Don't Judge By Outward Appearances: Lenten Midweek Sermon

1 Samuel 16:1-13
16The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." 2Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you." 4Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" 5He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord." 7But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." 10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen any of these." 11Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." 12He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one." 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

I remember very clearly the day I was told my name was being submitted for consideration at this church. I was sitting at my desk at Emanuel’s Lutheran Church in Seguin. I had sensed the call to move onward and venture out. Rob Moore, who was assistant to the bishop at the time, briefed me on the congregation.
He said, "It’s a relatively small congregation of 185 people. They worship about 65 per Sunday. Houston is moving toward it, and in about five years or so, it will probably be a growing, thriving place."

I replied, "That sounds interesting." Which I should have realized right away meant that I was headed this direction. But that’s another story for another time. I also said, "Go ahead and put my name in and send me the material."

I received all the information, and started doing some research. One of the first things Dawna and I decided to do is do a drive by. We were in the midst of the adoption process at the time, and we had to take monthly trips to College Station.Our next meeting was shortly after I received the phone call, and we decided to take the long way around and head up 949 and check out the town. I remember being struck by the beauty of the area’s rolling hills. It was spring time, and the wild flowers were out. We carefully paid attention to the Mapquest driving instructions which I had printed out. We turned on Ross Street and drove by the parsonage and the church.

As we drove by, I quipped, "It looks like a nice place to retire." I wasn’t at all sure about mission and ministry and outreach and being in a thriving congregation. From outward appearances, it looked like a nice, country church without much happening and where not much would happen.

But there was still something lingering in the back of my mind. Something I had been taught from an early age. Don’t judge something or someone by the outward appearance. It’s an important lesson to learn.

The prophet Samuel even had to learn that lesson. In our first reading for today, Samuel has been called by God to anoint the next king of Israel. God has become disenchanted with the current king, Saul, and God’s ready to get the process started of training and equipping the next one in line. God tells Samuel to head to Bethlehem and find Jesse. One of Jesse’s sons will be the next king.

Samuel heads to Bethlehem and follows the Lord’s instructions. The folks there are actually a little afraid to see Samuel coming. They wonder if he’s coming in peace. I find that particularly interesting. Apparently, prophets could unleash some nasty stuff, and the folks of Bethlehem breathed a sigh of relief when Samuel told them he was peaceable and was offering sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel invited all the leaders to come along, and they did.

Samuel started the process knowing one of the sons of Jesse was supposed to be king, and Samuel started looking them over one by one. He gazed upon the oldest, and apparently, he liked what he saw. Judging by what the Lord says, this son was big and strong. He looked the part. "Surely the Lord’s anointed is before the Lord," Samuel thinks.

But he is in for a shock. The Lord disagrees, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

Wait a minute here. Is the Lord suggesting that He and we have different standards of judgement? Is the Lord suggesting we might judge things on a superficial note where He judges things and people on something of more substance? It surely looks like it. It surely looks like the Lord is suggesting that we as humans have a wonderful tendency of looking at the exterior things–the things that are flashy and grab our attention. We look at the stuff on the outside that looks good, but we fail to look at what is really important. We fail to look on the inside.

To use an automotive analogy, we see a beautiful car with a shiny coat of paint and a beautifully maintained cabin space, but we fail to look under the hood and see the worn and torn engine; we fail to look under the chassis and see the oil dripping and the rusty exhaust system; and we fail to look at the CarFax and see that it’s been in several accidents and been in and out of the service shop for repeated mechanical breakdowns.
It’s not too often that we disregard the external appearances and delve deep into what we can’t see. We are governed by the idea, "You only have one time to make a first impression." And we believe that so deeply we oftentimes fail to get by the externals to really see someone deep down and get to know their heart.

Samuel had to work against his ingrained biases as he went down the line of Jesse’s sons. One by one, the Lord told him, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Soon, Samuel ran out of sons, so he asked Jesse, "You got any more kids?"

And Jesse said, "Yeah, there’s one more. My youngest is out with the sheep." Apparently, even Jesse didn’t consider his youngest son a capable leader, a capable person to be standing in the presence of a prophet.

But...

God doesn’t look upon the outward appearance.

Samuel told Jesse to send for his youngest, and soon the youngest son appeared. The Lord said, "This is the one."

And Samuel anointed David to be the next king of Israel, and anyone who has read the Bible knows that David is considered the greatest king the Kingdom of Israel ever had. Because God picked him by looking at his heart and not his outward appearance.

As I began the interview process at St. John, I forced myself to look past appearances. I know what most pastors say. We say we are not concerned with the size of our congregations. We say we are mostly concerned about being faithful to our callings and not enamored by how many people are worshiping at our churches. But, it’s a lie. There are a few who say such things and really, truly believe them. However, most of us jump at the chance to serve at large congregations. We like the idea of hundreds or thousands of people worshiping with us and hundreds of thousands of dollars entering in the offering plates. We like the idea of scores of programs being run by a congregation, and we really like the idea of sitting as the figure head of such a place. Many times our egos get caught up in such things, and if we can’t have such a congregation, we feel like we are settling for something less. I had to push such thoughts out of my brain as I sat down to discern whether or not I was called to serve in this place.

As the process wound around and around, I think I was able to start to see the heart of this congregation. In my phone interview, there seemed to be a good energy as we talked, and then I asked two questions of vital importance. First, I asked whether or not this congregation’s golden years were behind it or ahead of it. Without hesitation, the response was, "They are definitely ahead of us." The second question, I asked in this manner: I said, "The next question is very, very important, and a lot rides on it." The response from the other end was a pause and then the word, "Okay." I said, "My current congregation is pretty big. I’m in meetings most nights of the week. I’m keeping a very busy schedule with not too much time off. I was wondering, if I accept the call to St. John, will I have to work on Sundays." There was about a five second pause before the entire room erupted in laughter. I breathed a sigh of relief. Folks here had a sense of humor. And then, as things continued, when I met the congregation, I wore a tie and a button down shirt. I was told to take off the tie. Then I sat down and ate, and I began meeting folks. I could sense a desire to do God’s work. It was palatable. "Forget the outward appearance," I told myself. "This congregation might be small, but it wants to do great things."

And you did. And you do. You cannot judge the outward appearance of things. God looks at things differently than we do. In congregations. In people. And in events. The trick is taking the time to discern them and listen for His guidance. For when we do, great things happen. Amen.