When I first began to dream about this study in 1 Samuel, a few months ago, I was thinking ahead, about my upcoming sabbatical, (which begins just one day from now) and I was asking the Lord to give us a series that would nurture The Well in my absence as other preachers stepped into this pulpit over the next thirteen Sundays.
I knew that most of the preaching in my absence would be carried out by several men within our church family who are being developed as preachers, and I wanted to provide some direction – in terms of the series – that would not only make things easier on them but would also provide a clear path for spiritual growth in our church family in my absence.
I originally landed on 1 Samuel because I believe the stories of Samuel, Saul, and David are rich with theological truths, they are significant for the life of the church today in light of Israel’s history throughout the book, and they are clearly Christological (meaning that the stories in this book are a slam dunk for turning our attention to Jesus as our perfect Prophet, Priest and King in light of the prophets, priests, and kings we will meet in this series).
Everything I have done to prepare us for this series over the last few months was basically an exercise in leadership; I was simply exercising my responsibility in leadership within our church family. The privilege I have in leading among you is by far one of my greatest joys in life. Leading among you over the last twelve years has been both challenging and exhilarating, and even more, it has been one of the ways that God has produced the deepest spiritual growth in me personally. As I have often fumbled the ball and even sinned greatly in my performance of the leadership duties that have been given to me, many of you have been really kind, gracious, and forgiving, as we have sought to plant a transformative community here at The Well.
What I am trying to say is this: I could not dream of another community to be leading among other than you guys, because this truly is a transformed family of disciples who are seeking to be about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the glory of God both within our spiritual relationships here in the church and in our evangelistic relationships with the lost around us.
That said, I am super excited to dive into this first message in our 1 Samuel series and I have to admit that I am in complete awe of the Lord in what he has provided for us to study in this book because the reality is that it is all about leadership; 1 Samuel really is a case study in God’s plan for leadership within his redeemed family of sinners turned saints.2
THINK ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Oftentimes when we talk about leadership, we gravitate towards talking about people with some kind of significance. When we think about significant leaders, we may think of Donald Trump or Abraham Lincoln or John Piper or Billy Graham. But the reality is that God’s plan for leadership almost always begins with insignificant people living in insignificant situations.
God has this uncanny knack for taking virtual nobodies and using them to bring attention to himself as the One True, Faithful, leader that we all long for and need. At the end of the day, God loves to use insignificant people to bring significance to his own name throughout the world.
Take a look at the passage with me…
1There was a certain man of Ramathain-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
THINK ABOUT THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PASSAGE
As we survey the first two verses of 1 Samuel, nothing of great significance seems to leap off the page. Verse one, gives us a brief introduction and description of Samuel’s father, Elkanah, his family tree, and his country of origin. There does not seem to be anything very significant here; Samuel’s family is not connected to anyone famous; they do not come from some large infamous city at the time, they do not appear to be very wealthy, they do not seem to have attended any of the top tier schools in the area, and they also do not seem to have any major influence as far as leadership goes. Samuel and his family are basically insignificant nobodies!3
Now, if verse one was so insignificant that it could nearly put you to sleep, verse two will probably have the same effect. Verse two, basically gives us a preview of the home life of Samuel’s parents; his dad had two wives – one who had children and one who could not have children. As far as the culture was concerned back then in Samuel’s day, there is really nothing to see here.
The two wives situation may catch us off guard and make us wonder if they were Mormons, but the reality is, it was common in Samuel’s day to take a second wife if your first wife was unable to bear children; this situation was much less about out of control sexual desire and much more about having a pathway to extend the family name for generations (kind of like having a surrogate mom to give birth to children for a family that otherwise could not do so in our day and age).4 Again, nothing out of the ordinary to see here, Samuel’s family members are still basically insignificant nobodies!
The question we must ask at this point is this: If the book of 1 Samuel is all about God’s plan for leadership, then why does it begin so insignificantly? Why does it begin with an introduction into the life of an insignificant family? Why is God choosing to raise up a leader like Samuel from such a relatively unknown background from within a relatively unknown and insignificant family?
Part of the answer, as I have already alluded to, is that God loves to use nobodies to bring attention to himself. But we can also peel back a few more layers of the story and find some more meaning by pulling back the microscope a little bit to get a view of the unique historical situation at this precise moment in Israel’s history.
THINK ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HISTORICAL MOMENT
The cultural moment for 1 Samuel (while not immediately obvious to us) is actually really significant. Israel at the opening of 1 Samuel is roughly 1,000 years old, they have already settled into the Promised Land, and they have just come through a 200-year period known as “the period of the judges” which is recorded in the book of Judges and is summarized as a period where “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25).5
So, 200 years of downward spiral in the book of Judges, as everyone does what they think is right without the influence of godly leadership (except a few bright cases here and there) leaves Israel in complete shambles. One scholar points out, that throughout the era of the Judges, “Unlike the era of Joshua, no one individual is dominant enough to cast a shadow over the entire book. In fact, what does cast a shadow over Judges is the absence of such a leader… [because although] the judges are successful [leaders to a degree] … [they only] successfully deliver Israel from plunderers and from oppressive enemies, but not even the judges can deliver Israel from the greatest enemy of all – Israel itself!”6
The bottom line here, is that Israel was her own worst enemy and the leaders that God provided during this 200 – year period were not necessarily great spiritual leaders. Another thing to mention here that helps to set the stage for 1 Samuel is the fact that Israel was deeply fractured at the end of this 200 – year period.
While Joshua gives us a history of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land, Judges gives us the story of Israel as they attempt to settle down in the Promised Land and then subsequently engage in a civil war between the tribe of Judah and the northern tribes of Israel. One scholar describes the events of Judges as basically one failure of leadership after another.7
So, long story short, the division between the tribes of Israel during this tumultuous period of time, reminds us that this was happening to Israel “Because there was no king in Israel in those days, [and] all the people continued to do what was right in their own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). 1 Samuel literally opens into what could be called a leadership vacuum. This is the cultural moment that insignificant little Samuel from an insignificant family tree, from a seemingly insignificant city, steps into!
The significance of this cultural moment is that God is going to use an insignificant man named Samuel with insignificant parents like Elkanah and Hannah to radically transform the nation of Israel and especially her leaders from this point forward! If we are going to rightly apply these first two verses of 1 Samuel to our lives, then we must stop and think for a few moments about the significance of our own cultural moments and God’s calling upon our lives as followers of Jesus.
THINK ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF YOUR OWN INSIGNIFICANCE
The last time I looked around the room, I did not notice that any of us are super significant, at least from a cultural point of view. Most of us cannot boast of much in terms of family influence or top tier education or extraordinary talents. Most of us come from what could be described as basically blue-collar backgrounds and blue-collar families with really basic educations. We are not highly wealthy, and we are not on the forefront of leading massive cultural change; again, at least from a cultural perspective.
Sometimes this realization can cause you to start thinking that God will not use you to do some incredible things. Most of us in this room will probably never win an Oscar or play in a Super Bowl or serve on staff at a large well-to-do church. Sometimes this kind of mindset – the one that says that I will never amount to much – can cause us to overlook or ignore massive kingdom opportunities at best or walk in disobedience to God’s calling on our lives at worst.
You may be an insignificant nobody by worldly standards, but the reality is that if you have trusted in Jesus then you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:37). Your insignificance – culturally speaking – is no different than Samuel or David or even Jesus for that matter. On that point, it should be noted that the tiny little seemingly insignificant town of “Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim” from verse oneof our passage, is none other than the little town of Bethlehem! Isn’t that fascinating?
Sometimes we would do well not to sell short the purposes of God in bringing forth greatness from very insignificant humble beginnings. One commentator highlights this really well when he notes that “David was ‘the son of an Ephrathite’ (1 Sam. 17:12), and Bethlehem is the town where his story began (1 Sam. 16:1 – 13) … [and] about three centuries later, a prophet would say: ‘you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2). That very prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus (Micah 5:2, Matt. 2:6).”8
If God saw fit to bring Samuel, David, and then Jesus from the same seemingly insignificant little town of “Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim” which was at the time a little unknown town in the middle of nowhere but would eventually become the little town of Bethlehem, what could God want to do with little old insignificant you?
Maybe he wants to use you to teach children to follow Jesus. Or maybe he wants to use you to start a revival in a local jail. Or maybe he wants to use you to lead that waiter or waitress to the cross of Christ. Or maybe he wants to use you to reach outlaw bikers on hell’s doorstep. Or maybe he wants to use you to lead your family back to the altar in the presence of a crucified, risen, and returning Savior.
I do not know where the Lord intends to use each and every one of you, but I do know this… God specializes in using the most insignificant people from the most insignificant backgrounds to do the most significant things in his kingdom.
THINK ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF YOUR HISTORICAL MOMENT
There are many events throughout history that act like a catalyst for transformation and growth. In our own history we might think of moments like when the Declaration of Independence was written by a room full of leaders, or maybe the way we responded to the tragedy of Nine-Eleven, or maybe the long-lasting effects of the Protestant Reformation under Luther and Calvin as well as the Great Awakening that happened under the leadership of men like George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and the Wesley brothers.
You and I may not be living in the shadow of a 200 – year downward spiral like Israel was coming out of during the period of the Judges, but Satan, Sin, and Death are still ferocious enemies of God and his people; the violent are still attempting to overthrow the One True King and his Kingdom of Saints who have been ransomed by the blood of the Lamb, and it is on us to advance the Kingdom of God forcefully (Matt. 11:12). You just happen to be the instruments that God has chosen to use in the times we are all living in.
Leadership is not merely about doing things of significant importance. Leadership is about character, influence, and inspiration. Whether you are a blue-collar worker, a stay-at-home mom, a military family, a teacher, a doctor, or any other, you have been given the privilege of leading by inspiring others through the influence of your character in light of the God-given-vision you have for your life and the lives of those around you. Do not try to sell short the purposes of God for your life as a leader because you feel insignificant or inadequate.
God may be calling you to do seemingly insignificant things for the sake of the gospel and the glory of his name. Devotions with your family throughout the week may not seem all that spectacular, especially when the kids and the spouse do not seem to engage very well. Your commitment to daily devotion with the Lord may seem dry most of the time but leaders can only lead spiritually from the reservoir of time spent in the presence of the living God.
Whatever your cultural moment is right now – as significant or as insignificant as it may seem – it is what has been given to you by the Lord. Do not waste it. Do not waste your life chasing the things of this world while doing whatever seems right in your eyes. Your family tree and your historical moment might intersect right now in this very moment where you realize that you are the catalyst that God wants to use to institute generations of change.
You may very well be the one whom God has chosen to change the spiritual temperature in your family or neighborhood for generations to come and he may very well choose to do that work in some of the most mundane ways a human could ever think of. This is what God does, he uses insignificant people to do significant things for the sake of the gospel and the glory of his own name.
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, I want to draw your attention to the significance of the insignificance of Christ Jesus, in hopes that by drawing your attention to him and his small beginnings as well as his upside-down plan for redeeming the world, that you would be emboldened to live a life of insignificant significance.
Remember that Jesus was born in an insignificant manger to live an insignificant life as a construction worker so that he could lead a tiny little band of mostly uneducated, insignificant, smelly fishermen and arguing tax collectors to become the early church through his highly unlikely death by Roman execution on a cross at the hill of Golgotha or the place of death.
No one ever in a million years expected Jesus to leave that tomb empty three days later and nobody certainly ever expected his little band of rebels to get their acts together long enough to establish a worldwide movement that still seeks to rescue people from the clutches of Satan, Sin, and Death.
But that is exactly how God chose to establish his very own Son as the King of a Kingdom that is full of rebels who have been ransomed and transformed into saints. This is the King who saved you! This is the King whom you are called to serve! This is the Kingdom he has entrusted to you and to me to be about the business of building.
When you and I engage in the normal rhythms of leadership all the way from changing diapers to sharing the gospel, we are participating in the expansion of the Kingdom of God established on the work of Christ at the cross, the empty tomb, in light of the hope of Heaven.
Do not despise humble beginnings. Do not lament the insignificance of your lot in life. Keep getting up every day, remembering that God is in the business of using insignificant people from insignificant backgrounds to do significant things in his Kingdom! – Amen!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 John, Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008), 17 – 19.
3 Ibid., 20 – 21.
4 Ibid., 21 – 22.
5 Ibid., 18 – 19.
6 Victor, P., Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2001), 97, 111.
7 Ibid., 102.
8 John, Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008), 21.
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