Now Who's the Strong Man?
(Judges 16:1-22)
The book of Judges follows a pretty sad course. Israel starts out serving the Lord. Then they fall into sin and idol worship. They are then enslaved, and finally they cry out to the Lord. God raises up a judge who delivers them, and they serve the Lord again, for a time. Samson was one of those judges. In Judges 13, we read that an angel commanded that the boy would be a Nazirite, set aside for the Lord, as described in Numbers 6.
Not every Bible hero is a priest or a king. Samson was a lay person, specially dedicated to God. The angel told Samson’s parents that he would become a Nazarite and would begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines (Judges 13:5b). The important characteristic of a Nazirite is that she or he is holy, set apart for God, marked for God’s service. Their vows required non-conformity from them; they were not supposed to act like the people around them. They totally abstained from wine – to the point that they wouldn’t even touch the skin of a grape. They never cut their hair. And they never came into contact with a dead body.
How do you look at a commitment like that? Samson seems to have taken only one part of his vows seriously: the hair part.
Understand that by the time we get to Judges 16, which I read from this morning, Samson was already married to a Philistine woman… for four days. During this time, he killed a lion barehanded; later he returned to find bees and honey inside. In direct contradiction to his Nazirite vows, he scooped out the honey and ate it.
Now it doesn’t seem that bad, does it? I mean, what’s really wrong with that? Here’s the deal: nothing is wrong with it. Except that as a Nazirite he was not supposed to touch anything dead. Get this: the Nazirite vow was almost never recorded to be a life-long vow; in fact, it was usually a vow that someone took for a set amount of time. For one example, the Apostle Paul took a Nazirite vow in Acts 21 for a time (to demonstrate that he was living in obedience to the Law). In other words, Samson was special, even as a Nazirite, as he was set apart by God for his entire life.
We mostly know Samson for his mighty physical strength, but his physical strength was not accompanied by strength of character. On the outside, Samson looked the part. He looked just like a Nazirite was supposed to look with the long hair and all that. Everyone knew his story – how he’d been set apart from before he was born. For God. To be their hero.
But the truth was, Samson was not like he appeared. Though he put on the best appearances, and though he was called the leader of his people, and though God Himself called Samson and appointed him to deliver His people from the Philistines, Samson lived a compartmentalized life.
He looked like a leader. He frequently attacked the Philistines and seemed to be the type of military leader that the Israelites wanted. Yet he withheld his best from God. In Samson’s case, it was his sexuality he withheld from God. The first thing we find Samson doing in the scripture I read today is visiting a prostitute. He had previously married a Philistine woman, who he married simply because he thought she was hot, never taking into account the fact that he was supposed to be set apart by God and for God.
Let me take a moment to talk to you about strength of character. One mark of having strong character is when every aspect of your character lines up in obedience with God’s commands. This means everything. When it involves dating relationships, one of the first questions must be: “In what direction is this person going?” If you are on fire for Jesus Christ and you end up with a spouse who doesn’t care at all about God, you are in store for a life of heartache. This isn’t to say that a spouse or a girlfriend or boyfriend can’t bring their partner to know the Lord, but trust me on this one: missionary dating usually does not work, and it usually brings trouble. In college I had a friend who I’ll call Jim. Several of us were praying for Jim to come to the Lord and were actively witnessing to him. One funny thing was that the only college women Jim was attracted to were Christians. I remember one young woman, Carol, who told him she wouldn’t date him because he didn’t know Jesus. Jim then decided to check out this Christianity thing, and before long, he knew Jesus and gave his life to Him. Oh, and now Jim and Carol and their two daughters are very involved in their church and love Jesus as a family. Carol had absolute standards for the guys she would date, and loving Jesus Christ was one of those standards.
And we’ll just say that we can be pretty sure Samson wasn’t going in to the prostitute or to Delilah to talk about Yahweh, the one true God. In fact, it wasn’t for quite a while that he even told Delilah why he had that nappy hair. Which is completely in line with Samson’s character.
Quite plainly, though Samson looked the part of the Nazirite, he really was led by his temptations rather than by God. Some of you know full well what temptation is like; it seems like you are assailed on every front. Guess what: you might be in a better place than someone who doesn’t feel tempted. In a recent study, Loran Nordgren of my alma mater came to the conclusion that if you think you’re good at resisting temptation, you’re probably not.
You can read the story here.
Here’s the thing: if you think you can resist, that there’s no way you’re going to fall into that temptation, chances are higher that you will put yourself into a scenario in which you’re more likely to fall. Nordgren’s advice: “Avoid situations where such weaknesses thrive, and remember you're not that invincible.” In my junior year of college, I lived this out. In my first couple of years in college, I had spent a lot of time partying, and that had to change. My fraternity brothers expected the usual, and since I didn’t think I was strong enough to resist, I started scheduling work hours for the nights when my fraternity would have parties. I would call around and say, “I see you’re on the schedule to work Saturday night’s rotation; you want to get out of it?” Then I wouldn’t be around to fall in the face of temptation.
Samson put himself into the wrong situations over and over again. He was such a strong man, physically, but when it came to temptation, Samson was a weakling.
Some of you are probably glancing around thinking, “These people are all so strong. They’ve all got it all together.” If you’re thinking that, it’s because we’re good at putting on our best faces and covering everything else. Like Samson, who was recognized as a Nazirite because of his dreadlocks, many of us are recognized as Christians because we look the part. Inside, however, might be a different story. Really, if you’re weak, you’ve come to the right place, because the rest of us are, too. We’re in the same boat. But we’re all called to live victoriously.
What are some steps we can take to live build strong character?
You can read it online here.
It’s an allegory of Jesus being invited in to a house, and coming in and cleaning house, room by room. Finally, when the whole house has been cleaned, we get to the final thought.
Then a thought came to me. I said to myself, “I have been trying to keep this heart of mine clean and available for Christ but it is hard work. I start on one room and no sooner have I cleaned it than I discover another room is dirty. I begin on the second room and the first is already dusty again. I’m getting tired of trying to maintain a clean heart and an obedient life. I am just not up to it!”
Suddenly I asked, “Lord, is there a possibility that You would be willing to manage the whole house and operate it for me as You did that closet? Could I give to you the responsibility of keeping my heart what it ought to be and myself doing what I ought to be doing?”
I could see his face light up as he replied, “I’d love to! This is exactly what I came to do. You can’t live out the Christian life in your own strength. Let me do it for you and through you. That’s the only way it will really work! But,” he added slowly, “I am not the owner of this house. Remember, I am here as your guest. I have no authority to take charge, since the property is not mine.”
In a flash it all became clear. Excitedly I exclaimed, “Lord, You have been my guest and I have been trying to play the host. You are going to be the owner and master of the house. I’m going to be the servant!”
Running as fast as I could to the strongbox, I took out the title deed to the house describing its assets and liabilities, its condition, location and situation. Then rushing back to him, I eagerly signed it over giving title to him alone for time and eternity. Dropping to my knees, I presented it to him. “Here it is, all that I am and have, forever. Now you run the house. Just let me stay with you as a servant and friend.”
He took my life that day and I can give you my word, there is no better way to live the Christian life. He knows how to keep it and use it. A deep peace settled down on my soul that has remained. Am and his and he is mine forever!
May Christ settle down and be at home as Lord of your heart also.
(quoted from My Heart, Christ's Home, new expanded version, by Robert Boyd Munger, IVP 1986.)
The book of Judges follows a pretty sad course. Israel starts out serving the Lord. Then they fall into sin and idol worship. They are then enslaved, and finally they cry out to the Lord. God raises up a judge who delivers them, and they serve the Lord again, for a time. Samson was one of those judges. In Judges 13, we read that an angel commanded that the boy would be a Nazirite, set aside for the Lord, as described in Numbers 6.
Not every Bible hero is a priest or a king. Samson was a lay person, specially dedicated to God. The angel told Samson’s parents that he would become a Nazarite and would begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines (Judges 13:5b). The important characteristic of a Nazirite is that she or he is holy, set apart for God, marked for God’s service. Their vows required non-conformity from them; they were not supposed to act like the people around them. They totally abstained from wine – to the point that they wouldn’t even touch the skin of a grape. They never cut their hair. And they never came into contact with a dead body.
How do you look at a commitment like that? Samson seems to have taken only one part of his vows seriously: the hair part.
Understand that by the time we get to Judges 16, which I read from this morning, Samson was already married to a Philistine woman… for four days. During this time, he killed a lion barehanded; later he returned to find bees and honey inside. In direct contradiction to his Nazirite vows, he scooped out the honey and ate it.
Now it doesn’t seem that bad, does it? I mean, what’s really wrong with that? Here’s the deal: nothing is wrong with it. Except that as a Nazirite he was not supposed to touch anything dead. Get this: the Nazirite vow was almost never recorded to be a life-long vow; in fact, it was usually a vow that someone took for a set amount of time. For one example, the Apostle Paul took a Nazirite vow in Acts 21 for a time (to demonstrate that he was living in obedience to the Law). In other words, Samson was special, even as a Nazirite, as he was set apart by God for his entire life.
We mostly know Samson for his mighty physical strength, but his physical strength was not accompanied by strength of character. On the outside, Samson looked the part. He looked just like a Nazirite was supposed to look with the long hair and all that. Everyone knew his story – how he’d been set apart from before he was born. For God. To be their hero.
But the truth was, Samson was not like he appeared. Though he put on the best appearances, and though he was called the leader of his people, and though God Himself called Samson and appointed him to deliver His people from the Philistines, Samson lived a compartmentalized life.
He looked like a leader. He frequently attacked the Philistines and seemed to be the type of military leader that the Israelites wanted. Yet he withheld his best from God. In Samson’s case, it was his sexuality he withheld from God. The first thing we find Samson doing in the scripture I read today is visiting a prostitute. He had previously married a Philistine woman, who he married simply because he thought she was hot, never taking into account the fact that he was supposed to be set apart by God and for God.
Let me take a moment to talk to you about strength of character. One mark of having strong character is when every aspect of your character lines up in obedience with God’s commands. This means everything. When it involves dating relationships, one of the first questions must be: “In what direction is this person going?” If you are on fire for Jesus Christ and you end up with a spouse who doesn’t care at all about God, you are in store for a life of heartache. This isn’t to say that a spouse or a girlfriend or boyfriend can’t bring their partner to know the Lord, but trust me on this one: missionary dating usually does not work, and it usually brings trouble. In college I had a friend who I’ll call Jim. Several of us were praying for Jim to come to the Lord and were actively witnessing to him. One funny thing was that the only college women Jim was attracted to were Christians. I remember one young woman, Carol, who told him she wouldn’t date him because he didn’t know Jesus. Jim then decided to check out this Christianity thing, and before long, he knew Jesus and gave his life to Him. Oh, and now Jim and Carol and their two daughters are very involved in their church and love Jesus as a family. Carol had absolute standards for the guys she would date, and loving Jesus Christ was one of those standards.
And we’ll just say that we can be pretty sure Samson wasn’t going in to the prostitute or to Delilah to talk about Yahweh, the one true God. In fact, it wasn’t for quite a while that he even told Delilah why he had that nappy hair. Which is completely in line with Samson’s character.
Quite plainly, though Samson looked the part of the Nazirite, he really was led by his temptations rather than by God. Some of you know full well what temptation is like; it seems like you are assailed on every front. Guess what: you might be in a better place than someone who doesn’t feel tempted. In a recent study, Loran Nordgren of my alma mater came to the conclusion that if you think you’re good at resisting temptation, you’re probably not.
You can read the story here.
Here’s the thing: if you think you can resist, that there’s no way you’re going to fall into that temptation, chances are higher that you will put yourself into a scenario in which you’re more likely to fall. Nordgren’s advice: “Avoid situations where such weaknesses thrive, and remember you're not that invincible.” In my junior year of college, I lived this out. In my first couple of years in college, I had spent a lot of time partying, and that had to change. My fraternity brothers expected the usual, and since I didn’t think I was strong enough to resist, I started scheduling work hours for the nights when my fraternity would have parties. I would call around and say, “I see you’re on the schedule to work Saturday night’s rotation; you want to get out of it?” Then I wouldn’t be around to fall in the face of temptation.
Samson put himself into the wrong situations over and over again. He was such a strong man, physically, but when it came to temptation, Samson was a weakling.
Some of you are probably glancing around thinking, “These people are all so strong. They’ve all got it all together.” If you’re thinking that, it’s because we’re good at putting on our best faces and covering everything else. Like Samson, who was recognized as a Nazirite because of his dreadlocks, many of us are recognized as Christians because we look the part. Inside, however, might be a different story. Really, if you’re weak, you’ve come to the right place, because the rest of us are, too. We’re in the same boat. But we’re all called to live victoriously.
What are some steps we can take to live build strong character?
- Plug into the Lord. Spend serious time in the Word and in prayer. Pray with other Christians. We don’t have any indication that Samson ever consulted the Lord in anything he did. I’m sure Samson would have done better as a part of a cell group.
- Honesty. Admit that you’ve got struggles. When you admit it, that’s the first step to overcoming. What’s dishonesty when you’re dealing with struggles? It’s the guy who yells, “I don’t have a problem with anger, and if anyone says I do, I’ll hurt ‘em!
- Invite accountability. Surround yourself with some trustworthy people with whom you can share your struggles. Tell them plainly what your issues are and ask them to really ask you about them. When I was going through that growth time in college, it was my fraternity brother David and his roommate Nick who held me accountable. Now I’ve got a couple of guys who I meet with every other week for encouragement and accountability. I’ve given them permission to ask the tough questions. It’s absolutely important to be honest with your struggles. This is why 12-step programs are so helpful; because there people understand the struggle, and you don’t have to put on the “I’m so good” mask. You can really be yourself.
- Be a support person. When someone shares a struggle with you, don’t gossip; don’t tell others, not even as a prayer request, without consent.
- Give all of yourself to Jesus, not just part.
You can read it online here.
It’s an allegory of Jesus being invited in to a house, and coming in and cleaning house, room by room. Finally, when the whole house has been cleaned, we get to the final thought.
Then a thought came to me. I said to myself, “I have been trying to keep this heart of mine clean and available for Christ but it is hard work. I start on one room and no sooner have I cleaned it than I discover another room is dirty. I begin on the second room and the first is already dusty again. I’m getting tired of trying to maintain a clean heart and an obedient life. I am just not up to it!”
Suddenly I asked, “Lord, is there a possibility that You would be willing to manage the whole house and operate it for me as You did that closet? Could I give to you the responsibility of keeping my heart what it ought to be and myself doing what I ought to be doing?”
I could see his face light up as he replied, “I’d love to! This is exactly what I came to do. You can’t live out the Christian life in your own strength. Let me do it for you and through you. That’s the only way it will really work! But,” he added slowly, “I am not the owner of this house. Remember, I am here as your guest. I have no authority to take charge, since the property is not mine.”
In a flash it all became clear. Excitedly I exclaimed, “Lord, You have been my guest and I have been trying to play the host. You are going to be the owner and master of the house. I’m going to be the servant!”
Running as fast as I could to the strongbox, I took out the title deed to the house describing its assets and liabilities, its condition, location and situation. Then rushing back to him, I eagerly signed it over giving title to him alone for time and eternity. Dropping to my knees, I presented it to him. “Here it is, all that I am and have, forever. Now you run the house. Just let me stay with you as a servant and friend.”
He took my life that day and I can give you my word, there is no better way to live the Christian life. He knows how to keep it and use it. A deep peace settled down on my soul that has remained. Am and his and he is mine forever!
May Christ settle down and be at home as Lord of your heart also.
(quoted from My Heart, Christ's Home, new expanded version, by Robert Boyd Munger, IVP 1986.)
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