Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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

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?

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.

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?

He is CREATOR AND LORD OF ALL!

Remember the last time these questions were asked?

God’s response was this-

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.

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.

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…

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?

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!