The Great Exchange

Introduction

1 Samuel chapter 5 is an interesting chapter. This chapter is not centered around God’s people within the narrative, but shares a plentiful amount of who God is Himself.

Israel has just lost a battle to the Philistines while also losing about 4,000 men.

In the process of conquering Israel, they have also managed to take the ark of the covenant.

Remember, the ark of the covenant was built by Moses- it was the most importance piece of furniture in the wilderness tabernacle. Think of it as a “chest” or “coffin” like box made out of a specific type of acacia wood overlaid inside and outside with gold.

It was portable in nature and contained the two tablets of the law that God revealed to Moses, the ten commandments.

This was a constant reminder of the holy presence of God to the Israelites. From what we can gather through scriptural accounts, God’s presence was so close to the ark that the ark seemed to be alive in some sense.

It has played an important role in the history of the Israelites journey to claim the promise land.

During chapter 4, the ark was looked at more for a tool of success and gain than for what it actually represented, a sovereign God worthy of worship and devotion.

This frustrated God and had He had no toleration for this.

During the battle against the Philistines, God allowed the ark to be captured by them, leaving the Israelites to suffer defeat and the loss of many men.

But here is the thing… The Philistine army may have won the battle… They grabbed the ark in full belief, filled with the high of a win and the pride that comes from victory, that the God of the Israelites were nothing in compare to their gods…

Pride can cause destructive perspective.

You see, even though the philistine army was haughty concerning their victory, the philistine people were still aware of the accomplishments of the Israelite army due to their claim of the presence of the one true God represented by the ark itself...

Look at the response of the philistines in chapter 4:7-8.

1 Samuel 4:7–8 ESV

7 the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.

Who can deliver us from the power…?

The CSB version says “Who can rescue us...?”

This morning, I want to offer three attributes of God this morning based on this passage.

For this is our God. The one who is filled with power. The one who struck the Egyptians down in the wilderness. The almighty and everlasting King.

I took a year of Biblical Hebrew in college. I loved every minute of it. Our professor was brilliant and so sensitive to the Word of God. When he would read and explain the passages we were studying in class, there would be moments he was brought to tears.

I pray I have a heart for scripture like that.

One of the things we had to memorize and quote weekly in order to approach His word was the Shema: a passage of scripture out of Deuteronomy in Chapter 6 verse 4.

These are the words of Moses, declaring that God’s people love and serve God before all things...

He declares in Hebrew, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the LORD is one.”

He says: *Hebrew translation.

Hear O Israel- this is a confession of faith! It is describing who God is and what our duty is towards Him.

Our God is one, Our God is Lord- He is a person, not a vague pantheistic force. He is one, not being able to be represented by contradictory images...

May we seek the LORD God this morning.

1 Samuel 5

1 Samuel 5 ESV

When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

We serve a God who has a reputation of winning.

There are 5 key cities in the land of the philistines...

Ashdod

Gaza

Ashkelon

Gath

Ekron

The ark was take to Ashdod, a city that contained a temple of the god, dagon.

Dagon was a God that was represented by a figure that was half man and half fish. It was the god of centered around the provision within agriculture, one that they believed brought troubles to Israel.

It was tied to storms, being the father of the god, baal.

Scripture paints this much more masculine than I imagine it being… I mean… We are talking about a god that has the same build as a mermaid, right?

Here is where we might can resonate with the philistine people in Ashdod…

Instead of recognizing God for who He was to the Israelite people, they became convinced that everything was simply a coincident.

After falling short by assuming this claim, they decided to move it to Gath… and then to Ekron… all in an effort to show that there was no correlation.

Church, we must seek the perspective of our God in such a way that we refrain from rejecting evidence of the Lord’s activity in our lives for simply being accidental or coincidental.

We are talking about an active, almighty, God who is LORD of all.

He works in our lives in many ways and facets. My prayer for you this morning has been that you might confront an area of your life, that you would recognize this word was not given to us on a coincidental basis, but that God is here in this place, desiring to speak to you, in His timely manner.

After all, if you don’t listen the first time, He will find and choose another way to speak to us… Notice how he does so in this passage.

So, at the end of the day, the Philistines have rejected these events and orchestrations by God, simply out of their devotion and convinced hearts concerning the deity of who they claim to be their god.

You want to know what the Bible says about these gods?

Psalm 115:4–8 ESV

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

They are… a Mr. Potato Head...

All of the identification markers that one is real… yet incredibly empty inside.

They are an idol… a a mere image or semblance of something.

Let’s break down what it means to actually worship an idol by first defining what an idol is based upon what we see in scripture.

Idolatry

“Idol: anything we come to rely on for some blessing, help, or guidance in the place of whole hearted reliance on the true and living God.” - John Piper

Within the Bible, idols are an object from nature or an object made by human hands.

Exodus 20:4–5 ESV

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

So why would we concede to this command? Who are we to posture ourselves before God in such a way that we satisfy His jealousy? Why should His jealousy be our concern anyways?

Here is my question to you- why should we not?

Psalm 96:5 ESV

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

He is CREATOR AND LORD OF ALL!

Remember the last time these questions were asked?

God’s response was this-

Job 38:3–4 ESV

Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

Here is the problem- we deny the authorship of creator to God, therefore whether intentionally or indirectly we assume the role ourselves.

And it isn’t ours to take.

Let me offer you further examples…

We may not claim devotion to a piece of nature or something we’ve made by our hands.

Our relationships, marriages, addictions, hobbies, and other such things may be considered our “idols” of current times. Are they the same as what we are addressing within the OT?

Let’s consider this passage.

Romans 1:21–23 ESV

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

We see in this passage that there is an exchange of glory from God to what the scripture describes as “images.”

This presents the basis of the problem- that the glory of God we are to give to Him is transferred to that which is not God at all.

The practical image in western society that may not resemble those things that are listed in this passage could be and is the image that is seen within your mirror at home.

It’s you. It’s me.

We impart devotion to things that glorify ourselves and our desires. We in turn become the idols of our own lives!

Selfism: the fastest growing religion in our culture.

We sacrifice the calling of parenthood to indulge in personal desires, we neglect the call of Biblical service because of the cost of our acceptance and stance before men, we turn to the things that are temporary in this world to assume a glimpse of satisfaction that actually leaves us unsatisfied… more money, more influence, more power…

The Apostle John hints at this issue in the first of his three epistles.

1 John 5:21 ESV

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

How do we know that he isn’t only referring to that of carved images or man made things?

Because in an earlier chapter, he points out the sinful act of exchanging glory…

1 John 2:15–16 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Maybe this morning, your emptiness is tied to the fact that you are not functioning in the way we were created and intended to live?

Isaiah 43:7 ESV

everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Your exhaustion and frustration might be tied to the rejection of His intention.

God is a God of love, and He loves His creation. He is the author of love itself!

Everything He has created for us to do and be and simply in our best interest!

In this truth, there is freedom!

So, let me finish by sharing with you three characteristics of who God is.

And if we accept these characteristics, we will gain clarity on not only our identity, but our proper response.

God is superior.

I love the prayer of David that echos the heart of God’s people when we come to this recognition…

1 Chronicles 29:11 ESV

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

He is creator. He is LORD of ALL.

We serve God, we devote ourselves to god, we love God because why… HE IS GOD.

The following two characteristics give way to why God is a perfect God and Father…

God is a redeemer.

Us, you and I, who have fallen into lie that we can inherently create ourselves to be something greater than we are, who have therefore sinned before this Holy and superior God, separating us from He who is creator and the lover of our soul…

We can be redeemed a brought out of this sin as a desire of His love for us!

Romans 3:23–24 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

God desires YOU so much so that He was willing to sacrifice Himself by coming in the form of man, taking the penalty we all owe for this sin, and presenting us with an opportunity to leave behind this images of our past and transfer our efforts from glorifying that which is lifeless to the One who life is found!

Psalm 19:14 ESV

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

if you are recognizing this morning that you have been offering our Holy God the second seat, because of His grace and mercy and the redemptive power in the blood of His son, you can stand up, and give back the first chair that was His to begin with.

And you know what else?

He desires you to sit with and by Him.

God is a defender.

When I consider myself in the shoes of the Israelites,because quite honestly I can say I have suffered loss due to my selfish pride and disobedience, I can only imagine how weary they must have felt.

They lost friends, family members, and a large portion of their army. Their prized possession of the ark has been taken into the hands of their enemy.

There is guilt, shame, and hopeless infiltrated the homes where they lay their heads at night.

But they did not know what God was up to.

While they were weak and weary, God was acting as God, one who is strong and mighty!

He was proving Himself to be true and bringing about divine acts of judgement upon a people who chose to reject His name- all in efforts to prove His character and reveal His nature, one that is a defender of His people!

May this serve as a reminder that if you have been placing yourself before God, and you recognize your need for repentance and to make Him LORD of all this morning, that in the midst of your conviction, He has been fighting for you and will fight for you in response to our cry for Him!

Closing

I want to end by reading the lyrics of a song we will sing together during our time of invitation…

These are the words of O Lord, My Rock and My Salvation.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Greatest Treasure of my longing soul.

My God, like you there is no other

true delight is found in you alone.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Strong defender of my weary heart.

My sword to fight the cruel deceiver.

And my shield against his hateful darts.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer

Gracious Savior of my ruined life.

My guilt and cross laid on your shoulders.

In my place, you suffered bled and died.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer

May all my days, bring glory to your name!

Invitation

If God is for us, who can be against us?

For those of you that are His chosen people, saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, what have you been placing before the Lord?

Now is the time to lay down your idols.

This altar is open. There is nothing special about these steps. The prayer you pray here is sufficient in the seat that you now sit.

However, sometimes we need to walk down here, where we can get in a position of prayer before a Holy God, and seek Him on our knees. It is here for you.

I will make it my promise, that if you desire to come forward for prayer concerning your heart and life, our team will meet you there to pray over and with you.

Before I began my message, I expressed my prayer for the one who has yet to see God as Lord of all…

Recently we have had men and women of all ages, even those who have been members of churches for years, come to recognize that they have never laid down the idol of their life to a superior, redeeming, loving, and defender God like the one true God.

This morning is the time. The Presence of the Lord is here! Let me urge you to not quench the spirit. You know if He is calling you to trust Him as Lord of all, to save you for eternity, and to allow you to be satisfied by your intended purpose from the beginning of creation- that is to worship and glorify the God who saves.

If that is you, we will be down front. Come talk to us. Allow us to pray with you, to love you, and to celebrate what how God is redeeming YOU.

Let’s Pray.