Help It Make Sense
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Have you ever taken anything for granted?
We do that all the time. It’s human nature. We have something we feel secure about and we begin to take it for granted.
What usually happens when we begin to take people for granted?
Relationships break down, right? We may even lose our relationship with that person.
It’s the same in our spiritual lives as well. It seems to be a consistent pattern with every single person who comes to Christ.
We see Christ for who he is and we are overwhelmed. We are excited and completely on fire for Jesus.
We hunger for God’s word. We study the Bible. But there comes that time where we start taking our faith for granted.
We don’t hunger for the Word as much. We don’t seek other’s to disciple us in our studies. We feel secure in our faith.
And that fire burns down to embers. Help it make sense!!! I mean seriously.
The closer our relationship with the almighty, holy God. Shouldn’t we become even more hungry for His Word? Shouldn’t we desire to know Him more?
The problem is that every single one of us find places where we compromise. There’s something in God’s word we don’t want to follow. So we reject it.
Every time we do that we are actually creating an idol for ourselves. We are allowing worldly flesh to dictate our faith.
In the last message in the Book of Judges we’re going to look at how fast Israel succumbed to worldly flesh. We’re going to be in Chapters 17-19 today.
They speak of what many, myself included, consider to be the worst moments in Israel’s history. They speak of the complete Canaanization of Israel.
Let’s start with Judges 19:1-4
1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
2 And his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months.
3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father’s house. And when the girl’s father saw him, he came with joy to meet him.
4 And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there.
Again we see “in those days, when there was no king in Israel.” The problem isn’t that there was no king. The problem is that Israel refused to recognize their Divine King.
I want draw your attention to the fact that nobody is named in this passage.
There are narrative reasons for this. First, it is representative to what’s claimed in the last two verses. “In those days…everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
Meaning the nameless characters generically represent the whole of Israel. Second, their namelessness represents the dehumanization of individual people in a Canaanized world.
People become objects. Their value is dependent upon what I get in return for the relationship.
Even the Levite, the one who is supposed to be the spiritually pure leader, is grossly disobedient to God. He takes a concubine. We need to define what concubine means in this context.
A concubine was a woman the husband took in a polygamous relationship. Her function, especially in this case, was specifically for the pleasure of the husband.
Maybe, just maybe, you can see how that relationship might break down. So, she cheated on him then she left and went back to her father’s house.
And it took four months for the Levite to go get her. It’s not like it would take a master detective to find her.
She was nothing more than an object used for pleasure. It wasn’t until the Levite’s desire to have her pleasure him grew strong enough that he went to bring her back.
We also see the father-in-law was overzealous in his hospitality. After the three days he kept them another two days and tried to keep them even longer.
Was he trying to make amends for his daughter’s behavior?
Was he actually pimping her out as a prostitute himself and not wanting to lose that cash flow?
We can only speculate, but his hospitality was definitely way overboard.
Skipping to verse 10 the Levite refuses to stay a fifth night even though it’s getting late.
10 But the man would not spend the night. He rose up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him.
11 When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.”
12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.”
13 And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.”
14 So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin,
15 and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.
16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites.
17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going? And where do you come from?”
18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house.
19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything.”
20 And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. Only, do not spend the night in the square.”
21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.
22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.”
23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing.
24 Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.”
25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go.
26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.
The behavior is so horrific it should terrify everyone. If this were a movie or TV series we definitely wouldn’t let our children watch it.
It’s important to note that Jerusalem at this time was captured by the Jebusites and they called the place Jebus.
The Levite and his servants needed a place to stay, but the Levite wouldn’t stay in the land of the Jebusites. Can you imagine the horrific things that might happen to them?
It’s waaay better to stay within the tribes of Israel, right? God’s people are always more hospitable than the world, right?
Isn’t that also true within the church today? Some of the worst pain and hurt comes from within the church.
Again I’ll point out that through all three chapters you will notice only one name is mentioned. Here the worthless fellows represent the tribe of Benjamin.
This is Israel’s Sodom and Gomorrah moment in history. It’s impossible to not see the parallels.
Hosea points out this, shall we say, blemished history in Hosea 9:9
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.
and Hosea 10:9
9 From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
Israel is so Canaanized that they now look at people as objects instead of image bearers of God. People are nothing more than objects to be used for personal pleasure or gain.
So much so that the concubine was sexually assaulted so long and so bad that she died. But, truth be told, she was no less an object to the Levite. He took the concubine back to his residence and cut her body into 12 pieces.
Then he sent those 12 pieces to the 12 tribes of Israel. How compassionate.
This caused 11 tribes of Israel to come together and confront the tribe of Benjamin. We’ll pick up in Chapter 20 verse 12.
12 And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What evil is this that has taken place among you?
13 Now therefore give up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel.
14 Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities to Gibeah to go out to battle against the people of Israel.
I believe we are seeing some similar activity in the church today.
How many churches today objectify people?
We have a portion of the church that has let society change the gospel. They have allowed worldly gods to corrupt their moral compass.
However, we cannot fall into the trap of fighting against them as if we are going to destroy them. That’s like pouring gasoline on the fire. And then we wonder why it flared up.
I’m not going to get into the details of the war between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel. But in the end Benjamin was wiped out down to 600 men.
The other 11 tribes of Israel had made a vow to not give any of their daughters to Benjaminite men for wives. Suddenly they realized they had a dilemma. They had to find wives for the Benjaminite men.
We’ll pick up in chapter 21 verse 8
8 And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead, to the assembly.
9 For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there.
10 So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones.
11 This is what you shall do: every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.”
12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them.
14 And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they were not enough for them.
15 And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?”
17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.
18 Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the people of Israel had sworn, “Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.”
19 So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
20 And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards
21 and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
Israel hatched a plan to root out the evil by destroying a tribe of God’s people. Almost too late they realized there needed to be an inheritance for the tribe of Benjamin.
The people of Benjamin, in Israel’s eyes, no longer represented image bearers of God. They became objects who were following the world instead of God.
They must be destroyed. And it’s important to understand how quickly this moral collapse happened.
Phineas was the grandson of Moses. He was a contemporary of Joshua and would have represented the generation immediately following Joshua.
That’s one generation away from Joshua’s conquest for the land of Canaan. Discipleship has always been a problem for God’s people.
We take God for granted and fail to teach the next generations how to experience God.
D. A. Carson has noted that a church is only ever one generation from extinction—one generation from death. He says,
In a fair bit of Western evangelicalism, there is a worrying tendency to focus on the periphery. [My] colleague . . . Dr. Paul Hiebert . . . . springs from Mennonite stock and analyzes his heritage in a fashion that he himself would acknowledge is something of a simplistic caricature, but a useful one nonetheless.
One generation of Mennonites believed the gospel and held as well that there were certain social, economic, and political entailments.
The next generation assumed the gospel, but identified with the entailments.
The following generation denied the gospel: the “entailments” became everything.
Assuming this sort of scheme for evangelicalism, one suspects that large swaths of the movement are lodged in the second step, with some drifting toward the third.
. . . What is it in the Christian faith that excites you? . . . Today there are endless subgroups of confessing Christians who invest enormous quantities of time and energy in one issue or another:
Abortion, pornography, home schooling, women’s ordination (for or against), economic justice, a certain style of worship, the defense of a particular Bible version, and countries have a full agenda of urgent, peripheral demands.
Not for a moment am I suggesting we should not think about such matters or throw our weight behind some of them. But when such matters devour most of our time and passion, each of us must ask: In what fashion am I confessing the centrality of the gospel?
Do you see it?
Too churches and Christians have succumbed to world views and have poured their souls into those issues. It all started with good intentions.
How can we get those people to like the church?
They left discipleship and the gospel behind for “inclusiveness.” People became objects for gain.
Gain of popularity. Gain of people in the pews. Gain of money. Whatever it was people were the object used for their own personal gain.
They claim to see Jesus as the King of kings, but refuse to worship Him as such. They refuse to fully submit to His authority.
The gospel sees people as image bearers of God. Discipleship is how we see people through the gospel lens.
Only when we see people as image bearers of God can we love them the way Christ does.
In many ways the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control all flow from that love. If we have those, there is absolutely no defense for the person who is seeking.
It completely disarms any argument, and breaks down every barrier.
We don’t need to waist our time fighting with churches and others who are Christians-in-name-only. That’s a distraction Satan is all too happy to throw at us.
I know there are so many Christians looking at their watch, waiting for Jesus to return. We’re in the end times!! We’re so close!!
I don’t need to do anything!! He’s going to return any moment!!
Yes we are to watch for the signs. But what is the core message under all of it? Jesus Christ is our King. God’s holy justice and glorious grace were poured out on the cross.
Yes, we are to be prepared for Jesus when He returns. That means be discipled up. Be full of the fruit of the Spirit. Live the gospel and make disciples.
Otherwise we might end just like the time of Judges ended.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
