In God’s Eyes I Samuel 15:34-16:13
II Cor 5:6-10 14-17
Mark 4: 26-29
I’m going to summarize a little background of the story that took place earlier in the book of Samuel before we get into the section of our text we read today.
The Israelite people at first were governed directly by God. They had prophets who served as God’s mouth piece to the people and priests who made sacrifices for the people.
They were warned that elevating a man to the throne would bring political corruption and trouble.
But as they looked around at neighboring countries they became envious of them because they all had kings that they could see and approach, and the Israelites’ king was in the heavens.
So in spite of the prophet Samuel’s warnings about all the problems a king would cause them, the people insisted and so God gave them Saul as their king. He was an obvious choice and the people were excited to have him
The Bible tells us that part of Saul’s attraction for the position of Israel’s first king was that he was a magnificent physical specimen. Saul was what you would expect in a king. He was a handsome man and very strong. He was the kind of person who demanded your attention and your respect. He was young, and stood head and shoulders taller than anyone else in Israel.
While Saul may have been a giant among men, he was a spiritual pygmy! He made a good public image and seemed to have the charisma to rally the people. But those characteristics don’t ensure quality leadership. He was significant to men, but he was disobedient to God.
Saul was a jealous man, who lived for the praises of the people. He tended to overstep his boundaries and was guilty of gross disobedience to the commands of the Lord.
It didn’t take long for him to stop seeking God’s direction and begin taking things into his own hands. He began his reign as a humble servant but it wasn’t long until his real character was revealed.
Basically Saul was a proud man who turned out to be stubborn and impetuous, with a strong self-will. These character flaws lead to his downfall.
Because of his deliberate disregard for the God’s Word and his inability to place himself completely under divine control, the Lord ended up taking the royal monarchy from Saul.
When Samuel confronted Saul for not destroying everything among the Amalekites both man and beast, Saul tried to worm his way out of it by saying that the only reason he didn’t destroy everything was so he would have something left to sacrifice to the Lord.
It sounds good, but the Lord didn’t tell Saul to spare anything for a sacrifice. That is why Samuel responded to this weak excuse by asking “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?”
The very last verse of I Samuel 15 says that “The Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king.” That’s where our story picks up today. in chapter 16.
Samuel is upset that this first King has failed so miserably. and he is grieving, having his own pity party That’s why in our text, we see God saying to Samuel in verse: 1 - “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
This time it is Samuel who is hesitant to follow instructions. He says, you know Lord if I do that and Saul hears about it he will kill me! Then God does something that on the surface seems very strange. He seems to tell Samuel to be deceptive as to his real agenda. He says take a heifer with you and say that you have come to sacrifice. (What a cover story!) That is exactly what a sacrifice is for.
God says he will indicate which son of Jesse is to be anointed. But Samuel thinks he can figure out whom God will choose. He thinks it is Eliab, since he is such a fine looking man and the obvious choice as the eldest son in the family.
But in verse 7 we see that the Lord told Samuel,
“Do not consider his appearance or his height….the Lord does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
So after all the sons of Jesse had been rejected and Samuel inquired if there were any more, then Jesse said, “Oh yes I have the youngest one out there tending sheep.” You see even his own father thought God would not choose David. He came in from the field still in his shepherd’s garb, still smelling like sheep, and God says, “Rise and anoint him, he’s the one.”
What an unexpected, unorthodox, unusual choice!
Here is a boy nobody seemed to notice, but God did, because God looked on his heart. And we know that at the time there was not a bit of pride in David’s heart. In fact after he was anointed as Israel’s next king do you know what he did? He went right back to tending those sheep.
God had a training program ahead for David. He had to practice killing bears and lions in the field before he could stand up to the giant, Goliath and slay him with his now practiced aim with a slingshot. Gradually he was growing into the strong and able man whom everyone would admire as king. Meanwhile David possessed the heart of a servant.
Psalm 78:70 says, “He chose David his servant, from tending the sheep and he brought him to be the shepherd of his people. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart.”
Man looks at the “cover” and God looks at the “core.” We want a handsome hunk, and God wants a holy heart.
There were nearly 11.5 million cosmetic surgeries and procedures in the United States in 2005 totaling 12.4 billion dollars. Does that show that we look on “outward appearances” rather than the heart?
When you go for a job interview you know they want someone who can not only do the job but who also looks the part. They want qualifications plus attractiveness.
American Idol selects not necessarily the most talented but the one with the most all-American –boy-next-door looks.
Britain’s Got Talent made headlines by daring to select Susan Boyle as a finalist when she had such dowdy looks. And in the end they chose a young and hip group to twin the title.
I Cor 1:27 says “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…..that no flesh should glory in his presence.”
You see, the issue as far as God is concerned is not stature, status or smarts. It is spirituality. God’s choices may be contrary to human reason but they are conditioned on heart response and characterized by heavenly recognition.
When we refer to our New Testament reading for today from II Corinthians chapter 5 we see that Paul has picked up on this idea. He himself was one of God’s unimaginable choices as he persecuted Christians as Saul of Tarsus until his Damascus Road conversion when God not only changed his heart but changed his name.
In verse 16 Paul says, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”
You see, if you had seen Jesus in the flesh you might not have immediately been impressed with him either. Isaiah says, “He had no stately form that we should desire him.” He didn’t walk around with a halo above his head.
When Paul was Saul he regarded Jesus simply as a man with a religious agenda and he made it his business to try to stamp out all those who were being seduced by this one he considered to be a false messiah. But as the Holy Spirit came into Paul’s heart he not only recognized Jesus as the Son of God but he began to be able to see the heart of God in others.
The ‘old man’ judges on the outward appearance of things because he has no inward reality of the Spirit with which to make life’s decisions. His heart, his thoughts and his desires are temporal. But Paul says for those in Christ such an attitude, is gone – it has been replaced by a new creation.
Everyone wants and needs to feel significant. But the important issue is what priorities and values do we set to establish that significance? Who do you want to impress and who impresses you?
God sees possibilities when others do not because we confuse appearance with reality.
That brings us to consider the last passage we read in Mark 4:26-29
When Jesus spoke in parables, he often compared the kingdom of God to a seed This parable is comparing the smallness of the seed to the greatness of the results produced. Jesus said the mustard seed produced a plant that became greater than all herbs. Truly the small beginning of One man and His disciples has become “greater than all herbs.” Jesus + 12 + 70 + 500 + 3000 at Pentecost. Then we see the gospel spread all over the world.
Which would you take in a thirty day period?
-Billy Graham preaching and 3000 people giving their lives to Christ each night? Or
- one Christian winning one soul the first day and then those two winning two and then those four winning four and so forth and so on for thirty days?
Well at the end of 30 days, Billy Graham would have seen 1,095,000 persons come to Christ. The one-to-one method, which started small like the mustard seed would end with, 376,870,952!
From small beginnings, the kingdom of God has grown and it has room in it for every nation and people of all socio-economic backgrounds. It has room in it for people who wear suits as well as people who wear torn jeans and t-shirts. There are no barriers in God’s church except those that are man-made. God does not care what we wear on the outside. He is more concerned with who lives on the inside, in our hearts. It does not matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done. Jesus is only concerned with where you are going and what you will do.
Imagine pondering the power of the zucchini or the tomato. The seeds are small; a person can carry one hundred of them in his or her hand. Yet those small seeds can produce enough fruit to feed a family—and in the case of zucchini, an entire town. Certainly, the seed contains some power within it, which enables it to accomplish this great feat.
A person may ask what this parable has to do with our lives today. It is simply this: like the planted seed, God’s Word has great power when it is planted in our lives. It grows within us, changing us into God’s image, and producing within us the fruit of the Spirit—the characteristics of God.
That seed of faith, that seed of grace, that seed of salvation is sprouting and growing.
And just like if we see a plant every day, we can’t see its growth taking place…
…when we look at our lives from one day to the next we may not be able to see any Christian growth or maturity. But that doesn’t mean that growth is not taking place. Because in the same way that nature’s growth is constant, so is the growth of the Christian.
God takes little shepherd boys and prepares them to be kings. He took Moses from a cradle and made him a mighty leader of Israel. He took Joseph the younger brother from the pit to a palace. He almost disregards natural ability so that we can see His super natural enablement within individuals whom he chooses.
Are we overlooking God’s choices for leaders in our churches because we think they are too young or too shy or too anything else? Do we see past the outward appearance to the new creation Christ has made of them? Are we allowing God’s spirit to appoint and anoint new people for places of leadership?
Our North Carolina state motto is, “To be, rather than to seem.”
God sees what we can be, rather than what it seems we are to others.
Remain open to God’s choices and watch His kingdom grow among us.
