Tuesday, November 13, 2007
By Faith... the Judges, Part 23 of 62
TEXT: "What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets" (Hebrews 11:32).
IDEA: There is a danger in having a second-hand faith.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that a second-hand faith may be no faith at all.
Were you brought up in a Christian family?
We’ve talked about that before. We received a letter from a listener who complained that she couldn’t identify with us because she was brought up in an irreligious, abusive family. She said that faith comes more easily to us than to her. Do you identify at all with her objection?
Is there a danger of having a second-hand faith handed down to you along with your grandfather’s watch?
I. Samson’s faith and lifestyle were handed down to him both from God and from his devout parents.
He was to be a Nazirite.
What in the world is a Nazirite?
Numbers 6:1-7 spelled out clearly what it meant to be a Nazirite.
A Nazarite took a vow to set himself or herself apart to God completely. A Nazirite had certain obligations:
He or she must abstain from any fruit of the vine (Numbers 6:1-4).
He or she would not drink wine or other fermented drink.
He or she could not drink grape juice or even eat grapes or raisins.
He or she must let his or her hair grow uncut (Numbers 6:5).
He or she could not go near the dead body of anyone, even a close family member.
II. Imagine what that must have been like for Samson growing up. He was odd:
He could not attend parties if wine or grape juice was being served.
He had to allow his hair to grow uncut. How would that have made him appear to others?
He couldn’t attend the funeral of a close friend or a relative who had died.
When did Samson make the vow to be a Nazirite?
It was a lifestyle forced on him from before his birth.
III. Being a Nazirite not only affected his youth but carried over to his later years as well.
Samson was a “loner.” Everything he did, every victory he won, was by himself.
Does that surprise you?
Conclusion:
What are the advantages of being brought up by devout parents?
Are there any disadvantages?
Do you think that some children who have grown up in a Christian home may have felt a bit like Samson?
