David
God's Heart, God's Man, God's Ways

July 22, 2007

Samson and his ministry in most respects was a disaster. He turned out to be nothing like God wanted. God used him the best he could but Samson never lived up to his total potential. The world and its desires, his own lusts and weaknesses and his undisciplined life led him and the nation Israel into a period of darkness.

All during this time and leading up to it the people were crying to God that they wanted a king. They had God as their king but that wasn't good enough. They wanted a king they could see and have some national pride around. They wanted a king like the other nations around them. After the death of Samson and the humiliation that brought upon the nation of Israel, the people cried out even more. They wanted to be jut like the other nations.

But that was the problem with Israel, instead of being the unique nation of people who were the shinning examples the other nations could look up to, they wanted to be just like everyone else. They didn't want to soar like an eagle but instead they preferred to walk and talk with the turkeys. They preferred to be mediocre rather than live lives of excellence that God called them to.

Unfortunately Christians today are the same way. I call them "turgles". These are people who are called to be eagles in life by God to soar and be set apart and live lives at on much higher plane but instead prefer to walk, talk and act like turkeys. Here is a true lesson we can learn from the mistakes of Samson, if an eagle spends all his time desiring to be a turkey, eventually he will become a turkey even though he is an eagle, and thus he becomes a turgle.

There are too many turgles in the church today. In fact, they are a joke before the world and they are an embarrassment to the church. When the world wants to justify why they don't need God in their lives, they many times turn to turgles and point to them and use their sorry lives to mock the church and ultimately mock God. That is what Samson ended up becoming.

True eagles in the kingdom of God have three very important qualities. These qualities are ones that don't get compromised and they are the only ones that set a person up to be fully used by God in the ministry God has for his people. From these qualities a Christian can measure himself to find out if he is an eagle or a turgle.

God's Heart - they understand and desire God's ways
God's Man - They are called by God
God's Way - They surrender to his will and his will only

After Samson and the episode of the evil sons of Samuel, God finally gave into the cries of the people for their desire to have a king. Through Samuel, God worked to give Israel a king. Saul became the first king of Israel. God warned Israel that a human king will make life different than they ever had before. There is a difference when God is king versus a man being king.

Samuel 8:10-18 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."

How is this description of the earthly king different than the ways of God, the almighty King? How had God treated them versus the way their kings will treat them? God did things that were best for the people, the earthly king will do things that are best for him.

Is this description of the king similar to today and our government?

But over time as we study the life of David, we will see that Saul was not a good choice as king. Even though God showed to Samuel who was to be the first king, God always referred to Saul as the king the people wanted. God gave to the people a leader they desired and it is interesting to read the descriptions of Saul. The first mention of Saul is found in 1 Samuel 9

1 Samuel 9:2 He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites-a head taller than any of the others.

What were the people looking for in their first king? What was important to them especially as the other nations learned that Israel now had a king? Are we any different today? What are we looking for in our leaders? What do you want in the next president?

Samson would have been the perfect king had he not loved his desires more than God and his nation. Samson had all the attributes physically to be the king Israel wanted. He just didn't have the three necessary qualities that God looks for in his leaders.

Saul will prove to be a mistake as a king. At first he is impressive. He had a shy and humble beginning. But as pressure mounted against him and the nation from the Philistines, he quickly proved to be a man with several personal flaws especially understanding to do things God's way and on God's time table. It wasn't long before God decided that a change in leadership had to come. God decided to pick a new king, but this time God would pick the king and the person chosen would have the three necessary qualities God wants in his leaders. He had to have God's heart, he had to be God's man and he had to walk God's way.

1 Samuel 13:13-14 You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "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; 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."

God chose David from Bethlehem. Now on the surface, there seemed to be nothing about David that would have impressed God. In fact, David was just a boy and a very ordinary boy at that. He was the youngest in a family of much older brothers, some who served Saul in the military. David was a shepherd and a young one at that. When Samuel came looking for the son of Jesse, even David's own father didn't even think of including him with his sons until Samuel asked if this was all his sons.

1 Samuel 16:10-13 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep." Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives." So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one." 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 upon David in power.

We have to be careful here and not get the wrong idea about why God chose David or why God chooses anyone, for that matter. Why does God choose people? Or let's look at it this way, what kind of people does God choose and use? We have to remember that God does not need us. In many respects, we probably are an inconvenience to Him when he delegates things for us to do in His name. But He chooses to get things accomplished through us, especially the ministry of spreading the Gospel to a lost and dying world.

Paul writes about this concerning himself to the church in Corinth. The Greeks were influenced by brains, brawn and beauty. Paul didn't have any of that and so some in the church were not impressed with Paul or his leadership. Some refused to accept his authority.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

How many of you have ever been asked to get involved in a ministry and you declined because you didn't qualify or have the necessary talent to do it? You said, "Why would you want me to do that? Have am not capable of doing that, you need someone else?

Believe it or not, that alone makes you qualified. God is not looking for the qualified, he is looking for those who have a heart for God and will allow God to do great things through them using God's power and ability, not theirs.

Are we a church that looks to impress others? Think about this a minute, do we rely on impression when trying to grow our church? How many of you would be okay with hanging a sign in front of the church that states the following: Look around Quincy, you won't find many impressive people here.

Why is this important? So that no one here at MPCC can boast before God. That is a principle we tend to forget. When we look for people to admire, when we choose our role models, our heroes, we are often swayed or impressed by things that are cause for boasting. We want the beautiful people, the brilliant people, and the "successful" people. We want the best and brightest. We are terribly impressed by the surface. The superficial impresses us much more than we would like to admit. When visitors come to MPCC, we show them our building, our auditorium, our neat foyer and introduce them to Chuck. We try to put before people the best and brightest.

But that is not how God makes his choices. God chooses the nobodies and turns them into somebodies. In a nutshell, this is the story of the life of David. He was a nobody in the eyes of the world that God made into someone who did great things for God and the nation of Israel.

I want to end the lesson this morning looking at three priorities that God-Appointed leaders have. Each one of us is called. We are all called to do a mission that is so important that all the days of our life need to be dedicated to it. We are called to spread the Gospel of Jesus to everyone we know. Some find that exciting work while others don't feel they qualify or just don't plan to get involved.

God scans the earth looking for potential leaders. He is not looking for angels in the flesh nor is he looking for perfect people, since there are none. He is looking for simple people like you and me. But he is also looking for certain qualities He found in David.

Spirituality: He is looking for people who are after God's own heart.

What do you think that means? It means you are a person whose life is in harmony with the Lord. You have a heart that is sensitive to the things of God.

1 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

You care about the motivations behind your actions.

Humility:

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."

No one heard of David. He was definitely a nobody. But just like the verse said that we just read in 1 Chronicles, God is looking for those whose hearts are fully committed to him. He found that kind of heart in a young boy named David. What made David the right guy, he faithfully kept his fathers sheep. God saw humility; God saw a servant's heart.

When you have a servant's heart, your humble, you do as you are told. You don't rebel and you respect those in charge. You serve faithfully and quietly. But more importantly, he doesn't care about the glory. A true servant's goal is to make the one he is serving look good. A servant doesn't want the one he is serving to fail. He only cares about getting the job done.

Integrity:

Psalms 78:71-72 from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

Of all the qualities, this one is the most important. Integrity is the character you have when no one is looking. It means being bone-deep honest. If you playing golf by yourself and no one is looking, do you play the ball where it lies or do you move the ball or touch it even if your lie is a bad one? A golfer with integrity plays the ball where it is because that is how the game is played.

Today we live in a world that is so concerned with making a good impression. A good impression is all that matters to some. But you will never be a man or a woman of God if that is your philosophy. You can't fake it with God; he is not impressed with externals. He always focuses on the inward qualities, the things that take time and discipline to cultivate.