February 18, 2018 – “Unburdened: The Barrenness of Busyness” by Rev. Cody Sandahl

Lay Reader = Romans 12:1-3

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Introduction

On Ash Wednesday we started a new series called Unburdened. This Lenten season we’re going to look at how we free up our overburdened lives. A lot of times in Lent we give up something small. But removing a pair of socks from an overstuffed suitcase doesn’t make a lot of difference. So this season we’re going bigger – how can we clear out our overstuffed suitcases and make sure God has room to speak and work in our lives?

This week we’re looking at busyness. How are we overstuffing our lives with constant activity? What value are we really getting out of that busyness? What cost comes with it – what are we NOT doing or what are we MISSING because we’re too busy?

In our text today we are spying on the first king of Israel – Saul. And the ancient Israelites asked God to give them a king because they were afraid of one of their enemies in particular – the Philistines. This was the first group of people they couldn’t conquer.

And Saul became king for two overarching reasons: #1 he could fight, and #2 he was a handsome devil. Best-looking guy in Israel, the Bible says. As a side note, how great would that be to put on a business card – “handsomest man in Israel – God”? And Saul has some early success against the other enemies of Israel. But in our text today, he’s finally going to take on the Philistines. The people rally to his side, ready to fight. But there’s a snag. They have to wait for God’s prophet – Samuel – to come and bless the battle. They weren’t going to fight against a better-armed, larger army unless they KNEW God was with them. So they waited for Samuel.

And they waited. And they waited. Seven days they waited, and still no Samuel. Some of the frightened soldiers started to sneak away, so Saul – never one for waiting – a busy man if ever there was one – he decided that ACTION was required!

1 Samuel 13:5-14

5 The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul. 9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived; and Saul went out to meet him and salute him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the Lord’; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, 14 but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

The Discernment Struggle

So imagine that you’re in the doctor’s office. And your appointment is at 1:30pm. So you dutifully arrive at 1:15. The waiting room is full of people wearing those cough masks. Except for two people who should be wearing the masks but aren’t. The only seat available for you is between them, of course. And 1:30 comes and goes. Your watch reaches 1:45. Then 2. Then 2:15. Are you with me?

Quick multiple choice survey here. As 2:30 rolls around, are you (A) grateful for the chance to remind yourself what Reader’s Digest thought was important in the 1997 issue sitting on the table? (B) frantically texting your friends, family, and pets to tell them how the receptionist clearly doesn’t like you and that’s why you haven’t been seen yet? Or (C) striking up a very loud conversation with someone next to you so you can mention your highly contagious and potentially fatal disease in the hopes of getting the other people to leave so you can be seen sooner?

Waiting doesn’t come naturally or easily to many of us. If you really want to know how well someone waits, take their phone from them and see how many times they reflexively reach toward their pocket or purse to pull it out anyway. I can empathize with Saul in this text.

There’s a fine line between waiting for God and simply being passive. It’s not always clear.

Even in the Bible you can find different guidance. We see stories like this one today, or Mary and Martha where Jesus says the one sitting at his feet listening was doing better than the one preparing for the meal. But then you have Proverbs 6, “Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise… How long will you lie there, O lazybones? When will you rise from your sleep?” Or 2 Thessalonians 3:10 – “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

How do we know when we should wait on the Lord, and when we should take action ourselves? Have you ever wondered that?

Giving Up Too Soon

Well to figure that out, let’s first look at what Saul did wrong in our text. I think a big one is that he lacked trust. Samuel said he would be there on the seventh day. But as it got closer and closer to nighttime on the seventh day, Saul lost his nerve. The text says Samuel actually arrived on the exact day he specified, it was just later in the day than Saul was willing to wait.

So Saul’s first mistake, and one we can do ourselves, was giving up on God’s timing. I gained a greater appreciation for God’s timing through an unexpected source. I was hoping to ask a girl out on a date in college, but I knew she had just been dumped by her former boyfriend. And I had to debate every time I saw her if I had waited long enough, but not so long that someone else could swoop in or she thought I had lost interest. I realized that God must be like that sometimes – “I know what I want to do, but I have to wait for the exact time that they’ll be ready for it.” I, of course, jumped the gun, went too soon, and crashed and burned. But hey – it was a nice theology lesson.

But that also demonstrates the problem most of us have – we are FAR more likely to jump the gun like Saul and like I did than we are to wait too long for God. Humans aren’t good at waiting. The answer is usually that we should wait for God longer, because we are very likely to give up too soon.

Have you ever given up too soon on God’s timing? Ever jumped the gun?

Magic

Saul’s second mistake was thinking that God could be manipulated by his own religion. The text says that Saul did two offerings – a burnt offering and a well-being or peace offering. The burnt offering is the one used on the Day of Atonement – you completely burn an unblemished animal as a way to ritualistically burn away your sins. So Saul wants to make sure there aren’t any sins getting in the way of his army’s success.

Now we could make fun of Saul, here. We could say how silly it was for him to think that God would bless him because he burned a goat and incense. We could say that God isn’t so easily fooled. We could say that Saul had no right to do the offerings himself – he should have waited for the prophet Samuel.

But have you ever thought, “I’m a good person, why did this happen to me?” Or have you ever thought, “I’m at church every week – so why do I still struggle?” That’s the same thing that Saul did. Saul thought his religion would protect and bless him. All he had to do was perform the right rituals – go to church every week, have a quiet time, refrain from cursing when anyone else is around – and God would bless him. I bet everyone in here has had that same thought.

But God isn’t a magician. He isn’t a giant soda machine in the sky, just waiting for the proper change to be put into the slot to dispense the blessings. Psalm 50 reminds us that God already owns everything we could sacrifice to him. All those religious acts aren’t worth anything without the heart. So the psalm says, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.” Living your faith in your life is what God cares about – not the religious rituals.

Have you ever tried to earn God’s favor with your religious rituals? Ever tried to bargain with God – his blessings for your good behavior?

It’s About Me

Saul’s third mistake came with the well-being or peace offering. That offering is designed to show that the person doing the offering is in a positive relationship with God. It’s like a seal of God’s approval. But by doing it himself, Saul is self-proclaiming his rightness with God. But you’re kind of supposed to have someone else say that you’re right with God.

Doing the peace offering for yourself would be like giving yourself a nickname – it just doesn’t have the same impact as when someone else gives it to you.

And again – I can empathize with Saul on this. Lately my basketball group has been calling me the mailman, because I always deliver on my midrange jump shots. And there’s even a Hall of Famer who had that same nickname, but I don’t know. Mailman just doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of the opponent, right? I understand why Saul would want to pick his own nickname.

But what’s the purpose of a nickname? It’s to tell other people something about yourself. It’s a reputation. It’s about changing other people’s perception of you. So if I’m the Mailman, I guess I’m boring and reliable. But when I was in college I had a different nickname on the court. I would go on a run where I would hit every shot, play great defense, and take over the game. That’s when one of the guys would shout out, “here comes the Cody Show!” That has a different message than the Mailman, right? But how would it go if I told my new basketball group, “No, I’m not the Mailman. I’m the Cody Show!”

Where am I going with this other than giving you ammunition to make fun of me about my basketball nicknames? Saul’s mistake in doing the peace offering himself was that he did it out of fear of the crowds. He did it because he was afraid he would lose his nickname. He did it because he needed to keep up the façade that God was always with him in whatever he did. He was driven by the perception of the crowd. On Ash Wednesday we saw how Jesus said that if we dance for the crowd, we’ve already received our reward. But if we dance for the Lord when no one else can see it, our true reward will be greater than we can imagine. Our first text today says “do not be conformed to this world” – don’t dance for the crowd.

Have you ever done something because you were afraid of how others would perceive you?

Worthy Busyness

So we’ve seen three kinds of busyness that aren’t worth anything. When we’re busy because we’ve lost patience with God, not helpful. When we’re busy because we’re trying to earn God’s favor or manipulate God into doing our bidding, not helpful. When we’re busy because we’re dancing for the crowd, trying to keep our nickname, not helpful.

If you’re looking for ways to clear out some space in your life, to remove more than just a pair of socks from your overstuffed suitcase, ask yourself if you’re doing any of those things. Are you copying Saul anywhere? That’s some busyness you can do without.

But what’s worthwhile? What’s worth keeping?

Our first text today, after reminding us not to be conformed to this world, says, “but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Does your busyness help you discern the will of God? That’s helpful.

Does your busyness arise from doing what is good in the eyes of Christ? That’s helpful.

Does your busyness draw you closer to the goal of being, as Samuel says to Saul, a man or woman after God’s own heart? That’s helpful.

Those are worthy forms of busyness. But if it’s just busyness because you’ve lost patience…or busyness because you’re trying to earn God’s favor…or busyness because you’re trying to keep your nickname with the crowd…not helpful. That’s barren busyness. There’s no value there. You can toss it out of your bag.

Sisters and brothers, whatever busyness you choose, make sure you’re dancing for the Lord and not for the crowd. Amen.