The Proper And Improper Way Of Ministry Series

The text tells us that if ever we should minister and serve God, it should be using the spiritual gifts that God has given us from above - from Him.

You see, when we learn to minister with the gifts from above, it would never change and we would never feel that we are not competent or fit for the work because our calling and equipping is coming from Him alone.

And so, regardless of the problems or the frustrations you face in ministry, you will never give up because you have been specially strengthened by God for such particular work.

And that is what happened to Hannah and no wonder, she ministered the right way to God and later on, Samuel as well.

And I pray that you too will learn to minister the proper way to God and to others.

2. THE SERVICE WITH WICKEDNESS FROM ELI'S SONS

1 Samuel 2:12-17 (NIV) 12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.” 17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt."

The second thing we can learn from this chapter is the way the sons of Eli do their service to the Lord.

Remember that Eli was the high priest in the temple while his sons were assisting him as priests.

And as priests, their work is basically to offer sacrifices to the Lord in behalf of the sins of the people.

They also act as God's representatives to explain to the people the law of God so that they will obey and follow these laws.

We do not know how long they have been serving as priests but we can only presume that they are so at ease and so familiar in doing their regular duties in the temple.

The problem with so much familiarity in doing something is that you could lose sight of it's significance.

And this is indeed what happened to the two sons of priest Eli.

They lost sight of the true significance or meaning of what they were doing for God.

They could not understand the necessity of being forgiven from sins through the animal sacrifices.

They thought that these animal sacrifices are for the sole use of the priests as meat for their food.

And so, verse 12 says that Eli's sons were "scoundrels" and that they had no regard for the Lord Himself.