Pastor Sherry’s message for January 21, 2024

Scriptures: 1 Sam 3:1-20; Ps 139:1-6, 13-18; 1Cor 6:12-20; Jn 1:43-51

This weekend, I attended a Retreat put on by my former church in Gainesville, Florida, Servants of Christ Anglican Church. The retreat leadership had texted me in early October to ask me to come and graciously offered to pay my expenses. Later, I learned this was the same weekend of the inaugural conference in Florida of the Global Methodist Church. My head told me I should cancel the healing conference and attend the meeting of our new church peers. But I believe the Holy Spirit protested and insisted I attend the healing retreat instead. Sometimes that is exactly what happens: The Holy Spirit urges you to do one thing while your practical, cognitive mind argues the opposite. I have learned over the years to always obey the leading of the Spirit.

The retreat was held in Steinhatchee, Florida, a fishing village on the Gulf Coast. For the past week and a half, I had been experiencing pain in both hips—pain when walking and pain on trying to rise from a chair or to navigate steps. By the time I arrived Friday evening, I could hardly walk. By Saturday afternoon, when they held their healing service, I had figured out that my feet, my knees, and my hips all needed healing from pain. At night when I laid down to sleep, my legs throbbed. It occurred to me that Satan was trying to either handicap me or to take me out of active ministry. The team I approached for prayer agreed that he was attacking me from the ground up. They prayed that the Holy Spirit would then flood me with a healing anointing from my head down. I immediately felt relief, especially in my hips. No more pain! They had bound the powers of hell from inflicting pain upon me and they prayed that the Lord Jesus would heal and restore me. Like the woman with the 12 year issue of blood (Mark 5:21-43), I had the faith that the Lord had healed me. Since then, with any twitch or ache in my feet, legs, or hips, I have audibly affirmed that I have been healed and have observed that the pain then desists. Clearly the Holy Spirit wanted me to attend that retreat and I am so glad I listened.

This brings me to an important set of questions for you: Do you hear from the Holy Spirit? Do you hear from the Lord? Do you have a place where you can go to be alone and communicate with or hear from the Lord? Many people refer to this special place as their “prayer closet.” It’s separate from other spaces in a house. When you are there, you can count on not having your prayer time disturbed. It’s lovely if you can dedicate a small room or even a walk in closet for this effort. If not, your prayer closet may be your car or your shower; it may also be your garden or your daily jog or walk, or even when you do the dishes. The main point is to locate a space and visit it regularly so you can talk to God and hear back from Him.

In this vein, I want to focus on today’s Gospel, Psalm 139, and our 1st Samuel reading.

A. In our Gospel lesson today (John 1:43-51), Jesus is calling His disciples. In verses 35-42, just prior to today’s reading, Jesus calls the first 3: Andrew and Peter, Andrew’s brother–both from Bethsaida; and a third un-named one who Church tradition says is John, the Gospel’s author. In today’s passage–which takes place 1 day later–Jesus calls Philip. Philip then locates his friend, Nathanael, and tells him (v.45) We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael responds rather sarcastically Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? Philip then invites Nathanael to come and see for himself.

Now let’s take a deeper look at Nathanael. He is also known in Scripture as Bartholomew. Confusingly for us, his names are used interchangeably in the New Testament. Scholars believe Bartholomew may have been what we would call his “last name.” Remember Peter had been known as Simon Bar Jonah, son of Jonah. Nathanael may have been called Nathanael Bar Tolmai, or son of Tolmai, which eventually morphed into Bartholomew.

We don’t know much about him except that he was honest–even perhaps to a fault—and skeptical. It appears he was from Cana, a rival village just over the hill from Nazareth, so he may have been calling on village prejudice when he doubted the Messiah could ever come from Nazareth. It is his honesty that impresses Jesus, Who calls him (v.47) …a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile/nothing false/no deceit.

Jesus is saying that, unlike the Jewish patriarch, Jacob, who was a schemer and a cheat, Nathanael is not. Jesus recognizes him as a guy who calls a spade a spade. He has integrity; he’s authentic; he is not an insincere fake.

Nathanael is naturally curious about how Jesus recognized him and read his character so correctly, since they had never met before. Jesus tells him that He saw him (v.49) …when you were under the fig tree. Fig trees grow out kind of round with branches that may dip to the ground. If a man crawled inside, he could lean against the trunk and be nearly hidden. Or, if the tree were older and larger, he could find respite from the sun and support for his back as he sat beneath it. This is where Jesus had a vision of him. Afterall Jesus, as God, is omniscient, knowing all things. Jesus knew this is where Nathanael had gone to study Scripture and to pray. As He does with any of us (see Psalm 139), Jesus knows our thoughts. There is no place we can run to and hide from Him. Nathanael had been studying Scripture in his “fig tree prayer closet,” seeking to know God better. So Jesus calls him as a disciple.

We can also safely assume, I think, that Nathanael had accurate insight or spiritual discernment. In verse 49 he says Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel. In that moment, in that brief interaction, Nathanael realizes Jesus’ true identity. Jesus is more than a Rabbi. Jesus, referring back again to the patriarch, Jacob, tells Nathanael he will …see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (v. 51). The pre-incarnate Christ is the one Jacob saw in his dream of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. Here He is telling Nathanael that He, Jesus, is the ladder [the bridge; the mediator] between God and humankind. Philip invited Nathanael to come and see; but Jesus drew him near to see and hear for himself.

B. Oh, that we all might be such serious readers of Scripture, such dedicated followers of Christ. Our Old Testament lesson from 1 Samuel 3:1-20 describes another person who came forward and heard for himself. In gratitude to God, the barren Hannah, when she conceived and bore Samuel, obediently took him to be mentored and trained up for service to the Lord by Eli, the priest. Samuel was probably 3 years old when Hannah delivered him to Eli, as Hebrew women tended to nurse their babies for that length of time. Unfortunately, Eli was not a good father. His two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were notoriously evil men. They served at the temple, but had contempt for the Lord and for their father. Eli rebuked them but did not remove them from their priestly duties. Later, God Himself pronounced a death sentence on them and had them killed by the Philistines.

Despite his lack of success as a father, Eli functioned as Samuel’s mentor. Samuel was about 12 or so when God called him twice. Samuel thought he was being paged from sleep by Eli because he did not at this point discern the Lord’s voice. We are told in verse 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Him. This does not reflect at all well upon Eli as a priest. Shame on him! Samuel has been serving God in His Temple at Shiloh for 9 years, but Eli has not taught him about God! YIKES! Telling people about God is the primary job of a priest. No wonder the Lord is going to strip the priesthood from Eli and his descendants. We find in this passage that God is initiating a long-overdue relationship with the young man who had been destined to serve Him since before his birth.

The third time God called him and Samuel mistakenly responded to Eli, Eli figured out that it was the Lord Who was summoning Samuel. Eli tells him to listen to and respond to God the next time He calls his name. Sure enough, God calls him a 4th time and this time Samuel says,(v.10) Speak, for your servant is listening. God then declares a judgment against Eli and his descendants. He also installs Samuel as his prophet, now replacing judges and priests as God’s spokespersons.

So what does this mean for us? Psalm 139 assures us that God knows us and knows our thoughts even before we express them. He seeks us out for relationship. He delights in responding to those of us who have sought Him. And He reveals Himself to those who are ignorant of Him.

If we want to have an intimate relationship with the Lord, we need to spend regular time communicating with Him. We need to locate or set up a prayer closet. We need to spend time reading and thinking about God’s Word.

In closing, I want to share a Christian song with you. It’s sometimes used at funerals—in fact, I would love to have it sung at mine—but it also refers to having attuned your ears to hear from the Lord. In 2010, I went with 9 others on a mission trip to Turkey. This song became our theme song. We sang it to a house church of 40 Iranian Christians, who had already worked a 12 hour day, and yet who crammed themselves into a hot, unairconditioned room in a town in Turkey to worship God and to hear from us. Please listen as we play this acapella version of “There’s a Stirring” from YouTube:

There’s a stirring deep within me

Could it be my time has come

When I see my gracious Savior

Face-to-face when all is done.

Is that His voice I am hearing,

“Come away my precious one”?

Is He calling me?

Is He calling me?

I will rise up, rise up.

Then I’ll bow down

And lay my crown at His wounded feet.

May we all come forth and hear (and respond to) the Holy Spirit when He calls us.

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams