SHAPE UP OR SHIP OUT (1 SAMUEL 3)
As I was sitting in my van in a parking lot a month after my 42nd birthday, a strand of hair dropped onto my shirt before my very eyes. Instinctively I picked up the hair to see its color, length and texture. Negative questions immediately arose: Is it gray? Am I losing hair? To my relief, the hair was black, everything was fine. I realized that was the first instance I was conscious of a falling hair’s color. Actually, I shouldn’t be glad that black hair was falling but it was better than gray hair falling!
Yahoo Health says that the average scalp contains about 100,000 hairs and, on average, about 100 hairs are lost from the head every day. Each individual hair survives for an average of 4.5 years, during which time it grows about half an inch a month. Usually in its 5th year, the hair falls out and is replaced within 6 months by a new one. Genetic baldness is caused by the body’s failure to produce new hairs and not by excessive hair loss.
http://health.yahoo.com/health/encyclopedia/003246/0.html
Experts tell us teenagers rarely lose their hair; only adults over 30 do. The problem with hair loss is not because new hair is not growing; it is, but they are not growing as quickly as before, whereas old hair are falling at the same rate.
The development and rise of Samuel as a judge coincided with Eli’s failure as a priest, parent and person. Eli had become a religious, cultural and national symbol in Israel, but Samuel was the one actually growing in faith, learning about God and growing in maturity. Eli had the status, knowledge and honor, but Samuel had the revelation, insight and progress. Eli had hit the brakes, hit the ceiling and hit a wall, and Samuel was about to eclipse, overshadow and replace him.
How should we keep a fresh and growing relationship with the Lord? What are the barriers that hinder us from the Lord and what are the factors that endear us to God?
Lean Childlikely on Him
3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” (1 Sam 3:1-4)
A wise Chinese proverb says it all: “A good beginning is half the job done.”
Robert Fulghum in his wildly-popular book, “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” states that the basics a child learns will shape his or her philosophy of an adult. These fundamental life-changing kindergarten rules, principles and advice include: “Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life -- learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”
Samuel had a good, if not great, start. He had a childlike relationship with the Lord and an innocent dependence on Him. The boy Samuel’s childlike obedience to the Lord was everything Eli was not. Eli was high, high on top; he was the leader of religious affairs and he was set for life. He was God’s representative, the top dog and the head honcho and Samuel was the priest’s apprentice, aide or assistant. Eli had the title but Samuel had the training, and his training was basic, valuable, and straightforward. Samuel ministered before the Lord as a toddler, a child and a youth. The verb “ministered” is not the usual word for “served” but the Hebrew word for “attended.” The same word describes Joseph as Potiphar’s “attendant” (Gen 39:4) and how he later also “attended” the chief cupbearer and the chief baker (Gen 40:2-4). The word has no negative connotation, but it is serious, earnest and adult stuff. It could even mean helper or handyman. The word describes the way Joshua ministered to Moses (Ex 24:13) and how Aaron (Ex 28:35) and the Levites (Deut 10:8) ministered in the temple.
There was nothing Samuel wasn’t asked, expected, or ready to do. He was busy with the odds and ends, from top and bottom to the ins and outs of the temple. Menial work was expected, although not necessarily experienced. The youngster was up on his feet, down on his knees, and active with his hands. Nothing was too lowly for him to do: cleaning the restroom, moping the floor, washing the dishes, wiping the tables, locking the doors, emptying the thrash, chopping the wood, cutting the grass, tidying the sanctuary, watering the flowers, or helping in chores.
The contrast between Samuel and Eli and his sons couldn’t be any starker. Eli was the priest, but thrice the text emphasized that Samuel ministered before the Lord (1 Sam 2:11, 2:18, 3:1). The clause “ministered before the Lord” was the domain of Levites (Num.16:9, 18:2, Deut 10:8, 1 Chron.15:2) and priests (Deut 21:5). Aaron’s descendants were the sole ministers before the Lord (1 Chron 23:13-14).
Although Samuel was from the priestly line (1 Chron 6:16, 26-28), he nevertheless was not officially a priest. Samuel, however, did whatever needed to be done, although not in an official position and never to impress Eli. His service was accepted because he had done it for the Lord. Samuel ministered before the Lord without title, degree, or name. No one ordered, suggested, or pressured him to. He did not do it to please anyone but the Lord. He did not minister to Eli, but before the Lord under Eli. The better Hebrew translation was, “Samuel ministered TO the Lord before Eli.” The word of God was rare as precious stones (2 Sam 12:30), breakthrough visions were uncommon and the only thing worse than no vision was false vision (Jer 14:14). People in the era of the Judges did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Judg 2:11, 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1, 10:6, 13:1) and they did what was right in their own eyes (Judg 17:6, 21:25), but Samuel was a shining light, a ray of hope and a candle in the dark. Interestingly, faithfulness, service and revelation were still possible in the darkest ages of Israel’s history.
The Lord still called to Samuel, spoke to him and revealed to him things of God, things concerning others and things about his future. The temple was not corrupt; Eli and his sons were. Samuel was just as childlike in faith, service and heart as Eli and his sons were corrupt in theirs.
Listen Closely to Him
11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family-from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ’The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’” (1 Sam 3:11-14)
Air Force One crashed in the middle of rural America. Panic stricken, the Secret Service mobilized and descended on the farm in force. When they got there, the wreckage was clear. The aircraft was totally destroyed, with only a burned hulk left smoldering in a tree line that bordered a farm. Secret Service descended upon the smoking hulk but could find no remains of the crew or the President’s staff. To their amazement, a lone farmer was plowing a field not too far away as if nothing at all happened. They hurried over to surround the man’s tractor.
“Sir,” the senior Secret Service agent asked, panting and out of breath. “Did you see this terrible accident happen?” “Yep, sure did,” the man muttered unconcernedly. “Do you realize that is the President of the United States’ airplane?” “Yep.” “Were there any survivors?” the agent gasped. “Nope. They’s all kilt straight out.” The farmer sighed cutting of his tractor motor. “I done buried them all myself. Took most of the morning.” “The President of the United States is DEAD?” The agent gulped in disbelief. “Yep, he kept a-saying he wasn’t ... but you know what a liar he is!”
God spoke to Samuel and not Eli because telling Eli did not work. God was up to the neck with Eli, sick to the stomach with him and grieved in his heart for him. God was through with Eli because Eli had no place for Him. The bottom fell out long ago. The man of God came and spoke to him in vain in 1 Samuel 2:27. Eli received countless chances but he did not take, heed or even explore it. God did not lose power over Eli’s life, but He had lost faith in Him. Eli was not credible, believable or teachable. The discovery of his sons’ shameless actions was met with inaction and, in time, was met with indifference. The Lord could not permit, tolerate or sanction that. Eli was not angry, grieved or stunned. He no longer cared about his son’s actions, whom his sons hurt and who the victims were. The complaints were getting louder, but they were going nowhere. Eli had no urgency, initiative, plan, date or time to meet the people, answer their questions or talk to them. Wicked people and horrible things did not tear him apart as it should, he didn’t quit in disgust like he should and the sky didn’t fall like it should.
The sin of ignorance is bad but not as bad as the sin of inaction, worst is the sin of indifference. Ignorance is not knowing and inaction is not acting, but the sin of indifference is not caring. You no longer care, you’re no longer bothered, troubled or shocked, so you don’t ask, people don’t tell you and things remain the same. In the meantime, the victims’ cry of “Who cares?” reaches God. Remember the words of the cop portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones when he cornered the fugitive Harrison Ford? Ford pleaded his innocence in “The Fugitive,” stating, “I didn’t kill my wife” but Jones answered: “I don’t care.” The sin of indifference, if not the worst, is right up there with idolatry and pride.
At first Eli could not look the people in the eye and, in time, he did not search his own heart. Through a private messenger with a personal message, God patiently told Eli about the coming judgment upon his family, but he did not respond. Now things got from bad to worse. The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering (v 14). Nothing could compensate for Eli’s inaction or hold back God’s course of action. Ignorance, indecision and indifference were not bliss. God said he would do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle (v 11). The word “tingle” is not used lightly. The only other two times God would make an announcement that make ears “tingle” all referred to the sin of idolatry. In 2 Kings 21:10-12 God vowed to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle, because Manasseh, king of Judah, had committed more evil than the Amorites who preceded him by leading Judah into sin with his idols. Also, in Jeremiah 19:2-4 the Lord promised to bring a disaster to the people of Jerusalem that will make the ears of everyone tingle, for they had forsaken Him for and burnt sacrifices to foreign gods.
God’s judgment was written in stone, sure as sunrise and good as gold. He said he would carry it out, or better translated as he would establish or enact it. Eli’s paralysis with his sons amounted to idolatry of them. He couldn’t do anything because he loved them more than he loved God. His children owned him. Eli didn’t write his children’s names on stone, have images made of them or put them on the altar, but his children wrapped him around their fingers, rode him like a horse, dangled him like a carrot, drove him like a wagon and ran him to the ground.
Live Continually for Him
19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. 21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. (1 Sam 3:19-21)
Americans are willing to spend billions to lose weight. Marketing products and services to dieters is common sense, big business and easy money, because more than 120 million or 61% of people in the USA are overweight or obese, which is overweight by 30 pounds or more. The common techniques marketers use include testimonials and before/after photos, claims of rapid weight loss and the promise of no dieting or exercise required. An actor says, “7 weeks ago I weighed 268 pounds, now I am down to just 148 pounds!” An ad claims: “You can eat as much as you want and still lose weight.” Another announcement claims: “You could lose 8 to 10 pounds per week, easily . . . and you won’t gain the weight back afterwards.”
However, the dieter’s dream of being healthy, slim and attractive was dashed by the Federal Trade Commission in a big way. Newspapers, local and national news all reported the FTC warning that advertisements for weight-loss products and services make “grossly exaggerated” claims. The agency reviewed 300 weight-loss ads in the previous year and tested 218 dietary supplements, meal replacements, patches, creams, wraps and other weight-loss products and services. The report found that 40% of the ads made at least one representation that was almost certainly false, and 55% made a claim that was very likely false or at least lacked adequate substantiation. The agency had the help of a coalition of representatives of science, academia, health professions, government agencies and public interest groups.
The FTC said that the ads are distracting people from doing things that would help them achieve a healthy body weight. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said, “There is no miracle pill that will lead to weight loss. Losing weight requires a lifelong commitment to healthful eating and physical activity.” (USA Today 9/18/02 “Weight-loss deception found.”)
The Chinese said, “No progress means regress.” It’s been said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedaling.”
Finally, Eli’s stunted growth was costly. He was just the way he was - the same old same old before, during, and after the discovery his sons’ sins, the announcement of the Lord’s verdict, and the observation of Samuel’s rise. Samuel was just the opposite and could not be any different from Eli. While Eli was late and dead in obedience, Samuel was quick and ready to obey. Samuel did not grow into a spiritual giant overnight; he learned how to crawl and walk bit by bit and step by step.
The Lord was with him, in the same way and with the same Hebrew words as He was with Joseph (Gen 39:3), David (1 Sam 18:12), and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:7). The Lord’s presence is usually observable, distinguishable, and noticeable (Gen 39:3, 1 Sam 18:12). God let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground, hang in the balance, or pass without notice. People from way north in Dan to way south in Beersheba knew that he was a man of God and a man from God, that he spoke for God and spoke with God, that he was a prophet and a judge.
God revealed Himself, messages, and things to Samuel. He instructed, prepared and directed Samuel like a son, but avoided Eli like a plague, sidestepped him like a pothole, treated him like a criminal, ignored him like a stranger, and purged him like a stench. People’s eyes were open, ears were attentive, and hearts were blessed by Samuel. Samuel was on the way up and Eli was on the way down, Samuel was in and Eli was out, and people were near to Samuel and far from Eli. Sadly, Eli had the advantage of living till ninety-eight years old (1 Sam 4:15) and leading Israel for forty years (2 Sam 4:18), but he squandered all that.
Conclusion: God has no preference for age, experience, and position. Kids can and should learn to worship Him, serve Him, and pray to Him. Like Samuel we may not have the advantage of a stable family or a great lineage but we have the advantage of a reliable God and a longstanding relationship with Him. Treat God with reverence and respect. Take His word and warning seriously. Do not let anything replace Him in your life or come between you and Him.
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
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