Sunday’s sermon at the Long Ridge Congregational Church (non-UCC), in North Stamford, Connecticut, was delivered by Rev. David Newberry. His text was from 1 Corinthians 13.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-2)
....And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
Do we love and worship God because he is the all-powerful, majestic Creator of the universe? Or do we turn to God only when we need something? Do we think only of what we want, rather than what God wants us to do?
In the transitional period between the original tribal structure of the Israelites in the Promised Land and their first king, tribal judges had warned the people against corruption in the priesthood and denounced their worship of false gods. 1 Samuel 4:1-22 records a disastrous military encounter with the Philistines. The Israelites went into battle without seeking God’s guidance and without worshipping Him alone, relying upon their own strength and false gods.
Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies." (1 Samuel 4:1-3)
Unrepentant for their repeated apostasy, the Israelites blame God for their defeat, not acknowledging that it was they who first turned away from God. They seek military salvation in a physical object, the Ark, as they had been turning to idols of stone and wood to worship other gods.
They failed to understand that God is present everywhere, at all times. We must draw close to Him and pray for His guidance.
So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. (1 Samuel 4:4)
So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. (1 Samuel 4:10-11)
Still not understanding that the source of their defeat was their breaking the covenant between Moses and God, the Israelites think of God as a physical presence in the Ark.
Phineas’s wife dies in childbirth when she hears that he has been killed. And as she dies:
She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel"-because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured." (1 Samuel 4:21-22)
What matters is what is in our hearts. When we rely on God alone and strive to reflect His love in our daily conduct towards others, we can feel God’s presence wherever we are.
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