Remembering the Past...
Planning the Future
Planning the Future
Park Christian Church(Disciples of Christ)
Park Christian Church
June 14, 2009
Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Sermon: “You Might Be Surprised”
Turn with me in your Bible to the book of 1 Samuel where we will read together one of the stories of David, the King. Let’s look at the first 13 verses of chapter 16. And, really, it is good to include the last verse of chapter 15. You can find that easily on page of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible in the Bible provided in the pew.
Now, this is some 1,000 years before the life of Jesus Christ. And it was something like the beginning of the nation of Israel with their first king having ruled for about 40 years. That man’s name was Saul.
Saul’s time, however, was coming to an end. He was, as you might expect from a king, quite in love with himself at times. And he was an impatient man, believing that more wisdom and power was there in his own body and soul than any man ought to believe. I think I’ve met this man before.
We are told here that God was sorry Saul was ever chosen to be king in the first place. And it was God that had done the choosing, you know. God doesn’t always get to have things just perfectly when it comes to relying on people to accomplish things. That’s what the Bible says. And so God is sorry. Regrets it. Dwell on that if you need to.
But, God has moved on. It’s time for the next king to start preparing to rule and lead God’s people. And that’s what we will read here. God sends the prophet Samuel down to the little town of Bethlehem to anoint powerful King Saul’s successor with oil. This is the word of the Lord…
Then Samuel
went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.
Samuel did not
see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul.
And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul
king over Israel.
The
Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve
over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your
horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite,
for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’
Samuel said,
‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the
Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I
have come to sacrifice to the Lord.”
Invite Jesse to
the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall
anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’
Samuel did what
the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The
elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come
peaceably?’ He
said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord;
sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he
sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the
Lord’s anointed is now before the
Lord.’
But the
Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his
appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him;
for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they
look on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looks on the heart.’ Then
Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said,
‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’
Then Jesse made
Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord
chosen this one.’ Jesse
made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse,
‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’
Samuel said to
Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the
youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send
and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’
He sent and
brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was
handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him;
for this is the one.’ Then
Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his
brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went
to Ramah.
The Lord does not see as mortals see. I love that. People, you know, get all caught up in the way things appear to be. But, God looks upon the heart. It’s fantastic. God looks upon the heart.
This seems to be suggesting that God knows better than we do. Imagine that.
The prophet Isaiah tried to get this point across, too. Isaiah said, “God says this: my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. As far as the heavens are higher than the earth, are you listening?, so are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts are that much higher than yours.
So, God looks upon the human heart. And that means God looks beyond the things we get stuck on. Not looking at what degree is hanging on the wall. Not looking at how slim a person’s body is. Not looking at how fat a person’s wallet is. Not so concerned with age. Can’t be too old. Can’t be too young. God’s not looking at the neighborhood you grew up in. And God’s not convinced the color of your skin makes much difference. There are things inside of you that matter so much more.
Call that your spirit. Soul. Heart. Same stuff.
But, from where we are standing, God’s choices just don’t look like they could possibly be correct. They don’t add up. Not from where we are standing. God’s thoughts are higher. They don’t make sense.
There once was this man you might say was vertically challenged for the kind of work he did. Now, he was five feet seven inches tall, which isn’t short per se. But, when you live in a world of giants like he did, 5-7 is vertically challenged. Short. This guy, you see, played professional basketball. Anthony Jerome Webb. So short for the world in which he lived that they called him Spud. Spud Webb.
One day back in 1986 Spud Webb was standing next to his teammate, Dominique Wilkins—a man whose skills at moving and dunking the basketball earned him the nickname “The Human Highlight Reel.” It was kind of a joke. They were both competing in the NBA’s slam dunk competition. Mr. Wilkins had won that easily the year before. It was kind of a joke to have little ‘ole Spud Webb out there.
You wouldn’t know it to look at him. But Spud Webb could jump 42 inches in the air. 42 inches. And when he started flying up towards the rim of the basket and doing things that men over a foot taller could do, Dominique Wilkins just stood there with his jaw hanging down on the floor. And Spud Webb will always be remembered as the first man under six feet tall to win the slam dunk contest.
I like that story. Always have. Every now and again we get this very visual proof that things aren’t always what they seem. And God’s lurking underneath the surface just waiting to surprise us.
The story goes like this: God’s prophet, Samuel, goes to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as the successor to Israel’s first king, Saul. And Jesse, you know, he’s got several sons that might make a good king. Just look no further than the oldest boy. Strong. Tall. Good looking. Athletic. And he’s already proved himself to be a leader. Eliab. God must have noticed the boy already. And Saul says, “Oh, yes. Here he is. This is the one, I’m sure of it.”
But, no. God said, “not so fast. You can’t see what I see. Trust me on this.”
Jesse paraded seven of his sons in front of the prophet that day, which must have been frustrating. No? Okay, how about Abinadab. No? Shammah? No? I’ve got four others. Look at them. No? It started to look like either God had made a mistake, or that the prophet Samuel had just heard God wrong.
And Samuel says, “Jesse, are all of your boys here? I mean, none of these have been pleasing to God. You sure that all of your sons are out here?”
And the littlest one, David, he doesn’t look anything like a king. He’s so far beyond what any of us would be looking for when you’re looking for that sort of thing, that Jesse just left him at home tending the sheep. He’s just a boy.
Now, you read through the Bible and you’ll discover that God keeps doing this over and over again. We don’t seem to get the message very well. But, God just keeps on choosing one unlikely person after another in order to work through the mess of things we’ve got and make something a little closer to what God had in mind. You might surprised.
If the whole Bible is a bit more than you can do this week, just choose one of the four gospels and see for yourself. Prodigal sons coming home to a celebration. Tax collectors becoming disciples. Persecutors of the church becoming apostles. You might be surprised. Wandering Sheep. Women of the night. Is it starting to make sense? God’s not looking at the things we are looking at. God’s looking at the human heart.
There was this one time, you might recall, when a man was making his way along the road from Jerusalem over to Jericho. Tough road, too. Rough neighborhood. Full of folks called Samaritans. That’s where bandits would lie waiting behind the hills and ambush unsuspecting travelers.
And this fellow was robbed and beaten and left for dead, as Jesus told the story. Just lying there in the gutter, bleeding. Now, as luck would have it, a very religious man was walking down that road soon after. Priest. Minister. Certainly a moral man. And he just kept on walking like he didn’t even see the guy dying there.
It happened a second time. This was another highly regarded man of great faith. Probably would have been a good elder in a church somewhere. He saw the bloodied man lying there. And do you know what this guy did? He started making his way over to the other side of the street so that he could just avoid the whole situation. None of his business, I guess.
And by this time while Jesus is telling the story, we’re all getting a bit anxious. Who is going to help this guy out? Won’t somebody pull over and call for help? Won’t somebody have some compassion?
Yeah, you know who it was. None other than one of the local ne’er do-wells. A Samaritan. A loathed and hated Samaritan. One of those folks who didn’t belong. One of those folks who couldn’t possibly understand what God is asking of people to do and be. He was a Samaritan. In a bad neighborhood. Living along a road known for taking advantage of people. A Samaritan for crying out loud. He was the one God used to rescue this man’s life!
Now, Jesus tells this story to make a point. God is up to this business of rescuing lives and God will use just whatever God chooses in order to do it. Did you see that? And it’s not like Jesus is saying something new, here. The Bible is full of these stories. God keeps on choosing the most unlikely characters to do the most remarkable things.
So, when it is time for a new king to begin leading God’s people Israel, much to everyone’s surprise, God chooses little David. The shepherd boy from Bethlehem.
What fascinates me is that we seem to get it. We do. When we look at the broken lives around us, I think we have a pretty good idea that God is quite capable, thank you, of getting involved and making something of it. We’ve got that pretty good. This church is remarkably welcoming to about anyone.
But, what really fascinates me is that I suspect we don’t get it when it comes to ourselves! We’ve got all kinds of brokenness that, while we see God dealing with it in others, we tend to resign ourselves to believing that there’s just no way God is going to deal with it in me! God’s through with me given all the brokenness in my life. God’s got to be through with me. Look at my marriage! Look at my health and what I’ve done to my body! Look at how I’ve lived my life in total selfishness most of the time! Look at how I can’t overcome that one addiction, that one controlling thing in my life!
God looked at all of the options there with Samuel. And they all looked pretty good as far as any of us could say. Big, tall, handsome, winning personality, clean track record. And God wasn’t looking at the things we were looking at. God was looking at something we just can’t see very well.
God was looking on the heart. And do you know what your very own heart is capable of doing? Do you? God does. And you might be surprised.
Rev. David James Brown
Park Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)