Theme: Speak Lord, your servant is listening
Text: 1 Sam. 3:1-10; 1 Cor. 6:12-20; Jn. 1:35-42
The letter to the Hebrews begins by telling us “In the past, God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son, Jesus Christ.” Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out. The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognise him. In other words, the people refused to listen to Him. They didn’t recognise that in the rainbow or sunset God was telling them about himself. Too often, in fact, people began to worship and serve the trees and rocks and flowers that God has made instead of the Creator himself! God is always speaking to us and teaching us the truth but are we listening? He speaks to us through the various tests we face in life. In school we are given lessons and then tested to make sure we have learnt the lessons. The teacher, depending on how well we have performed, then grades us. If we receive a passing grade, we graduate to the next level or grade, one that is more difficult and more challenging. The same principle is evident in life. The only difference is that the tests we do in school will one-day end but the tests of life continue throughout life. God is always testing us and determines our passing grade based on our performance in dealing with the various trials and frustrations we face. When we have passed one course, we move on to the next course, which is more difficult and more challenging. Just as we are rewarded after completing school with many good opportunities, so great blessings come to those who pass the tests of life. And just as the teacher is pleased with his successful students so God is pleased with those who prove themselves faithful. We can only pass these tests when we listen carefully. God will only speak to those He knows are prepared to listen, those who are faithful. ‘Speak Lord your servant is listening’ is the only way we can approach God when we want to hear Him speak to us.
God speaks to us in many ways. We either refuse to listen to Him or we allow sin or greed to get in the way of any communication with Him. Listening to God and responding to Him is vital to a relationship with God. Although God does not always use the sound of a human voice, He always speaks clearly through His Word. Today the written Word of God is the most frequent way God uses to speak to us. God never speaks against what He has written. God also speaks to us by making His Word come alive to in many different situations and conditions especially during times of prayer and worship. Although it is true that praying a lot, praising God and doing other godly things will make us more receptive to the voice of God, it is also true that we cannot force God to speak to us. We can never make ourselves worthy enough by anything we do for God to feel obliged to speak to us. We rather need to be ready to listen and act upon what He tells us. Like Samuel we need to be ready to say ‘speak Lord, your servant is listening’.
The time that the Lord spoke to Samuel we are told that “the word of the Lord was rare in those days and there was no widespread revelation.” The reason was that the spiritual leaders at the time were corrupt and God’s people were not obeying His law. Even the sons of Eli, the priest, paid no attention to the Lord or to the regulations concerning what the priests could demand from the people. They were even sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tabernacle. Eli knew about this but did nothing about it. Their transgressions disqualified them from serving the Lord in the Temple so why should God say anything new to them? Then Hannah comes along and promises to give and dedicate her son to serve the Lord if He would give her a son. Hannah, I am not sure whether she knew it or not at the time, but I believe she did, was asking God to fulfil His own will by providing a prophet to take the place of Eli. Samuel served in the tabernacle under Eli giving Eli the opportunity to teach him what he had failed to teach his own sons. He did this until God revealed to Samuel that he was ready to lead God’s people. God always has various ways and various means to let those who are not familiar with His voice hear. Samuel was not familiar with the voice of the Lord because the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. So God used Eli, the priest who had spent his entire life in service to God. However, God did not speak directly to Eli who was in a position to recognise His voice. This means that it is possible for God to stop speaking to someone who was once very spiritual. When God spoke to Samuel, Eli had enough spiritual knowledge to know what was happening and advised him on what to do for God to speak. Samuel responded to God’s call and became a trustworthy servant of God. Eli was there and the message was about him and yet God would not give him the message. The tragedy of Eli’s life was that he was someone who God used to speak to, who still had enough spiritual knowledge but whose life was no longer pleased the Lord. Our desire to do God’s work should not cause us to neglect our families. If we do our work for the Lord can become a search for money and power and our family and we ourselves will suffer the consequences of our neglect.
God may sometimes go a long time without speaking both in the life of a people or in the life of an individual. But very often God is speaking only we are not listening. Even when we hear God speak we fail to recognise His voice. We are often either confused or prefer to listen to what we ourselves are saying. When God speaks to us we always have the witness of the Spirit to confirm it. Sometimes we become restless and miserable and cannot sleep as Samuel experienced when he continued to hear the voice of the Lord. Sometimes it makes us act strangely and other people may think we are making a nuisance of ourselves, but deep within us we have the assurance that it is God speaking to us.
God speaks to us in many and various ways and we should always be thankful because what He says is always to our benefit. The book of Judges tells us that after Joshua’s death, the Israelites begin to disobey God, and as they did, they were taken as slaves by one of the neighbouring people. They then cry out to God, who raised up a judge to free them. They followed God, until that judge died. They would then fall back into their wicked ways, be conquered by another people, cry out to God, and God would again free them by raising up another judge. This was the pattern of their existence, as we get to the book of Samuel because they refused to listen to what God was saying. I once heard of a minister who was posted to a new church. He preached a very good sermon the first Sunday that touched every member of the congregation. The whole congregation were very expectant the next Sunday only to hear the same sermon again. After eight weeks of preaching the same sermon, the presbyters met and decided to have a talk with him after the next service. They told him how great they found his sermon but that he had been preaching the same sermon since his arrival at their Church. They then asked him when he would be preaching a different sermon. The preacher simply replied, “When you do what I told you in that sermon we will go on to something else.” Are we listening to God? We can only hear God’s voice when we have a relationship with Him and obey Him no matter what He wants us to do. We need to be attentive and do what is necessary such as Bible study, prayer, and fellowship with other Christians. If God is pleased with us we are likely to be conscious of His voice and conscious of a living fellowship with Him. When God is displeased with us we are likely to discover He is speaking to others but not to us. We may find God revealing to others the things that we need to know.
God must be obeyed completely and at all times. Today we live in a permissive society with a philosophy that sex is a normal physical function and should be used as one pleases. Many people actually boast of their sexual activities instead of being saddened by it. The sexual life of many people is contrary to God’s Will. Instead of using our bodies for God’s service and glory many people use them to gratify their sexual appetites and other sinful habits. Is it any wonder that we have so many sexually transmitted infections and now the HIV virus that leads to the Aids infection? Have we not by our behaviour put ourselves in the position where we cannot hear God’s voice? God desires that we live His life and we can only do so when we hear His voice and obey Him. We must become totally willing to do whatever He tells us to do. We have an obligation to do this after all that Christ has done for us. One important reason why we do not hear God’s voice is that although we say we want to obey Him, deep inside we do not really want to listen to Him.
God’s call, God’s voice, and God’s direction does not always come when we’re expecting it, and sometimes, God’s call is not always what we want to do. It is, however, very important that we hear God speak to us, listen carefully and obey what He tells us.
Many Christians are not concerned about hearing God’s voice since they see no need for His direction. They often pray for guidance about a matter they have already made their minds about. Instead of first seeking God for His opinion they want God to do what they want and do it in the way they want. They are even less concerned about obeying His commandments. Their main interest has become personal gain, which becomes their main reason for seeking God. What we really need is an attitude of humility that allows God’s will to be done as in the case of many prophets. John the Baptist had a ministry, his own congregation, his own disciples and his own crowd of followers but this did not affect his humble spirit. Although a leader yet he spoke of another whose leadership they should follow. In John’s words ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’. He was committed to the increase of Christ and to the decrease of self. This was only possible because John had a vision of God’s greatness. Many people, including Christians, spend their lives looking at Christ as if He were a small light in the distance. Let us draw closer to Him so that our lives are bathed in the light of His glory. Let us put aside our personal feelings and our personal agendas for the betterment of the body of Christ. The more we are occupied with Christ the less we are occupied with ourselves.
God has called us and placed us in certain positions and places for a reason. He expects us to be good accountants, good teachers and good parents. He expects us to be faithful at home, at work and in the Church. When God calls us He transforms us so that we can transform our neighbours, our community and our world. A spiritual transformation is necessary if we are to become channels for God’s social transformation that is to take place in the Church. The New Testament tells us that as Christians, we each have a spiritual gift that is to be used to further God’s kingdom - to bring about transformation. God is calling us into many ministries here at the Covenant Presbyterian Church. I believe that each one of us is being called into a ministry and need to listen to the Lord speaking to us. We may not hear an audible voice but God is also speaking clearly to us through the Scriptures. Hearing God speak to us through the Scriptures means more than just reading the Scriptures. We need to hear by the Spirit as we read the Bible. It is the Spirit that brings the written words alive to us. The Pharisees had the Old Testament and loved it but did not see Jesus in its pages. They had the Scriptures but did not have the Spirit to reveal it to them. The Scriptures can only come alive to us when we first have a relationship with Christ and desire that He speak to us through them. When God speaks to us we need to press on and ask Him to say more. Sometimes He tells us a little bit and then waits for us to seek Him to get more, to say ‘speak Lord your servant is listening’. God called Samuel by name and then waited for Samuel to respond. We still go through the same process today. God is calling out to you by name but are you listening. It has been said that too often our relationship to the Lord is expressed in the words "Listen, Lord! Your servant is speaking!" instead of the words "Speak, Lord! Your servant is listening!" May the Lord help us to be good and obedient listeners, as we desire to hear more and more from God? Let us respond to His call today by saying ‘speak Lord your servant is listening’. Amen!
