Sunday Sermon Summary:Judging Other Based On Their Appearance!

Our sermon today was about many things but one of the things Ken discussed was judging people based on their appearance. He used 1 Samuel 16....where Samuel is sent by God to find a new King.....

¹ Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”

² But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

“Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint for me.”

⁴ So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town came trembling to meet him. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “Do you come in peace?”

⁵ “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too.

⁶ When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!”

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

⁸ Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.” ⁹ Next Jesse summoned Shimea,^[a] but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” ¹⁰ In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” ¹¹ Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.”

“Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

¹² So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes.

And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.”

¹³ So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.

In this passage, you can read that if a King was being chosen solely on his appearance....David was least likely. What God is saying is that his appearance is not that important....but it's what's in his heart. I think at some point, everyone has been guilty of judging someone or something based on appearances. How many times have we done that and realized what a mistake that was? Really what it boils down to is....it's not our place to judge....period! I think there is a difference in judging and discerning. What I mean by that is this....if you feel really uncomfortable about a situation....like as in it could be potentially dangerous for you or someone else....and all you really have to base that on is the circumstance or appearance, then I think that's different than if you choose not to sit somewhere solely because of a person's skin color, how they are dressed, or what language they are speaking. Sadly enough this sermon was quite appropriate for my daughter Addi and I today. We went somewhere, after church, to grab everyone some lunch. While we were there, I noticed a black van slowly pull in beside us. As it slowly pulled into the parking space next to us, I could see where someone had scratched down the side of this van....with a key or something like that....and it crudely said KKK. My heart skipped a beat, and I heard myself groan...."OH NO!" I then perched my head, so I could see if my suspicions were correct....and yes....they were....there was an older African American man driving the van. Addi looked at me curiously and asked what was wrong, so I began to explain it all to her. She had never heard of the KKK, so I gave her a brief description that ended with something like this...."I try really hard to see the good and positive in all situations, but honestly I can't tell you anything good about the KKK!" As we drove off, I noticed that the same crude key scratching....KKK....was down the passenger side of the gentleman's van as well; and my heart was saddened even more. When we got home and all sat down for lunch, we were discussing church and the sermon; and I told NPayne and the other girls about the incident. Of course Drew and Bryna had no idea what the KKK was, so again I briefly described it to them. Then we talked about how inappropriate, sad, and just plain stupid silly it is for someone to be judged because of how they look. And how inappropriate, sad, and just plain stupid silly it is for someone to think they are better than someone else because of their appearance. It was a good teachable moment, but honestly it is so disheartening to witness so much disrespect, hate, and judgement on someone....even though all I did was read it on his van.