Christian Life – A Life of Relationship/ Idol

Bible Portion: ;

Introduction

· This is a great story which shows to us how God is present in the area of defeat, and the victory of God for His people. In the portion we look at tonight we aim of understanding what is the perspective of our Christian lives, do we have a life of relationship or do we take our Christian lives as a ritual as a idol practise. One of the major intentions of me this evening is to prepare the hearts of the believers for the tomorrow as we gather for worship in the morning. It is important to attend worship with preparedness and I intent to rekindle your hearts and promote you to see the beauty of the glory of God as we meet tomorrow.

· As we study chapter this evening, let us sit with a prayerful hear praying we will be able to embrace the Christian faith in God is about relationship and not a religion or experience. The problem here was people was embracing their faith as a religion whereas God called them to have a relationship. So we see here that God was missing from their lives.

· The question I would like to start by asking all of you tonight is God missing from your lives? (the story of the two brothers) it is dangerous for God to be missing from our lives. Children of Israel had God missing from their lives because of their own religion. The problem here with the Israel congregation was they forgot about God’s presence in their lives, we can also identify these issues with our lives, the as there is a saying that goes like this familiarity breeds contempt. We all know the scriptures and its content very well but the major problem we failed to accept and acknowledge the beauty of our Risen Saviour’s instruction on our Christian lives.

· There is a difference between religion and relationship, a good religion has a good relationship with God. Man made religions, shows that we need to bargain with God, and we expect God to be graceful. But we see that Bible teaches God doesn’t have to bargain with us or we need to bargain with God because of the justification that Jesus Christ gave for the sins of mankind on the Cross of Calvary.

o We need to ask ourselves are we putting our faith in God as a religion or as a relationship, is our coming to church a part of religion or a part of our relationship, is our fellowships a part of religion or a part of our relationship.

We observe here that 1 Samuel points out here in the chapters 4-7 the painful lessons the nation of Israel learned. The major problem here was the children of Israel misused their privilege in the relationship with God that is they thought to use the Ark of Covenant which is a sacred thing for using for their personal gains. In this chapter we see how the children of Israel got defeated, in their war against Philistines. There are few things in what we could learn from here and it is important that we remind ourselves of these truths in our daily worship. Within two major points I would like to conclude this evening

a. The Error of God’s People

b. The Heart Break of the departure of God

A. The Error of God’s People

· We need to look and learn from these mistakes, and this is the purpose of this chapter and for all new testament believers. The Israelites went to fight against the Philistines, the text doesn’t tell us Israel sought the will of God, whether to go up or not. This is was their first mistake – they acted upon their own impulses and they got defeated. As believers we need to ask ourselves many time how is our decision making process do we eagerly wait for an answer from God or do we act upon our impulses. When we are in a relationship with God we are to wait eagerly for the responses from God for our day to progress as Christians. Being proud the Israelites got defeated, we also become proud claiming we know the scriptures but we fail to see if God is missing.

· The battle went bad and the reports came in the elders gathered together and they asked here a right question – why did the Lord defeat them before Philisitines? This question is important because they were self introspecting their lives. This is an important thing for us to understand here, even in our Christian lives we need to do an introspection to examine do we have a mistakes or short coming and only this will help us to progress in our Christian faith. The question was right but the elders failed to seek for the right answer. Instead of waiting upon God for an answer the elders, came to their own conclusion (a human verdict) the third mistake, man made solution. The Ark of the Lord’s Covenant is not with us and we need to fetch it verse 3. Here the people forgot the ark represented the glory of God and the presence of God that dwelled among the people. When I say they forgot dear brothers and sisters let me draw your attention to our primary understanding which we all have from all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. A sinful mans presence cannot be seen next to the glory of God as this can consume them. But we see the in verse 4 – Hophini and Phinehas were next to the Ark of the Lord – sinful presence, and death follows them, being the priests they failed to consecrate themselves and God punishes them.

We need to also analyse this in our lives, if God was angry here at them for approaching the Ark without preparation how much more do we need to get prepared. (Speak about SIN)

· This is the fourth mistake – they attempted to approach the Ark of the Covenant without getting prepared. When go back to before the Israel crossed Jordan they had to be prepared even the people and the priests. 3:5 it’s a strict instruction but when we come here we see how the people lethargically saw the disciplines of God set for worship, how they casual approached to their relationship with God.

Are we also in a casual relationship with God then we need to introspect and admonish our lives for living a successful Christian life.

· The fifth mistake – they forgot the Ark of the covenant is just a symbol which indicated the presence of the Almighty God. People forgot it was a symbol and they started to believe that Ark was God. Now this is what the issue was the ark which was a representation turned out to be an idolatrous object. The people failed to maintain a consistency in their relationship, and they failed to see who is God to them, what mattered to them was the object of the Ark of the covenant and they got defeated in the war.

Andrew Blackwood a preacher comments on this passage like this, men said God was in the ark, then they insisted that God was the ark, and then they assumed the ark was God and they concluded later ARK IS GOD and this is sin. We see here the progression of sin and the error of the people of God and this leads to further sins, on how they thought they could manipulate the power of God by controlling the ark, we see here in this chapter how the people lost their spiritual insight.

We need to ask ourselves are we losing the spiritual insight, are we living a dull Christian life, are we maintain a relationship. The people of Israel thought they had God in a box and they got shattered in the war.

Before the war happens, there was rejoicing but now it is sadness. The consequences of their mistakes. The Bible records in verse 10 and 11 – it was a great slaughter. Now there are few things to examine the consequences of their mistakes – dear brethren we see

1. Many people of God suffered a huge loss – initially in verse 2 they lost 4000 men but in this second battle they lost more than seven times men. The sinful approach to God’s presence can destroy the fellowship and kill people of God.

2. The Ark of Covenant which, represented the symbol of God’s glory and this was lost. It took 20 years before King David would rescue the ark. I would like to add by saying; this is a time of spiritual darkness. This was the major problem the Israelites handled they faith and relationship with God complacently, when people presume upon the presence of God – when they seek to control the power – they run the risk of focus of worship to God.

3. The leadership who were supposed to take over after Eli dies – lost in battle. Their death showed how poor was the Christian environment in their houses. God punished the house of Eli for his poor leadership especially at his own house. Even in connection with my personal life this is a significant thought, I may preach teach and minister to many but if I am not a good minister to my parents, to my sister, to my wife to my children to my grandchildren I am inviting he wrath of God because a Christian home should be a miniature church and your ministry begins at home.

B. The Heart Break of the departure of God

Now this is interesting how the author of this passage expresses the heartbreak of the departure of the glory of God, through a woman in childbirth. In verses 12-22 – we see Eli dies. Eli who hears the news of the Ark of God dies.

· I would like to draw your attention here to a significance of the character Eli, God was patient with Eli but he failed to control his children. A leader who cannot control his own house cannot take care of the nation. The leadership matters, be it USA or India, we need to ardently pray for our leaders and the elders in our church. May I pose a question here how many of us pray for the elders who minister here on a Sunday? Before we come for worship it is important we pray for the leadership, not for their well being or prosperity but for their ministry. (refer OT)

· Through the birth and naming of a child in verses 19 -22 we see about the wife of Phinehas describes the glory which was left Israel – ICHABOD – no Glory – Glory has departed from Israel. Normally it is a joy to give birth to a son, but here this woman understood the major problem. Understanding the significance of the situation she names her child ICHABOD.

· All of you think with me here just imagine if your name is ICHABOD, no glory the child growing up in the society stands as a reminder for the people what happened and because of their mistakes the glory of God has departed. God punished the children of Israel because Israel maintained not a relationship they just claimed they had a relationship and this is sin.

There is a story of Joseph Prince, a preacher at City Temple church who said like this –

And years later someone painted ICHABOD in front of it.

Today we need to ask ourselves do we need to write ICHABOD in front of our churches, many of us are blessed to have strict disciplining and up bring in Christian our doctrine but today is there a strict practice. Or are we compromising in areas we are not supposed to be compromising. When the word Brethren used to be mentioned there was reason to why we are called Brethren community – staying separate are we getting adjusted with the things in the world and losing focus of our relationship with God? Do our churches need to be painted with the title ICHABOD.

God’s power cannot be contained in a box or building, it is the spirit of God. The spirit of God resides in the believers, it matters a lot on how we respond to God in a relationship or do we do it as a ritual on Sunday. With this seriousness of thought may the spirit of God guide our hearts as we leave this hall and as we prepare for worship when we gather tomorrow let our hearts prompt us for keeping a valuable relationship.

May His precious name be glorified!