Saul Who Remembered...Kind of 5-25-25 sermon at Eastminster

 

1 Samuel 13:7b- 14; Focused reading: 1 Samuel 15:10-17, 22-24   5/25/25 Memorial Day EPC Ben Sloan Sermon: "Saul, Who Remembered...Kind Of" 
We are beginning a preaching series on the kings of Israel/Judah.
On this Memorial Day Weekend we will be remembering Saul the warrior King who only kind of remembered God.

                 What do you remember and how do you remember it?  In the end, God’s memory is the ultimate one that counts.  We say, “God only knows.”  Brian Williams was the anchor for NBC News.  He said twice in 2015 that he was in a helicopter that was hit by a RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) and was forced down in Iraq in 2003.  Truth was his helicopter did come under fire, but it was the helicopter in front of him that was hit by a RPG and forced down.  He was forced out of his anchor position at NBC.  Similarly, Hilary Clinton said in 2008 she had come under sniper fire in Bosnia but CBS and the journalists with her said otherwise and she retracted her story. In 1983 Ronald Reagan told Israeli Prime Minister Yishak Shamir that his film unit took pictures of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp.  Later we found out his unit never left the United States. Sometimes, whether we are republican- democrat- rich-poor; whoever we are we are human enough to all make mistakes.  Mitt Romney told a Michigan crowd when he was running for president, that he fondly remembered the golden jubilee celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the automobile.  But later he admitted he was born nine months after the event- and that his memory was “foggy.” All this is to publicly show how our memories fail us, and also frankly how our egos can distort the facts a bit.  Daniel Schachter of Harvard speaks of how there is a large amount of literature that points out that we can have confidence in a distorted memory, and how our egos can conflate events or change them a bit in our mind. 
I really like those Progressive Commercials where one person throws a red challenge flag on another for how they remembered things- and then they replay the event on the camera and one of the two remembers it wrong.  
   All this is to say Saul was really good at remembering things the way he wanted them to be remembered- in a way that portrayed him in the best light.  Saul is perhaps the most memory bungled king in the Bible.  His pride and his lack of trust in God caused him to do some impatient and ego-driven things.  The difference in Saul’s remembering was he was given special instructions by God Himself through the prophet and he just kind-a remembered them.  In other words he kinda obeyed God.  It is a bit like half obedience which is not obedience at all.  When he got caught, Saul was sorry he got caught- but there is little evidence of real repentance.  He was great about making up excuses. 
I don’t know about you, but when I get caught doing something- I can find an excuse.   It is a real weakness, and I can learn from this story how wrong excuse making can be.  Usually my wife catches me.  The conversation goes something like this- “Did you do those things that needed to get done that we talked about before the company comes?”  “Uh- well- I didn’t vacuum, but I did sweep the entranceway.”  That is very Saul-like.  I was going to take out the trash too, but the phone rang and I got distracted.  I’d do it now,but we ran out of time.  Usually my wife calls out my excuses- she’s a retired school teacher and can see a lame excuse a mile away.  Saul was called out by Samuel the prophet.  You bet that was really intimidating.  When Saul started making these excuses and then he said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll make a sacrifice to make up for it.”  Samuel said, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”  Let’s talk about that for a minute. 
     The people of God were called to listen to God- who revealed Himself to them through the law and the prophets.  But God knew they would mess up.  So God developed a sacrificial system as an atonement- to make things one or right with God.  But which is better, obeying God or trying to make up for disobedience by sacrifice?  Is it better when a friendship stays strong, or when it breaks up and then manages to get back together?  It’s better if it stays strong.  There is a price of distrust and a crack in the solid frame of a relationship when a break-up happens.  So not listening, not paying attention, not caring, valuing convenience over obedience, finding excuses for misbehavior is very Saul-like and these are things we all do. 
      In our passage Saul was told to wait seven days on Samuel.  But Saul was growing impatient because his soldiers were outnumbered and scared and were deserting at a rapid pace.  So he took things into his own hands and even though he was not a priest, he made the sacrifice to God.  Still on the seventh day, Samuel showed up- just as Saul was finishing the sacrifice.  You can almost hear Saul saying,”Uh oh!”  “Uh oh- I am caught!”  Saul made the excuse- ”The men were scattering, you didn’t come (trying to blame Samuel), and I was just trying to make God happy by having a sacrifice.”  The problem with Saul is not his actions as much as his heart- his pride thinking he can make the rules up as he goes, instead of listening to what God says.  
Saul also disobeyed about the war with the Amalekites.  He kept the livestock and the king partly out of fear of the people who wanted the plunder.  He also later consulted the Witch of Endor, probably an Amalekite religious person. Which was against his rules.  Samuel even rose up from the dead to rebuke him one more time then. 
      We could contrast Saul with David with the caveat to acknowledge we are not the judge.  David seems to do worse things- he was at least a second degree murderer, and he clearly broke God’s law with Bathsheba.  Similarly to Saul, a prophet (this time Nathan) confronted him.  The difference with Saul is David did not make any excuses- but recognized his sin immediately.  Supposedly, he wrote Psalm 51 in response to his rebuke- “Have mercy on me, O God according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgression and my sin is always before me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight...”  I think the difference between Saul and David is similar to the Pharisee and Tax collector in worship.  The Pharisee was proud and talked about how great he was and listed the things he had done right like he deserved God’s favor.  The Tax Collector beat his chest and said, “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.” 
    Memorial Day began towards the end of the Civil War. Some say Lincoln began it when he decorated graves after his Gettysburg address.  Thirty-six different towns both north and south claim they started it first. Our memories are suspect. We cannot  drop the red challenge flag to let the video replay tell us what is true.  God only knows.  Memorial Day comes at the beginning of summer.  The public swimming pools opened this weekend, and they say fashion changes to summer clothes on Memorial Day.  There are tons of Memorial Day sales to celebrate, and grocery stores will have hot dogs and burgers on sale. However, over a million soldiers died in service for their country that we remember.  It doesn’t matter if they were from the north, south, California, or South Carolina.  They are to be remembered no matter what their political or religious persuasion.  They are dead.  In some ways we value liberty today- the freedom to live the life God gave us.  We are not dead, they are- leaving behind grieving families, and future hopes.
One of my favorite Memorial Day movies is “Unbroken” about a World War 2 hero: Louis Zamperini.  Louis qualified for the 1936 Olympics.  He was extremely disciplined.  His plane was shot down and he survived on a raft in the ocean for 47 days.  He watched many of his war buddies die- 40% of the POW’s in Japan died in captivity.  He was picked on mercilessly by his Japanese captors, and amazingly resisted.  The movie ends with the war ending and setting them free. Somebody’s memory was distorting things by this ending. See, the rest of the story is that when Zampirini came back to the states he became an alcoholic trying to deal with the sadness of the loss of his buddies. He was still acclaimed as a hero but he needed strength beyond himself. One night he thought he was choking his tormentors, but was choking his wife. But things changed for the better when he came to the Christian faith through a Billy Graham meeting and found peace with his past and the loss of his friends.  He gave up alcohol.  Eventually he went back to Japan, found those who imprisoned him and amazingly forgave them.  Healing and forgiveness comes when we give up our excuses and egos to confess and repent.  The focus of our lives should not be on our problems or difficulties.  We will all have them.  But it is possible to lift up your eyes and remember God who is the ultimate giver of life and freedom.  When you remember God, He heals your memories.  He doesn’t change them, but redeems them, forgives them and enables you to move on. 
     Let us also as believers not forget to remember.  We do not exist in a vacuum.  As Brad reminds us, We are standing on the shoulders of those who went before us, and drink from wells we did not dig.  While some have half believed and half obeyed-like Saul; there are those who fully humbled themselves before God and lived heroic meaningful and faithful lives.  The Bible calls us to live grateful lives.  We should be grateful for those who have given themselves fully, and also be grateful ultimately to God who gives us life, and sets us free from our sins- when we call out and come to Him.