Hither By Thy . . . What?
Text: 1 Sameuel 7
Title: Setting Up an Ebenezer
Textual Theme, Goal, Need:
Theme: God helps those who commit themselves fully to him.
Goal: to encourage the people of God to commit themselves fully to him.
Need: Israel had turned to the false gods of Ashtereths and Baals.
Sermon Theme, Goal, Need:
Theme: God helps those who commit themselves fully to him.
Goal: to encourage the people of God to commit themselves fully to him.
Need: We often try to do the work of God while still bowing down to other things in our lives.
Textual Outline:
Textual Notes:
Sermon Outline:
Sermon in Oral Style:
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Christians are confused individuals. We hold on to truths that are steady and unchanging. We believe in a God that is forever and unchanging. But we change. Our culture changes. Our world changes. Changing, finite people trying to hold on to a eternal and unchanging God. It’s a recipe for serious confusion.
That’s probably why it always tends to be easier to look out for ourselves first of all. You have a major decision to make. You pick the one that makes you feel the best. Should I get a new car? Should I get a new job? Should I get a new husband? Its much easier to put ourselves first because if we do, we can’t go wrong. “I did it because its what I felt like doing.”
I think Woody Allen sums up the idea the best when he told everyone why he was okay marrying his ex wife’s adopted daughter. He said. The heart wants what it wants. You can’t fault a person for just following their own heart can you?
It is so much simpler to follow your own heart than it is to try to follow the heart of God.
We all deal with that problem. We all tend to stumble into that trap that we hear in cheesy movies all the time. “Just follow your heart.”
Following your own heart and having a happy ending is something made for the movies and it only happens in the movies. Its dangerous when we start falling for that line of thinking.
The passage we are going to look at this morning is one that deals with the right path to follow. We are going to start at 1 Samuel 7:2. It says,
“2It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord. 3And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. 5Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel was leader of Israel at Mizpah. 7When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him. 10While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car. 12Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” 13So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. 14The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to her, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 15Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life. 16From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. 17But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also judged Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord.
God’s people in this passage hadn’t been following God alone. They were living like the people all around them. They had the same idols. They were holding the same feasts and festivals. They were looking for direction in life, but not from the only living God that can give direction in life. They were wandering away, prostituting their hearts away. Breaking their commitment to the only true God. The God who chose them and rescued them when things were hopeless. God’s people were looking elsewhere for direction in life. IT doesn’t make much sense.
Samuel comes as God’s rescue party to the people. Instead of watching them crash and burn following the wrong direction and the wrong gods, God in heaven sends Samuel to them. He reminds them, listen to this, he reminds them that it takes returning to have the right direction in life.
He says, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
My son, Cory is two years old right now. He just learned how to play the game Candy Land. But he doesn’t have the game all figured out yet. He knows he is supposed to try and make it to the Candy Castle at the top of the board. He knows his colors and how many spots he is allowed to move. But there are times in the game was the path twists and turns all over the place, that he forgets which direction he needs to be going to get to the candy castle.
We never really grow up completely when it comes to giving our lives to Christ. We know what we can look forward to. Not a candy castle but a the new creation with Jesus Christ. Eternal life. We get excited about that goal, but we lose the direction along the way. We forget that we need to keep walking toward that reward.
If we have never been walking the walking Christ told us to, then we need to turn. Turn around.
For most of us we have already felt the call of God in our lives. We have already had a time where we have turned to follow the path that leads to eternal life. We have walked toward the candy castle for quite some time, but now we are heading back to spend some time with Plump in the Gingerbread forest.
Seriously. We have turned away from that goal in our life, to reach the city of God, to spend eternity with God.
We go after goals that are way less important like being successfully middle-class with lots of toys and free time. We start following, not Christ’s path for us, going after his goals, but we fall away. We fall short. But it is time for us again to fall down on our knees and ask God to bring us down that path again. We need to repent of all the bad goals and dreams we created for ourselves. We need to return, like Samuel calls the Israelites to. Return to God alone. Rid ourselves of any other direction or control in our life. We belong to God alone.
The Israelites do just that. They return to the right direction. They return to the only true God. Verse 6 says, 6When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel was leader of Israel at Mizpah.
They got rid of their other gods. The gods of sex and fertility, and the god of war and conquest. They returned to their own God. The God who created everything. The God who chose to love them first.
It’s interesting how they rededicate themselves to God. They have this great festival. It was no Woodstock rock festival. To show how sorry they are for trusting in themselves and the false gods around them, they cry out to God. They go through this ritual. They pour water out on the ground. This was a symbol of complete emptying. If you would spill a cup of water on the ground outside, you don’t run after a mop to try and clean it up. The water is gone. There is no getting it back as it soaks into the dry ground.
The same with returning to God. We know we may stumble in following God’s purpose for us. But the important part of return to the true God is experiencing that emptying out. “This is not about me, God. This is about how great and mighty and powerful and everlasting you are. Pour it out. I want to get rid of the selfish desires I have had for so long in my life. This is not about what I want. That is poured out and gone. This is about you wanting me still. I return to you empty.”
This emptying is so important. If you are sitting with a cup of water and someone offers you the finest most expensive wine around, you don’t say. Yep, just top off my water with the good stuff. No you empty yourself of the weak and tasteless stuff. Then you can be filled up by what is God. If we are to return to God. We must truly be emptied. God is not going to share our heart with other plans and purposes we have for ourselves. Let’s not water down our one true God.
As you are being emptied out, and rededicating yourself to God, that is the time the devil will find his greatest opportunities to attack. In the passage, the people are rededicating themselves to God. Their enemies the Philistines see this and they see a perfect opportunity. They attack. While the nation is down on their knees in confession, hit them hard.
The devils scheme: When they are down kick them again. It doesn’t matter if we are down because of events of life, or down because we have humbled ourselves before God. When we are down the devil is ready to make it hurt even more.
The help of God is tremendous. Even when the devil is doing his worst, God is always more powerful. Even when the devil’s schemes hurt, God is taking care that he is always gaining the upper hand. God won’t allow the devil to tempt us or to hurt us more than we can handle.
That’s the next thing we hear of in the passage. Return to God. Be empty to be filled up. The Lord is the greatest help to his people.
10While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car.
This surprise attack by the Philistines was no surprise attack to God. The enemy is coming to destroy the people God loves. And God says, NO! The Lord, thundered with Loud thunder. It must have been quite the thunder to send warhardened soldiers fleeing. Israel defeated the Philistines, but it is all because of the help of God.
We see that in our lives as well. Often when we feel like we are at the very bottom, when we feel like nothing is going right, we have no support, when we feel like there real isn’t much to thank God for, he shows he is working. This interaction by God isn’t just Old Testament stuff.
A family isn’t able to pay the rent because of the husband’s illness. The wife opens a book on their shelves and out falls money enough to cover it, or someone puts an envelope with more than enough in their mailbox. An illness that is incurable disappears. A new widow grows closer with friends during her grief. A couple miscarries a baby and is moved to adopt and spread the love of Christ in that way.
Maybe you think, “you mentioned my problem, and my way the devil has kicked me while I was down, but God didn’t do any of that for me.” I challenge you to really look back and think about it again. Take a look at your day planner and see what God has brought you through and where he is still leading you. Take a look at your financial statements. Take a look at the friends and family around you. Look for the miracles. And look for the routine things. God works through them all. God has thundered in your life.
And finally, when you find that you have been helped Raise Your Ebenezer. Raise Your Ebenezer.
What does that mean? I thought maybe we didn’t know so well. Its like in the old words to the song, Come Thou Fount. The second verse said, “Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by Thy Help I’ve Come” The Ebenezer is what Samuel raises in the passage we read for today. Verse 12 says, “12Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” This stone is so generations and generations could remember this awesome work of God. He helped them fight back the Philistines when Israel was nearly powerless.
Ebenezer literally means Rock of Help or stone of Help. The name evan, it means, Stone. Ebenezer. Rock of Help. And it is supposed to help them remember that help.
The reason our church is named Ebenezer is because the people who started this congregation could see the great distance that God had brought them, and how by God’s help they made a place here. This is Ebenezer. This is the place where we remember how much and how often God has helped us.
And we need to raise our own Ebenezer. Those amazing events in our lives where it was obvious that God has been at work. Raise your Ebenezer. Make some way to remember. Creative Memories are about the closest thing we have to an Ebenezer today. They are the closest way to remember how God has brought us to this point.
Raise the Ebenezer in your life. Have a place where you can look back at what God has done.
I encourage you this week, or some time soon, sit down with your family or with your friends. Look through old pictures. Dust off an old thing of slides. Sit down and look at where you used to be. And most importantly talk about how God brought you to where you are now. Pass along the faith through the stories of God at work.
God has chosen to love you. God calls you to turn and return to him throughout your life. And don’t forget to remember. Don’t forget to remember God has been your help through it all.
This is God’s will from his word. And all God’s people say, AMEN.