Sermon Tone Analysis

I speak to you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Amen

 

/The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

(1 Sam 3:1b)/

 

This is the prophetic setting in which we start our account from 1st Samuel today

 

The context is that a boy named Samuel – given to the temple by his ‘thought to be barren’ mother in a promissory prayer… prayer - where if God gave her a child she would dedicate him to the temple

            So she did, and he is ministering with “the main priest” – Eli

In a time where Eli and his sons were corrupt and ‘did what was right in their own eyes’

Eli not as much as his sons, yet God held him responsible for both his and their actions

                        This is a time where God’s word was rare

                                    And visions were not widespread

 

            It is *into* - *this* unlikely situation that we hear of God directly speaking to one of us

                        To us – mere mortals God speaks… /And God calls out patiently/

 

Then we have our Gospel account today with what is often understood as “the Call of Nathanial” – Nathanial one of the lesser known disciples, who starts out challenging the claims of his friend Philip by making racist comment… /“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”/

Yet Nathaniel experiences a personal miracle – a transformation

/“When Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him, he said of him/,

/“Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”

/

How did Jesus know that?

That Nathaniel was an “Israelite without any Jacob in him’ - truly an authentic faithful Jew

Notice the question that Nathaniel asked Jesus,

/“Where did you get to know me?” /

            Nathanael doesn’t deny how Jesus has characterized him

                        He is struck by the claim and asks –how Jesus knew

/Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” /

That’s it!

Nathanael is sold, and Jesus’ claims affect him immediately

/Nathaniel replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!

You are the King of Israel!” /

He has been so swept away in the situation and transformed - that he declares that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’

 

 

Do we believe these are true stories?

Do we think that God spoke to a boy sitting watch over the Ark of the Covenant?

Do really believe this child heard voices in the night?

…hearing voices, people look at you funny when you make claims like that?

Do we believe that believe Jesus spoke to Nathanial’s heart and transforms this skeptic by telling him he saw him under a tree

 

I will start with myself when I say… I do – I believe God spoke to Samuel, both as a boy in the temple and then through-out his life

I believe that Jesus in that moment with Nathanial reached him in a way ‘that blew his socks off’ – if only they had socks in those days

 

Why?

… Why would two stories from thousands of years ago; about an all powerful being calling out repeatedly to a boy in the night and the story about the call & transformation of one of the first disciples of Jesus be something that is important for me to believe?

– /And I would claim/ - important for everyone to believe

 

There are several answers to that but they can all be under the two categories:

           

Who is God – Who are we /(don’t worry I won’t tackle that completely in the short time that we have)/

 

- Now the easiest answer as to why I believe, is that ‘it is in the Bible’ – A simple faith in the Bible being the word of God and therefore trustworthy for all it contains - /and I will explain more as we go /

            - So the first is that God speaking to us matters to - How we understand God

How we are in relation with God

- Secondly, it is important who God chooses to speak to and why?

- And finally I will share with you two accounts of God directly speaking to someone…

 

This last one is the trickiest of them all

How do we deal with those that believe God told them something?

When I was a student in my final placement at a Church while at Seminary – The Bishop was visiting one Sunday, and since the church was transition after the last minister had left, I was the point person for liturgical details

The organist wanted to know if the Bishop would be saying or singing the first part of the Communion prayer

The Bishop said to me “you tell the organist that God came to me in a dream and that I should be */saying/* the opening prayer”

Now the Bishop was well known for his sense of humour and it smoothed out many a difficult situation – but in different settings… /“the Holy Spirit told me to do this or say that…” /is a tricky thing to deal with

 

Why believe God speaks?  - First - How we understand God – how we are in relation to God

 

God communicating to us – is what God does

In the first verses of the Bible and we are told

                        /God *said*, “Let there be light,” and there was light./

God Said …and it was so…

                                                God creates by speaking

 

From John’s Gospel /“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word *was* God.”       /           

 

It is important to believe that God spoke to boy serving in the temple and transformed Nathanial because it is important to believe in God and in God’s way

 

There is a common myth among unbelievers and also among some Christians alike that God is some “Spy in the Sky”

God is some cosmic watch maker – that created everything, wound it up, set it in motion and then God’s presence left

            This has been popularized by a beautiful but erroneous song

“God is watching us… from a distance” – many of us know the Bette Milder version

                                    “Spy in the Sky” – watching over – yet removed at a distance

 

This is not what we Christians believe

            This goes against the very central point of who we are

*We are Christians* – Christ –ians – we are disciples of Jesus the

Christ – Christ is not His last name, but a word for Messiah

                                    The Son of Man – the Son of God

                                                Immanuel – God in the midst of us

                                                            God came as one of us – was incarnate

God is not “from a distance”

 

And so God speaking to a boy in the temple makes sense – thousands of years ago or right now

God loves us so much that He comes and speaks with us directly and indirectly

 

The second reason I believe in both of these stories is because of who God chooses and why?

God chooses a boy and God chooses a racist straight-talking sceptic

Through-out all of scripture God’s ways are not what we would expect and God’s chosen people are not - who we, with our earthly eyes, would choose

God repeatedly surprises us with unlikely people and ways

 

God chooses the youngest shepherd son of Jesse – David, to be the greatest king ever of Jerusalem

God chooses a farmer who works with trees – Amos… – or Hosea, a priest and husband to a prostitute to be His prophets

God chooses a peasant virgin girl to bear His Son

And that Son is born in a stable – with his first bed - an animal feeding trough

Yet God employs the work of the census of Caesar Augustus to bring Joseph to his hometown – fulfilling the writings of the prophets

God also chooses great scholars ~/ the magi - to witness and bring the gospel back to Persia

But just when you are thinking that God chooses *only* the unlikely

God also uses Moses, once thought to be the son of Pharaoh, King of Egypt – with all the privileges and education he would have had

Or Esther, a Queen

A list goes on and on in the Bible, surprises of who God chooses - and surprises of God ways

 

This is not so that God can win “the *trickiest-ever* prize”

            But it is, to show a contrast from our worldly~/cultural ways - to the truth…

Found ~/ delivered and available *“to and for”,*  and if we accept the calling,

*by** potentially everyone*

It is perhaps the still greatest surprise yet to be fully appreciated and acted on

That God is providing the offering *for* everyone - “that has ears to hear”

 

Finally I believe the stories that God speaks to the boy Samuel and to Nathanial’s heart because of the testimonies of others (one, of which, I will share) and because God has both spoken to me and to my heart

 

A Colleague shared this story of Malaysian man named Suresh that stopped by to visit her church one day late last fall.

He told her that he had been raised a strict Hindu.

One time when he was fasting and praying, he heard a voice say, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

He did not know who was speaking and he felt rather strange about the experience.

The Hindu religious leaders told him that the voice was a devil and to ignore it.