TEXT: 1 Samuel 1:1-18
I am aware that this Scripture is usually read during a baby dedication service. I want to assure you that I am not crazy and that we are not having a baby dedication this morning. Last Sunday I was attending a church service where they were having a baby dedication and this Scripture was being used and the Holy Spirit begin to speak to me and say there is more in these verses than what we traditionally see and that these verses can also be speaking to the church about her barrenness.
Background:
A divided home (1 Sam 1:1-8). Elkanah was a Levite, a Kohathite from the family of Zuph (1 Chronicle 6:22-28, 34-35). The Levites were scattered throughout the land and went to Shiloh to minister at the tabernacle whenever they were needed. Elkanah lived in Ramah on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin (see Josh 18:25). Elkanah's famous son Samuel would be born in Ramah (1 Sam 1:19-20), live there (7:17), and be buried there when he died (25:1).
In many ways, Elkanah seems to be a good and godly man, except that he had two wives. Apparently Hannah was his first wife, and when she proved barren, he married Peninnah so he could have a family.
Each year Elkanah took his family to Shiloh to worship (Ex 23:14-19), and together they ate a meal as a part of their worship (Deut 12:1-7). This annual visit to the tabernacle should have been a joyful event for Hannah, but each year Peninnah used it as an opportunity to irritate her rival and make fun of her barrenness. When Elkanah distributed the meat from the sacrifice, he had to give many portions to Peninnah and her children, while Hannah received only one portion. Elkanah gave her a generous share, but his generosity certainly didn't compensate for her infertility.
The name "Hannah" means "a woman of grace," and she did manifest grace in the way she dealt with her barrenness and Peninnah's attitude and cruel words. Elkanah was able to have children by Peninnah, so Hannah knew that the problem lay with her and not with her husband. It seemed unfair that a woman with Peninnah's ugly disposition should have many children while gracious Hannah was childless. She also knew that only the Lord could do for her what he did for Sarah and Rachel, but why had God shut up her womb? Certainly this experience helped to make her into a woman of character and faith and motivated her to give her best to the Lord. She expressed her anguish only to the Lord and she didn't create problems for the family by disputing with Peninnah. In everything she said and did, Hannah sought to glorify the Lord. Indeed, she was a remarkable woman who gave birth to a remarkable son.
What an example Hannah is in her praying! It was a prayer born out of sorrow and suffering, but in spite of her feelings, she laid bare her soul before the Lord. It was a prayer that involved submission, for she presented herself to the Lord as His handmaid, to do whatever He wanted her to do (see Luke 1:48). It was a prayer that also involved sacrifice, because she vowed to give her son back to the Lord, to be a Nazarite (Num 6) and serve the Lord all his life.
Message:
Having children is natural when a man and woman marry. It is just expected that they will at some point have children.
Women were looked down upon when they didn’t have children especially sons.
It bothered her that she hadn’t had any children. She was so heavy in her spirit because she had not children.
The church is referred to as a woman in the Bible. The Lord is referred to as the husband. It should be expected that in the church there should be births. We should feel some shame if we aren’t giving birth to children. If souls are not being born again into the church we should feel shame. In the Scriptures, the church is always female. Christ is the groom and the church is the bride.
It doesn’t seem to bother us that people are not being born or saved in the Church.
When is the last time you have wept before the Lord because you haven’t had any children born or saved in the Church?
We seem to be content with no children being born again into the church.
When is the last time you became so burdened to see children born into the kingdom of God that you prayed until you felt drunk?
When have you cried out for lost souls?
Does it not concern us that people are going to hell?
Does it not concern you that nobody is being born into the church – being saved or born again?
Verse 15 – She was a woman of sorrowful spirit. Is our spirit sorrowful because we don’t have children being born again?
About 10 percent of women (6.1 million) in the United States ages 15-44 have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• Age
• Smoking
• Excess alcohol use
• Stress
• Poor diet
• Athletic training
• Being overweight or underweight
• Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• Health problems that cause hormonal changes
There are many reasons why the womb could be closed up: Sin, jealousy, works of the flesh, etc. We can’t bear fruit – souls being born again if the flesh is dominating the life of the church.
Galatians 5:19-21 – “19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
These things will prevent us from seeing children born into the church; they will block the flow of the Spirit and prevent us from giving birth to children being born again into the church.
Evangelism – reaching out to win the lost needs to become a priority with the church. Evangelism, it’s one of the highest values in the church—and one of the least practiced.
We all believe in it. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who genuinely believed in the bible but didn’t believe in evangelism. When you embrace the truth of God’s Word, it’s pretty difficult to discount its call to reach lost people. It’s on our bulletins, in our hymns, and throughout our creeds. It’s posted on our marquees and peppered throughout our statements of faith. It’s emphasized in our theology books, praised in our seminaries, and encouraged in our pulpits. Most Christian leaders list it as one of their ministry’s top priorities. There is little ambiguity or doubt that evangelism is central to what we’re supposed to be about.
The irony is that while many of us are in churches and denominations that have a rich heritage and strong reputation for evangelism, in many cases, precious little is actually happening. Let’s be honest: in many most ministries very few lost people are being reached for Christ.
Yet the words of Jesus in the Great Commission are seared in our minds: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Matthew 28:19, 20). This mandate was given for all churches of all time, so it includes every one of us who is a part of those congregations.
Since we all agree that we are supposed to be carrying out the Great Commission, why aren’t we dong more about it?
We may talk a good game, but our actions speak louder than our words. Do we really care about lost people? Do we sincerely believe that knowing Christ is the best way to live and the only way to die? Are we convinced that everyone we know, without exception, needs to find the forgiveness, friendship, life, and leadership Jesus offers? Do we truly believe in hell, and that our friends and family members will end up there if they don’t trust in Christ before they die? Do we really believe that? And are we willing to invest our time and energy in developing churches that will attract, challenge, and teach them to step across the line of faith?
Bill Hybels spoke about this to a group of leaders in Europe:
If you went to the airport, and there were no airplanes landing, and there were no airplanes taking off, you’d say, “There’s a problem!” If you went to the train station, and there were no trains coming and no trains leaving, you’d say, “There’s a problem!” So why is it that we can be a part of churches that go on year after year with almost no truly unchurched people coming to faith in Christ, and with very few people really becoming more Christlike, and yet think there’s no problem. Friends, if that describes your church, “There’s a problem!”
Evangelism is God’s idea. Jesus said His mission is “to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). Before leaving, He told his followers, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). He left us here to reach lost people—people who matter deeply to Him.
Contrary to the prevailing belief that “I’m OK, you’re OK,” the Bible gives us a very different picture. Romans 3:9-12 spells out the real situation when it tells us, Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Applying this passage on a personal level, it means that our friends at work, in the neighborhood, and even in our families are not ok simply because they do loving things and perhaps engage in sincere religious activities. We have to be crystal clear on this: No matter how “good” people are, if they don’t know Christ as their Savior, they are headed for a Christless eternity. The bible is unwaveringly consistent on this: We “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, everyone we know needs to know and follow Christ.
If all of this is true then what are we going to do about trying to get new babies born into the church?
Are we desperate to see babies born into the church? Are we as desperate as Hannah was about having a child?
