Judges: Disabled Gratitude, Distorted Grace, and Dissolved Love: Why you can't contaminate your Christian faith with pagan culture (Judges 10:6-12:7)

“Clear water is not always a sign of clean water – or so suggest two new reports on water-associated disease outbreaks published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2013-14, a total of 42 drinking-water-associated outbreaks caused by infectious pathogens, chemicals or toxins were reported to the CDC from 19 states. The reports do not include lead contamination.

These outbreaks led to at least 1,006 cases of illness, 124 hospitalizations and 13 deaths...” (https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/09/health/cdc-water-contamination-reports/index.html)

She explains how aging infrastructure and a lack of funds are the likely culprits for contamination of waterborne bacteria in the tap water. The last sentence of her article, a warning really, struck me. Quoting a woman from the CDC, the last line reads,

“A lot of these bacteria and chemicals are colorless, odorless, and you aren’t aware the quality of your water is bad until you consume it and become ill.”

Water is meant to give you life. Societies that have healthy water thrive. When communities such as Flint, MI and Jackson, TN water became contaminated it brought disease and despair. Both Governors had to declare a state of emergency for those communities.

Jesus told the woman at the well he would give her living water, a water that is pure, and satisfies her soul. We learn later that the living water Jesus was referring to was the gift of His holy Spirit. As one commentator put it, It is the ministry of the Spirit, flowing out of a heart redeemed by God, that blesses believers and, through them, brings life and light to the world. You have a spring of Spirit empowered water flowing inside of you that is meant to bring life and light to this world. But what happens when that spring is contaminated?

What can contaminate the spring inside of you? Sin. Sin quenches the Holy Spirit. Like the waterborne bacteria that causes illness in the article, so sin contaminates your heart, your faith, and you light in the world. What’s more, like the contaminated water, sin often goes undetected until you are gravely spiritually sick.

The common source of contaminated faith is too often pagan culture. By pagan I mean any culture that does not submit top Jesus; that can be both liberal and conservative. When your faith is contaminated with the pagan culture there are severe symptoms show up in your life. First starters, you loose sight of the magnitude of God’s grace in delivering you out of the kingdom of darkness and into His kingdom, and you suffer ingratitude for His salvation. Second, pagan culture puts a kaleidoscope to the eyes of your heart and it distorts God’s grace in your life. You do not see God correctly and therefore you don’t trust him fully. Finally and unfortunately, your love grows cold for God and for neighbor, so much so you stop caring about your church community and look for an escape. Through the story of Jephthah, this morning, I want help you see, that,

Contaminating your Christian faith with the pagan culture disables your heart with ingratitude, distorts your view of God’s grace, and dissolves your love for neighbor.

Contaminating your faith with pagan culture disables your heart with ingratitude for God’s deliverance (Judges 10:6-18)

Once again, Israel goes off the deep end. They serve false gods. The writer mentions seven of them in verse 6. As you know, seven is the number of completion in the scriptures. God’s patience was exhausted, his anger burned against them because of their idolatry, so he sold them in the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites (v7). For eighteen years, God used not one, but two nations to crush and oppress his people. God warned his people in Deut 28:33, that if they forsake their covenant with Him,

Deuteronomy 28:33 ESV

A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually,

The irony of Israel’s worship is that they left the one true God to worship a false god, even a demonic being. They counted on their false god to provide and protect them. God gives them over to the nation of these false gods, and they wind up being crushed and oppressed. This has been their pattern, to contaminate their worship of God with pagan culture, and they suffer for their idolatry. Timothy Keller wisely makes the point, “Idolatry always leads to enslavement.” After several cycles of this, one would think Israel would learn, but they don’t. They harden their hearts and go even further by adding on the Philistines and Ammonites. Now, in chapter 10, they are crushed and oppressed by the Philistines and Ammonites.

In Judges 10:10, the people, once again, cry out to the Lord. They sound like they are repentant. They say, “we have sinned because we have forsaken you and by following the false gods.” In verse 11, God exposes their heart, though. Notice he does not send a prophet, but speaks directly to his people.

Judges 10:11–13 ESV

And the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.

How many times had God delviered his people? God mentions seven times in verses 11-12, and every single time, Israel goes back to their idolatrous ways! God says, “I’ve had enough! I will not save you anymore. Let your false gods save you!”

I can relate to British theologian Henry Wheeler Robinson when he says,

Themes: Sin; Thankfulness

“In some ways, ingratitude is the worst of all sins. For it is selfishness sinning against the light of unselfishness.”

H. Wheeler Robinson

God in his kindness, mind you, not his obligation, delivered Israel from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom of light, and how does Israel show appreciation to the Lord? Idolatry. They break their covenant over and over. When Israel repent’s, it is full of hypocrisy and it lacks gratitude. They took advantage of God’s compassion and long suffering. Furthermore, they did not appreciate how appalling sin is to God and how much it affected their fellowship with Him. They allowed the pagan culture of the Canaanites to seep into their worship and social norms (read Amos), and the result was ingratitude for God goodness, His grace, and His great deliverance.

William Wilberforce, who was a friend of John Newton, once said,

“Ingratitude sickens the heart, and chills and thickens the very life’s blood of benevolence.”

William Wilberforce

When your heart is sick with ingratitude it does not feel the flame of God’s benevolence, His good will toward sinners, His charity, His kindness. An ungrateful heart toward the Lord becomes bitterly cold toward the things the Lord is passionate: His word, His worship, His Church, His Great Commission. God becomes nothing more than a vending machine; your prayers go up and your blessin’s come down.

Christian, if your heart os cold toward the Lord right now, if you are making light of your sin, indulging in it, even secretly, and you are making a presumptuous claim to God’s compassion, please be reminded that it was God’s lavishing love and undeserved mercy for you that sent his Son to die on a cross to atone for your sin, cleansing you of all unrighteousness, and giving you a good and perfect eternal life. Why would you be like a dog who returns to his vomit (Proverbs 26:11) doing the very thing that dishonors your Lord? That is what Israel did to God when they contaminated their commitment to God with pagan culture, and that is what you do when you choose to embrace worldliness and claim Jesus as Lord.

How many Christ proclaiming people are their in the church that swear they are believer, but nothing in their life bears fruit that glorifies the father and proves they are a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8)? They are rarely in church. They walk out on their families. They live nonchalantly in sexual sin. Literally, their Christian doctrine and faith looks more like a Netflix series than the New Testament, and yet they will say Jesus is Lord. When their sins brings them to ruin, they will call on the church to pray and call out to God for deliverance, just like Israel. They will expect God to ignore their rebellion and grant them peace, just like Israel, and when God delivers them they will return to their sinful ways.

John Calvin says,

Ingratitude is very frequently the reason why we are deprived of the light of the gospel, as well as of other divine favours.

John Calvin

Ingratitude blinds you from seeing how desperately you need the good news of Jesus Christ. It blinds you from seeing the blessing of God’s presence in your life. Maybe you experienced His warmth at one time in your life, but you have let your love grow cold, bitter, and ungrateful. Hearts disables by ingratitude are not in God’s word, they are not praying, they are not committed to the church like you should be, and they are escaping way to often to Netflix, Youtube, and Facebook for comfort and relief, all while Jesus calls you to rest in Him.

If this is you, you need to repent of your ingratitude. God is moved by Israel’s heart change, at least in some degree in Judges 10:15-16. What is different in verse 15-16, than was in verse 10, is that they said, “Lord, do whatever seems good to you.” That is, “Lord we know we’ve messed up. You have the right to do whatever pleases you. We surrender.” That is a great first step. Then, in verse 16, they back their confession of repentance with action. They removed the false gods and served the Lord. Their repentance bore fruit. They asked forgiveness, turned from their sin, and followed the Lord. The Lord saw their repentance and was moved to forgive them and deliver them. In verse 16, God could bear their misery no longer; that is, although your sins are many, His mercy is more!

Friend, church goer, Christian, whoever you are this morning, repentance of ingratitude is your first order of business. This morning you need to come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness for allowing pagan culture to place its idols as ruler in your heart, dulling you with ingratitude for magnificence of God’s grace in delivering you from sin and death through his Son. R.T.Kendall says

Godliness is living to the glory of the Lord from the heart out of gratitude.

R. T. Kendall

You cannot glorify the Lord with ungrateful heart. You cannot bear fruit that proves you are Jesus’ disciple with an ungrateful heart.

Martin Luther warns you today.

See that you do not forget what you were before, lest you take for granted the grace and mercy you received from God and forget to express your gratitude each day.

Martin Luther

Gratitude and grace go hand in hand. When you lack gratitude, the eyes of your heart are distorted toward God’s grace.

Contaminating your faith with pagan culture distorts the eyes of your heart toward God’s grace (Judges 11:1-40)

In Judges 11, Jephthah is introduced as an outcast. He is the son of a pagan prostitute. Gilead had another Hebrew lady friend who had sons. They reject Jephthah and banish him from his inheritance. So he flees and surrounds himself with worthless men, kind of like a mob boss surrounds himself with gangsters and thugs.

In Judges 10:18, the people of Gilead are looking for God to raise up a judge who will fight against the Ammonites. Jephthah is a mighty warrior, but he is not a Hebrew and he is not a man of character. Furthermore, he is rejected by his own brothers. And yet, when the Ammonites make war with Israel who do they choose? In Judges 11:6

Judges 11:6 ESV

And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.”

God has not sent Jephthah to his people. They chose their own warrior, a thug and a criminal. Jephthah shrewdly says, “Hold on a minute. You told me to leave my father’s house. You put me in the wilderness. Now you want me to fight for you when you are in distress (Judges 11:7-8). This is typical of Israel. Their pagan Caananite influence is a lousy judge of character. First they kick out the guy who God would eventually use to deliver them, then they invite him back after he’s proven himself to be a thug, a shrewd thug at that.

Jephthah makes a deal with them Judges 11:9-11. At first, Isreal just wanted to hire Jephthah and his worthless men as mercenaries, but Jephthah wanted more. He wanted to rule over them (Judges 11:9), a much more prosperous deal for him. The people agreed and made him ruler over them. In a turn of irony, Israel is now subject to the judge they once rejected. This is a picture of their relationship with the Lord. Israel always seems to be kicking against the Lord, adn they treat his judges the same way.

As Jephthah moves into leadership, he tries to work things out diplomatically with the Ammonites regarding the land they accused Israel of stealing from them . He first offers an historical argument for why the land belongs to Israel in verses 15-22, recounting the Exodus and how Israel won the land fair and square. Then Jephthah offers a theological argument in verse 23-24, arguing that God gave Israel the land and just as if the Ammonites god gave them the land they would be entitled to it. Finally, he offers a legal argument in verse 25-27, stating that the king of Moab must have seen it this way considering he never did anything about it. Diplomacy did not work. War was inevitable. The Ammonites did not listen to him (Judges 11:28).

Jephthah’s distorted view of God’s grace comes into light in Judges 11:29-40. For the first time in Jephthah’s story, God’s spirit comes upon him in verse 29. God’s Spirit empowers him to be victorious over his enemies, but God’s Spirit does not transform him into a follower of Yahweh. In verse 30-31, Jephthah makes a rash vow unto the Lord.

Judges 11:30–31 ESV

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

Keep in mind, it was unlikely that Jephthah had a pet dog or cat. They did not keep pets in the house in Jephthah’s day. Animals lived outside in the stalls or roamed the streets. Also, if Jephthah had an animal in mind, the author would have written the syntax of the sentence differently. It is likely he had in mind a human sacrifice, such as a house servant.

In Judges 11:32-33, God gives Jephthah victory over his enemies. Just like every other Spirit anointed Judge, Jephthah brings peace to the land by delivering Israel from the hand of her enemies. Accept, in verse 34, Jephthah does not experience peace, but dread and disappointment.

His daughter, his only child, was the first one to walk out the door and greet him (Judges 11:34). In crisis mode, he cries out.

Judges 11:35 ESV

And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”

Art first, he blames his daughter, as if she’d know anything about his vow. This is a character flaw. We can maybe let it slide because he could just be so upset with himself, that in his disappointment he aims his frustration at his daughter. He does come his senses in the later part of the verse, “I have opened my mouth the lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” This is where Jephthah’s view of God’s grace is distorted.

First of all, God strictly forbids human sacrifice. God warns Israel,

Deuteronomy 12:30–31 HCSB

be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’ You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice every detestable thing, which the Lord hates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

Caananite worship encouraged human sacrifice. Furthermore, if you made a vow to a Caananite god, and did not keep that vow, especially pertaining human sacrifice, you invited that god’s wrath and evil onto your family. Caananite culture was violent in part because their worship was violent. Jephthah was not seeing Yahweh through the lens of Deuteronomy or Leviticus, but through pagan culture theology.

Had he saw Yahweh correctly, He would’ve seen what Yahweh desires most from his people; obedience, justice, kindness, love, and faithfulness.

Samuel the prophet says to Saul

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

The Lord says through his prophet Hosea,

Hosea 6:6 ESV

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Micah says,

Micah 6:6–8 ESV

“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Jesus said to the Pharisees,

Matthew 9:13 ESV

Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 12:7 ESV

And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

God desires single minded heart united loyal love for him that flows onto for your neighbor and that expresses itself in mercy and obedience. God loves mercy because God is a gracious God. He is not a violent God who is rash and hot tempered. To Moses the Lord said of Himself,

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

On this side of the cross, we see the depths of God’s mercy and grace. How does he show steadfast love and forgive the iniquity and transgression and sin? How does God demonstrate his love for mercy over sacrifice? He makes the greatest sacrifice of all. He offers His Son so you don’t have to offer your sons! He freely gave up his own Son so you can have his love, grace, mercy, and eternal life through his Son’s sacrificial atonement, his resurrection, and his ascension. By faith you can experience the good grace of God. Can you see it?

Jephthah’s distorted view of God’s grace could not help but make a works based vow and burdened him to keep it. Because he could not see God rightly, he did not plead with God for mercy and sought another way to deliver his daughter. Instead, he sacrificed her, not her opportunity to be married, but her life. He gave up his one and only daughter because he could not fathom God to be gracious, a God so gracious he gave up his one and only Son.

J.I Packer says,

Where grace exists it reigns; it is the dominant factor in the situation.

J. I. Packer

Does God’s grace reign in your heart? Have you lost sight of His grace, or have ever even experienced it? If you have, grace become dominant in every aspect of your life and reveals itself most in your faith.

If your heart cannot not see the grace of God you will not trust God. God saves you by grace by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Grace and faith are intertwined together. Grace is giving you what you favor you do not deserve. Faith believes that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him. God’s grace gives you salvation that you do not deserve. Faith accepts that gift on graces’ terms. Furthermore, faith depends on grace for every moment of your life.. David Martyn-Lloyd Jones captures your grace-filled life well when he says,

It is grace at the beginning, and grace at the end. So that when you and I come to lie upon our death beds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us there is the thing that helped us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with grace, it must continue with grace, it ends with grace. Grace, wondrous grace. By the grace of God I am what I am. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

If you allow your heart to be infected with pagan culture, if you allow it to seep into your daily life, ingratitude contaminates your eyes and you cannot see God’s grace in your church, in your community, and in your home. You become unwise with your words. You may not make rash vows, but you will make rash insensitive statements toward your brothers and sisters, your children, and your spouse. You will not see them as God’s instruments of grace in your life, but you will sacrifice them without mercy on the alter of your pride. So much death in your relationships of the church, community, and home comes because you have a pagan view of god’s grace.

Contaminating your faith with pagan culture dissolves your love for neighbor (Judges 12:1-7)

Of course conflict arises in chapter 12. Keep in mind, Jephthah is a thug. The pagan culture he lives dominates his worldview. When conflict arises with Ephraim, gratitude and grace go out the window. He showed great diplomacy with God’s enemies, but with His people, he struck them down (Judges 12:4). No grace. No gratitude to God for his victory. No love for his neighbor.

The reality here is this, if you do not love your neighbor it is because you do not love God. John makes this point clear,

1 John 4:20 ESV

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Bernard of Clairvaux says it this way,

In order that love for our neighbor be entirely right, God must have His part in it; it is not possible to love our neighbor as we ought to do, except in God. Now he that does not love God can love nothing in Him. We must therefore begin by loving God, and so love our neighbor in Him.

Bernard of Clairvaux

Ingratitude and distorted grace dissolved his love for his neighbor because the love of God was not in him, or if it was, it was so cold that it could not be felt. As Timothy Keller notes, “He treats God’s people far worse than he does himself or the world.” (Keller, Timothy. 2013. Judges for You. God’s Word for You. Purcellville, VA: The Good Book Company.)

What about you, friend? Do you love your fellow brothers and sisters with a love that flows from a single-minded hearted untied loyal love to Jesus? Are you choosing to forgive someone? Are you holding a grudge toward your neighbor or loved one? If so, you’ve allowed the pagan culture to contaminate your faith and dissolve your love for God and neighbor. Loving the church happens when you love Jesus, because Jesus loves his church. Mercy is given to those whom have hurt you because Jesus gives his mercy to you. Forgiveness happens because Jesus has forgiven you and compels you to forgive others. If obedience, mercy, and love do not mark your life, you do not know the Lord.

Guard Your Heart From Contaminated Faith

If you’ve lost sight of the magnitude of God’s grace in delivering you out of the kingdom of darkness and into His kingdom, and you suffer ingratitude for His salvation, repent and turn to Jesus. If you’ve allowed pagan culture to put a kaleidoscope to the eyes of your heart that distorts God’s grace in every aspect of your life, repent and turn to Jesus. You can trust him to forgive you and cleanse you of unrighteousness. If your love for the Lord has grown cold and your love for your neighbor has feigned, so much so you’ve stopped caring about your church community, and you are loosing for ways to escape, repent, turn to Jesus. Jesus can cleanse your faith, purify your heart, your affections, your eyes. he is your living water who satisfies your soul.