By Mac 2 October, 2001
What are you willing to sacrifice for God?
When we became Disciples of Jesus, each of us went through a pretty detailed set of studies to help us understand what a Disciple really is, and what is actually required of a Disciple once he/she BECOMES one. In the Discipleship study, usually the first or second study in the series (sometimes preceded by the Word lesson), we learned that we must become ‘fishers of men’ (Mark 1:14-18), and that we must deny ourselves of certain things every day (Luke 9:23-26), and that we must be willing to give up EVERYTHING, not just anything (Luke 14:33) for God. We also learned in Luke 11 that we must be praying—like Jesus did, and build a personal relationship with God. Later on in the Discipleship study we learned that we must love our neighbors as well as our enemies. The Apostle John tells us about loving one another in his book in verses 34 and 35 of chapter 13. And we finished up that study, similar to the way we started it. We read the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. That sums up what we must do as Disciples. And when each of us went through this study, most of us probably didn’t REALLY know what we were getting into, although our hearts were in the right place.
Now that we have been Disciples of Jesus for a while (some of us many years), I want each of you to reflect for a moment on what being a Disciple REALLY means.
To be a true Disciple, you have to not only DO what Jesus commands, but we have to LOVE it.
How many of you LOVE coming to bible discussions? Mid-week service? Bible-studies with non-Christians? How about LOVE getting together to be “DISCIPLED”. Recall from the Word study, that being ‘DISCIPLED’ is not always pleasurable. Sure, the Bible is useful for teaching and encouraging, but, as 2 Timothy 3:16 also says, it is useful for ‘REBUKING’. Do you LOVE being REBUKED? Probably not! But you ought to. After all, it IS your soul that the discipler is trying to help.
A true Disciple desires to be with members of the church. They truly love to be with one another, because they KNOW that it is the members of the church that are going to help them remain true to the Lord, and ultimately, make it to Heaven. A true Disciple is on time. He or she is not a sluggard. Laziness doesn’t get in the way of a Disciple on the way to Church, a Bible Study, a prayer group, or even a party given by others brothers and sisters. They show respect to their leaders; to the persons preaching at service; to the person leading the bible study or prayer meeting; even to the person that loved you enough to INVITE you to their party.
A true Disciple tithes. Not only with his MONEY, but also with his TIME. A true Disciple VOLUNTEERS to help out in the Church, not waiting to be asked. And we also learned from the Kingdom Study, Matthew 6:33, that a true Disciple must “… seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” A true Disciple is just that: TRUE!
But all that aside, an honest-to-goodness, God-fearing, brother-loving, confessing, unprideful Disciple, is sacrificial.
What have YOU sacrificed for God lately? A few minutes each day to talk to Him, or to read a little of His Word, is hardly what I would call sacrificial. I want to talk today about a very sacrificial person. One that was willing to give up something extremely dear to her. Turn your Bibles to the book of First Samuel, and we will start reading in Chapter One, Verse One:
I Samuel 1:1 through 1 Samuel 2:11
There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from
the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of
Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other
Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
Year after year this man went up from his town to
worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and
Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD.
Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he
would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and
daughters.
But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he
loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.
And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival
kept provoking her in order to irritate her.
This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up
to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not
eat.
Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah,
why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean
more to you than ten sons?"
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in
Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the
doorpost of the LORD's temple.
In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to
the LORD.
And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if
you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget
your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the
days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."
As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her
mouth.
Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were
moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk
and said to her, "How long will you keep on
getting drunk? Get rid of your wine."
"Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I
am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was
pouring out my soul to the LORD.
Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have
been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."
Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of
Israel grant you what you have asked of him."
She said, "May your servant find favor in your
eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer
downcast.
Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before
the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his
wife, and the LORD remembered her.
So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth
to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for
him."
When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to
offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,
Hannah did not go. She said to her husband,
"After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD,
and he will live there always."
"Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her
husband told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD
make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until
she had weaned him.
After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young
as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of
wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.
When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the
boy to Eli,
and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my
lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me
what I asked of him.
So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he
will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.
Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices
in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my
enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
"There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no
one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
"Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth
speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are
weighed.
"The bows of the warriors are broken, but those
who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but
those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven
children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
"The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings
down to the grave and raises up.
The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he
exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy
from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of
honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has
set the world.
He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked
will be silenced in darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails;
those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will
thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
"He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his
anointed."
Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the LORD under Eli the priest.
Hannah was in a situation somewhat similar to what goes on everyday in lots of households in the homes of today’s Disciples. Arguments, bickering, fighting. Even to the point where people in the family, supposedly close loved ones, break down and start weeping. Hannah had difficulty handling her situation as she felt like a third wheel in the family because she could not have children. Her nemesis, the word used here is “rival”, kept provoking her. Picking on her. Making her feel inferior. I KNOW none of us do that in our families today. We NEVER say a hurting word to our spouse, our kids, or our roommates. A true Disciple just wouldn’t DO that.
When WAS the last time each of you said something to another family member that was hurtful? “You’re lazy.” “You’re fat.” “You don’t understand me.” “YOU are the reason we are late.” “YOU didn’t iron my shirt AGAIN?” “I hope when YOU grow up you will have kids that act like you, so you will know what I am going through.”
I could go on and on about hurtful things that are said each day, but I would rather YOU think specifically what YOU have said recently that could have been interpreted as being hurtful.
1st Corinthians 13:4 through 8 tells us how we OUGHT to be talking to one another, NOT the way we do sometimes. Let me read this….
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it
does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the
truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love never fails.
It is God’s love that didn’t fail in this story about Hannah. I want you to notice what she did when she finally broke down from all of the harassment she was receiving from her husband’s OTHER wife. She PRAYED to God. But not only did she PRAY to Him. Notice WHAT she prayed. IN verse 11 of chapter 1, Hannah told God in her prayer that she would give up to Him, her only son if she just had one. She made a vow to God to ‘sacrifice’ a future born child to Him, rather than keeping the child for herself.
This part of the story is a good comparison to what happens in lots of situations even today. Literally thousands of newly born children are ‘given up’ for adoption. Can any of you imagine being a mom or dad and giving up your children? There are circumstances that occur, unfortunately, that lend toward the decision to give up children at child birth. Thank God for organizations like “HOPE”. As a side issue, I would like to remind everyone that we should be still seeking donations for that organization….one that takes care of orphaned children.
In Hanna’s case, HER decision to ‘give up’ her child was not made because she or her husband couldn’t afford to raise him. Her decision was made purely on her love for God. Notice in verse 23 of chapter 1 that her own husband knew how much she loved God. “Do what seems best to you.”, he said. And notice that ‘giving your child to God’ was not short-term thing. It was forever. Although I am pretty sure than Hannah and her husband could visit their son, who grew up under the watchful eye of Eli the priest, just think of the sacrifice they made. They gave up their son!!!!
Would anyone here be willing to leave their infant child under the care of one of the leaders of our church today? And only being able to see him maybe on weekends at Church? I am not saying that our leaders could not do an excellent job in raising our children as children of God, but would you want to do that? Hannah did. And as soon as he was weaned. She was not able to share in any of the growing up of kids that means so much to us today. A tremendously sacrificial lady.
Hannah’s first prayer to God was answered. He gave her a son. After she ‘repaid’ God for this kind miracle by turning her son
over to Eli, she prayed again. In 1st
Samuel 2, verses 1 and 2, it says that
she prayed from her heart. She loved
God so much, the first words out of her mouth was praise: "My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I
delight in your deliverance.
"There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no
one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
She was overjoyed at being able to serve her Lord like she did.
When Jesus was teaching His original twelve disciples how to pray, He started off with an example of praising the Lord first. In Luke 11:2, Jesus said “Father, hallowed be your name..”
It is extremely important to recognize, above everything else, the power and glory of our God. Hannah saw an almost immediate response to her first prayer, so when she prayed at the time of giving up her son, the first thing she did was demonstrate her love for Him by acknowledging his awesomeness.
I wonder if sometimes we forget that. When you start your prayers, do you immediately ASK for something? Do you beg of the Lord to heal the sick, give you wisdom, or help you out financially? Those things can be items within your prayer, but before you do all your ‘askin’, maybe you ought to do some ‘praisin’!! If you have kids, don’t they seem to succeed with you a lot more when they ‘butter you up’ first? Think about how quickly your heart melts when your little child (or even your bigger teenage) acknowledges something GOOD about you. Even though they may be playing to your weak side, most of the time it probably works. In Hannah’s case, even in her misery and suffering, she started out her first recorded prayer with words of praise (“O Lord, Almighty”.)!
God can do anything he wants. We must understand that without a shadow of a doubt. He gave a child to a barren woman. An impossible event WITHOUT God. He is so awesome that we can not even fathom his greatness. The author of the book of Ecclesiastes (most people believe it was Solomon) wrote in Chapter 8, verse 17, the following: “No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it. The King James version translates the word meaning comprehend, as “finding”. In other words, we can not ‘find’ out what is going on here on earth. ONLY God knows. When you pray, remember that! Praise Him for who He is. He is always misunderstood by us humans. Only in the final days will we learn the full truth about God. This is what it says about it in Revelation 10:7—“But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."
Even though Hannah trusted God with her very own newborn son, she didn’t understand Him completely. BUT, she knew enough that God is in control!
Do you believe that God is in control of everything? Do you believe that thousands died in the World Trade Center for a PURPOSE? Believe, we will NOT fully understand the things that God does on a day to day basis. BUT, we can have an influence on it. Just like Hannah, who asked God for a son who would someday become a Judge of all Israel; we can ask God for things that can change the world as well.
It DOESN’T START with prayer, but it ENDS with it. Hannah must have lead a very righteous life, even though the Bible doesn’t say that, we get the impression that she did, simply because of her awe, and fear, of God. AND, we know that God heard her prayer, so she MUST have been somewhat righteous. We learned in the Light and Darkness study that God turns a deaf ear to those living in sin. Turn to Isaiah 59, and read verse 2 with me: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. There was no way that God would have given Hannah a son if she had been mired in a sinful life, even if she prayed three hours a day. Likewise, there is no way that God will answer OUR prayers if we are living an unrighteous life. For us to influence God, we must be righteous first. Moses influenced God. Abraham influenced God. And so did many other righteous men and women in the Bible. Men and women like Goliath, the Pharaoh of Egypt, and Jezebel didn’t influence God. He INFLUENCED THEM! Personally, I would like to try to be on the side of the righteous, and maybe have a slight say in how my life is lived here on earth. Even though many people say that every minute detail for all time has been worked out already by God, I am not so sure. There are numerous times recorded in the Bible of men influencing God’s decisions. In Genesis 18, Abraham repeatedly changed God’s mind. Unfortunately, in that story, not even TEN righteous people could be found in the cities of Sodom or Gomorrah. But, if there HAD been, God would have been true to His word, and would have spared the cities. Jacob, in one of his attempts at influencing God, even WRESTLED with Him!!! I dare say I don’t want to wrestle physically, or even spiritually, with God. But I sure would like to be able to influence Him.
Also, not only does your sin separate you from God, but it also eats at your very soul. In the Cross Study we learned that Jesus died one of the most suffering types of death ever devised by man. We also learned that it was our unrighteous lives, our sins, that caused him to die like that. Isaiah 53:5 summarized it: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” If we ignore that. If we forget why Jesus died, how WE murdered Him, our souls will be forgotten as well. So in your prayers, start with praising God for who he his, and his glorious powers, but also, THANK Him for giving you a chance. A chance at a life in Heaven for all eternity. Hannah thanked God by sacrificing her life with her son. How are YOU thanking God? What are YOU sacrificing?
I challenge each of you to again go over the First Principles Studies, some of which I mentioned here. Re-learn what a True Disciple is. Re-learn what God’s Word means to us. Re-learn what sin is, and the importance of repentance. Relearn the CROSS all over again.
Hannah loved God. Do YOU too?
Glory be to God! Amen!