Sermon Cloud

GOD CARES AND RAISES UP LEADERS:  PART I - THY KINGDOM COME

             Although as the daughter of Prince Albert, the Duke of York, Elizabeth was raised as Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York, it was never expected that she would become queen, because at birth she was third in line after her uncle, Prince Edward, who was the Prince of Wales, and her father.   It was widely assumed that the Prince of Wales would become king and then have children who would then stand in line to the throne before Elizabeth, who would be bumped even further back in the line of succession.

      In 1952 her father died, and at the age of only 26, and already the mother of two small boys – Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, sovereign ruler of the 32 nations that comprised the British Commonwealth at the time.

             The Queen's reign has been longer than those of her four immediate predecessors combined; and she is the oldest reigning British monarch, having faithfully served for nearly 58 years. 

            For 26 years, she was prepared not only by her tutors, but again, by the hand of a providential God, learning and growing, until she was called to her coronation.  She was anointed to the task years before she ascended to the throne of England.

       It’s no surprise that God cares even more for the Kingdom of God than he cares for the British Commonwealth.  As God raised up Elizabeth II and anointed her to protect and lead British citizens, God also raises up leaders within the church, and anoints them for special tasks, to protect and lead the citizens heaven who sojourn in the world. 

             Jesus told his disciples that when he was no longer with them physically, and they could not see him anymore, he would not leave them orphaned – that he would come to them through the Holy Spirit.[1]  All believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God at the point they give their hearts to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  It is the inheritance of all who believe.[2]  But throughout the Old and New Testaments, the saints of God are called, anointed for special tasks and specially gifted – specially equipped – for the task by the power of the Holy Spirit.      

            Our sermon series for the next four weeks will focus on how God cares for us, and part of that care involves anointing leaders for special tasks within the Kingdom of God.  We will look at how those anointed leaders are prepared by God to lead, and what their responsibilities are.  We will consider how Jesus is God’s anointed – both the Hebrew word, “Messiah” and the Greek word, “Christ” mean “anointed” – so when we call Jesus, “Christ” we are calling  him, “Jesus, God’s anointed One.”  And finally, we will take up what it means for the church in the world, and as individual Christians, to serve as God’s anointed.

             Our Old Testament text today is about the priest Samuel anointing of Jesse’s youngest son, the boy David, as the one who God had chosen to succeed Saul as King of Israel.  Although the story is about David, it’s helpful to have some understanding of 1) what it means to be anointed; 2) why Samuel was anointing a new king while Saul still lived and held the office and 3) what the criteria are – what the qualifications are – for anointing by God.

             When God instituted a system of civil governors to lead Israel, the people who were raised up to lead them were the Judges.  For about 300 years, holy men – and one woman – were called out and set apart to lead the people in battle and to help them to serve God.  Some of the judges are obscure, but you will have heard of Gideon and Deborah and Samson.  When the people were led by judges, they obeyed God.  When there was no judge, they disobeyed God, the world was chaotic, and the Bible tells us that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”[3] 

             During this period Israel was under constant attack, and the people came to the point where they believed that if they were ruled by a king, rather than a judge, that they would have more success in battle.  They went to Samuel the priest and demanded that he choose and anoint a king to rule over them, instead of the judges.[4]  God said that in making this demand, the people were rejecting his divine authority, and spurning his protection and deliverance.  As God so often does when his people assert themselves against him, he responds to the tantrum by saying, “then have your own way.”

             The first King that God raised up was Saul.  The Bible says there was not a more handsome man in all of Israel and that he was taller than all the rest of the people.[5]  He was the son of a powerful warrior in the tribe of Benjamin.  He cut an imposing figure – just the sort of man who would inspire confidence.  But the people didn’t know that Saul had some invisible character flaws that would ultimately bring him down and cause God to remove his anointing, and withdraw the power of the Holy Spirit from him.

             First, Saul had an inferiority complex.  It may have been because he was the son of a “mighty man of power” and because his abilities did not match his physical appearance.  Sometimes sons of great men are  intimidated by them, and being raised in their shadow results not in the strength of the second generation, but instead weakness and insecurity. 

             Second, Saul was a coward and an idolater. Instead of conquering his fears by relying on the God of Israel, Saul sought out mediums, witches and sorcerers to contact the spirit world for him so he could gain an edge by knowing what the future held.[6]  When the time came to anoint him as king before the people, Saul was so afraid he hid himself among the tribe’s baggage.[7] Nevertheless, the people remained impressed by his kingly appearance and welcomed him as their ruler.

             These character flaws of insecurity, cowardice and idolatry came together in a single incident that cost Saul both his throne and his anointing.  God ordered Saul to lead the Israelites in the annihilation of the Amalekite kingdom.  The Amalekites were a serious threat, and God ordained that every man, woman and child should be killed, along with all of their animals.  The command to kill an entire nation and their cattle was not new – God had required the Israelites to do so when they encountered the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Jebusites and the whole city of Jericho.[8] 

             Many people object to these depictions of God as one who would order the destruction of innocents – why would God order the destruction of an entire nation, especially innocent children and animals?  The general reason is that these nations were exceedingly wicked, and if they weren’t totally destroyed they would teach the Israelites their evil ways and bring them under God’s condemnation.  More specifically, the Amalekites had attacked Israel as they fled from Egypt.  They were cowardly, attacking from behind, preying upon the weak and weary stragglers.[9]  They are guilty, and their punishment is just retribution for not only their general wickedness, but for killing the women and children of Israel.  Their sin even involved and defiled and corrupted their animals. [10]   

            Finally, nowhere does the Bible say that God takes pleasure in the punishment of the innocent. Just as the world is blessed in a general way by having the presence of the God’s people in the world,[11] innocent people are collaterally harmed every day by living in a world where they are affected by the evil activities of sinful people.  The Amalekites cursed Israel, and because of this, God curses them.  The
Amalekites are only reaping the whirlwind that they had sown by making war on God.

             The thing that undid Saul was that he didn’t carry out all of God’s command, he only carried out part of it.  He went to war with the Amalekites, and he won, but he didn’t kill the king and he didn’t kill the animals.  Now we might think that Saul couldn’t bring himself to carry out God’s command to kill innocent people and animals, because he was acting out of compassion, but that’s not what happened.  Saul didn’t act out of compassion – in fact he did kill all of the women and children.  He didn’t kill the king, though, because as one commentator wrote, having King Agag sit at Saul’s dinner table was a trophy for Saul, like having “a stuffed moose head, mounted and prominently displayed in a hunter’s den.” 

            As for the animals, killing them during the battle would have meant that the people would not have been able to eat any of the meat.  So Saul told Samuel he had spared the animals so they could be used “as a sacrifice to God.”   Meat offered as a sacrifice was shared with the people.  Saul’s actions, then, are self-serving and hypocritical, appearing to be pious when they are pagan.[12]

             Then, when Samuel confronts him, Saul doesn’t take his disobedience seriously.  His response is a lot like the response that former President Clinton was criticized for when he was caught in adultery – he admitted he had messed up, but he made light of it.  As just as President Clinton was able to continue as President after impeachment, and even had his reputation somewhat restored by his continuing association with the office and with the support of Congress, our story says that Saul asked Samuel to worship with him, in order to restore his reputation.  Saul would continue in the office of king, but God’s Spirit departed from him.[13]

               There is an old saying in the United States that “the people get the President they deserve.”  If they are conscientious and study a candidate’s positions and qualifications, voters will cast an informed vote and get a qualified and conscientious President; but if they are swayed only by a candidate’s charisma and their desire for change, the people vote with their emotions and often get a President who is either not up to the task, or who surprises them when he finally reveals his political agenda.  But God is never fooled.  He was never fooled by Saul’s outward appearance as the people of Israel were.  God knew the self-serving weakness that was in Saul’s heart. 

      The first one that Samuel meets is Eliab, the oldest, who must have been tall and handsome like Saul, because God reminds Samuel “not to look on Eliab’s appearance or his height.”   God explains that “the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 

            One by one, six of Jesse’s other sons were paraded before Samuel, but God would confirm none of them.  Finally, Samuel pressed Jesse, and Jesse sent for his eighth and youngest son David.

    And it says that from that point forward, the “Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David.”

            David had been anointed as King privately, his selection had not yet been made known to the people and it would be years before he ascended to the throne.  Saul still held the office of King, and as far as the public was concerned, he still was the king.  But only one of them possessed the “mighty power of the Spirit of the LORD” and that is what made David the real king.

            Saul, who appeared so king-like, turned out to be only a sham.  No one ever imagined that David, who was just a boy, would ever become a king.  He was so inconsequential, that even his own family forgot about him when they were talking with Samuel.  David appears small at the outset, a boy no one would notice – yet he will grow into a man after God’s own heart, a flawed man, like Saul, but a man whose repentance will be real; a king who will lead Israel and whose dynasty will have no end,[14] and whose bloodline will bring the world Jesus - the Messiah – God’s anointed One, of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”[15] 

             Princess Elizabeth and David the shepherd boy, and Jesus the Galilean carpenter, are all like the mustard seeds we heard about in today’s gospel reading:  “the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”[16]  It all happens in God’s time, and no one knows it is happening, or who it is, until God reveals it.  No one notices the mustard seeds in the kingdom of God, but Paul wrote that if we could only see them, we would see that God’s people “shine like stars” in a depraved universe.[17].  Who would ever imagine that there is greatness hidden in some of the people sitting here in these pews? 

             God is looking for men and women who have hearts eager to serve him.  Maybe there is even greatness lying dormant within you, just waiting to be revealed in God’s time.

 ©2009 Deborah Hollifield

[1] John 14:18

[2] Ephesians 1:13-14

[3] Judges 17:6

[4] I Sam. 8

[5] I Sam. 9:2

[6] I Sam. 9:18; 28:1 ff.

[7] I Sam. 10:22

[8] Lev. 27:28-29; Deut. 29:16-18; Joshua 6:15-21

[9] Deut. 25:18

[10] Bob Deffinbaugh, “Saul and the Amalekites”

[11] Gen. 12:1-3

[12] Deffinbaugh.

[13] I Sam. 16:14

[14] Luke 1:32

[15] Isaiah 53:2b

[16] Mark 4:31-32

[17] Philippians 2:15