“Do We Really Want To Hear What God Has To Say?”
1 Samuel 3:1-20
John 1:43-51
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
In both our Gospel Lesson and our Old Testament Lesson for this morning we are confronted with the call of God.
In John both Philip and Nathanael hear the voice of God in Jesus Christ and become His followers.
Of course, this is a life-long commitment that will bring them great satisfaction and everlasting glory, but many difficulties as well.
In following the call of God on their lives Philip and Nathanael will have to go against the grain of the world.
They will have to make a stand against injustice, oppression, discrimination, and the old way of doing things.
They won’t fit in much with the rest of the world.
They are taking a big chance, a big risk, but it is a chance…it is a risk they are willing to make.
I remember hearing about an interview a friend of mine saw with a woman who had lived well into her 100’s.
The interviewer had asked her, “Do you have any regrets? Is there anything you would do differently with your life if you had it to do over again?”
The woman answered: “Yes. I would take more risks.”
We do take a big risk when we listen to what God is calling us to do in this life, and then act on it.
Some of us face the risk of losing our jobs.
Others face the risk of losing friends, maybe even family members.
When I became a Christian I remember a friend saying to me: “If I did something like that my parents would kill me.”
A colleague told me that he was dating a young woman when he heard God calling him to go into the ministry.
When he told her about his call, and that he was planning on taking God up on it the woman immediately broke off their relationship.
There is almost always risk involved when we listen to the voice of God because we are being forced to take a stand between what is right and what is convenient.
I remember as a kid, one of my older sisters asking me, point blank: “Do you make friends with and sit next to the kids in school that are unpopular? The kids that other people either alienate or make fun of?”
I was pretty young when she asked me this, and still very innocent. Just a nice kid at that point, so my answer was “Yes.”
She responded: “I know it is the right thing to do, but I don’t have the nerve to do it.”
Knowing that there is risk involved…an element of danger even…
Do we really want to hear what God has to say to us?
In our Old Testament Lesson for this morning in 1st Samuel we are told that “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.”
Sounds like a rather dull time to be alive.
Now, I don’t take this to mean that God wasn’t speaking…
…that God wasn’t calling folks just like He always has and continues to do today…
…I think it means that it was rare that folks were interested in or willing to hear what God had to say.
And as a result of not listening to the voice of God the people were living in a very dark period of history.
It was a time of much corruption and greed.
There was a certain meanness in the air…a certain selfishness.
It was a time of spiritual desolation, religious corruption, personal immorality, political danger, and social upheaval.
And although Eli, the priest was around, he was old and sick and he no longer held the influence and respect he once had.
Also, his sons were corrupt, and people had no respect for them.
In chapter 2 verse 12 we are told that “Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord.”
Who would take Eli’s place as spiritual leader in Israel?
Who would be willing to hear and heed the call of God?
We might ask that same question this morning.
Are we, willing to hear and heed the call of God on our lives?
Are we willing to take the risk and make a positive difference in this world?
Thank God for the folks who have been willing to take that risk in the past.
The disciples lit up with enthusiasm as they were called from their various tasks in order to follow Jesus.
And their response was catchy, was it not?
Not only were they called to follow Christ, but they in turn were used by God to call others to follow Him as well.
That’s another thing about listening to what God has to say to us…
…when we listen…
…if we listen…
…we will hear God calling us to go out and tell others about Christ.
After all, that is our great commission as a Church…
…to make disciples of all nations!!!
Now, some of us might not want to hear that.
“What do you mean I’m supposed to bring someone to Christ?”
“That would take me out of my comfort zone!”
“That would involve risk.”
“I might be rejected, or they may take me up on it and then I will need to become involved in their lives and be friends with them and mentor them in their new journey.”
The call of God reminds us what we are supposed to be doing.
It also reminds us who we are and whose we are.
Samuel’s mother had dedicated his life to the Lord.
And Samuel lived in the temple with Eli the priest.
But Samuel did not yet know the Lord until one night as he was lying down Samuel heard the voice of God calling him.
Was it the voice of Eli?
That was what he thought at first.
3 times the Lord called out: “Samuel!”
“And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, you called me.”
Finally, Eli realized that it was the Lord Who was calling Samuel.
So Eli told him to “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.’”
When the Lord called a fourth time, Samuel’s response was: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
When God calls us, are we willing to take the risk and listen?
Tomorrow, many people in our nation are going to observe the birthday celebration of a man who was willing to take the risk and say: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
As a child, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was taught by his parents to treat all people with respect.
But as he grew up, he found that not everyone followed his parent’s principles.
He noticed that black people and white people were treated differently.
He saw that he and his white friends couldn’t drink from the same water fountains and couldn’t use the same restrooms.
Martin Luther King’s best friend as a child was a white boy and as children they played happily together.
But when they reached school age the friends found that even though they lived in the same neighborhood they couldn’t go to the same school.
After the first day of school Martin Luther and his best friend were never allowed to play together again.
As an adult, Dr. King dared to listen to what God had to say to him and he became the undisputed leader of the civil rights movement.
Dr. King believed that poverty was the cause of much of the unrest in America.
Not only poverty for African-Americans, but poor whites, Hispanics and Asians.
And Dr. King refused to stay silent because God had called him to speak out.
And although Dr. King’s response to God’s call would bring him some success and much notoriety—such as the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and the peaceful march on Washington where 200,000 people came to hear his “I Have a Dream” speech—it would ultimately cost him his life.
In April of 1968 Dr. King went to Memphis, Tennessee where he would give his last speech:
“We’ve got some difficult days
ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I have been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have sent the glory of the coming of the Lord”
The following day, as he was leaving his motel room Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed.
Many people wanted to kill Jesus because of what He said and what He did.
At first the disciples had been excited to follow Jesus, but there would come a day when it would be dark and Calvary would loom, and crucifixion would stare them in the face and their enthusiasm would turn to fright and they would turn and run away from what God was doing in their world.(from a sermon by Rev. John LeGault)
Has your enthusiasm ever turned to fright as you saw what God was doing in your world or in your life?
Have you ever run from the voice of God?
If so, you are not alone.
I would imagine there have been times that all of us have run from what God was calling us to do.
The good news is that God is the God of second chances.
It is never too late to change.
It is never too late for any one of us to stop, listen and ask God to “Speak.”
Through our Scripture Lessons for this morning God is speaking to us at the very heart of our faith.
God’s will and purpose in our lives is very often a call to relinquish our plans and our dreams for God’s higher good.
In order to really hear what God has to say, we very often, must give up something we want to grasp or control.
When we begin reading about Samuel, it appears that Samuel is a sort of passive person who seems very content to remain in the background.
But by the conclusion of 1st Samuel Chapter 3, Samuel emerges as a prominent figure on the national scene.
And this happens because Samuel listened to God and made himself available to God.
Samuel was being trained to perform priestly duties…
…to carry out the rituals of temple worship; however, God interrupted Samuel’s function in priestly duties and called him to be a prophet….
….in the days when “the word of the Lord was rare” and “there were not many visions.”
If we were to read on in the Book of 1st Samuel we would see that Israel responded to the words of Samuel and followed his counsel.
Israel returned to God and worshiped God only.
Through Samuel, God called Israel to a new resolve, a new beginning.
The Bible tells us that it is God’s
desire to reveal Himself to us
through His Word and thus, call us
to new life, new hope, and new
beginnings.
Is this what we desire?
Do we really want to hear what
God has to say?
Let us pray: “Like Samuel, O God, help us to hear and listen to Your call on our lives daily. You call us to be Your disciples. You call us to follow You. As we listen to You, You show us the way to behave in this tempting and distracting world and culture. You set us free. Lord may we listen and be used in such a way that others will want to accept Your invitation for themselves-may they hear Your Word through our lives. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
