At Heart, not in Hand

It's not the physical appearance, but the spiritual.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’” 1 Samuel 16:7.

In 1 Samuel 15, the Lord sent the prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as king over Israel. In this anointing, the Lord told Saul to “go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has” (15:3). This included every man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel and donkey. Before the passage ends, however, we read that Saul “spared Agag [the king of the Amalekites] and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good” (15:9). The Lord regretted anointing Saul as king (15:11) and Samuel grieved over the event (16:1).

When we come to 1 Samuel 16, we see the Lord guiding Samuel to anoint a new king of Israel. He told Samuel that He had “rejected [Saul] from being king” (ibid.) and to “go…to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons” (ibid.). When Samuel arrived, he performed a sacrifice before the Lord and had Jesse’s sons pass before him. When Eliab—the oldest son—walked by, Samuel thought to himself, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” Since Eliab was a physically impressive looking man, Samuel was convinced that he was the next king of Israel. God, however, had different plans.

After the seven eldest sons of Jesse all passed before Samuel, none were chosen by the Lord to be king; “The Lord has not chosen these,” said Samuel (16:10). Samuel then asked Jesse if he had any other children, to which Jesse replied, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep” (16:11). Samuel sent for him, and when he arrived, he met a ruddy young man named David, and the Lord said, “Anoint him; for this is he” (16:12).

One of the major lessons in this passage of Scripture is that in many cases, we tend to make spiritual decisions based upon physical qualifications. Like Samuel, we see the physical statures of men like Eliab and conclude that God must have His hand upon him for great things. I have seen this manifested in the church when a pastorless congregation places physical qualifications, such as age and experience, over the spiritual qualifications found in God’s Word.  Physical blessings do not mean spiritual blessings, and as we see in 1 Samuel 16:7, God was looking at the heart for His man, not in the hand for man's man.

David was called a “man after God’s own heart.” The Scriptures tell us that he was “ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance,” but this was not why he was chosen.  John MacArthur has written, “God’s favor/choice often fell on the younger and the least (cf. Jacob, Joseph, Gideon). David, although the youngest, was the firstborn over Israel (Ps. 89:27), whose humble beginnings as a shepherd, and later rule as king, typify Jesus: the ultimate Shepherd and King of Israel” (MacArthur Study Bible, 401).

Ultimately, David would be listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.  In Matthew 11:1 we read, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David.”  This is an amazing circumstance not only because of David’s unconventional anointing, but because of his famous sin with Bathsheeba. Through it all, David was chosen by God, and remained a man after His heart. This should be an uplifting message for us all.

Today, I encourage you to consider all of the ways that you focus on the physical as opposed to the spiritual. Perhaps you are looking for a new job; focus on where God is leading you instead of the physical blessings that it can provide. Perhaps you are looking to make a large purchase; focus on how God wants you to use your money instead of what physical blessings it can bring.  In whatever you are trying to do physically, do your best to focus on what God desires spiritually.

God looks at the heart, not the hand, and just as we saw, He can do wonderful things with those who seek after the things of His heart.  I believe that when we do this, we can be a significant part of His Kingdom work.

God is Liberal...

One of my most influential professors during my educational tenure at the Criswell College was a man by the name of Dr. Joseph Wooddell.  Dr. Wooddell always had strong conservative views, especially in light of politics.  I'll never forget something he said in class one day: "The liberals have taken our word, and I want it back!"  That is, the word "liberal" actually means free, and somewhere along the line, the guys out in left field stole it from us; I agree with him.

James has written,

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

The word "liberally" there in Greek is the word aplos, which, according to Rogers and Rogers, means, "simply, unconditionally, without bargaining."  They further write, "Here the word could possibly mean 'generously,' derived from the noun meaning 'liberality,' from the idea of frankness and open-heartedness (Mayor).  Perhaps the best translation here is 'freely' (Adamson), or perhaps 'purely and simply,' emphasizing that it is a pure gift."

The idea of the verse is, as the title declares, that God is liberal...in the gift of His wisdom.  Not "liberal," as in abortion favoring, same sex marriage desiring, ten commandment removing politics, but "liberal" in the true sense of the word--free.  That is, when you ask God for wisdom, which is the understanding to live your life to God's glory, He will give it to you freely.  God is liberal in this approach.

Kenneth Barker and John Kohlenberger III have written concerning this wisdom that it is "understanding the nature and purpose of trials and knowing how to meet them victoriously.  Such wisdom is available to the one who will 'ask God' for it, not once only, but repeatedly" (Zondervan Bible Commentary, 1020).  This emphasizes John's words that when you pray according to the will of the Father, those prayers will come to fruition.

"This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him" (1 John 5:14-15).

If there is one thing that I am confident in, it is that pure wisdom begins with Jesus Christ.  Solomon has written, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Pro 1:7).  It is not until you fear the Lord, which includes a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, that you truly begin to have knowledge.  When you pray to the Father acknowledging that you are surrendering your life to Christ, you are praying according to His will, and therefore your request will be given to you purely, generously, and liberally.

I am so thankful that God is liberal in His wisdom.

Begging the Bible

There is a hoax that has been floating around the internet for quite some time now claiming that on August 27, (fill in the year here), we will be able to see what looks like two moons.  The claim is that Mars will be closer to the earth than ever, and that this event will not take place again for another bu-gillion years.

I first heard of the "event" via Amanda's grandmother.  I, being the space nerd that I am, decided to look deeper into the claim, wondering how such a thing was possible.  To where did I look?  The "internets" of course!  Sure enough, I found tons of information claiming that it was a hoax that has been passed on from generation to generation for a number of years now.  With that said, my "research" into this claim got me to thinking about what logicians call "begging the question."  That is, I used information from the internet (a source of "authority") to disprove information from the internet (the same source of "authority") where the hoax was originally initiated.  It was a twisted form of begging the question.

To "beg the question" essentially means that you assume the initial point.  Many of you may know it better in its layman's form, "circular reasoning."  The idea is that you prove your point by proving your point.  Christians are often accused of begging the question because we use the Bible to prove the existence of God.  Here is an example conversation:

John: God exists.
Frank: How do you know?
John: The Bible tells me so.

Here, John essentially "proved" the existence of God by relying on the Bible, which is not sufficient evidence to an unbeliever.  To put it into perspective, it would be the same as if a scientologist came up to you and said, "You have an alien living inside of you."  You would most likely respond, "How do you know?"  to which he would reply back, "Tom Cruise told me so."  (Of course, the Bible is actually God's inerrant Word and Tom Cruise is just plain crazy.)  The argument would be ludicrous to you, first because you probably would have a hard time accepting Tom Cruise as authoritative and second because the argument is fallacious.  The scientologist used a circular argument to prove his point.

There is a verse that has become the anthem for Christian argumentation.  Peter wrote,

"but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15).

The idea of the verse is to defend the hope that is in you, which is Christ.  As we know, this can sometimes prove challenging, and many times we find ourselves confounded by the arguments against God.  In these times, we find ourselves saying, "I just need to have faith in what the Bible tells me."  Billy Graham had to come to this exact conclusion early on in his ministry.  In reality, however, we are not the only ones who use circular reasoning to prove our points.

The truth is, a skeptic begs the question perhaps more so than a Christian does.  We are often attacked for our circular reasoning in trying to prove the existence of God, when all the while the skeptics are literally doing the same thing.  Allow me to illustrate:

Frank: God doesn't exist.
John: How do you know.
Frank: I don't have any reason to believe it.

Frank here is essentially using reason to prove reason.  As soon as he begins to give reasons as to why God doesn't exist, his reason becomes authoritative, and essentially he is using it to prove his initial point.  Just as we use the Bible to prove the veracity of the Bible or the existence of God, skeptics use their reason to prove their reason.  Essentially, they are using their reason to show why their reason proves that God does not exist.  Whether you are trusting in God's Word or in your own, you are essentially arguing circularly, and it's about time that the skeptics begin to realize this.  In our cases, however, the difference is vast, for we are holding fast to God's infallible and inerrant Word, and not our own.

Donating Blood

A couple of months ago, Carter Blood Care contacted me about hosting a "Save a Life Sunday" at our church for the community.  The idea was to get as many people as possible to donate blood because it can literally help save a person's life.  Apparently, the blood banks are running at a critical low, and a large marketing campaign has been executed in order to attain this much needed resource.

Before today, I have never given blood before (mainly because I am scared to death of needles).  After a large amount of peer pressure, a few pride crushing remarks (from the older ladies), and the unshakable thoughts that I could be helping to save a life, I succumbed and overcame my fear.  In the end, I was proud that I went through with it.

While I was in the "finger pricking room," I began talking with the nurse about the potential that my blood has in saving a life.  He told me that it could be used to save up to three lives.  I thought that this was incredible.  My blood, this oozy red stuff surging through my veins, could one day be used to help keep people alive.  It was here that I was reminded of Paul's message to the church in Ephesus.  He wrote,

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace."

It is an incredible thought that my blood can potentially save a few lives.  With that said, there are a couple of very important limits placed on the salvation that my blood offers.  First, it can only save up to three lives, and second, it can only save a person's life temporarily.  That is, once a person receives my blood in order to live, they will ultimately one day die.  Just like Lazarus, they are raised from the dead only to die again.

Paul tells us that Jesus' blood redeems us.  This means that His bloods gives God the ability to purchase us back from death.  The root word for redemption is "deem," which means to "judge" or "consider."  When you tack on the "re" in front of it, we get the word "redeem" which means to "reconsider."  The idea is that when Jesus died in our place for our sin, God was able to reconsider His judgment upon us.  Instead of "the wages of sin only leading to death," "the gift of God became everlasting life."

In a way, Jesus "donated" His blood so that we may live.  While our blood only has the potential to save a few lives, Jesus' blood has the capacity to save everyone.  It is "through His blood" that we have redemption.

Resisting Belief

Tonight, I had the opportunity to watch a movie that has been sitting on my kitchen counter for about three weeks--The Bucket List.  Except for a handful of curse words, I found the movie to be a delight.  I originally thought that it was going to be a comedy, but it turned out to contain a lot of meaning.

One of these meaningful moments came when Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) were riding on an airplane looking out into the night sky, viewing the earth from a transcendent perspective.  The majestic view spurned a conversation about the existence of God.  Carter was a professed believer but Edward was not.  At one point in the conversation, Carter looked at Edward and asked, "So, what do you believe?" to which Edward responded, "I resist all beliefs."  The scene ended with Carter claiming that he "just has faith."


This scene got me to thinking about what it means to disclaim belief in something, and I was reminded of my sermon text from last week--Romans 3:9-18. 

If there is an obvious theme in the book of Romans, it is none other than the Gospel.  Paul seems to be communicating how vital the good news of Jesus' arrival is.  Because he is not "seeker-sensitive" or a postmodern Christian, he begins the book by discussing sin.  In short, he communicates the sin of the heathen (1:18-20), the hypocrite (2:1), the Hebrew (2:24), and finally the whole world (3:9-18).  (Thank you Adrian Rogers for the fancy alliteration.)  In his statement concerning the sin of the heathen, Paul discusses the truth that the existence of God is "evident among them," or "clearly seen."  He writes,

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

This is all to say that Paul--an apostle of nearly two thousand years ago--made a statement regarding men who claim that they "resist all beliefs."  This claim was that they (a) suppress the truth and (b) that the claim of no belief is actually the claim of a belief.

Since (a) is pretty self-explanatory, I want to focus on (b).  The idea is that when Edward Cole made the statement that he "resists all beliefs," the claim was self-defeating.  To claim that you don't believe in anything is a claim that you believe in something, and that something is nothing.  Therefore, in reality, Edward really cannot resist all beliefs because he cannot resist the belief that he resists all beliefs.  In this resistance, he is "suppressing the truth" that has "clearly been seen," and he is "without excuse."  Since Edward is a fictional character in a film, this doesn't hold any practicality except that Edward's statement represents a large population of our current culture. 

God has revealed Himself to us in a mighty way, and that mighty way is through His Son Jesus Christ who is the Word made flesh.  We shall not resist such a revelation that is clearly seen.