Tonight, I want to start right off by jumping into the Word and looking at a passage about a young boy being used by God in a big way. Let’s open our Bibles to 1 Samuel 16:1-13.
***Have a youth read 1 Samuel 16:1-13***
As we pick up our text, a man named Saul has been King of Israel. In fact, he was the very first king the nation had ever had. The people, after a time of being led by judges who were appointed by God, demanded that they have a king so that they could be like the other nations. The people had grown tired of following God and wanted someone that they could see and who would strike fear into their enemies hearts. They wanted all the glamor, the power, and the presence of a human leader. God was hurt and not pleased but gave the people what they wanted anyways.
Saul was chosen from the tribe of Benjamin, and then from a very wealthy and influential family within the tribe, which according to our standards makes perfect sense for the future king. Saul also was known as the “most handsome man in Israel – head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land.” Again, sounds great when it comes to a king. The people would have been instantly attracted to him as a king due to his success, wealth, and good looks. Unfortunately for the people, this relationship, though everything looked good at the beginning, did not work out very well. Saul became very selfish and prideful. God became an afterthought to Saul and he began to do what he wanted, when he wanted, so eventually, God rejected him as king over Israel and sends Samuel out to anoint the next king who would replace Saul. God tells Samuel to head to a little town called Bethlehem where he is to find a man named Jesse because it is one of his sons who will be the next king of Israel.
Upon arriving, Samuel invites Jesse’s family to a sacrifice so that he could carry out what God asked him to do. As Jesse’s family arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab, probably the oldest and very handsome, and he said, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But God quickly says that it isn’t and says something very counter cultural and unexpected. God warns Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” In one minute, God took the way that man thinks about power, presence, and leadership and shot it down saying that God looks at something different that appearance, instead God looks at the heart.
One by one, Jesse has seven of his sons come before Samuel but not one of them is the next king. Sensing the frustration in Samuel’s voice he asks Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” And Jesse says that they had left out the youngest who is out in the fields watching the sheep and goats. So they sent for David and as soon as he entered the room, Samuel knew that he was the one that God had wanted. Samuel anointed him as the next King of Israel.
The next king of Israel was a mere boy at the time. As the important prophet came to town and invited Jesse’s family to the sacrifice, it was assumed that the young David wouldn’t miss anything important by staying home. Someone had to stay home and watch the sheep and goats, so of course the obvious choice was David. But yet from the place no one expected, God called the person least expected to be one of the most important people in Israel’s history as he would go on to the be one of the greatest kings to ever live and, more importantly, whose family line would bring about the King of Kings; Jesus Christ.
In our culture, we have a habit of looking at life the way Samuel and the Israelites first looked at things. We want to look at someone’s appearance to deem them acceptable and worthy of great things. And by outward appearance, I am not just talking about looks. I’m talking about wealth, power, material possessions, experience, age, degrees and accomplishments. Take a second and think about the current presidential candidates. Each of the people running in the primaries are each very successful, powerful, rich, and popular. They have degrees and experience and all sorts of other accomplishments that have deemed them the title of “worthy candidates.” Most of them, by many standards, are good looking and attractive to a majority of people. Physical appearance is so important to some that after the New Hampshire Democratic debate a few weeks ago, the Boston Herald ran a huge article about the appearance that Hillary Clinton had had plastic surgery (which ended up not being true by the way and was simply just good lighting and good makeup).
Now, let me ask you a question, what would happen if one of you decided that you wanted to run for President?
***Allow youth to respond***
Maybe running for president is not something that most people would even think about, but it seems to me that this issue with age and experience seems to be something that creeps into life as a young person pretty regularly. At the Manchester/Essex graduation, the theme of the night hit upon a huge pet peeve of mine. Adult after adult got up on the stage and talked about graduates becoming adults and charged them to go on to make a difference in the world in the future. This doesn’t sound like something that big of a deal, but for me it’s a huge deal and my issue with it is simply the last word – future.
When you are young, you are constantly being told that you aren’t ready, you’re not experienced enough, you don’t have enough schooling, etc. etc. I know that right out of college a bunch of my friends had a really hard time finding jobs because everyone wanted people who had experience already. The bottom line that often gets communicated whether it is meant or not, is that you need to grow up a little more before you can do things of importance and responsibility. This message is ingrained into young people’s minds so much that nowadays people aren’t completely viewed or treated as adults until they are in their late twenties or early thirties. In the meantime, there is talent, energy, and abilities that are going on being ignored and wasted. I am a firm believer that even in your youthfulness, and limited experience, each and every one of you is capable of doing amazing things for God in the present, here and now when you choose to.
This similar situation of David’s and of being young in our culture, was also something that a young pastor named Timothy experienced. Everyone around Timothy would have said he wasn’t old enough, experienced enough, blah, blah, blah. But Paul, who was Timothy’s mentor, worked hard to break the mold of culture, and despite Timothy’s age and limited experience, Paul worked with him and God used him in the early church to do some great things. Paul’s powerful encouragement and challenge to Timothy is what I want to leave you guys with tonight. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul writes to Timothy, “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.”
Basically what Paul is saying is, who cares about your age and your experience, God can use you if you are willing! Don’t listen to all the naysayer’s and the dream killers but instead live out Christ’s love and passion in everything that you do that your lives are an example to everyone. As young people, be an example of Godly young men and women in the words that come out of your mouth. Watch what you say and be smart about the things you communicate verbally. Be an example by your actions. When someone is watching you live your day to day life, what is it sharing and showing about Jesus, about you?
Be an example in your love, may it exemplify Christ’s love for us in that he sacrificed, surrendered, and committed for us even though we were sinners. Love the people around you with a Christ-like love. Be an example in your faith in God. Learn to trust Him, listen to Him, follow Him, and put him first and foremost in your life. May people be able to look at your faith an equate you to the likes of Moses, Abraham, Noah, and other amazing people throughout the Scriptures. Be an example in your purity. In other words, stay holy and Godlike as much as possible. Learn to follow God and flee from temptations and sin. Obey God and follow him.
“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” You can make a difference in the here and now! You can live for God and do big and great things for Him no matter what anyone tells you. Thank God, that he doesn’t look at things the same way the world does – and He doesn’t just do it with David and James but almost with everyone. Every one of the disciples were “disqualified” and outcasts, Moses and Aaron were rejects and babbling idiots, the prophets like Isaiah, Elijah, and Daniel were hated by everyone, Jacob was a liar and deceiver, and on and on the list could go. Over and over again, the people in the Bible that God uses would not have been the world’s first choice but probably the last choice.
Your youthfulness is something that you will never be able to experience again. So my prayer and challenge for all of you is to use it to the best of your ability, jump into a relationship with Christ with everything you have and change the world now! Do you have lots to learn? Absolutely. Are you perfect? No way. Do you know everything? Not even close! But you know what, God doesn’t care about any of that, He wants to use you in great and powerful ways now as you continue to grow and learn. And He will, without a doubt, if you are willing to be used, to stand up to the world, and to jump into a relationship with Him. I believe very strongly that what God is going to do next in this country and in the world will be through this generation of young people – that is why I am in youth ministry frankly – and I want all of you to be a part of it! Each one of you if worth the world to God, that’s why He gave up His only Son for you. He wants to use you to make a difference and to do great things. The questions is whether or not you are going to let anything stand in your way – yourself, your friends, your families, churches, schools, jobs, materialism, or whatever. Again, my prayer is that none of those things will matter to you more than God and that you jump into Him with everything you got!
