Opening Illustration: A friend of mine by the name of Joseph who I met while teaching at a Catholic school. At that time he was climbing up the corporate ladder of the Catholic church which was grooming and raising him up to be a father and possibly a bishop or cardinal in the future. In our free time we would meet up and talk many things but zeroing down to how our faiths in Christ differed.
All those talks one day bore fruit after we had left India for the Middle East. He disclosed to me that he accepted Christ as his Savior and the Catholic diocese had excommunicated him for his stand. He recognized that God had and has a profound call upon his life right from the time he was born. The only difference was that he was trying to live it out through the man made corporate but now he was in complete surrender to God. Today he is an independent bishop of a group of churches and planted a couple of schools and institutes in North India. He is a man sold out to the call of God upon his life.
Introduction: Samson was a man destined for greatness. As we will see in this message, before he was born Samson was chosen for a great mission by God. His life is marked by great victories and by even greater failures. He was a man used by the Holy Spirit, but utterly ruled by the flesh. Samson was the strongest man who ever lived, yet he was also the weakest. Samson was dedicated to God before his birth, but dedicated to himself until the day of his death. In the end, his weaknesses overcame all the strengths.
Samson’s life is a sad tale of the consequences of demanding your own way. Samson had a weakness for ungodly women. He pursued that weakness with reckless abandon, until God abandoned him to the way he chose to live his life. Though the Lord worked in his life, Samson was determined to pursue his sin and he reaped the consequences of the decisions he made in life.
We can learn much from this puzzling man. In Hebrews 11:32 Samson is mentioned as a man of faith. Yet his life clearly displays his unfaithfulness. Samson was undisciplined, undependable, un-predictable and did not have self-control. He is a good illustration of James 1:8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” In fact the Psalmist in chap. 119 does not have a liking for such people and advises to stay away from them. Samson is a good example of what a believer should NOT be. Yet, I fear that he represents many of us in our own walk with the Lord. As we follow the life of Samson through all the victories and failures that marked it, let the Lord speak to your heart. It may just be that you will see some weakness that dominates your life. It may be that you will see yourself reflected in the mirror of Samson’s life.
How does the call of God play out?
1. Determined much before birth (vs. 1-5)
Before Samson was born or even conceived God had a purpose for his life. An angel appeared to a Jewish woman from the tribe of Dan and told her that though she had been barren, she would conceive and bear a son. She was told that this child would be a Nazirite to God from birth. This referred to the Nazirite vow the Jews occasionally took to temporarily devote themselves completely to God. They were to demonstrate their devotion through abstaining from wine (no small thing in the Jewish culture) and not cutting their hair. This Nazirite vow was almost always a temporary state which might last a few weeks or months. In Samson's case, it was to be his rule of life for all his days. It was a permanent call.
When the Psalmist in chapter 139:13 says, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb” tells us that God knows us much before we were born. He has seen us being designed in our mother’s womb. He knows everything about us. He has even planned and thought good thoughts about us which are better than what we can even think about ourselves. The time when we did not have the ability to think for ourselves and about ourselves, He had already thought for us and about us. That is the God we have … one who has determined our calling much before we were born.
When God sees us before our birth, He sees us as His because we are being created in His image. Whatever is His, He wants to pour into us. His ways, His thoughts, His plans, His abundant blessings and His amazing love. This is what builds us to facilitate His call. When God does His part, do we respond by doing our part by choosing what He chose for us and positioning ourselves to facilitate that call which He has already put upon our lives much before we were born.
2. Separation before and after birth (vs. 6-23)
The Angel of Yahweh renewed His instructions. She was to be under a vow and to abstain from wine and strong drink and unclean foods. This latter stress may be an indication that many Israelites had now begun to ignore the dietary requirements of the Law for it is additional to ‘anything that comes from the vine.’ Ungodly practices produced ungodly eating.
There is unquestionably an indication here that the total separation to Yahweh of her baby required that she avoid all ‘uncleanness’ that could affect the baby. And yet the same prohibition against wine and strong drink was not specifically enjoined on Samson. It may well, however, have been assumed on the basis of Nazirite requirements. It was part of what was involved in being a Nazirite. It is one of the astonishing aspects of the life of Samson that while he did not fully fulfil the vow under which he was born, he yet experienced the power of God in his judgeship. It is probable, however, that we are to recognize that in his failure he constantly returned for forgiveness. And in the end he had sexual drives and cravings that he just could not fully overcome. The life of Samuel illustrates what he could have become if only he had been more obedient.
The child that was to be born would be dedicated to God from the womb. He was to be a permanent Nazirite. Thus his mother was to abstain from wine and strong drink, and be especially careful of unclean food. Nor was his hair to be cut. For he was to be God’s initial weapon in preparing to deal with the Philistine menace.
Lifelong separation from touching dead things was not said to be required, possibly because recognized as not feasible (provision was made for short term Nazirites in that they could begin their dedication again and fulfil the whole term of their vow. This was not possible with a lifelong Nazirite). On the other hand it may again have been assumed. All knew that a Nazirite had to avoid wine and strong drink and contact with the dead. But the essential aspect of Naziriteship was found in the hair. It symbolized a man untouched by human activity. He was God’s man. We can compare how the grapes of untrimmed (nazir) vines in the sabbatical year were not to be eaten (Leviticus 25:5). They too were God’s handiwork.
It should be noted that only Samson was called a Nazirite. Neither Samuel nor John the Baptizer were given that title, even though there were similarities. However the growing of the hair unshaven was clearly essential to being a Nazirite and as Samuel too was to be like that it would seem that his mother intended a Nazirite vow in respect of him (1 Samuel 1:11).
What is mind boggling that someone whose call has been protected even before birth and after, could so easily exchange it for a morsel of flesh? How can one even think that God will be ok with it? How something so precious and so divine which only a few have the privilege to have, one would chuck it for the perishable things of the world? Even though our call has been protected by others, does not mean that we can volunteering reject it and choose the temptations of the world over it.
3. Move in the power of the Holy Spirit (v. 24)
Samson’s incredible strength was greater than even the strongest of men could develop in their own bodies. “The Spirit of the LORD” came on him “at times,” giving him supernatural strength. There are four separate references, including our text, where it is said that the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson, enabling him to perform superhuman feats of strength in overcoming the Philistines (Judges 14:6,19; 15:14). Interestingly, “the Spirit of the Lord,” as a specific title, occurs only five times in the entire New Testament. The seven occurrences of this important phrase in Judges, perhaps surprisingly, are more than in any other book of the Bible.
Samson was a man easily tempted, but he was also a man of great faith (Hebrews 11:32, 33), and God used him greatly. Today, the Spirit of the Lord may not “come upon” us to give us superhuman strength as He did to Samson, but He indwells us so that, through God’s word, we are being “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
We Christians are to fight the battle against Satan with the same Spirit of the Lord Jesus. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” – (Ephesians 6:10-12). We fight a spiritual enemy and therefore we use spiritual weapons. “For through we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds)” (2 Corinthians 10:3, 4). Mighty warfare with only spiritual weapons, exactly like Samson, exactly like Jesus. Samson had no carnal weapon in his hand, it was the hand of the Lord that slew the roaring lion.
In order to protect our calling and when the adversary stands against our call, it is imperative that we take a stand to contend with it rather than yield to the worldly temptations. Each believer has been imparted with the Holy Spirit. What are we doing with that empowerment? Are we capitalizing on using the sword of the Spirit? Are we using the power of the gifts to impart and facilitate our call? Or have we been tricked into believing the lie of the world to just go with the crowd and God will take care of the rest?
Application: The call of God has been upon our life much before even we could comprehend our left hand from the right. That is the time when God had people in place who would take care to raise us up. Now when you are on your own and think you can be on your own without anyone’s assistance, what have you done with your call? After all it was already decided before you were born. How has your call played out? Do you see yourself facilitating the call or killing it?
