Spirit of Sensitivity

“Spirit of Sensitivity”
By Pastor Kent Munsey
May 31, 2020

So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

• Judges 16:17-20 (NIV)

Pentecost Sunday is the birthday of the church. It brought the gift of the Holy Spirit as our comforter and helper in times of trouble. Pentecost was originally a Jewish feast and holy day. Pentecost brought a new and better law, the gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ accompanied by the Holy Spirit. It fulfilled the Law of Moses and expanded beyond the Jewish people to the whole world.

The danger of being desensitized. 

Samson was a mighty man of God. God gave him to his mother as a gift, and she consecrated him back to the Lord. Samson was set apart. As a Nazarite he had certain commitments that he had built his life on: he could not drink alcohol, could not cut his hair, could not touch a dead body. Samson built his relationship with the Lord upon these foundations. Samson was different to make a difference. We are called out of the darkness and into God’s marvelous light. We have to get comfortable with the fact that we are in the world but not of the world. 

Samson became desensitized to his covenant with God, and he broke his commitments little by little. Samson first broke his covenant at a 3-day feast, where he drank and became drunk. Secondly, he touched a dead animal. God delivered him from a lion attack, and Samson killed the lion with his bare hands. At a later time, Samson came back to where the lion’s carcass was and he touched the carcass because inside there was honey in it. That dead lion represents the things that God has delivered us from. They are the places where we should have died, but God showed up and provided supernatural deliverance. 

The enemy tempts us to go back to the dead things that God delivered us from and touch them. He lures us with sweet things. When you’re all alone and you think no one will ever know, little by little, we can permit ourselves to become desensitized to sin. This is missing the mark, to him who knows to do good and doesn’t do it. 

It’s important for us not to become desensitized to sin. There are environments where it’s easier to become desensitized to sin. It often occurs when we’re alone and think no one is looking. Samson became desensitized to sin, and when he was with Delilah, he did the unthinkable. Samson told her the secret source of his power after she persistently asked him four times. 

After caving in, Samson failed to realize that the Lord had left him. How do we get to the place where we are so desensitized that we don’t even know that the Lord is no longer with us? 

1. Stay sensitive to spiritual things. 

We must stay sensitive to spiritual things; otherwise we are planting seeds for a harvest we don’t want. Often it’s not that the Lord has left us, but that we have left the Lord. We go into environments that he would never go into, and we make decisions that he would never make. 

We need to be sensitive to the things of God, to the covenant we have, and to the gospel of grace. When we are sensitive to spiritual things, God is with us, he is for us, and no one could ever destroy us. However, when we’re desensitized, little by little, we find ourselves broken and vulnerable.  

When we get in the wrong environment, our minds will tell us things that are not true. Often we ask ourselves, “Is this a sin?” Instead, we should be asking ourselves, “is this a seed that will take us to a place where God is not?” It doesn’t happen all at once. It never does. It happens little by little. 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we see a priest and a minister who walk by a man who is beaten up and hurting on the side of the road. Sometimes when we get in a religious environment, we start to think that our righteousness is enough to please God, and we give ourselves permission to judge others and decide who is deserving and who is not. The priest and the Levite were desensitized to the pain and suffering of others because they had permitted themselves to become desensitized by the religious system, which produced an environment of pride and arrogance. 

Jesus tells us that we can become so desensitized that God is no longer with us. He paints a picture of the Samaritan, who was supposed to be an enemy, but he had not become desensitized by the religious, arrogant viewpoint. But, he was sensitive to the hurt and pain of this man who was fighting for his life. 

As a church in this season, let us not allow ourselves to become desensitized. There is an environment of fear, worry, doubt, and negativity during this pandemic. When we get in an environment of fear and anxiety, we can get desensitized to the God who is for us and with us and will never forsake us. There is a danger of becoming desensitized. 

Great men throughout scripture became desensitized, and it was throughout seasons of leisure when they should have been working but they were idle. As we are idle, and some of us are not working, are we allowing ourselves to become desensitized to the things that we know are true, lasting, eternal, and our foundation? 

2. Are we allowing ourselves to become desensitized to what is going on? 

In this season of quarantine, senseless deaths have sparked a spirit of justice. But it’s overwhelming how desensitized the police officer who killed George Floyd was to his pain and his hurting. How can this happen? 

City Church is called to be a part of racial reconciliation and justice in our country, and it’s also important that we maintain our spiritual sensitivity. It’s so easy to point out when someone else is wreaking havoc, but what about self-sabotage, when we become so desensitized that we start self-destructing? 

How are you doing? Are you staying sensitive to the things of the Lord? Maintain your sensitivity to spiritual things. On this day of Pentecost, the disciples and the early church received the Holy Spirit, which allowed them to be sensitized to the things of God. 

Samson’s story doesn’t end in Judges 16. But, it ends in Hebrews 11:32-34, where he is counted among the faithful, whose weakness was turned to strength. When we are sensitive to spiritual things, when we are weak we are strong because the spirit of God is working in us supernaturally. With us it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible. Our God is a God of second chances.   

Reflection/Discussion Questions:

1. Examine your life. Have you been sensitive to spiritual things?

2. Where have you been desensitized?

3. Make a list of things you can do daily that help you stay sensitive to the things of God.