The Sins of a Self-Made Man
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From the Pulpit
I preached this on Sunday and boy what an impact it made on me. Coming from a military background where everything was a competition to be the best and brightest; in order to get the next promotion and ideal posting to aid a person in their next promotion...and so the cycle repeated itself. It was understood that everyone successful in the military was a 'self-made man (or woman)'. So this message was one of those preached at me to stand guard against this attitude of Saul and especially many people of our current society have this self-made, I-did-it-my-way attitude. Our text is I Samuel 9:1-21 (primarily 1-3 & 15-21).
We see that King Saul epitomizes many of the values that Americans hold dear. He would have fit right into our political system and idea of the 'prefect candidate'. Understand that this sermon was not preached because of this election period we are in, nor was it aimed at any particular candidate since many from both sides of the aisle could fall into this description. Back to Saul, he represents a person who arose from a background of personal obscurity to become not just a figure of prominence, power, and prestige, but the political head of an entire nation. Saul was an effective leader and warrior. During his reign, Israel reclaimed much land lost to the Philistines. The Bible speaks of his great height. Apparently Saul was a person of athletic build, charismatic personality, and handsome appearance. With his success, Saul remained a persona of conscience. On more than one occasion he admitted his guilt. It takes a 'big' person to do that. 'Small' people do not admit their errors. It would be easy to assign the tag of "self-made man" to Saul.
Yet Saul's life ended in shame and failure. His biography is one of the great tragedies of the Bible. Saul appears in the Bible as a man in the prime of life who had already realized much of his potential. Saul had it all, but he let it slip away. We cannot read of Saul's life without thinking of the little boy giving his dad the sports news of the neighborhood softball game: "We had 'em 18-0 but blew it in the bottom of the first!" That was Saul. Saul was beset by some of the sins of a self-made man.
I. Thinking too little of yourself. Result: Playing to other's approval.
We see that Saul didn't think much of himself (vs. 21). Later we see him hiding among the 'stuff' (I Sam. ). This is an ongoing issue for Saul and leads to his disobedience against God and ultimately his downfall and the disappearance of God's leading in his life. We see one example of this disobedience in I Sam. 15 when he is told to utterly destroy the Amelekites and he doesn't; when the prophet Samuel says something to him, Saul blames the people. In reality it was him giving in to the peer pressure, real or imagined. He was the King. He was the ultimate authority in the land (outside of God). So how is it the 'people made him do it?' Sounds like Adam blaming God for 'that woman He gave to Adam.' This is a terrible side effect of thinking too little of yourself. Saul had it all going for him. We already looked at everything going for him...his stature...his looks...his ability...his personality. Saul also forgot he was God's chosen man and that should have been enough but it wasn't and he gave into the trap of trying to please others even to the point of disobeying God.
II. Thinking only of yourself. Result: Leaving God out of your life.
Thinking only of yourself and your world leads to failure to see yourself and your world with the eyes of faith. Saul thought only of himself. He did not see that God was a part of the picture of reality too. Sadly, we see this proven by Saul's actions in I Sam. 13:8-14 while camped at Gigal preparing for war with the Philistines. Saul had been instructed not to begin the military campaign until Samuel had made the proper sacrifice. After waiting seven days for Samuel to come, Saul took matters into his own hands and made the sacrifice himself. He evidently thought, "Sacrifice is a mere formality anyway. Who needs God when you have a sharp sword? I can pray as well as any prophet. Let's make the sacrifice and get on with it!" By Saul's actions we can see that he left God out of his worldview and took a dangerous 'self-made' attitude of "I can handle this one by myself." The danger with telling yourself that you really are self-made man is that sooner or later you are likely to believe it.
III. Thinking too long by yourself (away from God). Result: Failing to view life with God as an ongoing relationship you must nurture.
Self-made people may think that they do not normally need God. Oh they are OK with those who do need God but that is something that lesser people need not me...the self made man. Saul stayed away from God too long. He did not see his life with the Lord as anything more than a panic measure to which he could resort in case of an emergency. Saul would have been wise to heed the warning of the prophet Samuel. We would be wise to heed the Scripture...Matthew 16:24 - "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." I Sam. 28:3-14 shows us the last days of Saul's life. Samuel the prophet had died, and a new Philistine invasion threatened Israel. Without Samuel to advise him, Saul was afraid. He had banished all the mediums and spiritualists from the land, but when he had inquired of the Lord and found no answer, Saul in desperation sought the witch of Endor to conjure up Samuel from the dead. Saul had stayed away too long away from God. Now god was through with Saul. An emergency arose, and Saul had no relationship with God to see him through it. Saul literally self-destructed. His death is the only suicide recorded in the Old Testament. Our relationship with Christ is something to nurture daily. We cannot stop giving time to this relationship at age fourteen and come back to it at age thirty-four and expect much to be there.
So in conclusion, spiritually speaking, a self-made man is a terrible tragedy. We do have an option: the Christ-made person. When we finally confess our own inability to find fulfillment, purpose, and true life in and of ourselves, Christ beckons us to try life His way. You can find God's help today.
I preached this on Sunday and boy what an impact it made on me. Coming from a military background where everything was a competition to be the best and brightest; in order to get the next promotion and ideal posting to aid a person in their next promotion...and so the cycle repeated itself. It was understood that everyone successful in the military was a 'self-made man (or woman)'. So this message was one of those preached at me to stand guard against this attitude of Saul and especially many people of our current society have this self-made, I-did-it-my-way attitude. Our text is I Samuel 9:1-21 (primarily 1-3 & 15-21).
We see that King Saul epitomizes many of the values that Americans hold dear. He would have fit right into our political system and idea of the 'prefect candidate'. Understand that this sermon was not preached because of this election period we are in, nor was it aimed at any particular candidate since many from both sides of the aisle could fall into this description. Back to Saul, he represents a person who arose from a background of personal obscurity to become not just a figure of prominence, power, and prestige, but the political head of an entire nation. Saul was an effective leader and warrior. During his reign, Israel reclaimed much land lost to the Philistines. The Bible speaks of his great height. Apparently Saul was a person of athletic build, charismatic personality, and handsome appearance. With his success, Saul remained a persona of conscience. On more than one occasion he admitted his guilt. It takes a 'big' person to do that. 'Small' people do not admit their errors. It would be easy to assign the tag of "self-made man" to Saul.
Yet Saul's life ended in shame and failure. His biography is one of the great tragedies of the Bible. Saul appears in the Bible as a man in the prime of life who had already realized much of his potential. Saul had it all, but he let it slip away. We cannot read of Saul's life without thinking of the little boy giving his dad the sports news of the neighborhood softball game: "We had 'em 18-0 but blew it in the bottom of the first!" That was Saul. Saul was beset by some of the sins of a self-made man.
I. Thinking too little of yourself. Result: Playing to other's approval.
We see that Saul didn't think much of himself (vs. 21). Later we see him hiding among the 'stuff' (I Sam. ). This is an ongoing issue for Saul and leads to his disobedience against God and ultimately his downfall and the disappearance of God's leading in his life. We see one example of this disobedience in I Sam. 15 when he is told to utterly destroy the Amelekites and he doesn't; when the prophet Samuel says something to him, Saul blames the people. In reality it was him giving in to the peer pressure, real or imagined. He was the King. He was the ultimate authority in the land (outside of God). So how is it the 'people made him do it?' Sounds like Adam blaming God for 'that woman He gave to Adam.' This is a terrible side effect of thinking too little of yourself. Saul had it all going for him. We already looked at everything going for him...his stature...his looks...his ability...his personality. Saul also forgot he was God's chosen man and that should have been enough but it wasn't and he gave into the trap of trying to please others even to the point of disobeying God.
II. Thinking only of yourself. Result: Leaving God out of your life.
Thinking only of yourself and your world leads to failure to see yourself and your world with the eyes of faith. Saul thought only of himself. He did not see that God was a part of the picture of reality too. Sadly, we see this proven by Saul's actions in I Sam. 13:8-14 while camped at Gigal preparing for war with the Philistines. Saul had been instructed not to begin the military campaign until Samuel had made the proper sacrifice. After waiting seven days for Samuel to come, Saul took matters into his own hands and made the sacrifice himself. He evidently thought, "Sacrifice is a mere formality anyway. Who needs God when you have a sharp sword? I can pray as well as any prophet. Let's make the sacrifice and get on with it!" By Saul's actions we can see that he left God out of his worldview and took a dangerous 'self-made' attitude of "I can handle this one by myself." The danger with telling yourself that you really are self-made man is that sooner or later you are likely to believe it.
III. Thinking too long by yourself (away from God). Result: Failing to view life with God as an ongoing relationship you must nurture.
Self-made people may think that they do not normally need God. Oh they are OK with those who do need God but that is something that lesser people need not me...the self made man. Saul stayed away from God too long. He did not see his life with the Lord as anything more than a panic measure to which he could resort in case of an emergency. Saul would have been wise to heed the warning of the prophet Samuel. We would be wise to heed the Scripture...Matthew 16:24 - "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." I Sam. 28:3-14 shows us the last days of Saul's life. Samuel the prophet had died, and a new Philistine invasion threatened Israel. Without Samuel to advise him, Saul was afraid. He had banished all the mediums and spiritualists from the land, but when he had inquired of the Lord and found no answer, Saul in desperation sought the witch of Endor to conjure up Samuel from the dead. Saul had stayed away too long away from God. Now god was through with Saul. An emergency arose, and Saul had no relationship with God to see him through it. Saul literally self-destructed. His death is the only suicide recorded in the Old Testament. Our relationship with Christ is something to nurture daily. We cannot stop giving time to this relationship at age fourteen and come back to it at age thirty-four and expect much to be there.
So in conclusion, spiritually speaking, a self-made man is a terrible tragedy. We do have an option: the Christ-made person. When we finally confess our own inability to find fulfillment, purpose, and true life in and of ourselves, Christ beckons us to try life His way. You can find God's help today.
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