Under Construction-Saul

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Pastor Lew Upchurch August 28, 2016

"Under Construction" Series 1 Chronicles 10:1-14

Under Construction: Saul

My father was quite the builder. In fact, even today, as he and my Mom have retired to the mountains of western NC, he still spends a lot of his time immersed in various projects like building another staircase or improving his already awesome deck. But through the 1980's, his craft was building custom-made cabinets. I worked in his shop during the summers where I witnessed time and time again ideas becoming reality in the form of beautiful custom-made cabinets. None were ever the same. In fact, I remember this one set that was really unique. A couple was building a new home and instead of choosing normal woods like birch or oak, they wanted their cabinets built out of wood from an old tobacco barn that was being torn down on their property. I remember the day this flat bed truck backed into the driveway of my dad's shop and I helped unload all of this weathered wood from the barn. We sent it through the plainer, cut it down into manageable pieces, and soon my father was crafting the most amazing set of kitchen cabinets I had ever seen. About 6 weeks later they were delivered and installed. The owners were thrilled and so was my Dad... until about a month later when he got some bad news. You see, there was one little problem with that rustic wood from the tobacco barn. It looked great on the outside, but on the inside were these pesky little bugs known as termites. And after a few weeks they made themselves known. The cabinets were ruined. They had to be removed and the couple's unique cabinet dream was crushed. With all of the planning, time, and money spent on the project, there was nothing to show. For me, the image of those cabinets captures something of what happened in the life of Saul, who is our bible character for today, as we continue our "under construction" sermon series. As Israel's first king, Saul's reign started out as unique and looking pretty good on the outside, but as our Old Testament reading from 1 Chronicles summarizes, his final days tragically ended in utter failure with nothing to show because of what was

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on the inside. Like the cabinets, sometimes construction projects, even those initiated by the LORD Himself, can take an ugly turn. Of course at the beginning, the "project" of Saul looked promising. To give you a little background, during the time of Samuel, who was the last judge, and the first prophet in Israel since the days of Moses, the people of Israel demanded a king. Now this demand was not necessarily wrong. After all, it was God who promised Abraham in Genesis that "kings would descend from him" (17:6). The problem was why they wanted a king. You see, the Israelites were having troubles because they were constantly going against the rule of God. And instead of asking, "what is wrong with us," they jumped to the conclusion it was a lack of a king that was their problem. All the other nations seemed to have a king sitting on a throne solving their problems and the Israelites wanted one too. Of course the Lord could have put a stop to this whole thing but He didn't. He told Samuel to give the people what they wanted. Before I go on I need to remind you that we can now see from our vantage point in the New Testament that establishing a monarchy in Israel was all part of the plan. We have the benefit of hearing Gabriel announcing to Mary the birth of a son that she would call Jesus, who the Lord God would give the throne and he would reign forever. But centuries before the birth of the Christ, the monarchy began with Saul. And at first, this guy seemed like a rock-star mainly because he lead Israel's army to some significant victories over their enemies. But what started as a reign full of promise, that promise quickly started to fade. I could cite multiple examples from 1 Samuel that show Saul ignoring God's way in favor of his own way, but today I want to focus on one significant example of Saul's disobedience, which is recorded in chapter 15. In a message from the Lord given through Samuel, Saul was commanded to attack this enemy nation known as the Amalekites, who had been banned by the Lord for their opposition to the Israelites since the days of the Exodus. And the Lord's message was pretty clear--"Go attack them and destroy everything-- the king, the people, the livestock--everything (15:3). Saul took his men, went in and destroyed most of everything but not all. He spared the life of the king... and kept all of the good livestock. Of course this didn't sit well with God who actually tells Samuel He regrets that he made Saul the King (15:10). Now of course this was troublesome, to say the least, for Samuel because now he had to share this news with Saul.

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So the next morning Samuel goes to Saul's place. Saul comes out to greet him and starts telling Samuel how great the battle with the Amalekites went and how he had done everything the Lord had told him to do. In other words, he completely lied! Samuel calls him out but Saul insists he had obeyed the Lord, except for a couple of minor matters like sparing the life of the king and keeping a few animals. Now you might be thinking at this point, "so what?" Maybe he was just being nice by sparing the lives of the king and the animals. But that's not the point. The point is Saul had no problems setting aside parts of the Word of the Lord. He was fine with doing most of what the Lord commanded, but saw bending the rules a little, in order to fit his needs, as no big deal. The bottom line here was that Saul lacked willing obedience to the Word of the Lord. Can you relate? I know I can. It's a sobering truth, but we all know there are times in our lives when we ignore the Word of God. We'll follow what he demands of us in His Word until it gets too hard, or becomes too inconvenient, and then we have no problem with bending the rules to fit our needs. And we do this thinking that God doesn't see what we're doing or even care for that matter. But this too is a lack of willing obedience. And gone unchecked, it can get to the point that our lives resemble those cabinets that looked so good but were slowly being destroyed from the inside out. That's the way it was for Saul. And trust me, his construction did not end well. In fact, it was a complete disaster. Through his repetitive disobedience, Saul eventually forfeited the kingdom to David. Our reading from from 1 Chronicles takes us to the end. Israel's army is defeated, Saul's sons are killed, Saul kills himself to avoid capture, and the Philistines take over. And the reason for all this is stated in verse 13 and it's crystal clear: "Saul died for his breach of faith." So far, this construction story is pretty bleak isn't it? Where is the hope because it sure sounds like we're all doomed! Well, I think we need to understand that the account of Saul's life forces us to examine our own lives in light of who God says we are as his children through our faith in Christ. And to help us see this more clearly, I take you back to the image of the cabinets. But this time I want you to imagine them not from the perspective of the builder or the disappointed buyer, but from the perspective of a curious collector driving past the discarded pile. He sees something unique. He see's something he's never seen before--these beautifully crafted works of art that seem to 3 of 4

have just been thrown away. He stops his truck, knocks on the door, and ask the homeowners if he can haul them away. They agree but warn him of the termites and the damage they had already done. He doesn't care. He loads them up, takes them home, sprays them with insecticide and the next weekend heads out to his lake house where he hangs them piece by piece in the old kitchen he's in the process of renovating. The failed construction project was given new life. What did so much damage was finally killed. The proof was still there in the scars on the wood but the cabinets were given new life and new purpose. I hope you see what I'm getting at here. Saul didn't see his life that way before it was too late. But the end of Saul did not mark the end of God's saving plan. After Saul, the Lord entrusted his kingdom to David and from David's line would come Jesus, whose life, death, and resurrection would establish the kingdom forever. Jesus is the hope and he is the assurance that God is faithful to the promises he makes his people. And because He is faithful, we are to be faithful. And a big part of being faithful people in Christ is that we don't think that we can somehow "get one over" on God. Faithful people turn towards Christ and His sacrifice for us, understanding the scars of sin will still be there but trusting that what caused the damage has been killed. It's called repentance and its called redemption. And this means new life and new purpose for all who believe. Amen.

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