Skyscraper Ministries/Lectures/Annual Baptisms/The Other Seventy Training Academy
The Word vs. The World
Southside Church
of Christ
Richmond,
California
Youth Revival
7/11/04
Responding to the Masters Call
1 Corinthians
5:9-13; 1 Samuel 3:1-10
The
apostle Paul said faith is gained through hearing the Word of God (Romans
10:17). The apparent difficulty within this God-given Pauline concept is that
the subject must actually listen. One can hear and not be provoked to action,
but God is concerned with the individual who not only listens, but also responds
to His Call. The philosophies of the world are always calling, yet God urges
that His Word be heeded over worldly prescriptions and theories (Colossians
2:8).
In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, Paul the evangelist confronted
the sexually perverse behavior within the Corinthian congregation. They had
conformed to the ways of the world, and shunned the Way of God. Paul gave
them a stern commandment and provided them with the scriptural solution to
their sin-problem. He ordered the church to withdraw from the member(s) in
the congregation who were living in sin. The words and prescriptions of Paul
may have seemed harsh, but the result in following the Word was the difference
between eternal life or eternal torment.
Paul wrote a third time to the members at Corinth in
relationship to their response to the Masters Call. In 2 Corinthians 7:8-10
Paul said, “For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though
I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though
it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that
you sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that
ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
Spiritual transformation through responding to the Masters Call can be a
painful experience yet is highly essential. What is your response to the
Masters Call? Many hear but fail to act because the world and not the Word
amuses them and has their attention.
In the book of 1 Samuel a woman named Hannah
faithfully prayed to God for a son. Nothing quenched her desire for a son and
the fact that her husbands other wife bore him children and antagonized her,
simply exacerbated the situation and her infertility (1 Samuel 1:6,10). God
eventually blessed her with a son, she named him Samuel, and lent him to the
LORD for temple and priesthood service (1 Samuel 1:28). In investigating the
childhood years of Samuel, lessons regarding Responding to the Masters Call are
plentiful.
Between the tender age of five and twelve, as a boy,
Samuel laid in the Temple under the care of the high priest Eli (1 Samuel 3:3).
In one night, God the Master called unto Samuel three times while he was
sleeping in the temple. Notice some of the details:
1.
Samuel
was in the right place.
2.
At
the call of the Master Samuel ran to Eli and not God.
3.
Samuel
did not know God yet.
4.
The
Word of God had not been revealed to him yet.
5.
Eli
had to show Samuel how to respond.
Notice the fact that Samuel was in the place of God,
he heard God, but his response was flawed. Many souls are in the right place to
hear the Masters Call, but run to the wrong source in response. You may not
know God, but once you have been taught about Him and how to respond, He is
expecting you to answer His Call.
After God called Samuel the fourth time he asked the
Master to speak. Are you ready for God to speak to you? Will you listen? At
that point in the life of young Samuel he was eager to hear the spoken Word
of God because he was ready to obey. In
verse 11 God informed Samuel that He would do a thing in Israel that would
cause both ears of all who would hear to tingle.
What will it take for your ears to tingle and
respond to the Masters Call? Jesus has already defeated death and ascended up
into heaven, established His church (Ephesians 4:1-13), caused Christians to
escape corruption (2 Peter 1:4-5), given the gift of prayer (Numbers 16:3-4),
will forever be the Master Shepherd (Psalms 23), and much more.
Will you listen and prioritize theWord or the world
and accept the Masters Call? He is calling for you to be transformed and immersed
into water for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). God has paved a way to save you today!