I Samuel 16:1-13 * January 10, 2010 * Baptism of our Lord * Pastor Pagels

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. The person who uttered those words spoke with a child-like faith, and that makes sense since those words came from his lips when he was just a boy. His mother talked with God too. For years she asked God for a son. She even promised to eventually give the boy back to God.

The Lord heard her prayer. The Lord answered her prayer. He gave her the son she so desperately desired. And Hannah gave him the name, or I should say that she gave me the name “Samuel,” (which means “God has heard”) because I was the answer to her prayers.

It wasn’t easy for my mother, but when I was old enough she made good on her promise. She brought me to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. There I was introduced to Eli, the man who had witnessed my mother’s prayer years earlier. She entrusted me to the old priest’s keeping and said: “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD” (I Samuel 1:27,28).

The Lord reaffirmed my mother’s words late one evening. At first I thought it was Eli who was calling my name, but he convinced me that the voice was God’s and he instructed me to answer when I heard it again. I listened to Eli and I listened for the voice, and when the Lord called me again I said: “Speak, for your servant is listening (I Samuel 3:10).

The Lord did speak to me that evening, and he stayed with me for the rest of my life. Other people recognized that the Lord was with me too. All Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, recognized me as a prophet of God. I was Israel’s leader. I anointed two of Israel’s leaders. When I spoke people listened, and I humbly ask you to listen to me this morning.

Listen as I share with you the details of an important event at the end of my life because as it turns out it is also an important event for your life. Hear what I have to say, and when I am finished I hope that you will join me in saying the words we just sang…

HAIL TO THE LORD’S ANOINTED

I was discouraged. My hands were bloody, my robe had been torn (I’ll tell you why in a minute), and I was in mourning for my king. The problem was that he wasn’t dead. For years the people had been insisting that they wanted a king to rule over them. Eventually God gave in to their demands. He gave them a king, and he gave me the important task of anointing him.

His name was Saul, son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, and judging by outward appearances he looked like a royal ruler. He was tall and dark and handsome, and his reign got off to a pretty good start. But Saul had a problem following God’s directions. Instead of seeking God’s guidance as his first option, too often he called upon God as his last resort.

Things came to a head when the Lord sent me to Saul with this message: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amelekites for what they did to Israel when they came up from Egypt. No go, attack the Amelekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys’” (I Samuel 15:2,3).

God’s directions could not have been more clear. He directed Saul to totally annihilate the Amelekites, but when I came into the camp after the battle I heard the sounds of captured animals and I saw Agag the captured Amelekite king. I was angry, and I became even angrier when Saul started making excuses.

First he claimed that he spared some of the best animals to sacrifice them to the Lord. Then he suggested that the soldiers pressured him into keeping some of the plunder. There was no admission of guilt. There was not a hint of remorse. And there was nothing else I could do.

God rejected Saul as king because Saul had rejected God. When he realized that the Lord’s patience had finally run out, Saul reached out to grab my robe and tore it, which caused me to turn back and declare: “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you” (I Samuel 15:28).

In my righteous rage I took a sword and did what Saul should have done in the first place. I put Agag the Amelekite to death, and then I walked away. I never went to see Saul again, but I never stopped thinking about him. I thought about what might have been, what could have been. I felt sorry for Saul, and maybe a little sorry for myself too.

But God didn’t allow me to wallow in my misery for long. He told me to get up and go to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be Israel’s next king. In my weakness I asked God if that was really a good idea. What if Saul found out where I was going? What if Saul found out about what I was doing? He might cut me down the same way I cut down Agag.

The Lord’s solution was to make my mission a secret mission. He told me to take a heifer with me and tell the people that I had come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, and so I did. When the elders of the town saw me approaching, they were afraid. Afraid of me. Afraid of Saul. Maybe a little bit of both, but when I assured them that I came in peace they consecrated themselves for the special sacrifice.

The Lord and I were the only ones who really knew why I was there. I held the horn full of anointing oil in my hand and watched carefully as the sons of Jesse passed by. The first and oldest son was Eliab, and he definitely looked like king material. His appearance even reminded me a little bit of Saul. And I thought to myself: “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD” (I Samuel 16:6).

But to my surprise God said, “No.” God said: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7).

Seven sons passed by in succession, and God’s answer for all of them was the same: “The Lord has not chosen these” (I Samuel 16:10). God used that parade of potential rulers to teach me a valuable lesson that day, a lesson we all need to learn: The Lord doesn’t judge by human standards. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

We can’t see into people’s hearts, so to a certain extent we have to judge by things that we can see. That means appearances are very important. You want to look good. You make all kinds of resolutions and spend all kinds of money to look good. And it’s not just people either. People base their judgments about just about everything on appearances. They might even be tempted to judge a church based upon things they can measure, based upon the things they can see.

So what does your congregation look like? It’s apparent that you have been blessed with quality facilities. Your school is growing. Your preschool has more than doubled in the last decade. The average number of worshipers on a weekend has increased by almost 100 people since 2000. Last Sunday a visiting pastor commented that it was impressive to be worshiping in a packed church on Epiphany.

You are a pretty impressive bunch, aren’t you? You have been blessed, but have you always remembered the source of your blessings? Do you want to take some of the credit, or do you give all glory to God? When God gets inside the church doors, when he looks beyond the numbers, when he looks at your heart, what does he see?

When the Lord told me, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart,” he was referring Jesse’s sons, but he could have been talking about you and me. God isn’t distracted by the shiny façade. He sees what’s on the inside. He sees the nagging doubts. He sees the sinful pride. He sees the jealousy and the hypocrisy.

God's penetrating gaze exposes us for the helpless, hopeless sinners we are, but when he looks into our hearts he can also see what we need. And that’s why the Lord encouraged me to continue my search for Israel’s next king

With my options all but exhausted and the success of my mission in serious jeopardy, I asked Jesse if he had any more sons. Without even mentioning the boy by name, Jesse replied: “There is still the youngest, but he is tending the sheep” (I Samuel 16:11).

Maybe Jesse didn’t want to waste my time. Maybe he thought that his youngest son was just too young. I didn’t care about his age. I wanted to see him. I needed to see him, and as soon as I saw his ruddy appearance and handsome features, the Lord spoke to me again: “Rise and anoint him (God said); he is the one” (I Samuel 16:12).

David was God’s choice to be Israel’s next king. The shepherd boy. The runt of the litter. Even if he didn’t look like much, God could look into his heart. God could see the faith in his heart. God could see that he was a man after the Lord’s own heart.

According to the Lord’s instructions I took the horn of oil and poured it on David’s head. It was a private, solemn ceremony witnessed only by his father and brothers. At the time they could only guess the meaning of this anointing. Not even David knew what God had in store for him, but neither he nor I would ever forget this day, the day when God set him aside for a sacred purpose, the day when the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.

As I walked back to Ramah, I had a chance to reflect on the amazing events that had just taken place. And I was profoundly grateful. I was grateful because the Lord had chosen me to anoint David, and I was even more grateful for God’s promise of a Savior, a descendant of David, a king who would sit on David’s throne and establish an eternal kingdom.

The prophets described him as THE anointed one. Old Testament believers called him the Messiah. New Testament believers call him the Christ. But you know this descendant of David by name. Jesus was set apart by God for a sacred, soul-saving mission. He was born of a virgin and baptized in the Jordan. He was hailed as a hero and condemned as a criminal. When the Roman soldiers got their brutal hands on him, they beat him and bowed down to him, shouting: “Hail, king of the Jews” (Matthew 27:29)!

Now take away the mocking tone. Take away the blood stained robe. Replace the crown of thorns with a crown of gold and see what Jesus looks like today. See Jesus for what he truly is. He is a king. He is your king. One day you will see him seated on his heavenly throne. You will be surrounded by his heavenly glory. And together we will praise him. With all the saints and angels we will sing the praises of Jesus the Christ. Then and now we sing: Hail! Hail to the Lord’s anointed! Amen.