1 Samuel 3:1-10 1 Corinthians 6:(9-18) 19-20; 10:13 1 Kings 8:27
One activity that human beings really aren’t very good at is listening. It’s surprising, really. There doesn’t seem to be much to the art of listening – you just sit there and nod your head at the appropriate times. But for many people, listening is a problem. There is even a Listening Association that you can join to help improve your listening skills. These things exist because many people are not good listeners.
A grandchild sitting on her grandfather’s lap was listening to the Bible story of Noah’s Ark. She asked “Were you in the Ark, grandpa?”
He chuckled and replied, “Why, no I wasn’t.” There was a pause, and the child looked up at him quizzically and asked, “Then why weren’t you drowned?”
That grandchild was certainly listening, but she was missing some key points of the story. The same is often true with us. We often hear only what we expect – or want to hear. It’s called, “selective listening”.
Today we’ll be reflecting on how important “listening” is when it comes to our relationship with God. Remember, this is the Epiphany season, that time in the church year when Jesus reveals his glory, and lets people see his grace, his righteousness, and his love. Today we’ll reflect on how important it is, and what a blessing it is, when we listen to God.
When the prophet Samuel was a child, he worked in the temple under the supervision of a priest named Eli. We are told in verse 1 that, “In those days, the word of the Lord was rare; there were no visions.” In other words, God wasn’t speaking to his people. Why would God do that? Well, Scripture says the nation of Israel at that time didn’t want to listen to God or to hear his Word. They were too busy with their own lives, too busy breaking God’s commands.
Sometimes the last thing we want is to listen to is the Word of God – maybe you’ve heard it before, or maybe you’re sure you know all about it. That is when listening can be really hard. That’s also when sin begins to take over.
It’s interesting to me when I talk to people who are drifting away from God – a common thing I hear is this: “But I pray all the time.” But is praying to God the same as listening to God? The answer is “no”. Prayer is a powerful thing, and most people don’t pray enough. You could say that “prayer primes the pump”, but prayer is not listening. It prepares our minds for God’s message. Christ reveals his glory when we are “waiting upon the Lord” and “listening”
Isn’t it interesting that, in today’s Scripture, Eli and Samuel – both of them were very busy serving in the temple. And yet, verse 7 says that, “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.” Despite their service to God, God was still a stranger to Samuel.
So it is with many people. We’re very busy . . . but not listening. We pray at times, but we fail to make God our priority. So how do we know if it’s not our priority? – when we don’t obey it. We make excuses, but in the end, we are falling away, and we know it. So what happens when we do listen to God?
Three times God called out to Samuel, and Samuel did not know it was the Lord. Finally, Eli figured out what was happening – God was finally speaking, and Samuel was the one God chose to speak to. Then verse 10: “The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other time, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” From that moment on, God spoke to Samuel on a regular basis, and Samuel listened.
We come to know the true God, not by doing something difficult or complex but simply by listening. What a blessing it is when we take time out of our busy lives and wait for God! For example, did you hear the voice of God this morning? It began when you confessed your sins to Him. You told him in what ways you have failed to be fully obedient to HIm. You confessed to Him that you weren’t listening to Him as you should.
Then did you hear what God said to you – after you confessed your sins? God told you that his Son, Jesus Christ, has taken away your sins. He told you that Jesus died as the ultimate sacrifice to set you free from sin and from death. Were you listening?
In today’s reading of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, we hear Paul’s message to a people who had already heard the gospel of Christ, but they had not obeyed it. They had been listening selectively, and so they were professing half-a-gospel . . . which was actually no gospel at all.
The Corinthians were Greeks, and the Greeks had many preconceptions which stemmed from centuries of worldly philosophy. Among their philosophies were Stoicism and Epicureanism. Stoicism believed in disciplining the body in order to sharpen one’s intellect – one’s soul. The other, Epicureanism, believed in total indulgence – “Eat, drink and be merry” because self gratification was the greatest end and reason for life. Both, however, shared a belief in compartmentalizing each person’s life. The body and spirit were separate.
The soul was one’s consciousness in this life. The spirit was that part which lives on after death – not the soul – and the body was merely a temporary vessel with no permanent effect on either. The result was that the Corinthians heard from Paul only what it pleased them to hear. They liked the idea that, by faith in the grace of Christ, they would have salvation in the next life. The sins of the flesh would not matter because their bodies would simply be discarded.
Let’s read from 1 Corinthians 6:12-14, Paul told them, . . . . (READ FROM BIBLE)
The phrase, “All things are lawful for me”, was a slogan the Corinthians had coined to justify their immoral behavior. They had conveniently misinterpreted Paul’s message of God’s grace. It was also compatible with Epicureanism’s self-indulgence. Paul, however, reminded them that freedom from the ceremonial laws of Moses did not give them a license to indulge the lusts of the flesh. This would only enslave them in the very sin from which Jesus had freed them.
“Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods” was another phrase the Corinthians used to justify their sinful lifestyles. Food was gratifying and essential for life. When the Corinthians became hungry, they ate. Following the same logic, whenever the Corinthians craved sex, they indulged themselves. After all, isn’t sex a natural act and craving of the body? In their opinion, no physical activity should affect one’s spiritual life, just as the body’s digestion of food did not affect one’s spirituality.
There is, however, an inherent flaw in this, and Paul points it out. The stomach and the digestive process are, in a sense, no more than an earthly function of the body and without function in the here-after. But Paul pointed out that the body, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, does effect the Spirit within us. The body has been sanctified by God to bring Him glory. The Corinthians had listened to Paul, but they had not heard him.
Jesus has bought us with a price – body, mind and soul – by the shedding of His precious blood. When you became a Christian, the Holy Spirit entered into your body. At that moment your body became the temple of God. Your whole being is sacred to God. It makes your body special.
Paul’s words suggest four things:
• First, Paul’s words serve as a reminder.
By His Word, we are reminded that our eternal life has already begun in the here and now. We were bought with a price, the blood of Christ. Our bodies are no longer our own to do with as we please. That was a big problem in Greek thinking. In the Old Testament and the New, sin is still sin. We cannot pick and choose what we like from the Old Testament and expect God to agree.
Paul emphasized this in verses 9-10 (READ), “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” God’s message through Christ is for us to be transformed . . . not conforming to this world.
• Second, Paul emphasizes that we are a retainer.
Verse 19 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” A temple is a house or dwelling of God, a building set apart for the worship of the true God.
In the Old Testament, God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness. He was to carefully follow God’s blueprint. That’s because there was something about that tabernacle which would distinguish Judaism from all other religions of that day. It was to have a supernatural occupant in it.
Much later, when Solomon completed God’s Temple in Jerusalem, he dedicated it with these words, “Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I have built.” Solomon wisely understood that this beautiful edifice had limitations. He knew that God was bigger than anything he could make. Nevertheless, the Temple was dedicated to God. At its dedication God’s Shekinah Glory filled the Temple. God’s Spirit was there.
Solomon’s Temple is now gone, but God’s Spirit still dwells among us. At Pentecost, God’s Spirit came to dwell in the temple of our bodies and minds. WE – our minds and bodies – are now the retainers of the Spirit of God.
• Third, Paul mentions that we are receivers.
The body of every believer becomes, at the moment of regeneration, the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells within us by making our bodies His sacred habitation. Should we defile the Spirit’s new temple with sins of the flesh?
God’s Word is this, “He places His Holy Spirit within us, making us new creatures - with new desires, new motives, and new interests. Indeed, old things have passed away, and all things become new.” As receivers of His Spirit, we are no longer to be slaves to the flesh. We have the power to overcome all of the Adversary’s distractions.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, we are given the assurance: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
• Fourth, Paul speaks of us as revealers. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.”
Paul tells us, “Glorify God with your body,” But the Greeks looked down on the body. The Greeks had a saying, “The body is a tomb.” To them, the important things were the soul and the spirit of man; the body was of little or no consequence.
This meant you could do as you pleased with the body. Since the body has certain natural desires, why not yield to them with whomever you wish?
Paul, however, speaks of God’s way – not man’s. God created us as whole beings – mind and body – not compartmentalized.
God made us for union with His Spirit – a relationship with Christ in this world and a still closer union hereafter. Paul is pleading to save the Corinthians in body, soul and spirit. Our bodies are sacred temples because God’s Spirit – His Shikinah Glory – now dwells within us.
Some time ago I read about an aged saint who had passed away and was being borne to his burial. With great haste, the pall bearers were moving to the grave, when suddenly the old minister spoke, “Tread softly. You are carrying a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit abides in us to glorify Jesus Christ, our Savior. He takes the power of Christ and empowers us to be renewed in Him. He leads us in our daily living that we might grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord. As we yield our lives completely to Him, He fills us daily with His glory.
Listen very carefully. Do not be deceived by some who merely resurrect old misconceptions and disguise them as “a new thing”. Listen for the voice of God which comes through the Word of God . Listen to what He says to you personally. God is calling you because of His unfaltering love for you. If you wish to hear Him, you have only to say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Please join with me in prayer: Heavenly Father, speak to us of Your way and Your truth that, in all we say and do, we will glorify You through obedience to Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Benediction: “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be a people of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.” Via con Dios; Go with God.
