When my dad sold his business and retired, he got bored just sitting around – so he went to work as a meat inspector for the government. They gave him a white coat and helmet and special knife, and his job was to go to meat plants (like Tyson or Indiana Packers) and inspect the meat as it was taken from one part of the processing plant to the next. Sometimes, there’d be some bad meat on the side of beef or pork and dad would take his knife and cut it away. It didn’t take long - the workers appreciated his help.
However, other inspectors would shut down the entire line and order a worker to come over to do what dad - in one swipe of his knife. But, why shut the line down? Why make it harder for these people to do their job? Because they could. They had the authority and power to shut down the entire plant if they wanted to. They didn’t work for the company and they didn’t care about the workers. They had power… and they intended to use it!
Dad once said “You give a man a white coat and some authority and he’ll become a tyrant.”
Someone once said “All power tends to corrupt. And absolute power corrupts… absolutely.” (Lord Acton)
Someone else observed: People like Hitler and Napoleon have all committed shameful actions in the hopes of gaining absolute power. Authority, or simply the desire of control, can cause people to act in incomprehensible ways.” (https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Power-Corrupts-and-Absolute-Power-Corrupts-Absolutely-FKS52CS8J38Q#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20examples%2C%20throughout,to%20act%20in%20incomprehensible%20ways.)
In our text today, we read about a man who had absolute power. His name was Samson, and it was God who gave Samson his absolute power. Samson was the superman of his age. Back in the 1950s George Reeve played the part of Superman - the intro said: “He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound… able to change the course of mighty rivers and bend steel in his bare hands.”
Now, I’m not sure Samson could do any of that - but he did kill a huge lion with his bare hands and he wiped out an entire army of Philistines with just jawbone of a donkey. And, of course, there was the time he carried an entire city gate a distance of about 40 miles. He singlehandedly protected the people of Israel from their enemies. And the Philistines feared him so much that they were willing to pay Delilah the modern-day equivalent of about $80,000 to discover his weakness.
HE WAS NOT A MAN TO MESS WITH.
But he’s always been a problematic hero. On one hand, he was a protector of Israel for about 20 years. And Hebrews lists him as one of the great heroes of faith along with Gideon, Samuel and David. So, you’d expect him to be a great man of faith and morals
But then (on the other hand) Judges tells us he slept with a prostitute one night, and we’re pretty sure he was sleeping with Delilah as well. Sooo… what’s going on here?
Well, Samson became an important person. He was impervious to pain, powerful beyond imagination, people feared and respected him, and he could do whatever he wanted… and no one could stop him! In fact, he became so important and so powerful that his power went to his head. As we’ve noted “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power (like he had) corrupts absolutely.
After a while he began he became so self-absorbed that he forgot all about God. Almost every time Samson displayed his great power, Scripture said “the Spirit of the Lord came upon (Samson)” Judges 14:6; 14:19; 15:14. But, after he’d slept with prostitute… that was never said again.
I mean, he still had great power and strength – but it was like he didn’t think he needed God anymore. Samson became blinded by his pride. He became such a powerful man that God was no longer that important to him, and after that… it was only a matter of time before he was brought down.
Proverbs 11:2 says “When pride comes, then comes disgrace…” and Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” And – of course – that’s what happened to Samson.
Now, what can WE learn from this? What can Samson’s blindness of pride teach us? Well, first it can teach us that even the mighty can be taken down by pride. Samson had the POWER and the PRESTIGE to do whatever he wanted to do, and that led him to believe nothing could touch him.
ILLUS: I know of a large church that once had a rich and powerful Elder. He was highly respected, highly regarded… and he had money. But he also slept around. When the preacher found out about it he canned him. But when the preacher moved on the church put that Elder back in. After all, he was a wealthy and powerful man. About 5 years later, this large church had money problems. One of the deacons was the treasurer… and was keeping 2 sets of books. When the powerful Elder learned of the fraud, he went out to the Deacon’s house… and he burned the books.
That Elder was a proud man. A man with power and prestige and he figured he wasn’t going to allow any hint of scandal in his church. When the dust settled, the church split - and the new church refused to have Elders for the next 20 years. Proud people leave a trail of damage & destruction everywhere they go… especially in the church. Especially amongst Christians.
So, we need to be careful. That’s why Paul wrote in II Corinthians 12:5b-10 “I will not boast, except of my weaknesses — though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
So, to keep me from becoming conceited (proud) because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Notice what Paul said here: the way to avoid becoming proud is to focus on God. Be content with your weaknesses… and focus on God’s strength. When we do that, our greatest strengths come from us being content with our weaknesses, which (in turn) leave room for God to be strong. The smaller we become, the more room God has to work.
Someone once said: True humility, does not mean thinking less of yourself. It means thinking of yourself less… and thinking of God more. (adapted from a quote by Ken Blanchard)
ILLUS: There was once a famous godly woman named Corrie ten Boom who told her friend: “Jill, people thank me so much… and it used to worry me because I didn’t want to get a big head. So I began to collect those compliments like flowers. ‘Thank you,’ I’d say. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ Then at the end of the day I’d kneel down and I’d say, ‘Here You are Jesus, they’re all Yours.’” (Jill Briscoe)
2ndly - Pride comes from focusing on our abilities and accomplishments… rather than focusing on God.
ILLUS: A young preacher was pleased that a woman in his congregation was always asking for copies of his sermons. One day his pride got the better of him and he asked her about it. She replied: “Oh, they’re just the perfect size for the bottom of my bird cage!”
There’s times some of you will tell me how good a sermon was, and that always makes me feel good. But I’m going to tell you - if it weren’t for God’s leading me, and helping me as I prepare for these sermons, all my sermons would be just about the right size to line the bottom of birdcage.
I’m not really all that smart… and I know it. If it weren’t for God helping me, I’d have nothing to say of any value. What strength I have comes from God.
But Samson forgot that.
He forgot that his power came from God… and that’s what destroyed him.
There’s a common misconception that Samson lost his power because he lost hair. And… that’s kinda true. But the real problem for Samson, was that God had left him.
We’re told in Judges 16:20 that after Delilah cut Samson’s hair “He awoke from his sleep and thought, ’I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the LORD had left him.”
You see Samson wasn't weak because his hair had been cut. He was weak because "the LORD had left him.” His strength came from God, but his weakness came from losing touch with God. So, you could say Samson DIDN'T become weak because he’d lost his hair. He became weak because he’d lost his God.
He’d left God behind because he’d learned to rely on his own strength, and he didn’t really RELY on God anymore. So, ultimately God left Samson.
CLOSE: The story of Samson was a story of a man who (out of pride and arrogance) chose not to live his life HIS own way rather than God’s. And in the end, Samson suffered for his pride. Now, what’s interesting about Samson’s story is – that in spite of his colossal failure, in spite of his walking away from God in his life, and in spite of his sexual immorality - he repented! And WHEN Samson repented, God restored his strength.
In his final moments, the Bible tells us: “…he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived." Judges 16:30
Samson REPENTED - he acknowledged that he’d been wrong. And that’s the offer God makes to us. In 1 John 1:9 we’re told that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
ILLUS: I want to close with this story of a hero of our day who suffered much as Samson had in his. Years ago there was a man named Earvin Johnson - we know him as Magic Johnson. He was one of the greatest basketball stars of his day and yet in 1991 the world was shocked by the disclosure that "Magic" had HIV.
It was a terrible moment for this sports legend. Other players wouldn't take the court with him. The situation was making a circus sideshow out of his disease and was detracting from the game. So Magic Johnson hung up his shoes and walked away from the game that had made him a star.
In an interview on Face To Face With Connie Chung he said: “I lived the bachelor’s life and I’m paying for it….” But then he went on to say: “I agree with those who say my life-style was morally wrong, I’m not trying to deny it. I’m trying to battle for my life and the only thing I can ask for is forgiveness…. It was my fault. Morally, I was wrong sleeping with a lot of women. I wish it hadn't happened, but it did. All I can do is ask God’s forgiveness and leave it in His hands. All I can do is pray a lot.”
Just like Samson in his day, Johnson suffered bondage and pain because of his sinfulness, and just like Samson, he repented.
So, what has God done with Magic Johnson since that time? Well, 32 years later Magic is not only still alive, he’s married and has two kids. Every day he works out from 7 am till 1 pm, lifting weights, running sprints playing basketball scrimmages with others in the gym. Johnson also runs a financial empire worth millions of dollars. But he does something special with his fortune: he invests in inner city businesses, trying to help other black families attain the success that he now enjoys.
Reflecting on his disease, he said he was sad that the circumstances by which he got it will be part of his legacy, but he believes he was chosen to get the disease because "God needed someone, and he picked me."
INVITATION
