This Is the One, the Lord’s Anointed!

1st Sunday after Epiphany, 1/13/19
1 Samuel 16:1-13


This Is the One, the Lord’s Anointed!
I. Chosen by God’s grace
II. Given the Spirit to serve God


What’s your selection criteria? In other words, when you make a selection, on what do you base it? Quality? Price? Name brand? Color? Size? Options? Durability?

Quite often, it’s all of the above. Depending on what you’re looking for, you might expend a great deal of thought on what you’re selecting. Few, if any of us, would make a major purchase—such as a vehicle or a house—without weighing our options carefully before making a choice. Price is a huge factor. So are quality and options.

But if it’s something as common as milk or gasoline, we make our selection in a split-second. It’s what’s easily available and close at hand. We’re not going to drive far to enjoy another selection because it doesn’t pay. We’d be wasting more time and gas.

Today we’re celebrating the saving truth that our gracious, saving God selected Jesus to be the world’s Savior from sin. Without a doubt, it’s the most important selection in the history of the world. Without that selection, we’re doomed to everlasting death in hell. Without that selection, our lives are hopeless, joyless, pointless. Without that choice, we’re guilt-full, shame-full, contempt-full.

But with that choice, we have everlasting righteousness, eternal peace, never-ending joy.

So, with this all-important selection, what was God’s criteria? On what does he base his choice and why does he make it?

Let’s delve into his selection of David to be Israel’s next king. In that account, we see the answers to why he chose David, why he chose Jesus, and why he chose us. Marvel with me this morning at God’s selection process. In each of those selections, we’ll rejoice over the truth that this is the one, this is the Lord’s anointed.

Part I.

Before we look at the selection God made here in this morning’s text from 1 Samuel 16, consider some of the “peculiar” selections God made that were recorded on the pages of Holy Scripture. He chose Moses to lead his people, even though Moses was a murderer, full of excuses and “slow of speech.” He chose Rahab, a Gentile woman of ill repute, to become one of the ancestresses of Jesus. He chose Peter to be one of his leading apostles, although Peter displayed some huge character flaws. He chose Paul to be his instrument to take the gospel to the Gentiles even though Paul was a feared persecutor of Christianity. Now who makes choices like that?

God does, and we see that here in the account of his choice of David to be Israel’s next king. Up to this point, this “king” thing had not gone well in Israel. Our text opens with God’s reprimand of his prophet Samuel for mourning over Israel’s current king, a man named Saul. Saul was a failure as far as leading God’s people. He had rejected the Lord as his God and so the Lord rejected him. And now it was time for God to make another selection. You heard about it earlier. He sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king of Israel. But even a God-fearing prophet such as Samuel had a hard time making God’s kind of selection. Samuel looked at the outward appearance of seven of Jesse’s sons, thinking here must stand the next King of Israel. But what did God say? “Do not consider… appearance or…height. The Lord looks at the heart.”

But when Samuel saw David, God told him, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” What made David different from his brothers? Only his heart. Later in David’s life God would describe David as one who had a heart that pleased God. How could that be, given that David was an adulterer and murderer? Because he trusted in the Lord for his forgiveness. David’s faith was God’s gift to him. God chose David on the basis of his grace, not because of anything David had done or could do.

And in today’s Gospel reading we heard how God stated the same thing about his Son, Jesus. “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Lk. 3:22). God chose Jesus to be the world’s Savior from sin. What would cause God to make that selection? Why would he choose to sacrifice his Son for the sins of the world rather than someone else’s Son? Why would he choose to select his Son at all, even to become involved in saving a world full of sinners who love to rebel against him? For the same reason that he chose David—his grace. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that Jesus didn’t deserve to be chosen (he certainly did as the Holy One of God). It’s that we didn’t deserve to have God choose him. Our God never looked down on a single one of us and said, “That sinner is not so bad, at least not nearly as bad as others. I think I’ll choose my Son to sacrifice him for that person.” That was never the case. God chose Jesus because of his astounding grace.

And in that same grace God chose you and me. Yes, he chose us. Scripture states that God chose us to be his children even before the creation of the world. He knew you by name. And now, in your lifetime, he has called you to be his own by bringing you to faith in Jesus. At your baptism he placed his name—the name of the triune God—on you, and called you his own child. Just as God selected Jesus at his baptism to be your Savior, so he used your baptism to make Jesus your own Savior.

On what basis? Solely his grace. Nothing in you that God should select you. Only what’s in your God—his love for sinners that causes him to act out of grace to save you.

This is the one, the Lord’s anointed—chosen by the grace of God.

God chose David, God chose Jesus, God chose you. All by grace. God didn’t select David because he was the best candidate for kingship. And he didn’t choose you because you presented a fine, prospective Christian. Far from it. The sins that lurked in David’s heart, lurk in yours and mine as well. The sinful nature that courses through David’s veins courses through yours and mine as well. And we need to remember that when we think we’re something special, when we think God owes us something, when we think we’re getting the raw end of the deal when it comes to life. We deserve nothing but hell. But God in his grace chose us for heaven. That choice involved nothing less than the selection of his Son to be your Savior and mine. Only through that Son’s sacrifice are we redeemed children of God. Only through that Son’s sacrifice are our sins washes away. Only through that Son’s sacrifice are we welcome into our heavenly home. God chose David. God chose Jesus. God chose you.

This is the one, the Lord’s anointed! Chosen by the grace of God.

Part II.

Do you collect anything? I used to collect stamps. I don’t know if people still do that or not. In the 1970s, beer can collections were all the rage. Then it was cabbage patch dolls. Later it was beanie babies. I’m not sure if people still collect Hummel figures or not. Sometimes people form collections because they’re valuable. But most of the time, they collect things simply to have them.

When God chose David, he didn’t do so in order to add another king of Israel to his small, but growing, collection. God had a purpose in mind. He chose David to serve him by serving his people. In so many ways David did exactly that. God used David to provide protection for his people from their enemies who wanted to kill and annihilate them. God used David to administer justice for his people. God used David to lead his people in worshipping him as the only true God. God used David to be one of the ancestors of Jesus. And what enable David to serve his God so well was the fact that God blessed David in a special way with his Holy Spirit. Listen to the Bible’s description of it. “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.” The Holy Spirit gave David uncommon bravery, wisdom and trust in the Lord.

Jesus, too, was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Not in the same way as David, however. God had foretold in the Old Testament that he would send the Anointed One—the Messiah—to save them. He would be anointed with the Holy Spirit. That happened at his baptism when the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove came upon him. That was God’s sign to the world that this is the One whom God had chosen to be the world’s Savior from sin. Jesus went on to serve a world full of sinners by living and dying for them.

And now God has anointed you with the Holy Spirit as well. For many of you it happened at your baptism when God used the water connected to the word of God to send the Holy Spirit into your heart and bring you to faith in Jesus. He gave you that Spirit to save you from sin, but also to equip you for service in his kingdom. Our God has incredible things planned for you to do as one of his dearly loved children. And he gives you the ability to do them by giving you his Holy Spirit who lives in you by faith in Jesus. Without a doubt, God has chosen you, not simply to add you to his collection, but to give you his Spirit and equip you to serve him as you serve others.

This is the one, the Lord’s anointed! You’ve been given the Spirit to serve God.

How do you view your faith, your life as a child of God? Have you ever viewed it in terms of what God demands of you or what he expects from you? Are there times in your life when you have concluded that being a Christian wasn’t so desirable at the moment? If so, you’re probably looking at it all wrong. God didn’t choose Jesus to be your Savior in order to get anything out of you. He didn’t choose you to be his child in order to get something from you. He chose you to give you something, something not all the money in the world can buy—life in his family of believers, forgiveness of all your sins, eternal life in heaven. Viewed from that proper perspective, your Christian life is all joy. You’re special to your God, eternally special, so special that he sacrificed Jesus—the One God chose—for you.

Jesus is the One, the Lord’s anointed. And because he is and always will be, you are the one God has chosen. Live in that Christian hope and joy and serve him! Amen.