Faith That Listens

Today’s message fits in with a larger theme of sermons here considering what it looks like to have a life that is making room. It is a concept I talked about a little bit last week. Our world is busy and we all have many activities competing to occupy our time and attention. For some of us it is a job and career that keeps us busy and we find ourselves struggling just to be able to use our allotted vacation time off. For some of us it is a busy season of family life, either caring for young children, or grandchildren, or perhaps caring for aging parents or a spouse experiencing health struggles. For students it not only showing up at school for class, but also attending to all the homework and projects outside of class time as well as all the extracurricular of sports or drama or music, not to mention holding a parttime job so there is a little spending money for the weekend, and then somehow time with friends piles into that mix too.

We all make choices in our lives that prioritize room for activities to fit. The question for us as followers of Jesus is to ask how our faith fits into this mix of choices. How and where does God show up in our lives and make himself known? How does the Holy Spirit work into the everyday rhythms of our lives to nurture our faith further? Or to put it another way, what does it look like to have a faith that listens for God? Consider this story from the Old Testament about a faith that listens.

1 Samuel 3:1–10 (NIV)

1 Samuel 3:1–10 NIV

1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

It is a good thing that God is patient. He just waits for Samuel to catch on in this story. Let’s take a few minutes and try to put ourselves into the story. Imagine what it might look like if this kind of thing happened in today’s world. Verse 4 just puts it out there. “Then the LORD called Samuel.” I wonder what that sounded like. What exactly did Samuel here? Now, apparently any notion we might have of this thunderous voice from the skies shaking the foundations of the building are not the case, because Samuel immediately thinks it is the priest Eli calling to him. (I am assuming Eli did not have a thunderous voice that shook the foundations of the building.)

imagine what it was like to be Samuel and hear the call of the LORD

In those days communication was mostly speaking in person. Let’s use some creative imagination and suppose that in our time the call of the LORD might have shown up as a phone call. If you are millennial generation or younger, even phone calls sound ancient. It would be a text message or a snapchat. Either way, Samuel misses the call, no voicemail was left. So, he shoots a quick text to Eli asking, did you just try to call me? Eli sends back reply, not me. Few minutes later phone pings again missed call, no voicemail. Samuel texts Eli again, what’s up with you calling me? Eli replies again, not me + shrug emoji. Third time Samuel’s phone pings he is convinced Eli is just butt-dialing him. This time he calls Eli back (this is where the story loses credibility because no millennial would ever make an actual phone call).

Eli picks up. Samuel says, Eli either tell me what’s going on or quit calling me. And it is at this point in the story Eli realizes what is really happening. It’s not butt-dialing or a technical phone glitch. Samuel hears the call but does not recognize that it is God calling. And now Eli gives a little coaching so that Samuel knows and is ready for it the next time it happens. It’s not that God was silent. It is not that God wasn’t making his voice heard. It is just that Samuel did not recognize it as the voice of God until he learned how to listen for it as the voice of God.

That is what we are going to spend some time digging into today, what it looks like to have a faith that listens. It fits well with what we see here today in commemorating profession of faith. Our faith grows in these moments of listening and discerning who God is, who we are as his people, and how we walk in discipleship as followers of Jesus. Profession of faith is one step along that journey, a step which requires a faith that listens for God.

we strive to make room in our lives to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit

One of the ways we talk about our vision as a church is through this idea of making room in our lives. There are three particular ways we talk about that as a church here together. Today I am focusing on just one of those ways; that we strive to make room in our lives to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit. This is not the same as saying we make room in our lives for God. The team of people we have here working on this vision spent some time being very precise about this. God does not need us to make room for him as if somehow God will be absent unless we let him in. God is always active and present in our world and in our lives whether we make room for it or not. It is not a question of making room in our lives for God. It is a question of making room in our live to listen to God. God is already here. God is already active. God is already speaking. All we need to do is be listening.

differences between the world of Samuel and our world today

constant noise and distraction

isolation and loneliness

There are some differences between the world of Samuel and our world today. We read in today’s passage that Samuel is laying down to go to sleep for the night. It must not be the middle of the night yet because the lamp of God had not yet gone out. When the oil that fueled the lamp was used up for the evening, the lamp went out. It is early enough that a light is still on. But no other distractions are present. That’s a difference between the world of the Bible and our world. Electricity means we live with constant distractions from the moment we wake up to the moment we drift to sleep. There is never a moment of complete silence and stillness that exists in our world. Several months back a utility pole was stuck by a car near our neighborhood and our house lost power for quite a few hours. As darkness came, I had to light a few candles for there to be light. It was almost eerie how quiet and still the house was. No television on or music playing through speakers. No hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. No sound of the HVAC system blowing air through the house. Not even the faint buzz of florescent lights. Everything was completely quiet and still in ways we never ever experience in our world. How quickly we forget that this was a normal occurrence for people in past times. Samuel was lying in a place that was completely silent and still.

Samuel heard the call of God in a moment of complete quiet. Our world is filled with constant noise all the time. One of the features we see in making room for a faith that listens is an intentional embrace of still and quiet. There is a story in which the prophet Elijah encounters the voice of the LORD which comes in a moment of quiet stillness.

1 Kings 19:11–13 (NIV)

1 Kings 19:11–13 NIV

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

in our world today, we need to be people who make room in our lives for gentle whispers to be heard

There may be times in your life in which God thunders in and grabs hold of your attention whether you want him to or not. Sometimes we talk about God sightings as moments of encountering God, and often those stories are impactful because they point to a powerful manifestation of God revealing something profound. Those are moments when God breaks through to be noticed in our world even when we are not looking for it. But that is more often the exception than the rule. More often than not, God reveals himself in the gentle whisper. And in our world today, we need to be people who make room in our lives for gentle whispers to be heard. Having a faith that listens requires some regular times of quiet stillness in our lives. There is such a thing as a holy waste of time. Time in which all distractions are pushed aside; time in which I have no agenda or list of tasks in front of me; time in which I can simply make room in my life for a faith that listens to God.

In the days of the Old Testament God spoke through prophets such as Samuel. Here is what the author of Hebrews says about the way God speaks today.

Hebrews 1:1–3 (NIV)

Hebrews 1:1–3 NIV

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Jesus comes as the greatest revelation of God to us

we know Jesus through scripture

scripture is applied in our hearts through the Holy Spirit

Jesus comes as the greatest revelation of God to us. And the way we know Jesus and hear the voice of God speak is through the words of scripture. Time spent reading the Bible is the way we hear God today. We also declare through our church doctrines that the Holy Spirit applies these words of scripture to our lives. We read the words of scripture, and the Holy Spirit grants us a measure of wisdom and understanding to know what these words mean. God does all this and God never stops doing this. God is always speaking to us through his word, and the Holy Spirit is always at work in our hearts sanctifying us by applying these words to our lives. Our part in this is to be people who make room in our lives to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit. We need to be people who intentionally find those times and spaces of still and quiet with all the other noise of our world pushed aside. If you do not have a regular quiet time with God, make a plan to prioritize that in your calendar.

it was Eli who first understood that God was speaking to Samuel

God has used other people to help you develop in faith

Let me point out one more feature we see in this passage that helps us embrace a faith that listens. Samuel needed the help of someone else in order to orient himself to responding to God’s call. Samuel did not figure this one out by himself. It was Eli who first understood that God was speaking to Samuel. It was also Eli who instructed Samuel on what to do and how to respond. Having a faith that listens to God speaking through his word by the Holy Spirit is something we do not do alone. God gives us the gift of community in his church so that we have one another. I believe every one of us has a story of someone else in our lives who inspired us, mentored us, taught us, coached us in having a deeper faith that grows in discipleship. God has used other people to help you develop in faith.

the mission that Jesus gave his followers is to be disciples who make disciples

Having a faith that listens is not something you need to figure out and do all on your own by yourself. In fact, you shouldn’t be trying to figure this out and do this all by yourself. This is meant to be something we do together. Sometimes it is a Bible study group, sometimes it is a one-to-one mentor relationship. Our journey of following Jesus develops a faith that listens when we benefit from the help of other people. And at some point the expectation of the gospel mission Jesus gave to the church is that you will be lending your time and attention to helping others in that journey. The mission that Jesus gave his followers is to be disciples who make disciples.

who are the mentors that help me grow in discipleship?

who can I mentor to help grow in discipleship?

Ask yourself, then, who are my mentors that help me grow in discipleship? And also ask yourself, who can I be mentoring to help grow in discipleship? Don’t try to walk this faith journey alone. God gives us the gift of the church to journey in discipleship with one another.

God has done everything necessary to reveal himself and his will — make room in your life to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit

God has done everything necessary to reveal himself and his will to you. Jesus has redeemed your life by taking your sin upon himself to the cross. God has inspired individuals to write the books, poems, and letters that together form the Bible. The Holy Spirit instils these words in our hearts and applies them to our lives. Make room in your life for a faith that listens. Make room in your life for a time of quiet and stillness to hear the gentle whisper of God through scripture. Make room in your life for others who mentor you in discipleship. Make room in your life to mentor others in discipleship. Make room in your life to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit.