"That rainbow song's no good. Take it out."
- MGM memo after first showing of The Wizard Of Oz.
"You'd better learn secretarial skills or else get married."
Modeling agency, rejecting Marilyn Monroe in 1944.
"You ought to go back to driving a truck."
- Concert manager, firing Elvis Presley in 1954.
"Forget it. No Civil War picture ever made a nickel." -
MGM executive, advising against investing in Gone With The Wind.
"Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." -
A film company's verdict on Fred Astaire's 1928 screen test.
How wrong can you be,
especially when you think you know something about it?
Here is Samuel, an experienced prophet coming to Bethlehem
to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king to follow the discredited King Saul.
But even Samuel cannot call it right.
It's not one of the line up of seven grown men
it's the one they've forgotten about
'One by one, Jesse's sons stood before the prophet
Their father knew a king would soon be found.
Each one passed except the last, no one thought to call him
for surely he would never wear the crown.
But when others see a shepherd boy, God may see a king.'
To see things as God sees them
that is a gift worth desiring and praying for.
Why didn't Samuel get it right first time?
He was a great prophet,
he was the boy dedicated by his mother to serve God
who in the temple had heard God speak when nobody had for years
who judged Israel for years, who anointed and guided King Saul.
But even great prophets blink and can get it wrong
even ministers and other dedicated full time Christian workers
can miss or mishear what God is saying.
Did you notice something poisoning the atmosphere early on in this story?
It's that naughty four letter word that begins with F. Fear
v2 shows us that Samuel was afraid of Saul,
if he were caught anointing a new king
v4 shows that Samuel had a fearsome reputation.
The elders in Bethlehem don't seem particularly delighted to see him.
For all his great spiritual history
when he arrives in Bethlehem
Samuel is carrying some unspiritual baggage.
Disappointed and grieving over Saul's disobedience, fearful,
perhaps tired and wondering
what will be the fruit of all his years of hard service,
should we wonder that Samuel initially gets it wrong
about who the new king will be?
But it isn't just weariness that affects his vision
Samuel illustrates a warning that John gives in his first letter
to even spiritually mature people
1 John 2.12-14
12 I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
14 I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
John is building up to share a great spiritual truth with the whole church
at every stage of spiritual awareness:
children who know they are forgiven,
young men who are strong in the spiritual battle,
fathers who have a deep knowledge of the eternal God
Samuel was one who had come through all these stages.
What is the great truth that John wants all these folk to take in?
Is it, you are all fine Christians and doing so well? No.
I really have no worries about you, you really have arrived spiritually? No.
John is telling these Christians
who have had a deep long lasting even victorious relationship with God
to be careful and get their value system right
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything in the world
--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes
and the boasting of what he has and does-
comes not from the Father but from the world.'
The world here is not the world as the beloved creation of the father
which Christ died to redeem
but this is the world in rebellion against its loving Father creator.
that system of values that goes by surface appearance
what is biggest, glossiest, sexiest.
Watch out for it as the Xmas industry cranks up in these weeks.
The world with its pressure to have and control is not be loved.
But there was a sad religious example recently,
the hurt Cardinal Connell felt
at being ignored, even insulted by Trinity College.
We need to be careful
because in criticising the cardinal we can be criticising ourselves.
There is that desire in so many of us to be up on the platform
in the public eye, having our place.
How do we feel, for example,
when others are thanked and rewarded and we are left out?
Do we not so easily slip into
assessing people by the surface rather than by the character?
When Samuel and the others admired Eliab, Abdinab and the other 7 sons
were they not taken in by the 'lust of the eyes' as John calls it?
'the tendency to be captivated by the outward show of things
without looking into their real value' (CH Dodd)
Isn't it in our natures to ask: What do I think and what do others think?
We need constantly to ask 'What does God think?' What does God want?'
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
So it is that the God of surprises amazes us with a most unlikely choice:
the eighth son, outside the complete number seven; the youngest;
the least impressive, with no credential, no claim,
occupied as a humble shepherd.
Do you see what God is doing? He reverses our values and expectations. This is how God works:
raising the poor, lifting up the lowly, giving them a place of honour.
The first shall be last and the last first.
It is the way God continually works
be it with a fearful & cringing Gideon in the Old Testament
or the church at Corinth with its inferiority complex
'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. (I Corinthians 1.27-28)
It was the 'small fellow' at home, whom God had chosen
the runt of the family, not old enough to come to the sacrifice
useful for the sheep, not for men's business.
But David was 'a man after God's own heart'
not a perfect man but one whom God could use
as we may see in coming weeks.
One not only anointed with oil by Samuel
but on whom the Spirit of God came in power from that day on.
Well he wasn't the oldest, wasn't the strongest chosen on that day.
Yet the giant fell, nations trembled, they stood in his way.
And when others see a shepherd boy God may see a king
even though your life seems filled with ordinary things
In just a moment he can touch you and everything will change
When others see a shepherd boy God may see a king.
How does this apply in our lives?
How can we overcome fear and avoid the allure of surface solutions?
It's a matter as John writes of back to basic first principles
24 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.
If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is what he promised us--even eternal life.
26 I am writing these things to you
about those who are trying to lead you astray.
27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you,
and you do not need anyone to teach you
But as his anointing teaches you about all things
and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you,
remain in him.
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears
we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
David had a special anointing of the Holy Spirit
but now every believer in Jesus receives the Holy Spirit
who can give us a sense of what pleases God and displeases him
almost like a kind of background music in our lives
but the keynote is to continue, remain in relationship with him.
Lord, Help us to see in to the heart of things.
It is not just Samuel or other people,
we all look too much on the outside, on the surface.
In an age of 'spin' and 'image'
we can all neglect the inner life
but you see us through and through and nothing can be hidden.
Perhaps we are like Samuel:
we have done our bit for you and suffered and been disappointed
we have been swayed by fear.
Restore us to a close relationship with you.
Perhaps we feel we are a David: insignificant and not much use
left out in the fields to do the job nobody else wants.
Let us see your loving reality about our lives.
We may not become a king
but may we know your anointing for the service that you desire of us
may we know your presence in us and we in you.
Abide in Christ remain in him and bear much fruit
and be unashamed of him when he comes
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