Vision

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Good morning Chapel family. It is so good to be back with you all today! The last time I stood here was Easter Sunday, March 31—it feels like a really long time ago. As many of you know, I had the privilege of taking a two-month sabbatical. I didn’t know what to expect, but I have to tell you: it was so good. I spent time in Canada and California and Colorado. I got to study and read and write. I got to meet two of my favorite Christian authors, in person. I spent my birthday fly fishing with my son in a river in Avon, Colorado. Norma Jean and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in Québec . One of the highlights was worshiping in four different churches, where I was completely anonymous. It was so good to stand in a congregation and worship not because it’s my job, but just because I love the Lord. So the main goal was to be refreshed and re-energized; I truly feel that way. I want to thank the Chapel Board for giving me the opportunity; I want to thank the staff for leading so well in my absence. And thank you guys. I tell people all the time: my church is a place of grace. And I felt that grace and love and support from all of you. So thank you for being a church family that loves me, and a church family that’s so great to come home to. I love you guys.

If you asked me, “Who’s the most important character in the entire Hebrew Scriptures?” there’s a lot of competition. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses, Daniel, Isaiah. But if you forced me to choose, I would say David. Not just because I like his name. I believe David is the most historically and theologically significant character in the Old Testament. If you really want to understand the Psalms and the worship life of Israel, you have to understand David. If you want to understand Jesus, you have to understand David. He’s that important. So, this summer, I am so looking forward to walking through the life of David.

Let me set the context. The year was about 1050 BC, and the people of Israel wanted a king. They had never had a king before, and they desperately wanted one. So God gave them their first king, named Saul. Saul started out well, but he wound up making some bad decisions, and those bad decisions disqualified him from leadership. So when we begin the story in 1 Samuel 16, we’re in this strange period of time when Saul is still on the throne, but God has made it clear that his days are numbered. And God is about to select a new king to replace Saul.

The book of 1 Samuel is obviously named after Samuel the prophet. And Samuel had had high hopes for Saul—he so wanted Saul to be a success. So now that Saul wasn’t working out, Samuel is sort of moping and grieving. And that’s where the story of David begins. 1 Samuel 16, starting in verse 1. Let’s hear God’s Word together…

1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

4 Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the LORD chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The LORD has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. This is the word of the Lord.

I’m calling this message “Vision,” because it’s all about how we see. So today we’re going to talk about three things: How We See, How God Sees; and then How We Can Start Seeing the Way God Sees. How We See, How God Sees, and How We Can Start Seeing the Way God Sees.

So first: How we See. God says to Samuel, “Okay—enough grieving over Saul; it’s time for you to go and anoint the next king.” So God sends Samuel to the house of a man Jesse, who has eight sons. Samuel doesn’t really tell Jesse what’s happening; he just says, “I’m God’s prophet, and I’m here to hold a ceremony, and your family is invited.” So Jesse shows up at the ceremony, and he brings seven of his eight sons.

The ceremony starts, and it’s almost like a beauty pageant: Jesse brings out his sons one by one, and introduces them to Samuel. Of course he starts with the firstborn, named Eliab. You know that “it” factor that certain people seem to have? They walk into the room, and everybody notices them. Because they’re the tallest or the best-looking, or sometimes you can’t put a finger on it—there’s just this magnetic charisma about certain people, right? And Eliab—Jesse’s oldest son—is that kind of guy. He’s physically impressive; well-built; good-looking.

Not only that, but he’s tall. Why would Samuel care how tall he is? Well, for one thing, taller people have always had some social advantage. I hate that! Taller people have always been looked at as more powerful; more impressive. By the way, that’s why certain actors—like Sylvester Stallone, and Tom Cruise, and Matt Damon, who are all about 5-8, 5-9, have to get creative when they’re filming movies. Because they want to look like these powerful action heroes—so they use all kinds of filming tricks to make them look taller. This is why I like standing up here! In fact, sometimes, when people see me off this platform, like out in the lobby (this seriously happens) they go, “Oh—I thought you were taller.” Barely hiding their disappointment. So I really appreciate your encouragement.

But there’s another reason that Samuel would have noticed Saul’s height. Back then, a king was considered not just a political leader, but also, what? A military leader. So, if you were a tall, powerful person, you would have a better chance of success on the battlefield, and you would gain the respect of the people, which would make you a better king. So for all those reasons, when Samuel sees Eliab, he’s star struck. And he doesn’t say anything out loud, but in his mind he thinks, “That’s the guy. Total king material.”

And that’s when God finds it necessary to rebuke his prophet. If you’re looking for a verse to memorize and meditate on, go with verse 7. This is at the very heart of this passage—look at this—1 Samuel 16:7… 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. (Here’s the part you should memorize:) The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” So Samuel the prophet gets rebuked by God—why? Because his vision is all wrong. He’s viewing things through human lenses, which are very different from God lenses.

Tim Keller says that what’s happening here is a case of misdirection. Misdirection is the technique that’s used by pickpockets (you ever had your pocket picked? What a terrible feeling—it’s happened to me a couple of times). So if I’m a pickpocket, I’m going to do something to distract your attention, so you don’t notice that I’m picking your pocket. Misdirection is also used by magicians. If I’m a magician, I’m going to direct all your attention over here—to something that’s totally inconsequential—and that way you won’t notice what’s going on over here. Misdirection.

And in this scene, Samuel is the victim of misdirection. He’s being distracted by something that really doesn’t matter, and he’s missing what does matter. And that happens to us every day. Specifically, we get distracted by looks, and we miss what really matters.

Heather Davis wrote an article in the Journal of Biblical Counseling, and she said this: “By the time a female reaches her teen years, she has already bought into the lie that there is an elusive, universally accepted, ideal woman—and she already falls far short. Until she reaches this impossible standard of beauty, she has no hope of acceptance in the culture around her. Without beauty, she has no opportunity to experience a man’s true love—another impossible standard. Her life becomes a futile pursuit of beauty.”

It’s true, isn’t it? Every day we get reminded—by social media, and ads, and fitness centers, and movies—we get reminded of what we are supposed to look like. I would say 21st century American culture—is obsessed with outward appearance (especially for women) like no other culture in the history of the world has been. Isn’t that sad? I believe this is the main reason we have eating disorders, and binge dieting; it’s one of the main contributors to anxiety and depression.

It’s almost impossible to not be affected by it. Some of you—in this room—have become obsessed with your physical appearance. It’s become an idol to you. You think about it all the time. Maybe you think you look really good! But more likely, you wish you looked different. And God’s message to Samuel is God’s message to you: you are having your pocket picked. You’re being tricked! And your life is going by, and you’re missing what actually matters.

See, our typical way is to see the surface, and evaluate things by the surface. Even Samuel—the great prophet!—did it. And so do we. It affects the things we spend our time and money on. It affects the way we evaluate people. It will affect the kind of person you choose to date or marry. If you’re a parent, it will affect the kind of people your children become. In so many ways, the way you see will affect the kind of person you wind up becoming. And we’ll talk about that more in a few minutes.

Now…let’s talk about How God Sees. So after God rejects Eliab, the oldest brother, Jesse starts calling his other sons one by one in order of age. And you get the idea that every time, Samuel is silently asking God if this is the one. And one my one, God says, “No. No. No.” Seven times, God says, “The Lord has not chosen this one.” So Nathan says to Jesse, “Is that it? No more sons?” And Jesse says, “Well, there is the youngest.” “Youngest” is a Hebrew word that means “the little one.” “There is the little squirt. He’s out tending the sheep. He’s not worth your time. “ And Samuel says, “Go get him.”

So they bring in little David. It says he was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. He was a cute kid! And I don’t know exactly how God communicated with his prophets. But as soon as David walks in the room, God impresses on Samuel’s heart or speaks in his conscience in a crystal clear way: this is the one. Rise and anoint him.

There are so many reasons David shouldn’t be the one! He’s the last in the birth order. He has very little life experience. He’s small, physically. We don’t know exactly how old he is—maybe 12 or 13. So there’s no way to tell if he’ll grow into a physically impressive man. So many reasons why David shouldn’t be chosen! And God doesn’t seem interested in any of those reasons.

Have you ever noticed how many times in the Bible God chooses unlikely people? There was something called “the law of primogeniture”—which says the firstborn is always honored above the other siblings. And that law was deeply ingrained in ancient culture. And God regularly broke that law. He chose Jacob over his older brother Esau. He chose Joseph—the little guy—over all his brothers! He chose Isaac over his big brother, Ishmael. And the list goes on.

You know what that tells me? God’s power is more important than any qualities we bring to the table. God’s power overrides our birth order, our height, our appearance, our intelligence, our money, our education, etc. Througouth the Bible, you see God powerfully using marginal people and rejected people and unqualified people all the time. I find that so encouraging. I also find it extremely indicting. Because when I’m evaluating people or considering people for different roles, I have to be very careful that I’m not evaluating with human eyes. That I’m not just gravitating toward the Eliabs and ignoring the Davids.

In John 7:24, Jesus says: Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.

2 Corinthians 5:16 says: So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.

Let me ask you this: How would your life be different if you starting seeing people, and seeing yourself, the way that God does? Let me tell you a few areas of life I think would be different.

First of all, friendship. You would open yourself up to deeper friendships. Because you wouldn’t be choosing your friends based on their image or outward impressiveness. So there are certain people, who—right now—you probably dismiss quickly. Because they don’t dress a certain way; they don’t look a certain way; they just don’t impress you. Some of them probably have a locker near yours in school, or live in the house next to you. And you’re just not impressed. And God invites you to start looking beneath the surface. Like he does. When you do that, you’re going find out you’ve been missing some truly amazing people.

It also affects dating/marriage. I can’t tell you the tragedies I’ve seen because people married someone based on surface qualities. Proverbs 11:22 says Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. Isn’t that a great proverb? Picture this: you’re walking along, and you see something down on the ground—buried in the mud. And it’s kind of shiny, so it catches your attention. And you bend down and look closer, and you realizes it’s something made of gold! So you scrape away the mud, and you get a better look, and sure enough, it’s this beautiful gold ring. And

you’re so happy you found it! And you grab it, and you try to pick it up…and all of a sudden you hear this squeal! And you go, “Whoa—this ring has a pig attached to it!” Suddenly, it’s not so attractive anymore.

And the Proverb says: that’s what it’s like when you meet a beautiful woman who has no wisdom. At first, you’re so attracted to her, because of her beauty—and you grab on. But as you get to know her, you realize you’ve got a pig on your hands! There’s not much substance beneath the surface! You ever experience that, guys? And it goes both ways—a woman meets a man, and he’s so charming and handsome and he has sixpack abs…but then she gets to know him, and he turns out to be a pig! You know what I’ve found? As you get to know a person, their outer beauty means less and less, and their inner qualities matter more and more.

Third thing it would affect is your goals. You’ll waste so much less of your life on shallow goals. Let me ask you something: how much of what you pour your time and energy and money into is about improving your outward appearance? Let’s see…1 hour a day on the Peloton and another hour at they gym lifting weights; an hour a week at the nail salon (this is not me, by the way); once a month getting the hair waxed off my back (that probably should be me, but I’m too cheap); at least once a week shopping for new clothes… Is it possible that most of what you pour yourself into is all about outward appearance? What would it look like if you just started caring less about that stuff? How might God use you to bless your family and the other people around you?

The list could go on and on. If we learned to look at the heart, rather than focusing on outward appearance, it would revolutionize our lives. It would deeply change us, in beautiful ways.

And the obvious question is: how do I do that? How do I stop getting my pocket picked? How do turn from my typical way of seeing to God’s way of seeing? And the answer is right in this passage. So let’s talk about How We Can Start Seeing the Way God Sees.

Look again at the last verse—verse 13: 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. In the Bible, anointing someone with oil is the way you designated them as king. Because oil is symbolic of God’s Spirit. So the moment David was anointed, the Spirit of God powerfully came into his life—some translations say “the Spirit rushed upon him.” Because to be the king he was meant to be, David could never do it on his own. He desperately needed God’s help—God’s presence—God’s empowerment in his life.

Now, look at this: the word “anoint” or “anointed” shows up in this passage four times. It’s a major theme here—this idea of anointing. In the Hebrew language, the word for “anoint” is mashach; the word for “anointed one” is mashiach. You know what that means? Messiah. In fact, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that Hebrew word, mashiach, is translated Christos—Christ! So four times in this Old Testament passage, you find the word “Christ.”

And you have to see this, or you will not understand the life of David. The life of David is not in the Bible primarily as a moral example for us to follow. We’re going to find some great moral examples, but that’s not the main reason it’s here. The life of David is in the Bible primarily to point us to the Ultimate King. In today’s passage, David is the anointed one. But there is another anointed one—another mashiach—Christos—who is coming.

And if you look closely—if you have eyes to see—this passage is filled with pointers that direct us to the ultimate King.

Did you notice where this gathering takes place? Look at verse 4—When Samuel arrived…where? Bethlehem. David became the anointed one—the Mashiach—in Bethlehem. Know anyone else from Bethlehem?

Based on outward appearance, David was the least likely choice to be the King. Remind you of anyone? We’re told in Isaiah 53 that the Messiah would have no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. In other words, when Jesus walked this earth, there was nothing in his looks that turned anyone’s head. People didn’t say, “Wow—he is a stunningly good-looking man—that guy looks like he should be a king!” In fact, some Bible scholars believe that Jesus was particularly unattractive—because of this verse. But at the very most, he was an average looking person.

John chapter one, verse 10—look at this: 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Why didn’t they recognize him? Because they were looking on the surface! They were expecting someone who had the “look” of a king, and Jesus looked very ordinary. Probably they were looking for someone who focused on leading a rebellion and violently overthrowing Rome, and Jesus didn’t talk about that stuff at all. For the most part, Jesus’ own people rejected him, because they were focusing on all the wrong things.

But that wasn’t true of everyone. The next verse says 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. See, there were those chosen few who saw beneath the surface. As they listened to Jesus teach; as they watched the way he treated people and the way he healed people, they recognized that this was the One. This was the true and better David. This was Yeshua ho meshiach—Jesus the Messiah. And as they followed him, they started seeing everything differently.

So how can you become a person who sees the way that God sees? How can you become a person who stops missing what’s important in life, because now you’re getting beneath the surface, and focusing on the heart? You start by recognizing and receiving Jesus as your king. That’s where it all begins. And then, as you trust him, and worship him, and walk with him, and learn from him, he will change the way you see.

As you walk with Jesus, you’ll find yourself focusing less on the appearance of your body and your house and your car, and you’ll focus more on how to honor God with your body and your house and your car.

If you’re single, you’ll stop automatically screening out people who don’t have a certain look. Because you’ll begin to realize that people often become much more attractive after you get to know their heart.

You’ll stop choosing friends based on popularity and charisma and outward success, and you’ll start discovering amazing people that you’ve never noticed before.

See, that’s how Jesus saw the world. And when you make Jesus the center of your life and the center of your heart, you’ll be one of those countercultural people that sees the way God sees…and your life will be better in every way.