Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
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God Chooses Unlikely Heroes
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 June 18, 2006
There is still the youngest, but he is tending sheep… So he sent and had him brought in.
He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features…”
Of all the brothers, David was the one God chose. He was the least of them all and yet, he
was the best suited for God’s plans. You see, we look at the outward appearance of a
person and make a snap judgment. Is he short or fat? Is she black or white? Is he too
old or too young? Does she dress well? Does he look intelligent?
Some would say that Hollywood has shaped our image of the norms and pushed us into
thinking a certain way, but the truth is that every generation has lifted up a look or a
type and made it the ideal. But you see, the image or appearance of a person does not
always reflect what is inside them. You and I know that don’t we? That’s why it is good
news that God doesn’t make his judgments by looking at who we pretend to be, but
rather he looks at the heart.
That is what happened that day at Jesse’s house. He looked into David’s heart and saw
the man who loved God and would faithfully serve him and his people. The world saw a
boy with limited strength and wisdom, but God saw a King.
The story says that David was anointed that day and was announced as the King of Israel.
The only problem was the fact that Saul was still sitting on the throne in Jerusalem. For
the next twenty years they had a bitter rivalry. It began with jealousy and ended in ruin.
In time, David grew into the mighty warrior king and champion of Israel that God saw
and he claimed the throne.
The truth is that the scriptures are filled with stories like this. In the book of Exodus
there is a story told of a boy who was abandoned by his mother and raised by strangers.
When he was a teenager, he ended up killing a man and became a fugitive. When he
finally surfaced, it was only because God had found him and sent him home again with a
job to do. Despite the fact that he stuttered, he became the voice of God. When Moses
stood before Pharoah he was a different man than the one who had fled and was lost in
self pity in the wilderness.
If you want more proof that God chooses unlikely heroes, just keep reading. He chose a
man who was going through a bitter divorce to prophesy to the king (Hosea). He chose a
poor Jewish girl to save the nation (Esther). He selected a group of shepherds to declare
the news the messiah was born. He assembled a group of fisherman to establish the
church which would proclaim the Good News to the world. You look through the pages of
the Bible and you will see that God chooses all types of people to serve his purposes.
You see he doesn’t look at us the way the world does. He sees our potential, what we can
become, what he created us to be. And then God calls us to serve him and fulfill his plans
for the world. Now I know that it is easy to look at the Bible and say that it was different
back then. We tend to lift up these Biblical characters and give them a legendary status.
But the good news is that God is still calling the most unlikely heroes today. He looks at
you and me and he has a job for us to do. It may not be a call to lead the nation or even
to save the world. But you can be sure that God wants to send you out to touch the people
around you.
Who me? I am not a good speaker. (Moses) I am too young. (Jeremiah). I am not a
people person. (John) I am a foreigner. (Ruth) I am a woman. (Mary) I am not of your
religion. (Cyrus)
I am too short. (Zaccheaus) I am too much of a sinner. (The thief on the cross) You see,
depending on what he wants to accomplish, can use anyone to get his will done. The key
quality that all these people had was a willing heart. They said yes when God called their
name.
None of them were anything special…UNTIL…They let God have control of their lives. A
normal person in the hands of God became a winner. Even a loser in the eyes of the
world, leaves a lasting legacy on the world when they allow themselves to be used by God
for a purpose far beyond what they were capable of doing in and of themselves.
John Powell a professor at Loyola University in Chicago writes about a student in his
Theology class named Tommy: Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university
students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology Class. That was the
first day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long
hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a
boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind
that it isn’t what’s on your head but what’s in it that counts; but on that day I was
unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange
... very strange.
Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology course. He constantly
objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving God.
We lived with each other in relative peace for the semester, although I admit he was a
serious pain in the back pew. When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his
final exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone: "Do you think I’ll ever find God?" I
decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically. "Oh," he
responded, "I thought that was the product you were pushing." I let him get five steps
from the classroom door and then called out: "Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find him,
but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class
and my life.
I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line: "He will find
you!" At least I thought it was clever. Later I heard that Tommy had graduated. Then a
sad report, I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he
came to see me. When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted, and the
long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his
voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.
"Tommy, I’ve thought about you so often. I hear you are sick!" I blurted out. "Oh, yes,
very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It’s a matter of weeks." "Can you talk about it,
Tom?" "Sure, what would you like to know?" "What’s it like to be only twenty-four and
dying?" "Well, it could be worse." "Like what?" "Well, like being fifty and having no
values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making
money are the real ‘biggies’ in life."
But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, " is something you said to me on the
last day of class." (He remembered!) He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would
ever find God and you said, ‘No!’ which surprised me. Then you said, ‘But he will find
you.’
I thought about that a lot. When the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me
that it was malignant, I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread
into my vital organs, I really began banging my fists against the bronze doors of heaven.
But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened.
Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high
brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn’t
really care ... about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that.
"I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about
you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: ‘The essential
sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go
through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved
them.’ "So I began with the hardest one: my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I
approached him." "Dad". "Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper. "Dad,
I would like to talk with you." "Well, talk." "I mean...It’s really important." The
newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?" "Dad, I love you. I just wanted
you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt
a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him: "The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then
my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he
hugged me. And we talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning.
It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say
that he loved me. "It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me,
too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We
shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years. I was only sorry about
one thing: that I had waited so long.
"Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I pleaded
with him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, ‘C’mon, jump
through.’ ‘C’mon, I’ll give you three days three weeks.’ Apparently God does things in
his own way and at his own hour. "But the important thing is that he was there. He found
me. You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for him."
Tommy made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful
than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man
has ever imagined. He touched my life in a way I never thought possible and reminded
me that all I have ever preached was true without a doubt. Tommy was my blessing after
all.
You see, that’s the way God works best. He works up close and personal through you and
me if we open our hearts to him. We don’t have to have any magical abilities. We just
need to be open and accepting of what God has in store for us.
It’s kind of like being a Father. Almost twenty one years ago I remember getting my
first look at the first of my three daughters. She was beautiful and Lori and I cried as the
doctor said, “It’s a girl! What’s her name?” I remember driving down Route 95 from
the hospital in Providence. Rebecca’s whole life flashed in front of me as I saw her
growing up, first going to school, then graduating high school, dating boys, going to
college, getting married… I had tears in my eyes if I wondered if I was up to the task of
being a parent.
The truth is that all things are possible with God. Have you seen the movie “Sea
Biscuit”? It’s a great story.
We see a jockey, “Red Pollard” who has been chewed up and spit out by the world. His
Spirit has been broken. People had written him off. As a result of the great depression
his parents gave him away in hopes he would have a better life somewhere else. The
horse, Sea Biscuit, had been written off too. It had been trained to lose against bigger
horse. It had been taught that it could not win. It seemed that Fate had brought Red and
the Sea Biscuit together. The story says the odds were incredible, the dream impossible,
and somehow it happened.
God specializes in healing the broken. He seems to know just who we need, and what we
need. God specializes in using the out casts. God specializes in using those whom the
world has cast aside. God Loves and uses the unlikely heroes. Maybe just like Sea Biscuit
had to learn how to be a horse again, We have to learn to be a child of God again.
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 June 18, 2006
There is still the youngest, but he is tending sheep… So he sent and had him brought in.
He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features…”
Of all the brothers, David was the one God chose. He was the least of them all and yet, he
was the best suited for God’s plans. You see, we look at the outward appearance of a
person and make a snap judgment. Is he short or fat? Is she black or white? Is he too
old or too young? Does she dress well? Does he look intelligent?
Some would say that Hollywood has shaped our image of the norms and pushed us into
thinking a certain way, but the truth is that every generation has lifted up a look or a
type and made it the ideal. But you see, the image or appearance of a person does not
always reflect what is inside them. You and I know that don’t we? That’s why it is good
news that God doesn’t make his judgments by looking at who we pretend to be, but
rather he looks at the heart.
That is what happened that day at Jesse’s house. He looked into David’s heart and saw
the man who loved God and would faithfully serve him and his people. The world saw a
boy with limited strength and wisdom, but God saw a King.
The story says that David was anointed that day and was announced as the King of Israel.
The only problem was the fact that Saul was still sitting on the throne in Jerusalem. For
the next twenty years they had a bitter rivalry. It began with jealousy and ended in ruin.
In time, David grew into the mighty warrior king and champion of Israel that God saw
and he claimed the throne.
The truth is that the scriptures are filled with stories like this. In the book of Exodus
there is a story told of a boy who was abandoned by his mother and raised by strangers.
When he was a teenager, he ended up killing a man and became a fugitive. When he
finally surfaced, it was only because God had found him and sent him home again with a
job to do. Despite the fact that he stuttered, he became the voice of God. When Moses
stood before Pharoah he was a different man than the one who had fled and was lost in
self pity in the wilderness.
If you want more proof that God chooses unlikely heroes, just keep reading. He chose a
man who was going through a bitter divorce to prophesy to the king (Hosea). He chose a
poor Jewish girl to save the nation (Esther). He selected a group of shepherds to declare
the news the messiah was born. He assembled a group of fisherman to establish the
church which would proclaim the Good News to the world. You look through the pages of
the Bible and you will see that God chooses all types of people to serve his purposes.
You see he doesn’t look at us the way the world does. He sees our potential, what we can
become, what he created us to be. And then God calls us to serve him and fulfill his plans
for the world. Now I know that it is easy to look at the Bible and say that it was different
back then. We tend to lift up these Biblical characters and give them a legendary status.
But the good news is that God is still calling the most unlikely heroes today. He looks at
you and me and he has a job for us to do. It may not be a call to lead the nation or even
to save the world. But you can be sure that God wants to send you out to touch the people
around you.
Who me? I am not a good speaker. (Moses) I am too young. (Jeremiah). I am not a
people person. (John) I am a foreigner. (Ruth) I am a woman. (Mary) I am not of your
religion. (Cyrus)
I am too short. (Zaccheaus) I am too much of a sinner. (The thief on the cross) You see,
depending on what he wants to accomplish, can use anyone to get his will done. The key
quality that all these people had was a willing heart. They said yes when God called their
name.
None of them were anything special…UNTIL…They let God have control of their lives. A
normal person in the hands of God became a winner. Even a loser in the eyes of the
world, leaves a lasting legacy on the world when they allow themselves to be used by God
for a purpose far beyond what they were capable of doing in and of themselves.
John Powell a professor at Loyola University in Chicago writes about a student in his
Theology class named Tommy: Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university
students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology Class. That was the
first day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long
hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a
boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind
that it isn’t what’s on your head but what’s in it that counts; but on that day I was
unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange
... very strange.
Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology course. He constantly
objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving God.
We lived with each other in relative peace for the semester, although I admit he was a
serious pain in the back pew. When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his
final exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone: "Do you think I’ll ever find God?" I
decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically. "Oh," he
responded, "I thought that was the product you were pushing." I let him get five steps
from the classroom door and then called out: "Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find him,
but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class
and my life.
I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line: "He will find
you!" At least I thought it was clever. Later I heard that Tommy had graduated. Then a
sad report, I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he
came to see me. When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted, and the
long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his
voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.
"Tommy, I’ve thought about you so often. I hear you are sick!" I blurted out. "Oh, yes,
very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It’s a matter of weeks." "Can you talk about it,
Tom?" "Sure, what would you like to know?" "What’s it like to be only twenty-four and
dying?" "Well, it could be worse." "Like what?" "Well, like being fifty and having no
values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making
money are the real ‘biggies’ in life."
But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, " is something you said to me on the
last day of class." (He remembered!) He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would
ever find God and you said, ‘No!’ which surprised me. Then you said, ‘But he will find
you.’
I thought about that a lot. When the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me
that it was malignant, I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread
into my vital organs, I really began banging my fists against the bronze doors of heaven.
But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened.
Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high
brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn’t
really care ... about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that.
"I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about
you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: ‘The essential
sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go
through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved
them.’ "So I began with the hardest one: my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I
approached him." "Dad". "Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper. "Dad,
I would like to talk with you." "Well, talk." "I mean...It’s really important." The
newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?" "Dad, I love you. I just wanted
you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt
a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him: "The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then
my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he
hugged me. And we talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning.
It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say
that he loved me. "It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me,
too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We
shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years. I was only sorry about
one thing: that I had waited so long.
"Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I pleaded
with him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, ‘C’mon, jump
through.’ ‘C’mon, I’ll give you three days three weeks.’ Apparently God does things in
his own way and at his own hour. "But the important thing is that he was there. He found
me. You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for him."
Tommy made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful
than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man
has ever imagined. He touched my life in a way I never thought possible and reminded
me that all I have ever preached was true without a doubt. Tommy was my blessing after
all.
You see, that’s the way God works best. He works up close and personal through you and
me if we open our hearts to him. We don’t have to have any magical abilities. We just
need to be open and accepting of what God has in store for us.
It’s kind of like being a Father. Almost twenty one years ago I remember getting my
first look at the first of my three daughters. She was beautiful and Lori and I cried as the
doctor said, “It’s a girl! What’s her name?” I remember driving down Route 95 from
the hospital in Providence. Rebecca’s whole life flashed in front of me as I saw her
growing up, first going to school, then graduating high school, dating boys, going to
college, getting married… I had tears in my eyes if I wondered if I was up to the task of
being a parent.
The truth is that all things are possible with God. Have you seen the movie “Sea
Biscuit”? It’s a great story.
We see a jockey, “Red Pollard” who has been chewed up and spit out by the world. His
Spirit has been broken. People had written him off. As a result of the great depression
his parents gave him away in hopes he would have a better life somewhere else. The
horse, Sea Biscuit, had been written off too. It had been trained to lose against bigger
horse. It had been taught that it could not win. It seemed that Fate had brought Red and
the Sea Biscuit together. The story says the odds were incredible, the dream impossible,
and somehow it happened.
God specializes in healing the broken. He seems to know just who we need, and what we
need. God specializes in using the out casts. God specializes in using those whom the
world has cast aside. God Loves and uses the unlikely heroes. Maybe just like Sea Biscuit
had to learn how to be a horse again, We have to learn to be a child of God again.