January 13th, 2013

2013Jan13 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.

BAPTISM OF JESUS

January 12-14, 2013

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

“CHOSEN!”

1.     David to be king.

2.     Jesus to be Savior.

3.     Us to be the Children of God.

1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NIV 1984) “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? Saul will hear about it and 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.

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 man looks at. Man looks 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.” ¹¹ 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.”¹² 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.”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 upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.”

          There’s no getting around it. It feels good to be chosen. Doesn’t matter if it’s for a kickball team at recess, an all-conference team in a sport, for the college you want to go to or for a job you’ve applied for. It feels good to be chosen by people. It’s so much better to be chosen by God! I wonder if that’s how David felt the day he was chosen to be the next king of Israel. You heard the story. Israel’s current king Saul had been rejected by the Lord. He trusted himself. He disobeyed God. A new king was needed. God sent his prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to a man named Jesse. He had eight sons. As Jesse had his sons pass by Samuel made the classic sinful human being mistake. He judged by outward appearances. But God hadn’t chosen the looker. “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.”¹² 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.” The boy’s name was David. He was the youngest, considered so unlikely to be the one chosen he had been left tending the sheep. He was the one God had chosen. Why him? Was there something special about him? Well, he was the youngest of 8. No it wasn’t him. He was simply chosen by God. “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.” Samuel poured oil on his head and the Holy Spirit came on him in power. Why did that happen? Because God said so.

          Now how did David respond to being chosen? You could make a movie about his life. It would be called “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” There was the Lord trusting defeat of Goliath and Philistine armies against humanly speaking insurmountable odds. There was his honorable utmost respect for God’s authority that he didn’t try to get rid of his leader, King Saul, he did nothing against him but let the Lord’s timing make him king. Zeal to build the temple for the Lord. That was good. There was his arrogance at winning later battles instead of giving glory to God.  His love of Absolam, his son, more than righteousness, there was his following of the ways of worldly kings with many wives and concubines. That’s bad. Then there was the ugly. The adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, the attempted cover up through murder of  Uriah, all the time he spent thinking he’d gotten away with it until God exposed him through the prophet Nathan. Yet through all this David is described as a man after the Lord’s own heart. Why? When the push came to shove David repented. He came clean with his sin with no excuses, threw himself on the mercy of God and humbly accepted the earthly consequences of his actions. That’s how David responded to being chosen.

          This lesson makes us think of others who were chosen. In the Gospel lesson Jesus was publicly chosen to be Savior at His Baptism. Why did it have to be that way? Why is it at His Baptism that the Holy Spirit came on Him in a special way? You know the answer, I think. If you do say it with me when I start. Because God said so. And how did Jesus respond to being chosen to be Savior? He kept up His perfect obedience to all commands of God, living under the law because we are subject to the law. He responded with His perfect love submitting to the will of the father even though that meant His death, death on the cross. He did that all for us, in our place, so He could give us His righteousness and take our place in being punished for sin. I’d guess we’d call the movie of His life “The substitute.”

          But someone else was also chosen by God. We are. We are. Doesn’t that feel good? The reading from Titus reminded us that our choosing isn’t because of righteous things we have done but because of God’s mercy. It told us that this choosing happened through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. That’s Baptism and the result is that we become God’s heirs, His inheritors, His children. Now how can Baptism do such great things? You better know the answer by now! Say it with me. Because God says so. It’s that simple.

          Now, how will we respond? Like Jesus with perfect obedience? No. And yes. No, not of ourselves. As long as we have our sinful natures we are not capable of our own perfect obedience. But yes because of  Jesus and Baptism. Remember Jesus came to be our substitute. To do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He perfectly obeyed so that He could cover us with a robe of His righteousness. The Bible tells us in the book of Galatians, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” That’s why remembering your Baptism is so wonderful. When the filth of your own living shames you and embarrasses you can remember your Baptism that covers you with Christ.

          You are going to want to remember to do that because really the movie of our life to someone watching will look more like David’s.  The Good. The Bad. Maybe even some ugly. We have our shining moments, right? The times we get it right and do the God thing, choose to be on Jesus’ side and no one elses. The times when we trust God in difficult times. The times when we resist sin. The times when we obey when it is not easy. That’s the good. And then there are those shameful moments when we arrogantly take credit from God as though we are responsible for our blessings. Those times when we blend in too well with a sinful society with filthy language, misuse of God’s name. There are those times when we love other people more than God and instead of telling them what they need to hear to be right with God we tell them what they want to hear so they will like us. The bad. Is there some ugly? Has the Devil tempted you to have a sinful relationship? Are you flirting with someone at work instead of your spouse? Are you having an affair with a bottle or a porn site? Do you think, like David, that no one knows and even God is fooled? It’s time to come clean. He gave David the prophet Nathan. He gives you your pastors. Talk with us. We’ll help you on the pat to repentance. That’s how David responded to being chosen. That’s what it meant to be a man after the Lord’s own heart. It’s what our holy God deserves.

          It’s an honor to be chosen. That’s why it feels good no matter if it is for something big or little. God chose David through anointing. God chose Jesus. He chooses us through our Baptism. What an honor. Let’s meet honor with honor striving our best to do what God has prepared for us to do, so that in our lives as we wait for our inheritance, there is more and more good. Less and less bad. And no ugly. Amen.