SERVE YOUR GENERATION

A life is a terrible thing to waste. In his life saving book, Don't Waste Your Life, John Piper recounts a story his father often told in his days as a fiery Baptist evangelist. It is the story of a man who came to saving faith in Jesus Christ near the end of his earthly existence. Piper writes:

The church had prayed for this man for decades. He was hard and resistant. But this time, for some reason, he showed up when my father was preaching. At the end of the service, during a hymn, to everyone's amazement he came and took my father's hand. They sat down together on the front pew of the church as the people were dismissed. God opened his heart to the Gospel of Christ, and he was saved from his sins and given eternal life. But that did not stop him from sobbing and saying, as the tears ran down his wrinkled face—"I've wasted it! I've wasted it!"

By the grace of God, even a life that is almost totally wasted can still be redeemed. As the Scottish theologian Thomas Boston once said, our present existence is only "a short preface to a long eternity." If that is true, then the man's life was not wasted after all; he was only just beginning an eternal life of endless praise. But why wait even a moment longer before starting to serve Jesus? You have only one life to live. Don't waste it by living for yourself when you can use it instead for the glory of God.

DAVID SERVED HIS GENERATION BECAUSE HE WAS SAVED.

Saved people serve. How do we know that David was saved?

DAVID’S SALVATION IS REVEALED IN GOD’S CHOICE.

It is most crucial at the outset to establish the fact that David was not by nature a man after God’s heart.

RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT INHERENT BUT IMPUTED.

He did not possess some inherent goodness which made God choose him.

Psalm 51:5 ESV

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Every person who is converted recognizes that there is nothing in himself which commended him to God. By nature we all are sinners, in rebellion against God. We all are self-willed and self-seeking rather than seeking after God

Romans 3:9–12 ESV

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

No one deserves anything but judgment from God. David was not made right before God by his own good deeds.

Psalm 32:1–2 ESV

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

So we would be off on the wrong track from the start if we assumed that God chose David because of his own will power and effort to be a man after God’s heart.

Conversion is God’s work, and He had performed that work in David’s heart. David didn’t choose God; God chose David

Psalm 78:70–71 ESV

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.

While 1 Samuel 16 has reference to David’s anointing as king, not to his conversion, the clear point of the incident applies to God’s ways in salvation, namely, that God chooses those whom the world often overlooks or rejects. Samuel would have picked David’s older brothers, not David. David’s father didn’t consider his youngest son enough of a candidate even to bring him in from the fields.David was God’s choice. Even so, God chooses for salvation those whom the world would reject, so that none can boast before God

1 Corinthians 1:27–31 ESV

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

DAVID’S SALVATION IS REFLECTED IN HIS CHARACTER.

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

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 sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Acts 13:22 ESV

And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

1 Samuel 13:14 ESV

But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

It’s enlightening to compare David and Saul on the matter of conversion. Whether Saul was genuinely converted or not is subject to debate, and perhaps we can never know for sure. He strikes me as an example of the seed sown on the thorny ground, which got choked out and did not bear fruit unto eternal life. But even so, Saul had some sort of dramatic spiritual experience in which “God changed his heart,” the Spirit of God came on him mightily, and he prophesied

1 Samuel 10:9–10 ESV

When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.

If David had a similar dramatic experience, it is not recorded in Scripture. Perhaps, like many who are converted in childhood, David could not put his finger on a date or describe a dramatic change.

But the subsequent lives of the two men lead in opposite directions. David followed the Lord; Saul’s course was marked by self-seeking and partial obedience under a veneer of spirituality (1 Sam. 13:8-14; 15:10-35). Although David had his share of sins, he always confessed and turned from them, whereas Saul compromised and made excuses. David was honored by God, but Saul ended his life in disgrace.

Genuine conversion may or may not be accompanied by some dramatic or emotional experience. Sometimes a person comes to Christ in a dramatic encounter, such as Paul on the Damascus Road. But at other times, a person cannot put his finger on the moment at which he was converted. Rather, he comes to a gradual awareness that God has done a work in his heart. But in every case, genuine conversion is a work of God in the human heart in which He imparts new life and a right standing before Him based on the work of Christ on the cross. It is not based upon human will power, but on the sovereign, unmerited favor and choice of God.

So how do you know if you’re truly converted? Paul exhorts,

2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

1 John gives 8 tests of whether faith is legitimate or illegitimate.

Walking in the Light - 1 John 1:5-7

Confession of Sin - 1 John 1:8-10

Obedience - 1 John 2:3-4

Love for the Brethren - 1 John 2:9-11

Hatred for the World - 1 John 2:15-17

Perseverance in Doctrine - 1 John 2:24-25

Righteousness - 1 John 3:10

Spirit’s Testimony - 1 John 4:13

DAVID SERVED HIS GENERATION BECAUSE HE WAS SPIRIT-FILLED.

1 Samuel 16:13 ESV

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

In 1 Samuel 16:13 the Spirit of God did not permanently indwell all believers as He does in the present age of grace. Rather, He came upon certain ones to enable them to perform certain roles or tasks. He also could and did leave those who did not walk uprightly (1 Sam. 16:14; Ps. 51:11). When Samuel anointed David for the throne, the Holy Spirit came upon him mightily from that day forward. David was a markedly different young man because of the Holy Spirit.

1 Samuel 16:18 ESV

One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.”

HE WAS A MAN OF WORSHIP.

HE WAS A MAN OF WORTH.

HE WAS A MAN OF WAR.

HE WAS A MAN OF WORDS.

THE LORD WAS WITH HIM.

DAVID SERVES US STILL.

HE REMINDS US THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL.

God will provide for His people when everything is coming undone. The true king never loses control of His kingdom. He is never perplexed by the latest emergency in His realm.

The key word/root in the chapter provides its theme. The Lord’s words introduce this theme in

1 Samuel 16:1 ESV

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

The verb is rā’āh, which in this case carries the sense of “provide” (as in Gen. 22:8, 14). This root occurs nine times in this chapter, not readily visible in English translation. It appears as a verb meaning “provide” (vv. 1, 17) or “see, look at” (vv. 6, 7 [three times], 18) and as nouns meaning “appearance” (vv. 7, 12). The ideas of looking and providing in this root contrast with the “not chosen” (negative +bāḥar) in verses 8, 9, and 10. Therefore, the one the Lord looks to and provides will be his chosen one. That is the theme of chapter 16—The Lord’s choice. Let us now develop the main lines of the teaching of this text.

1 Samuel reminds us that man’s choice more often than not brings disaster. The Lord was gracious and did not allow there decision to destroy them. “I have rejected him” saves Israel from destruction.

Daniel 2:21 ESV

He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

1 Samuel reminds us that established and eradicates politicians for His divine purposes.

HE REINFORCES WHAT TRULY MATTERS TO GOD.

HE REVEALS TO US GOD’S HEART.

SERVE THOSE WHO LOVE AND HATE YOU

We might ponder David’s ministry of consolation to Saul. We know it will not be long before Saul hates David and seeks his life. Yet the picture of 16:14–23 proves instructive for Christ’s disciples. Should our call not follow a similar pattern? As Saul will hate David, and as he is rejected by God yet sustained by David’s service, so the world hates Christ’s people (John 15:18–21) yet, in its doomed state, is only benefited by them. They are the ones who are the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13), that is, who keep society and culture from rotting into complete decay, who keep the world from being worse than it is. They are a divinely-granted restraint upon the earth’s putrefaction; they keep the world from drowning in its own vomit, which, strangely enough, it craves.

SEE YOURSELF AS A MEANS OF GRACE

What would the world be like if the church, for all her faults, were not in it. Spurgeon knew this. One day an agnostic confronted him, challenging his Christian beliefs. Spurgeon pointed out how unbelievers’ organizations failed to provide any definite and ongoing program of help to the thousands of needy around them. By contrast he pointed to the various works that flowed from evangelical faith. Then he closed the conversation by paraphrasing Elĳah’s defiant challenge before the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:24), “The God who answereth by Orphanages, LET HIM BE GOD!” End of discussion.

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