Heed The Call!
Sermon
Out From The Ordinary
First Lesson Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (First Third)
The old preacher was retiring for the evening. His aches and pains seemed to be more pronounced than usual. Maybe it was because he was slowly going blind and was always bumping into things. Or it could have been because he was overweight and neglectful of his physical condition. Whatever, the old preacher was tired, washed up, worn out.
Only a handful of members came to the services anymore. Rarely was he asked to speak outside the dwindling and dying congregation. Washed up! Worn out! The old preacher could not remember the last time he went to the pulpit with a burning word from God. But that had not always been so. There had been wonderful years, bright years, prosperous years when the crowds came and the services were jubilant, and he went to the pulpit with his heart on fire for God. The voice of God was so real. He had built his congregation to a point where he thought that his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, would take over and expand the ministry to even greater heights. It did not happen.
The old preacher had primed his sons for the moment when he would entrust his congregation to them. But they disgraced their father, disgraced themselves, and brought shame to the name of God. As soon as his sons were in power, they began to line their pockets with the tithes from the people. Instead of visiting the nursing homes and the funeral homes, they visited the houses of ill repute. Gossip spread throughout the entire country about the two unfaithful sons and their disgrace. Everyone talked and no one came to church.
There was only one bright spot in the old preacher's life. His name was Samuel. Samuel was born to a mother who had prayed for a son and then dedicated him to the Lord. The boy now was twelve years of age and had been under the tutelage of Eli for nine years.
"What's that, boy? No, I didn't call you. Go back to bed." And Eli again tried to rest his weary bones and asked himself, "How long can I go on?" "What's that, boy? No, I didn't call you! Go back to sleep." "How long can I go on with this? A pastor who cannot even take care of his own family, much less his own congregation."
"What's that, boy?" Then it dawned upon the old preacher that the word to the boy might be from the Lord, even in a day when such a word was rare. Could it be God's voice speaking to a twelve-year-old boy? It happened. It happened that night -- a call came to Samuel.
Wouldn't it be something to hear the voice of God? Wouldn't it be something to be claimed by God? I am not talking about those who boast of hearing God's voice every day as if they have him in their hip pocket. I am not talking about those who claim that they cannot drive down the road unless he is visible and audibly speaking, and their word somehow seems to involve our pocketbook. The country song says it best, "They say, 'Send your money to Jesus,' but they give you their address." I am not talking about those who would use or abuse such a word for control and manipulation. I am talking about hearing the call and claim of God upon our lives to something that is bigger and greater than we are. I am talking about the call of God to be a part of the answer instead a part of the problem. I am talking about God's claim upon our lives to enrich the lives of others. Wouldn't it be something to hear that call? In our text there are guidelines to help us hear such a call. Others have heard. It did not end with Samuel. It has continued and continues today.
He heard the call. His parents were somewhat mismatched. His father was unemployed most of the time. His mother was a teacher. School for him was difficult. In fact, he went to school for three months and his teacher sent him home saying that he was too backward to learn. She reported his I.Q. as 81. He did not return to school for two years. He had scarlet fever and constantly fought a respiratory infection. He had poor hearing and poor emotional health. To others he was neurotic, stubborn, and aloof. He liked to play with fire and burned down the family dwelling. But he loved mechanics. He loved to tinker with things and was especially fond of trains. Then he heard the call to be more than his life's script was dictating and Thomas A. Edison became what he was called to be.1
She heard the call. As a child she was sickly. She spent as much time in bed as out of bed and was constantly in the hospital. Her father was an alcoholic and abusive. She often wore a back brace because of a spinal defect. She varied between seeking attention and withdrawal. She bit her nails to the quick. She was homely. But she was a daydreamer and heard the call to be more than her life's script was dictating, and Eleanor Roosevelt became what she was called to be. Wouldn't it be something to hear such a call?
Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man answered an ad in the newspaper for a job as a Morse code operator. When he arrived, the office was filled with other applicants. The office was busy with noise and clatter, including the sound of a telegraph in the background. He was instructed by the receptionist to fill out an application and wait until he was summoned to enter the inner office. The young man filled out his application and sat down to wait with the other applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up and walked into the inner office.
The other applicants wondered what was happening. Within a few minutes, the employer escorted the young man out of the inner office and announced that the job had just been filled. The other applicants began to protest. One spoke up and said, "Wait a minute, I don't understand. He was the last one to come in. We never had a chance." The employer said, "I'm sorry, but all the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: 'If you understand this message, come in. The job is yours.' "
Could it be that God is calling all the time? Could it be that his voice is speaking and we're just not listening? How can we better hear God's voice? In the Scripture there are several guidelines to help us to hear God's voice.
First, keep your life clean. The word of God did not descend upon Hophni and Phinehas, the two so-called priests, because of their sin. God's voice came to an innocent twelve-year-old boy, one upon whom the word of the Lord had not yet descended.
Faith is not something we achieve or accomplish and spend the rest of our lives trying to defend. Faith is never a finished product. Faith is dynamic and progressive. Like anything that is alive, it must be maintained and nurtured. When we neglect our faith, it grows stagnant. Sin creeps into our lives to dull our spiritual hearing and vision. We must keep our lives clean.
Secondly, the text indicates that we need to hang around someone who can help us understand God's voice when it calls. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Samuel (v. 7). To understand God's voice, Samuel needed to have Eli -- washed out, worn out, but yet still God's man. This story is not just about the call to young Samuel, but also it is the story of old Eli, who rekindled again a spark within his soul that recognized God's voice when he called.
It is vital that we are connected to a family of faith, an interpretative fellowship that will help to give discernment to God's voice when it calls us. This nurturing atmosphere aids in opening our ears to hear and our minds to understand. Very few are called in isolation. Even fewer respond and grow in that calling without an encouraging family of faith.
I was reasonably certain that God had called me into the ministry, but my father, a preacher's son, helped to clarify God's call. I also talked with my father-in-law and uncle -- both ministers. And of course, I conversed with my pastor. I needed those who could help me understand what God's call meant. How do I live out God's call? How do I become more receptive so that I can hear when he speaks again? Every believer is called to service and requires the prayers and support of a church fellowship as we seek to respond to the bidding of the Spirit. The call may come in various ways. It could come through the voice of tradition of the examples of history. The call could come through the encouragement and counsel of friends. A word from God sometimes stirs the feelings that God has a mission for us. More than one has sought to find vocation through an "inner urging" and movement of God's Spirit. When the call occurs in whatever way, we often need those who, out of the experience of their own call, can define and clarify. Keep your life clean. Hang around the church.
Thirdly, the text indicates that if we listen to the call of God, we had better be ready to be surprised. Surprise! The word of the Lord did not come through the official channel of the two "priests," Hophni and Phinehas, or through the head of the congregation, old Eli. It came to the naivete of a twelve-year-old boy. If one would hear and respond, we must be prepared to be surprised by the various ways God calls through unlikely sources and in surprising places.
They called her Grandma Minnie. She was born in Alaska of Eskimo parents. She had eight children, all of whom she delivered herself. She spent many years delivering babies. "Babies like my hands," she said. "They are inviting hands." When her husband died she moved to Fairbanks to fulfill one of her wishes to "hear some real preachers preaching." One day a missionary saw Grandma Minnie looking at an oatmeal box and picking out the letters "JESUS" from the different words. Grandma Minnie asked, "That's Jesus, isn't it?" Grandma Minnie was born in 1860. She was born again in 1960. She was taught by the missionary to read at the age of 106 and she went to be with her Lord Jesus at the young age of 117. God calls in the most unlikely places to the most unlikely people: to 100-year-old grandmothers like Minnie and to washed-up old priests like Eli. Be ready to be surprised.
Jesus heard the voice of God in the despair of a leper. Jesus heard the voice of God in the pain of a woman who for twelve years had lived with an issue of blood. Jesus heard the voice of God in the fearful resignation of a woman caught in adultery. Jesus heard the voice of God in the naivete of a small boy who wanted to share his lunch, and with it Jesus fed 5,000. Jesus heard the voice of God in the terror of a man hanging beside him on a cross, and with him Jesus shared eternal life.
Do not be surprised at the sources of God's call nor at the consequences. It cost Eli the loss of his two sons and his own life as well. To be called of God is often a demanding and responsible thing. Could it be that the only thing worse than being called of God is not being called of God? Or perhaps worse still would be having been called of God and not responding?
Is God calling you? Do you know that in every 24 hour period in the United States 3,200 children and teens run away from home, 2,900 children see their parents divorce, 2,800 teenagers become pregnant, 1,850 children are abused, 1,500 teenagers drop out of school, 1,100 teenagers have an abortion, 200 teenagers are arrested for drug abuse, and six teenagers commit suicide.2
"Who am I to respond to such a call?" you may ask. In January of 1921, George Washington Carver was asked to come to Washington, D. C., to appear before the Ways and Means Committee to explain his work with the peanut. Dressed in worn clothes, carrying a battered suitcase, he was not treated with respect. Because he was black he was the last in a long line to testify. He waited three days. He was horrified that as he made his way to the microphone, he was the subject of racial slurs and taunts by our nation's leaders!
Dr. Carver wrote in his biography that as he started to walk away, he thought, "Whatever they said of me, I knew I was a child of God. So I said to myself inwardly, 'Almighty God, let me carry out your will.' " He was given twenty minutes to speak. So enthralled were they by his discussion, the chairman rose and asked for an extension so he could continue, which he did for one and three-quarter hours. They voted four more extensions and he spoke for several hours.
Very possibly that is a word from God that each of us needs to hear. We are a child of God and he has something for his children to do.
____________
1. William J. Bausch, More Telling Stories, Compelling Stories (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1993), p. 164.
2. Bausch, op. cit., p. 59.
Only a handful of members came to the services anymore. Rarely was he asked to speak outside the dwindling and dying congregation. Washed up! Worn out! The old preacher could not remember the last time he went to the pulpit with a burning word from God. But that had not always been so. There had been wonderful years, bright years, prosperous years when the crowds came and the services were jubilant, and he went to the pulpit with his heart on fire for God. The voice of God was so real. He had built his congregation to a point where he thought that his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, would take over and expand the ministry to even greater heights. It did not happen.
The old preacher had primed his sons for the moment when he would entrust his congregation to them. But they disgraced their father, disgraced themselves, and brought shame to the name of God. As soon as his sons were in power, they began to line their pockets with the tithes from the people. Instead of visiting the nursing homes and the funeral homes, they visited the houses of ill repute. Gossip spread throughout the entire country about the two unfaithful sons and their disgrace. Everyone talked and no one came to church.
There was only one bright spot in the old preacher's life. His name was Samuel. Samuel was born to a mother who had prayed for a son and then dedicated him to the Lord. The boy now was twelve years of age and had been under the tutelage of Eli for nine years.
"What's that, boy? No, I didn't call you. Go back to bed." And Eli again tried to rest his weary bones and asked himself, "How long can I go on?" "What's that, boy? No, I didn't call you! Go back to sleep." "How long can I go on with this? A pastor who cannot even take care of his own family, much less his own congregation."
"What's that, boy?" Then it dawned upon the old preacher that the word to the boy might be from the Lord, even in a day when such a word was rare. Could it be God's voice speaking to a twelve-year-old boy? It happened. It happened that night -- a call came to Samuel.
Wouldn't it be something to hear the voice of God? Wouldn't it be something to be claimed by God? I am not talking about those who boast of hearing God's voice every day as if they have him in their hip pocket. I am not talking about those who claim that they cannot drive down the road unless he is visible and audibly speaking, and their word somehow seems to involve our pocketbook. The country song says it best, "They say, 'Send your money to Jesus,' but they give you their address." I am not talking about those who would use or abuse such a word for control and manipulation. I am talking about hearing the call and claim of God upon our lives to something that is bigger and greater than we are. I am talking about the call of God to be a part of the answer instead a part of the problem. I am talking about God's claim upon our lives to enrich the lives of others. Wouldn't it be something to hear that call? In our text there are guidelines to help us hear such a call. Others have heard. It did not end with Samuel. It has continued and continues today.
He heard the call. His parents were somewhat mismatched. His father was unemployed most of the time. His mother was a teacher. School for him was difficult. In fact, he went to school for three months and his teacher sent him home saying that he was too backward to learn. She reported his I.Q. as 81. He did not return to school for two years. He had scarlet fever and constantly fought a respiratory infection. He had poor hearing and poor emotional health. To others he was neurotic, stubborn, and aloof. He liked to play with fire and burned down the family dwelling. But he loved mechanics. He loved to tinker with things and was especially fond of trains. Then he heard the call to be more than his life's script was dictating and Thomas A. Edison became what he was called to be.1
She heard the call. As a child she was sickly. She spent as much time in bed as out of bed and was constantly in the hospital. Her father was an alcoholic and abusive. She often wore a back brace because of a spinal defect. She varied between seeking attention and withdrawal. She bit her nails to the quick. She was homely. But she was a daydreamer and heard the call to be more than her life's script was dictating, and Eleanor Roosevelt became what she was called to be. Wouldn't it be something to hear such a call?
Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man answered an ad in the newspaper for a job as a Morse code operator. When he arrived, the office was filled with other applicants. The office was busy with noise and clatter, including the sound of a telegraph in the background. He was instructed by the receptionist to fill out an application and wait until he was summoned to enter the inner office. The young man filled out his application and sat down to wait with the other applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up and walked into the inner office.
The other applicants wondered what was happening. Within a few minutes, the employer escorted the young man out of the inner office and announced that the job had just been filled. The other applicants began to protest. One spoke up and said, "Wait a minute, I don't understand. He was the last one to come in. We never had a chance." The employer said, "I'm sorry, but all the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: 'If you understand this message, come in. The job is yours.' "
Could it be that God is calling all the time? Could it be that his voice is speaking and we're just not listening? How can we better hear God's voice? In the Scripture there are several guidelines to help us to hear God's voice.
First, keep your life clean. The word of God did not descend upon Hophni and Phinehas, the two so-called priests, because of their sin. God's voice came to an innocent twelve-year-old boy, one upon whom the word of the Lord had not yet descended.
Faith is not something we achieve or accomplish and spend the rest of our lives trying to defend. Faith is never a finished product. Faith is dynamic and progressive. Like anything that is alive, it must be maintained and nurtured. When we neglect our faith, it grows stagnant. Sin creeps into our lives to dull our spiritual hearing and vision. We must keep our lives clean.
Secondly, the text indicates that we need to hang around someone who can help us understand God's voice when it calls. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Samuel (v. 7). To understand God's voice, Samuel needed to have Eli -- washed out, worn out, but yet still God's man. This story is not just about the call to young Samuel, but also it is the story of old Eli, who rekindled again a spark within his soul that recognized God's voice when he called.
It is vital that we are connected to a family of faith, an interpretative fellowship that will help to give discernment to God's voice when it calls us. This nurturing atmosphere aids in opening our ears to hear and our minds to understand. Very few are called in isolation. Even fewer respond and grow in that calling without an encouraging family of faith.
I was reasonably certain that God had called me into the ministry, but my father, a preacher's son, helped to clarify God's call. I also talked with my father-in-law and uncle -- both ministers. And of course, I conversed with my pastor. I needed those who could help me understand what God's call meant. How do I live out God's call? How do I become more receptive so that I can hear when he speaks again? Every believer is called to service and requires the prayers and support of a church fellowship as we seek to respond to the bidding of the Spirit. The call may come in various ways. It could come through the voice of tradition of the examples of history. The call could come through the encouragement and counsel of friends. A word from God sometimes stirs the feelings that God has a mission for us. More than one has sought to find vocation through an "inner urging" and movement of God's Spirit. When the call occurs in whatever way, we often need those who, out of the experience of their own call, can define and clarify. Keep your life clean. Hang around the church.
Thirdly, the text indicates that if we listen to the call of God, we had better be ready to be surprised. Surprise! The word of the Lord did not come through the official channel of the two "priests," Hophni and Phinehas, or through the head of the congregation, old Eli. It came to the naivete of a twelve-year-old boy. If one would hear and respond, we must be prepared to be surprised by the various ways God calls through unlikely sources and in surprising places.
They called her Grandma Minnie. She was born in Alaska of Eskimo parents. She had eight children, all of whom she delivered herself. She spent many years delivering babies. "Babies like my hands," she said. "They are inviting hands." When her husband died she moved to Fairbanks to fulfill one of her wishes to "hear some real preachers preaching." One day a missionary saw Grandma Minnie looking at an oatmeal box and picking out the letters "JESUS" from the different words. Grandma Minnie asked, "That's Jesus, isn't it?" Grandma Minnie was born in 1860. She was born again in 1960. She was taught by the missionary to read at the age of 106 and she went to be with her Lord Jesus at the young age of 117. God calls in the most unlikely places to the most unlikely people: to 100-year-old grandmothers like Minnie and to washed-up old priests like Eli. Be ready to be surprised.
Jesus heard the voice of God in the despair of a leper. Jesus heard the voice of God in the pain of a woman who for twelve years had lived with an issue of blood. Jesus heard the voice of God in the fearful resignation of a woman caught in adultery. Jesus heard the voice of God in the naivete of a small boy who wanted to share his lunch, and with it Jesus fed 5,000. Jesus heard the voice of God in the terror of a man hanging beside him on a cross, and with him Jesus shared eternal life.
Do not be surprised at the sources of God's call nor at the consequences. It cost Eli the loss of his two sons and his own life as well. To be called of God is often a demanding and responsible thing. Could it be that the only thing worse than being called of God is not being called of God? Or perhaps worse still would be having been called of God and not responding?
Is God calling you? Do you know that in every 24 hour period in the United States 3,200 children and teens run away from home, 2,900 children see their parents divorce, 2,800 teenagers become pregnant, 1,850 children are abused, 1,500 teenagers drop out of school, 1,100 teenagers have an abortion, 200 teenagers are arrested for drug abuse, and six teenagers commit suicide.2
"Who am I to respond to such a call?" you may ask. In January of 1921, George Washington Carver was asked to come to Washington, D. C., to appear before the Ways and Means Committee to explain his work with the peanut. Dressed in worn clothes, carrying a battered suitcase, he was not treated with respect. Because he was black he was the last in a long line to testify. He waited three days. He was horrified that as he made his way to the microphone, he was the subject of racial slurs and taunts by our nation's leaders!
Dr. Carver wrote in his biography that as he started to walk away, he thought, "Whatever they said of me, I knew I was a child of God. So I said to myself inwardly, 'Almighty God, let me carry out your will.' " He was given twenty minutes to speak. So enthralled were they by his discussion, the chairman rose and asked for an extension so he could continue, which he did for one and three-quarter hours. They voted four more extensions and he spoke for several hours.
Very possibly that is a word from God that each of us needs to hear. We are a child of God and he has something for his children to do.
____________
1. William J. Bausch, More Telling Stories, Compelling Stories (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1993), p. 164.
2. Bausch, op. cit., p. 59.
