Godly Thinking Requires Listening
An all-creatures Bible Message

Godly Thinking Requires Listening
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
17 January 2021
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

1 Samuel 3:1-11
John 1:43-51
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
 
Godly thinking requires listening, which is what God does, for He hears our prayers and answers us.
 
We can each analyze ourselves to see if we are using our Godly thinking by the way we listen to others and to God.
 
The Bible is also full of examples of people who listened and didn’t listen to God or other people, and mostly not listening to the cries of creation, which is a major problem today.
 
In 1 Samuel 3:1-11, we have an excellent example of why and how Godly thinking requires listening.
 
1. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.
 
Why was word from the Lord rare?
 
We believe it is because very few people were listening to the Lord and acting upon what He said.
 
2. And it happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well),
 
Even though Eli was the high priest, he had lost control of his sons and thus was no longer living in the heavenly will of God; however, he knew the truth, as we shall see.
 
3. and 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,
 
God was keeping Eli alive because he was taking care of Samuel, and Samuel, even at his young age, was listening to the heavenly will of God.
 
4. that the LORD called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am."
 
This verse tells us that Samuel heard the voice of the Lord.
 
5. Then he 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.
 
Samuel, who was not familiar with the Lord’s voice thought it was Eli who was calling, and he obediently went to Eli to see what he wanted.
 
However, Eli didn’t hear the voice of the Lord, and just matter of factly told Samuel to back to bed.
 
6. And the LORD called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he answered, "I did not call, my son, lie down again."
 
And the same thing happened again.
 
7. Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him.
 
God also knew why Samuel didn’t respond directly to Him, and each time thought it was Eli calling him.
 
8. So the LORD called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli discerned that the LORD was calling the boy.
 
Finally, Eli discerned that the Lord was calling Samuel, so he tells him to listen again and respond directly to the Lord.
 
9. And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Thy servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
 
Notice that Samuel was obedient to both Eli and the Lord, which is mostly why the Lord chose him.
 
10. Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for Thy servant is listening."
 
Do we willingly listen the same way that Samuel did?
 
If not, we should.
 
11. And the LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
NASB
 
Because of his obedience, even at a young age, the Lord was about to reveal many things to Samuel, things that normally would have been entrusted to someone much older.
 
Notice how our discussion about Godly thinking requires listening plays into what we are told in John 1:43-51…
 
43. The next day He [Jesus] purposed to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow Me." 
 
Philip listened and followed Jesus
 
44. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.
 
We are not told any more in this verse about Andrew and Peter, but we know that they all became disciples of Jesus, which means that they all truly listened to Jesus.
 
45. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
 
Was Nathanael listening to what Philip said?
 
46. And Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him," Come and see." 
 
Even though Nathanael said this, he still went with Philip, which means that he too was really listening.
 
47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" 
 
Jesus was obviously spiritually listening to what Nathanael had said.
 
48. Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  
 
Such vision can only come from heaven.
 
49. Nathanael answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel."
 
And Nathanael was obviously listening and understood who He was.
 
50. Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these."
 
So Jesus explains to him that what he had hears was as nothing compared to what he was going to encounter.
 
51. And He said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." 
NASB
 
Jesus knew that Nathanael had Godly thinking, and wanted to build upon it as He does with all of us who possess Godly thinking.
 
If we don’t listen to the little things from God, we will miss out on the greater things
 
Let’s close our discussion today by listening to what we are told in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, for Paul’s words still ring as true today as them did when he wrote these words to the Corinthians.
 
12. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
 
Some people believe that this verse is about sexual immorality, but I cannot think how any aspect of sexual immorality could be lawful for Paul to participate in; therefore, I believe that this verse is referring to the eating of the meat sacrificed to idols.
 
According to both civil and Biblical law, it would be lawful for Paul to eat meat sacrificed to idols for an idol is not real, but it would give the wrong impression to many people if Paul actually did it.
 
However, we do not believe that any aspect of sacrificing an animal and eating it is according to the heavenly will of God, because there is no pain or suffering, or death in heaven and we are charged with bring God’s heavenly will to earth as it is in heaven.
 
With these things in mind, let’s go on, and remember that Godly thinking requires listening, in this case Paul’s words
 
13. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body.
 
When we know that God is involved, we also know that we need to think spiritually.
 
Here on earth we know that what we eat is for our bodies. Whole unprocessed plant foods keep us healthy, but eating the standard American diet opens people up to all kinds of illnesses.
 
However, as Paul emphasized, in heaven we will not need to eat physical foods.
 
Paul also said that our bodies were not made for immorality, which could mean sexual as well as something that is outside the heavenly will of God, such as eating animal foods, since they all come from the pain, suffering, and death of a living being, which does not exist in heaven. Thus, we believe that this verse is primarily referring to eating only the foods that God created for us to eat in Eden.
 
14. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
 
So, if we are living in the heavenly will of God, and truly believe in Him, then He will raise us up as He did Jesus.
 
15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be!
 
God wants us to be pure both physical and spiritually so that our bodies are truly members of Christ. He just expresses it in a round about way.
 
16. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, "The two will become one flesh."
 
Here in this verse we believe that Paul was speaking both about sexual immorality as well as physical immorality.
 
If we are sexuality immoral, we join ourselves to our sexual partners.
 
However, if we are spiritually immoral, which is living outside the heavenly will of God, we join ourselves to the corrupt and violent ways of the devil in this world.
 
17. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
 
This is the way that the Lord wants us to be, for as He said in Matthew 5:48, we are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.
 
18. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
 
Even though this verse sounds like it is referring to only sexual immorality, we strongly believe that it also refers to our spiritual immorality, for if we eat the food that comes from animals, we are also subjecting ourselves to all kinds of illnesses.
 
19. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
 
We are to live for the Lord.
 
20. For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
NASB
 
If we truly believe, and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then our whole body, soul, and spirit should be glorifying God at all times.

Godly thinking requires listening.
 
Amen?
 
Amen.

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