Plague Pops – Salvation only comes from God (Exodus 7-12)

Presented to Maple Creek Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 August, 2014 and Swift Current Saskatchewan, 17 August 2014,by Sarah-Grace Ramsay (Junior Soldier, Swift Current Corps) and to Alberni Valley Ministries in Port Alberni BC on 21 October 2018

If you want to follow along with this recording of Sarah-Grace's practice run of her message, click the links below. Don't forget to read this page here. This is where the good visuals of her cake pops are.

listen to part 1 of the message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylWQiQ9qaoU&feature=youtu.be
listen to part 2 of the message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ3L4JHAgFE&feature=youtu.be
  
God told the Hebrews to always remember the Salvation He provided for them. God sent the plagues to show even Pharaoh and the Egyptians where salvation comes from. Today as we look at the plagues in Exodus, the main thing I want us to remember that Salvation only comes from God. What is the main thing I want us to remember? (Salvation only comes from God)

Reading from Exodus 3:7&8 and 6:1:

3 ⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land a land flowing with milk and honey—

6:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

Does everyone know what a cake pop is? (hold one up) A little dessert. God sent the plagues so that the Egyptians and the Israelites could remember what He has done to and for them. I have made these cake pops so that we will remember what God has done for us. And as the Israelites enjoyed salvation through the plagues, I hope that you will remember God’s salvation as you enjoy the Plague Pops that I have made. Today as we look at the plagues in Exodus, the main thing I want us to remember is that Salvation only comes from God. What is the main thing I want us to remember?

1. Snake Cake Pop

And this brings us to our first cake pop today to help us remember God’s Salvation: the Snake Pop of Aaron. Reading from Exodus: 7:8-9,11-13:

7 ⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

¹¹ Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: ¹² Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… sometimes, like the magicians we might think that we can do things that God can do without honouring God, but if we fight Him in this way, He will swallow up our rebellion, like Aaron's staff swallowed the magicians’ staffs. So we should think about this as we swallow our Snake Pops after the service today.

Now we are eating snake pops so we will remember that salvation only comes from God - like the Egyptians and the Israelites were to remember - but I am also going to test as we go along here today so that we can try to remember the plagues God used to save them, so what is the first cake pop today? (Snake) What is the main thing I want us to remember? (Salvation only comes from God)

2. Blood

And this brings us to our second plague cake pop today to help us remember God’s Salvation: the Cake Pop of Blood. Reading from Exodus: 7:14-15, 20-22:

7 ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. ²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

²² But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 

One question I had when I read about the plague of blood was: Do we ever, like the magicians, try to copy what God is doing in our own strength and just wind up making things worse? The magicians couldn't make water clean (to make things better), they could just make more water turn into blood (making things worse). We can't do or undo what God can do; if we do, we really only will make things worse. This is one thing we should remember as we eat the Plague Pops of Blood.

Again we are eating cake pops so we will remember God’s salvation like the Egyptians and the Israelites were to remember that Salvation comes only from God but we are also going to try to remember what each of the plague pops are; so what is the first cake pop today? (snake) what was the second cake pop? (blood) What is the main thing we should remember about the plague pops? (Salvation only comes from God)

3. Frogs

And this brings us to the 3rd Plague Pop for Salvation: The Cake Pop of the Frogs. Reading from Exodus 8:1-4,7,15:

8 ¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship e. ² If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. ³ The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs,⁴ The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”

⁷ But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.¹⁵ … [Later] when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart nd would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… Like with the Blood Cake Pop, the magicians could have tried to make things better (which only God really can do) instead of trying to make things worse by adding more frogs that they couldn't get rid of - but they didn’t. When we're in trouble do we give our problems to God to deal with or do we make things worse like the magicians? One thing that struck me as I read about the frogs was that we need to remember to give our problems to God as we experience His salvation.

Review: So what was our first plague pop for Salvation? Second? Third? Very good. What is the main thing for us to remember?

4. Gnats

And this brings us to the 4^th Plague Pop of Salvation, the Cake Pop of the Gnats. Reading from Exodus: 8:16-19:

8 ¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” ¹⁷ They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. ¹⁸ But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.

Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, ¹⁹ the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

Something I have noticed about this plague is…  this time the magicians could not even pretend to do what God did. They couldn't make gnats. But, Pharaoh still didn't turn to God, like God wanted Him to. This is interesting: did you know the word for gnats can also be translated as lice or mosquitoes. Can you imagine what a plague of lice would be like? Or have you ever seen huge swarms of mosquitoes? It would be even worse than that because the plague is so bad that only God (not the magicians) can make that many mosquitoes. So as you eat your Mosquito Pops to remember God’s salvation, let us realize that there are some things that only God can do. 

Review: So what was our first plague pop for Salvation? Second? Third? Fourth? Very good. What is the main thing for us to remember?

5. Flies

This brings us to the 5^th Cake Pop of Salvation: the Plague Pop of the Flies. Reading from Exodus: 8:20-21, 28,32:

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.²¹ If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.

²⁸ Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

³² But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… In the summer we often see flies in our houses. When we see these flies we should always remember to keep our word just as Pharaoh should have kept his word. As well as remembering God’s Salvation, we can also remember this as we devour our fly cake pops.

Review: So what was our first plague pop for Salvation? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth? Very good. What is the main thing God sent the plagues for us to remember?

6. Cows

This brings us to the next Plague Cake Pop: the Plague Pop of the Dead Livestock. Reading from Exodus: 9:1-7:

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” ² If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, ³ the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. ⁴ But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’”

⁵ The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. ⁷ Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.

So this is interesting… Something I have noticed about this plague is… God let the Israelites see some of the other plagues but he spared them from this one. God will never give us more than we can handle; just as God helped them with the livestock God will help us when we really need it. We will remember this as we eat our cake pops.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

7. Boils

And this brings us to our 7^th Cake Pop: the Plague Pop of Boils. Reading from Exodus 9:8-12:

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. ⁹ It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”

¹⁰ So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. ¹¹ The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… Note how this time the scripture says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart", but other times so far it said "Pharaoh hardened his heart" or "Pharaoh's heart was hardened". So, we need to remember that sometimes if we want to harden our hearts, God will harden our hearts for us even though if breaks His heart to do it. We can think about this too as we remember the Salvation that only comes from God while we eat the Plague Pops of the Boils.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

8. The Plague of Hail

And this brings us to the Cake Pop of the Hail Storm for God’s Salvation. Reading from Exodus: 9:13,14, 18-20:

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, ¹⁴ or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth…¹⁸ Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.¹⁹ Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’”

²⁰ Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. ²¹ But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… God said, "So that you may know there is no one like Me in all the earth." And look, it said that even some of Pharaoh’s officials obeyed God and their people and even their animals were saved. God's doing these plagues because He loves Pharaoh and wants Pharaoh to get to know Him and love Him as well, so Pharaoh will be saved. God doesn’t want anyone to be lost and salvation comes through God alone; So, as we eat our Hail Plague Pop let us remember that Salvation only comes from God and God loves us too and He wants us to be in His Love Family.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

9. The Plague of Locusts

This will bring us to our next cake pop of Salvation: The Plague Pop of the Locusts. Reading from Exodus: 10:1-6:

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them ² that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ⁴ If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.⁶ They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… God said, "You may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly  with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord." So God did the plagues because He loved Pharaoh and also because He loved the Israelites. As we eat these Plague Pops of Locusts, let us remember one more time how much God loves us. This is the most important thing: We are to REMEMBER, we are to remember forever that Salvation only comes from God. 

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. What is the Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

10. The Plague of Darkness

This leads us to the Plague Pop of Darkness. Reading from Exodus: 10:21-23, 27-29:

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”

²⁹ “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”

There is something I find amusing about this plague… The Bible says that it was so dark that no one could see anything or move about for 3 days because it was so dark, yet Pharaoh still says to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again!" You see, even in tough times, no matter how hard things get God will give us something to smile about. J Salvation only comes from God.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8, 9. 10. What is the most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

11. The Plague on the Firstborn

And finally this will bring us to our last Plague Pop: The Plague Pop of Death. Reading from Exodus: 11:1-8:

Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.

⁴ So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. ⁵ Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶ There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. ⁷ But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸ All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

¹² “On that same night [when] I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood [of the Passover lamb] will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. ¹⁴ “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

Something I have noticed about this plague is…
Just like God saved His people, the Israelites when the Egyptians firstborns died, God has saved us when His firstborn Son, Jesus died. God saved them through the blood of the Lamb and God saves us through the blood of the lamb. Salvation comes from Christ alone. Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8, 9,10, 11. What is the Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

To go with these plague pops that I have been speaking about, we have made enough cake pops for everyone to have at least one after the service and it really is my hope that as we share these cake pops today that we will do it in remembrance of Jesus and all that God has done for us and I truly do hope that from now on whenever we see a cake pop that we might remember that Salvation only comes from God.

Let us pray: Dear God, Please let us remember that salvation only comes from You, from Christ alone. Amen.

Hebrews 13:1-2: Entertaining Angels

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army 02 March 2014 and the Rural Ministries Conference at Cypress Bible Camp 04 March 2014 by Captain Michael Ramsay

We men, as you know, can be fairly organized and very task-orientated and when I was in teacher-training many years ago we learned that while women are generally more skilled at the creative side of things, men have a much higher aptitude for math and all that side of things. So here is a math question for you that Ed here and I were faced with a few years ago driving back from Beaver Creek Bible Camp. Let’s see how you do. If you start off with 1 Officer bus driver and 5 other men from Maple Creek and you add 1 Officer and 4 other men from Swift Current, how many men do you have? (11).

Good. Now if you subtract 1 Alvin and later, after Saskatoon, you plan to add 1 David (David is Captain Ed’s son) how many men should you have on your bus as you leave men’s camp? (10) Do you think we could get that right? With nine men on the bus doing a head count we came up with anywhere from 6– 11 people present and we were quite content with that until someone eventually asked, ‘where’s Tim?’ Sure enough as soon as we pulled out of the camp, down came Tim to where the bus was supposed to be and we were already gone - leaving Tim standing at the path wondering what had happened and why we had left without him. (His pastor and another pastor and all of his friends from the church)

Now to be fair to all of us in the bus who did leave Tim behind, we did come back as soon as we realized our error. And when we were doing our head counts, just as we were pulling out without Tim, I did ask anyone who wasn’t there before we left to raise their hand and speak up now or we’d leave them behind and Tim – Tim didn’t speak up to let us know that we’d left him behind.

We did get Tim and were joking with him most of the way back – all the way through Saskatoon anyway, through Delisle. We were joking as we were talking about how we could be so ‘out of it’ that someone could be left behind when all of a sudden, Ed pulled the bus over to the side of the highway: “we forgot David”, he said. In all our excitement in mocking ourselves for forgetting Tim, Ed –who was driving – and we completely forgot to pick up Ed’s son, David, in Saskatoon. To make a much longer story short, we called two other people who were in Saskatoon and they kindly picked up David and brought him to Swift Current where they rendezvoused with Ed and then they continued on home.

I think often times we – if you are anything like me – can fail to see God in our local rural ministries, the way we failed to see who was or was not on this bus from camp. I know our scriptures say that there have been times when we have even entertained angels unaware. I have told a story of what I believe was just that from an urban setting.

When our children were just little, we sold our home and our businesses and moved into North America’s poorest postal code - Vancouver’s downtown eastside - as full-time urban missionaries with The Salvation Army.

We saw many miracles in that setting but our time there, as you can well imagine, wasn’t always rosy though. I remember one day – one morning, I was mugged. I knew better but I wasn’t paying attention. It was early in the morning and I was right on Main and Hastings – the most infamous intersection in this most infamous neighbourhood and I was on the pay phone with Susan who was out of town at the time.

Someone came running up behind me, grabbed my briefcase and tore down Main Street. In the briefcase was my laptop and all the information for the summer school program I was running for the kids in the area; so, like anyone mugged in the depths of skid row, I’m sure, I…well, I chased the mugger.

I followed him down Main Street through Chinatown across busy streets and around the myriad of mazes that are Vancouver’s back alleys. Scaring rats, jumping over sleeping street folk, I pursued my assailant. When I was within reach of him… I fell right in front of a bus and though I escaped from in front of the bus with my life, the mugger escaped with my briefcase, my laptop, and the program files for the kids.

It was when I was walking back, completely distraught and despondent from this incident, that I experienced the miracle that happened: I encountered an angel, a messenger of God, in the back alleys of Vancouver’s storied downtown eastside. I can still remember vividly; he looked like a ‘dumpster diver;’ he prayed with me and he offered me these words of encouragement from Romans 5:3,4 “...but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Inside I sighed. I knew he was right. God gave me these words to encourage me because my life was about to get turned upside down in ways we haven’t got time to address here today. God gave me these words to encourage me.

Today, how many times does God come to us through angels, messengers, and or people in our communities? How many times do we run into the same people struggling with the same problems but today something is different, today they have a message from God for us but maybe we don’t see it; maybe we write it off and ignore it. There is a schizophrenic gentleman who comes into my office not as often as he used too but I now try to pay special attention to what he says because often hidden somewhere in the midst of his ramblings is a message from God. Many times we have helped people our in the courts or in the food banks or other ministries here and only really notice after the encounter that God was there. I think in rural ministries particularly we have the opportunity to see God and serve Him through our neighbours in ways that we do not have elsewhere. We all know the scriptures Matthew 25:34-40:

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

And this is the same for us as we walk alongside our brothers and sisters in everyday life, in our churches, in our communities: even those people who can try to monopolize our time or our energy. Sometimes these people in real need in our neighbourhoods and communities may be the Lord himself or a messenger of His. I want to leave you with one more story that I read a couple of years ago in, the Expository Times.

James V, the King of Scotland used to go around the country dressed like everyone else: a common person. That is because he wanted to meet the everyday people of the country not just the rich and powerful. He wanted to see how the normal people lived.

One day he was dressed in very old clothes and was going by a place known as Cramond Brig, when he is attacked by robbers who don’t know who he is. There is a fierce struggle and he is nearly overcome when, at just the right moment, a poor farm worker - Jock Howieson - hears the commotion comes to the disguised king’s aid.

Now Jock, the poor labourer, who works on this portion of the King’s land, known as Cramond Brig, now Jock unawares takes the undercover king home and gives him a dinner of broth and Jock - as the king is recouping – naturally asks the man who he is.

The King responds – in a Scottish brogue that I am not even going to attempt – ‘Ach, I’m a good man of Edinburgh.’

‘And where do you live in that city and where do you work?’

‘Well,’ says James, ‘I live at the palace and I work there too.’

‘The palace, is it? I’d like to see the palace; if I could see the King, I’d tell him a thing or two…’

‘About what?’ asks the King in disguise.

‘I’d tell him that I should own this land that I am on. I work it every day and he never comes here and gets his hands dirty working this land’

‘You’re right enough’, says the man. You come tomorrow to the palace at Holly Rood and I’ll show you around. Come at two.’

So the next day at two o’clock, Jock Howieson, is washed, dressed and at the palace to meet his new friend at the back door. The good man, whom Jock had served and saved the day before, shows him around the kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms – the whole place. Then, at last, the two of them come to the great rooms of the State.

‘Do you want to see the King?’ the man asks Jock.

‘Oh yes indeed’, says Jock, ‘I do. I do want to see the King.’

So they enter the great hall and as they come in, men bow and ladies curtsey. It is really quite a thing to see.

So Jock whispers to his friend, ‘How will I know who the king is?’

‘He’s the only one who keeps his hat on’…

Jock says, ‘But… there’s only us two with our hats…’ and Jock immediately takes off his hat as he realises that James is indeed the King of Scotland.

And so it is with us today. Jesus is King, what we do for the least of these through our local communities – just like Jock, just like the Matthew’s sheep in Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats, what ever we do for the least, the lost and the last, we are actually doing for Christ. Today, He is walking around with each of us showing us his domain here on earth and just waiting for us to take off our hats in service to Him. Let us do just that take off our hats and acknowledge His Lordship by looking out for our local neighbour – especially the least, the lost and the last.

 www.sheepspeak.com 

Judges 16:23-31. Samson: Just Dessert.

Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on June 8, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay

To see a similar 2022 homily presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2022/05/judges-13-16-gods-faithfulness-to-and.html

A couple of summers ago we were posted to The Salvation Army Corps (church) in Maple Creek. They had this bakery right across the street from the corps that had all of these great desserts in it. It really was a great bakery and I would often go there for a treat. One day my kids were so good –they’re always good –but they are particularly good this day. They remember their manners, always say please and thank-you and don’t even respond to provocation (it is amazing!). We are so proud of them that Susan decides to take them for a treat, a dessert, at the bakery… then one of them has a temper tantrum (!) and a big one at that! She is quite upset. She is uncharacteristically sticking out her tongue and hitting us and because of this…. well, she doesn’t get her dessert. She doesn’t get her treat for good behaviour. Her actions cost her her treat. It was already purchased for her but she has lost it.

There are ministers and priests working for God in poor, occupied and oppressed lands who often do their best to take care of those in Jesus name, being like the sheep of Jesus’ parable about the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46).[1] And through their impassioned sermons, speeches and the mechanisms of their governments they fight for the poor and the downtrodden – all through South America these days we can see people, entire countries being liberated from various sins and oppression. Liberation Theology, an attractive movement within contemporary Christianity, has really been taking hold in many Latin American countries. Members of the clergy have been fighting for Christ-like governments and in some cases it has cost them their earthly desserts, their contemporary treats: it has cost them their lives or maybe even more…[2]

Samson, was a little different than all this. Samson was not your typical fine upstanding young church goer handing out soup at the soup kitchen or organizing a letter writing campaign to the government advocating change. There is no doubt that he (like us all) has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Even though the Spirit of the living God stirred in him as a child and even though the Lord blessed him (Judges 13:24-25), he slept around. He visited prostitutes, (Judges 16:1), and he did murder apparently innocent people who had not personally provoked him (Judges 14:19).[3] Samson was a liar at times (cf. Judges 16:7) and he was a sucker for listening to others - instead of listening to God (Judges 14:17) –especially women. Samson was a partier; Samson was a brawler; Samson was a fighter. Samson had so much potential; Samson…

Can you imagine how his parents must have felt? An angel, a messenger of God, comes to them before Samson is ever even conceived telling them that Samson is to be a special person, a Nasserite and that he will be used by God to deliver His people from the Philistines (13:2ff). He is this son of promise who has the protection of an extra strong covenant – the Nasserite vow – but he refuses to rely through it –it seems- on God.

This Son of their promise is always rebelling against the promise. He’s always rebelling against the covenant and he’s always getting into trouble. He is always provoking Israel’s rulers - so much so that the men of Judah bind him to hand him over to them. He commits all the sins that we mentioned earlier and he even asks his parents if he can enter into a marriage covenant with a Philistine lady. He demands to marry a women who is one of the people from whom he is supposed (to be used) to deliver Israel. How can this be? What must be going around in his parents’ heads? How can the people’s deliver be ‘in bed with the enemy?’ How can a man of God who was supposed to be set apart for God be so seemingly un-set apart? How can a holy one so indulge his secular, his profane desires? He is dedicated to God. He spends his life rebelling against his Nasserite vow. He spends his life rebelling against this atypical life-long covenant that an angel of the Lord set up for him and his parents. Samson’s parents had such high hopes for him and now Samson won’t even keep his covenant. He just won’t do what’s expected of him. He was so promising but the world seemingly leads him astray.

I have met a few people in the churches like this. They seem to be quite promising. They know their Bible. They pray religiously. The Spirit seemingly stirs in them. Then something happens. They sleep around. They fight needlessly and for nothing. They turn to addictions rather than to God. (These are the things Samson was doing.) In our world, what about our Liberation Theologians or famous priests or kings from history who may have crossed the line? What about those who have lived their lives really well and then at the end seemingly care more about the politics or people or their own country than God and His Kingdom? What about the Saint who has lived the almost perfect life and then at the end decides to throw a rebellious temper tantrum and risk her reward from the bakery? What about her?

Leviticus 19:2 says to be holy, for the Lord your God is holy. 1 Peter 1:16 echoes that call. The Law of Samson’s time speaks of the Ten Commandments. We know them but is adherence to their principles or the Golden rule (cf. Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:27-36, 10:25-28; Leviticus 19:18, 34) of doing unto others as we would have them do to us- is this apparent in our lives?

Samson would have been familiar with the Law and the Ten Commandments. Through rebellion against his covenant, some of these principles, and against God, Samson was maybe like many today who seemingly even try to separate themselves from God. The NT speaks about the fruit of the Spirit that is supposedly evident in every believer, each follower of Christ - such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) How do we do at displaying these in our lives? We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23); so what then? What will be our fate? If we don’t fulfill our part of our contract, our covenant with God (like Samson did not fulfill his Nasserite vow); if we aren’t even holy this side of the cross, what can be our fate?

Well what is Samson’s fate? At the end of Samson’s life, the Lord’s enemies and Samson’s captors are having a celebration. They are celebrating their successes and the power and what looks to be the triumphs of Dagon, their god. They mock the true God and praise Dagon. They are revelling in what they see as their successes. Everyone is there: everyone who is anyone. All the leaders and the important people of Philistia are gathered to celebrate and, in doing so, they mock God.

When their spirits are at the highest as the party progresses, they send for Samson: Samson, who once upon a time was the troubler of Philistia. They send for Samson. They ridicule him. And they ask him to perform for them. He is led out of prison and made to entertain them and he does. Three thousand more people also clamour onto the roof so that they too can see the spectacle of Israel’s once mighty ruler, so they can see the mighty man, Israel’s former Judge performing a show for Dagon, for Dagon and the Philistines.

It is then –if not before- it is then that Samson turns (repents) from his selfish covenant-defying ways. It is then that Samson turns (repents) to the Lord and joins Him in a solid covenant at this one last time. As we read in Judges 16:28, he cries a heartfelt cry to the Lord. He cries, “remember me oh God;” “remember me oh God.” He repents. He turns back to the Lord. He then saves his people as in one blow he is used by God to save (deliver) Israel from the power of their rulers.

The Lord is our strength and Samson’s strength returns to Him. Now the Lord never gave up on Samson and He reached out to Samson long before Samson had ever reached back. Samson’s hair –the symbol of his covenant with the Lord, which was his tie to the Lord’s strength – Samson’s hair (16:22) starts to grow even before his cry. He then, in our story today, pushes the central pillars of the building apart and the whole thing crashes down. Israel is saved. Samson, though he is dead, is saved. The Lord does not give up on Samson even when Samson is not perfectly following the Lord. When Samson disobeys his covenant with God, God does not let the tie that binds break. He does not sever the shackle of salvation nor release him from His covenant – no matter what he did (cf. Rom 3:3,4). When Samson comes out, turns (repents) and asks God to remember him, God lets Samson know that He does. This is good news.

Samson, who in the end ruled Israel for 20 years, Samson is even recorded as one of the ‘Heroes of the Faith’ in Hebrews 11 alongside Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab (the prostitute), Gideon (the doubter?), Barak (of Deborah fame), Jephthah (the son of a prostitute that we looked at the other week), David, Samuel and the prophets.

Now, like Samson, we have two options: as was mentioned the other week, we too can be added to that list as a hero of the faith no matter what we have done. No matter how far we have strayed…or, we can turn away from him. If we continue in rebellion against His covenant, if we do not persevere, we do not get our eternal reward. We do not get our dessert from the heavenly bakery.[4] However, if we (re)turn to God and persevere we will receive our dessert from the heavenly bakery.

Speaking of the bakery, there is a conclusion to the story I told earlier about our daughter who, through her actions, lost her dessert from the bakery. She - who is often so nice - she did not deserve it and we so did not give her a treat. She lost her dessert. In the end though, she did repent and guess what…? Her sister, her sister gave her her treat. She, who did not lose her reward, sacrificed the better portion of her dessert for her sister. She sacrificed (most of) hers for her sister. Likewise, Christ sacrificed himself so that we may be saved.

Click Here for a longer version of the ending

No matter what we have done, even we may even now be saved. Samson turned; he repented. He is a Hero of the Faith. You too can be a Hero of the Faith. We too can be heroes of the faith all we need to do is confess and turn from our sins to the Lord no matter what are sins may have been. He can forgive them and you know what? He will.

Now is the time to persevere for those of us who have fought the good fight all our lives and now is the time to repent for those who haven’t. The Lord will take us. The Lord will take us back. All we have to do is ask.

If you want to claim that heavenly treat, if you are not sure that your name will be numbered among the heroes of the faith, if you have any doubts. Don’t. Just pray.

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[1] Oscar Romero, for one famous example.
[2] I have the ‘perseverance of Bonhoeffer debates’ in my mind here. He was greatly used by God BUT in the end he crossed the line and killed others in his attempt to murder his democratically elected head of government (as bad as he was) – thus the debate…did he sacrifice his soul for his politics?
[3] This may not necessarily be bad in this case. It does say that ‘the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power..”
[4] Doctrine 9 of The Salvation Army: “We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.”