Spectacular Sins Book Club Chapter 7
Hello ladies!! Our brains are back from Spring Break – hope your’s are too. Let’s dive into “The Sinful Origins of the Son of David”.
1. Why did the Israelites demand an earthly king? Why did they want to be “like other nations”?
2. Piper discusses how God does things “for His own name’s sake.” What does this mean?
3. Can you tell of a time when God gave you something that you wanted, but didn’t need? What were the repercussions? Can you see how God ultimately used it for “His own name’s sake”?
4. Samuel said, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil.” Does this give you comfort, if so, how?
Just one more chapter ladies! I hope this book is blessing your view of our sovereign Lord.
Love, Missy
I tried to pick up this book at the Christian Book Store the other day but they didn’t have it! I will have to keep looking for it! I left a little award for Lisa over on my blog! :0)
Just wanted to stop by and tell you I have been a long time reader of your blog and love it.
I met you briefly in San Antonio last summer.
I have finally entered the blog world.
Stop by my blog for a visit. Though I am relativity new to blogging, I am loving all my new friends.
I am giving away my first EVER BLOG PRIZE.
I own a gift basket business and it is the most requested gift over the last 15 years.
From the comments I have already received, appears to be something a little different and something anyone could use.
I have been so touched by the comments that I have decided to give 2 boxes . They will be the $100 deluxe size. I really do want to bless people!!!
I want my blog to encourage others. I have decided that giving is life at its BEST. The drawing will be Saturday!
Teresa
The bottom line is that they were sinful. They rejected God as their King, and in spite of the warnings that Samuel gave them, they said “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” (I Samuel 8:19-20) The lure of peer pressure and “keeping up with the Joneses” has been a struggle for humans for millenia!
2. God will be glorified. And He will be faithful to Himself. All that He does has one purpose – to bring honor to His name. In studying the Old Testament, I discovered that many of the great prayers of Moses and the prophets were based on this very concept – they beseeched God to answer their prayers for His name’s sake and for His honor among the nation.
3. It’s always hard for me to come up with memories and examples. Fortunately for me, most of the time, I have been able to look back and see that God did not give me what I wanted and I have been very grateful in hindsight!! But generally, anytime I insist on my own way, the repercussions are usually misery, embarrassment, and regret. And God uses it for “His own name’s sake to bring me right back in repentance to line my will up with His!
4. This is a beautiful picture of grace. As Piper points out, it seems like Samuel would have said “Be afraid; you have done all this evil.” But grace give us what we don’t deserve. Piper explains that God’s allegiance to his own name is the foudation of his faithfulness to us. God means for us to learn from this spectacular sin that the grace of our salvation is ultimately based not on our value to him, but his value to himself.“”
Praise God for that truth! How lost we would be without it!
1. The Israelites must have felt they were missing out on something good. Perhaps they wanted the prestige and honor that comes from having “royalty”. Maybe they also wanted more of a physical presence for protection instead of the more invisible God. They couldn’t see how good they had it.
2. Throughout the Bible, God is always defending his name and commanding honor for his name. Someone’s name represented the essence of who he was, even more so in that time than in our own. God was jealous for the reputation of his name, i.e. for his glory and honor that was due only to him and none other.
3. Good question—I need to think about it a little more…
4. I do feel comforted by “don’t be afraid; you have done all this evil.” It seems so contrary to our human way of thinking. When we do wrong, bad things often follow. But with Christ, even though we may still face human consequences, we are constantly covered by the blood and seen as righteous , and thus need have no fear of punishment.
My summary of chapter 7 is here:
http://lisanotes.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-did-god-give-people-earthly-king.html
1. They wanted a king to lead them, to go out and fight their battles for them. Perhaps they thought that having a king would give them more respect and fear from the neighboring nations. Perhaps they needed someone visible to them as a sovereign, majestic leader.
2.God is committed to “upholding the worth and truth and righteousness of his own name.” (page 92). I think this means a couple of different things; as Piper said earlier, God was Isreal’s King. He led them out of Egypt, He fought their battles and defeated their enemies, He rescued them from evil kings and gave them the Promised land. He also knew that an earthly king would not walk in all His ways. Pride and greed and the need for power would corrupt and earthly king. He has Samuel warn the people of this (Samuel 12:8-11). By letting Israel have a king, He shows them the fulfillment of this prophesy (be careful what you wish for), and thereby upholds the worth, truth and righteousness of His own name.
Secondly, Jesus has been called “the Name” through which miraculous things are performed, by which we ask and it is granted, and at which every knee shall bow, in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth. (Acts 4:30, 1 John 3:23, and Phil. 2:10) By establishing an earthly kingship, Jesus (God made man) descends through an earthly king’s lineage, and a Heavenly King’s lineage to be King of all creation. He fulfills the Words of God in Genesis: ““I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
God does everything to point to His saving gift, the life, death, resurrection of His Son, Jesus.
3.I have a bracelet story. It is not important all the details, but God used it to show me that I needed to focus on storing up treasures in heaven. That I needed to bend my will to His, and that my daughter’s faith was more precious to me than any bracelet!
4. Yes, He knows all, sees all, and has all planned out. Nothing is left to chance. He has redeemed me and I can rest in His forgiveness. Nothing can harm me or separate me from the love of God.
1. The Israelites demanded an earthly king because they wanted to be like all the other nations.
They wanted a human king. Just like today…we are still wanting what we want without recognizing what we already have.
2. God will not allow His name to be foresaken…the ultimate worth of His name will be upheld.
3. I was a young teacher working with mentally challenged adults. I worked with one man who loved to play “tricks” on the staff by having us guess the number on the card he was holding.
One day quite absent-mindedly I asked God to tell me the number on the card because I knew it would add to the excitement of the game if I got it correct. Well, my hasty prayer was answered and I “guessed” the card correctly. I doubt that he was anymore thrilled than I was stunned. I learned in that instant not to treat God as a fortune teller nor to use our special gift of prayer to the God of the universe in a such a careless way.
4. It is comforting to be told you do not have to be afraid even though you have sinned. But, it is the next sentence that makes this even more comforting. “Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.” Knowing that God is still willing for me to continue to serve him even when I have sinned is the most comforting of all.