CALL TO CONFESSION

Romans 1:20-23

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Immortal God, you are the all-wise King who created and sustains all things by your wisdom. You have revealed your glory and majestic power in the world all around us. Your fingerprints in creation are unmistakable, your holiness and power are made evident in your providential care for everything you have made, including us. Yet we confess that we have not honored you and given you the thanks and praise you deserve. Instead of worshiping you, we have worshiped power, control, sex, money, reputation, and many other things. We have praised and valued these things above all in our hearts, pursuing them as if they were treasure. We have respected and honored people who were successful in serving these idols while ignoring and mocking others who were faithful to you. These things are not worthy of our worship: they cannot save us and protect us from our enemies, nor can they transform us into pure and holy people.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your pure and wise worship of your heavenly Father. You never flinched from glorifying your Father, growing daily in knowledge and wisdom and the fear of the Lord. When Satan tempted you in the wilderness, you refused to bow down to him, instead reminding him of God's word, which says, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Thank you that your faithful obedience and holy wisdom are reckoned to us as our righteousness before your Father.

Holy Spirit, make wisdom delightful to the inmost parts of our souls. Draw us daily to the cross, which is the most powerful demonstration of the wisdom of God. Show us the perfect life that Christ has lived for us, and then shape us so that we can turn away increasingly from the seductive power of the wisdom of this world and receive in its place biblical wisdom. Grow us daily in the knowledge and fear of the Lord, until you bring that good work to completion on that Day. In the name of Christ we pray, amen.

“Take a few moments to personally confess your sins to the Lord.”

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“Hear these words of comfort and assurance.” 

1 Corinthians 1:21-25

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

• Trust in leadership is collapsing everywhere. Whether in government, business, the church, people have become skeptical and cynical about those who claim to lead. 
• Scandals, failures, hypocrisy, and moral compromise have eroded confidence.  And sadly, the church has not been immune to all of this. 
• Fewer people trust pastors or church leaders than ever before. 
• We have come to expect that leaders are going to let us down.

• Israel faced a similar leadership crisis in 1 Samuel. The priesthood at Shiloh had become corrupt.
• Yet in the middle of all of this darkness, God was quietly raising up a faithful priest. 
• And the sober warning we’ll find in our passage today could not be more urgent: We will either treat God as weighty, or He will treat us as worthless.
• But this sober warning comes wrapped in grace. 
• Because in the end, God does not leave his people without a faithful priest. 
• The failures of Eli and his house point us to the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. 

1 Samuel 2:12-17

Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

• The opening chapter revealed to us that Eli and his two sons were priests at Shiloh, where the tabernacle of the Lord was at this time. (1:3)
• But quickly we discover there’s something rotten in Shiloh. 
• Hophni and Phinehas were “worthless” men. 
• The word translated in your bible as “worthless," is literally, “sons of Belial,” in Hebrew. 
• Belial is a word associated with death, wickedness, lawlessness and rebellion and later became the name for the prince of evil. 
• “What accord has Christ with Belial?” (2 Cor. 6:15)
• And this is what the sons of Eli were considered—“Sons of Belial!”
• And THEY DID NOT KNOW THE LORD!
• Hophni and Phinehas were the professional clergy. Theirs was a sacred responsibility and a holy calling. 
• And yet, they didn’t know the Lord! They looked the part, but their hearts were unchanged and unaffected. 
• Their sin was corrupting and exploiting worship. 
• They treated the holy things of God as common tools for their own sinful and selfish gain. 
• V1 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt. 
• They despised what was holy. There was no fear of the Lord.

• God’s law specified the way an offering of sacrifice was to be handled. (Leviticus 7)
• But Eli's sons disregarded what the Law prescribed. 
• v14, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would demand the priest’s portion first. 
• And when a worshiper challenged them they were threatened with force. 
• How little they thought about the holiness of God.
• Imagine a man who works on high-voltage power lines, working in proximity to such power and danger, and eventually becomes so familiar and so casual with his environment that he takes shortcuts, and forgets the lethal power of the high-voltage lines he is constantly around. 
• That’s what it was like for Eli’s sons. They became too familiar and too casual around the holy things that they forgot “the high voltage” of God’s holiness. 
• They treated the things of God with contempt. They despised the things of God. 
• They did not know the Lord! 

• God is holy! He is a consuming fire! 
• We dare not become so familiar, so casual, that we forget that. 
• We need to guard our hearts against the casual Christianity that is so prevalent today. 
• Casual Christianity is the slow drift from wonder to routine and carelessness.  
• It’s the belief that you can handle the things of God with ‘dirty hands’ and a ‘distracted heart’ with no consequences. 
• God must never be treated as an accessory to your life, He must be everything!

1 SAMUEL 2:22-25

Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

• Not only did they show contempt for the offering of the Lord, they also engaged in gross sexual immorality with the women who served with them in the tent of meeting. 
• The two forms of corruption that they engaged in are the two things we most commonly see in the corruption of church leaders today.
• Greed: leaders using their position for personal gain. 
• Sexual immorality, using their position to exploit others. 
• Scripture sets the qualifications for those who would serve God’s people as Elders and leaders in the Church. (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1)
• They must not be a lover of money, not greedy for gain. 
• They must be self-controlled, above reproach, upright and holy. 
• These men failed to meet these qualifications on every level. 

• However, Eli could not claim ignorance of their activities. Eli knew. He was aware of their sins.
• For the first time we’re told that Eli was very old, advanced in years. 
• And clearly he was out of touch with what was happening at Shiloh. 
• But there was enough outrage at his sons’ behavior because it was reported to Eli. 

• Eli called his sons to give an account of themselves. 
• “Why do you do such things?”
• He tells them that their wickedness was known by all the people. 
• Then he tells them of the seriousness of their deeds:
• They had taken advantage and abused God’s people. 
• Their actions were a direct offense against God. 
• They had placed themselves in terrible danger.
• God had provided a means for sins to be dealt with, that was the system of sacrifice of which these men were in charge of as priests. 
• But they had shown contempt for the very means provided by God for dealing with their sins. So, “who can intercede for them?”
• They had crossed the line. 

• Here is where Eli failed as a father and as a leader. 
• His rebuke was half-hearted. He stopped short of calling them to repentance. 
• He doesn’t address them as the “worthless” men that they are, he appeals to them as “my sons.” 
• He did not discipline them. He had the authority to remove them from their priestly office and he didn’t. 
• This was not courageous confrontation, this was cowardly and weak.
• He knew they were corrupting the worship of an entire nation, and he refused to take action. 
• He did not have the moral strength and courage to restrain their wickedness and therefore he was not the man to provide the leadership that Israel needed. 

• Eli wasn’t evil like his sons.
• His sin was one of passivity. He was a passive parent and a passive leader. 
• And no surprise, v25, “they would not listen to the voice of their father…”
• Passive parenting produced sons who didn’t respect the counsel of their father and passive leadership produced priests who had no respect for the Lord nor for the authority God had placed over them. 
• Judgment was coming. 

JUDGMENT UPON ELI’S HOUSE

• v25, “…for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.” 
• They had gone too far. They were beyond repentance. 
• There is a point in which God gives the rebellious heart exactly what it wants. 
• And here we find that the Lord had given them up to the contempt for him and his ways. 
• Their hearts were hardened like Pharaoh’s.
• They will not escape the terrifying judgment of the Lord. 

• V27-36 describes this judgment in detail. 
• God sends an unnamed man of God, to give God’s assessment and verdict. 
• God determined that Eli and his family were unfit to lead Israel. 
• The man of God rehearses what God had done for Aaron and his descendants. 
• God had revealed himself to Aaron while he was still in Egypt, 
• God had chosen Aaron and his tribe of Levi, out of all the tribes, to be priests unto the Lord, 
• God had given them the means to be generously provided for through the very offerings they were appointed to administer. 
• God established that Aaron and his sons would have the priesthood forever. (Ex. 29:9)
• Eli is in his position because he is a descendent of Aaron.
• What did he do with this responsibility?
• 1 Samuel 2:29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
• Two sins Eli had committed:
• He had scorned the sacrifices and offerings. He was evidently sharing in the sacrificial meat his sons were forcibly taking from the worshipers. 
• He had honored his sons more than he honored the Lord. 

• Now God tells him what he is going to do.
• They had been the objects of extraordinary grace but this present generation serving as priests could not remain.
• The reason for his pronouncement: V30 …for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
• The word translated ‘honor,’ is the Hebrew word ‘Kabod’. It means, weightiness, heaviness. 
• Because they failed to treat the Lord as weighty, God will lightly esteem them.
• If you fail to treat God as weighty, he will treat you as worthless. 

• The judgement is severe. 
• His house will fall, his priestly line will be removed, his descendants will die young. 
• The sign confirming the judgment is that Hophni and Phinehas will die on the same day. 

• There is a sober warning for parents here. 
• When you allow your children to disrespect the Lord, his Word, his Church, and you fail to correct and discipline them, you are honoring them above God.
• Do not avoid difficult conversations with your children because you want to be their “friend” more than their “parent.”
• Don’t ignore the sin in your children because confrontation is uncomfortable.
• Fathers, you are called to be leaders and shepherds in your home.
• Loving parental discipline motivates a child to comply. Don’t be afraid to bring painful consequences upon your child.
• Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

• There is a warning for leaders as well. 
• Leaders are called to honor the Lord and be faithful to him in what they have been given responsibility over. 
• James reminds us that those who teach and lead in God’s house will face a stricter judgment. (James 3:1)
• There is no place for domineering leadership, bullying, exploitation, abusiveness, or greed in the pulpit. 
• You should expect a higher standard of character and behavior in your leaders. 

• But judgment is not the last word. 
• In the midst of the devastating wreckage, God introduces a picture of hope. 
• 1 Samuel 2:35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. 
• Now, we have reason to suspect that in the immediate sense, this will be partially fulfilled with Samuel. 
• Right in the middle of these two depictions of the sins of Eli’s sons, there is a young man who is quietly being raised up at Shiloh. 
• V18 We find him ministering before the Lord, clothed in the garments of a priest.
• V21 And the boy grew in the presence of the Lord. 
• V26 Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man. 
• Samuel will function more like a prophet than a priest, but when Eli’s house falls, Samuel will take over the priestly functions.
• Later on in 1 Samuel, we will see another realization of this promise fulfilled with the appointment of Zadok.
• But the ultimate fulfillment of the faithful priest God will raise up is Jesus. 
• There are aspects of this promise that don’t fit Samuel:
• Only Jesus perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father, doing everything that was on God's heart and mind.
• God was looking past the failures of Eli and the limitations of Samuel to the Hill of Calvary. 
• Where Jesus would offer himself as a sacrifice for sins; not taking the best of the sacrifice, he became the sacrifice. 
• In Jesus the work of a faithful priest and anointed king would be combined in the one person. 
• Hebrews 6:20 He has become our high priest forever, he holds his priesthood permanently, because he conquered death, and he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. 
• Jesus reverses the failures of Eli’s house. 
• Where Eli and his sons failed, Christ succeeded and we have a high priest who is holy, innocent, unstained, without sin, and exalted above the heavens. 

• If you feel like you've been a casual worshiper or a passive parent, do not look for hope in your own ability to “do better” or “be better.” 
• Look to the faithful priest. Avail yourself of his grace. 
• To those who have a deep mistrust of leaders, don’t judge the Great High Priest by the failures of these men.
• Jesus is the only Priest who is forever faithful and will never let you down. 
• Let your faith rest on Christ—not human leaders. 

CONCLUSION

• The story of Eli and his sons is not in the Bible to entertain us, but to warn us, to sober us, and to turn our eyes to the only priest who will never fail us. 
• Elis’s sons treated God lightly, and God treated them as worthless. 
• But Jesus, the faithful priest, honored the Father perfectly, and the Father exalted him above every name. 
• He alone carries the full weight of God’s holiness, mercy and justice. 

• The question that stands before you today is the same:
• Will you treat God as weighty? 
• Will you honor him above your comfort, your preferences, above your schedule, above the approval of others, even above the approval of your children? 

• The text calls us to examine our hearts. 
• Have we grown casual with holy things? 
• Have we drifted into a Christianity of convenience?
• Have we treated worship lightly, the Scriptures lightly, holiness lightly? 

• If so, the Lord calls us today, not to despair, but to repentance. 
• We have a High Pristine who intercedes for us and he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. 

• Honor him as holy. Give him the first place in your life, your home, your worship, your decisions and in your parenting. 
• And as you do, take heart in this promise: “Those who honor me, I will honor.” 
• May God make us a people who live under the faithful, perfect, unfailing leadership of our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

APPLICATION AND REFLECTION

In light of today's message....

• What did I learn about the gospel?
• How can I apply what I learned about the gospel to my life?
• With whom can I share the gospel this week?