Encountering God – Part 7 – What’s Missing from Worship?
Introductory story: Paul Harvey tells a story about an attractive airline stewardess who was being hounded by two flirts – one at the front of the plane, the other at the back. She was obviously very put-off by the very forward advances being made by the two men, but she kept right on doing her job. Near the end of the flight one of the men became particularly bold and as the plane was about to land he handed her a key to his apartment and the address and said, "See you tonight." So she took them, then she walked to the back of the plane, handed them to the other flirt, winked and said, "Don’t be late." Later on that evening I bet there were two very disappointed men in some apartment somewhere.
Have you ever been disappointed when someone you were looking for didn’t show up? Maybe it was the way they were invited.
That’s one reason God doesn’t show up. Sometimes God doesn’t come because He doesn’t appreciate the way He is invited.
I want us to look at a time when God didn’t show up and the reasons why.
Context: Eli has been the judge/priest for Israel for many years. His sons, who were supposed to follow in his footsteps as priests before the Lord, were corrupt and wicked. If you were to read the preceding two chapters of 1st Samuel, you would find out how bad they were living and how Eli had noticed but pretty much ignored their sins and the irreverence with which they served before the Presence of God at Shiloh.
This period in Israel’s history was also a period of time when God was not speaking to his people very often.
The bible says that in 1 Sam 3:1 “…Now in those days messages from the LORD were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.
The spiritual leaders were corrupt and God’s people were not obeying his law so why should he say anything new to them?
It seems that since men were not listening to God in those days that God simply didn’t bother to speak to them.
This lays the ground work for what is about to happen.
Now the arch enemies of Israel, the Philistines came to fight against Israel,
1 Samuel 4:1-3 Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines camped in Aphek. 2 The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. 3 When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? and Israel suffered a defeat with a loss of 4,000 men. The elders and leaders of Israel were totally bewildered and perplexed. They called an emergency meeting to analysis the defeat in verse three, they focused on one basic question, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today?” (v.3).
They asked the right question (Why did God let us be defeated?) but unfortunately they drew the wrong conclusion.
Another problem, is they asked themselves why it happened, but they never thought to ask God why it had happened.
Sometimes we arrive at the wrong conclusions because we haven’t bothered to ask God why stuff happens the way it does.
Early in their history, God had assured Israel victory over their enemies as long as they kept His commandments and obeyed Him (Lev.26: 3, 7-8).
If they had stopped to evaluate the way that they had been living, they would have had the answer for their defeat.
1 Sam 4:3-9 After the battle was over, the army of Israel retreated to their camp, and their leaders asked, "Why did the LORD allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?" Then they said, "Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies." 4 So they sent men to Shiloh to bring back the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, helped carry the Ark of God to where the battle was being fought. 5 When the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud that it made the ground shake! 6 "What’s going on?" the Philistines asked. "What’s all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?" When they were told it was because the Ark of the LORD had arrived, 7 they panicked. "The gods have come into their camp!" they cried. "This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before! 8 Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness. 9 Fight as you never have before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours!" (NLT)
The Israelites, after losing the first battle, decide that the reason that they had lost the battle was that God wasn’t “with” them in the battle (He wasn’t present). So they had the Ark of the Covenant, which was representative of God’s presence, brought out from Shiloh and brought into their camp.
Verse three reveals that they decided to use the Ark to try to manipulate God, “… Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies."
Notice, not that “God may save us…” but that “It may save us.” That is, the Ark, the symbol of God’s presence.
This should make us sit up and take notice.
Take notice of how we prefer the symbols of God over God Himself!
We tend to do that when our hearts are far from Him.
The people were oblivious to the fact that possessing the presence and power of God in symbolism (the Ark) was not the same as possessing the presence and power of God in substance.
The Ark had become a good luck charm, it had become a genie in a bottle.
A good luck charm is a lot easier to use than to encounter the Living God.
You see, a good luck charm won’t challenge you to examine the way you are living.
A good luck charm won’t hold you accountable.
A good luck charm certainly won’t love you!
A good luck charm won’t die for your sins either.
Israel also only seems interested in God getting them out of the mess they have gotten them-selves into. They did not begin to think about God of the Ark of the Covenant until after they had suffered defeat.
Let me tell you a few things about the Ark of the Covenant:
The ark was about 4 ft long by 2 ft high and 2 ft. wide. It was made of wood and overlaid with pure gold. On the top of the ark was a solid slab of gold called the mercy seat and in the ark was the tables of God’s law. Over the mercy seat were the Cherubim with their wings outstretched.
The ark was the most sacred piece of furniture in the temple and it was kept behind a veil with only the high priest was allowed to look upon it once each year when he offered the sacrifice for the atonement for Israel’s sins (Lev. 16).
While God had forbidden idols, He knew people need symbols. So the Ark was the symbol of the presence of God in the midst of His people.
The Ark was the meeting place between God and man, where the high priest came once a year to the holy of holies.
It was the place of redemption, where once a year on the day of atonement, blood was poured over the lid, called the mercy seat to cover the sins of the nation..
But the fact that it was a box not an idol should have reminded people it was not God.
It contained relics from the past, not because they possessed power but that they were a reminder to the people.
Aaron’s staff, which was used to part the Red Sea, provided water in the wilderness and kicked off a number of the plauges but it was symbol of the saving power of God,
A jar of manna, the bread God provided in the wilderness to remind them of God’s provision, that he would always take care of them
There was the stone tablets on which the law was written to remind the people of God’s requirements.
The Ark was a symbol of God’s holiness, presence and power. In fact, how it was to be carried and the fact that no-one could touch it symbolized the unapproachable holiness of God.
Now the Israelites had sent for the ark and wanted it present with them.
The Israelites’ answer to their losing dilemma was, “Bring us God in a box.”
It was not that they wanted the ark that they may serve God or worship God or reverence God – they wanted the presence of God for their own purposes.
They were not seeking the will of God, they were not walking by faith and they certainly were not seeking to glorify God.
Even worse, the two wicked sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas would be carrying the ark of God.
But God was not to be manipulated like the false gods of the world around them.
All the other nations of the world had their own gods that they would appease and control. (That doesn’t make them gods if you can control them!)
Friends, God is not a pushover. He’s not a genie in a bottle that forever at our service.
Christians need to learn that God is not like a mop or a dish rag that we call upon just to clean up our messes.
He would not allow Israel to “use” Him, and he won’t let us either!
The question remains, “Are we putting God first in our lives or “summoning” God when all else has failed us?” That is the critical question we always must ask in worship.
V5 When the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud that it made the ground shake!
In our passage, it reads that the Israelites got excited by the Ark coming into their camp. They shouted and made such a loud noise that the earth shook.
They had the sounds of praise. They had the appearance of worship…but their hearts weren’t in it.
Religious enthusiasm is not a substitute for obedience and intimacy with God.
Shout all you want, but if your heart isn’t right with God, all the shouting in the world won’t produce victory.
Israel did not make even one attempt to repent or seek God face before the battle.
They summoned the symbol of His presence into their midst and then expected God to show up.
When you and I live like the Devil Monday thru Saturday and then come to church of Sunday to seek Him, God is not going to show up. Why? Because that is keeping God in a box. God will not be manipulated.
Philistine response in V9: “Fight as you never have before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours!"
Suddenly, the Philistines fear turned into fortitude.
Why did the Philistines’ fear suddenly turn to strength? The best explanation I know is this: Fake religion won’t fool people for long.
False religion is simply a lot of pomp, but no power; it is activities without an altar; it is mere excitement and entertainment without heavenly enlightenment.
Folks, you need Jesus, not religion. You need Jesus not more church. You & I need Jesus!
Result of the battle: 1 Sam 4:10-11 So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; thirty thousand Israelite men died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents. 11The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.
The forces of Israel are defeated with a loss of 30,000 men
The Ark of the Covenant is taken by the Philistines and the two sons of the priest Eli, Phinehas and Hophni are killed.
Never before in the history of Israel has the Ark of God ever fallen into enemy hands.
I believe, though, that the presence of God had already gone from the nation long before the symbol of His presence had gone.
It is the same way in our own lives as well.
God’s power is gone long before we realize it, when our plans have failed, our lives have crashed and burned and our dreams have imploded.
When our lives are going wrong, the real issue lies in our own integrity, not in what God isn’t doing.
The fault lies with us and not with God.
1 Sam 4:12-22 A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battlefront and arrived at Shiloh later that same day. He had torn his clothes and put dust on his head to show his grief. 13Eli was waiting beside the road to hear the news of the battle, for his heart trembled for the safety of the Ark of God. When the messenger arrived and told what had happened, an outcry resounded throughout the town. 14"What is all the noise about?" Eli asked. The messenger rushed over to Eli, 15who was ninety-eight years old and blind. 16 He said to Eli, "I have just come from the battlefront—I was there this very day." "What happened?" Eli demanded.17 "Israel has been defeated," the messenger replied. "Thousands of Israelite troops are dead on the battlefield. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed, too. And the Ark of God has been captured."18 When the messenger mentioned what had happened to the Ark, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and very fat. He had led Israel for forty years.19 Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near her time of delivery. When she heard that the Ark of God had been captured and that her husband and father-in-law were dead, her labor pains suddenly began. 20 She died in childbirth, but before she passed away the midwives tried to encourage her. "Don’t be afraid," they said. "You have a baby boy!" But she did not answer or respond in any way.21 She named the child Ichabod—"Where is the glory?"—murmuring, "Israel’s glory is gone." She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her husband and her father-in-law were dead. 22 Then she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured”.
This is a tragic story. A story that doesn’t have a happy ending. The bible is filled with them!
Once the glory is gone, worship is empty, lifeless, and useless.
Here is the 98000 dollar question…
Why did the glory depart?
They lost their fear of God.
The fear of God is not quaking in fear, but an attitude of reverence and respect for God that comes from a right view of who God is.
The Bible says that Eli’s sons “had no regard for the Lord.” 1 Samuel 2:12
The bible says that “they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.” 1 Samuel 2:17.
When they treated the Ark as a magical object or a good luck charm, they had lost their fear and reverence for God as the Wholly Holy One.
How is your reverence for God? Do you have a sense of awe and humility when you seek His presence and face or do you treat Him like your pet or magic genie?
I mentioned “holy holy” and how we stand when we sing it! That is taking God for granted. That is ignoring His true character.
They tolerated sin. (Eli knew about his son’s sin and how they were polluting worship and did nothing about it).
Jennifer told me about a church that had a youth pastor who was involved in a sexual tryst with a member. The church hushed it up and tried to make it seem like nothing. The church literally collapsed because God removed His hand from that church.
That’s corporate tolerance of sin.
What about private tolerance of sin? Sin…that is choosing less than God’s best, choosing what He says we should avoid. (He tells us this for our own good!)
Dt. 10:13 “…observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”
Yet we compromise. We choose our own way. We think we know better. Or we simply take shortcuts. But it always ends the same. We end up getting caught in bondage. Sin wraps its ugly tentacles around us and we try to ignore it or refuse to acknowledge it.
God’s glory departs from our lives because we tolerate sin.
Most of us understand the “bad” sins like immorality, pornography, lust, but do we know that gossip, spreading rumors, and overeating are sins too? How about anger, unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness?
Sin produces bondage to sin. It is one of the horrible consequences of sin.
Most of us end up hating the sin that so easily besets us. We hate it but we cannot break free, and we refuse to admit it. We think, “I will overcome this someday” but the longer we think that the longer we will be in bondage. Until we come to the place of brokenness, of coming to the end of ourselves, we will remain in our sin.
Are you tolerating sin? How much longer will you put up with it? It will affect your worship and it will affect your church’s worship.
We are in a battle today.
We need get rid of the idea that God will bless us in spite of our disobedience.
If we bring God into the picture while we are disobeying Him, He will engineer our failure.
God gets more glory in the defeat of His carnal people, than He does in their victories.
God is interested in not covering sin, but exposing sin, because sin is what crucified His Son!
Sin is what alienated you from God in the first place. Sin is what destroys your life. God cares too much for you to watch you destroy your life or His church!
Would you consider today what is keeping you from His presence?
1 Samuel 2:22. They faked Spirituality.
They pretended to be going to God’s house to worship, but they were only interested in what pleased them. In the book of Ezekiel, the glory of God is described as leaving in stages because the people were religious but were not living their faith. They were going through the motions.
They faked their spirituality. … They were pretending …What is the worst thing about the people of Ezekiel’s day is that the glory of God departed from the temple and from Jerusalem and the people didn’t even notice.
We have become so accustomed to the presence of God without glory that we don’t even know what we are missing! It happens over time. It is a degenerative process, both in our churches and in our own lives as well!
We look spiritual. We know our bibles. We can quote them. We attend church, we even raise our hands.
But something is too often missing.
What is missing? THE GLORY. THE TANGIBLE PRESENCE OF GOD.
Because we are faking it, we are worshipping superficially without our hearts being in it. .
Because we are holding on to sin in our lives.
Because we have lost our holy fear and reverence for God.
The horrifying part is that when God’s glory isn’t there and we are not upset or we haven’t even noticed.
Today, there is only one response from God’s people that is appropriate. None other will do. It is called Repentance – where each of us acknowledge that we have not sought God with all our heart, and begin to seek Him once again.
God loves you with a deep and abiding love. He desires that you have a relationship of intimate worship with Him. He desires and longs for you to know Him.
But do you desire and long to know HIM?
Are you willing to cry out for Him to consume you?
Will you admit and confess that you haven’t hungered and thirsted for Him?
Will you confess that you don’t have Him all figured out?
Will you acknowledge that you haven’t sought Him in prayer?
Will you acknowledge that you haven’t completely forsaken sin?
Will you confess that you haven’t desired God above anything else?
Will you get desperate for Him today? Will we get desperate? His fire, refining fire calls each of us to Himself. Will you come to Him, broken?
When our worship grows stale, so does our passion for God. Worship is the furnace of the spiritual life.
“Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God—it whets our appetite. Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship—it deepens. It overflows the hour and permeates the week.” -Eugene Peterson
“If worship does not change us, it has not been worship.” Richard Foster.
