What Are You Looking At?

We have all the heard the saying, Never judge a book by its cover, right? Yet have you considered how much money goes into creating the covers of every book at Barnes and Noble. Or even on the magazines at the checkout lines. Not to mention the CD’s or DVD’s. Industries revolve around the fact that we will do just that, judge whether or not we want to buy something, just by its cover. We make value judgments all the time, determining with our eyes whether or not something is good.
Yet we also do it people. Although it is certainly not politically correct, we do it. We have been programmed by our experiences with people to judge other people based on how they match up. We have stereotypes in our head already. They may be based on profession, on race, on social class, on hobbies, on fashion or any number of other classifications, but the point is we all have them. And when we look at somebody, whether we want to or not we immediately judge them. We may find out later that we were wrong, or we may find out later that we were absolutely right, but the point is we judge them based on what we see.
For example, the other day my van broke down and so I called AAA for a tow to the repair shop. When I was talking with the people at AAA I got the impression this was a top notched organization. I imagined them all dressed in nice clothes, perhaps even matching uniforms. The men may have even worn a tie. However, once the tow truck arrived, I thought to myself, I wonder if this is the corporate image that AAA means to convey. The driver was a big man, he must have been 6’4” and he dwarfed me by more than his height. He had tattoos in many colors down both arms and along his neck. He looked like a very formidable man. Now I admit that before I had ever said one word to him or engaged him in any way, I had already formed an opinion. Shame on me. I thought him to be such a hard man, yet he surprised me, for as we were driving to the destination, he began flipping through the stations. I expected some death metal or hard rock when he settled on a country song and began singing in falsetto, “I’m a redneck woman.” Obviously I misjudged him.
The point is it’s easy to judge someone by their appearance, but it’s also wrong to do so. The Bible makes it clear that God does not judge people the same way. As a matter of fact, when some people see a redneck farm boy, God may see a future king. Let’s look at the story from 1 Samuel 16
[16:1] 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."

Now before we get too far, I need to catch you up on the story. Saul had been selected to be the first king of Israel. Of Course God had been their king and wanted to remain their king, but the people cried out saying they wanted to have a king, because all of the other nations had a king. God tried to tell them, through Samuel that they didn’t need a king, but they refused to hear it. So God appointed the prototypical king, Saul. It says of Saul, that there was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he, and that he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Clearly this man looked like a king. But it didn’t take long for Saul to get full of himself and think that he could do whatever he wanted. And the things that he did that made God upset, weren’t even bad things per se, they simply weren’t the things that God had told him to do. So God rejected Saul as King and declared that he would anoint another. That is where we come into the story.
[2] Samuel 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.' [3] Invite 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." [4] Samuel 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?"
No remember, Samuel was the prophet of God, the spokesperson for God. He wasn’t always as welcome as you might think. When he comes into Bethlehem, the men of the town are a little nervous. Who knows if God is going to cast down judgment on them, or tell them they must repent or some other news that would upset their normal lives. Although we no longer view pastors or priests in those ways, sometimes when people aren’t accustomed to seeing one, the welcome is the same. They immediately try to straighten up, or they fear that some bad news will be given or that they will be told to repent or perish. They have formed an opinion merely at the sight of the pastor, just as the elders began to form an opinion simply at the sight of Samuel. He allayed their fears however.
[5] He 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.
He told them he came in peace, yet he did not tell them his purpose, other than to have a sacrifice. Now at this time there was no temple, so sacrifices were performed at local sites, however, there were still rules governing who could be present and ritual cleansings and sanctification that had to occur. For this reason, Jesse had to be invited and sanctified by Samuel, as well as his sons. This may have seemed strange to the elders who were there, but they were not going to interfere with Samuel.
[6] When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord."
Now it is Samuel’s turn to form an opinion, for as Eliab passes by, Samuel thinks to himself, My My my, this looks like the next king. He was probably the oldest son, he was clearly tall and rather handsome, judging from what is said in the next verse, plus his name was God is Father. This seemed like a perfect match. This was the one God sent Samuel to Bethlehem for, or so he thought.
[7] 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."
There it is, the crux of the matter, God tells Samuel, You do not see what I see. You cannot know what I know. If all you are doing is looking on the outside, you are missing most of the person. God does not see as we see, because we look from the outside in, but he sees from the inside out. He sees what will become, more than what has become. He is not judging books by their cover, he is writing the pages on the inside. It’s as though he says to Samuel, “What are you looking at?” So Samuel just waited for God to tell him, “This is the one.”
[10] Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen any of these."
No Samuel may have been getting a bit nervous for he knew that God had told him he was to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, yet none of these had been chosen. But he knew God was faithful and true and he knew that God had not made a mistake, so he asked Jesse a simple, but pertinent question.
[11] Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep."
Now remember, Jesse did not know what this was all about. It is doubtful that he was withholding David from Samuel; he probably didn’t realize that David was invited for he was only a youth and he was out working in the fields. And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." [12] He 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."
This was the one, this ruddy, yet handsome boy, who was working in the fields, is the one who God had called. Now ruddy is often translated as red, and it is unclear in the text if this means he had red hair or red skin tone or was sunburned. I’d like to think that maybe it means he was a redneck farm boy who God called to be king. Whether or not that is true, it is true that God saw beyond what others saw. He looks further than we do. He is not content with looking at our painted faces, and divergent fashions. He isn’t concerned about that. He is concerned about what is in your heart. Because this is where the measure of the person is. And just as God declared it, we cannot see inside another person’s heart, unless they show us. Only God can. But what that means is that we cannot pretend to know what is inside another person’s heart unless we are God.
So let’s stop looking at a person and trying to define them. We cannot, nor do we need to. While the outside may be a clue as to what lies underneath, there is so much more than meets the eye, in each one of us.
However, there is another side to this story that we need to really grab a hold of. God sees our heart. Now for some of us, that may be scary, to think that God sees all the blackness that we hide away in there, well, he wants to help us clean it up. But for others this is encouragement, because God does not judge you like the rest of the world. God does not see those things that the world tries to demean you with as having any value. What the world things about you is really of no consequence to God, because He sees the real you. The you that the world would be blessed to see, if they had the chance. So hold on to Jesus, because if God sees this in you, he may decide to show the whole world as he did with David, the man who is still considered the greatest King Israel has ever had, and the man after God’s own heart.

God In Us, Our Intercessor and Advocate

Today we celebrate what is arguably the most important Holiday in the Christian year. Of course there could be no Christian year without the birth of Christ, so Christmas always ranks up there as an important Holiday. And without his death for our sins, he would simply have been another religious leader so we have to give credence to Good Friday. And I simply have yet to find another day as remarkable as Resurrection Sunday, when this dead man Jesus raised himself up from the grave after conquering our sin and our death. That is incomparable. Yet today is marks another remarkable event that in some churches hardly even gets mentioned. Yet without this event, I doubt there would be a single Christian church in the world today, or for that matter a single Christian. For although God had created us to be his children, and Christ died for us to be reconciled, it wasn’t until Pentecost that the individual miracle of personal salvation became apparent when the Holy Spirit came to live in us! God with us- Emmanuel, became God in Us, the Holy Spirit.

Of course this event had been foretold for centuries, as Peter reminds the Jews by quoting from Joel. And Jesus himself had foretold it just weeks and days before. Yet now it was happening. As we read the Scripture from Acts 2 every year on this occasion (or at least we should) it always catches our attention at what great thing was happening there. I’m afraid, however, that we often think of this as simply another one time event, like Good Friday and Easter, that happened that one time but has effects that continue. Well that is true, but it is not true. It is an event that happened and has effects that continue, but this was not a one time only event. The coming of the Holy Spirit was not something that was to happen just to the disciples and those gathered in the upper room, but it was to happen to all those who believed. Peter actually closes out his message in chapter 2 saying this very thing.

Look with me if you will to Acts chapter 2 verses 37-39. See what Peter says to those who realize that they need to do something about their relationship with God and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him."

You see here, Peter declares that the Holy Spirit is for all who repent and are baptized in Christ. But it is not simply for those of that day, for he continues by saying this is a promise for you, and for your children, and all who will believe on the Lord Jesus and answer the call of God. I hope that we all know this and realize that this was not simply an event in Jerusalem among some witnesses of the resurrection. The book of Acts actually goes further to prove that point by showing the Holy Spirit coming again on new converts in Samaria in chapter 8 and on Gentiles in chapter 10. So clearly, having the Holy Spirit is a mark of a Christian. And each one of us who has believed in Jesus Christ and put our trust in him not only for our eternal destination, but for our everyday lives has the Holy Spirit living within us.

But what does that mean? What does it mean to have the God of the Universe living within you? I tried to explain this to my seven year old, Samuel and at first he said “No wonder you’re so big.” But then he thought, “shouldn’t I be bigger?” It really is a fascinating concept and one that is difficult to grasp. What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit in us. So often we focus on Jesus and what he has accomplished, or we focus on the wonderful works of the Creator, but what does the Holy Spirit do in all this? This is what we are to determine this morning as we look at the words of Jesus from John 15 and 16 and also from Paul’s writings in Romans 8. Let’s begin by looking at the words of Jesus himself.

John 15:26-27 "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

I would like us to notice the word that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit. He calls him the Advocate. It is the same sense of a legal advocate, or someone who represents the interest of someone else. The Holy Spirit is the representative of Christ, of God, when Christ has gone to be with the father. God is in the world as the Holy Spirit. And as the representative of Christ, this “Spirit of truth” as he also calls him will testify or witness for Christ. But notice where this spirit that is sent from God comes. Does it come to the world as a whole? Does it come to the earth at large? No, it comes to the believers, as Jesus was talking to believers. And part of what the Holy Spirit will do is to help us witness and testify to Christ. Remember the Holy Spirit is a gift to those who believe and as such have already experienced and know something of Christ. Therefore the Holy Spirit will help us to testify to Christ, just as he does for the disciples in Acts chapter 2.

We know that the disciples had seen Jesus’ resurrection for seven weeks and they had yet to tell anyone who was not in the inner circle. Yet when the Holy Spirit came, they began to witness to the world what had happened, just as Christ said they would. They no longer were worried about what would happen to them, they simply knew they had to tell the world about God and the opportunity to know and experience him. You may wonder, where do people get the nerve to witness? How can they be so unashamed and brazen? The answer is, they are probably not, but the Holy Spirit within them is! He is the key to our evangelism and our witnessing strategy. But he is so much more. Look at what else Jesus says.

John 16:8-15 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: [9] about sin, because they do not believe in me; [10] about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; [11] about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
The Holy Spirit will prove the world wrong about sin. In other words, as the NIV and the King James say, He will convict the world of sin. When people feel under conviction because of something you say, it is the Holy Spirit at work, for they should not, in a sense they can not feel comfortable in their sin when they are in the presence of God, and the Holy Spirit is God. However, this is not just for those we speak to and witness to, this is for us as well. We can not stay in our sin while in the presence of God and not feel under conviction. We cannot feel fine with our sin if we have the Holy Spirit living in us, for He will convict us of our sin. So the Holy Spirit is not only the Advocate, or the representative of Christ on the earth, he convicts the world of sin. And although there are many other things he does, time will only permit me to address one more. So let us turn our attention now to Romans 8.

As we have seen what the Spirit’s role is in our witnessing, and in cleansing the world from sin, he has another very personal role. This is the role that most of us cherish about the Holy Spirit. We see it mentioned in Romans 8:26-27.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
How many of you know how to pray as you ought? This is a tremendous comfort for me for so often I have no idea how to pray about the things that are on my mind. Especially when I am, as Paul says in my weakness. I know that as the Pastor I am always supposed to know the things to say, the right words to pray, but often, perhaps too often, I am at a loss. I don’t know the words to pray for a couple who has just lost their child, or for a woman who is struggling with an abusive situation. I don’t know the words to pray for the family of a man who has died and they know he is not going to heaven. I don’t know what to pray! But the Holy Spirit meets me in my time of weakness. He is there when I am struggling with my own situations, not sure of which way to pray. And he prays for me. That is what it means when it says he intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

I’ll admit, I am glad there are no words during these times because I probably couldn’t say them through the sobbing and tears. Groans are enough, for God knows my heart because God is in my heart. He has my heart, he reads my heart and he transforms my heart. Listen to how this works in verse 27.
And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

God searches the heart, he knows what the problem or issue is, and the Spirit intercedes according to the will of God. He allows my prayer to be what is God’s will. He transforms my heart to his will by his intercession of my behalf. Have you ever wanted to pray the will of God? Then let the Holy Spirit do the praying, for God will always pray his will. We do not have to worry about Unanswered Prayers or misdirected prayers, for our prayers will be according to God’s will which will come to pass. This is great comfort to me; that the Spirit will not let me fail in my weakness, but will intercede, will speak on my behalf and direct it such that I will pray the right thing! That is so awesome! The Holy Spirit is not just the Advocate for Christ, but he is also our advocate with the Father, our intercessor.

Of course there is a lot more to learn about the Holy Spirit, for He is fully God and we can never fully cover God in one session, yet there are some very important truths about our relationship with God that depend on the Holy Spirit. First off, having a relationship with God means having the Holy Spirit. It is a gift of God for all who believe.

Secondly, The Holy Spirit will testify to the truth about Jesus Christ and will empower and embolden you to do the same. He is the authority and the force behind all witnessing, for he is the ultimate witness.

Thirdly, He has not come so that we can ignore sin and just go to heaven anyway. He has come to convict the world of sin. The Holy Spirit does not intend to allow you to feel comfortable in your sin, so if you feel guilt or shame, that is the Holy Spirit at work in you to purify you. Count that as joy, repent and be forgiven!

And lastly, when you don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit is there to carry you. Just like in that famous poem footprints, he will carry you through those difficult and weak times in your life, and he will do so in a way that will make you victorious through the will of God. Happy Pentecost! May the Spirit of God fill you afresh and daily Bless you!