The perils of sleeping in church
Commentary
As I read all these texts, it occurred to me that it's kind of a dangerous thing to sleep in church or, for that matter, to come to church, to spend any time at all in a place of worship.
A minister was preaching one Sunday when she noticed a man asleep on the front pew. She tried to ignore him but he started snoring. So, continuing with her sermon, she made her way slowly toward the man. Using gestures as she spoke, she lightly struck the man on the shoulder. But he did not wake up. She did it again, with more force. Still no results. Finally she gestured more vigorously, striking the man in the back of the head and sending him tumbling off the pew onto the floor. He woke up, still groggy, and said, "Hit me again! I can still hear her!"
Sleeping in church can be a perilous thing. All preachers have sleeping stories to tell, even the great Paul. In Acts 20 a young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window while Paul preached away until almost midnight. The young man fell fast asleep and promptly fell headfirst out the window. They thought he was dead, but Paul went down to him and said that life was still in him.
Oh, the perils of sleeping in church ... Listen for a few more.
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Young Samuel (we surmise he was but a youth here) came to live with Eli, the priest at the shrine in Shiloh. Recall that Samuel's mother, Hannah, was barren; she prayed for a child. She promised that she would dedicate the child to God if he would grant her heart's desire. When her prayer was granted and Samuel was old enough, she sent him to live with the priest Eli where he became in essence a priest-in-training and assisted the elderly man.
Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They were greedy and corrupt, for they'd turned the shrine into a virtual brothel. Eli chastised them (1 Samuel 2:22), but it was too little, too late. As a result, God did not allow them to continue in Eli's place (1 Samuel 2:27ff). In fact, the death of Eli's sons was predicted and came to pass. God then promised to raise up a "faithful priest." This is the setting for the call of Samuel in today's passage.
Verse 1 is interesting. It talks about how rare it then was to hear a word from God or see a vision. Is this because God was not speaking or rather that no one was listening? Certainly the sons of Eli were not listening. The images throughout this passage suggest a dimness or inability to see or hear God -- for example, the image in verse 3 of the lamp of the Lord's not having gone out (a lamp lit to burn through the night). Eli's eyes are said to be dim; but Samuel would need him in order to understand what was about to happen. But the light has not yet been extinguished. Samuel would see it! He would listen. He was in a spiritual state, open to hear God. That's a key thing in the gospel lesson for today -- a receptiveness, an alertness to God's voice, a desire to be called and used by him.
The story is simple and straightforward. Samuel is sleeping one night in the shrine at Shiloh (Shiloh had long been a sacred site for the Israelites, though it was probably just a tent). It was not uncommon at this time for persons to sleep in shrines, especially when they were seeking a vision. Samuel is near the Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred object they had. It represented the very presence of God. Samuel, in other words, is close to God, even if he's asleep. The implication seems to be that the closer you are to someone, the easier it is to hear them when they speak, to know who they are and what they want of you. When one lives each day and spends each night with a deep desire to be close to God, it will not be difficult to hear his call when it comes. Of course, the real message here is that God knew Samuel, even though Samuel may not have known God (see v. 7). Still, Samuel's heart must have been a seeking one, open to God's call. Note the significance that in the morning Samuel "opened the doors of the house of the Lord" (v. 15), which may mean more than just the literal act -- a spiritual act of opening a new access to God.
Young Samuel is awakened by a voice calling his name. He thinks it's Eli, so he goes and asks Eli what he wants. Eli says that he didn't call him. This happens two more times and Eli eventually suggests that it must be God who is calling. Eli recommends that Samuel respond by asking God to speak. God answers and confirms that all he had said about the fall of the house of Eli would happen. It's interesting that nothing is said about Samuel's taking over for Eli. Perhaps this is implied in that it's Samuel God speaks to and not Eli. It would be the first of many times when Samuel would be used as God's messenger.
The next morning Eli forces Samuel to tell him what had happened. Samuel is reluctant as you can imagine -- the news was not good. Eli, however, accepts it. Chapter 4 shows how God's word came true in the deaths of Eli and his sons.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, was greatly honored in Corinth. She was the daughter of Jupiter and said to have sprung from the foam of the Mediterranean Sea. Her Greek counterpart is Aphrodite whose temple stands atop the Acrocorinth, looming over the city. In fact, the temple had 1,000 slave girls -- prostitutes, who descended from the temple each night into the city where they practiced their trade. No wonder Paul speaks so much about sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:6-12 and ch. 7). Well, Corinth was the kind of city the sons of Eli would have loved and, in fact, were creating in their own way.
Throughout this whole passage (and elsewhere) Paul verbally jabs at the Corinthians. "Don't you know...? Don't you know...? Don't you know...?" Obviously they don't! Paul contends they ought to know better than to live as they do, so he tells them what they should know in order to change their behavior.
The first portion of the passage (vv. 12-17) is cast in the form of a diatribe, a popular way of debating or arguing in those days, wherein one quotes and argues against an imaginary opponent. We hear Paul quoting the Corinthians who say, "All things are lawful for me." In turn, Paul answers, "But not all things are beneficial." Again, we hear from the Corinthians, "All things are lawful for me." To which Paul replies, "But I will not be dominated by anything."
Literally rendered, the Corinthians' slogan says, "All things to me are permissible." Anyone who has read Paul's own letters -- as Galatians 5:1a, "For freedom Christ has set us free" -- can believe that the Corinthians may have learned their slogan from the apostle himself. Notice how Paul allows the correctness of the slogan but qualifies it. For the Corinthians, what they knew had given them an abstract principle that could and did produce less than desirable results. Freedom, Paul insists, is characterized by pursuing what is best, and Christian freedom does not lead to a new form of slavery.
The Corinthians claim an inner freedom that places them above the mundane realities of the world. They apparently delight in demonstrating this freedom in their outlandish behavior in relation to food and sexual activity. (This may have grown out of their general disdain for the body, which many considered just a tomb -- the spirit is what matters. The body is of no importance then, and it doesn't matter what you do with it.) Paul's critique of the abuse of freedom calls the Corinthians into a responsible relationship to the Lord. In verses 6:16b-17 the apostle quotes Genesis 2:24, first to denounce involvement with prostitutes and, second, to set up an explanation of the nature of spiritual union of Christians with the Lord.
Verses 18-20 inform the Corinthians of the limits of their freedom. Believers are not purely independent in their freedom. Why? Because, as Paul says, they were bought with a price. The apostle teaches that freedom comes through redemption. The metaphor here is that of a ransom, and Paul employs it as a loose, undeveloped traditional image. Paul's point is this: Christians belong to God, and that relationship is the ultimate qualification for freedom.
The image of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit is a powerful one. A temple was a sacred place and could not be used for just anything. Likewise the body, the whole person is sacred as well, wholly dedicated to God. It is to be used in a way that honors him and brings him glory. In fact, Paul says we have been ransomed like slaves. The slave is not his own but belongs to the one who ransomed him. In this case, the one who ransoms us is God and that is freedom, freedom to become all God wants us to be. That kind of person is certainly the opposite of the Corinthians who were still living in very immoral ways.
John 1:43-51
You may wish to read verses 35-42 as they deal with the call of the first disciples of Jesus. John the Baptist points his disciples away from himself to Jesus, the "Lamb of God." They (only Andrew is named at this point) immediately go and begin to follow Jesus.
Then Andrew goes to his brother, Simon, and persuades him to come and see who this "rabbi" is. For the first time Jesus and Simon meet. The greeting Jesus gives him is one that implies Jesus already knew him, knew him so well, in fact, that he could see who Simon could be -- Cephas, a rock. Again we see the theme of God knowing people. It continues.
Jesus finds Philip and says, "Follow me." This is the third disciple of Jesus to be named in John's Gospel. Very little is known about Philip. He's given little role to play (John 4:5-7; 12:21-22; 14:8-9). We are told that he is from "Bethsaida," which apparently John thinks was in Galilee. It wasn't. It was within the territory of Philip the Tetrarch (unless there was another city of that name somewhere in Galilee). Simon and Andrew are also said to be from here (though in Mark they are said to be from Capernaum), which explains why they have Greek names. This was an area with many Gentiles.
Just as Andrew had gone to find his brother Simon, Philip now goes to find his friend, Nathaniel, to tell him about Jesus. This is the only place where Nathaniel is mentioned. Tradition has identified him with Simon the Cananean (Mark 3:18), while others have seen him as being Bartholomew. In other words, we really do not know much about him either.
Philip tells Nathaniel that they have found the one who they think is the promised one, the Messiah, "Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth." Perhaps his town is mentioned because Jesus was a fairly common name and this distinguished him from others of that name. The way Philip introduces Jesus to Nathaniel is very Jewish, perhaps implying that Nathaniel himself was a Jew of some standing. Jesus implies this in how he greets him, as we'll see.
Nathaniel is surprised or at least sarcastic in his initial response: "What good can come from Nazareth?" Nazareth, also in Galilee, was the last place one would have expected as the origin of the Messiah. There must have also been some local prejudice against Nazareth as being that kind of town -- "across the tracks" from which no good could come.
Though Nathaniel does not know Jesus, Jesus knows him. Jesus says to him, "Here is truly an Israelite...." This seems to mean that here is a man worthy of the name of being a child of Israel. Jesus adds, "... in whom there is no guile" (or deceit). This would seem to mean that Nathaniel was a good man, a righteous man who was truly seeking God's truth and open to it.
Nathaniel, astounded, replies, "How do you know me?"
Jesus sees him at some distance (intended not just to say that Jesus had good eyesight but that he could see into the hearts of people, something demonstrated many times in the Gospels). Jesus saw into his soul, who he truly was and could become, just as he did for Simon who became Peter. Nathaniel responds with faith, though Jesus tells him, "You haven't seen anything yet."
Application
In today's text from 1 Samuel, we hear snoring. Samuel was sleeping in the shrine at Shiloh. He was probably about 12 years old, brought there years before by his mother, Hannah, to fulfill a promise. Samuel, sleeping beside the Ark of the Covenant, the most holy object in all of Israel, is awakened by a voice in the night. He meets and hears God for the first time. He is called and his first task is not a pleasant one, giving Eli some bad news.
It was while he was in the temple in Jerusalem that Isaiah heard that same voice and, as Samuel had, he replied, "Here I am, Lord ..." and took on the perilous task of being a prophet to a people who wanted no prophets.
You see, the real peril isn't sleeping in church, unless you happen to be sitting in a window or you tend to nod and your pastor has a habit of making vigorous arm gestures. No, the peril is that you just might encounter the living God. You may "wake up" to the sound of a voice making claims on your life, calling you to difficult tasks to make a difference in your world.
But isn't this the reason we come to church? Aren't we seeking God? We need to hear his voice, to connect and reconnect with the divine. Come to the house of the Lord and you can sometime expect actually to encounter the Lord!
And isn't this the very reason why so many choose not to come? It is an awesome thing to seek God -- for we discover that God is seeking us.
It is a dangerous, perilous thing for us to come to church, even for our children and youth, as did Hannah with Samuel. We not only risk that God will call us, but that he will also call our children!
This is not to limit God to any one time or place. But there is something special, sacred about our shrines in Shiloh, no matter if they be huts or cathedrals. They are places hallowed by the prayers and praise of God's people, good places to begin looking for God, listening for his voice. When I was about 10, my mother faithfully brought me to a tiny church in North Carolina. It was my own Shiloh where I began to hear God's voice telling me I had gifts -- and a calling to use them.
In the gospel lesson we hear the call of Jesus, not just to Nathaniel, but to each of us, to the whole church, to risk it all, to follow him, to let him set our agenda, to establish our priorities, to lead us to difficult tasks that make a difference. He calls and he promises, "Come, follow me. You haven't seen anything yet!"
An Alternative Application
1 Corinthians 6:12-20. Glorify God in Your Body: This is the theme of the epistle reading for today. Corinth was notorious for its sexual immorality. The Corinthian Christians had grown up in that environment and lifestyle. It was not an easy one to break away from. Paul tells them that they are united with Christ now and must not live the way they used to, especially in their sexual practices. This provides the preacher with the challenge of dealing with sexual attitudes and behaviors today. Our bodies are to be used to glorify God, even in our sexuality. This is an important message for our day when it seems as if anything goes and Corinth is alive and well.
But just a list of "don'ts" will not really be adequate. We need to do a better job of teaching and explaining the biblical view of sexuality and the why behind some of the don'ts. Sexuality was intended as a gift to enrich our lives but is often abused and distorted, like the rest of God's gifts.
First Lesson Focus
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
This text seems to furnish the material from which a children's sermon could be constructed, and it frequently is used in that manner. After all, it concerns an old grandfatherly man and his relation with a young boy who learns to hear the voice of God and to obey. What better moral lesson is there to teach the youngsters on a Sunday morning? Or what better text is there to tell us to listen for God speaking, because we sometimes mistake the voice of God for the voice of a human being? Undoubtedly a lot of preachers will continue to employ the passage in such a fashion. But they and their congregations thereby miss the importance of this text and the way that it forms a turning point in the life of biblical Israel.
We are situated in the time of the Judges in this text, in that period between Israel's entrance into the promised land (about 1220 B.C.) and the beginning of the kingship of Saul in 1020 B.C. Israel is not a unified people but a collection of somewhat independent tribes, all loosely centered around a sacred shrine at Shiloh. Located at that shrine is the Ark of the Covenant, which is understood as the base of God's throne, with God invisibly present above the golden cherub that is located on each end of the Ark (cf. 1 Samuel 4:4). Priests from the twelve tribes take turns officiating at the offerings at the shrine, and the tribes meet there once every year to renew their covenant with the Lord.
If we read chapter 2 in 1 Samuel, however, we find that Israel's worship at Shiloh has become totally corrupt. The two priests officiating there are the sons of Eli, named Hophni and Phinehas, who are "worthless men" (1 Samuel 2:12). They not only take from the offerings the fat and meat that should be burned as a sacrifice to the Lord (2:13-17), but they even indulge in fornication and adultery, lying with the women who serve at the entrance to the tent that houses the Ark. The aged Eli knows how his sons are sinning, but he is too weak and old to do anything about it (2:22-25).
God, of course, never overlooks false worship and sin. As a result, an unnamed prophet appears to Eli and tells him that the days are coming when Eli's offspring will be cut off forever and both he and his sons will die. And in their place, the Lord will raise up a faithful priest, whose house will endure forever (2:27-36).
At this point, then, Samuel is introduced into the story. The young boy is working in the tent that houses the Ark of the Covenant as a servant and helper of the aged and near-blind Eli. Samuel was dedicated to such service by his mother Hannah out of gratitude to God for the birth of her son after a long period of barrenness (1 Samuel 1--2:11). And Hannah continues to love her son and to make a little robe for him each year when she and her husband journey to Shiloh to make offerings. Nevertheless, Samuel is under the tutelage and guidance of Eli. Samuel sleeps beside the Ark of the Covenant in the tent, and he is always alert to answer any need of Eli's.
Against this background, we are told that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision" (3:1). We also hear, however, that "the lamp of God had not yet gone out" (3:3). The Israelite worshipers furnished the oil to keep the lamp lit which may be a hopeful note in the text. On the other hand, it may only relate the fact that it is still dark when God first calls out, "Samuel! Samuel!" (3:3-4).
Because the Word of the Lord has become rare in Israel at the time, it is not surprising that neither the boy Samuel nor Eli realize who is calling. Especially is it not surprising when we are told that, "Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him" (3:7). How do you recognize the voice of the Lord when you have never heard him before? So three times, God has to call out, "Samuel! Samuel!" and finally the third time, Eli realizes that the voice is that of the Lord. He therefore instructs Samuel to reply, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears."
The word that is revealed to Samuel reiterates the Word of God spoken earlier by the unknown prophet in chapter 2. Eli's faithless sons and Eli's failure to correct them will not be forgiven, and Eli's house or offspring will be cut off forever. Though it is not stated again, the implication is that the "faithful priest" (2:35) whom the Lord will raise up will be Samuel, grown to manhood. And so at the end of chapter 3, we are told that Samuel becomes prophet, priest, and judge for Israel -- actually the last of the judges. And through Samuel, God speaks his word to his covenant people. The Word of the Lord is no longer rare in Israel. It is mediated to "all Israel" by Samuel (4:1).
Yet, Samuel is a transitional figure in the history of Israel. The Israelites face constant battle with the Philistines, and the Ark of the Covenant is captured by that foe. Moreover, the Philistines are those who kill Hophni and Phinehas, in fulfillment of God's word (4:11). And it becomes clear in the continuing battle with the Philistines that Israel's tribes are threatened with annihilation. Their loose federation is simply too weak to withstand the Philistine threat. They finally need a king who will unite them and lead them in war, all of which makes preparation for the kingship of Saul and finally of the victorious David in the chapters that follow. In response to the people's demand for a king, Samuel, knowing that the Lord is King of Israel, finally resigns his post in protest (1 Samuel 12), reminding the people that, "If you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king" (12:25).
Perhaps the fact that we need to remember from 1 Samuel 3 is that the Lord never leaves himself without witnesses. The Word of the Lord was rare in Samuel's day, as it often seems rare in ours. But that does not mean that God is absent or that he has stopped working in our lives. When all seemed corrupt in the days of Eli and early Israel, God called forth a young lad through whom he spoke his word and worked his will. God moved steadily forward in the life of his covenant people to bring about his purposes. And he moves steadily forward in our lives, too. Here and there he raises up persons who hear him speaking and who give themselves up to his service. Here and there, in this congregation and others, he singles out his faithful servants and uses them in small tasks and great, to accomplish what he wants done. Our Lord Jesus told us that he is with us always to the close of the age (Matthew 28:20). He is at work, friends, oh, yes, he is at work -- in us, if we by faith will let him.
The Political Pulpit
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Survey data confirms what we all know about the sexual revolution that has transpired in America since the 1960s. In this context Paul's warnings that Christian freedom not lead us to fornication (the Greek word porneuo literally means "whoredom") are likely to be heard as quaint, somewhat outdated sentiments. In fact, in our context, this Pauline ethic is more counter-cultural than we had imagined. These are words of a rebel. Were the church to package this word that way we might begin to get a more sympathetic hearing. Recent poll and statistical data provide some cues for delivering this prophetic proclamation.
According to the most recent government statistics, the number of unmarried heterosexual couples has increased almost 72 percent since 1990. This data confirms the experience of numerous pastors regarding how many of the couples they marry have already been living together. A 1996 Gallup Poll found that 31 percent of married couples confessed to living together before marriage compared to only 19 percent in 1988. That is no surprise in view of American attitudes towards "shacking up." A May 2001 Gallup Poll reports that 57 percent of the public deem it acceptable compared to only 21 percent in 1969.
Correspondingly we all know about the increased divorce rate. Numbers have grown by almost four times, from 385,000 in 1950 to 1,135,000 in 1998; from 2.6 divorces per thousand people annually to over 4 out of every thousand Americans. In a future column I plan to show you how our present business ethos has contributed to these developments in the American sexual ethos.
Social analysts like Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and Alan Wolfe (see his book Moral Freedom) are pointing out the negative social consequences of the sexual revolution. The lack of trust and fidelity caused by following one's hormones from one bed to another, the provisional commitments, involved in many pre-marital living arrangements, and even the relationships formed by the serial monogamy of our divorce culture undermine the social fiber. We don't trust our employees, bosses, and other authority figures; our kids can't trust us as much as in previous generations. When trust and loyalty are not practiced with the one with whom you share the most sacred of human relationships, you will not likely practice them with others. (My forthcoming book Blessed Are the Cynical elaborates these points in more detail.)
Given most Americans' general acceptance of extramarital sex and divorce, Paul's word about fidelity certainly goes against the grain of society. My wife Betsey's recent observation to me, noting that we were one of the few baby-boom couples in our congregation only once married, rings in my ears as I reflect on how counter-cultural such a lifestyle is. All the more striking in this connection is Paul's insistence that loyalty to one's spouse and to God's ways is not a matter of obeying commandments, since "all things are lawful" (v. 12a). Christians practicing such lifestyles of faithfulness because they want to model God's faithfulness to his people and promises do not do it the world's way. Such marriages are not merely legal arrangements, but covenants involving a third party -- God. Can their numbers change society like other prophets have on issues like democracy, slavery, and discrimination? This is a sermon to help those in your congregation committed to such a lifestyle to appreciate how unique they are, and to see what a mission they have to society. The Church needs to begin to find more attractive ways to package its message, to help America recognize how glamorous sexual fidelity is. Shunning fornication the Christian way is no longer old-fashioned and conservative in America and elsewhere in the West. In fact, it goes against the grain; it's downright rebellious.
A minister was preaching one Sunday when she noticed a man asleep on the front pew. She tried to ignore him but he started snoring. So, continuing with her sermon, she made her way slowly toward the man. Using gestures as she spoke, she lightly struck the man on the shoulder. But he did not wake up. She did it again, with more force. Still no results. Finally she gestured more vigorously, striking the man in the back of the head and sending him tumbling off the pew onto the floor. He woke up, still groggy, and said, "Hit me again! I can still hear her!"
Sleeping in church can be a perilous thing. All preachers have sleeping stories to tell, even the great Paul. In Acts 20 a young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window while Paul preached away until almost midnight. The young man fell fast asleep and promptly fell headfirst out the window. They thought he was dead, but Paul went down to him and said that life was still in him.
Oh, the perils of sleeping in church ... Listen for a few more.
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Young Samuel (we surmise he was but a youth here) came to live with Eli, the priest at the shrine in Shiloh. Recall that Samuel's mother, Hannah, was barren; she prayed for a child. She promised that she would dedicate the child to God if he would grant her heart's desire. When her prayer was granted and Samuel was old enough, she sent him to live with the priest Eli where he became in essence a priest-in-training and assisted the elderly man.
Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They were greedy and corrupt, for they'd turned the shrine into a virtual brothel. Eli chastised them (1 Samuel 2:22), but it was too little, too late. As a result, God did not allow them to continue in Eli's place (1 Samuel 2:27ff). In fact, the death of Eli's sons was predicted and came to pass. God then promised to raise up a "faithful priest." This is the setting for the call of Samuel in today's passage.
Verse 1 is interesting. It talks about how rare it then was to hear a word from God or see a vision. Is this because God was not speaking or rather that no one was listening? Certainly the sons of Eli were not listening. The images throughout this passage suggest a dimness or inability to see or hear God -- for example, the image in verse 3 of the lamp of the Lord's not having gone out (a lamp lit to burn through the night). Eli's eyes are said to be dim; but Samuel would need him in order to understand what was about to happen. But the light has not yet been extinguished. Samuel would see it! He would listen. He was in a spiritual state, open to hear God. That's a key thing in the gospel lesson for today -- a receptiveness, an alertness to God's voice, a desire to be called and used by him.
The story is simple and straightforward. Samuel is sleeping one night in the shrine at Shiloh (Shiloh had long been a sacred site for the Israelites, though it was probably just a tent). It was not uncommon at this time for persons to sleep in shrines, especially when they were seeking a vision. Samuel is near the Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred object they had. It represented the very presence of God. Samuel, in other words, is close to God, even if he's asleep. The implication seems to be that the closer you are to someone, the easier it is to hear them when they speak, to know who they are and what they want of you. When one lives each day and spends each night with a deep desire to be close to God, it will not be difficult to hear his call when it comes. Of course, the real message here is that God knew Samuel, even though Samuel may not have known God (see v. 7). Still, Samuel's heart must have been a seeking one, open to God's call. Note the significance that in the morning Samuel "opened the doors of the house of the Lord" (v. 15), which may mean more than just the literal act -- a spiritual act of opening a new access to God.
Young Samuel is awakened by a voice calling his name. He thinks it's Eli, so he goes and asks Eli what he wants. Eli says that he didn't call him. This happens two more times and Eli eventually suggests that it must be God who is calling. Eli recommends that Samuel respond by asking God to speak. God answers and confirms that all he had said about the fall of the house of Eli would happen. It's interesting that nothing is said about Samuel's taking over for Eli. Perhaps this is implied in that it's Samuel God speaks to and not Eli. It would be the first of many times when Samuel would be used as God's messenger.
The next morning Eli forces Samuel to tell him what had happened. Samuel is reluctant as you can imagine -- the news was not good. Eli, however, accepts it. Chapter 4 shows how God's word came true in the deaths of Eli and his sons.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, was greatly honored in Corinth. She was the daughter of Jupiter and said to have sprung from the foam of the Mediterranean Sea. Her Greek counterpart is Aphrodite whose temple stands atop the Acrocorinth, looming over the city. In fact, the temple had 1,000 slave girls -- prostitutes, who descended from the temple each night into the city where they practiced their trade. No wonder Paul speaks so much about sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:6-12 and ch. 7). Well, Corinth was the kind of city the sons of Eli would have loved and, in fact, were creating in their own way.
Throughout this whole passage (and elsewhere) Paul verbally jabs at the Corinthians. "Don't you know...? Don't you know...? Don't you know...?" Obviously they don't! Paul contends they ought to know better than to live as they do, so he tells them what they should know in order to change their behavior.
The first portion of the passage (vv. 12-17) is cast in the form of a diatribe, a popular way of debating or arguing in those days, wherein one quotes and argues against an imaginary opponent. We hear Paul quoting the Corinthians who say, "All things are lawful for me." In turn, Paul answers, "But not all things are beneficial." Again, we hear from the Corinthians, "All things are lawful for me." To which Paul replies, "But I will not be dominated by anything."
Literally rendered, the Corinthians' slogan says, "All things to me are permissible." Anyone who has read Paul's own letters -- as Galatians 5:1a, "For freedom Christ has set us free" -- can believe that the Corinthians may have learned their slogan from the apostle himself. Notice how Paul allows the correctness of the slogan but qualifies it. For the Corinthians, what they knew had given them an abstract principle that could and did produce less than desirable results. Freedom, Paul insists, is characterized by pursuing what is best, and Christian freedom does not lead to a new form of slavery.
The Corinthians claim an inner freedom that places them above the mundane realities of the world. They apparently delight in demonstrating this freedom in their outlandish behavior in relation to food and sexual activity. (This may have grown out of their general disdain for the body, which many considered just a tomb -- the spirit is what matters. The body is of no importance then, and it doesn't matter what you do with it.) Paul's critique of the abuse of freedom calls the Corinthians into a responsible relationship to the Lord. In verses 6:16b-17 the apostle quotes Genesis 2:24, first to denounce involvement with prostitutes and, second, to set up an explanation of the nature of spiritual union of Christians with the Lord.
Verses 18-20 inform the Corinthians of the limits of their freedom. Believers are not purely independent in their freedom. Why? Because, as Paul says, they were bought with a price. The apostle teaches that freedom comes through redemption. The metaphor here is that of a ransom, and Paul employs it as a loose, undeveloped traditional image. Paul's point is this: Christians belong to God, and that relationship is the ultimate qualification for freedom.
The image of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit is a powerful one. A temple was a sacred place and could not be used for just anything. Likewise the body, the whole person is sacred as well, wholly dedicated to God. It is to be used in a way that honors him and brings him glory. In fact, Paul says we have been ransomed like slaves. The slave is not his own but belongs to the one who ransomed him. In this case, the one who ransoms us is God and that is freedom, freedom to become all God wants us to be. That kind of person is certainly the opposite of the Corinthians who were still living in very immoral ways.
John 1:43-51
You may wish to read verses 35-42 as they deal with the call of the first disciples of Jesus. John the Baptist points his disciples away from himself to Jesus, the "Lamb of God." They (only Andrew is named at this point) immediately go and begin to follow Jesus.
Then Andrew goes to his brother, Simon, and persuades him to come and see who this "rabbi" is. For the first time Jesus and Simon meet. The greeting Jesus gives him is one that implies Jesus already knew him, knew him so well, in fact, that he could see who Simon could be -- Cephas, a rock. Again we see the theme of God knowing people. It continues.
Jesus finds Philip and says, "Follow me." This is the third disciple of Jesus to be named in John's Gospel. Very little is known about Philip. He's given little role to play (John 4:5-7; 12:21-22; 14:8-9). We are told that he is from "Bethsaida," which apparently John thinks was in Galilee. It wasn't. It was within the territory of Philip the Tetrarch (unless there was another city of that name somewhere in Galilee). Simon and Andrew are also said to be from here (though in Mark they are said to be from Capernaum), which explains why they have Greek names. This was an area with many Gentiles.
Just as Andrew had gone to find his brother Simon, Philip now goes to find his friend, Nathaniel, to tell him about Jesus. This is the only place where Nathaniel is mentioned. Tradition has identified him with Simon the Cananean (Mark 3:18), while others have seen him as being Bartholomew. In other words, we really do not know much about him either.
Philip tells Nathaniel that they have found the one who they think is the promised one, the Messiah, "Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth." Perhaps his town is mentioned because Jesus was a fairly common name and this distinguished him from others of that name. The way Philip introduces Jesus to Nathaniel is very Jewish, perhaps implying that Nathaniel himself was a Jew of some standing. Jesus implies this in how he greets him, as we'll see.
Nathaniel is surprised or at least sarcastic in his initial response: "What good can come from Nazareth?" Nazareth, also in Galilee, was the last place one would have expected as the origin of the Messiah. There must have also been some local prejudice against Nazareth as being that kind of town -- "across the tracks" from which no good could come.
Though Nathaniel does not know Jesus, Jesus knows him. Jesus says to him, "Here is truly an Israelite...." This seems to mean that here is a man worthy of the name of being a child of Israel. Jesus adds, "... in whom there is no guile" (or deceit). This would seem to mean that Nathaniel was a good man, a righteous man who was truly seeking God's truth and open to it.
Nathaniel, astounded, replies, "How do you know me?"
Jesus sees him at some distance (intended not just to say that Jesus had good eyesight but that he could see into the hearts of people, something demonstrated many times in the Gospels). Jesus saw into his soul, who he truly was and could become, just as he did for Simon who became Peter. Nathaniel responds with faith, though Jesus tells him, "You haven't seen anything yet."
Application
In today's text from 1 Samuel, we hear snoring. Samuel was sleeping in the shrine at Shiloh. He was probably about 12 years old, brought there years before by his mother, Hannah, to fulfill a promise. Samuel, sleeping beside the Ark of the Covenant, the most holy object in all of Israel, is awakened by a voice in the night. He meets and hears God for the first time. He is called and his first task is not a pleasant one, giving Eli some bad news.
It was while he was in the temple in Jerusalem that Isaiah heard that same voice and, as Samuel had, he replied, "Here I am, Lord ..." and took on the perilous task of being a prophet to a people who wanted no prophets.
You see, the real peril isn't sleeping in church, unless you happen to be sitting in a window or you tend to nod and your pastor has a habit of making vigorous arm gestures. No, the peril is that you just might encounter the living God. You may "wake up" to the sound of a voice making claims on your life, calling you to difficult tasks to make a difference in your world.
But isn't this the reason we come to church? Aren't we seeking God? We need to hear his voice, to connect and reconnect with the divine. Come to the house of the Lord and you can sometime expect actually to encounter the Lord!
And isn't this the very reason why so many choose not to come? It is an awesome thing to seek God -- for we discover that God is seeking us.
It is a dangerous, perilous thing for us to come to church, even for our children and youth, as did Hannah with Samuel. We not only risk that God will call us, but that he will also call our children!
This is not to limit God to any one time or place. But there is something special, sacred about our shrines in Shiloh, no matter if they be huts or cathedrals. They are places hallowed by the prayers and praise of God's people, good places to begin looking for God, listening for his voice. When I was about 10, my mother faithfully brought me to a tiny church in North Carolina. It was my own Shiloh where I began to hear God's voice telling me I had gifts -- and a calling to use them.
In the gospel lesson we hear the call of Jesus, not just to Nathaniel, but to each of us, to the whole church, to risk it all, to follow him, to let him set our agenda, to establish our priorities, to lead us to difficult tasks that make a difference. He calls and he promises, "Come, follow me. You haven't seen anything yet!"
An Alternative Application
1 Corinthians 6:12-20. Glorify God in Your Body: This is the theme of the epistle reading for today. Corinth was notorious for its sexual immorality. The Corinthian Christians had grown up in that environment and lifestyle. It was not an easy one to break away from. Paul tells them that they are united with Christ now and must not live the way they used to, especially in their sexual practices. This provides the preacher with the challenge of dealing with sexual attitudes and behaviors today. Our bodies are to be used to glorify God, even in our sexuality. This is an important message for our day when it seems as if anything goes and Corinth is alive and well.
But just a list of "don'ts" will not really be adequate. We need to do a better job of teaching and explaining the biblical view of sexuality and the why behind some of the don'ts. Sexuality was intended as a gift to enrich our lives but is often abused and distorted, like the rest of God's gifts.
First Lesson Focus
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
This text seems to furnish the material from which a children's sermon could be constructed, and it frequently is used in that manner. After all, it concerns an old grandfatherly man and his relation with a young boy who learns to hear the voice of God and to obey. What better moral lesson is there to teach the youngsters on a Sunday morning? Or what better text is there to tell us to listen for God speaking, because we sometimes mistake the voice of God for the voice of a human being? Undoubtedly a lot of preachers will continue to employ the passage in such a fashion. But they and their congregations thereby miss the importance of this text and the way that it forms a turning point in the life of biblical Israel.
We are situated in the time of the Judges in this text, in that period between Israel's entrance into the promised land (about 1220 B.C.) and the beginning of the kingship of Saul in 1020 B.C. Israel is not a unified people but a collection of somewhat independent tribes, all loosely centered around a sacred shrine at Shiloh. Located at that shrine is the Ark of the Covenant, which is understood as the base of God's throne, with God invisibly present above the golden cherub that is located on each end of the Ark (cf. 1 Samuel 4:4). Priests from the twelve tribes take turns officiating at the offerings at the shrine, and the tribes meet there once every year to renew their covenant with the Lord.
If we read chapter 2 in 1 Samuel, however, we find that Israel's worship at Shiloh has become totally corrupt. The two priests officiating there are the sons of Eli, named Hophni and Phinehas, who are "worthless men" (1 Samuel 2:12). They not only take from the offerings the fat and meat that should be burned as a sacrifice to the Lord (2:13-17), but they even indulge in fornication and adultery, lying with the women who serve at the entrance to the tent that houses the Ark. The aged Eli knows how his sons are sinning, but he is too weak and old to do anything about it (2:22-25).
God, of course, never overlooks false worship and sin. As a result, an unnamed prophet appears to Eli and tells him that the days are coming when Eli's offspring will be cut off forever and both he and his sons will die. And in their place, the Lord will raise up a faithful priest, whose house will endure forever (2:27-36).
At this point, then, Samuel is introduced into the story. The young boy is working in the tent that houses the Ark of the Covenant as a servant and helper of the aged and near-blind Eli. Samuel was dedicated to such service by his mother Hannah out of gratitude to God for the birth of her son after a long period of barrenness (1 Samuel 1--2:11). And Hannah continues to love her son and to make a little robe for him each year when she and her husband journey to Shiloh to make offerings. Nevertheless, Samuel is under the tutelage and guidance of Eli. Samuel sleeps beside the Ark of the Covenant in the tent, and he is always alert to answer any need of Eli's.
Against this background, we are told that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision" (3:1). We also hear, however, that "the lamp of God had not yet gone out" (3:3). The Israelite worshipers furnished the oil to keep the lamp lit which may be a hopeful note in the text. On the other hand, it may only relate the fact that it is still dark when God first calls out, "Samuel! Samuel!" (3:3-4).
Because the Word of the Lord has become rare in Israel at the time, it is not surprising that neither the boy Samuel nor Eli realize who is calling. Especially is it not surprising when we are told that, "Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him" (3:7). How do you recognize the voice of the Lord when you have never heard him before? So three times, God has to call out, "Samuel! Samuel!" and finally the third time, Eli realizes that the voice is that of the Lord. He therefore instructs Samuel to reply, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears."
The word that is revealed to Samuel reiterates the Word of God spoken earlier by the unknown prophet in chapter 2. Eli's faithless sons and Eli's failure to correct them will not be forgiven, and Eli's house or offspring will be cut off forever. Though it is not stated again, the implication is that the "faithful priest" (2:35) whom the Lord will raise up will be Samuel, grown to manhood. And so at the end of chapter 3, we are told that Samuel becomes prophet, priest, and judge for Israel -- actually the last of the judges. And through Samuel, God speaks his word to his covenant people. The Word of the Lord is no longer rare in Israel. It is mediated to "all Israel" by Samuel (4:1).
Yet, Samuel is a transitional figure in the history of Israel. The Israelites face constant battle with the Philistines, and the Ark of the Covenant is captured by that foe. Moreover, the Philistines are those who kill Hophni and Phinehas, in fulfillment of God's word (4:11). And it becomes clear in the continuing battle with the Philistines that Israel's tribes are threatened with annihilation. Their loose federation is simply too weak to withstand the Philistine threat. They finally need a king who will unite them and lead them in war, all of which makes preparation for the kingship of Saul and finally of the victorious David in the chapters that follow. In response to the people's demand for a king, Samuel, knowing that the Lord is King of Israel, finally resigns his post in protest (1 Samuel 12), reminding the people that, "If you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king" (12:25).
Perhaps the fact that we need to remember from 1 Samuel 3 is that the Lord never leaves himself without witnesses. The Word of the Lord was rare in Samuel's day, as it often seems rare in ours. But that does not mean that God is absent or that he has stopped working in our lives. When all seemed corrupt in the days of Eli and early Israel, God called forth a young lad through whom he spoke his word and worked his will. God moved steadily forward in the life of his covenant people to bring about his purposes. And he moves steadily forward in our lives, too. Here and there he raises up persons who hear him speaking and who give themselves up to his service. Here and there, in this congregation and others, he singles out his faithful servants and uses them in small tasks and great, to accomplish what he wants done. Our Lord Jesus told us that he is with us always to the close of the age (Matthew 28:20). He is at work, friends, oh, yes, he is at work -- in us, if we by faith will let him.
The Political Pulpit
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Survey data confirms what we all know about the sexual revolution that has transpired in America since the 1960s. In this context Paul's warnings that Christian freedom not lead us to fornication (the Greek word porneuo literally means "whoredom") are likely to be heard as quaint, somewhat outdated sentiments. In fact, in our context, this Pauline ethic is more counter-cultural than we had imagined. These are words of a rebel. Were the church to package this word that way we might begin to get a more sympathetic hearing. Recent poll and statistical data provide some cues for delivering this prophetic proclamation.
According to the most recent government statistics, the number of unmarried heterosexual couples has increased almost 72 percent since 1990. This data confirms the experience of numerous pastors regarding how many of the couples they marry have already been living together. A 1996 Gallup Poll found that 31 percent of married couples confessed to living together before marriage compared to only 19 percent in 1988. That is no surprise in view of American attitudes towards "shacking up." A May 2001 Gallup Poll reports that 57 percent of the public deem it acceptable compared to only 21 percent in 1969.
Correspondingly we all know about the increased divorce rate. Numbers have grown by almost four times, from 385,000 in 1950 to 1,135,000 in 1998; from 2.6 divorces per thousand people annually to over 4 out of every thousand Americans. In a future column I plan to show you how our present business ethos has contributed to these developments in the American sexual ethos.
Social analysts like Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and Alan Wolfe (see his book Moral Freedom) are pointing out the negative social consequences of the sexual revolution. The lack of trust and fidelity caused by following one's hormones from one bed to another, the provisional commitments, involved in many pre-marital living arrangements, and even the relationships formed by the serial monogamy of our divorce culture undermine the social fiber. We don't trust our employees, bosses, and other authority figures; our kids can't trust us as much as in previous generations. When trust and loyalty are not practiced with the one with whom you share the most sacred of human relationships, you will not likely practice them with others. (My forthcoming book Blessed Are the Cynical elaborates these points in more detail.)
Given most Americans' general acceptance of extramarital sex and divorce, Paul's word about fidelity certainly goes against the grain of society. My wife Betsey's recent observation to me, noting that we were one of the few baby-boom couples in our congregation only once married, rings in my ears as I reflect on how counter-cultural such a lifestyle is. All the more striking in this connection is Paul's insistence that loyalty to one's spouse and to God's ways is not a matter of obeying commandments, since "all things are lawful" (v. 12a). Christians practicing such lifestyles of faithfulness because they want to model God's faithfulness to his people and promises do not do it the world's way. Such marriages are not merely legal arrangements, but covenants involving a third party -- God. Can their numbers change society like other prophets have on issues like democracy, slavery, and discrimination? This is a sermon to help those in your congregation committed to such a lifestyle to appreciate how unique they are, and to see what a mission they have to society. The Church needs to begin to find more attractive ways to package its message, to help America recognize how glamorous sexual fidelity is. Shunning fornication the Christian way is no longer old-fashioned and conservative in America and elsewhere in the West. In fact, it goes against the grain; it's downright rebellious.
