The Call of Samuel
Samuel • Sermon • Submitted
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· 65 viewsGod brings revival by enabling humble servants to lead his people.
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I. God Uses a servant to bring His Word back to His People
I. God Uses a servant to bring His Word back to His People
Several things show us why Samuel feels he has to run to Eli,
Eli’s eyes - Eli is losing his sight. It’s best understood here that he was not entirely blind yet. By 1 Samuel 4:15, he is completely blind. Most likely, he had cataracts. Plus, here the young Samuel gets up three times at night to help the aged Eli. We are to understand that Samuel is already a responsible young man.
The lamp of God had not yet gone out. The lamp was supposed to burn all night (Exod 27:20-21). This means that this event takes place at night, perhaps at pre-dawn. Also, Eli’s failing eyesight would be entirely useless at this hour, even if he could see enough to navigate during the day, he certainly wouldn’t be able to do so at night. This is why Eli doesn’t get up if he needs something, and why Samuel runs to his side when Eli calls.
We also find out why the spiritually weak Eli understands that God is speaking to the boy before the one God was actually talking to gets it. Samuel did not know the Lord (1 Samuel 3:6)- same expressing as Eli’s sons in the last chapter (1 Samuel 2:12) but very different meaning as the context makes clear. Here it means that Samuel did not have the close relationship that a prophet would have. He clearly already respects and loves the Lord, but he’s never gotten prophetic revelation before. It further helps us to understand why Samuel doesn’t understand that it is God talking. He’s never heard God talking before.
It also shows us that Samuel is still serving the Lord (1 Samuel 3:1). Not only do we see the repeated theme from last week, but also notice that the boy Samuel gets up three times to help Eli when he thinks Eli is calling. That’s quite frustrating yet Samuel still gets up. There’s no way of knowing exactly how old Samuel was. The text just calls him a boy. But it’s quite the responsibility for a youth. So Samuel was already showing himself to be quite the responsible young man - God uses those who are already serving in humble ways. This story illustrates the Biblical principle of godly leadership - those who wish to serve God in great ways must start by serving God in small ways. Matthew 25:21
His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
We discover that the Word of God is rare (1 Sam 3:1).
Rare revelation could be a punishment Amos 8:11
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.
Israel was a theocracy (1 Samuel 8:7), and this required regular communication.
And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
Punishment was the result of disobeying the Covenant.
Today we have not a theocracy, but “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24). Continuing revelation is not necessary because the local church operates within the laws of the nation they reside in, but in accordance with God’s existing revelation.
Today God has spoken to the church through the Apostles and Prophets, who were the foundation (Eph 2:20 ). Once the foundation has been built, you don’t need to keep building it.
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
But a Lack of God’s Word still causes people to through off restraint. Prov 29:18 Today’s lack of biblical literacy/moral degeneracy. God usually chooses humble servants to be used when he brings his people back to His Word.
II. God Seeks Spiritual People to Lead
II. God Seeks Spiritual People to Lead
God didn’t give this message to Eli directly because Eli is spiritually weak (v.13). He didn’t restrain his sons, but his demeanor throughout these chapters is one who personally does follow God. In Scripture, the only time God revealed something to a nonspiritual person was if they were a king, and even then usually used a spiritual person to interpret the vision (Pharaoh Genesis 41, Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 2; 4 , Abimelech Genesis 20:3-5 ).
Eli has already received this message (2:27-36; implied in v.12), so why does God give it again? This is more about Samuel’s call than about Eli. There’s no invitation as there was with Isaiah (Isaiah 6) or Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1). Rather, God just starts talking, just as he did with Daniel (Daniel 2 ). God is not just condemning Eli, he is also appointing Samuel as a prophet, a faithful leader.
Eli’s lack of leadership is not the sole problem in Israel. Rather, Israel has a repeated pattern of forsaking God (Judges 2). You cannot blame your lack of spirituality on the leaders in your life - your parents, your pastor, etc. Even with Samuel’s capable leadership it took twenty years after the Ark was recovered for Israel to truly turn back to God (7:2).
It is only for the worst offenses that God declares that disaster is inevitable (Isaiah 22:14). Eli’s spiritual failures are so significant that judgment cannot be avoided. Yet he is not consigning Eli to hell. Rather, he is saying that the punishment he predicted will certainly come. Notice what a different good leadership made later (7:3-17 vs. ch 4).
It is Eli’s lack of restraint that bears the blame, but even his mild rebuke (2:25) was enough to avoid it. Godly leaders make God’s honor a priority (v.13; 2:30).
III. God Enables the Leaders he Chooses
III. God Enables the Leaders he Chooses
Why didn’t God just speak in a way that Samuel would recognize who it was right away? Because he wanted Eli to recognize that God had spoken to Samuel.
Prophets are responsible to give the message the receive. Ezekiel 3:17-19.
God knew Samuel would be understandable reluctant to deliver the message. So he set up a situation where Samuel had a real message, but the easiest possible situation to do the right thing.
God enables people to do his Will.
IV. God Reconciles his People through His Word
IV. God Reconciles his People through His Word
God has initiated this whole process from beginning to end. He spoke to Samuel; he pronounced doom on Eli’s house. He gave Samuel that first, easy assignment and followed it up with many, many more. It is God that is responsible for Samuel’s fame, and God used that fame to spread his Word throughout Israel. God has himself solved the problem of a lack of His Word.
It took decades of this renewed proclamation of the Word to have a measurable effect on the people (ch 7), but it started then, just as it starts today, with the Word of God.
God is the one who seeks the lost, who brings them to himself today, just as he did Israel. John 6:44; 2 Cor 5:19
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
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