CHILD WORSHIP

Eli was high priest of Israel before Samuel.  Eli had two sons, but the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord. (1 Samuel 2: 12 )  Eli’s sons took advantage of the hereditary title of priest.  They were so corrupt that people thought, “If this is how men of God act, I don’t want anything to do with worship.”  And that made God MAD.

Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.  (1 Samuel 2: 17)

Eli heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting (1 Samuel 2: 22)
But all Eli did was scold his sons a little.  He didn’t punish them.  He didn’t demand that they confess.  He didn’t take away their priestly duties or withdraw any of their privileges; even though Eli knew that his sons, priests, were actually causing more sin.

No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress. (1 Samuel 2: 24)

The Lord sent an unnamed prophet to deliver a message to Eli.  The Lord said: Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me? (1 Samuel 2: 29)

Why do you honor your sons more than Me?

When you stop calling it wrong when you find out YOUR child does it, too; you honor your children more than God.

When you ignore the way the Bible tells you to raise your children because you don’t want to upset the child, never mind how it makes God feel; you honor your children more than God.

When you treat your child as infallible and incapable of any wrong and you rebuke everyone who tells you otherwise, regardless of evidence and logic and the fact that you've heard the same things from multiple teachers in every grade at different schools; then you have made your child a holy god in your eyes and you honor your child more than God.

And when you honor your child more than God, then God says:  Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. (1 Samuel 2: 30)

When you honor your child more than God, then God says:

Generations of baby boys will die young.

I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house (1 Samuel 2: 31)

Kids from good homes, surrounded by “saved and sanctified” family, in a land full of opportunity will die young.

Despite all the good which God does for Israel, … there shall not be an old man in your house forever (1 Samuel 2: 32)

And the ones who live will disrespect you, shame you, and break your hearts.

Any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart  (1 Samuel 2: 33)

The tragedy will happen non-stop.

Your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them (1 Samuel 2: 33)

And all the potential you saw in them, all the good you “claimed in the name of Jesus” for your own, will go to another.

I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind  (1 Samuel 2: 35)

And your children and the children of your children will borrow and beg at the feet of others

Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread  (1 Samuel 2: 36)

All because you honor your sons more than God.

Think about it.  Think about it.

Of course you love them so much that you don’t want to deny them anything.  Of course you love them so much that you want to believe everything they say.

But do you love them more than that?  Do you love them enough to discipline them into morally strong men instead of morally empty boys?

Do you love them enough to make them be respectful to all adults because it’s right not because it’s earned so that they grow up knowing that right is not relative?

Do you love them enough to distrust them a little and check their stories before you act on them?

Do you love them enough to  repent of your sins and walk right before them so that they understand that even Daddy and Mama submit to God?

Do you love your children enough to place the love of God, His Word, and His ways above their wants and yours?

Do you love your children enough to honor God more than you honor them?

Well if you don’t, at least you know what to expect.

And the expectation isn't hypothetical. 

Eli continued indulging and enabling his sons for years.  But before his grandchild was born, Eli lost both sons and the ark of the covenant that had been the great charge of his ministry.  After 40 years of ministry, Eli passed out, broke his neck, and died knowing that he’d lost everything he’d been trying to hold onto (1 Samuel 4: 1-18).

And the legacy of Eli’s cursed parenting did not end with his sons. The curse passed to another generation, a generation led by a single mother filled with bitterness over the failings of the men in her family.  With her dying breath, Eli’s daughter-in-law poured that bitterness out on her son.

Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.  And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.”

But she did not answer, nor did she regard it.

Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” (1 Samuel 4: 19 )

We see this curse at work all around us.  The death, the immorality, the epidemic of shameless failure--- they aren’t coincidences.  They’re consequences.

The consequences of honoring our children more than we honor God.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

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Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

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