The Chosen One

      It was spring.  Vin Scully was on the radio announcing the Dodger’s.  But we weren’t out for baseball.  We were at the animal shelter in Camarillo to find a member of the family disguised as a dog. 

       The first to appear was a dog with a twisted lip that gave him a sneer like Elvis.  He was cute in a perverse sort of way but he wasn’t the one.  Next a Jack Russell Terrier bounced over to meet us.  We don’t have the energy.  He wasn’t the one. (up and down).  Finally a skinny dog with cropped hair appeared.  She took one look at Carol and climbed into her lap.  We’d found our dog.  Later on, once we got rid of her fleas and her hair grew out we discovered that the dog we’d chosen was also beautiful and smart.

       This morning we are beginning a new series on the life of David –the man God chose.  Along with our look at David and his God, we will also look at some of the great Psalms written by David and the people he inspired. 

       This series will take a while because David gets more chapters in the Old Testament than anyone else including Abraham, Moses and Elijah.  He is mentioned 66 times in the New Testament.  He is the direct ancestor of Jesus Christ.  In fact, Jesus’ kingship is a fulfillment of a promise God made to David.

       But no one exists in a vacuum. Before we look at David, we first need to look at Saul.  Saul was king before David.  He is a big player in the David story.  So we’ll spend a lot of time with Saul – just like David did. But we’ll do it at a safe distance – well away from Saul’s spear. 

       Saul is the proof that a choice can be a mistake,

       Up to 1 Samuel 10 the people of Israel don’t have kings.  They are ruled by Judges.  But the people see government by the Judges as unstable, crisis-driven government.  They want to be like the other nations.  They want a king. 

       Saul is tall, dark and handsome.  He stands head and shoulders above everyone else.  His face will look good on a coin or a stamp.  Saul becomes king.

       That’s how people choose kings.  They choose someone who looks good.  Neil Postman points out in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death that Abraham Lincoln would never have been elected president in our media driven age.  He was ugly and had a high voice.  Lincoln would not have made the cut.  People choose someone who represents their best ideal of themselves.  So Saul comes on the scene flashing his smile and talking about “Change” and “Solutions for Israel ” and “Straight Talk.”  The people fall in love. 

       And Saul is effective – especially on national security. He pulls the army together and stands up to the Philistines.

       But then Saul begins to show his other side.  He   becomes thin-skinned, hot tempered, given to fits of depression and extreme jealousy.  He also becomes presumptuous and disobedient before God. 

       The army of Israel gathers to fight the Philistines.  God’s prophet Samuel, the man who anointed Saul as king, tells Saul to wait for seven days for Samuel to come lead the army in worship before he begins the battle.  The soldiers wait.  Then they wait some more. The Philistines could attack at any time.  The army begins to shrink as men slip away.  The seven days pass and then another and then another day.  But there is no sign of Samuel. 

        Samuel didn’t tell Saul what to do if he didn’t show up as scheduled.  Saul wonders, “Why do I have to wait while the Philistines gather their forces on the mountain ridge?  Why should I give them time to take up a brilliant military position?  How does this delay square with the pragmatic demands of responsible kingship and military strategy?  Well maybe this is another example of God liking to increase the odds to make the subsequent victory even more amazing – just like God did with Gideon.  But maybe not.” 

       Saul takes the sacrifices and offers them to God himself.  But as soon as he does that, Samuel arrives.  He is tough.  “You’ve been stupid,” he says.  “You didn’t keep God’s command.    God would have established your line as the permanent kingly line in Israel .  But now it will not continue.  God’s heart has already turned to someone else and has appointed him to be ruler over the people because you have not done as God commands.”

       Then, in 1 Samuel 15, Saul and Samuel have a run in over a second act of disobedience.  Saul correctly points to how successful he’s been as king.  In fact, he’s just won a victory over the Amalekites.  He points to his success and also to his heart for worship.  He is willing to give God lots of dead animals.  He has them right there, ready to go.  But Samuel says that God really values obedience: “Because you have rejected God’s word, He has rejected you as king.”

       Then Samuel starts to storm off.  When Saul grabs his robe to stop him, part of it tears off in Saul’s hand.  Samuel uses his torn robe it as an omen.  “That is the way God has torn the kingdom from your hands.”

        Samuel is tough as nails with Saul.  Then he goes to privately grieve for him – for the Saul that might have been.  He must have grieved quite a bit.  For as we open chapter 16 God asks Samuel, “How long will you grieve for Saul?  It’s time to stop thinking of  might have beens.  It’s time to seek the future.” God tells Samuel to head for Bethlehem where he will find the next king of Israel .

      That’s David.

       The news spreads rapidly in little Bethlehem .  The fierce and famous Samuel is approaching their village. Samuel’s reputation doesn’t rest on a lifetime of accomplished small talk.  He is not known for casual drop-in visits.  The questions start to fly.  What terrible misdeed had reached the prophetic ear?  What have they done wrong?  Who has sinned?           

       But the fear quickly turns into anticipation.  Samuel announces that he has come to lead them in festive worship.  It’s party-time in Bethlehem .  The mood shifts from guilt to gaiety.

       But the party is only a side-show.  Samuel is actually in town to see a local farmer named Jesse and his sons.  The festivities keep people from noticing Samuel’s special interest in the Jesse family – which is exactly what Samuel intends. 

       But we know why Samuel is there.  We have insider information.  Samuel is looking for the replacement for King Saul.   He’s looking for God’s choice.  

       Jesse’s first son, Eliab looks as impressive as Saul.  Samuel thinks, “This one must be the Lord’s anointed.”  But God says, “Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as a person sees.  People look at the outer appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

       Abinadab is the next contestant in this Mr. Israel contest.  God says, “He’s not the guy.”    Then Jesse parades Shammah.  But God is as tough as Simon Cowell on American Idol.  “The Lord has not chosen you.”  Then the Bible stops naming the sons.  Four through seven pass by and get the thumbs-down.

       Why does God have Samuel go through this looking for Cinderella with the glass slipper routine?   Well a search is not a bad thing to help you value what they’ve found. 

       Samuel is given the parade so he’ll better see and value the one God has chosen.  But Samuel doesn’t know that.  He is bewildered.  Is he losing his prophetic edge?  Does he have the right town?   This is Bethlehem isn’t it?  Does he have the right family?  Are there any other Jesses in town?

        Well there must be another son.  And of course, there is.  But he enters the story without a name.  He is dismissed by his father as the “baby brother” -- the Hebrew word haqqaton. He’s out tending the sheep.  That’s the least demanding job on the farm – the hardest to screw up.   David is the grocery bagger at the supermarket or the clean-up person at the fast food resturant. 

        No one thinks to invite David to the party – even his dad.  But David is chosen – chosen and anointed.  He’s not chosen for what his father or his brothers or even Samuel sees in him.  He’s chosen for what God sees in him.  He’s then chosen and anointed by God through Samuel to live for God’s glory.  

        David doesn’t even know about the party.  He doesn’t know that Samuel is in town.  He doesn’t know about the parade.  He’s out faithfully watching the sheep when someone runs across the fields and calls to him. “Hey David, they want you back at the house.”  So Jesse sent and brought David in…and the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Stand up and anoint him for he is the one. Then Samuel took a horn of oil and anointed David in front of his brothers.” 

      God says to Samuel, “Do not look at appearance or physical stature. For the Lord does not see as a person sees. People look at the outer appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 

       It’s not that David is ugly. He is described here as bronzed, bright-eyed and good looking.  We know from Michelangelo’s statue that he also had really long arms but a great build.  But none of that matters.  It’s just not the stuff God is looking for.  

      So why does God choose David?  That’s the big question we need to face at the start of this series.

       Why David?

       Charles Swindoll writes this statement in his book about David. “The first quality God saw in David was spirituality.  “The Lord sought out “a man after His own heart.”  What does it mean to be after God’s own heart?  Seems to me it means that you are a person whose life is in harmony with the Lord.  What is important to Him is important to you.  What burdens Him burdens you.  When he says, ‘Go to the right,’ you go to the right. When he says, ‘Stop that in your life,’ you stop it.  When He says, ‘This is wrong and I want you to change,’ you come to terms with it because you have a heart for God.  That’s bottom-line biblical Christianity.  

        Now I agree with Chuck Swindoll that “that’s bottom-line biblical Christianity.”  That’s spot on.

        The only problem for Swindoll’s analysis is that it’s not David –or at least not David on a sustained basis. 

        I have the greatest respect in the world for Chuck Swindoll as a person, a writer and as a pastor.  But I think he missed the boat about what it means when God calls David “a man after my own heart.” 

       As we look at David we do see signs of wonderful deep spirituality.  The Psalms are proof of that.  The Goliath story is proof of that.  But we will also meet a very flawed man.  We will meet a man who, in this day and age, would be put on trial at The Hague for war crimes.  We will meet a man who abuses his position of trust.  We will meet a man as devious and calculating as Don Corrleone in The Godfather.    We will meet a man who does worse things than Saul ever did – but who, for some reason, doesn’t get removed as   king. 

        I don’t want to say those things about David.  Heck, I’m named for the guy.  But we have to look at what the Bible actually says about God’s reasons for choosing David. If we don’t – if we assume that David lived a life in harmony with the Lord, then Janet and I are going to perform a lot of fancy footwork in these sermons trying to justify behavior as being somehow godly when it’s obviously anything but godly.  I’m not just talking about the big hairy obvious sins that David gets zapped for.  I’m also talking about some of the things that the Bible simply reports on without comment. 

       So why did God chose David?  Well when the text is translated that God is looking for a man after his own heart, that’s not a good translation.  A better translation is that David is a man “according to God’s heart” of “the man God has set His heart on.”  It’s the way the same exact phrase is used in 2 Samuel 7:21, Jeremiah 3:15 and Psalm 20:4.

       You see, “the man God has set His heart on” doesn’t really suggest anything about David’s character or spiritual sensitivity.   It simply means that God, for God’s own reasons, has set His mind and heart on David.   It simply means that God has chosen David.  As Paul writes in Romans 9:15 God says "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.  It does not, therefore, depend on people’s desire or effort, but on God's mercy.”

       John Goldingay points this out in his book Men Behaving Badly, that “If there is one thing we learn from the Old Testament, it is that God does not choose people because they stand out as characters.  Think only of Abraham the wimp or Jacob the twister or read what God says about the reasons for choosing Israel in Deuteronomy 7:7-8.  To say that God will replace Saul by a man according to His heart, a man of His choice, implies nothing about David being a better man than Saul.

       Goldingay continues, “‘But it’s not fair then,’ we shout.  No it is not, and this is just as well.  If fairness were the basis of God’s operating in the world, we would all be in a mess.  It is just as well that God makes unfair commitments to people such as Abraham and Jacob and David and you and me.  If God made what we deserve the basis of operating with the world, God would never make a commitment to anyone.  What God does is make a commitment to some people who don’t deserve it in order to reach out and bring blessing to the rest of us in a world that does not deserve it either.  That is God’s gamble.  That is the doctrine of election.  It does also involve being unfair to other people, such a Pharaoh, the Canaanites, Saul and your next-door neighbor whose eyes God has not opened to see the glory of God in the face of Christ in the way that God has opened yours.    They are not markedly worse characters than the Israelites or David or you.  It puts a big pressure on Israel ,  David and you (and me) to see that the purpose of our election is realized in manifesting God’s compassion to the world.” 

       God has called each of us after His own heart.  He doesn’t see our heart as much as He sees His heart for us.  But that calls us to a change of life, a change of goals.  David will learn this too. 

       As Paul says it so well in 1 Corinthians 6:20, we learn that we do not belong to ourselves any more.  For we have been bought with a price.  It is a price much greater than the cost of the oil that went over the head of David.  We have been bought with the blood of God’s own Son and anointed, each one of us, for His service. 

       So we are all Davids. His story is our story,  His psalms are our psalms.  God didn’t choose us in Christ because we were better looking or smarter or more instinctively spiritual.    He chose us for His own reason.  And now, like David, He calls us to see what that choice will mean as we create lives that reflect His glory.