"A NOBODY, NOBODY NOTICED"
1 SAMUEL 16:1-13
INTRODUCTION TO SERIES:
At the end of each calendar year USA Today, CNN and The Gallup organization ask the question: “Who are your heroes?” -Or- “Name the people you most admire.” Here’s the top ten results from last year.: #1- George W. Bush (dominating with 39% -highest ever) 2-Laura Bush; 3-Hillary Clinton; 4- Oprah Winfrey; 5- Colin Powell; 6- Rudy Giuliani; 7- Pope John Paul II; 8-Tony Blair 9-Michael Jordan; and 10-Madonna. Steven Hess an expert on public opinion polls had an interesting take on last years results. He said, “Our heroes today can be our goats tomorrow. President Bush’s dominance in the 2001 poll is obviously because of the way he handled the Sept.11 crisis. But what is admired this year may not be next. Next year something else may be on our minds.” Reading that I thought, “Is that the way we choose our heroes? Our role models? Do we choose them based on a “what have you done for me lately” philosophy?” I hope not because I really believe that this is a day and time when we need authentic heroes, people who model for us, not just what’s “hot” or popular at the time but show us over time, values that last, who demonstrate for us what God wants us to be in life.
I need your help for a second. Would all of you free your right hand and hold it up. Now, make it into a fist, now bring it up to your cheek. (Mine come to my chin - most will follow my example) I said your cheek... You see we follow an example a lot quicker than instruction. And oh, how we need people who will be legitimate examples, worthy of following. That is one of the real values of studying the great characters of the Bible. The Scriptures do not gloss over their errors, the Bible doesn’t pretend that the heroes are perfect. Their failures are very openly and honestly documented. But it is a tremendous inspiration to see how God takes very imperfect people, who are totally committed to Him and uses them in a great way.
So, I’m excited to begin today a biographical study of the life of David. He is called "A man after God’s own heart." There is more written about David than any other character in all the O.T. Abraham has 14 chapters, Joseph 13, Jacob 11, Moses 40.. but there are 66 chapters in the O.T. given over to the life of David. In fact, there are 57 N.T. references to him. He was the youngest son of Jesse, a shepherd lad of Bethlehem, a Giant killer, a composer of Psalms, the greatest King Israel has ever known. Yet maybe what draws many of us to him is the fact that he isn’t a polished-marble personality but he is blood and bone and breath, a man who shares our struggles of spirit and soul. For although he is a man of glorious triumphs he is also a man with some great tragedy in his life. And because he struggled in life, we can gain help for our struggles. We’ll study David as he wrestles with success, discouragement, sexual temptation, parenthood, to mention just a few. And from his life I believe we can gain “A Strength for our Struggles.” (PRAY)
INTRODUCTION OF SERMON:
I want us to begin by looking at David’s being chosen King and see a nobody, nobody noticed, except for God. 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? Well, to help us get God’s perspective on this struggle let’s begin this series by looking at God’s choosing of David. For in that choice are some character qualities that made David a man noticed by God. And those are the ones worth living by.
I. THE SETTING AND THE SEARCH OF DAVID:
First, I want to lay a foundation for you so that you can clearly understand why God needed to make David King. You see, Israel had a King, his name was Saul, so why was David chosen? Well, to answer that you’ve got to go back about 40 years to 1 Samuel the 8th chapter. The people of Israel during this time were as one writer puts it, "on a long drift from God." Finally, they got to the place where they demanded a King. They were no longer satisfied with God being their ruler through a prophet, in this case a man named Samuel, and so they requested an earthly King. 1 Samuel 8:1-5 - “As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.. But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice. Finally, the leaders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. ‘Look,’ they told him, ‘you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king like all the other nations have.’” (NLT)
Notice the 3 reasons why they want a King... 1-Samuel is getting old. 2- Samuel’s son’s are wicked and 3- All the other nations have a King. Aren’t those extremely deep? All 3 reasons show that they have put their trust more in men than in God. Basically they are saying, "Gosh Samuel, you’re going to croak any day, your boys are abusing their office and besides the other nations ask us who is our King and we have to say, `Our King is God and He is invisible. And they say, "Riiight... your King’s invisible - you know that’s embarrassing. So let’s have a King because everybody else does." Samuel is not pleases by the request. The Israelites are to be a unique people, free under God’s loving rule. But the people insist and God tells Samuel to give them what they want.
Their first King is introduced to us beginning in the 9th chapter, a man from the tribe of Benjamin by the name of Saul. The Bible tells us that part of his attraction for the position was that he was a magnificent physical specimen. He was young, tall, he made a good public image and seemed to have the charisma to rally the people. But those characteristics don’t ensure quality leadership. But while he was significant to men, he was disobedient to God. Saul began his reign as a humble servant but it wasn’t very long til his real character was revealed and we see that in the end Saul was terribly disqualified for the job. His problems are outlined in chapters 9-15 in 1 Samuel. Basically Saul is a proud man who turns out to be stubborn, 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 ends up taking the royal monarchy from Saul.
In fact, Saul’s fatal act of disobedience is an important one. It’s found in 1 Sam. 15. Saul’s been King for about 10 years when Samuel comes to him with a special message from God. The time had come for the nation of the Amalekites, an ancient foe of Israel, to be annihilated, once and for all. Samuel’s implicit orders from God to Saul was to destroy this enemy - completely! This included all the people and every animal that they owned. It was a tough assignment but not one hard to understand.
But I want you to see what Saul did and how God through Samuel responded.
1 Sam. 15:7-9. “Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs- (Uh-oh - not what God said to do.. and look why..) 9b- “..everything that appealed to them.” (NLT) Here is the proverbial.. “I know what God said but surely He didn’t mean..” It’s as current an attitude as you can find. But just as current is God’s response to disobedience. Vs:10- “Then the LORD said to Samuel, ’I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, because he has stopped following me and has not obeyed my commands.’”(NCV) Samuel is sorry too and so he goes to meet Saul. As soon as Saul sees Samuel listen to what he says. Vs:13 - “When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said, ‘May the Lord bless you! I have obeyed the Lord’s commands.’ But Samuel said, ‘Then why do I hear cattle mooing and sheep bleating?’”(NCV) You know: “You did just what God said? You destroyed everything? Then how come I can hear the dead?” Saul tries 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. Sounds good but it won’t wash because the Lord didn’t tell Saul to spare some for sacrifice. It’s why Samuel responds to this weak excuse this way in vs:22 - “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. In other words, God cares more about obedience than any religious observance you can possible do. Please listen very carefully because this really important. If you think that by your completion of any ritualistic observance, no matter what it is, that you are earning some kind of "brownie points" with God; yet apart from those outward actions you are living a life that is disobedient to God’s Word than you are just as disillusioned as Saul. "To obey is better than sacrifice!" Was it not commanded to sacrifice? Absolutely! Was sacrificing not a good thing? Sure it was. But the sacrifice meant nothing to God because of Saul’s disobedience! Beloved.. If you come to every Church service offered, give 50% of your money to the Church, if you teach, do all the "things" that look spiritual but you do not turn your heart and life totally over to God in humble obedience, then those things don’t mean much at all. Our Creator demands first priority in everything For -"to obey is better than sacrifice." It may be time for some of us to take stock. Please understand.. You just can’t play games with God. He sees right through all our pretenses just as He does Saul’s. Saul’s punishment? He is to lose his throne.
Samuel is upset that this first King has failed so miserably. That’s why in our text, chapter 16, we see God saying to Samuel in vs:1 - “How long will you morn 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 God is going to choose a man from His terms. So with God’s direction Samuel goes to the family of Jesse and begins to look over all of Jesse’s sons. He takes one look at Eliab, the oldest, and he says in vs:6, "surely, the Lord’s anointed stands here..." Eliab really impressed Samuel. He must of been a great physical speciman because Samuel basically says, "This is got to be him!" But God says in vs:7.. “Eeeeehn! Wrong Answer..” Well, that’s a loose paraphrase but basically God tells Samuel to quit looking at outward appearance. And later on when David meets the giant, Goliath we see why. Eliab simply didn’t have the inner qualities that were necessary. He was spiritually deep, he was jealous, cowardly. But the key verse in this passage for our struggle with what makes a person truly significant is vs:7. Look, God says - “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
If you do not get anything else out of this first message I want you to understand this one essential and eternal principle: God does not see people as the world does. That David would be anointed Israel’s next king would not of been the world’s choice.. Too young, no combat experience, no education, a sheep herder! But in the mind of God, impressed not by brawn or brains but by a heart completely His, it made perfect sense. God shows us through the choosing of David that someone that evidently was unnoticed by man, had great worth to God. Apparently even Jesse, David’s father didn’t recognize his youngest son’s leadership potential. But God saw David’s heart and said, "David, you the man!"
In fact, wouldn’t it be great if we all could change our mentality and see beyond the surface of people and see their hearts? We could tell if the auto mechanic was telling us the truth or giving us a snow job. We could tell if the insurance salesman was really concerned about our life and our families or if the big policy he was offering was simply dollar signs dancing in his head. And we could tell if the preacher really believed what he was saying and was modeling it too or if it was just a polished speech. (Well, maybe that one is not so important.) But in anyone, to be able to look
beyond the appearance, the impressive verbiage and see if they are sincere or if they are just faking it. But you know, even if we are mislead sometimes by people’s true motives, God never is.
So, when God refuses Eliab, the rest of Jesse’s sons are paraded before Samuel and God rejects everyone of them. And Samuel finally says in vs:11- "Are these all the sons you have?" Jesse says, "Well, I do have one more. He’s out taking care of the sheep, I guess he kind of slipped my mind." Jesse had 8 sons and 2 daughters, I guess when you have 10 kids you can forget one. Samuel says in the last of vs:11, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives." Now, I don’t know how long they stood there because the Bible doesn’t tell us how far away David’s herd was but when he comes I love this picture! Finally, David comes in from the field sees his brothers all dressed up, everybody’s standing around. David’s got on his Shepherds garb and still smells like sheep. And God basically says to Samuel, “There, he’s the one!” The prophet of God comes over to him, pours oil on his head, it runs down the back of his neck and he, "You’re the next King." And I think David may have said, "Huh?" What an unexpected, unorthodox, unanticipated choice! Here is a boy that nobody seemed to notice. Yet, God did, because God doesn’t look at the outward appearance but on the heart.
II. THE SELECTION AND THE STANDARD FOR US:
Now what was it that God saw in David’s heart? Why did God make this selection when his brothers may have seemed to fit the bill better? Well, when you study David’s life I think you can see 4 qualities in David that prompted God to select him as King. And these qualities set a standard for us.
(1) David possessed a heart of dependence on God. I want you to notice the comparison of Saul’s heart to David’s. When it came to dependence upon the Lord, Saul took matters into his own hands. He thought that he was going to miss a chance for his own glory so he said, "God said, destroy them all but it will be okay as long as we take some of the best of the livestock and sacrifice them to Him." But listen to David in Psalm 62:6-8 -"God alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." There is a dependent man after God’s own heart.
Let me ask you this morning. Do you have a heart that depends upon God? Are you depending on the Lord in your marriage, with your kids or you making this up as you go along? Are you depending on God to take care of your needs or do you worry constantly how things are going to work out? Do you really believe what Jesus says? That God knows every sparrow that falls from the ground and that you are worth far more than they? That God knows the number of the very hairs on our head. Do we really believe that? If we do then why do we so often depend on ourselves so much? Having a heart of dependence means depending on God no matter what, understanding that in the end, our only source of life is Him!
(2) David also had a heart of obedience for God. Listen to his beautiful expression in Psalm 40:8 "I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart." (NLT) Or Psalm 119:11 where he writes, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." You see David’s desire was to be obedient. He purposed to find new ways honestly and genuinely to discover God’s will and do it. Those that know some of David’s life might ask: "If he was so obedient why did he commit terrible sins like adultery?" As we said at the beginning of this message, the Bible doesn’t gloss over errors. But even in that experience you see David’s sensitivity to his primary desire to obey God. Unlike Saul who tried to whitewash his sin David
was crushed. He wept and he pleaded. Sometime read Psalm 51, it is like barging into a room and unexpectedly finding someone there pouring out the confessions to the Lord for their sin. You feel like you’re an intruder. David is pleading for forgiveness for he is so distraught that he has disobeyed. He hated the sin because it hurt God. God’s not looking for hearts that are perfect but hearts that are striving to do His will.
(3) David possessed the heart of a servant. Psalm 89:20 we read where God says, "I have found my servant David; I appointed him by pouring holy oil on him." (NCV) David - my servant. Servanthood is humility in practice. To be a servant means to perform the menial tasks no matter what they are. To be a servant is to not care who gets the credit. To be a servant you have just one goal: the success of your superior.
Steve Brown, a popular radio bible teacher, says that one morning after a Church service a lady came up to him and said, "I wanted to meet you because I have listened to your sermons on the radio and they have turned my life around. I didn’t know the Lord, and my whole life has been changed because of your messages. I just wanted to meet you," she continued and I also wanted you to meet a friend of mine too." And then she turned back from her friend and said to Steve, "I’m sorry, what was your name again?" She had forgotten his name! And we might say, "If those sermons had changed her life how could she had forgotten who gave them?" The point is of course that she hadn’t forgotten where they had come from. And Steve Brown said, "I was thrilled! She was simply remembering the message and not the human messenger. It was the Word of God that was being honored!" And that is a humble servant. David had a heart like that and God honored him. Jesus said in Mk. 9:35- "Anyone wanting to be the greatest must be the least—the servant of all!" (LB)
Do you know what David did after he was told he was going to be King? He went back out and tended sheep. Is that what you would of done? I’m afraid I might have been tempted to catch the first taxi to Jerusalem to check out my new palace or to have new business cards printed changing them from “David the Shepherd” to “David the King!” Not David. When Saul needed a musician in vs:17 his messenger found him back with the sheep. Not to proud to tend sheep. Or to work on the sprinklers, or to fix communion or to work in the nursery.
(4) Lastly, David possessed a heart of integrity. Psalm 78:70- "He chose David his servant, from tending the sheep.. he brought him to be the shepherd of his people. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart." You know what integrity is? Integrity is what you are when no one else is looking. Integrity is being away from everybody you know and choosing the right movie to go to. Integrity is doing your job when there is no superior around and doing it right. Integrity is what kind of language you use before you find out that the new guy in the foursome is a preacher. God knew David as one with a heart of integrity. Would God say the same about you?
David was a nobody, nobody noticed, but God knew him because God doesn’t look at the surface and He saw in David a man after His own heart. What does God see in you this morning? That can be a convicting question but it also can be so encouraging! There is a story about Michelangelo walking down the streets of Florence, Italy, one day and he saw a block of marble laying in an empty lot. Inquiring about it he heard the owner say, "It’s worthless now, good for nothing but paving blocks." Shaking his head, the sculptor, artist replied, "Send it to my studio, there’s something special imprisoned in that stone!" Later, the master sculptor chiseled away at the rejected stone and created the masterpiece, “David” that is still renown today.
And you may not think you look like much, you may not think you are very significant an to be honest, not many of us here will ever be celebrities or make a national Top Ten list. But what a glorious thing when the Master, Jesus takes a life that is scarred with sin and turns it into a masterpiece for Him. You are significant! God created you! He sent His one and only Son to die for you! And now He wants to use you in a mighty way if you will but yield your heart to Him.
Several years ago I had what some thought might be a heart attack. The only way to really tell was to go through a heart angi-gram. As I lay there and the Dr. was probing my blood vessels he finally said, “Mr. Smith, I’m a little embarrassed here because you’ve got the arteries of a ten year old.. Clean and pure.” You know what? I didn’t care about his embarrassment, that was great news.. But more than hearing a cardiologist tell me my arteries are clean, what I want most is for Jesus, the Great Physician to look within me and say, “There’s a heart of dependence, obedience, servanthood and integrity... there’s a man after My own heart.” I want that more than anything because He has a heart for me.. and for you.. And He showed it by giving it up.. On the cross.
