Narrative Sermon: All Alone?

We may think God is with us, even when he isn’t. Israel finds itself in this situation. Sometimes, we find ourselves in the same situation. They go out to fight their enemies, the Philistines, expecting to win, but experiencing defeat. 4,000 loyal Israeli soldiers die (1-2)! With our country involved in several wars, we understand this type of situation all too well. Many families have been touched by this type of loss.

Why has God left us all alone? Put more bluntly, the elders of Israel ask, “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today?” God is responsible for our defeat! He did not help us, and we fell before the Philistines. Then they ask, “How can we get God to go with us and defeat the Philistines for us?” Someone responds, “Get the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh and bring it into battle with us (3)!” They all agree. At least, they are being spiritually minded, right?

Isn’t there something wrong when we put God in a box (literally or figuratively) and think that we can control him by taking the box along with us? That sounds more like magic or machinery or mathematics than real religion and relationship with God. It is the Ark of the Covenant! Isn’t it more than just a symbol of God’s presence? God’s physical presence resides with the gold encrusted box containing the Ten Commandments, manna, and Aaron’s rod (Numbers 10:35; cf. Exodus 25:16, Hebrews 9:4). Take it with us, and we take God with us! Then, God will go with us and give us the victory! This describes the brilliant battle plan of Israel’s elders for defeating the Philistines. If only…

Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, come with the Ark to the camp (4). They must have felt like superstars! When they enter the camp with the Ark, the entire camp goes wild, letting out a great uproar of shouts and applause (5)! The ruckus was so loud that the Philistines could hear it in their camp! They grew fearful (6-7). The great emotion and noise of Israel surely meant that God was with them and that the Philistines were in trouble!!! The Philistines even think that they’re in trouble. They say, “Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods (8)?”

They think God is with them. How many times have we thought that God must certainly be with us? We feel great emotion in worship. We bring our Bibles. Surely God is with Israel! They are bringing the Ark into battle with them. Their God defeated the Egyptians. BUT, the Philistines gathered their courage and prepared for battle (9). Israel’s plan failed miserably (10)! The Philistines soundly defeat Israel in battle. RESULTS: 30,000 Israeli soldiers dead; the Ark of the Covenant captured; and Eli’s sons dead (10). Just when you think that things couldn’t get any worse. Things go from bad to worse!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there! A soldier escapes from the front lines and makes his way to Shiloh. Eli now receives the worst news of his entire ninety-eight years (16-17). The messenger repeats the results of Israel’s latest defeat: Israel suffers heavy losses; your sons are dead; and oh by the way, the Ark has been seized by the Philistines. We lost the Ark! At his mention of the Ark, Eli falls backward off his chair, breaks his neck, and dies (18). After 40 years of leading Israel, Eli is dead.

Eli’s pregnant daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, hears the news and goes into premature labor! As she is dying after the delivery, she names her baby boy, Ichabod, meaning the glory has departed. The Ark of the Covenant captured! The glory has departed from Israel (19-22). Things became much worse! The Ark not only symbolized but was the place where the manifest presence of God dwelt among Israel. The Ark is gone. We are all alone, truly all alone.

Why did God leave Israel all alone? Was it their national sin? Was it Eli’s lack of willingness to remove his sons from their priestly office and their corruption? Both of these contain part of the answer. National sin was a problem. Even more, the sin of Eli’s household was the bigger problem. YET, the LORD provided a means to cover over their sin. The sin sacrifice dealt with their sins. Sins can be atoned for by sacrifices. Why were their sins not atoned for by their sacrifices?

We find the answer to the present in the past. If you remember, Eli’s sons were stealing from the worshippers’ sacrifices to God (1 Samuel 2:12-26)! What was meant for atonement became an opportunity for sin. Scripture says, “This sin of the young men [Eli’s sons] was very great in the LORD’s sight, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt” (2:17). Eli rebuked his sons saying, “If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” (2:25). They treated the sacrifices of God with contempt! Eli spoke truthfully to his sons.

Again, God used prophets to confirm this word that Eli spoke to his sons. An unnamed prophet came to Eli, and God said to Eli, “Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling?” (2:29). Even worse, God said to Eli through Samuel, “The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering” (3:14). There was no sacrifice left for their sins because Eli’s sons scorned and stole God’s sacrifice! It is one thing to offend man, but to offend God is another thing altogether!

How can atonement be made with God if we have taken the sacrifice of God for our sin and treated it with contempt and scorn? There was no sacrifice left for the sin of Eli’s house, and just as Eli and his household possessed no sacrifice to cover their sins, Christians are warned, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God” (Hebrews 10:26-27).

Those, who have “trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him and who has insulted the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29), receive the judgment of God (Hebrews 10:30-31)!!! When we desecrate the only sacrifice for our sin, Jesus Christ’s blood, how can we be forgiven of our sin? Like Eli’s sons, we too receive God’s judgment! Death and judgment await those who reject God’s sacrifice for their sin!

How does this story end? Israel defeated. Ark captured. Eli and his sons died. Everything appears pretty bleak. God has left them all alone. When God leaves us all to ourselves, it seems pretty much over, or does it? Could there be hope in the midst of God’s judgment? God knew what he was going to do before he did it. He warned Eli multiple times and prepared for his departure from Israel.

We may be left all alone, but could there be hope? The story of hope for Israel begins in 1 Samuel chapter 1 with the miraculous birth of Samuel. It continues in 1 Samuel chapter 3 with God calling Samuel into his service. Scripture says, “The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel…recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD” (1 Samuel 3:19-20). God raises up Samuel as the next leader for Israel.

God sent another child to us with an even more miraculous birth than Samuel! His one and only son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, died to atone for our sin. He sacrificed himself for every sin ever committed, well, for almost every sin. There is one sin that Jesus Christ did not die for…there is one exception. Can you guess the exception? Jesus died for every sin except for the sin of rejecting his sacrifice, treating it with contempt and disdain. A sacrifice scorned cannot be a sacrifice for my sins. For those who embrace this sacrifice, God brings them into his family, but for those who reject it, God leaves them all alone for all eternity. By the grace of God, may we all receive God’s sacrifice for our sin. AMEN.

Sources:

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version.

Lowry, Eugene. The Homiletical Plot: the Sermon as Narrative Art Form (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001).

Lowry, Eugene. Website: http://www.eugenelowry.com/

My Narrative Sermons on 1 Samuel:

1 Samuel 1: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8340729/narrative_sermon_why_is_god_against.html?cat=52

1 Samuel 2: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8319861/narrative_sermon_could_my_kids_really.html?cat=37

1 Samuel 3: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8351675/narrative_sermon_an_unfamiliar_voice.html?cat=37

My Book Review of Eugene Lowry’s Homiletical Plot: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7940249/book_review_the_homiletical_plot_by.html?cat=38


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