Naylor Community
Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Samuel
10:17-24
1
Samuel 10:17 Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah 18 and
said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought
Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the
kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19 But you have now rejected your God, who saves
you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a
king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and
clans.”
20
When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was
taken by lot. 21 Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan,
and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they
looked for him, he was not to be found. 22 So they inquired further of the
Lord, “Has the man come here yet?”
And
the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.”
23
They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head
taller than any of the others. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see
the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”
Then
the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
-- if you follow professional
football, you may be familiar with the name, Kurt Warner – as a quarterback for
the Rams and the Cardinals, Warner led his teams to three Super Bowls – winning
one of those titles while being selected as the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and
the Most Valuable Player in two of his three Super Bowls
-- but here’s the thing about Warner
– despite his remarkable success, he almost didn’t get a chance to play NFL
football at all, because nobody wanted him in the beginning
-- Warner played at a tiny little
school in college – the University of Northern Iowa – where he spent most of
his career as the third-string quarterback – he finally got the chance to start
his senior year, and did really well – but not good enough to catch the
attention of the NFL scouts
-- and when the 1994 NFL draft ended
– after seven rounds of selections with over 250 players selected to head to
the NFL – Kurt Warner sat at home without hearing his name called – no one
wanted him – he was considered too small – too slow – and not experienced
enough – having only played one year of college football as a starter at one of
the smallest schools in America – when the NFL scouts and managers looked at
Kurt Warner during the draft, every one of them said, “No, he’s not what we are
looking for”
-- undaunted, Warner tried out for
the Green Bay Packers, but didn’t make the team – and when the 1994 NFL season
kicked off, Kurt Warner was back at home, stocking shelves in a grocery store
in his hometown for $5.50 an hour
-- Kurt wasn’t happy with his lot in
life – he felt like he was called for more, but the NFL didn’t want him – so,
he spent a few years playing for the Arena League and then a few more in the
European Football League, where he actually enjoyed some success
-- finally, after catching the eye
of the coach, Warner was finally hired as the third-string backup for the St.
Louis Rams in 1998 – and after a string of injuries and trades, Warner finally
found himself named the starting quarterback for the St. Louis Rams in 1999 –
he quickly took advantage of his position and was finally able to demonstrate
his capability to his coaches and to the NFL
-- in 1999, Warner put together one
of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards
with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1% -- leading the Rams to
their first Super Bowl victory and being named the Most Valuable Player in the
game
-- after recovering from injuries in
2000, Warner returned to form and led the Rams to the Super Bowl again in 2001,
losing in the final seconds when the Patriots kicked a field goal to end the
game
-- Warner struggled with injuries
and performance over the next few years, but he eventually found himself in
Arizona, where he took over as the Cardinal’s quarterback after an injury to
their starter – and, despite his age, Warner once again led his team to the
Super Bowl, although they couldn’t pull off the victory
-- Warner’s story is regarded as the
greatest NFL Cinderella story of all time – as the guy that no one wanted – the
guy that no one selected – came back from obscurity as a grocery store worker
to win a Super Bowl, an NFL MVP award, and two Super Bowl MVP awards
-- this morning, we are finishing up
the story of how Israel got their king – as you remember from last Sunday, we
looked at 1 Samuel 8 and how the people of Israel rejected God and His
leadership of Israel when they went to Samuel and told him that they wanted a
king so that they could be just like all the other nations
-- God had Samuel warn the people of
what an earthly king would be like – of how their selfishness and greed and
desire for power would end up hurting the people and causing problems in the
future – but despite the warnings from Samuel, the people persisted, and at the
end of 1 Samuel 8, the people refused to listen to Samuel and to turn back to
God – in 1 Samuel 8:19-20 they exclaimed, “No, we want a king over us – then we
will be like all the other nations,
with
a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
-- God heard their cry and spoke to
Samuel in verse 22, “Listen to them and give them a king”
-- which brings us to our message
for this morning as we look at the people’s idea of what a good leader should
look like versus how God calls leaders to shepherd His people
II. How to Choose a King
-- the story of how Israel got their
wish and received their king begins in 1 Samuel 9:1-2 – let me read those
verses for you
1
Samuel 9:1 There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of
Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. 2
Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere
in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.
-- last week, we briefly touched on
how we select leaders – on the fact that a lot of the times, we put more
emphasis on the physical characteristics of a person than we do their policies
or anything else
-- for instance, do you know what
the number one predictor of success is for presidential candidates? – in other
words, what is the one factor that seems to be the determining factor as to
whether someone is nominated by their party for political office and whether
they subsequently are successful in becoming president of the US? – it’s their
height
-- we prefer our presidents to be
men of stature – and it has always been that way – if you read about George
Washington and his leadership capabilities, you will see his height is
mentioned frequently – Washington was extremely tall for his day and age – he
was over 6 feet in height, and historians have mentioned that he stood a head’s
height above other men in his day
-- that is one of the things I
noticed when we toured the National Museum of American History in Washington
one year – they had a suit from George Washington on display – and the height
of that suit was striking – George Washington was a very tall man – and most of
our presidents have followed suit
-- of course, there’s Abraham
Lincoln at 6’4” tall – but the height of other presidents has been noted as a
factor in their election – to include Donald Trump, who is 6’3” tall – Thomas
Jefferson and Bill Clinton, both of whom measured 6’2-1/2”
-- a 2001 study measured the support
of candidates in terms of the popular vote, and they found that taller
candidates held a distinct advantage over their competitors
-- this finding was verified in
another study conducted in 2013, with the study reporting that significantly
taller candidates were more likely to win the popular vote – to this day, the
taller candidate always has a better chance of winning election than someone
who is shorter, regardless of their policy stances
-- so, as much as we like to say
that we examine the issues and vote on the issues, the truth of the matter is
that we are drawn to select leaders who are tall and who look like we think a
president should look like
-- and this has always been the case
– right here in 1 Samuel 9, we see Saul, who will be the future first king of
Israel, described for us solely based on his physical characteristics – as
Samuel wrote, Saul was an impressive young man without equal among the
Israelites – a head taller than any other – in other words, Saul looked like a
king – or, at least, what the people of Israel thought a king should look like
-- in the rest of 1 Samuel 9, we
read this story of how God used lost donkeys to orchestrate a meeting between
Saul and Samuel – and how God said that He was going to have Saul anointed as
king so that he would defeat the Philistines and meet the desires of the
Israelite’s hearts for a king
-- so, to summarize the story,
Samuel ends up meeting with Saul and delivering the news to him that God had
chosen him to be the leader of Israel and serve as their first king – Saul was
not keen on this idea, but God changed his heart as His Spirit fell upon him
and he began prophesying in God’s name
-- this brings us to 1 Samuel 10:17,
where we read of Saul’s official selection as the first king of Israel,
fulfilling what the people wanted – look back at this passage with me again –
verse 17
1
Samuel 10:17 Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah 18 and
said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought
Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the
kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19 But you have now rejected your God, who saves
you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a
king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and
clans.”
-- once again, Samuel explained that
the reason they were there at that point was because the people had rejected
God in favor of an earthly king – even though God was the one who had delivered
the people out of all their calamities and distresses – including bringing them
up out of captivity in Egypt and into the Promised Land
-- even though God had chosen them as His
special people and separated them out from all the other nations on earth –
they wanted to be just like all the nations around them with an earthly king
-- so, God had Samuel announce their king
through the drawing of lots
-- verse 20
20
When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was
taken by lot. 21 Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan,
and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they
looked for him, he was not to be found. 22 So they inquired further of the
Lord, “Has the man come here yet?”
And
the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.”
23
They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head
taller than any of the others. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see
the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”
Then
the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
-- the lot first fell on the tribe of
Benjamin – and then the clan of Matri – and then the family of Kish – and then
Saul himself was selected
-- once again, Saul had hidden himself to
avoid being picked, but he was found hiding in the baggage – Saul was brought
out in front of the people, and when they saw him standing there – a head
taller than any of the others – a young, strong handsome strapping man – they
cried out, “This is our king – long live the king”
-- now, the truth is that God is the one
who selected Saul as the leader of the people – but God selected the man that
the nation wanted in their hearts – they were not looking for someone with the
ability to lead a nation of people – they were looking at physical
characteristics only – and Saul fit the bill – he was just what they wanted –
and he would be someone they could lift up against the kings of the other
nations and be proud of
-- God knew Saul’s faults – He knew Saul’s
weaknesses – He knew what Saul was going to do as king – He had already warned
the people through Samuel
-- God could have chosen someone better
suited to be their first king, but God is making a point here – this is what
the people wanted, and they were going to have to deal with the consequences –
because they rejected the best King – God -- for man’s version of a king, they
were going to suffer – and God was going to allow it
-- this is a reminder to us that sometimes
when we get the candidate or the president we want, it is not necessarily
because this is God’s best plan for us – sometimes, God allows leaders to be
put into positions of power in order to teach us a lesson and lead us back to
Him
-- to put it in simple terms: some leaders
are put in place by God as an act of judgment on a people who have rejected Him
– and that is what is going on with Saul and his selection as the first king of
Israel
-- with that said, let me point out that
the nation of Israel was still God’s chosen people – they were still the apple
of His eye – and God was not just abandoning them without His mercy and grace
and providence still active in their lives
-- even though the people had rejected God
and chosen Saul to be their king, God still worked in Saul’s life to help him
be a good king – God anointed Saul with His Holy Spirit, and God’s Spirit came
on Saul to empower him and help him lead the people
-- but remember free will? – as Saul’s
time as king lengthened, so did his desire for power – and over time, Saul
began choosing self above God and above the good of the people – Saul went his
own way and did things his own way – ignoring the leading of the Spirit and the
will of God – doing exactly what God warned the people he would do – with the
people suffering under Saul’s leadership
-- it finally reached a head when Saul
totally and completely rejected God and God’s commands by offering an unlawful
sacrifice and unlawful worship – Saul made a burnt offering and offered incense
on his own, when this should only have been done by a priest from the order of
Aaron
-- in 1 Samuel 13:13-15, Samuel confronts
Saul and condemns his actions – he tells Saul, “You acted foolishly – you have
not kept the command the Lord your God gave you – if you had, He would have
established your kingdom over Israel for all time – but now your kingdom will
not endure” -- with that, God pronounced the end of Saul’s reign
-- but Samuel wasn’t done – he goes on to
tell Saul, “the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him
leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command”
-- the people had gotten their way – they
had gotten an earthly king – a king that they liked – a king that looked like a
king should look – a king that was tall and strong and virile – but he was
lacking in character and integrity and spirituality – he was lacking in wisdom,
knowledge, and ability -- Saul had been a failure as king and had disobeyed God
and was leading the people away from God
-- so, God was going to replace Saul and select
the next king for Israel Himself – a king based on God’s criteria, not the
people’s criteria – a king who would look first to God and not to men for
wisdom and guidance and direction – a king who would lift God up in Israel and
not seek unlimited power for himself
III. How God Chooses a King
-- turn with me over to 1 Samuel 16:1
1 Samuel 16:1 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.
-- as this chapter opens, we find Samuel
in grief – the Bible tells us he is mourning – why? – he is mourning because
everything happened just as God had said it would when the people rejected God
as their leader and chose a human king instead
-- while Saul had been effective as a
military leader, he had failed in his duty to lead the people spiritually – to
be an example for them of what a godly man and leader should look like – his
pride and hubris had led to his downfall and to the downfall of the nation –
and the people lived in fear of Samuel and his rage – we read in these verses
that even Samuel, the prophet of God who had led the people for years before
Saul, feared the wrath of Saul because he knew Saul would kill him if he
opposed him or his policies – and Samuel wept because of the fate of the nation
of Israel
-- but God comes to Samuel here and says,
“How long will you mourn for Saul? – Get up – Fill your horn with oil – because
I am sending you to anoint a new king – a king of my own choosing – a man after
My heart”
-- God tells Samuel to get up and go to
Bethlehem – a town called “The House of God” – and find Jesse, for one of his
sons has been chosen by God to be the new king of Israel in place of Saul
-- Samuel goes to Bethlehem and meets with
the elders, telling them that he is there to make a sacrifice on behalf of the
Lord – and he makes sure to let Jesse know, as God had told him to do
-- so, what does a leader who is anointed
and selected by God look like? – we’re about to find out
-- verse 6
1 Samuel 16:6 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.”
-- when Jesse arrived, Samuel looked to
see the man that God had selected to be the new leader of the Israelites – when
he saw Eliab, Jesse’s oldest, coming towards him – tall – handsome – capable –
he thought to himself, “This must be the man that the Lord has selected”
-- but note what God tells him – “Do not
consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him -- the Lord does
not look at the things that man looks at – man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart”
– listen
to the words of God here as he instructed Samuel in how to know which of
Jesse’s sons God had selected to lead the people, because this should guide our
selection of a leader, as well
-- God says, do not select someone based
on how they look – how tall they are – how good a speaker they are – how
charismatic they are – in other words, do not select a leader based on the main
criteria that we use to select our leaders today
-- instead, God says, look to the heart –
look to what’s inside a person – to know if they are chosen by God or not
-- so, God rejected Eliab, then Abinadab,
then Shammah, and all the rest of Jesse’s sons who had come with him to the
sacrifice and the feast
-- God told Samuel, “Even though all of
these sons of Jesse would be acceptable in the eyes of the world, I have
rejected them, for I am seeking another”
-- verse 11
1 Samuel 16:11 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.
-- there was only one son missing from the
line-up of Jesse’s son – David, the shepherd boy – too little and too young to
even be considered as a leader of the people – Jesse left him with the sheep
and didn’t even bring him to the feast
-- but Samuel called for David – and when
David appeared before the people, the Lord told Samuel, “Rise and anoint him,
for he is the one”
– and we all know what a great king David
turned out to be, even though he is certainly not the one that the people would
have chosen based on his appearance and his job, for shepherds were regarded as
the lowest of the low in that day in Israel
-- this shows the difference between how
God selects a leader and how we typically select a leader
IV. Closing
-- so, what do we learn from all this? –
what is the take-home message for today?
-- when Christians evaluate and select
leaders for service – whether that is in the church or to lead us in our civil
government – our decisions should not be based on the same criteria that the
world uses
-- as we talked about earlier – and as we
have seen in both these passages from 1 Samuel – when people select a leader,
they are drawn to leaders based primarily on their physical characteristics
– just like the Israelites, we like tall
leaders – charismatic leaders – strong leaders – leaders who look like what we
think a leader should look like – that’s why the statistics show that most of
the winning political candidates are taller and better looking than their
competitors
-- we are naturally drawn to people like
this – we look up to them – literally and figuratively – and sometimes they
turn out to be good leaders – like Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln – but
sometimes they do not – as in the case of Saul here in 1 Samuel
-- so, the first thing we learn from this
passage is that we need to realize that we all have this internal bias that
draws us to people who look like we think leaders should look – and we have to
be careful that we are not selecting our leaders simply because we like them or
we like the way they look – because that is the path to destruction
-- instead, we should focus on the heart,
as God does – now, as we’ve pointed out many times before, we can’t really know
another person’s heart – but we can get a pretty good idea of their heart – of
who they are on the inside – by looking at the fruit in their life – by looking
at their character
-- outside of the transforming power of
the Spirit, a person’s character does not change – politicians are quick to
change policies and say they believe in this policy or that policy at election
time – they are quick to say they believe and support whatever policy is
popular at the moment – that they have had a change of heart – but the fact of
the matter is that heart change doesn’t come through human will or human
decision – heart change only comes through God
-- and that means that who a person has
been their whole life is probably who they are going to be in the future
– if someone is a stand-up person – with a
godly character – with integrity – standing up for what is good and right and wholesome
– and they’ve been like that their whole life, then that is likely to continue
in the future – especially if they have had a spiritual transformation in their
life and received Jesus as their Lord and Savior
-- and if someone is known for their
immorality – for lying – for stealing – for stretching the truth – for bending
the law – for doing things that are not morally right – then it’s a pretty good
guess that they will be like that in the future
-- when running for political office, they
might put on sheep’s clothing and pretend to be holy and righteous and good,
but the heart doesn’t change – and, once elected, they will continue to be the
person they were all along
-- so, remember this when it comes to
selecting any leader – character always matters more than any other attribute –
look at who a person was before they began to seek a leadership role, because
that is who they really are
-- so, the first factor we should be
looking at in our evaluation of leaders is the heart – as evidenced by their
character and integrity
-- now, we know that is not the only
factor – their capabilities and their ability to lead are also important
factors – we just saw this with Saul in our lesson this morning – and we saw
this in Jimmy Carter – who was probably one of the most Godly men to serve as
President, but who was, without a doubt, not a very good leader as demonstrated
by the results of his administration – he just wasn’t a very capable president
-- so, the first criteria should be the
heart – character and integrity – but the next criteria should be whether that
person is capable and able to lead – have they been gifted by God with the
ability to lead others – to get things done?
-- David was certainly capable of leading
and getting things done – he had shown himself capable and able through his job
as shepherd – he had protected his sheep – he had led them well – he had fought
off the lion and the bear – he had led them to good pastures and kept them safe
– all things we look for in leaders
-- once again, look at their past to see
how they will do in the future – if they have been sluggards and not gotten
anything accomplished in their lives so far, even if they are the most Godly
person you know, they’re probably not going to be effective as a leader
-- history tells the story of how a person
will do – who they were in the past is who they are going to be in the future
-- that’s why we ask for resumes and transcripts when we’re hiring people to
come work for us – because they will probably work for us and do for us just
what they did for their previous employers
-- so, look at the heart – their character
and integrity – then look at their ability – and, finally, look at whether they
are promoting Kingdom principles or worldly principles
-- we’ll talk more about this next week,
but remember that we are just strangers here in this place – we live here and
we work here temporarily – but this is not our home – our home is with God in
the Kingdom of God – and our allegiance is to the Kingdom of God above any
earthly kingdom – we need to remember that
-- when evaluating people for leadership
or policies that we are voting on, we need to determine if those people and
those policies support kingdom principles or worldly principles – do they align
with the word of God – or do they align with the culture?
-- we know what God wants us to do – we
know what is important to Him -- we read in the Bible that God opposes the
proud – the unjust – the immoral – He protects the widows and the orphans and
the foreigners in our land – He takes care of the down-trodden and the poor –
He lifts up the humble – He commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves –
and to love our enemies, as we love each other -- He points people to Christ
and to eternity with Himself – we should be looking at policies and people who
support what God supports – who live as God calls us to live
-- you will find that there are some areas
that God has moved you to be concerned with more than any other – for instance,
I was burdened with the issue of abortion for years – and I voted only for
people who were prolife – I would not support a candidate or a policy that
would harm the unborn – that was an area that God wanted me to focus on as I
voted for leaders or policies
-- for you, it may be something else – and
that’s a good thing – while we are supposed to be united as one under Christ,
we can be diverse in our efforts and in the things we support – we can work
together for Kingdom goals while supporting and promoting different facets of
God’s will and God’s plan for this world
-- all of us will not vote the same – but
we should vote based on the broad principles that we see in Scripture: the heart of a person, the ability of a
person, and whether that person supports Kingdom principles and obedience to
God or worldly principles and obedience to culture
-- the important thing – and the thing I
want you to take away with you today – is the awareness that our selection of
leaders and our votes for laws and policies should be based on Godly principles
and precepts and not based on a person’s looks or charisma or political party
or what we think they can do for us personally
-- as members of the Kingdom of God, we
need to be looking to support the Kingdom and God in all that we do – including
in how we vote
-- and, with that, let’s close in prayer
-- let us pray
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