My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I’m going to show you a few pictures, and I want you to tell me who the right person for the job would be. The first picture is a broken washing machine. Who’s the right person for the job? Here’s a house that’s on fire. Who’s the right person for this job? Here’s Salem Church. Who’s the right person for this job?
If we want the right person for a job, it means we need to search and find the person who has the right skill-set. As we look closer at God’s Word today, we’re going to figure out who chooses the right person for every job and why he chooses them.
The first verse of Judges Chapter 13 sets the stage for us. "Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years" (Judges 13:1). What got the Israelites into trouble? They continued to do evil—they worshiped false gods, they avoided worshiping the LORD. There’s a theme that repeats throughout the book of Judges: "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit" (Judges 17:6). What kind of help did they need? They needed someone to deliver them from their enemies, the Philistines.
The Israelites needed the right person for the job, but who choose him? Let’s look back at verses 17-20. "Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, ‘What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?’ He replied, ‘Why do you ask my name? It is ‘Wonderful.’ Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame" (Judges 13:17-20). Who chose Manoah and his wife to be the parents of Israel’s next deliverer? The angel of the LORD. Who is the angel of the LORD? Is this one of God’s created angels? What was his name? The angel told Manoah, “It is ‘Wonderful.’” Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah in chapter 9:6, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful…" (Isaiah 9:6). The angel used the name that belongs to Jesus—the promised Messiah.
Just in case we’re not exactly sure about the angel of the LORD’s identity, listen to the couple’s reaction: “‘We are doomed to die!’ he said to his wife. ‘We have seen God!’ But his wife answered, ‘If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this’” (Judges 13:22-23). Who did Manoah and his wife confess this angel of the LORD was? God himself—he is the Messiah, Jesus, before he became a human being.
Who chooses the right person for the job? According to the Bible, it’s Jesus. Jesus chose an unborn child who would be named Samson to serve as Israel’s deliverer. It wasn’t the last time he chose someone before birth. He told the prophet Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5).
Jesus chose the right people to be his disciples. In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus was preaching to the crowds. After he finished, he demonstrated that he was the LORD. He told Peter and the others to go fishing. When they cast their nets out during the daytime in the deep water, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break. They filled up two boats until they were about to sink. Jesus proved that he is true God. Then he told Peter, “‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him” (Luke 5:10-11).
The apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4:11, "It was [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11). Jesus chooses the right people for the job.
What’s your job? Do you work on the plant floor at Andersen Windows? Do you work in an office as an administrative assistant. Are you a bank teller? Are you a police officer? Every one of us has a job that takes specific skills and abilities. How did you get there? Yes, we go to school, choose a major when we get to college, fill out résumés, and accept job offers.
Do you ever wonder if you’re doing the right job? As we look back on our education and careers, maybe we begin to wonder, “What if I had made a different choice? Where would I be if I had done something else? Would I be wealthy? Would I be happier? Would my family be better off?”
Who made sure you were the right person for the job? The apostle Paul reminds us, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it" (Ephesians 4:7). Jesus chose you. He knows you because he made you. He knows the gifts and talents you have because he gave you exactly what you need to do your job. We don’t have to worry about whether we made the right choice or not. Jesus will bless whatever path our lives take. The LORD promised through Isaiah, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’" (Isaiah 30:21).
What kind of person does the boss look for when he needs to fill the position? He looks for the best candidate, the one with the best résumé, the one who can do the best job. We know who chooses the right person for the job. Jesus, the perfect Son of God. He can’t make a bad choice. So, what kind of person does he choose?
Let’s go back to the story of Samson. Look at verses 6-7. "Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.’" (Judges 13:6-7). What was the right person to deliver Israel supposed to be like? A Nazirite. In Deuteronomy 6, the LORD laid out the requirements for someone taking the vow of a Nazirite: 1) cannot eat or drink anything that comes from a grapevine—wine, grapes, raisins, wine vinegar, or any other fermented drink; 2) cannot cut his hair; 3) cannot go near a dead body and make himself ceremonially unclean. Who was the right person to fit the LORD’s requirement? Samson, one of the most powerful deliverers Israel had ever seen.
Samson was an incredible warrior. As a young man, he caught a lion and killed it with his bare hands. To gain revenge against the Philistines, he caught 300 foxes, tied their tails together, fastened torches to their tails, and set them loose in the grain fields. He killed 1000 Philistine soldiers with the jawbone of a donkey. While he was in the city of Gath, he escaped a plot to take his life by tearing loose the city gates and posts, and carried them to the top of the hill outside town.
Samson was the one Jesus chose to rescue the Israelites. Was he the best choice? Not by our standards. He was an imperfect Nazirite. Some time after he had killed that lion, he saw the carcass was filled with a swarm of bees who had made a honeycomb. He took the honeycomb out of the dead body and ate some—he disobeyed God’s command to avoid touching a dead body. Samson was also a man who did not choose wisely when it came to women—visiting the home of a prostitute in Gath, and later on living with his girlfriend, Delilah. Samson was an imperfect deliverer.
How about Peter and the other apostles? Were they the best choice? By Peter’s own admission, no! After witnessing Jesus’ miracle with the fish, Peter confessed, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8).
What about us? Are we any better than Samson, Peter, and all the other believers who have gone before us? As I worked through the story of Samson this week, I asked myself how I would have reacted once I was old enough to know that I had to live as a Nazirite the rest of my life. I think I would have complained a little bit. “Why can’t I have any grapes? Everyone else gets to eat them! Why can’t I cut my hair? I look stupid with all these braids! Why shouldn’t I touch that dead lion? I killed it with my own hands!”
Isn’t that how all of us react when Jesus calls us to serve with our abilities and skills? Why do I have to preach this weekend and have all these meetings? Why do I have all these extra duties outside the classroom? Why can’t I have a job that pays more, or that I like more? Why can’t I have an upgrade on my appliances? Why can’t I go back to work instead of staying home with the children? Isn’t my degree worth more than changing diapers and wiping noses?
When we complaining, who are we really complaining against? Jesus, the one who called us to serve wherever we are and whatever our job in life might be. Do you remember how God deals with complaints? It’s much worse than pushing the red button on the mousetrap complaint machine. Numbers 11:1 says, "Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp" (Numbers 11:1). That’s what we deserve for every one of our complaints, big or small!
Isn’t it good to know that Jesus has called us, just like he called Samson, Peter, and every one of his followers, even though we don’t deserve it? He didn’t destroy us with fire. He paid for every one of our complaints. The apostle Paul said it like this: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
We are the right people for the jobs we have because Jesus took care of our résumés. He gives us the perfect reference by signing his name in blood. He sealed the deal when he "set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 Corinthians 1:22). No matter where we serve, no matter what job we have, we can be sure that we are the right people for those jobs, thanks to our Savior Jesus. Amen.
