen could get to me at a time, but before I was done there were 3000 dead Philistine soldiers. 5 generals stood on the top of the hill and watched it all happen and then rode away. When I was done with my killing spree I was so tired and thirsty I felt like I would die, so I prayed for God to show me some water, and I threw the bloody jaw bone away, and water started coming out of this little hollow in the ground where it hit. The Lord will provide, why I couldn’t get over my bad self and just live for Him. But no, I’m the mighty Samson. They tell me that spring is still running to this day, though I’ve never been back.   

            For 20 years thing went pretty good, I had single handedly decimated the Philistine army but instead of uniting the forces of Israel and driving them back into the sea from whence they came we allowed them to continue living in the land. I always was kind of a lone ranger.  I know this is not pleasing to the Lord; He would much rather (His people work together,) but I had the anointing of the Lord, they didn’t. Remember I told you I grew up as a spoiled teenager…. I guess it stayed with me. Well the fact that I didn’t unite the people of Israel and drive the Philistine’s away eventually led to my undoing. For 20 years we lived in relative peace. We let them have a few cities and darn it if they didn’t keep having babies and built up their army again. I went down to Gaza, to check it out. Gaza was their capital, big fortified city with these massive gates. Now I wasn’t really looking to get into trouble, not like when I was 18, but I had still never delt with my old sin nature. These gates were almost cubit thick solid oak bronze. They were eight cubits high and nine or ten wide. The symbol of security and strength. I hope my sad tale will be a lesson to others. When we embrace our certain pet sin instead of dealing with it, it will be our undoing. I never gave my lust for women to God, and it became my Achilles heal, so to speak. I went down to Gaza with innocent enough motives, I heard that the Philistines were gaining strength and I went there to check it out. When I was there I went into their pagan temple, with that ridiculous statue of their so called God. Half man and half fish, it looked so comical I had to laugh. The front half looked like a man but out of the top of his head came a fish head and the back half was made to look like a fish complete with tail. Why anyone would worship this I’ll never know. Then I turned to go, and I found out… why men worship this. Things they have these girls at the temple gorgeous creature’s temple prostitutes they were. Well, I spent the night with one. While I was with her the Philistine army made camp around the gate and were going to kill me when I tried to leave in the morning. Well the Lord prompted me to get up in the middle of the night, after the gate was locked, and I tore the gate loose from the wall. Posts and all.  And I carried away their big solid gate that they had placed so much trust in, their big impenetrable gate, that symbol of authority and security. The soldiers just watch me go; no one fired an arrow, no one threw a spear they just watched me go. I carried this thing all the way to the top of a mountain that faced Hebron, I’ll bet it was over 30 miles, and I stuck it in the ground as a sign for the men of Judah, a call to arms. Like I said I have always been a lone ranger and I could never inspire men to follow me. Instead of grabbing their swords and coming to attack they went back to their mundane lives.   I was so disgusted with my people I had to get away for a while, but I guess I can’t really blame them for not wanting to follow me, I always had this air about me that I was anointed and they weren’t. So I go down to the Valley of Sorek and while I was there I fell in love, I still use that word loosely, with another Philistine girl. She was a prostitute too, but I didn’t care. You would have thought I had learned my lesson, but that’s the way of sin, it always takes you further than you want to go and keeps you longer than you want to stay. But before I knew it I went from being in lust to being in love, I really cared for Delilah. She was 20 years younger than me, but that didn’t matter she was gorgeous, and fun, and before I knew it she had me wrapped around her little finger. She used to give me wine to drink too, and she was always pleading with me to find the secret to my great strength.  We were in a dangerous area, and people were always watching me, trying to kill me. I heard there was a huge reward for anyone who could.  I tried to get her to come live with my people but she said they would never accept her, and she was probably right. Delilah kept pestering me to tell her the secret of my great strength and I kept making things up. I would wake up to find myself all tied up with Delilah acting all afraid, waking me up saying the Philistines were upon me. And of course I hadn’t really told her the secret of my great strength so the ropes would fall off like they were made of spider webs. We played this game over the next several weeks. I would always tell her that I had to be bound by something different. One time I told her that if my hair were woven into a loom I would become as weak as other men. She woke me up as usual, Samson the Philistines are upon you. I woke up from my wine induced stupor and I jumped up, tore the loom from the wall and walked outside with this huge rug, loom and all attached to my head. Must have been quite a site. Delilah was getting sore at my not trusting her, after all; I said I loved her and if I really did I would trust her. So I caved in, and told her all about the Nazarite oath, how I was never to touch any grape products , or anything un clean like dead bodies, and the only thing left that I hadn’t broken was my hair and beard have never been cut. We drank some wine and made love, and I fell asleep. When I woke up Delilah was sitting on my chest slapping me and there were a bunch of soldiers surrounding me. No big deal I would kill them all like I have done to so many times before. But right now I can’t get this little 100 lb girl off me and she keeps slapping me and laughing. They come in and grab me and the last thing I see are these 5 Philistine princes each giving Delilah a huge bag of silver, and then they gouge out my eyes. My lover sold me out for 5500 piece of silver. She had to be the highest paid prostitute of all times, and I am such a fool, I deserve to die. But they don’t kill me; they lead me down to Gaza on the back of a horse. Every town we go through the people comes to see the great bald headed Samson; they throw manure at me and call me every vile thing you have ever heard. When we stop for the night they kick me and beat me with clubs until they are tired, and then tie me back on the horse the next day. I can barely stay upright by the time we get to Gaza and they brought me into this temple and put me to work grinding grain like a donkey. They make me bray like one and beat me with whips. Round and round I go, pushing this beam that runs though a big stone wheel, they are throwing grain in the trough for me to crush and laughing at the mighty Samson. Night comes and they finally leave me alone. But night the worst time and I can’t get away from my thoughts… my wasted life. I was given so much, but in my arrogance and pride I didn’t need God. I didn’t need Him to direct me, I didn’t feel the need to live a good moral life, I was the mighty Samson, and I could do as I pleased.   Lord please forgives me, forgive my arrogance and pride. 

            But my God is a God of compassion and he has forgiven me for all my stupidity and my hair is starting to grow again and I can feel my anointing coming back. I am to be the main attraction at the coming festival for that ridiculous Dagon. The priests are going to stick a knife up under my ribs and pierce my heart and drain all my blood out so everyone will get a sip, then they will take my heart out and eat it too . But I have prayed a prayer that I hope none of you will ever pray, I have prayed that I may die “with” my enemies, among those sinners. I’ve prayed that God would one last time use me to bring about the end of these vile Philistines, these enemies of God most high. This was my mission in life all along if I just would have obeyed and served Him like it was intended. I guess my story is not unlike everyone else’s. We are all like sheep, gone astray. No one seeks after doing what is right and pleasing God. Lord right now I pray your will be done in my life. I totally submit my will to yours. I wish I would have only done it sooner, I wish I would have given my sin over to You Lord and walked in it no more. I know you would have delivered me from it.  I wish I could have given my whole life I o n service to you and not just my death. I wish I wouldn’t have wasted the gift you gave me Lord, Forgive me oh my Father.   (Pause) 

            The Lord is good. He has shown me the end of my story. We are in this great temple of Dagon and I am leaning up against the two big marble columns which hold up the roof. I can see it clearly in my mind’s eye.  His great strength is flowing through me again. These columns are made of dicks stacked on top of one another. I push out two of the disks that form the columns, and the whole place falls.  The a temple is packed with people, thousands and thousands and thousands of men and women were present, the 5 princes and their families are there the one who hired Delilah , Delilah is there too and her latest looser. We will all die, and I will see the face of my Lord. Learn from my mistakes and don’t wait until you draw your last breath to submit to the Lord, do it now and live. I’ll never hear those blessed words I long to hear, well done my good and faithful servant, because I only did a fraction of what God had planned for me to do, I let my desires, and my wants, my sins get in the way, but it’s not too late for you, you may still have opportunity to one day hear, well done my good and faithful servant. We are all given gifts to use, in service of the lord. I wasted my gift, don’t waste yours. 

Boy. Boy where are you. Take me back; my time has not yet come. You people sing a happy song now, forget about me, but don’t waste your gift, don’t waste your life as I have done. Serve the Lord now while you still have life and breath