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Treehouse Homegroup Meeting – 1 Samuel 4

Samson, Jephthah and Eli possibly ruled at the same time. (v. 9 supports this because the Philistines treated the Israelites as slaves.)

Spurgeon Sermons:
The Form and Spirit of Religion 1 Samuel 4:3
Is God in the Camp? 1 Samuel 4:7

Hannah: ”The Form and Spirit of Religion” 1 Samuel 4:3
The Israelites were trusting in the ark which was a physical thing – ”the form”, what they really needed was the LORD in their midst – ”the Spirit”.
Both forms and Spirit are important in religion.
Forms in our religion today – Baptism and Communion
”The form of religion must never be altered.”
4000 men died before they had the ark, 30,000 !!!!!! men died when they had the ark!
Spurgeon used the word ”superstition” to describe how the Israelites used the ark thinking that it would magically make them win.
Communion – ”He who drinks the wine unworthily drinks damnation … unrepentant sin – a form of religion we need to practice
1 Corinthians 11:27-29: 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Talked against the Puseyites, Pharisees, clergymen of England, etc. – doing the motions, outward signs, and not trusting in God.
Easier to follow the form than the spirit of religion ex: hinduism
More humbling to believe and live than denying ourselves of all these things, walking with spikes in your shoes, etc.
”Human nature does not mind what you tell it to do as long as you don’t tell it to believe.”
Mom: John 6:29 – story in the gospel of people asking Jesus what they must do to do the work of God and Jesus says ”Just believe.” The work of God is to believe in the One who sent Me.

Richard: Is God in the Camp?
This teaching focuses on verse 7.
In the first half, Spurgeon explains how superstitious the Israelites are, and the second half he explains the truth that the Philistines did have cause to be afraid–if God really is with us, people better watch out!

They forgot the main matter to seek to do God’s will. Their mistakes included:
1. They mistook the visible for the invisible. By nature, man is both an atheist and an idolater.
2. They preferred office to character. They went to Eli’s sons because they were the officers, but they didn’t consider how evil those guys were. If the leader of the church doesn’t follow God, where will he lead you?
3. They confused enthusiasm with faith. (Israelites making noise, but not really worshiping)
4.The Philistines & Israelites both focused on something ”new,” much to their detriment.

2 Samuel 5 & 1 Chronicles 14–the story of David and the angels in the trees

Live a life of worship–your style of worship doesn’t matter. What does it matter how you garnish your offering?
Everything brought to God must be alive (example: fish are never offered).

Kristin: the Israelites sought one another instead of seeking God. They asked each other why they had been defeated instead of asking God.

Lessons from this story:
The necessity of the divine spirit.
We should do all we can to obtain the presence of God in the camp: Make straight a highway for our God. We must confess our helplessness without God. We must have a desire for the presence of God–all of us must desire it! We must not become an unholy church. There must be unbroken union–the Spirit of God does not like fighting. We must also have a childlike confidence. Believe in God up to the hilt or not believe at all.
Then, retain His presence: praise Him, believe Him, etc…

Dad/Mark: ESV study Bible (and his own thoughts)
One word to describe this chapter: LOSS
Loss of:
4000 men
30,000 men
the high priest
priest’s 2 sons
daughter-in-law
most significantly, the loss of the ark

Typically we think of loss as really bad. But in reality, it was really good! Got rid of the bad priest to make way for Samuel, and eventually David. All this loss was critical for good to happen.

Discussion about the presence of God between the cherubim – Was it really the presence of God there, or just a saying or description … just a symbol, pieces of wood, God is everywhere, omnipresent, etc. When God’s presence is with someone, it usually means that they will do something special, or to judge them. ”Special” presence of God

The Ark and later the temple are both old covenant things in which God dwells in. The New Testament correlation is our bodies.

Phinehas’s wife
She was overcome by her labor pain. So sad. Died from the pain – physical and emotional.
But Spurgeon praises her – Amazing that she believed in the religion at all with all the wickedness of her husband. She did name her son, and she understood that the most significant reason for sorrow was that the ark of the Lord was captured, not because her husband or father-in-law died.
Named her son Ichabod – ”no glory” – even though a sad name, still a significant and honorable one, good things will come from his life and descendants because of the loss (like Jeremiah) because they are experiencing the loss and pain and discipline of God.

Karina – Eli’s weight contributed to his death, but Eli still honored God in the end – he fell over at the news of God’s ark being taken – more important than his sons

Application
Hannah – Takes the most humility to just believe. The root of all sin is not believing in Christ and believing in myself and my own works. Having better standards than God. Nothing that you do has enough merit.
Dad – Loss is good. Celebrate loss.
Karina – Weight loss is good (for some of us).
Rabbit trail – advertisement for weight pills on radio comes with free appetizer suppressant!!!!!! Bonus!!!!!!!!
Mom – They also make appetite stimulants – Maybe iron is natural way.
Taco Bell meat is 89% real beef.
Richard – I don’t really do that. I just let things soak in.
Mom – verse 3 – They ask a question to each other and then just went ahead and did something instead of asking God. I want to direct my questions to God first.
Karina – Turn to God immediately. Don’t run away or hide. End of Spurgeon’s sermon ”Is God in the Camp” – living sacrifices – completely give yourself over to God.
Richard – studying the Bible together – choose scripture to read ahead of time and then when visiting discuss it all together!
David – related to Keirkagaard, trusting in God continues to pop up as a theme
Heidi – enthusiasm for the presence of the LORD.