HONORING GOD BY KEEPING HIS COMMANDS
Numbers 25:10-13, 1 Samuel 2:30-36
INTRODUCTION
When I was growing up, the parents in the neighborhood had watch over all
the children. It common and expected that any parent in the neighborhood
could discipline another parents child when he/she saw the child doing something
wrong. There was no looking the other way.
We are at the point in America, where parents get upset when others give
their children Godly instruction.
When Israel was formed as a nation out of Egypt there was no separation of
church and state. They had only God\’s commands to live by.
God protected His honor by punishing those who dishonored Him.
HONORING GOD BY SERVING
Numbers 25:10-14
V:10 The Lord said to Moses,
11 \”Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. \”
A. Being a Christian comes with tremendous responsibility.
1. Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me.
2. When the Israelite came out of Egypt, God gave them His commands.
3. One of the commands was, thou shall have no other God before Me.
4. Many of the men of Israel disobeyed God by marrying Moabite women
who worshipped Bael.
5. God instructed Moses to kill 24000 who participated in the worship of Bael.
B. One Israelite brought his foreign wife to church (the tent meeting) in defiance
of God command while the nation was weeping.
1. Phinehas, a priest followed the man and his wife out of the meeting and
killed both of them.
2. Phinehas in his position as priest honored God by killing the couple
who dishonored God.
3. As a result, God stopped the curse on Israel.
4. Phinehas was a type of \”Jesus\” whose sacrifice atoned for the sins of Israel.
5. Never underestimate the power of your prayers.
6. Your prayers maybe the only mediator between your neighbors sins and God.
PEACE, A BLESSING OF SERVICE
V:12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him.
13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was
zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.\”
A. God honors those who honor Him before others.
1. In this case, God promised Phinehas that his family would produce
generations of priest.
2. When we honor God with our service we are setting stage for our descendants
to be part of the body of Christ.
3. Train up a child in the way they should go, and when hte gets old he will not
depart from it.
4. Each believer has the awesome responsibility of training children they come
in contact with.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT HONORING GOD
1 Samuel 2:30-36
V:30 \”Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: \’I promised that your house and your father\’s house would minister before me forever.\’ But now the Lord declares: \’Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.
31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your father\’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your family line \”
A. The promise to Phinehas of an everlasting priesthood in book of Numbers was made
400 years earlier.
1. Eli the priest of Israel around 1100 BC allowed his sons to dishonor God
before the people of Israel. Eli failed to discipline his sons when they profaned
the sacrifices of God by taking the best for themselves.
2. As a result of Eli\’s failure to discipline his sons, he took part in dishonoring
God.
3. Generations of Eli\’s family were denied the privilege of priesthood because
of his failure to discipline his sons.
B. We can choose not to honor God with our lives and thus forfeit the promises
God made for us.
1. God is not mocked. He will not honor our disobedient behavior.
2. Every parent has the responsibility to teach their children to obey God\’s
commands.
3. We guarantee the future success of our children by the way we discipline them.
4. No doubt Eli knew the failures of Israel because of their disobedience, yet
he failed to own up to his responsibility to discipline his own sons.
5. What ever we do as parents affects our children.
.
THE EFFECT ON YOUR FAMILY FOR NOT HONORING GOD
V:32-33. \” and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, in your family line there will never be an old man.
33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life. \”
A. Honor your mother and your father and your days will be long.
1. The first curse on Eli\’s descendants was short lives.
2. Eli\’s descendants would not live to be old men giving wisdom to the next
generation.
B. The second curse to Eli\’s descendants, was some were prevented from being
priest.
1. It is a blessing to be allowed to serve God.
2. It is a curse when you don\’t have the desire to serve God.
C. The third curse to Eli\’s descendants was grieving hearts of parents who
would see their children die in the prime of their lives.
1. The consequences of dishonoring God with our lives is a lower quality of
life of our children.
2. It is selfish behavior on our parts as parents not to serve God and not to
teach our children to honor God.
3. After God, the welfare of our children ought to be our first priority.
YOU CAN BE REPLACED
V:34-36 \”\’And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to
you, they will both die on the same day.
I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart
and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one
always.
Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece
of silver and a crust of bread and plead, \”Appoint me to some priestly office so I can
have food to eat.\”\’\”
A. Imaging being told by your successor, the one you trained, that your services would no
longer be required.
1. Eli\’s was the voice of God until he stopped honoring God with his life and the
life of his sons.
2. God placed in Eli\’s service his successor, Samuel .
3. Imaging being told by your successor that both your sons would die on the same day.
B. We should never want to get into a position where God stop speaking to us, but speaks
to others about our demise.
1. We should never take the position that God has given us for granted.
2. We can easily be replaced.
3. God blessed us with gifts and talents so that others might benefit and that
He gets the glory.
C. Samuel was the priest of Israel that God raised up after Eli.
1. The Levite tribe, priests of Israel, were not given land to cultivate for their
living.
2. They were to serve God with the sacrifices of the offerings of the people
to God for atonement of their sins.
a. They were given a portion of the sacrifices for their survival.
b. Because of Eli\’s failure to teach his sons their office and to discipline
them, his descendants was forced to beg for their subsistence.
3. God does not place us in position for ourselves, but for the benefit
His people.
4. If we fail to be faithful in the position He has placed us, He can replace
us with another faithful person.
THANK GOD FOR HIS TOLERANCE
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
5510 West Sam Houston Toll Way North
Houston, Texas 77041
For more lessons follow me on facebook and vist my blogs
\”goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com\” and revmmitchell.com
