The passage we are looking at today comes right on the heels of last week’s passage where we observed Israel’s victory over their Ammonite enemies who had been threatening to render a portion of Israel ineffective in war as well as to enslave them to a life of forced labor.

As we studied that passage last week, we observed how that historical moment points us to the work of Jesus at the cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of heaven as he defeated our enemies Satan, Sin, and Death. And now, once we have surrendered to Jesus as our One True Saving King, we are set free from being enslaved to our enemies and we are enlisted into God’s army to wage war against our old slave masters every day, from the time our feet hit the ground to the time we lay down our heads to sleep at night.

Ephesians chapter 6 reminds us that we do not wage war against physical enemies, but we wage war against the spiritual forces of evil that lurk around in this present darkness we are living in. You may recall that the three weapons I offered for us last week were the weapons of Prayer, the Scriptures, and Community. My call to us at the conclusion of last week’s sermon was to not become like Israel – waging war with no notion of the promises of God’s Word, without the foundation of regular prayer on a daily basis, or apart from the community of God which is the church family.

That call last week was a great reminder of the basics of being a Christian warrior. And the reality is that we all need those reminders. We all need to be reminded to sharpen or refresh or renew our weapons and our commitment to walking with Jesus as we wage war against our spiritual enemies. Many of you responded positively to that challenge from last week. I have heard many encouraging stories of renewed commitment to the basic disciplines of walking with God in prayer, and scripture study, and spiritual community since last Sunday.

It is like there is a renewed sense of commitment to the Lord among us today and that is really encouraging for me as a leader. It is always encouraging to see the Spirit of the Living God breathe fresh life into a community of people. This theme of renewing a community is what our passages for today and for next week are all about.

Think about it, what does it take to renew a community? New Bylaws? New statement of faith? New leadership? New mission and vision statement? New ministry focus? All those things and more can be very helpful in renewing a community, especially a community of faith. But what does it take to renew a community at the deep levels of the heart and mind before throwing the exterior paint of those other items into the mix?

You might think about this theme of renewing of a community in terms of your family or your friend group or especially for us as a church family. A lot of very destructive things have happened in the community of Israel up to this point. There was a worthless leader named Eli and his worthless sons Hophni and Phinehas at the beginning of the story who did not honor God and paid the price for it. Then Israel rejected God and demanded a human king like the other nations had. Then, God chose Saul as an instrument of correction for his rebellious community.

Israel had simply gone from bad to worse and had never stopped for long enough to truly come to grips with the damage that had been done in their relationship with God and each other. Sometimes, the most gracious thing our sovereign King does, is he lets us get to the end of our ropes as we run from him, evade him, and resist doing the hard work of inner renewal. Inner renewal is often not very attractive to us because it requires that we stop, and evaluate the damage that has been done, and then do the often difficult, painful, and time-consuming work of repairing what has been damaged.

Once again, I ask, what does it take to renew a community? How do we go about the business of not only personal renewal but also relational renewal in the communities we occupy?

Whether or not those communities are the city we live in, the country we are citizens of, the families we are part of, or the church that we call home, renewal must happen if we are going to walk in right relationship with God. Renewal is not about a quick coat of exterior paint. Renewal is a journey and a process that begins dep inside and results in visible, exterior transformation. But the question is: How do we pursue spiritual renewal? I think we may find some answers to that question  in the passage today as Israel comes back from her victory over the Ammonites. Look at the passage with me…

12Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 13But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.” 14Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” 15So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

#1: ISRAEL IS STILL IN THE FIGHTING MOOD (V. 12)

In verse 12, Samuel tells us that 12…the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” As I already mentioned, it looks like Israel is still in the fighting mood, fresh off their victory over their enemies.

Now it seems like they want to turn on each other. So, they ask Samuel to bring the worthless fellows from chapter 10 so they can kill them. These worthless fellows did make a bold statement of distrust in Saul as their king when they basically said that there is no way this pansy of a man who had been hiding in the baggage could ever save them.

But it is also important to note that what those worthless fellows said, was really nothing more than an indication of the general mistrust throughout Israel of not only their newly appointed king Saul, but also at a deeper level, it was evidence of their mistrust of God’s ability to save them even though that is what God has always done.

The bottom line here is that Israel – just like us – has always had a checkered history of rejecting God and the men he put into place to lead them. They struggled with bowing their knees to anyone or anything other their own destructive desires that came welling up from deep within their sin-filled bellies.

And now it seems like, instead of owning their own sin, they are in the fighting mood, and they want to lay all the blame on the backs of a few worthless fellows. They literally are about to use their newfound freedom to sin. Thank God for Saul stepping up in a bright shining moment of crystal-clear leadership when he effectively says, “Not today Satan” in verse 13.

#2: NOT TODAY SATAN (V. 13)

When you look at verse 13, you might notice that even though the people asked Samuel the question about the men they wanted to kill in verse 12, Saul is the one who steps up to the plate and relieves Samuel from having to deal with the issue when he says, 13…“Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.”

In this one bright shining moment, Saul does what a king is supposed to do, he leads rightly, and he does not allow God’s victorious day to be relegated into mass internal murder which would only bring disgrace upon the name of the Lord!

Think about it, Saul could have sat back and let Samuel deal with the mess that was created by his own cowardice, but he did not do that; he put a stop to the evil that was about to happen. See, even the commentators are quick to point out that what Saul did here was he acknowledged that the victory belonged to the Lord, and that even though Israel was in the fighting spirit, it would be an evil, sinful thing to direct their violent attention onto a few brothers who had not bought into Saul’s leadership.2

The point here is that God had done a miraculous work of saving Israel once again. Now was not the time to do further destruction to some dissenters in the crowd. One commentator helpfully notes that while Saul could have used this moment to make a statement about rejecting his leadership (as he will do later in the story with David and others) he did not do that and we too should not use our newfound spiritual freedom in Christ to destroy our human opponents; we should be in the business of building up and restoring our enemies whenever possible.3

Now, we should also consider the fact that Samuel is an ever-vigilant spiritual leader. I think he knows that the people are not yet fully dealing with the junk under the surface – namely their own rejection and betrayal of the One True King of kings; they only wanted to lay the blame on the worthless fellows and continue in their sin instead of doing the hard work of repentance. So, Samuel, the wise spiritual leader he is, calls Israel to renewal in the next verse.

#3: THE CALL FOR RENEWAL (V. 14)

In verse 14, we read that 14…Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” At first glance there does not seem to be anything super significant about this verse. Samuel invites the people of Israel to go to some place called Gilgal to hold a renewal gathering (something we will see described in detail in next week’s passage).

This verse does not seem to be super significant at first. But it is important to note that the significance of this verse centers around the place that Samuel chooses for the renewal gathering.

A lot could be said about the place that Samuel chooses for this renewal gathering. We are largely unfamiliar with this place called Gilgal. We do not hear the name of Gilgal and immediately think of something significant like when we hear of New York City, or Chicago, or Las Vegas or Denver.

But when the people of Israel heard the name Gilgal they would immediately be drawn to thinking about God as their miraculous, sovereign, Savior and the many episodes of renewed repentance among the Israelites that had taken place in Gilgal.

Many years earlier, Joshua had set up a pile of stones in Gilgal to remind future generations that God had parted not only the Red Sea but also the Jordan River so Israel could escape slavery in Egypt walk into the Promised Land (Josh. 4). Gilgal is also the place where Joshua circumcised all the men in Israel as an act of renewal and repentance coming out of the years of discipline as they wandered around in the wilderness (Josh. 5). Samuel, up to this point, has been using Gilgal as the place where he would give Israel spiritual direction.4

So, Gilgal is the place where Israel should go to be renewed in their commitment to the Lord and his establishment of his kingdom on this earth; it is the place where they should go to surrender to God and to repent from their sins. The bottom line is this, a renewal gathering at Gilgal would immediately communicate that it was time to repent from rejecting God and to also surrender and give thanks to God for his salvation.

#4: GATHERED FOR RENEWAL (V. 15)

In verse 15 we read that, 15…all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. So, our verse here is super simple and straight forward. Israel goes to Gilgal, they make Saul the king in God’s presence, and they sacrifice peace offerings to the Lord as an act of surrender to him as well as an act of joyful celebration for his salvation.

It is interesting to note as one commentator does, that Saul has now been made king three times: once privately by Samuel (10:1), secondly publicly by Samuel (10:20 – 24), and now in verse 15 he is made the king in the presence of the Lord by a surrendered people.5What the people had sinfully demanded in a human king so they could be like the other nations, had been confirmed three times over by private installation, public voting, and now, through the people’s submission to the Lord.6 There was no backing out now!

But the beauty of this last verse is that we see the answer to the age-old question (that will be dealt with in greater detail next week) of how we can serve two kings. We know that we cannot serve two masters, but we can serve human kings inasmuch as they serve the One True King and only as long as our hearts are tethered to the renewing presence of that One True Saving King, Jesus.

True renewal that begins within the hearts of individuals will ultimately have a massive impact on the entire community. Skin deep renewal, a fresh coat of paint over an ugly exterior, will eventually rot away again. Heart level renewal will affect generations to come. And that brings us to some answers to the question we started with.

APPLICATION…

By way of application, you may remember that we started with questioning what it looks like to renew a community. What can we take from this passage that will help us in our ever present need to be renewed as individuals who live in various community constructs? What does it look like to pursue renewal on a personal level, or in our friendships, or in our families, or in our friend groups, or in our church family? Let me offer four basic ways to pursue spiritual renewal in our lives.

#1: We need to own our own sin. Unlike the Israelites, who wanted to lay the blame on the backs of some other worthless people, we need to own our own sin. Constantly. Authentically. Realistically. Truthfully. We cannot blame other people for our sin. We cannot excuse our sin. We cannot overlook our sin. The Bible is clear that we are to confess our sins to God and to one another so that we might be healed. Hidden sin, overlooked sin, excused sin, blamed sin, will kill your soul and leave you in slavery while thinking you are free, no matter how much exterior paint you try to use. The bottom line is this, we need to own our own sin often so that we might be healed/renewed.

#2: We should not use our freedom to sin. Israel wanted to use their newfound freedom to murder some other sinners. How often are you tempted to look down on someone else because of their sin while overlooking your own? Or when was the last time you thought you were vigorously defending the gospel when in reality you were only concerned with winning a cultural or theological fight instead of being compassionately concerned for the other person whom you only saw as your opponent?

There is probably a myriad of ways that we turn the gospel into a sledgehammer of sin rather than an invitation to trust in Jesus. There is probably a myriad of ways that we use the gospel as justification for treating people poorly because they oppose us.

Just because you can win the fight does not mean you need to. Just because your outward theological or philosophical paint looks good in your mirror, does not mean your heart is right with God. The bottom line is this, if we are to be renewed, we must stop using our freedom to sin.

#3: We need to do the hard work of repentance. Look, repentance is not merely confessing our sins like we touched on earlier. Sometimes the damage that has been done by our sin is so destructive that it takes years of repentance to experience renewal to the fullest. I find that most of us do not want to do the hard work. 

We are afraid to talk about the issues or we feel ashamed by our sin, or we think that to dig it up will cause more damage. We would never approach home renovations this way, unless wanted the house to fall apart. So why would we approach spiritual renewal especially at the community level, any differently?

If Israel had resisted the hard work of going to Gilgal for a renewal gathering, we would know that they were still unrepentant because they were unwilling to do the hard work and were effectively relying on their own strength instead.

The hard work for you might mean some serious counseling, or doing some heart evaluation with a friend, or digging up the reasons that drove you to sin or identifying the inner desires that lured you away from God, or putting accountability measures in place, or spending some time earning the trust of the people you hurt. The bottom line is this… repentance is not easy, and it is not done overnight. Repentance is a journey… like traveling to Gilgal… we need to do the hard work of repentance if we are going to pursue spiritual renewal.

#4: We must surrender to God’s correction. Ultimately, when Israel gathered at Gilgal, it was a sign of surrender to God’s correction. They had gone astray in their desire for an earthly king. Surrender is not an easy thing. But in the spiritual life, there can be no spiritual renewal without surrender. So where have you resisted surrendering to God lately?This is the core question you need to answer and then act in obedience to if you are going to experience true and lasting spiritual renewal in your life.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, I hope that your heart has been provoked into a place where you long for renewal in your walk with God. You may have walked in here today, hoping to find some encouragement in the midst of a difficult season, or hoping to find some rest or a nap as I preached, or hoping to get your head filled with information, or hoping to get some help with fixing whatever is broken in your life.

At the end of the day, there probably is not anything wrong with desiring some of those things but the most important thing to wrestle with is whether or not you are being renewed into the image of the God who gave everything to redeem you from Satan, Sin, and Death so that you could become his child. What would it look like for you to surrender to him for the first time or for the thousandth time today?

There is nothing more important than knowing that you are walking in a renewed relationship with God and are in the process of being renewed on a daily basis. So, where have you been resisting God lately? What would it look for you to surrender to him, to walk in repentance, to not use your freedom to sin, and to own your own sin?

You and I, like Israel being reminded of the place called Gilgal, need to be reminded of the place of the Skull called Golgotha where Christ’s body was broken, and his blood was poured out to pay the price for our sins against him. It is to that place that the Spirit of God calls us so that we can experience times of refreshment and renewal in relationship with him. It is on the hill of Calvary where you and I need to practice full surrender to God.

That cross was bloody, and that tomb is empty, and the promise of eternity is our reminder that renewal is no easy thing because it cost Jesus his life, but it is something that we can experience right here and right now if we would surrender to him fully.

So, I ask this question again: Where have you been resisting God lately and what would it look like for you to surrender to him today? – Let’s pray.

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 Matthew, Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, Complete and Unabridged in Six Volumes, Volume 2 (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1991), 266.

3 Ibid.

4 John, Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008), 206 – 208. (I leaned on this commentary heavily for the summary of Gilgal’s significance in the paragraph with this footnote).

5 Ibid., 208 – 209.

6 Ibid.