Real People- Real problems
Part 4
“Knowing God”
I Samuel chapter 4
In the western movie “Young Guns”
There is one scene that always makes me laugh just a little
In the scene I am talking about
Billy and the boys are running from the law and they find themselves in a little cantina somewhere in New Mexico
At the bar talking to a pretty senorita is a man
A bounty hunter
A fancy man – I like to call him’
A blow hard
And he is bragging to the young lady about how he is going to capture or kill Billy the kid and collect the bounty that is on his head
Billy begins asking him questions about how to recognize himself if he were to see him
And the man goes off on a long tale about how Billy is a tall good looking young man
Who dresses like a dandy
Is left handed and loves to whistle sad ballads
None of which are true
The scene ends badly for the man
But it is a great illustration of the problem that we are going to address today
You see that Texas Bounty hunter
Knew about Billy the kid
But he did not really know Billy the kid
And because what the thought he knew was not true
He did not recognize him when he was right in front of him
Today we will continue with our sermon series titled Real People- Real problems
The problem that we will see over the next few weeks is that of knowing God
I mean really knowing God
Not just knowing about God
Not just viewing God from our misguided idea of who he is or who he should be
The real people in this miniseries are Samuel who we have already met
Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinnneas
The Israelites
And the Philistines
Each has a different view of God
Each thought they knew God- Notice I said thought
When in fact they knew about God- or better ---thought they knew about God
Much of what they thought was wrong
And as a result they treated God in a way that showed their view of God
Our Text for today is just too big to read
So I am going to paraphrase it a bit
But encourage you to read it in your own quiet time
It is a great story
It comes from 1 Samuel
Chapter 4
In Today’s lesson
The Israelites under the Leadership of Eli and his wicked sons
Are at war with the Philistines
Please bear with me as I am going to cowboyise this story a bit
They had been getting the snot beat out of them by their enemies
So they had a great idea- hey watch this
Hold my beer comes to mind here
Let’s carry the Ark of the Covenant into battle with us
Bad Idea
And to make matters worse the priests
Hophni and Pninneous who should have known better ---but went along with it
No mention is made of prayer or searching the scripture or seeking the guidance of God or even his priests
This brings us to
Wrong thinking number one in this series
Thinking of God as a lucky charm or a force they could control
Selfishly focusing on the things of God instead of God
Because the people had acted on their own
Once again
They got the snot whopped out of them
And the sons of Eli were both killed as was prophesied by Samuel after he said Speak Lord, your servant is listening
Let me read just a small portion of today’ text
1 Samuel
4:1-3
At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek. 2 The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing 4,000 men. 3 After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the LORD allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it[a] will save us from our enemies.”
You see
The Israelites
Had a wrong view of God
They had fallen away in idol worship and even now worshipped the Ark instead of God
They had completely disregarded the Holiness of God
Eli and his sons had corrupted the whole religious system by stealing and bullying the people
Everyone was just doing they pleased
And all of them were blaming God for a less than desirable outcome
Don’t we often do this as well?
Do what we want- without regard for God or his word
And then
Get punished for our sin
And then blame God?
They were losing the blessing of God
Because they had become disobedient to God
We do the same
They thought they knew God
But I reality they had no idea who God was or his qualities
So some genius in the group
God’s word does not say who
Came up with a great idea
“Let’s carry the Ark into battle with us”
It will protect us
And fight for us
And It will scare the living daylights out of our enemies
Verse 4
4 So they sent men to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.
You see
They confused the things of God with God himself
We do this as well
Confusing church membership or baptism with salvation
Good works with getting to heaven
Using the church or the cross
Or the name of Jesus
As a lucky charm
Or a status symbol
All the while ignoring the commands of God
And the Word of God
The Israelites
Acted on their own
With no regard to who God really was or how he expected them to worship him
They had the ability to know God
But they chose to see him in their own way
Kind of Build a God in their image instead of molding themselves into his
They hung their hats and their hopes on a wrong view of God
And it had just the opposite effect that they desired
The wheels fell off their plans
They thought the Philistines would lay down a quit when they saw the Ark of God
But what they did was fight harder
Verses 5-11
5 When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!
6 “What’s going on?” the Philistines asked. “What’s all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?” When they were told it was because the Ark of the LORD had arrived, 7 they panicked. “The gods have[b] come into their camp!” they cried. “This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before! 8 Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness. 9 Fight as never before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours! Stand up like men and fight!”
10 So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents. 11 The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.
The army got beat even worse than before
As a result of the defeat of the army- the death of his sons
But mostly the capture of the Ark
Eli fell from his stool at the gate to Shiloh and broke his neck and died
Phinehas’ pregnant wife went into labor
And gave birth
And very shortly died
Verse 21-22
21 She named the child Ichabod (which means “Where is the glory?”), for she said, “Israel’s glory is gone.” She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead. 22 Then she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.”
I think the woman’s response
To the capture of the Ark
Speaks clearly for the whole nation of Israel and their view of God
She said
Because the Ark- Because the things of God are gone
The glory is Gone
So today
I want to see how we often have a wrong view of God just as the Israelites did
In the next few weeks we will look at some other views of God
From the eyes of the Philistines and then from Samuel
But for today
Let’s make this personal
First problem
Is they took God for granted
They believed Just because they were Israelites
That God would protect them- fight for them
In fact they kind of demanded it
In spite of their actions and disobedience
They did this because they did not truly know God
God is a God of Love and he is a God of judgment
Both are part of his very being
And in order to know God we must understand this
Many today take God for granted
They assume just because they go to church
Or come from a “Christian Family”
Or are a Good person
That God “has to do certain things”
Just because they tithe
Or say the right things
Or do the right things
God owes them something
The Israelites had placed God on a shelf only to be taken down when needed
When they were in a bind
Don’t we do this sometimes as well?
Praying only in the bad times
Demanding God to heal
Or provide
Even though we have disregarded him the rest of the time
God is God
24 -7
And he wants us to remember that
And worship him
24-7
Not just when the wheels fall off
Not just in the wrecks
Not just when we need something
The Israelites expected God to act
But they never asked him to act
Notice there is no mention of prayer in the beginning of this story
No mention
Of petition
No mention of searching the scriptures
No mention at all of God being involved in the decision
Marriages often suffer when one person takes the other for granted
Relationships often suffer when one person takes the other for granted
How can we expect to have a healthy relationship?
With God through Christ
How can we expect to know him?
When we take him for granted?
Luke 4:8
8 Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the LORD your God
and serve only him.’
The second problem
Is they Ignored the Holiness of God
Verse 3b
Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it[a] will save us from our enemies.”
Notice the words
“It” in this passage of scripture
We will carry” it”
“It” will save us
Only God can save us
One thing
Can save us
A restored relationship with God though Jesus Christ
Nothing else
He has done this though the blood sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ
Though his blood sacrifice
When we worship the things of God
The Ark
The cross
The church
The altar
Mary
The apostles
We are rejecting the Holiness of God
We are placing things
And stuff on the same level as God
Psalm 99:5
“Exalt the LORD our God!
Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!”
When we elevate things to the level of our God
We are not bowing before him
We are not elevating him
Proverbs 9:10a
“Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom.”
How do we keep God Holy?
Fear
Not terror
But reverence
I am not talking about how we dress
Hats on or off
Suits and dresses vs Jeans and boots
I am talking about reverence in the biblical sense
Not the man made religiosity sense
Knowing that God is God and we are not
Trusting in him for salvation
Protection
Provision
Love
Peace and mercy
I am talking about a heart condition
Placing God first in our lives
Always
And worshipping him because he is Holy
And striving to become Holy ourselves through Christ
1 Peter 1:16
16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Third Problem in knowing God that the Israelites had
Was that
They Blamed God for their problems
Verse 3b
“Why did the LORD allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?”
Never mind the fact that they had been disobedient
Never mind the fact that they had taken God for granted
Never mind the fact that they had elevated the things of God to the same level or even higher than God himself
Never mind the fact that they had completely disregarded the Holiness of God
They had the blatant audacity to blame God for their problems
Guys
We do this too
I am going to mash on a few this morning
I will flat stomp on some
We must
If we are going to be growing
Maturing
Believers in Christ
Taking responsibility for our own actions
Taking blame for our own weaknesses
Bad decisions
And mistakes
Is a key to knowing God
And growing in God
I do believe that God can and use everything at his disposal to get our attention’
I do believe that he sometimes punishes us
But most of the wrecks in my life
Were caused by me
If you are honest
This morning
I believe you can say the same
God can and will use those wrecks
But we created them by making bad choices
By being disobedient
By being selfish- self centered
I could go on and on
When you are in a wreck
You must ask
Did I cause this?
And often the answer is yes
You see
We disregard God’s rules and guidelines
We take him for granted
We disregard his holiness
We elevate ourselves
Our stuff
Our money to the place of God
And then we blame him for our problems
The proper response is to admit our sin
To confess our sin
To repent from our sin
And to receive his forgiveness from that sin
Not to blame him
1 John 1:9
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Confession means admitting’
Taking responsibility
Accepting the Blame
Asking for forgiveness
And then Knowing God better by receiving it
He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness
Fourth Problem that The Israelites had
Was that they
They refused to Give God the glory
We do that as well
The Israelites
Glorified themselves
They glorified the Ark
They disregarded the Holiness of God
They took him for granted
They blamed him for their problems
And in the process glorified everyone But God
Verse 5
“:5 When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!”
Notice here they were shouting
And praising the Ark
The things of God
Not God
They placed their trust in the ark
And as a result it was taken from them
Often times when we glorify the things in our lives
They are taken as well
Beauty fades
Muscle turns to fat
Money goes away
The big house rots
The new truck wears out
We have a tendency to want glory for ourselves
Glory for our stuff
Glory for our health and possessions
Our self worth
And our reputations
And we forget that it is God who gets the Glory
Many Pastors have been humbled when they forgot to give God the Glory and he removed their ministries
Many worship leaders have shifted the focus from God to selves and their music ministry soon came unbolted
I think if we once again are completely honesty we have all done this at some point
Before salvation we only sought personal glory
After salvation
Maybe recognition
Fame
Awards
Praise
Glorifying self instead of God
Verse 22
22 Then she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.”
Even the priest’s wife
Was giving glory to something other than God
And her words echoed the words of the Israelites and us in the process
God was not gone
His Glory was till there
But the people had focused on something else
And could no longer see the glory
They did not know God
They simply knew about God
They took him for granted
They disregarded his Holiness
They blamed him for their problems
And they refused to give him the glory
And as a result they had a poor idea of who God Really was and what he could and would do
Do you know God?
I mean really know God
Or is he a simply a good luck charm?
An inconvience?
Do you focus on him or take him for granted?
Do you recognize his holiness and exalt him?
Do you take blame for your mistakes or continue to blame God, The same God who loves you, and made you?
Do you glorify him or yourself and your things
Close from the heart
Pray
