Sermon

A sermon preached at New Hope Lutheran Church,

West Melbourne, FL on November 21, 2010 by Pastor Dale Raether

Be an Ebenezer, Not a Scrooge!

I Samuel 7:2-13

When you hear the name Ebenezer, what’s the first thought that comes to mind? How ‘bout the character in A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge? Maybe some of you’ll even be watching it again before Christmas. So, was Ebenezer Scrooge a thankful man? Not at first! After his mother had died and his father all but abandoned him, Ebenezer couldn’t give his heart to anyone. He almost did once to a nice girl who loved him, but then at the last minute he retreated to the one thing that made him feel safe and secure – money, lots of it. Well, you know the story. One Christmas Eve three ghosts visited Ebenezer and showed him the error of his ways. Life isn’t about money; it’s about loving one another. Anyway Ebenezer was so thankful for having learned this that he spent the rest of his life being generous. What would it take for us to always be like Ebenezer was on Christmas morning? The answer is in his name. Ebenezer in Hebrew means “a stone that memorializes God’s help.” Now, God has given us many Ebenezers, many reminders of how He has helped us in the past. And so, when we’re going through a bad time, an Ebenezer reminds us that since God has brought this far, He’s going to bring us safely through the rest of the way too. Tonight we’re going to see how this worked out with the Children of Israel. May God bless our meditation with joy and thankfulness and make us all Ebenezers to the people around us.

Our text this evening is not very well known. It’s I Samuel 7:2-13. It’s on page 268 if you want to follow along in the pew Bible. We read, “Then all the people of Israel turned back to the LORD. ³ So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only. ⁵ Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the LORD for you.” ⁶ When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Now Samuel was serving as leader. When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. ⁸ They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel’s behalf, and the LORD answered him. ¹⁰ While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. ¹¹ The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar. ¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” ¹³ So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel’s territory.

In the verses before our text the Children of Israel had done it again. They had forgotten who they were and all that God had done for them. And so instead of trusting and serving the Lord, and by the way, here’s a picture of His glory over the Tabernacle, they began worshipping the

idols, Ashtoreth and Baal again. I said “again” because this was their pattern. They would fall away. God would let their country be overrun by nations that worshipped these gods. They would repent. God would rescue them. But as soon as that generation had passed on, the next generation would start all over again.

Many have often asked, why couldn’t the Children of Israel such slow learners? Perhaps a better question is why are we such slow learners? You see, the idolatry of the Children of Israel wasn’t their real problem. It was a symptom of the real problem. The real problem was the sin that lived in their hearts, hearts that were no different than ours. Anyway the Children of Israel like everyone else, would have wanted to live comfortable lives and just be happy.

However, is that a realistic goal? It isn’t. God had told Adam and Eve in the Garden. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. For dust you are and to dust you will return – Genesis 3:17b, 19b.” God uses the consequences of sin to turn us back to Him for the forgiveness of our sins. On the other hand, when people refuse to see this as their greatest need, they will hold on to things for their happiness, or they’ll only believe what they can wrap their minds around. That is idolatry. That is what Ebenezer Scrooge did in the Christmas Carol. It’s also what we’re doing, whenever we prioritize getting and enjoying things above God and His Word.

In our text God rescued His people from that sin. First of all He let everything in their country go from bad to worse. One wonders if this is what God is doing with America. Anyway in Romans chapter one, Paul describes this whole process. In stage one if people aren’t honoring God as God, He will give them over to shocking outward idolatry. By the way, which kind of idolatry is more damning? When people see what they’re doing with their life, and yet still keep refusing to turn to God, God will then give them over to shocking adultery. What’s the latest, 39% of Americans now say that marriage is obsolete. In stage three of sin if the break up the family doesn’t wake people up to the direction they’re going, God will give that nation over to homosexual perversion. And if that doesn’t open people’s eyes, in the last stage of sin God will give them over to evil for evil’s sake, like happened in Hitler’s Germany.

In our text God rescued His people from these stages of sin. He had allowed them to suffer at the hands of the Philistines for over 20 years. Then He sent them prophets like Samuel, who showed them the condition of their hearts, but also showed them God’s love in promising a Savior. And so through the Word, God turned them back to Himself and now in our text they were joyfully, thankfully recommitting themselves to Him.

However the Philistines found out about this. They knew that if the Children of Israel returned to God, He would protect them. And so we read in our text, “While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle.” Can you imagine the fear the Children of Israel had as they saw the Philistines coming? The Philistines had fantastic weapons. The Children of Israel had crummy weapons, plus they were badly outnumbered. How tempting it would have been to right away give up on God again. But they didn’t. We read on, “They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” Wouldn’t one prayer have been enough? As far as God is certainly would. But these people had so much guilt for the way they had lived for so many years, that they feared for whether God would spare their lives. It can be the same for us. We might be facing something worse than an army of Philistines, and so until our situation is resolved, we too may pray over and over again, because that’s way prayer is. But even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed three times, or on the cross the Greek indicates He was praying continuously, “Father, forgive them; Father, forgive them.”

God heard Jesus’ prayers, and so He also heard Samuel’s prayers. We read in our text, “While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. ¹¹ The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” This is how quickly God can turn things around. But will He for us also? Let’s consider a few examples from our nation’s history. The first Thanksgiving is an Ebenezer of God’s help. Between the weather, the disease, the hunger, and the lack of knowledge, there’s no way the Pilgrims should have survived, and they knew that. And so they remembered and they gave thanks. And then there was the Ebenezer of Valley Forge. There’s no way America should have won the Revolutionary War, but God gave us the victory. More recently there were many Ebenezers in WWII – battles we statically should have lost, but again God gave us the victory.

Today America needs our repeated prayers more than ever. But let not the goal of our prayers be so that we can all get back to enjoying our “things.” Rather, let our goal be so that we may more freely proclaim God’s Word like Samuel did, and that many more may dedicate themselves to God like the Children of Israel did. But how? As it is, we’re all struggling with the love of ease that’s in our own hearts; and then we look around and see people everywhere in the various stages of sin. How can things ever change?

Well, remember God’s Ebenezers! When mankind was shrouded in the darkness of sin and unbelief, God’s Son became a man and in our place kept all of God’s Law for us. But where’s the monument that reminds us of this victory? It’s our Baptism certificate, because when Jesus was baptized, the Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Through our baptism we are joined to Jesus. His righteousness is now our righteousness.

Another of God’s Ebenezers is the cross. There Jesus defeated Satan’s ability to accuse our consciences, because there His blood paid for every sin. However, when our guilt and fear won’t go away, just the like the Children of Israel’s wouldn’t while the Philistines were attacking, we have another Ebenezer we can look to. It’s Jesus’ body and blood together with the bread and the wine, for there He says, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

With the forgiveness of our sins, our greatest needs have been met! But then what about the earthly needs we still have? What about those illnesses or money problems or what about our spiritual weaknesses we keep falling into? Well, keep looking to God’s Ebenezers and know that thus far the Lord has brought us, and so by continuing in His Word, He will bring us the rest of the way until we’re safe in heaven.

But how shall we respond? I suppose we could join the Philistines or the people of this world with their various idols, but that’d be pretty dumb! Or, we can live the rest of our lives as Ebenezers. With our words and our example, we can be living monuments to who God is and what He did for us. Only let’s not be up and down in our commitment like the Children of Israel were. Rather let’s keep growing in our commitment by taking time out to remember and to give thanks, not just tomorrow, but every day. And then as we keep on looking to God’s Ebenezers, we will be an Ebenezer, not a Scrooge. Amen.

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