If I were to ask all the people here this morning who have children to stand, I’m guessing you would miss my point. More than likely, only those who are parents would stand. In reality, I would be asking ALL of us to stand. Because we are the church, and the children belong to all of us. Years ago, John Westerhoff III wrote a book entitled Will Our Children Have Faith? Someone read it and thought that the question should be reframed: “Will our faith have children?” That is, will we build the kind of partnership between home and church so that our faith in Jesus is sustained through each coming generation? This morning’s text is a story about such a partnership.

 

Before Samuel had been born, his mother, Hannah, had prayed for a child, longed for a child. When she finally was able to have one, she promised he belonged to the Lord. And so by the time we are introduced to Samuel in our text, the boy is assisting in the temple, running errands and relighting the flame in the lamp that burned close to the Ark of God in the Temple. The lamp would run out of oil in the night, so that would be Samuel’s job each morning, to relight the fire.  

 

Now the symbolism isn’t lost on us, is it? Many things in the Bible need to be read with bifocal lenses. Yes, a literal flame, but scripture is also talking about the fire going out of Israel’s faith. And God would use Samuel to relight that fire, too. The second part of v. 1 is ominous and strange: “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” Spiritual life was at low ebb. The light was almost gone. No one was seeing or hearing the LORD.

 

So, in the middle of the night, God called out to the boy: “Samuel! Samuel!” The lad thought it was his mentor and supervisor, Eli, calling, so he ran in to old Eli’s room, and said, “Yes? What is it?” Eli replied, “I didn’t call you.” After that happened two more times, Eli figured out it was the LORD speaking. So Eli told Samuel to go back to bed and if it happened again, for Samuel to reply, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” And that’s what happened. God spoke again. Samuel replied.

 

Frankly, Samuel’s mature and obedient reply stood in stark contrast to Israel’s national disobedience. The fire in Samuel’s heart was a sad contrast to the cold hearts of God’s people. Remember Henry Blackaby’s admonition from “Experiencing God”? God has a right to interrupt our lives any time God wants to. He can do that because God is God, and because God loves us.

 

Look at the story of Samuel’s call carefully and you see an impressionable boy gently guided by a sensitive coach, as Eli taught Samuel to discern the voice of God. The task of the home and the church is one task: to teach children the language of God, to get them on speaking terms and to teach them to have a lifelong conversation with God. Note carefully what did NOT happen. Samuel’s parents did not neglect church and then when the boy was 12, bring him to Temple and say to Eli, “Fix him; he’s out of control!” It’s a lifelong conversation.

 

I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home. My parents took me to church from the time of my birth. I was steeped in scripture’s stories and the ways of Jesus. And almost the exact time that I began to sense in my spirit that God might be calling me to vocational ministry, God sent to our little church a pastor and wife named Fred and Shirley. They were preparing for a lifetime of service as missionaries in Brazil. But while pasturing our little church, Fred took an interest in me, nurtured me and discipled me. He even postponed his career track for a year or so in order to stay at that little church to help guide me. He coached me in learning to hear the voice of God in my life. Do you have any earthly idea the difference that that extra year has meant to my life and my ministry? Impossible to measure!

 

Note carefully: both home and church did their parts. If the home had done its part, but no faithful pastor and church, it would have been like a foundation without a house built on top of it. But if the family had failed to do its part, the church’s part would have been without a context or a foundation to build on.

 

Today’s text shows us that Samuel had an encounter with God that led to an ongoing relationship with God. And what about you? You may be brought up in a Christian home and even taken to church, but do you know the Lord? You may even know some of the Bible and some of its stories, but do you know the Lord? In a personal relationship? Sure, you had experience with the Lord, but are you in an ongoing relationship with the Lord?

 

By the time our text ended in v. 19, Samuel was a grown man, making a great contribution to his world. The word of God, which had once been rare, was now well established in the land. And all because of a great partnership between church and home. It’s kind of partnership we are forging here at FBCJC. A staff and church committed to pouring God into young lives coupled with homes that take seriously that same call.

 

A pastor was once asked to pray at the dedication of a new home which some church members had built. He prayed, “Lord, here may people find Christ’s salvation and may the spiritually sleeping be awakened. Here, may the doubting find faith and the worried find rest. Here may people experience renewal of spirit and a safe sanctuary, and a call to purpose and joy in their lives.” Someone asked him after the prayer, “During your prayer, were you talking about a home or a church?” The pastor replied, “Yes.”  

 

Someone wisely pointed out that nature abhors a vacuum. That is, if we don’t pour God into young lives, something else will be poured in. Let’s make a commitment to get there first with God’s narrative before some alternative narrative gets there first. Let’s get to their hearts first with the Jesus story, shall we?