I remember when Mark McGwire broke into Major League Baseball in 1987. I was 13 when that happened. And I was enamored with his power at the plate. He was only a rookie then, and he hit some mammoth home runs. My dad used to pitch to me in the backyard, and I would imitate Mark McGwire’s batting stance. Somehow I thought that standing like Mark McGwire I could hit the ball like him. Over my rather lacklustrious Little League baseball career I imitated the stances of Mark McGwire, Don Mattingly, Kirby Puckett, George Brett and others.
These very successful baseball players offered help to my career. Unfortunately it never got me anywhere.
When I was little, my dad was my role model. I wanted to dress like him. I wanted to shave like him. I wanted to be just like dad. I remember standing next to him in church and placing my feet on the tiles in the same way he had his.
When I was in kindergarten there was this one kid who wanted to be like his grandpa. He wanted to shave just like grandpa, but the problem is that at the age of 5 or 6 he had no whiskers. He went into the bathroom and pulled out his grandpa’s razor and proceeded to shave the only hair on his face. That’s right, he shaved his eyebrows off.
We can all look back on our lives and see people who have been role models for us. Perhaps the person who was your role model didn’t even know it.
A lot of times we are role models for others, and we don’t even know it. That was one thing that struck me when I was a children’s pastor. A lot of the kids looked up to me in a way that was at times uncomfortable for me.
Has there ever been a time when a role model disappointed you? I don’t want to give undue attention to professional athletes or celebrities, but that is something that most of us can relate to. Think of the comic genius of John Belushi. He was one of the biggest comedians in the late 1970s. It came as a great shock to many when he died of cocaine and heroine overdose in 1982. Many young comics had patterned their careers after his. He was an icon, and yet he was a tragic figure.
There were two leaders in ancient Israel who can serve as role models. Their lives crossed paths when one was winding down his life and the other was an unknown boy who would soon be thrust into the national limelight. They are Eli and Samuel.
Turn with me to I Samuel 3.
Read I Samuel 3:1-20.
Eli as a role model
No doubt Eli was a role model for Samuel. Samuel probably came to the temple about the age of 3. In the passage we just read he was probably about 12. For almost a decade he had lived and worked closely with Eli. Eli was probably a father figure for him.
Eli had been the priest for years. He had blessed Samuel’s mother, when she was praying because she couldn’t have children. He had originally scolded her for being drunk in the temple because she was praying silently, but her lips were moving. When he found out she was sober, he blessed her.
He took young Samuel under his wing and nurtured him in the work of the temple. Likely it was rather menial work of opening doors and such. Nonetheless, he offered Samuel a place in the work of the Lord. I sure that Samuel looked up to Eli with a sense of awe. We see in our passage that Eli was a very patient man. Samuel came and woke him up three times in the middle of the night. I’m not one who likes to have my sleep disturbed. When the kids come in the middle of the night my first reaction is, “Go back to bed.” After the second time, we would expect Eli to be upset at least a little, but he is very patient with his young understudy.
Eli had some issues though. Even though he was a good priest for the people of Israel, he had problems with his sons. To say that his sons were bad men would be an understatement. Chapter 2 verse 12 says, “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men.” That is quite a blunt statement. Tell us how you really feel. It continues, “They did not know the Lord.” They robbed the Lord of the offerings that were rightfully his. They had affairs with the women who worked at the entrance of the temple.
Now Eli wasn’t participating in the wrong they were doing. He didn’t act to restrain them, however. Verse 13 offers us the explanation, “And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.” (Emphasis added.) Eli was fully aware of what was going on. He was weak when it came to disciplining his own family.
I find it interesting that he accused Samuel’s mother of being drunk in the temple and had the nerve to stand up to her, but he was unwilling to stand up to his own children.
Eli is really a tragic figure. He faithful personally, but he was unable to carry that through in his own family.
In our passage today, we catch a glimpse of Eli at the end of his life. He is a broken man, both physically and spiritually. We see in verse 2 that he is blind, or almost blind. Then we see in verse 18 a resignation to the pronouncement of the Lord. He didn’t even bother offer an objection. He didn’t ask for a second chance or anything. Most of us would go down fighting. We would be pleading for another chance. “That’s not fair. Let me have another chance,” would be our cry. Eli though is resigned to the fact that the word of the Lord will come true. There is a certain dignity to his acceptance, but we are left wondering, “What if?”
Samuel as a role model
Standing in sharp contrast to the aged, broken man of Eli is the youthful young man of Samuel. He is a vibrant personality. He leaps to action three times during the night to assist his mentor. Without complaining, he runs to Eli’s side. Perhaps it was a regular occurrence for Eli to call out to Samuel in the night, but nonetheless he is willing to help.
We are confronted with a boy who is willing to listen to Eli and to the Lord. Perhaps Samuel didn’t really believe Eli when he said the Lord was calling, as it says that he said, “Speak for your servant hears,” leaving out the word “Lord.” Nevertheless, he willing hears the message of the Lord.
Another aspect of Samuel’s life is his willingness to listen to the Lord. The Lord called out to Samuel three times before he told Samuel the message he wanted him to hear. God’s message came only when Samuel listened.
Have you ever spoken to someone only to realize that they never heard you? You tell them something, and they go, “Huh? What?” Those of you who are teachers can relate to that, I’m sure. That is frustrating. The Lord made sure that Samuel was attentive. The Lord waits until we are listening to give us direction.
Here there is another sad comment about the state of affairs around the temple. Samuel had lived at the temple for almost ten years and verse 7 tells us, “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.” Here’s a church kid who doesn’t have a clue about spiritual things. Someone dropped the ball big time. We cannot let it be said about our kids that they do not know the Lord. It is imperative that we impress upon our kids, and I mean our own biological kids and the kids of the Church, the Lord. We cannot force them to accept the Lord, but we sure can make him known to them.
All of the traits of Samuel are great. He had great respect for his mentor Eli. He was willing to serve and help Eli. He even listened to the Lord.
The thing that sends Samuel into the upper echelon of role models is his willingness to be uncomfortable. Verse 15 gives us insight into Samuel’s reaction to the message the Lord gave him. It says, “Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.”
Samuel had great respect for Eli. I don’t think any of us can blame him for being afraid. Eli was his mentor, his guardian, his caretaker and his friend. His response was to go about his normal duties, and hope that Eli would forget the incident.
Eli threatens Samuel basically. He says, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” Eli knew the score. In chapter two he had been warned. He knew what would happen.
I can imagine at this point Samuel’s stomach is doing flips and summersaults. He is torn between his love for Eli and desire to obey. He spilled the story. It had to be agonizing to stand there and tell his mentor and guardian that God was going to rain down judgment on his family, and there was nothing anyone could about it. No doubt Samuel was aware of the actions of Eli’s sons. I am sure Samuel understood their punishment, but I am sure he was equally distraught to learn of Eli’s impending demise.
Are we willing to become uncomfortable to share the word of the Lord? Sometimes it’s so much easier just to hang back and soft-pedal the situation. That is not God’s will. God’s will is that we do his will.
Conclusion: The Fate of Eli and Samuel
We see the result of not listening to the word of the Lord. Eli’s family was destroyed in the following chapter. His sons died in battle. When Eli heard about the catastrophe, he fell over dead. Thus ended the life of a tragic figure.
For Samuel the best days were ahead. We read in verses 19 and 20, “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord.”
In verse 1, we are encountered by the statement, “And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” It is interesting that when no one is will to listen, the word of the Lord is rare. It was only after Samuel’s willingness to listening to the Lord, that the Lord’s people knew the word of the Lord. Eli had failed to hear the word of the Lord.
Samuel gained national recognition from the northernmost boundary of the country to the southernmost edge of the country. He was not recognized because he had a dynamic personality or was a great orator. He was recognized because he was an authentic prophet of the Lord.
Who’s our role model? Are we an Eli? Or a Samuel? Do we have the courage to tell the truth of God like Samuel did? He was just a young boy, and yet he had the courage to tell Eli the terrible things that would happen to his family and himself.
It’s easy to be an Eli. That’s the easy road. We can go through the motions and appear to be the goody-goody. It’s easy to play church. It’s easy to put on an appearance of godliness. It’s easy because it is comfortable.
It’s much more difficult to be a Samuel. It is not easy to stand up for what is right, when the pressure is on. It’s hard to walk with God when everyone else walks away from him. It’s hard because it is uncomfortable.
The thing to remember is that God rewards a life that is lived for him. Eli had served God half-heartedly for some 40 years. Samuel was beginning his journey. God blessed Samuel. God’s word had been absent of the life of his people for a long time because no one would listen. Samuel listened and the word of God came back to his people.
It seems that some people think that God’s word is absent from our culture. Perhaps that is true. The solution is to be willing to listen to the voice of God and to realize that living a life that is in the center of God’s will will not be easy.
We are doing things at Church here to reach out to the community. We have the FW Friends Club for Kids. We will be having an Easter Egg Hunt. We will have a Family Fun Fair. We will do a VBS this summer. We have Sunday School. We have worship service. We sing. We read the Bible. We pray. We hear a message. All of that is great and wonderful, but the reality is that God does not come through things and programs. He comes through the lives of people like Samuel who are willing to listen to his voice and to be a little uncomfortable for the sake of the Kingdom. Eli was deeply entrenched in the religious practice of the day, but that’s all it was for him, practice. Eli wasn’t listening to the voice of God because he we busy with the work of the Church.
God isn’t going to bless one thing we do until we are willing to receive his Spirit. He isn’t going to do anything until we are willing to listen to his voice. Our lives must be changed and impacted by him before we can ever hope to reach anyone else.
My prayer is that we are a Church that isn’t just doing things. We need to be a church that is listening to the very voice of God. That comes through prayer. Prayer is more than talking. We can’t hear anything if we are talking all the time. Notice Samuel’s encounter with God. Samuel said five words to God, “Speak, for your servant hears.” God’s response covers some four verses. You also notice that Samuel’s prayer was one of willingness to listen. We must be willing to listen to what God has for us.
God has great things in store for us, but the key is that we listen to him and realize that he works not through programs and thing but through men and women who are willing to do his will. Knowing the will of God comes through listening to him, which comes through prayer.
Will you commit with me today to seek God’s will for your own life and the life of the Church.
