Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
April 28, 2002 - W0217

Wouldnít be great to get a new start on life? Hindsight is always 20/20 and itís too true that only after we make mistakes do we think, ìNow that Iíve learned the right way, I wish I could start over again!î No one would have thought this more than Samson. He had looks, influence, abilities and great strength. He achieved success but, without the inner strength to sustain it, he took a very hard fall. Samson was more than just a character in the Old Testamentóhe represents every man and woman here and now, because we too are surrounded by the drive for success. The question is: Do we have the inner strength to sustain it?

Itís easy to give in to success in todayís world. But beware! Thereís a dark side to success and a beautiful side to evilówhere the right is presented as wrong, and wrong presented as right. Not only is wrong acceptable, itís even vogue. We see it glamorized in beautiful color on T.V. and hear itís melodic, smooth sounds in our music. The devil doesnít show up at your front door in a red suit with a pitchfork, he comes in beautiful ways. And, in every way, venomous.

What is the dark side of success? It is the pressures that accompany it: trends, ways, extra hours at the office, anything it takes to be number one. You begin to sacrifice things that matter, like commitment, self-control, patience, listening skills, compassion and maturity. Success can replace your warm heart with a heart shaped in its own imageóthe image of the world.

Hereís what God says: ìDonít copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into new person by changing the way you think...and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really isî (Rom. 12:2 NLT).

What this is saying is, donít let the world press you into its mold. What do we do when the world is pressing on us then? First of all, God is saying not to be shocked by this kind of behavior. Heís going to put you in the middle of a crooked and perverted generation and you must appear as a light in our world. Then those whom the Lord draws to Himself will see us as examples who can lead them to His throne. We are to be lights that clearly reflect the image of God.

Question 1: What image do your reflect at home, work or school? Do you find yourself portraying an image more like the world or do you reflect His light to the world?

Samson was given the potential of great influence. But because of his great success, he was also surrounded by the dark side of successóby all kinds of temptations and appetites. And without the inner strength to withstand those temptations, he became easy prey. What made it even worse was that he thought he was immune from the consequences.

In the midst of success, Samson couldnít see that with all of his gifts, abilities and influence, pride had set in. He had taken Godís grace for granted. As a result, Samson went from woman to woman, squandering Godís gifts and using them for his own purposes. God responded by continuing to extend His grace, He didnít allow the worst consequences to hit Samson. So Samson chose to keep sinning. He figured Godís grace would always be there for him and no matter what, there would be no consequences.

We sometimes think Godís grace is passive and that thereís always another second chance. Hereís the thing: When we go into sin itís like blood to a shark, because, what weíve chosen to do is reject God to do it our own way. And, as Genesis tells us, the adversary of our souls ìis crouching, waiting to master you.î So when you choose to reject God, youíre now giving admission to the enemy, and the enemy rushes in to steal, kill and destroy.

What is Godís grace? Godís grace is His covering and it looks the enemy square in the eye and tells him: ìYouíll not touch this one. This one is with Me!î And though the devil may try to argue with God, if you choose to identify with God, you allow God to identify with you. Itís then that He can say, ìStay back, Satan! This child is mine!î For Godís will is that we should not perish, but that all may come to repentance. Then we come under His grace and His love.

Question 2: How have you responded to Godís grace in your life? How has it changed you?

ìLord, if You kept record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But You offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear Youî (Psalm 130:3-4).

When we finally see and understand Godís grace in our lives, we realize that we should be dead. We turn towards the Lord not out of fear of punishment, but out of a deep gratefulness. And as we make progress in our own lives, drawing nearer to success, we must keep that firm understanding of Godís grace.

Abraham Lincoln once said something that really struck me: ìNearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a manís character, give him power.î I thought that nailed it right n the head: because most of us can deal with hard times, but the true test of our character is success. The greatest test we can endure is prosperity. ìSo be careful. If you are thinking, ëOh, I would never behave like thatíólet this be a warning to you. For you too may fall into sinî (1 Cor. 10:12 LB). In order to help ourselves guard against falling to success, here are three alarms to failure. Each of these stems from a telltale sign that sounded in Samsonís life and could have saved him had he heeded their warning:

THREE ALARMS TO FAILURE:

1) CIRCUMVENTING ACCOUNTABILITY.

Samson knew Godís Word instructed him not to take a foreign wife. God knew that if he did, he would be joining himself to be one with a different system and a different God which was especially dangerous in a pagan land. But Samson wanted a Philistine woman named Delilah, so he forced his parents to get her for him even against their strong counsel against it.

Samson married Delilah and who shows up at the wedding feast? None other than the Philistines, the Israelitesí hated enemies. The Philistines tricked Samson and started all kinds of problems. In revenge, Samson burned their fields, setting off a ping pong game of retaliation between the Philistines and the Israelites. The result of Samsonís desire was that he circumvented authority and it ultimately lead to a national conflict.

Just as God did for Samson, so will He place filters in your life to guard you from your appetites. Those filters are people who will help turn you back to Godóyour friends, pastors, parents, youth leaders and counselors. These are people who love God and love youóin that order. And theyíll help you from falling headlong into your appetite.

Question 3: Who are the filters that God has placed into your life? Do you heed their counsel & correction?

One of the dangers of success is the more successful you become, the more you will be tested. God allows you to be tested with things that are important to you, so that He can entrust you with the things that are important to Him.

The thing with success is that the more success you have the less accountable you think you need to be. But it doesnít diminish the importance of accountabilityóthat remains a non-negotiable. All success does is flip the requirements for accountability. You see, when youíre under supervision, accountability is required; but when youíre in that place of supervision, then accountability becomes voluntary. You see, the more success you have, the less accountable you need to be, but more you must choose it.

The second alarm that failure was about to consume Samsonís life was...

2) USING WHAT GOD GAVE FOR WRONG PURPOSES.

God gave Samson everything he hadóhis abilities, his strength, his gifts, and his influence. But Samson used these for his own purposes. He actually used them to gain illicit relationships.

God has this to say about sexual desire: ìRun away from sexual sin!...donít you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your bodyî (1 Cor. 6:18-20).

In Judges 16, Samson meets Delilah, a woman that the Philistines have hired for eleven pieces of silver to seduce Samson and entice him to reveal where his strength came from. Delilah betrays Samson using her beauty and charm to get information for the Philistines, and they then utterly destroy him. The warning here is that when you use what God gave you for your own purposes, it brings a deception that can decimate your life.

Question 4: Are there areas in your life where you may have misapplied a God-given gift?

The final alarm warning us that failure may be eminent is this:

3) COMPROMISE AND REMORSE.

Success finally got to Samsonís head, and because God continued to extend grace despite his sins, Samson thought he was ìabove the law.î He couldnít have been more wrong:

"She said, ëThe Philistines are upon you, Samson!í And he awoke from his sleep and said, ëI will go out as at other times and shake myself free.í But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyesî (Judges 16:20-21).

Samson thought he was still under Godís covering and immune from his enemies. He didnít realize that the Lord had departed from him and he had no strength on his own. He suffered a tragic ending, but he leaves us a very powerful lesson: the final alarm in success is when you begin to compromise. 

In closing, some people will have great giftsósome have affluence, some have influence, some have power, possessions or talent. Listen carefully, those are all wonderful but the true test is this: if you will be faithful with those, the Lord will entrust to you true spiritual riches. But if you cannot be faithful in that, how can He entrust to you so much more?

God doesnít want our accumulated things, He just wants our hearts. When He has our hearts, then Heíll take all that He has and entrust them to us so that we can cooperate with Him to change the world. But that all begins, first, with the condition of our hearts.

Question 5: What are your gifts & talents? How are you using them for Godís kingdom?

Question 6: How will you be different because of what youíve learned today?

Summarized by Doreen Rabaino