Narrative Sermon: Can God Fail?

When God’s people fail, does that mean God failed? The Philistines just defeated Israel in battle, killed Eli’s sons as well as over 34,000 Israeli soldiers, and captured the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 4). In their view, not only did they win, but their gods won! The God of Israel met defeat. The Philistines think, “He must not be as strong as our god.” Israel failed; does that mean that God failed? When Christian fail, does that mean God failed?

Without casting stones at anyone specifically, the reality is that Christians fail in the spiritual and moral battle. There are the BIG failures of various TV evangelists that we can recall. Secretly, they were embezzling millions of dollars from their followers. Others were having affairs or hiring prostitutes for… well, you know what for. Some were doing both! Of course, we all know more about these than we wish we did because the secular media loves to rub it in our faces. Unfortunately, we give them the opportunity to do it!

BUT, these are not the only BIG failures that we’ve all heard about in recent times. Scandal has rocked the Roman Catholic Church the last few years with the sexual abuse scandals in the United States and abroad. To add insult to injury, many times the Church, at that time, covered it up, and did not take appropriate action to deal with it. Now, things are changing, but the damage is done. These represent some of the BIG failures of Christians.

Many Christians have failed miserably. Does it mean that God has failed? These are some of the BIG failures, but we all know of “normal” Christians who have failed. Two of my close friends, one a pastor, had their worlds rocked to the core by their wives infidelity. Both wives profess Christ as Savior and Lord, but had affairs and destroyed their marriages. These are not uncommon failures, but its commonness does not ease the pain of their failure.

There are other failures. I know of two different churches that had significant amounts of money stolen from them by their staff. One was for a building project that the church was doing. The congregation was working to raise the majority of funds, instead of borrowing, to build a family life center, but the money was gone with little hope of ever recovering any of it. These are just some failures of Christians that I know of personally.

Christians fail. If given the opportunity, we could probably share even more of these type stories! If given the right opportunity at the wrong time, we may even be among those Christians who have failed. Maybe we are among those who have had that opportunity and failed God, ourselves, and the ones we love. Does that mean that God failed?

Christians’ defeats often provide an opportunity for the world to make claims about God’s person and character. Instead of our failure opening a door for the Gospel, our lack of integrity and humility often calls into question the very Gospel that we believe and preach. The Philistines were like the world, but even though they did not become believers, they would learn an important lesson concerning God. It’s a lesson that the entire world will eventually learn if they don’t learn it sooner than later (Philippians 2:10; Romans14:11). It’s a lesson that we dare not miss!

After Israel’s defeat, the Philistines take Israel’s Ark of the Covenant to the Philistine state of Ashdod and place it in the temple of Dagon (5:1-2). The next morning, a curious thing had occurred. Their god, Dagon, was found face down before the Ark of the Covenant (5:3). That’s weird! Was there an earthquake or something? Who did this? So, they put Dagon back in his place (5:3).

The next morning, things went from curious to disturbing. Dagon was once again face down before the Ark, but this time his head and hands were severed (5:4)! Dagon was decapitated! AND this was only the beginning of Ashdod’s problems! When the devastation and outbreak of tumors began, the men of Ashdod said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god (5:7).

So, they called an emergency governor’s meeting of all the Philistine states. “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel (5:8)?” With a hint of arrogance and disbelief, the governor of Gath said, “We will take it.” That didn’t last long! The state of Gath went into “a great panic” with “an outbreak of tumors” (5:9)! People feared for their lives! So, the Ark was sent to the Philistine state of Ekron (5:10). They didn’t wait to panic. Scripture says, “As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, ‘They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people” (5:10).

What was our question again? When Christians fail, does God fail? The Philistines believe that when they defeated Israel that they had also defeated Israel’s God. If Israel failed, then God must have failed. The Philistines are still not completely convinced, and maybe you aren’t either. How can they know? What would convince them?

So, they call another emergency governor’s meeting (5:11-12). Rather than move the Ark to another Philistine state, they simply want to get rid of it, but how? They call in their religious professions. “How do we get rid of the Ark?” They will send the Ark back to Israel on a new cart, pulled by two cows with calves who have never been yoked (6:7-8), and most importantly, with a guilt offering for their sin (6:3). They let it go where it will, but they keep watch on it to see where the cows will take it (6:8-9).

Just a side note about separating cows and calves: I live on the edge of my dad’s farm. He raises cattle, and every year, he has a whole bunch of calves to wean from their mothers. Do you think that the cows or calves are happy about it? Oh no! When they are first separated, they will bawl and bellow all night and day. Did I mention that I live on the edge of my dad’s farm? Cows do not like to be separated from their calves! They do not willingly leave their calves!

Is it the God of Israel or NOT? Here’s the test: If the cows take it back to Israel, then the LORD has been behind all of this, but if not, then it was coincidence (6:9). What happened when they let the cows go? Can you guess? Scripture says, “Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh,” in other words, they went straight to Israel (6:12). Confirmed! The God of Israel did this to them. He caused the devastation and sickness among the Philistines.

When Israel failed, did God fail? When Christians fail, does God fail? Even when the Ark is restored to Israel, the men of Beth Shemesh fail. Scripture says, “But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD” (6:19). It sounds like Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it happened. You do not open and look into the Ark of the Covenant and live!

Just as Israel continued to fail, Christians continue to fail as well. With all my heart, I wish that it were not so, but with humility, we must admit that it is. Whether BIG names or Christians we know, Christians fail! In spite of Israel’s failure, God’s grace allowed Israel to receive back the Ark of the Covenant. In spite of our failures, God’s grace redeems and restores us as well. God succeeds even when we fail. The Gospel offers Christ’s victory to us in the face of our failures.

As the Philistines included a guilt offering for their sin with the Ark, we have a guilt offering that has been provided for our sin as well. Jesus Christ’s shed blood and death on the cross is our guilt offering. When we trust Christ’s sacrifice for our sin and return to God, we come home. Even when Christians fail, God is faithful. If we return to Him, he will forgive us of our sin and restore us to Himself by His grace. God succeeds even in our failure.

Forgiveness does not always wipe away the consequences of our sin in the here and now. Sometimes, like the Philistines, it does bring healing, but often, we still experience some of those consequences, but with God’s forgiveness and restoration, we have God’s grace and family to make it through the ongoing difficulty that our sin may have caused.

Christus Victor! May the grace and peace of God our Father and the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ be for us all, especially when we fail! AMEN!

Sources:

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version.

Lowry, Eugene. The Homiletical Plot: the Sermon as Narrative Art Form (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001).

Lowry, Eugene. Website: http://www.eugenelowry.com/

My Narrative Sermons on 1 Samuel:

1 Samuel 1: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8340729/narrative_sermon_why_is_god_against.html?cat=52

1 Samuel 2: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8319861/narrative_sermon_could_my_kids_really.html?cat=37

1 Samuel 3: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8351675/narrative_sermon_an_unfamiliar_voice.html?cat=37

1 Samuel 4: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8358917/narrative_sermon_all_alone.html?cat=44

My Book Review of Eugene Lowry’s Homiletical Plot: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7940249/book_review_the_homiletical_plot_by.html?cat=38


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