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One of the funny things about being a pastor, especially
a Presbyterian pastor, is how people respond when they find out that you are
clergy. Unlike our Episcopalian or Catholic comrades, as you know
Presbyterian pastors don't normally wear a clergy collar to identify
themselves. And so out in public, people don't know that we a are pastors
unless we tell them. It's strange and usually a little awkward the reaction
people have when I tell them that I am a minister.
One of my good friends was getting married and I attended the rehearsal
dinner. I had been sitting across the table talking to one of his other
groomsmen over the course of a long dinner. Of course he had been drinking a
little, but nothing too inappropriate was done or said. I asked him about
himself, what he did for a living, etc. And, we engaged in a light, friendly
and fun conversation. He was funny and had a lot of funny stories. Finally,
he asked me what I did for a living and so I told him, "I am a minister."
His jaw dropped and his face went completely white - he was stunned. After a
very awkward silence, he said, "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. I don't
know... forgive me if I said anything wrong... I don't know what to say." He
was so embarrassed. And I was thinking to myself, "What's going on with this
guy? Why is he so horrified?" He was perfectly at ease before. But, as soon
as he found out that I was a pastor his whole mood changed. His whole sense
of self was thrown off kilter and his confidence was shaken.
Do you want to kill a party? Just invite your pastor and watch people
squirm. This happens more often than you could ever imagine, both with
people who never go to church and with long-time members.
Now be honest! Is it something we do that makes people react like this and
feel this way? What do you think? Is it that they just feel guilty? That
somehow through us, they feel that their way of living... their way of being
is exposed and they don't like it? Do they feel like they have let God down?
Is it that they feel judged, either by us or by God? Could they be unsure of
God's love and acceptance? Or, could it be that we somehow serve to awaken
their conscience? I don't know. It's an interesting phenomenon.
Another interesting phenomenon in churches and other organizations is the
often-quoted statistic that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. If
this is true, then what is it that is preventing that other 80% from doing
their fair share - from answering God's call? It's not just a question of
work; it is a theological problem. I'm not talking about cleaning the
toilets and mowing the lawn, though those are necessary tasks. I'm talking
about responding, in a meaningful and fruitful way, to the work of God in
this church and in this world.
Today we are beginning a new sermon series based on the Old Testament
readings from 1st and 2nd Samuel regarding the life and reign of King David.
Samuel the prophet, the last of the great Judges of Israel, has just
publicly humiliated Saul, the first King of Israel. Saul the great military
commander, tall, courageous, considered to be the most handsome man in all
of Israel, had disobeyed God. God had ordered Saul and his army to
completely annihilate the Amalekites; to kill every man, woman and child and
to destroy all of their possessions; all of their sheep, all of their
cattle. These are the same Amalekites that attacked and tormented the
Israelites in the desert as they fled from slavery in Egypt. They are to be
wiped off the face of the earth.
Yet, Saul and his men disobey the command of God. They capture the King of
the Amalekites alive and hold him as a hostage. And although they destroy
most of the sheep and cattle, they keep the best for themselves.
Samuel confronts Saul. He asks Saul if he has fulfilled the command of God
and Saul says yes. When asked about the sheep and cattle, Saul replies that
they have saved them only so that they can later sacrifice them to God at
Gilgal.
God is sorry and Samuel is angry. Samuel tells Saul that God has rejected
him as King of Israel and that God will give his kingdom to one of his
neighbors. He hacks King Agag of the Amalekites to pieces and worships the
repentant Saul one last time. And this is where our
passage
greets us. The prophet and the king go their separate ways.
Now Samuel is told by God to fill his horn with oil and go to Bethlehem to
anoint a new King of Israel from the sons of Jesse. As Eugene Peterson
writes, "the first move of this God-initiated replacement of Saul is framed
by the human emotion of fear." Samuel is afraid. He essentially says to God,
"What of Saul hears about this and tries to kill me?" This is the same
Samuel who has just publicly humiliated Saul; the same Samuel who takes the
King of the Amalekites and cuts him to pieces. Not the actions of a fearful
prophet. But now he is afraid of Saul??
Well, God gives Samuel the cover story that he needs, saying "If
anyone asks why you are going to Bethlehem, tell them that you are going
there to offer a sacrifice to me." And despite his fear of Saul, Samuel
goes. And, notice what happens when Samuel arrives in Bethlehem. The elders
of the city see him arriving with a holy heifer and
they
are terrified. Why has Samuel come to them? Is the great prophet coming in
peace or has he come to exact God's judgment upon them?
Regardless of why they are afraid, the point is that they are. And so
Samuel has come to assure them that their pastor, their priest, has come in
peace. He invites them to sanctify themselves and to join him at the
sacrifice.
Now, it is unclear whether or not anyone knows the real reason for Samuel's
visit. And, it is unclear to Samuel which of the eight sons of Jesse he is
to anoint as the new King of Israel. The only thing God has told him is that
one of the sons of Jesse will be the new king and he will know which one
when he sees him.
As Jesse's firstborn, Eliab, approaches the sacrificial table, Samuel thinks
to himself, "This surely must be Yahweh's anointed.", which is followed by
one of the scripture's
most famous verses
"But
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.'”
One down... six to go. So Jesse calls his next son and he too is rejected.
And then the next... and the next... and the next. Until finally, all seven
were rejected by Samuel. Samuel is surprised and he asks Jesse, "Is this it?
Is this all of your sons?" It apparently never occurred to Jesse that little
brother David was good for anything more than menial farm work.
As Eugene Peterson states, "The choice of David, the most unlikely of the
brothers, has entered Christian imagination as a characteristic mark of
God's electing grace."
Paul's way
of putting it was,
"God
chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce
to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of
God."
What is the point of all of this? What can we take with us from this story
of the call of David to be King of Israel?
We can look upon the call of David (a shepherd, the youngest of the
brothers, the least of those in his father's eyes) and know that God can use
us even when others don't quite see it. God isn't concerned with the
outside, it's the heart that matters. God wants people who have a heart for
God. The world may not consider you to be a first-round draft pick for their
team, but God knows your potential.
A lot of us are afraid to engage in ministry because we are afraid that we
won't meet up to people's expectations. We are afraid that others won't
think that we are capable of doing anything worthwhile for God. But, this
is not true! Samuel invited Jesse to bring all of his sons because he
was going to anoint one of them as King of Israel. But, Jesse brought all
but one. The youngest, the least likely to be chosen, he sent to go watch
after the flocks, to take care of his shepherding duties. And yet, this is
the very one whom God has chosen. Not the oldest, not the one that Jesse
thought would be chosen, not the one Samuel saw who looked like he was the
one, but David the youngest... the one God had chosen.
And so, the question for us today is this:
"What is the purpose for your life in this time and in this place?"
What is it that God has equipped you to do? What special gift or skill has
God given to you to use? What is it that God has called you to do? What
'ministry' does God want you to do in order to help spread God's love and
grace and to build up God's Kingdom? What is your purpose here and now?
When we look at our lives and when we look at the biblical story, we see
that this purpose and this calling can change. God called Saul to be king
for a certain season. God called David to be king for a certain purpose. God
might ask us to do something at some point in our life and then ask to do
something different later on. The point of this is that God is always
calling us to something! God can always use us. God always
wants to use us.
But the biggest problems, the biggest barriers, the things that keep so many
of us from doing what God intends for us to do are: an awareness of
guilt, a sense of fear, a feeling of inadequacy and a loss of vision and
purpose.
The first barriers to living out our purpose are guilt and shame. It's
amazing what guilt and shame can do to a person and how it can hamper our
involvement in ministry. People talk about the difference between guilt and
shame. They say that we feel guilt for what we
do
and shame for what we
are. Many people, on
account of their guilt or shame, avoid Godly things. They avoid being
involved in ministry because they are afraid to stand before God. Just like
the fellow who almost dropped dead before me when he found out that I was a
pastor.
Guilt often causes people to withdraw. Often there is an attempt to hide it
or to ignore it so that it won't feel so bad. This is especially damaging to
our relationship with God; when someone is afraid that their guilt will be
exposed.
But, guilt is not all bad. It can lead to some positive changes.
There's a story about a little girl who had a fiery temper. She just had a
habit of doing and saying all kinds of nasty things to her parents and her
friends. One day after she had beaten up one of her playmates, her father
decided to teach her a lesson. He said, "Every time that you do or say
something mean, I am going to take one of these big nails, and I am going to
nail it into the fence post out in front of our house. And every time that
you do or say something nice, Then I am going to pull one if the nails out."
Well, after about a month, the fencepost was just filled with nails. It
looked like a porcupine. But, that visual image got to that little girl. She
saw that and became ashamed of it. She actually began to turn her life
around. In fact, she took it on as a challenge to get every one of those
nails out of there. So, week upon week, she began to do nice things for, and
say nice things to her friend and her family. And, one-by-one the nails
started coming out until the day finally arrived when there was only one
nail left in the post. So she went out and did something nice for someone.
And then she watched with a great sense of accomplishment as her father
pulled out that final nail. She smiled big and wide and started to dance
around and exclaimed, "See daddy... see daddy. All the nails are gone!" And
her father, gazing at the fencepost, said, "Yes honey. all the nails are
gone, but the scars remain."
Guilt and shame. They can cause us to avoid being involved in doing God's
work because their scars can cause us to feel unworthy, unable or
incompetent. But, guilt and shame can also cause us to do good things...
great things; to become more and more the kind of person God wants us to be.
The next two barriers to living out our purpose are a sense of fear and a
sense of inadequacy. What are we afraid of? What fears are preventing us
from stepping out of our comfort zone and really using the gifts that God
has given us in some form of ministry?
The fears that prevent people from serving in some form of ministry: I am
not smart enough. I don't know enough. I'm not charismatic enough. I'm not
nice enough. My faith is not strong enough.
Many of us have this misconception that we need to be a professional in
order to be in ministry. But, to be in ministry, you don't have to be
a professional. God is more concerned about people who are faithful. To be
in ministry, you don't have to be the most articulate. God is more
concerned about people who will listen. To be in ministry, you don't
have to have it "all together". God is more concerned about people who are
willing to offer themselves and to make themselves available. To be in
ministry, you don't have to know everything, you don't have to be an
expert. God is more concerned about people who are teachable; people who are
moldable. God wants F.A.T. people. God wants people who are Faithful,
Available and Teachable.
The last barrier to living our our purpose is a loss of vision or focus. So
often we hear people talk about getting "burned out"; worn out doing the
work of the church. Now I may be wrong, but I don't think that's the real
problem. I think the real problem is not about getting burned out, but about
getting "blacked out". It's about losing our vision and our focus on
ministry. It's when we lose our focus on why we are here and what we are
called to be, for God. When, as instruments of His Kingdom on this earth,
that ministry becomes a burden and a chore. It is easy in the every day
living of life and faith to lose sight of the vision that once called us
into being a servant of God in the first place. It is easy to forget our
purpose, to lose sight of our calling and to get wrapped up into the details
or minutia of ministry.
And so, what can you do when you begin to feel this way? When you begin to
feel burned out? How do you get back on track? This is a real problem.
When we see no visible results of the ministry that we are doing, when we
have no sense that we are helping people, when we have little proof that we
are making a difference in this world, when we feel that we are working too
hard... that we are getting burned out, the only things that can keep us
going are to:
1) Rediscover our purpose, to rediscover our calling. To cling to that
awareness that it was not our own
doing that brought us into ministry. But,
rather, it was God who called us, God who gifted us, God who
commissions us,
God who sends us to expend our lives in a work far more significant than
ourselves.
It's recapturing the sense and vision of our
calling.
2) Realize that God sends God's Holy Spirit into our hearts and minds to
sustain us, guide us and comfort us.
Our Old Testament lesson
ends
with these words,
"Then
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."
Let us go out from this place confident that God has called us, confident
that God has gifted us and
confident that God will continue to work in and through us to change the
world! Amen. |
