Pastor Slaughter
Epiphany 2
1-17-2021
1 Samuel 1:1-10
Speak, for Your Servant is listening.
Have you ever heard of that game called Simon says? It is where you have one person who is the “Simon” and he tells people what to do. The participants of the game have to listen closely to what “Simon” says because he is trying to trick them. If he doesn’t say the phrase
“Simon says” and the participants do it… they are out. Normally I would have incorporated the children’s message in my sermon but since I can’t do that right now…let’s all play together as a family. Simon says….(play the game with them)
You will never forget the day that Pastor Slaughter made me play “Simon says” in church… Simon says is a very interesting game that teaches a very valuable lesson. In order to follow the instructions given you have to first listen closely to what is being said. I believe that many times we either forget to listen… or we simply choose not to listen and that can spill over into our lives of faith. We say, “Lord what must I do?” Yet we don’t take time to listen to what he says. We say “Lord I want to follow you” but when we he tells us something, we don’t like in his word do we then practice selective hearing. My prayer for us today is what the boy Samuel said in our lesson, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Our lesson describes the call of Samuel. The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord. He was assisting the aged Eli whose eyes had begun to grow dim. He was probably taking care of things opening the doors of the house of the Lord, trimming the wicks on the lamp outside of the Most Holy Place, and filling them with enough oil to last throughout the night.
One night as Samuel was sleeping, he heard his named called. “Samuel” and so the boy Samuel gets up runs over to Eli, “I am here, since you called me” Eli tells him to go lie down. “Samuel” He gets up and goes back to Eli “I am here since you called.” Eli tells him to go lie down. “Samuel!” For the third time Samuel gets up and goes to Eli and says I am here since you called.” The Bible says, “Now Samuel had not yet experienced the Lord’s presence, that is, the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.” Eli finally realized that it was God calling the boy. Eli gave Samuel some of the best advise ever and told him, “Go lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’”
The Lord came and stood there and called for Samuel again. And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Samuel had to first listen and hear what God was saying to him. He didn’t know know what was in store for him. To go with the “Simon says” illustration, he didn’t know if God wanted him to clap, pat his belly, or wiggle his ears. Samuel didn’t know what plans God had in store for him but he ready to listen.
Samuel didn’t know what he would have to do but he was willing to listen to the Lord. The boy Samuel was tasked pronounce judgment on Eli and his wicked sons who were serving as priests for the Lord. Eli’s sons were taking the best part of the sacrifice for themselves. They were having sex with the women who served at the Tent of Meeting. Corruption was in the priesthood. And Eli did tell them what they were doing was wrong but never did anything about it. Welcome to the ministry Samuel you have to go and pronounce God’s on Eli and his family. Later on in his life he would have to proclaim God’s judgment on Saul when he fell off the deep end and anoint David to be King.
Samuel didn’t know where the road was going to lead. Some people would call him a fool for seeking a promise to follow when you don’t know the road or the cost of the journey. But this is one of the amazing things in Jesus’ call to people you and me: It creates a willingness to say, “I don’t know what is coming and what you will require of me; but whatever it is, I want to listen to you and to follow you!”
Just look at the disciples in our lesson for today. There you have Nathanael who said to Philip “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” And Jesus showed his omniscience and Nathanael said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus called they began to follow him. They listened to him and went! They didn’t necessarily know what was coming but they saw the Christ and wanted to listen and follow him!
During Samuel’s time the Bible says “The Word of the Lord was rare.” The people didn’t listen to God’s Word. Corruption even spread the priesthood…just looking at Eli’s sons. How they were supposed to be the ones listening to what God says in his word and yet they may have heard Eli’s warnings, they may have heard what God wrote but they didn’t listen and follow. They were listening to the desires of their flesh. They were essentially telling God by their actions, “Listen Lord for your servant is speaking.” The greatest punishment is for God to take away his word. By repeated neglect of God’s Word, God took away his Word from them and they were going to suffer his wrath.
“Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” How well is that going? Are you listening to what God says? It’s so awesome to see all of you here today to worshiping God. It is so awesome that you are prioritizing watching it online if you are a bit apprehensive about coming in person. But what do we spend a majority of our time listening to?
A quick google search says, “Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019.” On average Americans aged 18 and older spend more than four hours a day watching TV. Others spend their time reading or listening to podcast or music. Others maybe spend their time at work but what do you hear from your co-workers?
Are we saying speak Lord your servant is listening…Wait a second let me check my FB or finish that show. Speak Lord your servant is listening…wait a second I have to… Have you heard the expression, “You are what you eat?” It is an important reminder to eat good foods in order to be healthy. Is it a steady diet of what you get on Social media where you compare yourselves to the perfect version of people’s lives? Is a steady diet of what you hear on tv that leads you maybe to doubt God’s promises? Do you get so full on other things that you don’t have room to take in what God says in his Word?
So what begins to happen? When we prioritize listening to the world over listening to God, the focus changes. “Listen Lord, for your servant is speaking.” God this is what you should do. God this is what I want. God this is what you should give to me. Instead of serving and following God we want him to serve and follow us.
Speak Lord for your servant is Listening. Why do we need to listen? It’s because of what we hear. We hear a message of grace, God’s undeserved love for sinners in a world filled with hate. We hear a message of forgiveness when our thoughts try to tell us we aren’t. We hear the lengths that Jesus went to bring us salvation, through his suffering, death, and resurrection. If we fill ourselves up by listening to what God says, it spills over into other areas of our lives. When we hear what God has done for us that leads us to want to serve him by what we do.
So how do we listen and transition from “Listen Lord, for your servant is speaking” to “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening”? We have to prioritize time in God’s word. The more time we spend in God’s Word listening to what he tells us, it gives us the motivation to want to serve him! We take time to worship (like you are doing now). We take time to study and learn God’s word. We open it up with our families. We model this for our children. Why? So we can continue following/serving God.
The boy Samuel didn’t know what he would have to do. He didn’t know he would be tasked with the difficult job of proclaiming God’s judgment on Eli and his Sons. He didn’t know the difficult things he would have to say to King Saul. He didn’t know what was in store for him. But he knew God. He knew of his promises. Because he knew that he was ready to follow by first listening.
The same is true for us. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t know the joy and happiness, the pain or sorrow that we will face. We don’t know what difficult situation will come our way. We don’t know what we may have to say to a friend or family member. How can we continue to follow no matter what comes our way? We listen. “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” We listen to his promises. The more time we spend listening to God by going to his word, the more he creates the desire to want to follow him.
Simon says clap once. Simons says, pat your head. Simon says wiggle your ears. Simon says teaches us an important lesson that we need to listen in order to follow. How do we follow/serve God? We need to first prioritize listening to him in his Word, that will give us the motivation and the courage to follow him. Amen