1 Samuel 3:1-11, 19-21
“God Is Doing a New Thing!!!”
This passage begins with an arrestingly modern concept: “The Lord’s word was rare at that time, and visions weren’t widely known.”
Do you suppose that this is the way many people in the world feel right now?
Do you suppose that they think God isn’t up to much?
Or maybe they don’t expect much from God or from life?
Maybe they believe that there is a God, but they haven’t read God’s Word.
Perhaps they consider themselves Christian, but they aren’t part of a local church.
Maybe they don’t see much of God’s love where they work, live or go to school.
And if they aren’t active in a Christian congregation, they aren’t seeing much of God’s Word, God’s love nor God’s visions in action.
Perhaps they have never experienced what it is like to be loved with unconditional love.
Maybe people are always just using them for what they can get out of them.
They look around and all they see is selfishness, greed, corruption and broken dreams.
They are living without hope, just going through the motions…
…not expecting much out of life or out of their lives.
And so, it seems as if “The Lord’s word” is “rare.”
But it's not.
God’s Word is incarnate in Christ!!!
God’s Word lives in those who believe and put their faith into action!!!
God’s visions come to those who are engaged in God’s love for the world, for the broken hearted, for all!
When we seek to do God’s will, not only does God speak to us, but we see “visions,” we “dream dreams” as The Holy Spirit is poured out upon us and life is filled with excitement and possibility!!!
It’s really interesting how God’s Spirit works.
As you know, the Servant Evangelism Team has been seeking out God’s will as it has to do with meeting the needs in our community.
And we’ve found that we live in an area with a fast-growing, under-served homeless population.
And I’m not just talking about the folks who live in tents down by Camp Jordan, but also the families with children who are living in some of the drug infested hotels just down the street from us.
Marcy Hall is doing a really good job getting us connected to Spring Creek elementary school which has 36 students who live at the Superior Creek Lodge, and regularly come to school with lice infestations that don’t go away, but keep coming back.
We have a small food pantry here at the church, and it is used daily.
I receive several phone calls a day from desperate folks who need help paying their rent, utility bills, hotel bills, or need money for groceries.
We are literally surrounded by a community that is starving financially and is also in spiritual despair.
What are we to do?
We know we are called to do something about it, but what?
A new report from the National Center on Family Homelessness counts Tennessee and Georgia in the top 15 for percentage of homeless children…in the nation.
“America’s Youngest Outcastes 2010” states that more than 1.6 million children, or 1 in every 45 children are homeless in America.
Child homelessness grew 38 percent from 2007 to 2010.
And more than 1,000 children attending Chattanooga-area public schools are homeless.
In Luke Chapter 4, Jesus read aloud His personal mission statement, and it starts like this:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor…”
Is that not what we are called to do as well?
But how well are we and the rest of the Christian Churches in our community doing with this?
Do you suppose that many of the poor and homeless who live outside our doors might be able to relate well to the beginning of 1 Samuel Chapter 3: “The Lord’s word was rare at that time, and visions weren’t widely known”?
Anyhow, we have been talking for some time at the Servant Evangelism Meetings every Wednesday Evening at 6 pm about how we can best address the growing economic problems in our community, how we can be God's light and salt in this section of the world.
And one idea that has been getting a lot of traction is the possibility of having some sort of “feeding ministry”…
…perhaps a free Wednesday evening dinner.
We’ve also spoken quite a bit about how we could go about doing this, and we even decided that maybe the best route would be to try and get some of the other churches in our area involved.
How great it would be for Christ’s people to pool their resources and energies for the transformation and salvation of this community God has placed us in!!!
So, anyway every second Thursday morning of the month the East Ridge Ministerial Association meets for breakfast at that infamous East Ridge fixture: Wally’s.
This past week I decided I’d go and present some of our ideas to the other ministers and see if they or some of the folks in their congregations might be interested in partnering with us.
When I got there, an unfamiliar man was sitting at the table.
He’s a lay member from another church, and God had given him a vision.
He presented God’s vision to us.
And it's the same exact vision God has been putting in our hearts, minds and ears here at East Ridge United Methodist Church!!!
He said that the small church he attends, which averages maybe 15 worshipers on Sundays is feeling called to reach out to the economically stressed in East Ridge by serving free meals to folks.
Their church is looking to see if any of the other churches in the area would be interested in being a part.
After the man gave his presentation, I spoke up and explained to the group that I was planning on making a similar presentation that morning.
Then I shared what we are doing, what we have learned and the “vision” we feel God is currently giving us.
So, just like that, the East Ridge Ministerial Association has formed a task force in order to address this vision and call from God.
And we are having our first meeting this Thursday here at East Ridge United Methodist Church.
It was a divine experience.
Don't ever let yourself be fooled!
God’s Word is not rare!!!
And God’s visions are, indeed, widely known!!!
We just have to be listening and looking...but they are there.
God is calling our names.
God is giving us a mission!!!
God provides God's people with God's visions.
As verse 3 of 1 Samuel Chapter 3 declares, “God’s lamp” hasn’t “gone out”!!!...
…contrary to what the world may think or tell us!!!
And it’s our role to take that lamp, that light out into the lost and dying world!!!
So that all who listen can hear God’s Voice and see God’s Vision for their lives and for themselves.
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning we find Samuel, a young man who was “serving” God under an old priest named Eli…
…and Eli had had a rough time of it.
It was a time of spiritual desolation.
His sons were a terrible disappointment to him.
The priestly line was not going to continue through his family, or if it did...the corruption would be unthinkable.
Verse 12 of Chapter 2 tells us that “Eli’s sons were despicable men who didn’t know the Lord…”
And then it goes into describing some of the things they were doing.
Word had gotten out to Eli about his sons, he told them to stop their “evil behavior” but they wouldn't listen to him.
At this time Samuel was living in the Temple with Eli as his mentor.
And Eli was old and weak.
We are told that he was nearly blind.
And one day when both Eli and Samuel were lying down and sleeping in separate areas of the Temple, God called out to Samuel.
But the last thing Samuel was expecting was that God would speak to him.
You see, even though Samuel was working in the Temple…
…even though he was being taught the priestly duties…
...times were so bad...
...religious corruption was running so rampant, immorality so out of control, politics had become so dangerous and there was so much social upheaval...
...that Samuel didn't expect to hear from God.
Sound familiar?
Are we this way?
Are the people living in our community in this frame of mind?
It seemed as if the “Lord’s word was rare at that time, and visions weren’t widely known.”
Is that what the people of East Ridge think...especially those who are living in horrendous conditions with little or no help and seemingly little or no compassion coming to them from the people of God?
When Samuel heard God’s voice, he was sure it was Eli who had called him, so he went running to see what he wanted.
It never occurred to him that it was the Lord.
After this happened for the third time, old, blind Eli saw what was going on and told Samuel how to respond.
“So Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.’”
So Samuel went and lay down and the Lord called him again.
And God told Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of all who hear it tingle!”
I'll tell you, my ears were tingling the other day at Wally's!!!
When was the last time you felt a “tingle” from God's Word?
When was the last time you experienced hope kicking into high gear, heard forgiveness loud and clear, felt pins and needles all over your body because you were so excited by the Holy Ghost?
We often make decisions because we have experienced the awful tingle of fear.
We may have heard the doctor say our cancer was back, or we were put on full body alert at the possibility that our pension was going to be taken away.
Maybe we were so scared at how close we came to hitting the other car that we had to stop and rest a minute in order to experience our body’s adrenalin rush!
When we hear that someone near and dear to us has lost their job, when someone needs a heart bypass fear gets our full attention!!!
When war breaks out fear swims into view and we tingle in fright.
But this passage from 1 Samuel is telling us that we are to begin to make decisions, not based on fear, but based on the tingle of hope!!!
How about that for a change!!!???
How about that for a revolution; a revival...a new way of looking at the world?
God desires to do a new thing through YOU and the other Christians here in East Ridge and it will make ears tingle!!!
God has plans, already executed in Jesus, to do good things…
Listen, God is calling us…
…look around, God has a plan!!!
We are told that “Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not allowing any of his words to fail.”
Look back to the Scripture, look forward in hope!
Open your ears.
God is with you!!!
God is calling you.
God's Word is everywhere; His visions are sweeping across His people.
Will we listen to God's Voice?
Will we take hold of God's vision for those who are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd?
Will we participate in what God is about to do?
Will we make our decisions based not on fear, but on faith, hope and love for God and for our neighbors?
The future is exciting because God is in it, and we are called to go into that future with Him.
May God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
