Samson: A Confusing Paradigm

Samson: A Confusing Paradigm 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Have you ever tried to live with your feet in two worlds - the Kingdom of God and the world?

How did that work for you?

How did it end up in the end?

Focus: Just because you are used of God, doesn’t mean you won’t be judged by God - be holy!

• Then There Was Delilah

• Ignoring all of the Signs 

• Blindness, Death and Redemption

Then There Was Delilah

Samson’s downfall was steady, then all at once. 

Judges 16:1-6 ESV

“Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.””

God loves blessing his children in the right way, at the right time with the right people - all according to his wisdom and eternal plan in Christ (Romans 8).  

One of the goals of our lives is learning to trust this truth.  

When you belong to Jesus, your life is no longer your own.  

When we lose sight of this fact, sin enters in when we decide to do what is best in our own eyes rather than God’s, and we try to take our destinies into our own hands. 

I don’t know how it can be any more clear than this:

I Corinthians 6:12-17 ESV

“"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

I Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

Unchecked sin is a slippery slope.  

This is why John the Baptist warned that we should bear fruit in keeping with repentance (a lifestyle of it). 

Matthew 3:8-10 ESV

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Once you get used to living in one measure of unrepentant sin, it becomes easier to open a door to add additional rebellion. 

Samson’s presumption that God would continually be with him despite his actions resulted in Samson persisting in more consistent and brazen measures of disobedience.  

People have been hurt because they’ve seen men and women of God, who’ve been used mightily of God but were full of sin that destroyed their relationships, their families and even their view of God himself.  

This is to help clarify things.  

The reality is that God will use people for his purposes even when they are in sin.  

This is because God’s great love and compassion for his people and the world will not be short-circuited by individual sin. 

However, it does not mean that he will not judge the individual sin, even while he is using the people in mighty ways.  

Don’t be misled and don’t deceive yourself.  

Jesus is your perfect standard and everyone will be held 

accountable to God.  

In fact, the Scripture tells us that judgment begins in the house of God.  

Jesus also gave this warning:

Matthew 7:15-23 ESV 

“"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”

Balaam provided a way for Israel to be led into sin - through sexual temptation and immorality. 

Remember that there was nothing that Balaam could do to curse Israel because God had blessed them - but Israel could call curses on themselves through sin. 

The moral of the story - be holy and be pure. 

‭‭

Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV

“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”‬‬

Samson’s sin would eventually catch up with him. 

All of the warning signs were there which he chose to ignore because of how his flesh was being satisfied. 

You can not talk about Samson without talking about sexual immorality. 

You can not talk about sexual immorality without talking about pornography. 

God wants to free you and heal you. 

To the unmarried:

• Stop Netflix and chilling with your time and find something more public to do if you want to win. 

• The same self control that you learn to exhibit as a fruit of the Holy Spirit before you are married is the same self control or lack thereof that you will exhibit when you are married.   

• The only difference is it will have greater consequences for better or for worse.  

To the married:

• You will reap what you sow. 

• Learn to sow into and (husbands especially) cultivate your spouse rather than looking for the easy road of uncommitted affection.  

• This is why people love dogs 😆. 

Delilah was eventually introduced as a trap that would play on Samson’s sin, accentuate his disconnect from God and lead to his downfall. 

Ignoring all of the Signs 

God gives many opportunities to wake up and turn before sudden destruction. 

Judges 16:7-22 ESV

“Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” Then the Lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web. And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the Lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”

You can not outrun the consequences of sin if you are committed to it. 

Samson begins to lie to Delilah, thinking that if he can just keep stringing her along, he will be able to have his cake and eat it too.  

*It may not be hair, but when we forsake  our consecration, we eventually lose the supernatural grace and power of God, when we try to serve two masters. 

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:24 ESV 

“"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

It is not just about you and money. 

You can not serve, for example, God and lust, sex, unholy ambition or just plain old hedonism.  

Enjoy them with the right person at the right time (monogamous, covenantal marriage) and all these things are ultimately blessed.  

“If you asked twenty men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to the desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Blindness, Death and Redemption

Redemption will always come in repentance and death - death to sin and the death of Christ to bring us life.  

Judges 16:23-31 ESV

“Now the Lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” Now the house was full of men and women. All the Lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained. Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the Lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.”

Again, a confusing paradigm is how the mighty have fallen, have been greatly used by God, but were full of unrepentant sin.  

May this provide clarification and healing - but also a warning to us all. 

Samson gave up his consecration and was judged - but found redemption in the end through his sacrificial death. 

“We must not be troubled by the unbelievers when they say that this promise of rewards makes the Christian life a mercenary affair. There are different kinds of rewards. There is the reward which has no natural connection with the things you do to earn it, and is quite foreign to the desire that ought to accompany those things. Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man a mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not a mercenary for desiring it. A general who fights well in order to get a peerage is a mercenary; a general who fights for victory is not, victory being the proper reward of battle as marriage is the proper reward of love. The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

I Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Have you been reconciled to God?

*We all need to be prepared for death which will come for us in unexpected ways. 

You will not be right with God because of any of your good works, nor will your evil deeds be ignored.  

The only hope that we have of eternal life is repentance and faith in the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ at the cross for you. 

Through his death, he paid the penalty for our lifetime of disobedience and rebellion against God - to atone for sins. 

By his burial and resurrection, we can put away the old man in baptism and rise through faith in the power of God to the freedom of a forgiven and redirected life.  

We can be new creations living out the rest of our days in our redemption road in Christ - for his pleasure and glory alone.  

I Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

The Lord knows those who are his (II Timothy 2:19).  

Be counted in that number. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Samson: God in the Midst of Chaos

Samson: God in the Midst of Chaos 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God can be found, his care felt and his will done, even in the midst of the chaos of our lives.  

• Cycles

• Victories in the Midst of Chaos

• God Still Cares 

Cycles 

All decisions have consequences, even if made impetuously.  

Judges 15:1-8 ESV

“After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.”

The cycle of the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris this year reminds us that life is meant to be a marathon with God, not just a sprint. 

There is a lot of life and unspoken detail in the pages of Scripture that speak to the apex moments we have highlighted from which we can learn lessons from the men and women of who encountered God. 

Life can feel like a marathon that is long and grueling, but understand that it is the sum total of decisions made daily that God wants to use as a testimony to his love, gospel and glory.  

Your life is a testimony (of God’s faithfulness) to be built. 

The impetuous results of our decision making always come with consequences. 

Here, Samson ends up working vengeance against the Philistines because his Philistine wife was given to his companion, his best man at his wedding, when there were perceived marital issues between Samson and his wife (Judges 14:20). 

This begins a cycle of retaliation, where the Philistines burn his wife and father-in-law to death because of Samson burning their stacked grain, standing grain and olive orchards of the Philistines with the 300 foxes.   

Marriage is a beautiful thing instituted by God and people are blessed when they enter into such a covenant. 

Proverbs 18:22

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”

However, we need to kill the idolatry that surrounds romantic relationships in our culture where people derive their value, significance, sense of accomplishment and acceptance from such relationships.  

Covenant relationships within the body of Christ are amazingly valuable and are not a consolation prize for those who didn’t find a spouse.   

II Samuel 1:25-27 ESV

“"How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! "Jonathan lies slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women. "How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!"”

You can live a happy, fulfilled and life of great Kingdom significance without ever getting married.   

We know this by looking at the life of our Lord and Savior - Jesus.  

Paul said, those who marry will have trouble in the world and he wanted to spare people this (I Corinthians 7). 

Matthew 19:7-9 ESV

“They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?" He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."”

After Jesus said you can not divorce a person except for marital unfaithfulness (adultery) Peter said it was better then not to marry, to which Jesus replied: 

Matthew 19:10-12

“The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." But he said to them, "Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it."”

You can live your entire life as an unmarried single and fulfill the will of God for your life.  

You can die an early death and in it have completely glorified God and fulfilled his will. 

How do I know these things?

It is because they are the very things that Jesus did. 

The more that we reject these truths, the more chaotic things become in our souls and the world we create with impulsive decisions and the problematic cycles that follow. 

“The more people marginalize the true God of the Bible, the more chaotic things become.”

-Dr. Tony Evans

What cycles does Jesus want to break in your life to bring you into his gospel good?

Victories in the Midst of Chaos

God can move even in the midst of the chaos of our lives. 

Judges 15:9-17 ESV

“Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.”

It may not be your preference, but it could be God’s will - seek Christ in the midst of the chaos.

What is it in your life that you may not have chosen, but God is definitively using for his Kingdom purposes?

“Sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom so that you see that He is the Rock at the bottom.”

-Dr. Tony Evans 

God Still Cares 

God still cares for his people, even in the midst of mistakes - this is a gospel of grace. 

Judges 15:18-20 ESV

“And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.”

Sometimes we overspirtualize our need while God wants to give us natural remedies to revive us while breaking cycles in our lives.  

You are spirit, soul (mind, will and emotions) and body.  

I Thessalonians 5:14-24 ESV

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

God made and cares about every aspect of you. 

God gave Samson water out of the hollow place to revive his spirit.  

Though very real, not every challenge is spiritual warfare.  

For example:

• If you are fatigued, you may need to rest and get better sleep.  

• When you are hungry, you may need to eat.  

• If you are lethargic, you may need more exercise and a better diet. 

• If you are stressed, you may need to unplug from devices and get some quiet restoration in nature.  

How this will change our daily living:

How often do we treat the people who are closest to us the worst while giving our best efforts and energy to those who wouldn’t think twice about us if push came to shove?

Here’s the point - the gospel has to translate to the way that I treat my spouse, my kids, my parents, my sister, my neighbors, my co-workers, my friends (which is usually easiest for people) and the world at large. 

God cares about it all. 

If it does not, I am deceiving myself.   

Here is the good news as I seek to find God’s care in the midst of the chaos:

Romans 5:6-11 ESV

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Let’s come to Christ at the cross in repentance and faith to break destructive cycles, find him in the midst of the chaos and ultimately rest in his eternal care.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Samson: Cracks in the Foundation

Samson: Cracks in the Foundation

Pastor Rollan Fisher

This is Pentecost Sunday

Focus: Just because we can, doesn’t mean that we should - we need to obey God. 

• A Question of Values 

• Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should 

• Cracks and the Cross 

A Question of Values 

The choices that we make in life need to be aligned with God’s values in Jesus if they are going to be blessed.  

If we don’t govern ourselves this way, we have no one to blame but ourselves for the consequences. 

Judges 14:1-4 ESV

“Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, "I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife." But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes." His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.”

This is wedding season 

People say to me all of the time - “well God made my mistakes right in the end.” 

The background here is that God had given instruction to the Israelites not to intermarry with the Canaanites who he was driving out of the land - not because of their difference in ethnicity, but because of their difference in values.  

If they gave their sons and daughters in marriage to the people of Canaan, God forewarned that this would lead to the Israelites worshiping other gods, having other things other than Yahweh ruling their lives.  

Deuteronomy 7:1-5

This is a theme that was repeated in the New Testament when God through the apostle Paul commanded the new believers not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers - those who were not trying to wholeheartedly serve Jesus. 

II Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Have you ever been in a relationship where you were unequally yoked?

Who did you end up choosing in that relationship when it came to living a holy life - God or that romantic interest?

How was that a warning sign to you of things to come?

An important note needs to be made here - just because God used Samson’s disregard for the commands of God, doesn’t mean that God approved of it.  

The issue is that God has plans that are bigger than any of our individual lives, and if he has to use our willful disobedience to accomplish his purposes, including our inevitable demise, he will. 

Samson’s parents appealed to him not to live in disobedience to God, but Samson persisted.  

If you have adult children who are wayward, do not condemn yourself.  

They have decisions and a judgment from God that they must face on their own. 

However, through your fasting, prayers, love and earnest appeals, you can make it as hard as possible for them to go to hell. 

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should 

We think that because we have the the ability to live the way we want without immediate consequence, that somehow God doesn’t see or doesn’t care.  

We couldn’t be more wrong.

Judges 14:5-9

“Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes. After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.”

Samson’s parents eventually acquiesced to Samson’s appeal for the Philistine wife. 

In parenting, especially with young children, you must not get worn down by their persistent disobedience.  

Do not check out and begin to ignore their behavior, escaping into the entertainment and social media world.  

*Love, clarity and consistency are the keys to godly parenting and discipline.    

Judges 13-17 display 10 feats of strength and heroism by Samson - the first five mentioning the Spirit of the Lord; the last five not.  

This is all very relevant as we consider the significance of Pentecost Sunday when God would pour out his Spirit on those committed to Jesus that they might be supernaturally empowered witnesses of him to the nations (Acts 2). 

Rather than defeating the nations, through Christ’s gospel, we see a harvest of redeemed lives from the nations. 

*Samson was developing patterns of dismissive disobedience. 

Jesus said the Holy Spirit is in the world not only to empower the servants of God, but amongst other things, to convict the world in his kindness of sin, righteousness and the judgment to come.  

You may identify it as your conscience, but the conviction that you feel when things are off is more than that - it is God’s law written upon your heart (Romans 2:15,16) and the Holy Spirit trying to bring you back to the blessing of God’s direction and commands.  

Jesus said:

John 16:7-11 ESV

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

What has the Holy Spirit been convicting you of that you have tried to ignore or remember running from years ago that set a trajectory for your life?  

Romans 2:4-11 ESV

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”

Samson’s sin and secrecy started to have detrimental effects. 

Samson had learned to live without dependence on the Spirit of God which would inevitably lead to his demise.  

This is a great threat and danger to us all. 

Yet Jesus, the better Samson, would live in step with the Spirit of God and would inevitably give his life to defeat his people’s enemies - sin and death.  

Cracks and the Cross 

When we recognize the cracks in our life foundations, the pattern of bad decisions that have caused inordinate trouble in our broken lives, it should lead us back to the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Judges 14:10-20 ESV

“His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. And Samson said to them, "Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes." And they said to him, "Put your riddle, that we may hear it." And he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet." And in three days they could not solve the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?" And Samson's wife wept over him and said, "You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?" She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.”

We try to justify why we are where we are and our sin by convoluting them with life’s riddles and saying “this is just the way life goes.”

Yet Jesus sees through all of this.  

The cross is our pathway home. 

At the cross of Jesus Christ are forgiveness, restoration and healing. 

Redemption can come when the family has lost its way and has gone astray.  

Repentance and faith are offered by God.  

Romans 3:23-26 ESV

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

God is both just and wants to be the justifier of those who come to him through Jesus.  

The gifts and call of God are without repentance. 

Romans 11:29 ESV

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

May you listen to the Holy Spirit today as he is beckoning you to the cross and repentance to resurrect callings thought dead and reorder dreams centered on Christ.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Samson: Part 1

Samson: Part 1

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: Parents are charged by God to set their children up for a life of love for, consecration to and mission in Jesus.  

• A Mother’s Instruction

• Mission

• My God Who Stirs

A Mother’s Instruction

We should look to God for instruction on how to live consecrated (set apart) lives in Christ.  

Judges 13:1-7 ESV

”And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”“

The challenge today is how to raise our kids in such a taxing world. 

My dad continually says it was easier in his day. 

The good news is there is a God who cares and is seeking to be involved as Lord and Savior of our family lives.  

Mothers have an incalculable place in forming and shaping the lives of their children.  

From birthing to feeding to nurturing and instructing, to comforting, providing, correcting and teaching, the responsibility list for a mother seems endless. 

And often goes thankless.  

Yet we honor and thank our mothers today. 

Over and over again in Scripture, we see the awesome influence of mothers shaping kings and gospel heroes alike.  

We have the model of a godly woman from the lips of a Spirit-led mother instructing her son on how to live:

Proverbs 31:1

“The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:”

and what things to look for in a godly wife:

Proverbs 31:10

“An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.”

The apostle Paul speaking to his young disciple Timothy acknowledges the importance of his grandmother and mother:

2 Timothy 1:5

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”

In the case of Samson, it was no different.  

Samson lived about 50 years before Saul would be made the first king of Israel. 

He would be the twelfth and last of the recorded judges who attempted to rule Israel at a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes, lived in sin and consequently under the oppression of foreign peoples.  

In Samson’s time, Israel lived under the constant oppression of the Philistines.  

When God wanted to raise up a deliverer in Samson, he started first with a godly mother to whom he would give instruction that she would receive and bring to her family.  

What Samson’s mother learned is that when God gives us children, they are to be a gift not only to the family, but understood as a God-given gift to the world for Christ’s purposes.  

v. 5

“…and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 

*Our main objective as parents should be to raise our children to know, love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  

“Far too many parents are more interested in their kids making the team than making the Kingdom.”

-Dr. Tony Evans 

Did you grow up knowing the gospel?

Do your children know the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?

A good tool created by Dr. Rice Broocks, author of God’s Not Dead, can be utilized as a memory tool unto this end:

Mission

We should parent and live with God’s gospel mission in view. 

Judges 13:8-14 ESV

“Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born." And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me." And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to this woman?" And he said, "I am." And Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?" And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe."”

Samson’s mother had the initial revelation from the angel regarding how Samson was to be set apart to God.  

When this is the case, run to bring your husband in so that he too may develop a conviction before the Lord. 

When possible, do not leave the child rearing to a single parent - Manoah also prayed to get revelation and a conviction from God as to how they were to raise Samson that they might do so before God in unity.  

When Manoah prayed, the angel appeared again to Samson’s mother while Manoah was away, but she was quick to go get Manoah so that the angel might speak the same thing to Samson’s father. 

“God, teach us how to raise this child!” should be our cry as parents. 

God’s instruction to Samson’s parents was for them to raise Samson in a life of  consecration. 

The Nazirite vow was usually voluntary - in this case it was Samson’s calling from birth. 

12 And Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?" And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe."”

We need to ask as parents “what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is their mission?”

*The angel responded not with a detailed report of all that Samson would do, but that which would prepare him for his mission.  

As parents, do not feel pressured to have a life plan for your child, but give them a plan of how they should live before the Lord.  

What things?

Teach them who God is in Jesus as revealed by his word. 

Teach them where to find God while committed to a Biblically grounded church community. 

Teach them how to seek God’s face to serve Jesus as a part of his people on a gospel mission. 

That is our responsibility as parents - to love our children and prepare them for their God-given mission by raising them in the instruction of the Lord.  

“It is far easier to shape a child than to repair an adult.”

-Dr. Tony Evans 

A good resource for this parenting task is:

My God Who Stirs 

We should cultivate a life of encounters with Jesus that our families (both natural and spiritual) might be continually stirred to God’s Kingdom cause in Jesus.  

Parents need to set their children up for encounters with God that will propel that mission by modeling encounters with God themselves.  

Judges 13:15-20 ESV

“Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you." And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord." (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?" And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.”

All sustained Christian mission springs from encounters with the living God.  

Judges 13:21-25 ESV

“The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these." And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.”

The same God who instructed Samson’s mother, and then father, began to stir Samson as he lived in Mahaneh-Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 

As the children grow, we should help them cultivate a relationship with God so that God might bless them and the Spirit of the Lord might begin stirring them to his Kingdom purposes for their lives. 

Samson’s name was derived from the Hebrew word semes, which meant “sun.”

So Samson would bear the attribute of God who is called “a sun and shield” in Psalm 84:11, acting as a protector and watching over the people of Israel in his generation, acting as its judge/leader. 

“Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something that you do but someone you raise.”

-Andy Stanley 

John and Charles Wesley's mother's story. 

Mothers have a unique role in pointing their children to the better Samson. 

We have a better Samson in Jesus whose birth and mission were also prophesied by the angel.  

Jesus had parents who would raise him with the person, purposes and people of God in view (ref. The Gospel of Luke). 

Jesus too was consecrated at birth, and would grow in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.  

Jesus would be stirred even as a child to be in his Father’s house, learning the word and presence of God that would prepare him for his ultimate mission - to save humanity not from the Philistines but from sin and death itself.  

At the cross Jesus would fulfill that mission taking on the punishment that we all deserve for doing what is right in our own eyes as Israel did, living in rebellion to God.  

Though we may have suffered consequences of our choices up to this point, we can be reconciled and set apart to God because of Jesus’ sinless life lived in our place, death on the cross for our wrongdoing and resurrection from the dead.  

Through repentance and faith, we can come back to God and be stirred as his children, by his Spirit, for our Christ-honoring, God ordained purpose in life.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher