Sept. 18, 2022 - Blessing & Judgment
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2 weeks ago we began making our way through the book of 1 Samuel...
and what we noticed right away was how HOPE played a huge part in how Elkanah and Hannah lived out their lives before the Lord.
There were several aspects of this particular kind of Hope that we found in the early pages of this book.
We saw that...
Hope in God:
Anchors us in God’s Promises
Fights Grief in this World
Is Satisfied in God
ANCHORS US in HIS PROMISES:
This particular HOPE anchors us to the Lord of Lords!
to the ONE in whom all the PROMISES of God are YES in Christ!
WOW - HOPE in God BINDS us to THIS God…the TRUE God!
FIGHTS GRIEF in this WORLD:
It’s THIS PARTICULAR Hope that actually FIGHTS grief in this world - because ONLY this hope can!
When we HOPE in God - we’re hoping in the ONE whom we TRUST...
The one whom we VALUE MORE than life itself...
There’s POWER in this HOPE...
IS SATISFIED IN GOD:
This is where the POWER comes for us...
Our Joy in God - makes EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE - an OPPORTUNITY to Glorify God!
Makes every valley
every trial
every heartache
every loss - an opportunity to Glorify God!
And we saw this HOPE in the lives of Elkanah and Hannah...
NOW - the Father and Mother of - Samuel...
The NAME Samuel means - God heard...
And so we can see how the name was FITTING for the circumstance.
TODAY - we’ll see the Tale of Two Families!
The family of Elkanah
and
The family of Eli the priest
We’ll be covering a wide range of scripture today - so we’ll stay high level - and then DIVE down where we need to - as we go.
And so to START today - let’s revisit the VOW that Hannah made to the Lord BEFORE she conceived...
11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
Now we know the SINCERITY of this vow - because obviously we have the rest of the story to look at...
Did she keep her promise?
25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli.
26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord.
27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.
28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.
Jump down to chapter 2...
11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest.
So Elkanah and Hannah decide that once Samuel was weaned from Hannah, they would DEVOTE him to the Lord...
He would stay with Eli and worship all his days...
And what does this tell us - in relation to how these next couple of chapters will play out...
SLIDE: The Blessing of God: Found on the Path of Obedience
The Blessing of God
The Blessing of God
NOW - there’s no GREATER blessing - from God - than Eternal Life....
which is - To KNOW Christ
And so - to SURRENDER in Faith / to TRUST Jesus Christ - is the ultimate act of Obedience!
And UPON Faith - we are SAVED - the GIFT of Eternal Life...
The greatest BLESSING....
YET - on the physical side of life - I think - There is no greater blessing - IN LIFE - than to have a child
And of course as we saw last week - Hannah wanted so desperately to experience that blessing!
to HAVE a child…a son
And as we talked about last week - Hannah CONTINUED to come to the well of God...
in order to PLEA her cause
ELKANAH her husband was ALSO faithful in his - prioritization of God’s WORSHIP…!
Elkanah OBEYED God in his approach to that worship…NEVER coming EMPTY handed...
And ALWAYS sharing portions with his family!
Their OBEDIENCE - Of.The.HEART...
Led to BLESSING - the blessing of a child!
And this is how God works!
Listen to what Elkanah clearly believed about how God worked...
1 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.
2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,
4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.
7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.
10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.
11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
WOW - what blessings...
But what brought about these blessings?
OBEDIENCE!
33 You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.
And so there’s a clear CONNECTION between Obedience of the Heart - and Blessing!
a [TRUST in God] - and BLESSING!
20 Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
Now you might be thinking - well - that’s OT -
“God just dealt with man DIFFERENTLY back then”...
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
God is able to - BLESS YOU!
How about Jesus Himself...
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Again - We see BLESSING is tied to - - Obedience!
Obedience of the Heart!! Love for Christ
Here in the Sermon on the Mount....
What’s the CALL?
Be POOR in spirit - and you will be BLESSED
Mourn
Be MEEK
HUNGER and THIRST for righteousness
Be MERCIFUL
Be PURE in HEART
Be PEACEMAKERS
REJOICE thru TRIALS...
In a nutshell - acquire Spiritual Logic...
It’s not EASY - but...
DO these things / PURSUE these things - and you will be - BLESSED!!
NOW - we hear this and (i think) we think - WAIT - I know someone - maybe even myself - WHO obeyed Christ - and things DIDN’T GO WELL for me!
Is this NOT TRUE?
Our problem is - we’ve COME TO THIS TABLE - thinking that “BLESSING” entails - COMFORT…EASE…PROSPERITY...
SLIDE:
We’ve been duped into thinking that God only blesses people by giving them what the world values.
CAN God bless people this way?
Sure!
Can God bless you by giving you a raise at work?
Sure!
But He will also BLESS people by giving them Stage 4!
And THAT’s where for many people - it breaks for them!
They can’t CONCEIVE of a way where stage 4 is a blessing!
And it goes back to a question that John Piper has asked before...
SLIDE:
Do you feel more loved by God when He makes much of you, or do you feel more loved by God when He allows you to make much of Him, even through suffering?
See - God’s love toward us - KEEPS us UNAFFECTED by this world!
What’s so special about this guy?
SLIDE: Wiley Coyote
What are some words to describe him?
Lazy? - no
Soft? - no
Easily distracted?? - no
Relentless
Determined
Invincible
Crazy?
Would you agree - he is UNAFFECTED by the world?
Yes - he can fall off a 500 foot cliff - smash into the ground - and then get right back INTO DOING what caused him to fall off that cliff!
God’s LOVE for us - MAKES us this way!
Relentless - FOR Christ! - - NOT relentless for the WORLD.
Oh - I got stage 4 - that’s ok - God is - AMAZING!!
That’s what - BEING BLESSED - at the deepest levels - looks like!!
*i can’t tell you how many times i’ve come across someone who will - in a given situation - forgo church, or bible study - because they want to make sure something GOES WELL at home, or with work...
and my thought always is - ok, but maybe God will BLESS that THING…when you prioritize HIM OVER that thing?
And God says - Blessing comes through obedience!!
May we BELIEVE that...
and WALK in that!
BUT - what about the flip side?
In our text today - We see that the Family of Elkanah - was - BLESSED!
Their obedience - led to BLESSING!
How about the Family of Eli the priest?
Let’s revisit quickly how Samuel was behaving....
11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest.
Ok, next verse...
12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.
13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,
14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.”
16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.”
17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.
Eli’s sons - chose to come up with their own CUSTOM...
They would ask those sacrificing - for the FATTY parts of the offering…WHY?
So they could EAT THEM!
Well - listen to what God had already said about that!
16 And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the Lord’s.
23 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, You shall eat no fat, of ox or sheep or goat.
And here’s the kicker...
25 For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the Lord shall be cut off from his people.
Do you see the DISOBEDIENCE in the sons of Eli?
Where Blessing is found on the path of Obedience...
SLIDE: The Judgment of God: Found on the Path of Disobedience
The Judgment of God
The Judgment of God
So what happened to Eli’s sons?
27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh?
28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.
29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
32 Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men.
34 And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.
Wow - God wasn’t messing around was He?
And do you see the connection between Elkanah and Eli?? Contrast?
Where Elkanah provided an EXAMPLE of faithful prioritization of God’s worship...
ELI - while he was a priest on one hand - he also failed to adequately shepherd his family...
He DID confront his boys - but it seems his CONFRONTING of them was either - too little too late, or too light...
22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
23 And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people.
So he confronted them - but some commentators believe Eli actually partook in their sin as well…eating the fatty portions at times...
29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
So we can see here - the dichotomy between Elkanah (obedience) and Eli (disobedience)...
And the RESULTS of those choices!
Based on what we’ve seen - certainly God’s judgment is tied to disobedience!
But SHOULD THIS have been shocking to Eli and his sons?
14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,
15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,
16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.
18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins,
19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
21 “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.
22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.
23 “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me,
24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
27 “But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me,
28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.
29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
30 And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you.
31 And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas.
32 And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
WOW - the warnings were clear...
“If you will not listen to Me”
“If you will not do these commandments”
“If you spurn my statutes” (if you reject them with disdain)
“If your soul abhors (hates) my rules”
And then - God says...
If you do not learn from my judgment… I will continue to STRIKE you...
Disobedience - leads to - consequences...
And again - lest we think - Nah…that’s just OT stuff…God operated differently back then...
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
IF as Christians we SOW destruction - we will REAP destruction…NOT ultimately apart from God...
But IN THIS LIFE...
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
For those of us who are SAVED - our disobedience can’t SEPARATE us ultimately from the love of God...
BUT - there WILL BE consequences to our choices!
The Lord disciplines and PUNISHES those whom He loves!
As a New Testament example - just think about why the books of 1 & 2 Corinthians were written...
They were written because of Disobedience in the church!
Sexual immorality
religious diversity
corruption
Each of these things impacted the church!
And a consequence that we SEE in the church due to disobedience - is the DISTORTION of what Love is...
The people in the church decided - Yeah, we know that there is RAMPANT disobedience happening - but we’re just going to LOVE those people thru it by letting them stay.
We’re going to let the Leaven SPREAD!
Well Paul had other plans - because God had a better way...
Remember what Paul said in Galatians...
You will REAP what you - - SOW
Judgment comes on the path of Disobedience!
What have we seen today?
We’ve seen that...
SLIDE: The Blessing of God: Found on the Path of Obedience
Elkanah laid a foundation for himself and his family...
He prioritized the Worship of God
He COMMITTED himself to helping his family SEE his example!
And God - - BLESSED him because of it.
Hannah - FOLLOWED his example!
She was ALSO - BLESSED!
Here’s a truth we really need to take hold of...
SLIDE:
Obedience ALWAYS pays off.
Obedience is ALWAYS worth it!
ALWAYS - even if it means - death for you.
You believe that?
SLIDE: The Judgment of God: Found on the Path of Disobedience
For those, LIKE Eli’s sons - who DON’T know the Lord - Disobedience leads to eternal death!
It leads to calamity here and now - and eternal death!!
For those of us who BELONG to God -
those of us who have SURRENDERED our lives to Christ...
God’s judgment is STILL tied to disobedience...
BUT - that judgment is now - DISCIPLINE!
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
God is ALWAYS watching...
ALWAYS judging us...
And it’s for our GOOD that He does so!
Without discipline - He wouldn’t love us!
Early on in this book of 1 Samuel - we see the Tale of Two Families...
And how OBEDIENCE leads to the Blessing of God!
May we pursue OBEDIENCE to God and His word!
Let’s Pray...