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Be Careful What You Ask For · The Grove Church

• 0:01
  Charlie Loften: Hello, and welcome to The Grove Church podcast. I'm Charlie Loften, the lead pastor there, and we are so glad that you're joining us. Whether you are a member and you're just catching up on a sermon that you missed or you're someone who's brand new, we are really glad that you were joining us. And if you are new in some way, and I know that a lot of people will do that, we'll listen to sermons first before they visit. I want you to know that we would love to meet you at any point.
• 0:25
  You can join us live in our services on Sunday, nine and 10:30 or our streaming service at 10:30. Either way, we would love to be able to get to know you. And regardless of why you are here listening to this sermon today, thank you so much for joining us. Hey, good morning. If you're new, I'm Charlie.
• 0:44
  I'm the lead pastor here and really glad you're here. And if I've not got a chance to meet you, I'd love to do that after the service. I'll just kind of be standing there in the back and we just love to talk to you and see if there's any way we can help you as you're kind of exploring churches, figuring out where you want to land. We just love to get to know you, and again, just really glad you are here. And I hope everybody had a great day yesterday.
• 1:07
  I had a great yesterday. I was in my home away from home, Bud Walton Arena, big win for the Razorbacks. I know it was an exhibition game, but it is that glorious time of year, basketball season. So I hope everybody's excited as I am. I know that's really not possible.
• 1:21
  Anyways, really glad you guys are here. We're in the middle of a series we're doing through the life of Samuel, and we started and we kind of got to hear a lot about his calling, and some of this happened even before he was born. We have this this moment where his mom who's struggling with infertility, where God blesses her with a son, and she said,
• 1:40
  you know, if if you
• 1:41
  bless me, I will I will dedicate to him, and he becomes this incredible prophet. And it was later, when as a child, he personally hears God's voice as well, and God calls him to kind of be his primary spokesperson to the entire nation of Israel. And the first and second first and second Samuel was kind of full of just kind of records of Samuel's faithfulness to God. And last week, the people had finally turned back to God after years of rebellion, And he is able to kind of help them get back to relationship with God. And right at the moment where they are repenting and kind of worshiping and getting back to God, they end up being surrounded by their enemies.
• 2:25
  And God shows up for them in a really big way to kind of rescue them, to again, to kind of show His power and His love and devotion to them. Hey, if you will follow me, man, I will do incredible things for you. And that's important because the juxtaposition here of like for us in this story, God does this incredible thing, shows up for Him in this really powerful way. And now in the very next chapter, it's years later for them, but for us it's kind of the next chapter. And so the juxtaposition is interesting because now we're into a story where they're kind of struggling with identity.
• 3:04
  Kind of who are we? You know, what kind of nation are we? Like, what makes us great? And and what do we need? Like, what do we need as a nation to kind of feel good about who we are?
• 3:16
  So it's almost like an identity crisis of sorts. And I've experienced this in various degrees in my life, in fact, some of my earliest memories. This is going to sound like a brag, it's important to the story. I was a really, really, really smart kid, really smart kid, and I took a lot of pride in that. I mean, like when you're a smart kid and you go to school, you get a lot of praise from that.
• 3:42
  Like the teachers will say a lot to You get to know other teachers and the principal and everybody knows who you are, and everybody's talking about how smart you are. It's really cool. Your mom brags about you a lot, right? And that's kind of cool. It's like, I'm a really smart kid, and I took a lot of esteem from this.
• 3:58
  And in my first grade year, I was going to the elementary school that's in our neighborhood, but they were going to start a gifted and talented program, not at our school, but where everybody from the city would go to this one school. And it was kind of the equivalent of an inner city school, made for a town of 22,000. And so everybody was supposed to come to this. And so I went through this battery of tests. And of course, me, even at six years old, very competitive, I want to do great.
• 4:24
  And I did great on all these tests. And so my mom was proud, I was proud, and I was now going to get to go to this school. And it was kind of an honor, like this was the first time our city had done this, and I was going to be part of the first group. I was very proud. But an interesting thing happened.
• 4:42
  In this school, in this environment, apart from the special classes that I got to go to, just kind of in the regular classroom, being smart was frowned upon. It was really one of the worst things that you could be. And if you were smart and you were kind of known for being smart, I mean, there were some pretty significant insults that would get thrown at you. And so I was kind of a... Second grade was kind of a rough year for me.
• 5:13
  And I kind of made I don't even really remember making the conscious decision to do it, but I remember I'm going to do two things. One, I'm going to get really good at sports. And two, I'm to work on I'm going to try to be funny. Those are two things I can do. I'm going to be funny, and I'm going to be good at sports.
• 5:32
  And that way, nobody's going to make fun of me for being too smart. And I don't want to be known for being smart. I want to be known for the guy who's good at sports and is funny. And I worked really, really hard at that. And my mom will tell you that I spent most of my life, and maybe even to this day, trying to hide the fact that I'm smart.
• 5:51
  And I would rather you think of me, hey, he's just a regular guy, he's kind of funny. Don't want that. I think there's just kind of something in me, and it kind of continued through junior high and high school that like, there's this pressure to not be like this, because in order for me to be accepted, in order for me to have value, there's a certain way there's certain things you can be, and there's certain things that you can't be. Now you may be thinking, that sounds like something you need to work out with a therapist, right? And you are absolutely right, and I have talked to a therapist about it.
• 6:26
  But there's something deeper there. There's something deeper there, right? I think even more than a therapist of just kind of like, what determines value? Like, what makes me good? You know, when you see versions of this, right, even even as a pastor.
• 6:48
  You know, we spent some time in St. Louis. And in St. Louis, it's really important to play golf and to be a 100% into the St. Louis Cardinals.
• 7:00
  Baseball ran that entire city, so really into that. Moved to Cabot, was a pastor there for a little bit. If you know me, this will sound humorous to you. In Cabot, I went fishing. I was not great at it, but I did it.
• 7:13
  I did. I would go fishing, which is the best part about moving to Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks. I can fit in completely doing the thing that I actually love the... Well, not the most, right, but like of hobbies, right, of my favorite things. And we feel this pressure.
• 7:33
  We feel this... We feel an uncertainty about where our value comes, what makes us good. And we feel this pressure to conform, this pressure to be like other people, to be like other groups. And if we if we get pulled in all of these different directions, we can lose something core to who it is that God has called us to be. Not just simply our own self identity, but we lose track and lose sight of there there is there is someone that God is calling us to be.
• 8:09
  There's someone that we are, and there's a person that he's calling us to be, and that is where value in life are. But if we're allowing ourselves to get pulled in all these different directions, then we'll miss it. So let's look here. First Samuel chapter eight verses one to five. When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders.
• 8:33
  The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, you are old and your sons do not follow your ways.
• 8:57
  Now appoint a king to lead us, this is important, such as all the other nations have. Side note here for this is part of this is just very troubling to me. We got this story, and Samuel is just nothing but a great guy, faithful to God, you know, hears from God, speaks from God, is willing to be bold. I mean, just this great man, and apparently, he he missed something at home. Unlike some of the other passages like what we saw earlier when we talked about Eli, who was the chief priest kinda before Samuel, it's basically it explicitly said that that Eli was not a good father.
• 9:37
  This is just kind of saying his his sons were not like him, right? But even still, like he's doing this great thing for the nation of Israel, but there's problems at home. And it seems like all throughout the Old Testament, there's just story after story of these men who did these great things but neglected things at home. And it's just sometimes I just know what to do with that. It's just it's very sad to me.
• 10:00
  It feels very personal to me as someone who is a pastor to think like, man, you don't want that to be the record, right?
• 10:09
  And so I just kind
• 10:10
  of throw that out there. That is absolutely not what we're talking about today in the sermon. That is just a bonus credit for you. But I just this is... It matters.
• 10:19
  Like, you can be great in all these things, but like, if you lose this... Anyways. Anyway, that that's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about today, you are old and your sons do not follow ways. Now appoint a king to lead lead us such as all the other nations have.
• 10:38
  When it's wartime, all the other nations, they can have this king. Big fancy armor and the robe and the crown and the giant sword and the chariot, and he represents them, and he leads them. That's what they have, and that's what makes a nation great. A great nation has a great and powerful king. And and when they just...
• 11:00
  When they talk about it again a little bit later, we'll look at the rest of the chapter here in a little bit. It's like... We're talking about it again. It's like... And and we we need someone that will go before us and fight our battles for us.
• 11:11
  We need a king, which again is incredible juxtaposition for us. For them, several years have passed from the story we looked at where he kind of shows up against the Philistines, and God says this giant thunder comes and unsettles the Philistines so much that they're able to come in and just push them out very easily. So the very thing that they say that they want, someone to represent them, to go ahead for them, to fight for them, is exactly what they already have. For them, there's been years and time to maybe forget that story, but for us, it's a turning of the page. And the contrast couldn't be more stark.
• 11:55
  Here is God doing this incredible thing for them, and here they are saying, if only we had someone who could do that for us. That is what we need because we see it. Other nations have that. We need to have it. Give us a king.
• 12:12
  So I wanna start to kinda reflect on what's happening here. I wanna start with this. Be careful what you ask for. They're gonna ask for a king, and we're gonna see here in a little bit that Samuel's gonna tell them, man, here... Here's all what's gonna happen.
• 12:32
  Here's what's gonna... This is what's gonna happen. You you think you're gonna get this great thing, but really this is what's gonna happen. And we need to be careful because there are some things that we are asking God for. There are some things that we are striving for in our lives that we just want more than anything, that we are just one promotion away, one car purchase away, one new home away, one elevation of financial status away from feeling like I really matter.
• 13:10
  I am now good. I have competed with the people that I'm friends with and in the neighborhood, and I'm competing with my brothers, my sisters, my cousins, my parents, I'm competing and I'm winning. And I have finally become someone that matters because now I have been promoted to blank. I have now made this much money. I've been on these many trips.
• 13:34
  I've been on I've I've been I've got this house, and now I have value. And some of us, we're still striving, and we're just asking, God, if you will just if you will just give me this, if you'll give me this thing, this status, this money, this accomplishment, this symbol, then I can be okay because then I will have great value. I will be important. I will matter. I I...
• 14:08
  People will respect me like they respect them. This is how we earn respect here. And if you will just give this to me, then I will finally have it. And we're striving. This is not just simple peer pressure.
• 14:23
  This is not, well, I live in Fayetteville now. I should wear red. I live in St. Louis now, I have to love baseball. We're not talking about simple social pressures to kind of enjoy certain things because it is what the group seems to enjoy.
• 14:40
  This is at a much deeper level, striving to find real life, real matter, like real value, and we do it. In these these kind of fleeting ways that if I can just have a little bit more, and and and what that is is just like one step from where I am, then my life will have value. And just like the people of Israel wishing that they could have a powerful figure to represent this country... Their country and go before them in battle, they're asking for something that they already have. And it's obvious here, and it's less obvious for us.
• 15:36
  Some of us may have freed ourselves maybe from this financial pressure, but I see it other places too. And some of you have been around for a while, you're gonna think, man, here he is again talking about this. But I believe that over the course of the life... Most most... Or I guess, really, all of my life, at least from the eighties, my first real understanding of kind of the way that the world worked, it seemed like that there was this pressure, this this deal that the church made with American politics.
• 16:06
  Certainly in the eighties and nineties, there was this idea that if you were going to be a good Christian, that meant that you had to align yourself fully with the Republican Party. It was a deal that we made. And so in order to be a person of... That matters, a real person of of of morality and value and importance, you had to conform yourself to this particular political party. Since then, I've been old enough to have lived through that, and now I feel like I'm experiencing the counter revolution.
• 16:38
  Counter revolution to the point to where now it's like, man, we're not gonna be like that. In fact, we're this, and there's this deep pressure to kind of conform to something else. I want to be thought of in a very particular way. I want to be thought of as a kind, compassionate person, and this is where kind and compassion is. And now I'm this.
• 16:59
  And there has been such crazy pressure for this over time that this is still... This story sticks with me forever. And I'm not gonna say the name, but very early on, I was interviewing a guy to be an elder at our church. Perfect, great in every way, totally great candidate. And he he did become an elder, so there's no but to that.
• 17:22
  The but is this. The very end. I think we're done. He's like, I mean, I do have one question. I just I just wanna make sure we talk about it.
• 17:30
  I'm like, oh, well, it sounds like it's gonna be serious. Right? Is it okay that I'm a Democrat? Yes. It is in fact okay for you to be a Democrat and be an elder of a church.
• 17:47
  But for years, we said a Christian has its value and its importance if you're like this, and now it's more like this. And I'm telling you, whichever one of these boxes you're trying to cram yourself into, you are going to lose something. Because there is not a group of people in our secular governmental world whose values completely align with the man, the woman that Jesus is calling you to be. So the more I feel this pressure that I need to be like them, I need a king to lead us such as all the other nations have. I need to be a person like all these people are, and you're going to form and conform yourself to that.
• 18:31
  I'm going to be just like them. You will lose something. In the same way, we are striving for financial and financial status, personal influence, jobs, leadership titles, and if we fit ourselves into the culture that quote makes you successful, you will lose something. And you're striving for value. You're striving for significance and meaning, and all of that has already been done by Jesus.
• 19:09
  Everything that we're looking for, peace, value, life, all the work that needed to be done, all the striving, all the all the things that had to happen in order to give you value and life and purpose and meaning was already done by Jesus. He did all the work. He gave you life. He came inside you and took this thing inside you that you... That is sin, that makes you feel unsettled, that makes you feel less than, that makes you feel like something is broken and wrong, and I need to be or become something different.
• 19:54
  That thing that is inside of all of us was healed by Jesus Christ, and we have it. And now, no matter what job I have, no matter how much money I have, no matter where I live, and no matter how I vote, I can live and be at peace because I know that I am an adopted son of God through what Jesus Christ did for me. I have this thing. I don't have to strive for it. But if I'm asking, if I'm asking for it, we better be careful.
• 20:41
  If I'm asking for something that God has already given me, and I'm looking for it someplace else, you better be careful. Let's see. Verse six, first Samuel chapter eight. But when they said, give us a king to lead us, this dis pleased Samuel. So he prayed to the Lord.
• 20:58
  And the Lord told him, listen to all that the people are saying to you. It is not you they have rejected, but they rejected me as their king. As they've done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, for saking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly, and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights. Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.
• 21:26
  He said, this is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights. He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run-in front of his chariots. That's just so good. They're looking for a king to go out in front of them to lead them. What actually is gonna happen is he's conscript your sons and daughters, and they will go out in front of him and his chariot.
• 21:55
  Some he will assign to be commanders, thousands, commanders of fifties, others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. And then he'll take a tenth of your grain and your vintage and give it to his officials in attendance. The best of what you have, he's going to claim for himself, and then what little you have left, he's going to take some of that too.
• 22:26
  Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys, he will take for his own use. He'll take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to listen to Samuel. No, they said, we want a king over us.
• 22:52
  Then we will be like all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles. When Samuel heard all that the people had said, he repeated it before the Lord. The Lord answered, listen to them and give them a king. Be careful what you ask for. God may just let you have it.
• 23:21
  That's what happens here. They have a protector. They have a loving God with great compassion who is a provider, a caregiver, and fights their battles. They have everything that they need, but it doesn't look right. We don't look quite as...
• 23:37
  We don't look we don't look as great and mighty as these ones who have these great and glorious kings, because what makes you great as a nation is how great and powerful and mighty your king is. And we'll see this next week when they pick a king. They pick the tallest, best looking guy they can find. Like, this guy's going to represent us well. And if we could just have this, then then we'll be great.
• 24:00
  And he's like, but what you're trading... Samuel's like, listen, what you're trading for is a God who loves you and cares for you and provides for you for someone who is going to turn you into his slave. You're going to... And and in your search for something that you already have, you are going to lose something very precious. Do not do this.
• 24:28
  And I think all of us who have who who who strive, we are just one financial status upgrade away for more peace than we could possibly imagine, more security and joy than we could ever have. We're just one house away, one car away, one step forward in status away from everything I ever wanted and needed. And I think everyone here who has ever fallen into that trap knows that the next step in a lot of ways is worse than the one that we were in. When life gets, quote, better, it gets more complicated, it gets more stressful, there becomes... There's more pressure, not less.
• 25:14
  Now I have to keep it going. Now I have to maintain this. There's a lot of serious examples I could use. I'll just settle right now for a silly one. My...
• 25:26
  Our whole lives, our girls have always wished we had a pool. Pools are great. They love pools. We've never been able to have one, and we would always just find friends that had a pool. And I'm telling you, there is nothing better than a friend with a pool.
• 25:46
  Then a couple of years ago, when Heidi's mom moved in with us and we bought a house together with her, the house that we bought altogether has a pool. And my kids' wildest dreams have come true, and it has been great. It has been great. They love it. They get a lot of time there.
• 26:03
  It is a great time of connection with the family. It's what they've always wanted. I spent hours out there this summer, and I've been complaining about it with you all summer. And this is it. This is the last time till May, and then we'll complain about it again.
• 26:16
  But it's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot to deal with. It's not so simple. And there have been times that I get this is too much information.
• 26:26
  Pause, sorry. I have to get up I'm old. I get up in the middle of the night, gotta go to bathroom, right? But then I gotta go back to sleep, and there have been times, no lie, that I've lost sleep in the middle of the night thinking about whether or I've done everything right with the pool. Because they want the pool, and it can't be green.
• 26:40
  I can't shut it down, and I don't know what I'm doing. And it occupies so much of my mind sometimes. There are just a lot of ways. Again, I'm going get in trouble with at least one wife or daughter saying this, but I'm telling you, there are significant advantages to friends with a pool. Friend with a pool, you with a pool.
• 27:02
  I mean, it's not this. Anyways, these things we do, the bigger house, the bigger job, the more money, the status, we think it is going to fill and scratch some itch and fill some need. It never can. It never will. And the crazy thing is the need that you are filling, the itch that you are scratching has been done already by Jesus.
• 27:36
  You don't have to strive for value. You don't have to strive for meaning. You don't have to strive for significance. Jesus Christ gave his life for you. He restored you to God.
• 27:47
  You are overseen and loved and cared for, and there is nothing that you can add to the value of being an adopted son and daughter of Jesus. There's nothing that you can add to that. There's nothing that can that can... Well, and I have a new car. I have eternal life, a child of God, and a two car garage.
• 28:14
  And we go on vacations. And when we And when we force ourselves to live lives and find meaning in something other than what Jesus Christ has already done, we're going to fit ourselves into a box that doesn't contain it. And we will necessarily lose something. Again, have the job you have, have the money that you have, have all the things that you currently have. This is not a question of what is the appropriate amount of money or house or car or status to currently have.
• 28:51
  That is not the point of this. The point is, where do you find hope? Where do you find life, meaning, value? And if you are looking and striving for it in that arena, and you're asking, God, just give me, just just give me this one, just give just give me, just give me, just give me. You better be careful because the Bible is full of warnings about what a life looks like when our heart and our value and our treasure is down here rather than up here.
• 29:37
  It's so obvious. It's so obvious. We look at this. Like, I mean, come on. You're asking God to do something he just did in the previous chapter.
• 29:45
  How can you say that you need this when it's right here? We look at these two chapters. We put them next to each other. It's like, how can they be so silly? But it had been a long time from them and their perspective and they've lived so deeply under that blessing that they tend to forget.
• 30:06
  And then we start striving. Theirs is obvious, ours is, it feels more subtle, but it really is the same, that if we try to find life and status and value and anything other than what Jesus Christ has already done for us, we will struggle. But through it all, Samuel remained faithful. He he very eloquently gives them the exact message that God told him to give them. And then God says, okay, we'll give them what they want.
• 30:53
  Go and anoint them a king, and we'll see next week. That's exactly what he does. And God still has this relationship with Samuel. Hey, I want you to try to be a leader and adviser to the king. That king is gonna is gonna...
• 31:07
  He's gonna be a hot mess too. And God's gonna call Samuel to rebuke him and to then anoint a different king. Even though he was gonna... He would fear for his life trying to anoint another king while we currently got a king. Every step along the way, he remains faithful.
• 31:26
  He is not allowing himself to be put into that box, to get swept up in this wave. What if we just became more like this? What if we did this? Think how great we would be. And this is who God has called us to be.
• 31:48
  In a world that is pulling you, that tells you what makes you a good person is if you believe and do this. What makes you someone of value and significance is if you have this. In the midst of all of that, that current rushing and pouring and pushing people down that way, let us remain faithful. That I will stay firm where I am, knowing that life and meaning and value is found in Jesus alone. So as we take some time to respond, I would say, let's just have a moment of confession.
• 32:23
  Let's just take a moment of confession to be like, God, I have. I got swept away in some of this. And then asked him to heal you, to restore you, to get just to kind of get you just maybe you're just one click off, but one click off over time can get you to some really scary places. God, just give me back. Give me back.
• 32:49
  As I'm trying to live here, this is where you have me. This is where I live. As I live here, God, let my heart and value be with you. Let me pray. God, I thank you.
• 33:09
  I thank you for just the countless stories in the scripture of your people failing you. God, an example for us to always look to. And God, I thank you that your faithfulness always shines through. And so God, as we get swept up in financial currents, political currents, and we try to find value in life and hope in anywhere other than you, God, pray, I correct us. Keep us solid.
• 33:44
  Keep our hearts attuned to what your son Jesus Christ did for us on the cross and the life and value and purpose we have with him in that. And God, we are so thankful for him, for Jesus, for who he is and what he did. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. Thanks again for joining us on our sermon podcast, and you can learn more about us at thegrovechurch.org.
• 34:16
  If you go to thegrovechurch.org/connect, there's a form you could fill out. Just let us know that you've been listening. And if you wanna dig deeper on some of these topics that we cover in our sermon podcast or just another issues of dealing with culture or theology, those kinds of things, you can check out our cultivate podcast. It's on the same feed, however you found this particular podcast. So again, this is Charlie, the lead pastor at The Grove, and thank you so much for joining us.