Treating God's Things Lightly: A Warning from 1 Samuel

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Have you ever found yourself treating sacred things a little too casually? The story of Eli from 1 Samuel 2 delivers a powerful wake-up call about the dangers of spiritual complacency and the consequences that follow when we honor others above God.

This episode dives deep into the prophecy delivered to Eli by an unnamed "man of God" – a stern warning about how the high priest had failed in his sacred duties by allowing his sons to abuse their positions and by personally benefiting from the offerings meant for God. The text reveals that Eli had grown physically fat from these offerings, a powerful symbol of his spiritual complacency. God's message is clear and direct: "Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained."

The consequences outlined in this prophecy are severe – Eli's family line would be cut short, with no old men in future generations, and his sons would die on the same day as a sign of divine judgment. This ancient story speaks directly to modern believers about the danger of over-familiarity breeding contempt in our spiritual lives. When we become too comfortable with sacred responsibilities, we risk crossing boundaries that carry significant consequences.

One of the most profound insights comes from the nameless prophet himself – a reminder that authentic ministry isn't about building personal platforms or recognition. As we explore this challenging passage, we're invited to examine our own hearts: Are we treating God's things with proper reverence? Are we honoring human relationships above divine commands? Where have we become too cavalier about sacred responsibilities? Join us as we wrestle with these questions and discover how this ancient warning speaks with fresh relevance to believers today. Email us your thoughts at [e-mail] or visit our website to continue the conversation.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
we're going to continue looking into the book
of 1 Samuel, and right now we'rein chapter 2.
We're going to be closing itoff and we've talked about the
fact that in this book, 1 Samuel, it takes about two and a half
hours right around there if aperson were to read it out loud,

(00:24):
with with feeling, but it tookabout a hundred years to live
out.
So, even though we can read itin two and a half hours and it
kind of gives the appearancethat things happen rather

(00:45):
quickly, you know, like theyhappen either the next day or
two weeks or maybe a month downthe road, when in all reality
sometimes it's taken years forone particular event to take
place and then in the meantimeit's been often quiet or

(01:06):
sometimes even barren, like inthe life of Hannah.
She was a barren woman foryears before she gave birth to
Samuel.
And so we're beginning at verse27.
And just for the record, thisis not for the faint of heart.

(01:32):
This is a real strong word thatwe're going to be looking at.
However, I like what one persononce said.
He said you know I don't avoidreading the hard parts in the
scriptures.
You know the parts that makeyour toes curl, those statements

(01:54):
that are just really strong, hegoes.
I don't refrain from readingthem because I need that,
because I need that, I need tokeep myself in check because
we're all prone to kind of goour own way, left to our own
devices.
But we need to have, at times,things brought to us in a very

(02:19):
clear and sometimes very strongfashion, and this is one of
those portions right here.
So let's take a look at it.
1 Samuel 2, verses 27 through36.
Now a man of God came to Eli andsaid to him this is what the

(02:46):
Lord says Did I not clearlyreveal myself to your father's
house when they were in Egypt?
Under Pharaoh's law, I choseyour father, out of all the
tribes of Israel, to be mypriest, to go up to my altar, to
burn incense and to wear anephod in my presence.

(03:08):
I also gave your father's houseall the offerings made with
fire by the Israelites.
Why do you scorn my sacrificeand offering that I prescribed
for my dwelling and offeringthat I prescribed for my

(03:29):
dwelling?
Why do you honor your sons morethan me by fattening yourselves
on the choice parts of everyoffering made by my people,
israel?
Therefore, the Lord, the God ofIsrael, declares I promised
that your house and yourfather's house would minister

(03:49):
before me forever.
But now the Lord declares far beit from me.
Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will
be disdained.
The time is coming when I willcut short your strength and the

(04:12):
strength of your father's house.
So there will not be an old manin your family line and you
will see distress in my dwellingand good will be done to Israel
dwelling and good will be doneto Israel.
In your family line there willnever be an old man.
Every one of you that I do notcut off from my altar will be

(04:36):
spared only to blind your eyeswith tears and to grieve your
heart and all your descendantswill die in the prime of life,
and what happens to your twosons, hophni and Phinehas, will
be a sign to you.
They will both die on the sameday.
I will raise up for myself afaithful priest who will do

(04:56):
according to what is in my heartand mind.
I will firmly establish hishouse and he will minister
before my anointed ones always.
Then everyone left in yourfamily line will come and bow
down before him for a piece ofsilver and a crust of bread and
plead, appoint me to somepriestly office so I can have

(05:19):
food to eat.
That is a word of prophecy givento a priest, a high priest in
Israel, who had had fallen intothe trap of treating the things

(05:45):
of God lightly.
And folks, sometimes that is atemptation or a snare that we
can all fall into, any one of us, and that is to be cavalier

(06:07):
concerning the things of God ortoo casual, just too casual.
I'm not talking about theclothes we wear, but I'm talking
about the attitude that can bein our hearts and minds.
They can become complacent andI know that sounds hard, but

(06:30):
it's really meant to be acorrective thing for those of us
who are in a place where that'staking place.
And also it's a warning.
It's a clear warning that thereare certain things that we just
don't play with man.

(06:50):
We don't just come waltzing inon certain things and think that
we got the whole right to thewhole show.
We got dibs of anything,especially in leadership whole
show.
We got dibs of anything,especially in leadership, that
we can just get fat off of thewhole name of God.

(07:10):
You know, let's do somethingand make a whole lot of money in
the name of Jesus.
We've seen that.
We have seen it and we've seenpeople call it God and it just
isn't.
And we've also seen how thosethings topple, and they're still

(07:31):
toppling today.
There are places that aregraveyards that used to be
packed full of people because ofmarketing skill and
money-making schemes Nothingmore than a pyramid system where

(07:51):
the people on top get rich andthe people beneath work their
tails off for nothing, with thepromise of getting something
great given to them because theyare giving to the Lord.
Well, these folks were doingsomething similar.

(08:12):
They were taking the offeringsof God and they were just as we
read in the previous verses.
They were taking some of thechoice pieces of meat and using
them for themselves.
And Eli was as guilty as hissons because Eli was getting fat

(08:34):
.
Eli was a big, fat man, fat offof the offerings of God, so fat
.
We're going to learn that whenhe died he fell over backwards
and broke his neck because hewas so fat, he was so obese
Gluttony was one of his things.
But also he failed to correcthis sons, and sometimes we can

(09:01):
be that as well.
We can be that type of peoplewhere we fail to correct our
spiritual sons, our spiritualsons and daughters, our
spiritual daughters or ournatural, our biological sons and
daughters.
We treat them better than wetreat God.

(09:25):
That's what Eli was doing, andGod sent a prophet, and in the
scriptures we don't even knowthe prophet's name.
How do we know it's a prophet?
Because when you translate manof God in Hebrew, it is Ish,
elohim, i-s-h, elohim,e-l-o-h-i-m.

(09:51):
Elohim, meaning man of God orprophet, and so we have a
depiction of something that isso significant that we have to
take note and say there arethings that go on, and when we

(10:11):
don't tend to them or we treatthem better than when we treat
the things of God, there is amessage that's going to come to
us, sometimes through aprophetic word, sometimes
directly to us through aprophetic word, and this came to
Eli through a prophetic word,but the man was Esh Elohim.

(10:32):
He was nameless and faceless.
I love that he was nameless andfaceless and we can see
something in that.
I see a lot in that.
I want to be a nameless andfaceless voice.
I don't care if people know myname.
I want them to know Jesus.
I want them to know the name ofJesus.

(10:55):
I want them to know God, theFather, god the Son, god, the
Holy Spirit.
I want them to know God ofJesus.
I want them to know God theFather, god the Son, god, the
Holy Spirit.
I want them to know God, godbeing elevated, my name let it
be just a name a person likethis man of God.
They didn't name him.
So in this we can findsomething very significant that

(11:15):
there are times where we aregoing to be ministering and we
do it in obscurity Hallelujah,we could see more people like
that.
But the fact of the matter isthis that there are strong
things that take place, thereare consequences to the acts
that we do, and that's notnecessarily a popular message

(11:36):
where we talk about consequences, and that's not necessarily a
popular message where we talkabout consequences.
If there aren't consequences,there is no way that there could
be any type of accountability.
There's no consequence, then wehave anarchy.
But there has to be someelement of consequence, but also
a respect for God, an honor, areverence for God.

(11:59):
God is worthy.
God is the creator of theuniverse.
He is worthy of our ultimaterespect and when we don't treat
him tabloidly or his things socasual that we can just do
whatever we want, we have to goaccording to what's in his heart
, his purposes, his kingdom come, his will, be done in the earth

(12:24):
as it is in heaven, and so theword of the lord for us is this
let's not treat things of god socasually that we become too
comfortable, becauseover-familiarity breeds contempt
, and when we have contempt forthings, we treat them wrong and

(12:46):
in the process we cross over aline, and sometimes there are
significant consequences tocrossing over that line.
Eli paid a big price, butbecause you know why?
Here's why he had big privilege.
With big privilege comes bigresponsibility and also big

(13:18):
consequences when we don'tfollow the purpose and plan of
God that's given to us for thatvery role that we're functioning
in.
So, folks, let this be a noteto each and every one of us that
there are things that we needto be attentive to, and let's
treat the things of God withrespect and not be too cavalier
about what we're doing.
Let's pray, father, I thank youonce again for who you are, and

(13:39):
we honor you, we love you, wegive you our hearts and our
minds, we give you our adorationand we revere you.
Lord, there is a healthy fearof who you are and I love you.
I love you, but I honor you.

(14:00):
So, holy Spirit, teach us towalk in a way that is
circumspect to the things of thekingdom, and we pray these
things in the name of Jesus.
All right, folks, we love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atlifearoundthefire at gmailcom,

(14:21):
or type in lifearoundthefire andlook us up on the web.
We would love to hear from you.
In the meantime, god bless you.
Adios amigos.