The last time we were together, I told the story of Ruth and Boaz. We learned of how Boaz was her redeemer and mirrored what Jesus would do for us one day.
The nation of Israel had taken possession of the land promised to them but they disobeyed God by not driving out all the nations that were in the land. Soon they were worshipping other gods. So God allowed them to be defeated and captured in their battles. Then God would raise up leaders, called judges, to rescue them from the hands of their enemy.
For 335 years Israel would continue this cycle. Disobedience, defeat and oppression, rescue in the form of a judge. There would be a total of 15 judges in all. Some would be come well known. Judges such as Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and the last judge, Samuel.
When Samuel had grown old, he appointed his sons to follow him. But they were dishonest and not trusted by the people. So the nation of Israel demanded a king. This displeased God because He desired to be their king and it was He they were rejecting. So He told Samuel to appoint them a king.
God led Samuel to a man that the Bible describes as “the most handsome man in Israel—head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land.” He was 30 years old and would reign for 42 years.
However, Saul disobeyed God by promoting himself into a priestly role and offering a burnt sacrifice before going into a battle. Samuel scolded Saul for what he had done. He informed Saul that his reign would have been established over Israel for all time. Instead, these are the prophetic words spoken to Saul.
1 Samuel 13:14 “But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
This will be our next character. The first king was appointed at the insistence of the people. This king would be the one chosen by God. The first king was chosen because of his outward appearance. This king would be chosen because of his heart.
He is the great-great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth. His name is David.
Before we begin to look at David’s life, let me share a love story with you. SOURCE: Max Lucado, "The People With the Roses," Chapter 19 in And the Angels Were Silent (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1992)
John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose.
His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell.
With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding.
Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like.
When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting-7:00 p.m. at the Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.”
I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened: A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips.
“Going my way, sailor?” she murmured.
Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell.
She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own.
And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My finger gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful.
I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?”
The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is all about, son, “ she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in a big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of a test!”
It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "And I will tell you who you are."
Matters of the heart. Like Miss Maynell that is what God finds important. The people were impressed with Saul’s appearance. If John Blanchard had followed the beautiful, yet unknown, young woman, he would have lost out on love. Instead he followed his heart and found true love. God had found a young boy who would follow his heart in serving God.
The word “heart” had the same meaning in both the Hebrew and Greek. It meant the inner person, the self. It was the seat of thought and emotion. It was considered the conscience and the mind. It was where courage and understanding was found.
God had searched the land and found a boy who was in the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. He found a young boy who had the “heart” for God. And sent Samuel to anoint him as king.
God sent Samuel to Jesse, grandson of Boaz. Once there Samuel used the excuse of wanting Jesse and his sons to participate in a sacrifice to the Lord. As he looks upon them, he notices what fine specimens they are. He thinks that surely one of these is the anointed one.
Let’s read 1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to 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.’”
When Samuel asked if this was all of his sons Jesse responded that he had one more. His youngest, a mere child of 15, tending the sheep. Samuel orders that he be sent for. When he arrives, God speaks to Samuel.
1 Samuel 16:12 “So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the Lord said, ‘This is the one; anoint him.’”
Did you notice that David is not by any means plain looking? He is handsome. But the most important part is his beauty that lies on the inside. His heart is beautiful to the Lord.
There are 351 references to the heart found in the scriptures. Twenty seven times Jesus speaks on matters of the heart. Many of them hold negative ideas. We would be here all day and half the night discussing matters of the heart as found in the Bible. I want to touch on just three of them this morning.
The heart is often guided by traditions.
Matthew 15:1-2 “Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, ‘Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.’”
Hand washing was not a commandment but rather a tradition. It was believed that demons rested upon people’s hands to influence them to do evil. Washing the hands prevented the demons from entering the body. Jesus answered them by stating, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.”
When a person’s heart, their innermost being, is being controlled by traditions, they have a heart problem. There was a time in churches when people attended church from a desire to do so. There was a time when people gave 10% faithfully from a desire to obey God’s Word. Eventually it became traditional to attend. It became traditional to give. When it became traditional, the motivation of love was lost.
So came a search for non-traditional churches. This absolved people from any obligations. Now there was no need to follow any traditions that had become established. Church attendance has become a matter of convenience. Giving has become an occasional after-thought. Today traditional churches are in steady decline. Non-traditional churches are being replaced by mega-churches where everything is offered in flashy, fancy wrappings. As mega-churches grow, more than 4,000 churches close each year. And with mega-churches accounting for only .05% of church attendees, the church is in decline.
Traditions are a heart problem. Saul disobeyed God because he offered the sacrifice before battle that only Samuel could do. It was traditional to do so. It cost him his kingdom.
The heart is a great hiding place.
Matthew 15:7-9 “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
It has been said that the church is filled with hypocrites. I have made that statement myself in excusing the behavior of others. I mean, after all, hypocrites are sinners and we are all sinners, therefore we are all hypocrites.
Actually, I have been a hypocrite in my Christian life three times. Once I was a con artist, another time a beaver, and yet again a king. These are, of course, the three roles I have played in community theatre.
Hypocrisy is not slipping up. Hypocrisy is making a choice to pretend to be something you are not. It is called acting.
The people looked at Saul’s appearance and saw a kingly man. But God knew in his heart that he was actually a selfish, self-centered, cowardly, power hungry individual. God saw Saul as this type of individual.
“The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves.”
Saul looked good but he was a hypocrite, playing a role to advance his own agenda.
God looked into David’s heart and saw a man of faith, courage, compassion, loyalty. He saw a man desiring to please the heart of God more than his own heart.
When a person makes a conscience effort to put on the mask of Christianity for all to see but does not deal with his inner person, he is a hypocrite. I never once believed I was really a con artist, a beaver, or a king. I knew I was not those things. A hypocrite knows they are not a Christian. They know their heart is far from God.
Lastly, the heart will reveal itself.
Matthew 15:10-11 “Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.’” Vs 19 “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.”
A hypocrite can wear the mask of Christianity for a long time. But God peers into the heart and sees the filth that lies there hidden from the outside world. But given the chance these hidden thoughts become actions and deeds. They are done without a searing of the conscience because they reveal the true characteristic of the individual.
God knew David’s heart. It was pure and pleasing. Not because David was perfect. But because David desired to reach for perfection. It was David’s inner being that caused God to declare him the next king of Israel. David was 15 at the time. It would be 22 years later before David would actually wear the crown. During that time he would be tested and face great tribulation. David would persevere through the tribulation and pass the testing.
We must examine our hearts today. We must be sure that we are not following God due to traditions or even lack off. We must be sure that we are following God due to our love for him and our desire to be obedient. We must be sure that we are not just wearing the mask of Christianity but are with in our very being a Christian. If we don’t deal with the darkness within, it will burst forth and defile us. It’s important that we make the right decision today.
