Anointed

Scripture: I Samuel 16: 1-13

Sermon: Anointed

Topics: election, anointed, chosen, church, free will[

Preached: September 12, 2021

Rev. Mike Abma

The 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.

6 When 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 Jesse 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.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

INTRODUCTION

J.R.R. Tolkien’s majestic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, begins with a prophet-looking man named Gandalf riding into the little town of Hobbiton.

His arrival has a public purpose: he is there to celebrate the birthdays of the older

Hobbit, Bilbo, and his younger relative, Frodo.

But his arrival also has a private purpose: to make sure the Ring – this Ring of

Power – is passed from Bilbo to Frodo. The private purpose is to make sure

That Frodo succeeds Bilbo and becomes the new ring-bearer.^[1]

The story of David begins in a similar fashion.

Samuel, the aging prophet,

rides into the little town of Bethlehem

with a public purpose and a private purpose.

The public purpose is to make a sacrifice to the Lord.

The private purpose is to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as the new king of Israel to succeed king Saul.

SONS OF JESSE

Jesse happened to have a lot of sons.

Jesse parades them before the prophet, oldest to youngest:

first there is the impressive Eliab,

then Abinadab,

then Shammah,

and then…..the rest.

Eugene Peterson, the translator of Bible version, the Message, writes that when he was a boy, his mother gave names to all the sons of Jesse:

Yes, there was Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah,

but in her telling there was also Ollie, Gump, Klug, and Chugger.

As a boy, Peterson has clear memories of this Magnificent 7.

It was only when Peterson was older and began reading the Bible for himself, that he discovered that the Bible made no mention of Ollie, Gump, Klug, and Chugger.

Those 4 were nowhere to be found – except in the imagination of his mother.

Only the oldest 3 are mentioned by name.^[2]

I kind of know how that goes.

You see, I, myself, am from a large family of 9 kids.

When I was growing up, I noticed that anyone who was familiar with our family could usually name the first 3 children – Andrew, John, Janet….

After that, there were lots of umms, and ahhs.

It was just so hard to remember all the rest.

DAVID – THE UNLIKELY CHOICE

You can imagine old Samuel watching all 7 of these handsome and fit young men parading in front of him, and being rather shocked that not one of them was THE ONE. Samuel is left asking Jesse a somewhat embarrassing question:

“Are you sure these are all your sons.”

“Well,” stammered Jesse, “there is still the youngest.”

‘The youngest” is a rather charitable translation of this Hebrew word.

Elsewhere in the Old Testament this Hebrew word (haqqaton) is translated as

“the least”

“the smallest”

the “most insignificant.”

The sense here is that David is simply “the kid” “the child” “the punk.”^[3]

Of all his 8 sons, Jesse considered David the least worthy to take up any of the prophet’s time.

And yet…..yet….the Lord says, “This is the One. Anoint him.”

Anoint him,

not because he was healthy;

not because he was handsome;

not because he was the most godly or showed the most potential.

No, David did nothing to deserve his anointing.

He was simply chosen by God,

elect by God

as part of God’s plan, as part of his everlasting purposes.

Notice how David says nothing and really does nothing in this passage.

There is no “Mission Impossible” preamble:

“David, Son of Jesse,

your mission,

should you decide to accept it,

is to be the new king of Israel.”

There is none of that.

David is simply anointed.

Not consulted.

Not asked.

He is simply given the gift of being anointed by God,

and then given the task of serving God.

Gift, then task.

JESUS — THE ANOINTED ONE

Centuries later

a descendant of David’s

would come dripping out of the river Jordan.

Soon after,

he would read from the prophet Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord has come upon me,

for he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor

to proclaim freedom to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

He would read that passage, then declare, – that’s me!

We call Jesus, the Messiah.

Messiah is from a Hebrew word.

Know what that Hebrew word means?

It means, “the Anointed One.”

We all call Jesus, the Christ.

Christ is from a Greek word.

Know what that Greek word means?

It means, “The Anointed One.”

Are you getting the impression that being Anointed is a Really Big Deal?

THE CHURCH — The Annointed Ones

The writers of the Heidelberg Catechism knew how big a deal it was.

They not only spell out what the name “Christ” means,

but also what his anointing means.

Here is what they put on Q&A 31

SLIDE Q&A 31

Why is Jesus called “Christ,” meaning “anointed”?

Because he has been ordained by God the Father

and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit

to be our chief prophet and teacher

our only high priest

and our eternal king.

The Catechism writers go on to say that an even more amazing thing is that we share in Christ’s anointing.

SLIDE 2

And why are we called Christians?

Because by faith we are members of Christ

and so we share in his anointing.

We are anointed

to confess his name (our prophetic role)

to present ourselves to him as a living sacrifices of thanks (our priestly role)

to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life,

and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity. (our kingly role).

You might wonder, “I can’t remember being anointed.”

But in baptism, you were.

In baptism,

you were chosen,

you were anointed.

True, as a baby

you probably were not consulted,

you probably were not asked.

But nevertheless,

in baptism,

God chose you,

God anointed you.

And God has given you the task of being his anointed people in the world —

anointed to be his prophets, his priests, his kings and queens.

You may still wonder about all this.

You may wonder whether you have the gifts, or the talents, or the ability to do all that.

But you know,

God seems to specialize

in calling and anointing

the very people who feel unqualified for the honor.

Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 1: 26-28

Not many of us are wise

Not many of us are powerful

Not many of us are noble.

But God chose the foolish

God chose the weak

God chose the lowly and despised

To bring about his kingdom.

The amazing truth is that

God has given us the gift of our identity:

We are God’s anointed people.

We are in Christ – the Anointed One.

And Christ, the Anointed One, is in us.

As God’s Anointed,

We have also been given a task –

The task of being his prophets, confessing his name and his truth;

his priests, offering our lives in sacrifice and thanksgiving ,

and his royalty in this world — fighting for His justice,

working for His kingdom.

THE MYSTERY OF ELECTION

All this talk of anointing, and being chosen

may leave you a little unsettled.

You may still be wondering

“Hey, what choice do I have in all this?”

If you are thinking that this all sounds like the doctrine of election

is being slipped into this sermon,

well, you are absolutely right!

When we talk about

God choosing,

God anointing,

We ARE talking about God electing.

Now I know talk of the doctrine of election confuses us.

But I want you to arrive at the point where talk of election

is less a matter of confusion

and more a matter of deep comfort.

I think we can arrive at that point

when we keep thinking about election

in the context of the BIG PICTURE —

the Big Picture that includes David;

the Big Picture that includes Jesus;

the Big Picture that includes

the wide scope of God’s everlasting purpose,

and how that everlasting purpose

is all about bringing us out of darkness

into His marvelous light,

and bringing us out of death

into His eternal life.

Once we keep that BIG PICTURE in view,

then suddenly the mystery of election

“Is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort.”^[4]

FRODO and FREE WILL^[5]

I would like to go back to the Lord of the Rings for a moment.

I mentioned earlier that the book begins with Frodo becoming the ring-bearer,

and seemingly not having much choice in the matter.

But you may be thinking that Frodo does not really work as an example of

being Anointed

or being Elected.

That is because Frodo does eventually make a choice.

At the Council of Elrond,

when everyone is clamoring about who should take the ring

into Mordor and to Mount Doom.

It is then that Frodo steps up and declares, “I will take it. I will take it.”

He had a choice.

To that, I say, “Good, you remember the movie very well.”

But I invite you to go back to the actual book,

to what Tolkien, the deeply Christian author, actually wrote.

Just before Frodo declares that he will take the ring,

there is this sentence:

“At last, with an effort, Frodo spoke,

and wondered to hear his own words,

as if some other will was using his small voice.”^[6]

As if some other will was using his small voice.

CONCLUSION

Here is the mystery of the election – God at work in us.

We have been chosen.

We have been anointed.

We have been given the task

To be prophets, priests, and king

On behalf of our chief prophet, our one high priest, and our eternal King.

And we pursue this task

we pursue this work

with fear and trembling

For, as Philippians 2:13 so eloquently puts it,

“ it is God who is at work in us

both to will and to work his good pleasure.”

Our lives find direction when we know who we are – we are God’s anointed.

Our lives find purpose when we know why we have been anointed —

We have been anointed so that

God’s will becomes our will,

So that God’s way becomes our way.

To which all God’s Anointed say….

AMEN

PRAYER OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Dear Lord,

You are the light of the minds that know you,

The life of the souls that love you,

And the strength of the wills that serve you.

Help us to know you, that we may truly love you;

And loving you, to truly serve you;

For in serving you we find perfect freedom.

Amen

1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Ballantine, p. 47-63. ↑

2. Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall: Earthly Spirituality for Everyday Christians, pp. 15-16. ↑

3. The Hebrew word is haqqaton – which is translated in 1 Samuel 9:21 as “the least of the tribes” Jeremiah 31;34 as “the least to the greatest” and Psalm 115:13 “the small and the great” ↑

4. From Article 17 of the Confession The 39 Articles of the Church of England, ↑

5. This is also the title of Fleming Rutledge’s excellent sermon “Frodo and Free Will” in Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Sermons form Paul’s Letter to the Romans. She makes the excellent observation about “some other will using Frodo’s small voice.” ↑

6. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Ballantine, p. 354 ↑