The text this morning is from the First Book of Samuel, the third chapter:
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 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. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” 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. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” And Eli said, “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.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.” 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.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
There is a great comfort in the fact that God knows your name and calls you by name. We see in the text this morning, that, though Samuel did not know Yahweh, the Lord, which only means that Samuel had not yet been called as a prophet, not that he didn’t believe in God, God has Samuel’s name in mind, and calls that name so that Samuel may rise up and hear the Word of the Lord. He does the same for you.
For Samuel, in this story, just a little boy, this must have been, not only surprising, but intensely overwhelming. You see, Samuel had been dedicated to the service of God by his mother, Hannah. She had wanted a son and God blessed her with one. When Samuel was born, she gave thanks to God for His gift to her and dedicated Samuel’s life to service in the Tabernacle. Samuel worked for the priest, Eli, from a young age, tending the Tabernacle, doing the things that Eli, in his old age, could not do. This should have been the work of Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phineas, who were supposed to be following in their father’s footsteps. According to God’s Word, the sons of the Levitical priest would follow in their father’s footsteps in order that the House of God would always have someone to preside over it.
But Hophni and Phineas were faithless priests. They committed adultery, they took from the sacrifices given to the Lord, and they never took care of the Tabernacle or any of the ornaments in it. Samuel had to do it; a boy, serving where two grown men would refuse. And Samuel served faithfully, even sleeping inside the Tabernacle to assure that the lamp of God would never run out of oil, that the promises of the priests were always fulfilled, even if the rightful priests had refused their duties.
It was for this reason that God came to Samuel to give him a prophetic word of judgment for Eli and his family. You might think God cruel for judging Eli so harshly. As far as we can tell, Eli served God in the Tabernacle faithfully. His own faith seemed strong, and all the works he did were right according to the Law. Yet, he put his sons into the place of priests, even knowing of their disobedience, and even when Eli rebuked his sons, he still did not remove them from their service. Eli’s weakness seems to be love for his sons, and because of that, because he idolized his love over his God, he did evil things in the sight of God. The outward obedience we demonstrate still avails us nothing if the inward obedience of the heart is not present perfectly. The world can judge us righteous, but God knows our hearts.
This should be a reminder to us that, even though we may be doing things rightly and things seem to be alright, we cannot forget we are sinners in thought, word, and deed, both by what we have done and what we have left undone. We are sinners in action and inaction. And for this, we must always be penitent before the Lord, else we start to think too much of ourselves.
And so it was for Eli’s sons, they thought too much of themselves, they made their desires their god, and the boy Samuel was left to pick up their slack. In all of his service, Samuel did well. God had in mind bigger things for him, that Samuel would become a prophet to the House of Israel. God knew Samuel’s name and called him to Himself.
God knows your name and you to Himself. He calls you by your name in your Baptism. Remember the question in Baptism, “What is this child to be called?” Or even if it is an adult being baptized, “How are you named?” This isn’t a question, like, “What do you want to be called?” If that’s the case, why not go with Galactic President Superstar MacAwesomeville. This is a question as to what name God will God speak as He washes you clean from your sins and brings you into His kingdom?
“Galactic President Superstar MacAwesomeville, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That’s God speaking, not just the pastor. God speaks your name in your Baptism, and like Samuel, He invites you to hear His Word. It won’t be in visions and personal appearances, but it will be through His holy and precious Word that He gave to us through His apostles and prophets. You hear His Word, just as Samuel did, for God spoke to Samuel and Samuel wrote those words to give to you.
It should be a great comfort that God knows your name. But, I suppose it also might be a warning, as it was for Eli, Hophni, and Phineas. Because they disgraced the place where God resided with His people, because they did not do as God commanded, God called their name and judged them harshly. Now, for Eli, we don’t know what his end destination was; when he died, he either went to be with his Lord, for he believed in the Lord, worshipped him, his sins were covered by the sacrifice, or he went where his sons would go. And his sons, we do know their end, to suffer the judgment of God for eternity in hell, for they did not and would not believe in God, honor, revere, respect Him.
Hophni and Phineas were killed one day when the Israelites were battling the Philistines. The Israelites were losing because those who fought the battle did not seek the Lord’s counsel from the prophet Samuel, yet they didn’t recognize their fault for they had never been taught this. They had faithless priests in the sons of Eli. So, they called for the Ark to be brought as encouragement for the Israelites, fear towards the Philistines, and, in the past, when the presence of the Lord was with the Israelites it battle, they always won. They assumed it would be so. But because of the faithlessness of the priests, God would not be with His people in battle, 30,000 men would fall and Hophni and Phineas, the unfaithful priests would be among them, dead and judged wanting.
God called their names as part of His kingdom, and they rejected His Word, His gift to them. They lusted after the desires of their hearts and forsook God and all of His goodness. For this, because of their choice, God called them before His judgment throne and saw only their sin, and so damned them to an eternity in hell.
Eli died when the news of his sons’ deaths and the Philistines taking the Ark away. It wasn’t a natural death of old age, but that he fell backwards and broke his neck. God called Eli’s name and set him over the House of Israel, yet because he refused to remove his faithless sons from their service, God removed Eli from the face of the earth.
This is the great judgment that God spoke about Eli and his family, that these men would bear the judgment of God. And so it will be for all people, that we all will face the judgment seat of God. And God will call us before Him by name and we will face His judgment.
But what’s amazing is that, though God knows your name, though God calls you by your name, you are not judged by your name. You are judged by the other name God puts on you in Baptism, His name, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You are judged as if you were the perfect Son of God. You are counted righteous for His sake. You don’t lose your identity, but you gain the identity of the King. You don’t lose yourself in God, but you gain God in you.
As you stand before the Lord, you don’t plead your case in defense of yourself; you plead Christ and His atoning death for all of your sins. Eli and his sons would claim their works for themselves, but the Christian knows and understands that there is no good that we can do. You need someone to do the work for you; you need a Savior, and you have one in Jesus Christ. You need your sins forgiven, taken away from you, and you have that in Jesus Christ. You need God to dwell with you, and He does in Jesus Christ, and, more than that, even dwells in you by His Holy Spirit.
Our God gives grace to you through Christ’s work. He judges you as if you were Christ, and Christ’s work was so holy and pleasing and blameless that, even after death, God raised Jesus from the dead. He calls you, by name, to Himself, that He might comfort you, forgive you, dwell with you, abide with you, love you, show mercy toward you, give you all of His gifts, give you His Word and Sacrament. He gives you His name that you might share in all that He has, which is all things. He gives you His name, that by the same power of Christ, you will be raised to everlasting life with Christ. Thus it is that you are no longer Galactic President Superstar MacAwesomeville, but now Galactic President Superstar MacAwesomeville in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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