Church Leaders vs. Church-Goers: A Big Part Of The 'Problem'

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.  Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.  For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NASB)

From the inception of gathered followers of Jesus, that group has had 'personality issues'.   Many of  these issues have stemmed from difficulties between the leaders and the followers.  This is a huge and hotly debated area of theology called 'Ecclesiology'.  There are all sorts of interpretations of roles and responsibilities of various terms for church leaders used in Scripture.  But one element that seems consistent regardless of term used, description of role, or limits of responsibility is the character of 'servant'.

One problem in the church in Corinth was their view of church leaders.  The people were polarizing around various leaders who had been there, were there, or were known.  And these polarized groups within the church were causing strife among all those gathered to worship.  Paul's point from the very outset of this letter (possibly his second, but the first we have) to this church is to correct this view.

Digging his way through 'wisdom' versus 'foolishness' and their schisms and 'spiritual versus human', Paul now pulls all these previous discussions down to the core of their problem; the one from which others originate:  The foundation on which the church is founded.  These believers have pulled the church away from their origins in heaven and instead grounded it in the human temporal experiences of their 'world'.  For Paul, this actually destroys the church.

His answer to this problem is to, once again, tie them back to God.  Rather than separate groups (I am of whomever), they are to be one group under God.  They are God's building, God's field.  This makes the church leaders builders and field workers (not the landowner).  The picture Paul draws here is really more of a sketch, and other passages are needed to really flesh out his view of church leadership.  But in this sketch, the leaders are actually not that far removed from the people themselves.  In fact a good case can be made that Paul's criticism of the church at this point almost completely blurs the lines between leaders and lay people.

Here's where I believe Paul 'blurs the lines': "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth."  I once referred to myself in a church I was pastoring as a 'bell-sheep'.  That really frustrated my people.  I said that they were to follow me as I followed Jesus, but that we were all supposed to be following Jesus.  I believe they wanted a 'priest' who would intercede for them before God so they wouldn't have to; they wanted someone to be righteous for them so they didn't have to carry such a burden.  I don't know that for a fact, but it sure seemed like I was caught in the middle between very frustrating people and my Master.  I kept trying to get them to look past me to my Master, and they couldn't see anything but me (and that's not a pretty view, let me tell you).

So the lines between leaders and followers in the church is blurry, but it's not without definition.  Paul is not working through roles and responsibilities here except to say that those roles and responsibilities differ from each leader to the next, and that they all are part of God's calling on the leader.  In other passages Paul relates roles and responsibilities (some in this letter).  But here he does point to the very close relationship between leaders and those following in that both belong to God, both are answerable to the same Person.  This is a very powerful and sobering reality.

For those following church leaders, they will answer to the Creator of the universe for how they do so.  For those leading those following, they will answer to the Creator of the universe for how they do so.  In other words, those leading and those following will both stand before the same God to answer for their respective roles and responsibilities (and yes, followers have responsibilities).

In my limited understanding, this places the 'context' for church leadership within the same context of 'spiritual gifts', perhaps even within that category (see verse 10).  This would place church leadership alongside everyone else in the church using their own gifting from the Spirit to fulfill the purpose and design of the same Master.  So, for me, it's a very intertwined, enmeshed relationship between leaders and followers.  In many ways, this is both frustrating for those following, and terrifying for those leading.  And this I know from experience on both sides.

The Mysterious Mind of God

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; (1 Corinthians 2:6-8 NASB)

I think this chapter of 1 Corinthians sort of falls into two halves, perhaps not evenly, but somewhat topically.  I see the two pieces form around the concepts of 'mysterious wisdom' and 'spiritual depths'.  These pieces have a role in the rest of the letter, but here Paul says some pretty amazing things for believers to hold on to.  When truly processed and internalized, these elements can be tremendously empowering.

The first piece, 'mysterious wisdom' is in contrast to Paul's claim that he did not bring the good news of Jesus to the Corinthians with 'persuasive words of wisdom', but rather with 'fear and much trembling' which somehow relates into 'demonstration of the Spirit and of power'.  Yet Paul claims that he did speak wisdom, just not to everyone.  Such a claim would really irritate those to whom Paul writes.

So the content of this mysterious wisdom is a crucified Jesus Christ.  This mysterious wisdom was so well hidden that the 'rulers of this age' didn't even know it.  Had they known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory.  Think about that for a moment.  Let it roll around in your head.  Let it connect to other stuff you have read in Scripture where it can. 

Essentially, Satan was duped, tricked, snookered, check-mated, out foxed, and hoodwinked.  Or, you could say he was too dumb to see what his Maker was doing right in front of him, and dumb enough to actually participate in his own destruction.  We don't normally think of the enemy that way.  Perhaps we give him too much credit, and God not nearly enough.  Sure, the devil is smarter than us and tricks and deceives us, yet he's no match for God.  So, why fear him?  Just step over him and move on.  Easier said than done, because to do so, we need the second piece.

The second piece is where Paul discusses the 'role' of the Holy Spirit, using the 'role' of the spirit of people.  So, if the spirit of a man knows the depths of his mind, it stands to reason that the Spirit of God knows the depths of the mind of God.  If/since we have been given the Spirit of God as a 'seal' of redemption, it therefore stands to reason that the One knowing the very Mind of God lives within us.  So, therefore, we have the mind of God.  Let that roll around in your head for  awhile.

So, all the stuff we can't figure out, the problems we think are so overwhelming, and dangers we face we face with the mind of God.  It sounds pretty cool really, but how many of us really think we have the Mind of God?  So why can't we figure out the universe?  Why all the debate over scientific detail when we have the mind of God?  Shouldn't we just know the answers?  Shouldn't we just know why people die as/when they do?  Why the rampant evil in the world if God is so loving?  If we have the 'mind of God' shouldn't these problems be solved already?

Yet, how many of us really spend time with the Holy Spirit?  He lives within, yet we ignore Him.  He's there 24/7, yet we don't spend two minutes with Him.  He scares us, yet He's the comforter.  He is mysterious, yet He is One revealing the depths of the heart of God.  He is unknown, yet within us.  He seems so far away, yet lives so close.  We have the mind of God, yet we attempt to think for ourselves, abhorred at the suggestion we let someone else think for us; even when that 'Someone else' is the One who formed us, and the rest of the universe.

The enemy, Satan, would love to have us let him think for us, but he's also just fine with us thinking for ourselves.  He can fool us, hoodwink us, trick, deceive, check-mate, and out fox us at every turn.  Of course he would love for us to think for ourselves.  But if the One making a fool of Him were to think for us...well, that wouldn't be as convenient for him. 

So, I suppose the question is, 'who do we support with our thoughts?'  I know I'm supposed to support my Master, thinking with His mind revealed through His Spirit.  I also know that I'm naturally inclined to resist such an influence.  So I guess the answer is that I need to 'change my mind'; a phrase now more pregnant with meaning than it ever has been for me.

Fear, Trembling, and Proof of Spirit and Power: Sharing the Good News of Jesus

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.  For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NASB)

Of all the problems, or rather excuses I have used for not sharing the good news of Jesus, the one that seems to get at the heart of all the others is how I think any such discussion will be perceived.  So, in other words, I fear what others will think of me.  This is something I struggle with in other areas of my life, but that it touches here too means that I 'opt out' of some of the things (and the resulting blessings) my Master has for me.

Paul seemed to have no such problem.  He was not trying to impress anyone, but says that he brought the good news of Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension with 'fear and trembling'.  But with that, he also says that the content was not 'persuasive words' but 'of demonstration of the Spirit and of power.'  This is very different than I see the good news going out today.

Considering these two elements, 'fear and trembling' and 'demonstration of the Spirit and power'; what would that look like in our day?  When I think of demonstrating the Spirit and power, I have thought of the 'charismatic movement', but not favorably.  When I think of fear and trembling, I think of weakness easily marginalized and ignored; more of a nuisance.  I don't think this is what Paul refers to in either element.

First off, I believe that 'fear and trembling' really refers to Paul conviction that what he presents is of immense importance.  His trembling is from the source and content of the message, not how it will be perceived.  The word for 'fear' is the general Greek word, 'phobos' where we get various 'phobias' from.  The word 'trembling' is also a general Greek word for 'shaking' either from fear or even cold.  But the context of the 5 places it's used in the Christian Scriptures lends a contextual meaning of 'anxiety of one who distrusts his ability to completely meet all requirements, but religiously does his utmost to fulfill his duty' (Strong's Concordance).  My question is whether the Corinthian believers understood it that way in Paul's use of it here.

There's much that I can't really understand looking back 2000+ years to try and understand about what was meant, and how it was understood then.  Having said that, I also know my Master's Spirit Who inspired these words, also works in me to understand them.  So, while I don't know for sure, here's what I suspect Paul is doing, and how I think it was understood:  1) I think Paul is using an intentional contrast between prominent speakers, speaking venues, and events and his own presentation of the good news of Jesus; but I believe he's using a degree of hyperbole to make his point.  I suspect his presentations did not all include shaking in fear on his part, nor did that make up the whole of his 'style' whatever that may have been.  So, some, at points, especially when speaking of the mighty acts of God on our behalf, sure, shaking in awe; but not all the time as he spoke.  2) Paul is beginning to make a case that, as the message preached is not about him or how he is perceived, just as the life lived in Jesus is not about them or what others think of them.  In other words, just as he was not afraid to show his consternation over the magnitude of what he preached, so they should not be afraid to live out the 'foolishness' of what has been done for them by their Creator.

Second, I believe the 'demonstration of the Spirit and of power' refers to miraculous things done among them through Paul.  Considering the context of other things he says in this letter, I think that's a fair assessment.  I don't think that everything was 'miraculous' in the same way, so just healing, or just raising dead, or just casting out demons', but I do believe that some of each of those was demonstrated among them.  Such things are not mentioned occurring in Corinth in Acts, but I don't really consider that a problem.  I lean that way because partly I believe Luke, as he wrote Acts, really considers those sorts of things to be commonly associated with Paul.  In fact I suspect, for him, they are such a regular occurrence that he stops mentioning every occurrence of them in Acts.

So, I'm left with a completely absent foundation for my fear.  It doesn't matter what others think of me as I speak of my Master Jesus.  What matters is that I speak of my Master.  And I do not need to wait until I have some sort of 'second blessing' of His Spirit because I believe that will come in the course of my obedience, the consequence of which will be increased boldness to speak.  So, while I know what I'm afraid of, I need to 'man-up', 'stand up' and go forth in spite of my fear.  What I should fear is the 'Sender' of the message, not the receivers.  That I don't is pretty dumb really.  So, the core of my problem is a lack of faith.  Well, that comes from my Master too, so that's no excuse either.  Better get up and get on out there!

The Corinthian Paradigm Shift

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18 NASB)

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22-24 NASB)

There are themes, intentions, and designs in this letter to the church in Corinth woven through the words of Paul.  One of the foundational is a theme of 'unity'; the age-old question, 'Why can't we all just get along?'  But unity without a focus, without a center, and without a core is temporary and often destructive.  Without a core of our Creator, unity becomes selfish and often cruel.  It's not enough to be unified.

So, Paul, calling on the battling factions within Corinth; people who seem to only agree that Paul, the founder of their church, is weak and foolish compared to where they have arrived now; provides a different core.  The core of unity for Paul is Jesus.  The Spirit of God unifies, but He unifies His people around Jesus; the whole story of his death, burial, resurrection and ascension.   But this story, and this Person, is at odds with the prevailing wisdom of the day; kind of like today.

Paul says in this chapter that he was not called or chosen by Jesus to baptize (verse 17), but to proclaim the good news of Jesus.  Jesus' 'Great Commission' includes baptism, but it also includes 'teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.'  And perhaps these two things are best understood within a larger context of 'make disciples of all the nations,' because this seems to be the method of Paul.  He brings the good news, and with it, makes disciples; who then make up a church.

In Corinth, things had gone very wrong after he left.  As often happens, people new to a way of life integrate the way they used to be and think into the new one.  We often 'enculturate' Jesus into our culture, adding elements of our society's perspective into worship and other things.  But when we 'replace' the story of Jesus' death, burial, resurrection and ascension with our familiar comfortable acceptable cultural things; we have then left following Jesus.  It happens when a dying, rising, and ascending God seems at odds with the prevailing wisdom of our world, the paths of science, the philosophy of the current crop of scholars; so we prune the account to be more acceptable and fit better with conventional wisdom.

This is what has happened in Corinth; the underlying way of thinking though has also undermined their acceptance of Paul as an apostle of God, and therefore as an authority in their lives.  This gets at a personal problem I struggle with in my relationship with my Master.  Part of the problem is that I 'filter' authority in my life.  I say 'part' of the problem because, in a sense, we are supposed to filter authority.  The thing is, my filter is often has a 'tighter mesh' than it should be.

What happens is this, I know that I am to filter according to what my Master has preserved in Scriptures.  But then I also filter according to my particular reading, then according to my particular view, and then according to my favorite passages, and then according to my comfort level, and then...I have a very self-centered view, and I'm the authority, not the person my Master has placed in my life.  I can't really live that way, but I try.  I set aside even my Master in favor of my authority.  The world around me constantly tells me that is is not only okay, but right, my right!  But it's wrong.

It's subtle though.  I don't share the good news of my Master with my neighbors, and I come up with good 'reasons' (also known as 'excuses').  And the result is that it becomes easier to make the next compromise.  My 'light' no longer sits on the window sill, but hides under a basket.  And in the darkness of that basket, I'm free to set aside all sorts of other commands of my Master.  I make a thin pretense of following my Master when in reality I'm not sold out to Him at all.  My family sees it, perhaps close friends, but eventually I don't even see it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing myself to others.  The real easy problem here is to look at what I do, where I'm at, and then look around me and say, "What? I'm not that bad."  When what I need to do is to look at my Master, listen to His voice, and repent (agree with His assessment of me).  And then I receive the grace He offers in restoration of our relationship, restoration of where our relationship was, not that I had lost it, or had no relationship. 

That's probably where the most dangerous lie of my enemy stems from.  I'm not out of relationship with my Master, I'm just not completely invested in it.  I can continue on in a cold heart and wonder away, but that's not likely with me.  I'm more likely to find a comfortable, lukewarm, place in the sun and relax.  I'm in relationship, just not the sort my Master is calling me into.  I know Him, but I'm not exactly available.  I have a desire for Him, just not strong enough to overcome my fears.  I love Him, but not more than myself, and my comfort.  From one perspective, I have been saved, but from another, He is not my 'Lord'.  I believe in the resurrection, but do not permit the power of the resurrection to bring life to my soul.  From one perspective I am saved, from another, perhaps not.

I believe I am saved, in that my Master is able to work in my life, bring these sorts of things to my mind, and use me to further His kingdom to an extent.  But there is more than I have been experiencing.  And it's my fault I'm not experiencing it already.  I suppose, that is really the core of my lesson from this passage.  I too, like the Corinthians, have brought the wisdom of this world into my relationship with my Master, and replaced His commands with more comfortable recommendations.  So this is not just some millennia-old letter from some grumpy religious philosopher to an ancient group of people about archaic beliefs. It is a letter from my Master to me.

The Tragic Ending of King Saul

The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul.  The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers. (1 Samuel 31:2-3 NASB)

The end of Saul is a dramatic sad story.  Years before, Saul was in a similar predicament when Jonathan defeated a Philistine outpost in 1 Samuel 13, and the Philistines responded by mobilizing the entire army, like here.  But here, Saul takes his stand.  Before he continued the 'guerrilla' tactics that worked so well in the hills of Palestine.  Here, Saul tries to fight a 'conventional' battle.

But even if this isn't the manner in which he normally fought (and by now, it may have been), Saul's heart isn't in this one.  He has been told that he will not survive the battle, nor will his sons.  Saul lives long enough to see his sons fall, he wounded by archers and can't escape himself, and so decides to commit suicide instead of letting the Philistines torture him to death.

The story of Saul is not one of 'redemption'; there is no silver lining to his story.  He was so often about himself; and by himself, with his hopes in ruins around him, he died.  But God had plans for him, intentions Saul would never enjoy.  His story started out with great hopes, with Saul prophesying, with victory, with honor and with obedience.  It ends very differently, and the difference was his relationship with God.

It's twelve years before Israel again regains her footing with David as king.  The devastation of Saul's sin, self-centered living, and raging jealousy of David marks his people for over a decade.  They are unable to fully recover from Saul's mistakes.  This is true except for Judah.  For those twelve years, David rules Judah as king, and seems at least as strong as the other eleven tribes.

Again, the failure to relent, to accept the guidance of God, prolongs the pain left by Saul.  Had the people relented even after Saul refused, recovery would have been swifter.  The failure of Saul to accept the restraints of God placed on him because of his disobedience; his refusal of correction carried on into the people themselves.  Once again it becomes clear sin does not just affect the sinner.

So here are the lessons I learn from this tragic ending to a tragic figure:

• My obedience is more important than I am, for it affects more than just me
• Failure can be recovered through accepting the correction of my Master
• Relenting is often the peaceful humility necessary for success before my Master
• It's not about me; and never will be

A Man of War At Peace In War

When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.  Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep.  Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.  Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. (1 Samuel 30:3-6 NASB)

 So, the Philistines don't like David.  They send him home rather than permit him to go into battle with them.  The king of Gath even had him set to be his body guard.  It was going to be glorious!  David and his six hundred were set to turn the tide against the Philistines, perhaps destroying all the leaders of the Philistine cities.  Or whatever David had in mind, we'll never know.  Instead he was sent home.  God had something else for him to take care of.

Upon reaching his city, given to him by the king of Gath, it has been raided and burned with fire.  I think, from clues within the chapter, that the Amalekites knew that their troubles had come from Ziklag, David's city, and had come to take revenge.  Since it was unguarded, they simply captured everyone, and burned it.  No one died.  That's what David came home to; burnt houses and missing families.

The six hundred and David wept.  They responded in frustration, but weeping until they had no strength.  These are tough guys, but emotional.  They feel sadness and they cry.  But this isn't 'skinned-knee' crying.  This is 'loss-of-life' crying; deep emotional grief.  They grieve, a lost art among modern men.

Once done grieving (or as part of it, if you think of grief as a process), they speak of stoning David to death.  Life is bad, let's kill the leader.  It's not that unusual with men who are described from the beginning as "bitter of soul" that when their circumstances are no longer in their favor, they blame others.  On the other hand, they may have realized that those who raided them were the ones whom they had plundered, leaving no witnesses (1 Samuel 27:8-9).  This is what they had done to others, and David had led them to do it.

But David had lost as well.  He wept as they did.  His house was in ashes as was theirs.  Yet when they spoke of stoning him, he 'strengthened himself in the LORD his God.'  In his circumstances, very similar to theirs, he found strength in the One who led him rather than blaming the One who led him. 

Consider that David led men who were of low character, but remained of good character.  That is not easy.  Among such warriors as history records following David; he leads them, they follow, they may think of killing him, but instead follow him once again into battle.  What sort of bearing and fiber makes up someone like that?

When I think of my circumstances, and how often I have caved to feelings of self-pity, I'm ashamed.  I don't demonstrate that sort of bearing and character that other men would follow into battle.  They'd be too afraid I'd fail and run and hide.  That's a valid fear if all I show them is that I'm interested in only my own wants and desires.  What I need to demonstrate is that I'm sold out faithful to my Master.  I need the courage that comes from character that comes from being faithfully in the presence of the King of Kings.

My circumstances are great.  My house isn't burned with fire, my enemies haven't heaped on me the ignominy I heaped on them, and my family is present and accounted for.  Here I am before dawn typing away on a blog about my Master without fear of being hauled off and jailed.  I'm blessed really.  So, why in the good circumstances do I find it so difficult to be selfless; to think of my wife and daughter before myself, to consider my fellow believers before my self, to think of those who work with me in ministry before myself?

I have neighbors around me hell-bound on a super highway at top speed.  Am I doing anything to wave them off?  Am I trying to get their attention?  This isn't watching a train-wreck, this is simply coming along side someone.  Am I willing to strengthen myself in the LORD my God and get back into the fight?  There are doors of hell waiting for my foot to kick them in all around me.  Behind them are captives ignorant to their danger, and without hope in the darkness.  I hold a light.  Why do I hide it?

Time to take down some strongholds, starting with those I've let the enemy build in my own life.  The lives of those living around me depend on it; and so does my family.  Time to suit up, let me grab this sword sitting over here; and a sledge hammer, a good 5-pounder should do it!  Pay no attention to the sound of crushing concrete, it's just those wicked strongholds coming down.  Be just a second...

Which Witch?

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists.  So the Philistines gathered together and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped in Gilboa.  When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly.  When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.  Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor." (1 Samuel 28:3-7 NASB)

One of the elements to Scripture few people dispute is the prohibition against communing with the dead or other form of 'fortunetelling'.  So, seances, tarot cards, rolling bones, scrying, and other forms of 'divination' are unequivocally prohibited in Scripture.

 In modern Christian circles, this has led some believers to then discount such things as faked by those who claim to practice them.  For those, this passage poses a whole lot of problems. For some believers, those things are believed to be real, but also real dangerous; the realm of demons.  For those, this passage poses a whole lot of problems.  There's no real way to look at this passage comfortably.

A few things to point out leading up to this event: 1) Saul has tried, as a righteous king, to empty the land of those who practice divination through communing with the dead.  2) His attempt failed (like his righteousness).  3) Everyone but he knew it.  4) Saul knows the 'terminology' enough to suggest his familiarity with such practices.  So, the popular practice was to permit their existence; but to keep them secret from the king.  The people used and seem to rely on such people.  And Saul seems to be from such a background.

I think of the setting something like today, where there is commonly found a 'horoscope' in any newspaper, along with a 'religion section'.  So everyone knows where they are.  The signs in every major city and many small towns advertising a 'fortune teller' are another indicator.  They're everywhere, and seem to be popular enough to remain in business.  That is the sort of setting I imagine except that in this context, there are no papers, no road signs, and these people are illegal, so underground.  Somewhat like 'drug dealers' everyone knows, but no one talks about; popular enough to remain in 'business' but no one knows with whom.

At this time Saul is in a dangerous place.  He is facing all the Philistines once again (he did this before in 1 Samuel 14), and he has tried to get a word from God about what to do.  He tries by dreams, prophets, and the 'Urim' of the priests.  Nothing works.  This is not like he can't figure out what God is saying, this is silence.  He's afraid.  So, he asks about not just a medium, but a leader-woman of mediums, sort of a 'super-spirit-channel-surfing-chic'.  And his servants, the ones supposedly responsible for carrying out the kings mandate against such people, know exactly where to find one close by.  This story keeps escalating the weirdness.

Saul disguises himself and goes, meets the nameless 'super-spirit-channel-surfing-chic', and has her call up Samuel.  Now, a couple of things are troubling here.  First, Samuel dies in right relation with God, so I would think that he would be found in God's presence.  If I'm right, then, for him to appear, he would need to appear from God's presence.  So how can one practicing what is prohibited by God successfully pull someone from His presence?  But wait, there's more!

Samuel speaks, and isn't happy to be 'disturbed'.  He then tells Saul what he least wanted to hear, "You're going to die"; but Samuel tells him like this, "...tomorrow, you and your sons will be with me."  I take that to mean that where Samuel is, so they will also be, in the presence of God.  For Saul, with his 'rejection' by God, I thought that unlikely; perhaps rejected from being king, but not as one of God's people.  Even so, Samuel is, through this process prohibited by God, performing what God would not do Himself (and therefore didn't want to happen?).  How is that possible?

I don't know.  Seriously, I don't think anyone looking at this from a 21st Century perspective knows.  Unless we develop time travel and can go back and actually witness this event, we have no real hope of understanding, and even then understanding wouldn't be assured.  So no one knows, but I wonder if one of these possibilities exist:

1. All dead before Jesus' life went to Sheol regardless of their relationship with God, without separation from each other and there was no 'presence of God' as we think of it, after death.  A problem with this is that there was in vogue at the time of Jesus' earthly ministry a concept of 'Paradise' and the 'Bosom of Abraham' to describe the afterlife of the righteous as separate from the 'unrighteous', and Jesus does not correct these beliefs. Actually He uses them in His ministry, parables, and even mentions paradise on the cross.  So some sort of division between the righteous and unrighteous seems to have existed even before Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
2. God prohibits any method of determining the 'future' or direction for events that does not derive from Him; but other methods do exist and exist powerfully.  Let's assume that they only exist in the purview of the demonic which would put them squarely in the realm of God's enemy, the devil, Satan.  If they are not of God, and yet powerful, then that is the most reasonable place to put them.  The problem here is that if there is a separation between the righteous and unrighteous, then how can Satan's power extend to the side of the righteous dead?  I would suspect that the only way this could truly happen is if the separation was collectively not in the presence or before the Throne of God; separated from each other, but still not in the presence of God (although, really, what's not truly in His presence?).  But that's not an adequate answer.  If this practice is of Satan, then how can Samuel be 'pulled up' without God's permission?  And if God permits it, why would He now give an answer to Saul and validate such a method at the same time?  Regardless who you read or what they claim, the answer is not obvious, nor easy.
3. God prohibits such practices, and they do not 'work' not really.  They are false methods of seeking knowledge that only belongs to God.  What the witch of En-Dor actually did wasn't supposed to work, and it surprised her when it did (which is why she screamed when Samuel pops up).  Unfortunately, this is very unlikely when the Scripture is taken at face value.  When the witch screams, she cries out that it's really Saul, the one she just said wanted to take her life.  It doesn't seem to be Samuel she's afraid of, but the knowledge that Saul is trapping her; knowledge gained in the process she is using to 'cause' Samuel to ascend.  This process really is 'bringing' Samuel up, in other words, what's she doing is causing it to happen.  Sorry, but that's how the text is written.  So, while God may be permitting this to happen, it's happening from what the witch is doing. 

There are more options, flavors of what I have here, but even these are closely related, so how many options are there really?  Not a lot.  With the discomfort caused by incompatible theological views crammed into a framework based on belief in the infallible inspiration of Scripture, I am left carrying that 'discomfort' into my application.  So here it goes:

My 'takeaway' from this encounter with the witch of En-Dor is that the kingdom of Satan is real and powerful.  Therefore my response to its existence is one of aggressive tactics.  I must be sensitive to my Master's Spirit's leading and guiding, attacking where He directs, being defensive where He places me, and always assured of victory.  I cannot be assured that this kingdom will fall on its own, without intervention.  People will be deceived by this power.

The reality I'm left with is that my Master views this other kingdom as usurping what is rightfully His, and therefore is to be destroyed.  I am His servant, His knight, and His to use in His destruction of the rival kingdom.  But I am under no illusion that this kingdom is 'figurative' or 'imaginary'.  The enemy is real and possesses real power.  Therefore I must stand in the power of my Master, wearing His armor, using His sword, and totally dependent upon His Spirit.  It's time to suit up!