Bethany Bullet - May 4, 2010

How to Follow Jesus…
“How to figure out the will of God without hearing voices from heaven.”

I have usually put people who claim to hear voices in one of two categories:

1) Those of whom I am significantly suspicious of,

AND

2) Those of whom I am slightly scared of.

Yet, how often do we want to hear such a Voice? If only God would…show me, direct me, & tell me…what to do or what He wanted?

In the book of Samuel we find someone who actually heard the Voice of God. We are told that such a conversation had been rare in the days of Samuel. God had fallen quiet. Eli, the priest of God and who served in the house of God, was himself deaf to divine decibels. However, he was NEVER left to wonder about the will of the Father. Torah, Law, and the Word of God were at his disposal, in his description for work. And now God was talking to him through a new prophet, the boy Samuel.

I’ve never heard a Voice from heaven, probably most of us have not, yet like Eli we are not left to wonder about the Will of the Father. For God’s Will is not a mystery we have to solve, it is not a maze we need to navigate, it is not a puzzle we are left to put together, nor a riddle to be pondered and figured out. God’s will is a:

I. Pattern to be Transcribed
II. Promise to be Trusted
III. Path to be Traveled

God’s Will is a Pattern to be Transcribed
• As recorded by Moses: Be holy as I am holy.
• As recorded by Matthew: Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.

The Will of God, narrowly speaking, is the same as the Law of God - for a people who are pure and righteous and blameless before him. Eli, his son, and his flock sought to conform God’s will to their wants. OUR will be done has been the prayer of many a priest of Israel, many a child of Abraham, and each of us on many an occasion.

Like Eli’s sons we’ve justified lies and lust. Like Eli we have ignored sin of our friends, family, and co-workers because it is easier and more peaceful. Judgment befell Eli. He didn’t hear God’s voice anymore nor would he serve any longer as God’s prophet as Samuel would now become such. Stronger judgment fell on his sons - they died. We deserve both, to never hear His Voice again, for eternity deaf to divine decibels. Yet it was grace that moved God to speak to and then through Samuel, the son of Hannah, given to serve in the Temple. And in grace God has spoken to us through Jesus, the Son of Mary, given to serve as the Temple. “Destroy this temple and I’ll raise it in three days.”

God’s Will is a Promise to be Trusted
• The Epistles recorded thus, “It is the will of God that all come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.”
• The Gospel’s recorded thus, “How I have longed to gather you to myself like a hen gathers her chicks beneath her wings.”

The Will of God, in a wider sense, is the same as the Gospel - for a people who are one with Him through faith in Christ. And for a people who know that He knows and calls their name, every bit as much as He knew and called Samuel’s name.

The Will of God is a Path to be Traveled
• As we Honor Him
• As we Help His

Your worship and work are both important to God. Hearing God’s Voice begins here, in His house. Whether with Samuel in the temple or Peter on the Mountain top, whether John in the Jordan or Saul on the Damascus road, hearing God’s Voice is always associated with God’s residence: that made of fabric and stone (the tabernacle or temple) or that made of the flesh and bone of Jesus Christ. To hear God’s Voice, you need to be here in His house.

Having heard His voice (like Samuel), now you must go and make it heard through you in the place you’ve been called - enabled by the Spirit, trust His promise in your heart, and then empowered by the Spirit, you transcribe His pattern in your life.

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer