Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our
Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Amen
And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other
times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”
In the Name of Jesus
In
today’s world, there are lots of things that vie for our attention. In fact, that is the point of every ad we
see, whether TV, newspaper, magazine, or internet. They want our attention, our business, they
want us to forget about every other product and solely buy theirs.
There
are lots of things that that we give our attention to. When our phones ring with a phone call or
text message we drop what we are doing to answer it. If you are a news junkie then when you see a breaking
news story I wouold be that you stop what you are doing to pay attention. We will even devote ourselves to our favorite
TV shows, sports teams.
But
is what gets our attention that which needs it the most? Are you guilty of giving your full attention
to things that don’t really matter?
Guilty of giving attention to something meaningless while other more
important tasks which require attention are forgotten?
There
is even a certain sex among us that gets accused of selective hearing. Hearing only what they want to hear and being
able to tune out everything else, ignore all other distractions.
Of
all the things that demand our attention, the most important is our God. God demands attention. God has been calling for the attention of man
ever since the creation of the world. He
spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden and demanded their worship and praise. He spoke to and through the prophets of the
Old Testament and even to the Paul, then Saul, on the road to Damascus. Each time demanding action in His name.
In
our Old Testament text today he calls someone a bit out of the ordinary. Not someone who was in power. Not someone who was old and wise. Not someone who we would have expected. Instead he is calling a young boy, a boy who
was the answer to many petitions prayer by his mother, for she was barren. Because this child was a gift from God, she
promised to give him then to the Lord’s service.
In
chapter three for 1 Samuel, we find the boy, Samuel, living in the temple
caring for the aging priest Levi. It
took dedication. The text says that his eyesight
had begun to grow dim so that he could not see.
This particular
evening, Eli was in his bed and Samuel was camped out in the temple of the Lord,
where the ark of God was.
Then
the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called
me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. And the Lord called again,
“Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called
me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.’ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the
word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again
the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you
called me.”
Samuel was confused by the
call of the Lord. It is very interesting
for how religious his mother was, read the first two chapters of 1 Samuel, her
faith is really why he is in the temple serving with Eli in the first place, we
get the sentence there in verse 7, Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. Really,
how is this possible for him to be given to the Lord’s service, be in the
Lord’s house day after day and yet have it written about him that he didn’t
know the Lord or his word?
Perhaps at a young age the boy had perfected his selective hearing
and tuned out anytime he heard someone speak on the matter of God. Maybe he worked so hard, and was so diligent
in that work, that he was always distracted as to what was going on around
him. Either way he runs to the aid of
Eli each time he hears his name called in the night.
Ever wonder who is calling you?
We live in a world that is confused by calls. These calls, even THE CALL are interpreted
many ways. Some will take the call for
God in their life and spend their whole life searching out a “spiritual force”
to follow. Then there are some who will
ignore that call and do whatever they want, almost a Jonah if you will (who we
will talk about next week).
How do we answer THE CALL?
Are we those who go the other way, those who ignore it, or those who
search out the caller only to miss him all together? Maybe another question we should answer is,
does God still call? Is he still calling
to us today?
Praise God he does! He
still calls to us. Not standing and
appearing to us but through his Word, through the Holy Spirit. Think back to your confirmation memory
work. The third article explanation. The Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel,
enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the
same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian
church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
He speaks, he calls, through the Holy Spirit and his Word. Just like he had things for Samuel to hear
and to do, so he has things for us to hear and do. Hear what the Lord had for Samuel. Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing
in Israel at which
the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from
beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house
forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,
and he did not restrain them.
Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be
atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
Remember this is Samuel’s first experience with the Word of the
Lord! But this is what HE wants us to
hear too. He calls so that we sit and
listen. He wants us to know the same
things which Samuel would soon prophecy about.
First, we must know of our sin and that we are lost in that sin. But we also need to know that we are not lost
in that sin. But it doesn’t end
there. We also listen to his words of
love and because of that love, forgiveness.
He still calls us to and into his love and forgiveness.
That’s what Samuel would end up sharing. That is what his timeless, transcendent
message will always be. We are sinful,
but he loves and because he loves us he forgiveness us through his Son. When he calls to us be begins where we must
begin as well, at the cross. This is
where ur relationship is founded, the actions of Christ for us. This is what he continues to call to us with
and say to us, whether we stop all distractions and listen or not.
So we know he still calls.
But why? What does he still come
to us? Well, in a world full of
distractions he wants to hear things that are good and beneficial for us. He wants us to hear, to continually to
hear. In fact he want us to just hear
it, but he wants us to LOVE to hear his word.
To use the words from the collect we use on non-communion Sundays, he
was us to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest His Words. It’s the different between, I have to go to
church and I get to go to church! HE
wants us to earnestly desire His Words.
He also wants us to heed his calling. He doesn’t just call men into the Office of
Holy Ministry. He calls everyone into
vocation where they can be witnesses. To
some he calls into church council positions, some he calls to be teachers,
business owners. Just because your job
doesn’t deal with religion or churches doesn’t mean God isn’t using you to
witness to others.
Accordingly, he calls us also to spread his word, his love, his
forgiveness. If you have such a great
message, you can’t just keep it to yourself, can you? And what a better time. Sitting right in-between Christmas and Ash
Wednesday. Invite others to come journey
with us to the Cross of Calvary. Invite
others to put aside the distractions of the world and fix their eyes with us on
Jesus.
What a wonderful thought.
Praise God he allows us the opportunity to forsake this world and enter
into his holy house. Yes there can be
distractions even here in his house. Our
mind can be in a million different places and our attention can be called away
in an instant. But His Word remains here
whether we are distracted or not. His
presence remains here even when want to look to other things. His body and blood remain here even when we
refuse to see it. His forgiveness will
always flow here even when we think we don’t need it.
Praise God for his faithfulness to a distracted children.
Amen
+SDG+
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