How many of you have been to other churches?? Have you noticed the different types of people at churches? What type of people are we church? More importantly, what does God think of what we do at church?
Open your Bibles to 1 Samuel….
Last week we learned to have the right attitude when we pray like Hannah did in the first part of 1 Samuel 2. The second part of Chapter 2 reveals to us different types of people at church. Read along with me now 1 Samuel 2:12-29….
We note in v12 a type of people who can be at church. What type of people were Eli’s sons??
And what were they in God’s church??
They were priests! Their father was a priest. They grew up in church!
And so, the first type of people we can have at church are those who have leadership titles but are wicked. (v12-17, 22-25)
And let us note that just because one grew up in Christian home and go to church every week, it does mean they are godly.
And before we look at Eli and Samuel, let us not forget the people in v13-16 who come to church to really worship.
In v18 & 26, we see Samuel in the Temple. What can we say about Samuel from these 2 verses??
Samuel was a true minister for God who not only served but constantly grew in his walk with God.
Now before we talk about Eli, there is another type of people in the church. Yes Hannah came to church to worship, but what else can we say about Hannah??
Do you think Hannah prayed for Samuel?? What do you think Hannah prayed for for Samuel??
v19: yes it was her son, but her son was a minister! Hannah supported a church minister with prayer and provisions.
Now, what can we say about Eli?
We note in v20 that Eli was a priest who gave blessings. But based on how Eli treated his sons and what the prophet told him in v27-29, on a scale from 1-10 (10 being best) how godly was Eli??
Eli was a priest but not wicked like his sons but he was a compromising minister. Eli was a lukewarm believer.
And so we note at least 5 types of people who can be at church:
1. Like Eli’s sons, there will be those who have church titles but are actually evil.
2. There will be those who come to truly worship! The blessing here is that Almighty God knows each one by name!
3. Like Samuel, there will be those who will serve the Lord with all their hearts and continue to grow closer to God.
4. Like Hannah, there will be those who will support ministers through prayer and provisions.
5. Like Eli, there will be those who are lukewarm in faith. Eli was a 6 on the godly scale of 1-10. Where are we on this godly scale of 1-10?
Which type of church people are we?
Let us note, that those who were wicked, God took their lives early. Eli who was lukewarm in faith was reprimanded and next week we will note the results of Eli’s disobedience.
And because not everyone in church are godly, especially those who have titles, Be praying and be discerning of people, especially church leaders!
