Dishonoring God

1 Samuel chapter 4. We are continuing our uh our journey through the book of Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 4 verse one. And the word of the Lord came to Samuel of the word of Samuel came to all of Israel. Now Israel went out into battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer and the Philistines encamped at Aph. The Philistines drew up in line against Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about 4,000 men on the field of battle. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies." So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who was enthroned on the cherub. And the two sons of Eli, Huffne, and Phineas were there in the ark of the covenant of God. As soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout so that the earth resounded. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, "What does this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid. For they said, "A God has come to the camp." And they said, "Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us. who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods. These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Take courage and be men, the Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be men and fight. So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and they fled. every man to his home and there was a great slaughter for 30,000 foot soldiers of Israel fell and the ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli Hoff and Phineas died. A men of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching for his heart trembled at the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried a shout. And when Eli heard the shout of the outcry, he said, "What is this uproar?" Then the man hurried and came and told Eli. Now Eli was 98 years old. And his eyes were set so that he could not see. And the man said to Eli, "I am he who has come from the battle. I fled from the battle today." And he said, "How did it go, my son?" And he who brought the news answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been such a great slaughter and defeat among the people. Your two sons, Hoffne and Phineas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured." As soon as the man mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backwards from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and died. For the man was old and heavy, and he judged Israel 40 years. Now, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant, about to give birth. When she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. And about that time of her death, the woman attending her said to her, "Do not be afraid, for you born a son." She did not answer, and pay attention. And she named the child, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband." And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel for the ark of God has been captured." This is God's word.

On September 11th, 2001, two airplanes flew into the World Trade Center Towers. A third plane flew into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a field believed to be on its way either to the Capitol or to the White House. These were not randomized attacks. They were targeted and specific attacks that took place. And part of the attacks were sending a message. They were striking at the heart and the ideology of westernism but but also the American way of life, the glory of America, if you will. By targeting the World Trade Centers, they sent a message to strike against the heart of the financial power of America. By striking the Pentagon, they struck at the military might and glory of America. And with the intent to strike the capital, they would then strike at the political power of the nation as well. They couldn't defeat the nation outright, but they could send a message and they could shame and take away the glory of that nation by the facing. Israel in that same way in this day has suffered a crushing blow. The ark of God, the central thing where God's presence is embodied. It's the holiest place in the temple in the holy of holies of the temple. It has been brought out and delivered over to the enemies of God, to the enemies of Israel. Their whole religious system, their whole understanding of God, their whole identity, their very glory as the people of God has gone. And when Phineas's wife in this moment gives birth, she names her son, which either means because it's it's something in glory. It either means theologians argue about it. Where is the glory or no glory? Embodying the idea that glory of God is gone. And something about our glory as a nation and a people under God, as the people of Israel, the people of God, it's gone. And in these moments of life, they're humbling and they can begin to cause all sorts of questions, seeking. It's a re-evaluation of life. Because when you're glory is gone, when you've been humble, you begin to reorient and reassess your values and your life and the way that you live. It's no different with 911. It was the same way. People began to just reorient and ask questions about their own life, their own value system. Even people that just watched these planes hit buildings, it reflected on us. And something about our own glory as a country and a people was humbled in that moment like Israel was today. When glory is lost, when glory is shamed or taken, we can begin to sort of reflect on life, just like Israel will begin to reflect on the fact that the glory and God will work in these moments as a way and part of his plan to get people to recognize, to reassess so that they might turn to him. Today, as we look at this text, we're going to be looking predominantly at why the glory was lost and how the glory is redeemed and eternal. But before we even do that, we need to really look at the idea of glory in the scripture. What is glory? You know, we we may think of glory as uh as this fame or glory that comes when say a warrior enters in from triumph and from victory before the hosts and the armies. And there is a sense in which that is a kind of glory that does come. But you know it's not just for the famous or for the powerful or for the mighty. We in our own ways are creating personas about our lives, the way that we project ourselves. We do it every day with a phone. We get on social media and we talk about the places we're eating and the people we're hanging out with. And I'm not kicking. I realize it's just part of our culture and way of life. But it is something that we are projecting something about our own lives that reflects and says something about us. We're seeking in a way glory because in a way we were made to receive God's glory, a kind of glory. But there are there are good kinds of glories, there are bad kinds of glories. There are right ways of seeking glory and there are wrong ways of seeking glory in life. And so as we look at what is glory, we can see that that in one sense, yes, glory can be this fame and this honor. God has this kind of glory and and there's an intrinsic part of God that has this glory because he's omnipotent. He's all powerful. He's all knowing. He's mighty. He's the creator. But there's also a part of God's glory that has an active sense about it as well. That God performs and moves and does things in this world in a way that people recognize it and they glorify God. they give him that kind of glory. So glory is a thing that is given and it's a thing that belongs to God as well. There could be an exchange that takes place. Glory though isn't just a reputation in the Bible. God's glory manifests. It appears. And so it's not just a concept that's abstract. It's a thing. And we see instances of God's glory throughout the Bible that it appears. and smoke fills the temple. The holiness and presence of God begins to move. There were other times where God's glory would appear on the mountain side and it would manifest itself in power and in volume and in fire as God's glory moved and it activated. Jesus came and he healed and he did miracles. And in John 2, it says that he was manifesting God's glory. So God's glory is going out and it's moving. It's doing things. It's not a stagnant thing. God's glory is power scriptures. So it's not just faith but also God's glory. It's immense. It's powerful. It's all strength. And you know as I mentioned this idea I think maybe a way that we could sort of think about it is if we brought into probably take up this whole room a nuclear explosive thousands of pounds there's a there's a part of of that nuclear explosive itself that would be powerful that would be awesome in the sense of like what it can do. It can change an entire landscape in a moment. And it would induce in some ways a fear and a reverence and a terror because of the capability that that bomb possesses. There is something about God's holiness and God's glory that is powerful. And it's so powerful that when it is treated wrong, it can be dangerous. It can turn against people. It can wipe out armies and cities and nations. God's glory is a powerful awe inspiring thing. But unlike a a bomb, God's glory is not indiscriminate. God's glory will work in different ways with different people. It doesn't just wipe out everything. God being sovereign works in individual lives. And depending on maybe which side of things you're on and the ways that God's working in this world, that can be really terrible, awful news like a bomb. But it can also be this great all inspiring rejoicing kind of glory that comes. We've probably all seen movies at times the way God's glory or the way that glory can operate where there's two armies fighting and one army's getting defeated. that the good guys are just they're back in the corner. There's like a handful of them left. It's the darkness. Things are not going good. And then the cavalry comes. You know, one of the great, if you've ever seen it, the Lord of the Rings, uh there's there's a battle that takes place um in Rohan and in Helms Deep. We'll get into all that, but but there's a battle that takes place where literally it's that scene. the orcs, all the evil of the world, they're they're they're closing in and there's just a handful of these guys left. It's dark. It's literally dark and it just seems like we're all about to die and perish. And up on the hill on a white horse appears Gandalf the White Wizard with all of his power and his glory. And then an army steps forth with him. And like that Calvary, they charge into the scene with this glory. And his glory literally in the movie just emanates like this light. And in that moment, that glory, depending on which side you're on of it, is good news or bad news. To the guys that were back in the corner, they look at this is rejoicing. This is a great moment of glory, right? We see how this is operating in our favor. But if you're on the wrong side of that, that's sheer terror. For the orcs in that moment, seeing that coming at them, it was terror. And that's how it works with God. And I say that because with God and the way that the Bible describes, it's not just fame. It's not just, you know, this stagnant kind of thing. Glory has a power and an imminence and a movement and an activity about it when it talks about glory in the Bible in ways that are multifaceted. And we we see that even scripture reminds us we hold the goodness and the severity of God. because he has goodness, but he also has a awesome severity as well because he brings justice. Glory to God. And the worst thing that you can do is to not give God to be indifferent to God's to ignore God's glory. So, as we look at this text, why why was the glory lost? Why did Israel lose your glory? And to see this, we're going to just kind of zoom in for just a minute on on a couple of the verses here as we look at it. And we see that um verse three, people came into the camp. So, they just suffered a crushing defeat. Several thousand people died. And it says, "The people came into the camp. The elders of Israel said, "Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?" That's a great question. That's a great question. Let's, you know, we suffered something. We were humbled. And this should be a moment where we sort of, what do we do? Glory sort of been taken. It's not a great day. We sort of reassess. We reflect what's happening, what's going on, and we reflect on our life. In those moments, they answer very quickly. They got they got they got a they've got a solution to this problem. And unfortunately, it's not. If they would have lingered with that question maybe just a little bit longer, maybe they would have arrived to something a little bit more fruitful. But here in this moment, you see what they do? They say, "Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies." So somebody runs 20 miles Shiloh and says, "Hey, bring up the ark of God." They haul it up there. So the people sent to Shiloh. They brought listen verse four. So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubam. Now, there's a few things that are sort of being snuck in there. The author could have just said the ark of God, but right here, the Lord of hosts in the Hebrew, that word hosts in Hebrew can also mean armies. The Lord of armies, the Lord of glory, Lord of power. because that's who God is. He is powerful. He is the Lord of hosts. And maybe in their minds, they're thinking like this is who he is. So, uh, let's take that power. Let's take that ark and let's let's use it for our purpose. The the ark of God,  if I think I have a picture of it, maybe we don't know exactly what the ark looked like, but there's lots of different graphic out there. the ark of God. But you know the scriptures tell us when God was having the ark of ark built that this ark would sit in the holy of holies of the temple of God and between those two cherub their name spread presence of God manifest itself and this place was so holy that only the priest went in one time a year. Now during the days of the wilderness you could take the ark out at other times but it was only because they were traveling and so there were and even then the ark had to be covered and it had to be carried by the Levites. So there were all these protocols about moving and transporting. Now arcs been sitting in quite a while. The days of the wilderness are over. They're in the promised land there. So you should be moving about with the ark. What's going on here? Is there any case for taking God's throne? Do you see that enthroned? God's earthly manifestation, the symbolism of God's heavenly realm on earth right here. And we're going to bring this holy thing into just the battlefield. We're going to take God's holiness out of his holy place and we're going to use him for our holiness. And and and you know the the rationalization or the thought process here could be I'm going to take God because this is God's holiness. God will let nothing happen to destroy things. We can carry this item into battle because God's not going to let us lose and this ark be taken because that would shame God. That would take God's glory from him. He would never let something happen. So in a way, you're sort of kind of daring God, but you're also sort of using God like a good luck charm or you're wielding him like a weapon. your will in God for your purpose, not you for God's purpose. Do you see what's going on here? Do you see the great shame that they and the great dishonor and disrespect that they are already doing? It's not about being taken by the Philistines. That that's a lack of the people who are supposed to be God's people, who are supposed to worship him, who are supposed to reflect him to the land around use him like a good luck charm. They use him for their own purposes. They manipulate God and try to manipulate him to get what they want out of God. In this case, we can do things like this in life. We can take holy things and use them for our own. We can take scripture and we can use it, twist it, quote for our own end purposes to prove our own point. We can bargain with God. You know, I'm going to do this. So, you got to do this because if you don't come through, makes you look bad, God. Makes you look bad at me especially, right? And we can put God in these sort of corners. where you think like I'm living a good life and the goal of my life is to be happy and you know God's out there somewhere and so because I'm following the rules and I'm doing things the way I'm doing you need to bless me and be good and make sure you take care of me because you're God. That's what you do. You see what that does with God? God exists for your needs, your desires, not the other way around. You see how we flip the tables on God. This is a way to take the glory from God. God is not a tool. God is not a weapon. God's not a source of thing that you can manipulate and use the way that you want that will turn back on you. And so there are moments where God just says, "I'm going to call you." And this is exactly what he does right here is he does the he lets the ark of God and capture Paul off. And in this terrible day through a series of events, Israel is completely human. And God will do that in our lives at times. He will bring us low and sometimes he will bring us low because we are using God improperly. We view God the wrong way. We sometimes build whole religious systems. We even can take versions of Christianity away and build religious systems that aren't even reflective of what the gospel is. They don't even reflect they reflect more of a worksbased righteousness. For example, I followed the rules. I did all the good things God owes me at the end of the day. That's not the gospel. And we can store and God will sometimes take things in our life and flip them. He will take the glory. We can start living for our own means and our own end. I want a successful life. I want pleasure. I want all these things. And we can begin to try to use God for the I follow the rules. You bless me, you get success through all these things in our lives. And we can try to use God this way. And God will strip those things in your life. They will strip him because he's trying to tear down the false ways of using God and thinking about God so that he will have penetrated to you and get you to deflect. Because the goal always with glory, the way that it works is that we're supposed to recognize God's glory around us. the world creation. His kindness has operated in our life. Created us provided for us. And if we look back, we can see at times the ways that God has worked in and around our lives. It's not random. You didn't just plop here today. God created you purpose with intent. And he wants us to reflect on that because why? The rhythm. The rhythm of glory is always realizing and responding to God. It's not about just even the moments when you feel glory. What do we see in scripture and you give glory to God? You receive glory from God from his kindness and his goodness. Maybe from the success and the achievements of life. But it should never lead you to pounding your chest and forming your own glory and not realizing the completeness of God working in making that kind of happen. So glory should always create that living that turns us to God. If we live religious and seek our own glory and build our own house, we will find that God will at times humble us, take our glory so that he might build something new in us. So, how is the glory renewed? And we see this throughout scripture. We're not going to see this today in in 1 Samuel chapter 4. So, we have to back up like we do with scriptures a lot of times and look at the bigger picture of scripture and see what is the rhythm, what are the things that happen. And uh and one of the ways that we see this, this is always the way. Anytime God works in our life, we're humbled. Our glory is taken. God's word tries to get our attention. It's it's only so that we might humble us that leads us into a place of repentance and reassessment of life and our values and of God to reorient us to him. And so we we even see um the glory uh of God in I think it was uh did I have a verse for glory? Yes. Second Chronicles 7:14. If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will then hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. So there's this idea that even in humbling moments, you know, Solomon has prayed this prayer and hey, we get hauled off, if things go really bad, if we'll if we'll essentially humble ourselves because everything's been stripped from us and we'll begin to reflect and seek God, turn to him, recognize that he is the source and the one who always do, even what we have. give back to him. Turn to him. Turn from our own evil ways, our wrong uses of glory, our seeking our own fame. That God will begin the process of healing. What we see though is that Israel is going to hit the heart back. It's going to be a while. It's going to come back and there is going to be a movement through this book of seeing God moving in the people of God, bringing his glory, bringing about the king that he wants in Israel. But Israel is going to go through this rhythm up and down, up and down. She's going to be with the Lord. And things get so bad, so dark in Israel. One day, Ezekiel, who's already been hold off to Babylon, by the way, has a vision and he sees the glory of God in the temple and he sees it leaving. And not long after that, the Babylonians came in. They burned and destroyed the temple. Art of God disappears. It's gone. Glory of Israel stripped from her. Most of Israel hauled off. Year five6, we see things begin to end. But Ezekiel also sees a vision that God's glory will come back. It will be renewed. It will be restored. And so the only thing that we can control in the outcome, we can't really get God is to be humble, to seek God, to await the call and pray for his glory. And then one day what we see is that God began work. In John chapter one, we see that the word became flesh. It's Christ and dwelt among us. That word, by the way, dwelt among us. In the Greek, it also means tabernacle. God set up a tabernacle, a tent, a dwelling, a temple among us. But the glory of God, the temple of God began to manifest itself in dark time in Israel. And we have seen what is glory. glory as of the only son, not human glory, son from the father, God, full of grace and truth. And so the glory of God in a new chapter in humanity, God begins to work and manifest his presence and his glory and his power on earth. Jesus dies. The curtain that was behind the hole that separated the holy of holies the most holy place in the temple rips signifying the presence of God, the glory of God being available to people. And there's this very unique thing begins to happen. We see in Romans 8:16 that the that that Paul talking about some of this God not only dwelling and being close and available and coming and dwelling among us in a glory restored like that. It gets even better. It gets even more personal than that. That God's glory says the word became flesh and oh wait, sorry, next verse. Um Romans 8:16. Oh, sorry. I'll read it for us. And the spirit bears witness that our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then hes of God, fellow hes of Christ, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified. God invites us to share in his glory. It's that rhythm again. God. Us realizing what we've been invited to, the family of God. we share this relationship through Christ with God. And we're called to see how he honors us and loves us, is working in our lives. And and and that that honor that he's put upon us just like he did upon his son. And we give God glory. And glory is also this this destiny. But we also see how we are called to reflect that glory as well just as Jesus did. We're invited into that same thing to live as Christ lived. It's not something that we manipulate, not something we use for our own hidden use. We just receive what God has given us and how God is operating in our life and we take that and we see in Matthew 5:16 in the same way, let your light shine. But our light is God's light. the good things that he's done in our life. that light and that glory so that you may see your good so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven that they may recognize and respond that we in that same way just as we have recognized and responded to God that that when we reflect God's glory and light in this moment that people might recognize the activity the works and the manifestation of God and give glory to God God changes his work here on earth and he invites us into and then in Colossians 3 it says when Christ who is your life appears then you will also appear with him in glor because God's glory is also a destiny. It's a place. And as I said before, it's not just fame and honor, but God's glory has a movement, an activity about it. Jesus came to earth and he manifested God's glory, not just by standing there, but by doing things. as he healed, as he restored, as he gave sight to the blind, as he as he pulled people out of captivity and out of darkness and out of bondage, as he drove out darkness and defeated en spiritual enemy forces, God's glory manifested. It revealed itself. And in that same way as we are recipients of some of that glory that's been operating in our lives, God's graciousness, his power that transformed our very heart that calls us into his light and his glory that we then reflect that glory just like Christ did in that same way. And one day God's glory when we enter into it will be manifested in fullness. Here's the thing. God's glory restores. It doesn't just show back up. It moves and heals and makes right what is broken just as Jesus did, but in its fullness. One day at the end of time, glory will manifest itself in its fullness when God comes down in all of his glory. And he will walk into hospital rooms and those who are sick will be made healed. He will walk into prison camps where people are enslaved and set free. that everything in that moment would be changed like an explosion but in a discriminatory way bringing God's justice, God's wholeness, God's healing in the land because in his kingdom all is made right where there will be no sorrow, no tear, no darkness and the glory of God will shine and in this world, in the new age to come, in the new heavens and in the new earth. He will dwell in it. It will produce such joy. You know, we can all seek the wrong the wrong kind of glory at times. We can all sort of live lives where we are trying to find and win the good affections of people. And there's nothing wrong with people honoring us or respecting us. But we can make that our end thing in our life. We can think I need to be successful. I need to be thought of and perceived in a certain way in this life so that people will honor me. We don't think about that outright, but we're striving in life often times not from glory from God, but glory from other people. Sort of like the way seeking our own glory in this world, our own people thinking about us in good ways and glorifying ways. And when we make it ours, it's not wrong to be respected. It's not wrong to be honored. We should give honor to whom honor is due. But when we make it a holy thing for us, when we do like Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel before and we say, "Look at all that I've accomplished and all that I've done and all the moment God takes it and humbled to recognize to respond and ultimately to seek the glory of God in our lives to realize how he showered glory on us and to turn and to respond to him because otherwise if you do not it will only produce a bitterness and a dissatisfaction in life because the kinds of glory and temporal things in this life they will not satisfy they will not give you life and at some point they won't feed and fuel the deep longings of your heart and the only things that God was meant to satisfy and so when that will produce a bitterness and a dissatisfaction with life and so you'll chase something else in this life you were made to seek the glory of We were made to give to God, not to other things and not to seek it to other things and not to manipulate God for our own glory, for our own hurts. Loss if we do these things, loss of glory will come. Beauty fades, success wins. Social media and the love of people is a fickle thing. And then we find what you believe. We live for the glory of God and it will shake. It will change and then one day we will enter that fullness. Let's pray. Lord, we just pray that you would forgive us of the ways, Lord, that we so easily seek our own glory and not give to you. It's easy to look at scriptures and point our finger at others and think about their lack of wisdom, their foolish, and not see our ways doing the same thing in our life. moments when our heart becomes enlarged and puffed up and we cry where we seek glory of others and not the glory of you. So I just pray Lord in our hearts we would turn once again to you. We pray that you would uh come that you would heal and restore so that we might recognize and respond to you give glory to you and that you might come heal restore and renew your glory once again. It's for your glory we are we pray Jesus name.