The Danger of Cruise Control
1 Samuel 2:12 KJV Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
I. INTRODUCTION -- CRUISE CONTOL
A. In Cars
-I learned something a few months ago about cruise control that I did not know. I was looking through the owner’s manual of my car and was actually looking for a replacement number for a light bulb. After finding the light bulb replacement number, I started just flipping through the manual.
-It was then that I made this discovery: It is not recommended that cruise control be used when it is raining. The manual indicated that if you are using cruise control while it is raining and you somehow manage to start hydroplaning, the engine speed will continue to accelerate in an attempt to gain traction. During this time, it actually poses a greater danger to the driver and passengers.
-So I decided to check it out on the internet to see if this advice was reliable. While there are some urban legends about cruise control, there were numerous safety warnings that stressed that cruise control not be used in wet or slippery conditions.
-I also discovered that when a car goes into a slide, if the cruise control is engaged, that the car will actually gain 10-15 miles per hour thus heightening the danger of the situation.
-So I have to confess that I have used my cruise control numerous times in wet and rainy conditions but no more. Cruise control can elevate the danger associated with driving.
-Basically what cruise control does on those long stretches of road is allow the driver to “zone out” and have very little focus required while we are trying to get to our destination.
-Sometimes the “lull” that cruise produces can really hinder our responses and reactions to hazardous conditions.
B. In Families
-I also discovered another startling fact. . . we have “cruise control” in other places besides our vehicles. We perhaps may not recognize it but we can get in a “cruise control” mentality in the whole process of our lives and there is one facet of life that it is more dangerous than all others. . . with our families.
-Consider with me what happens when we put our families on cruise control. . . especially that of a father. When a father puts his family on “cruise”, he doesn’t call it that. . . it goes by another name. . . . un-involvement.
-From the book, It’s Better to Build Boys Than Mend Men, by S. Truett Cathy (Chick-fil-A):
• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
• 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
• 80% of rapists motivated with displaced angers come from fatherless homes.
• 71% of all high school drop-outs come from fatherless homes.
• 85% of youth in prisons grew up in fatherless homes.
• 75% of all adolescent patients in drug treatment centers come from fatherless homes.
-Children from Fatherless Homes are:
• 5 times more likely to commit suicide.
• 32 times more likely to run away.
• 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders.
• 14 times more likely to commit rape.
• 9 times more likely to drop out of school.
• 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances.
• 9 times more likely to end up in a state-operated institution.
• 20 times more likely to end up in prison.
-These examples are a clarion call to fathers of this generation. We must do so much more than put our families and marriages on “cruise.”
II. ELI AND HIS SONS
-In the early portions of 1st Samuel, we are introduced to a multitude of characters. The stage is literally being set for the arrival of Samuel who will serve as a priest/prophet/judge of Israel. He will be required to guide Israel through the early stages of the monarchy that they had so clamored for.
-As we are introduced to Samuel, there are some minor players on this stage. We find a tired old man with two wild sons. There had been a day though that this old man hadn’t been tired and his two sons hadn’t been wild.
-But some poor choices had left these young men fatherless and now they were living in the throes of a wasted life.
-As one reads the account in 1 Samuel 1-4, there is a noticeable absence of a mother. She is not mentioned and we are left to wonder where she played into the picture.
-Eli steadily shows us a picture of a man’s life in a professional environment, in a personal world, and in a physical condition.
-Scattered throughout these first four chapters, we find a very brief picture of who Eli is:
• 1:3 -- He was a father of two sons.
• 1:9 -- He was a high priest.
• 2:22 -- He was very old.
• 3:2 -- He had failing vision.
• 4:18 -- He was grossly overweight.
-Eli’s sons followed in their fathers footsteps as priests. Although they followed him in occupation they did not follow him in commitment. When you begin to read 1 Samuel 2, you quickly notice a very cavalier attitude toward their own personal sin and cynicism toward their priestly responsibilities.
-In their personal lives, as well as their hearts, they were light years from God. They sinned blatantly and openly in the house of the Lord. When the eyes of Israel saw their misdeeds, they reported these failures to Eli.
-When Eli confronted them with their actions, the account given in Scripture betrays their stubborn and rebellious pattern:
1 Samuel 2:24-25 KJV Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress. [25] If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.
-Over in the New Testament, the words of Paul describe Hophni and Phinehas exactly:
Ephesians 4:18-19 KJV Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: [19] Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
-When a man starts resisting spiritual truth, then that truth becomes external to that person. So every time that man will have some spiritual truth strike his heart, no spark ever flames up, the only thing that happens is a callousness and hardness that further resists the voice of truth.
-That is what every brush with God and the Tabernacle did to Hophni and Phinehas. They resisted truth, they resented authority, and they finally rebelled openly.
-Their flagrant immorality raged in their hearts and spilled over into their actions. The difficulty of it all was their own father’s wishy-washy attitude toward their actions.
-Finally God stepped in with an irreversible judgment:
1 Samuel 3:13-14 KJV For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. [14] And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
-One can reach a point in his actions, that God will no longer cover the sin of the offender. That is the “sin unto death” (1 John 5:16). A state of open rebellion that brings a man into the state of being a reprobate.
-All through this account, there were several types of messengers that God used to warn of His impending judgment:
• The first warning was a in the form of a public report -- 1 Samuel 2:24.
• The second warning was given by an unnamed prophet -- 1 Samuel 2:27; 2:20-34.
• The third and last warning was given from God in a vision to the young Samuel -- 1 Samuel 3:11-12. (Samuel then conveyed the message to Eli, 3:11-12).
-Eli’s response to this was little more than a slap on the hand:
1 Samuel 2:23-24 KJV And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. [24] Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress.
-This was perhaps his biggest mistake.
III. FOUR LESSONS FROM THE BREAKDOWN OF ELI’S HOME
Almost a year ago, I went to one of my grandparents’ old home places. It is amazing what happens to homes when they become vacant. The yards go to seed and weeds take over. In fact, their old home-place was surrounded by weeds that were almost chest high. No longer a smooth green lawn but vines, fallen limbs, and tangled underbrush covered the entire yard. The roof was sagging, paint was faded and chipped, window panes were broken, and window sills were rotten. No longer could bright sunlight filter through the dinghy glass. Dust choked the interior and mildew had found the walls and ceilings.
There were no voices in the old house. No laughter around a table. Silence was occasionally interrupted by an unsecured window in the back of the house. The window would slap gently against the rusty frame and then silence would return. The only voices that I heard, the only things that I could see, the only things that I could smell were prompted by memory. It was a sad sight. . .that old house.
But even more sad than this, is the slow disintegration of a family. We have discovered Eli and his sons but there are some very clear lessons that can be gleaned from his relationship with his sons.
-There were some signs that Eli’s home was falling apart.
A. Preoccupation
-The first lesson we learn is that there was preoccupation with a job to the exclusion of a family’s needs.
-Eli’s intense focus on his responsibilities as priest and judge relegated his family to take the backseat. The family was the background. It is no wonder that Eli did not pick up on some of the traits of his wayward sons.
-One of the paralyzing factors in Eli’s life was that he took on too much. Eli was not a great man like Moses or Aaron but he attempted to take on the roles of both of those men. He stepped in as a judge of Israel as Moses and then to compound that he took on Aaron’s role as the High Priest of Israel.
-What happened to him was that in this overwhelming obligation that he did not perform well at either position. He did nothing well and everything poorly. . . He failed at the role of priest, judge, and most notably as father.
-His commitment to hard work, which could be classified as a virtue, because nothing will be accomplished without hard work. But this virtue turned to vice and the result was that his sons’ paid the penalty.
1. My Arm or My Life. . .
Three years and a half years ago, an incident occurred that I filed back because I knew at some point that I would have a message to place it in. In fact, I heard Anthony Mangun use it in a message that he preached. I have some friends that incorporated it into some sermons that they preached. For whatever reason, I briefly mentioned it in a Sunday School lesson but never used it with a sermon. . . until now. . .
On April 26, 2003, Aron Ralston was enjoying a passion that he had. Aron loved climbing mountains in a remote area of Utah. While he was climbing through a tiny opening about three feet wide, he put his right hand on a nearby boulder to adequately brace himself to climb through the opening. When he did, his weight caused the huge boulder to shift and the shifting trapped his hand. He did everything that he could to free his hand but nothing worked. As darkness fell that night, he knew he was in trouble. By the way, April 26 was on a Saturday.
By Tuesday, he was completely out of water and had given up the hope that he would be found by any other climbers who were in the area. If he was going to survive, he was going to have to save himself. Now he was done to only one escape route. It was a morbid one but it was all that he had left now. Not only was it morbid, it was almost unthinkable. . . he was considering cutting off his arm directly below his elbow. The difficulty was the knife that he had. It was a small, dull pocket knife and he had earlier tried to begin cutting his arm but the dull knife wouldn’t even break the skin.
Aron spent most of Wednesday trying to think of exactly what he would have to do to amputate his arm. He knew that a tourniquet was imperative because he could not afford to lose much blood. After a day and half without water, he was in a serious state of dehydration and weak from the lack of food. Trying to think through more of the details, he thought that he was probably five miles or more from his pickup.
On Thursday, his fifth day, he decided that it was going to be now or never. . . His arm or his life. It brings to mind what Jesus said. . .
Matthew 5:30 KJV And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
I have met a lot of people in my life who were trapped just like Aron—not in some remote mountainous area in Utah but in habits and lifestyles. Some are trapped by habits and whims of their flesh. Others have fallen prey to thinking that around the next bend in life, they will finally capture the “big deal.”
But unlike Aron, they are totally oblivious to their entrapment. Death is looking them squarely in the eye and they lack perception of the matter. To their way of thinking, “I have just made some bad business deals. I have made a few wrong turns. I can quit anytime I choose to.”
However, when you get in that deep, getting out requires some drastic and immediate action. For Aron, it was his arm or his life. He had to make a hard, difficult, and serious choice. He could not have them both.
Aron was a man of valor, he made the tough choice. After a crude amputation, he rappelled down a 60-foot cliff and hiked nearly six miles before the rescuers spotted him. He then was air-lifted to a hospital ER where park ranger Steve Swanke told reporters, “I’ve never seen anybody like him. His will to live is unbelievable. I’ve been doing this for twenty-five years and I’ve never seen a warrior like him.”
-The challenge for every man in this church is to determine what is going to get the most of your energy. . . your home or your job. Your career or your children. Your ego or your destiny.
-I know that those can be unsettling questions. . . but they are necessary questions.
B. Refusal
• The first point: Preoccupation with a job to the exclusion of his family’s needs.
• The second point: A refusal to face the severity of his boys’ actions.
-When the reports came to Eli about the wayward activities of his boys, he refused to see the facts. He must have ached inside to know that he was grandly successful at his job but was a failure in the home.
-The problem continued when their defiant behavior went undisciplined. Each time this happened they were making withdrawals from their character bank and by the time they were adults, they were morally bankrupt.
-Discipline of wrong behavior helps to shape our ability to make mature choices in life.
1. A Family Is Like a Garden
A family is like many things, perhaps most like a garden. It needs time, attention, and cultivation. The sunshine of laughter and affirmation. It also needs the rains of difficulties, tense moments, serious discussions about the issues that matter. And there must be spade work, where hardness is broken loose and planting of fresh seeds is accomplished with lots of TLC. Here are some suggestions for fifteen rows worth planting:
Four rows of Peas: Preparedness, Perseverance, Promptness, and Politeness.
Then three rows of Squash: Squash gossip, Squash criticism, and Squash indifference.
Along with five rows of Lettuce: Let us be faithful, Let us be unselfish, Let us be loyal, Let us love one another, and Let us be truthful.
And three rows of Turnips: Turn up with a smile, Turn up with a new idea, and Turn up with determination.
And then? Well, from then on it’s pretty simple. Water, weed, tend with care, and patiently watch the garden grow. Someday you will look back and realize it was worth all the years of all the work and effort and prayer. Like a lovely garden, your family will be a thing of grateful pride, of seasonal beauty, and of daily sustenance. (Charles Swindoll, Living Beyond the Daily Grind)
-Yet he continued to rationalize and justify his lifestyle and that of his sons’.
Proverbs 19:18 YLT Chastise thy son, for there is hope, And to put him to death lift not up thy soul.
C. A failure to respond to the warnings of others.
• The first point: Preoccupation with a job to the exclusion of his family’s needs.
• The second point: A refusal to face the severity of his boys’ actions.
• The third point: A failure to respond to the warnings of others.
-God has ways of making the blind eyes to see. Sometimes the “eyes” that God uses are miraculous but more often than not he works with the mundane. Mundane? Yes, he uses teachers, neighbors, sometimes grandparents and periodically maybe even a policemen.
-Parents are shocked:
• I never saw it coming.
• I cannot explain how or why they would do this.
• It is a mystery to me why my child would be involved in this.
• My child would never be involved in something like this.
-Yet. . .
• Children are left for long unattended periods and not supervised.
• Children are left with computers that are not safeguarded.
• Children are allowed to have friends that have less than optimal spiritual influences on them.
• Children are allowed to attend events that are not God-focused or God-centered.
• Children are allowed to date long before they really understand the responsibilities of dating.
• Children are encouraged to pursue things that will get them out of their parents lives.
D. Condoning
• The first point: Preoccupation with a job to the exclusion of his family’s needs.
• The second point: A refusal to face the severity of his boys’ actions.
• The third point: A failure to respond to the warnings of others.
• The fourth (and last) point: Condoning the wrong, parents actually become part of the problem.
-Note this verse:
1 Samuel 2:29 KJV Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
-Note that “yourselves” is plural. Some of Eli’s own weight came from adopting his sons’ ways. He went from passive indifference to active indulgence.
-It would be centuries later that the prophet Jeremiah, walking through the ruins of Jerusalem would lament how the sins passed from one generation to another.
Lamentations 5:7 KJV Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
-This is the recycled reality of sin.
• Yesterday’s Lunch. . .
• Today’s Litter. . .
• Tomorrow’s Garbage. . . and it will all stack up on the family’s front porch.
IV. CONCLUSION
-A strong call to leadership to revival, passion, holiness, and commitment to family.
Philip Harrelson -- October 15, 2006
barnabas14@yahoo.com
