GOD IS ENOUGH

Introduction

Good morning, as you all can see; I am not Trey Shealy. This may be confusing to some for it is hard to tell the difference between us right? Let’s be honest there are a lot of differences between me and Trey, but I would have to say there is one major obvious difference that stands out above them all. I mean it's almost black and white obvious. Alright, lets be real, the biggest difference between me and Trey is that I have a head full of hair and he is bald. That being said, my name is Dante Boyd, I am a Church Plant Resident here at Radius Church. Today I will be covering the story of Jephthah as we walk through the book of Judges in our Let Me Do Me series.

Does anybody in here have a ridiculous childhood story that has no significance but it's just a random memory? I have been blessed and cursed with the ability to remember random and mostly meaningless memories from deep back in my childhood. I have this one particular memory in mind right now. I was in 4th grade at Pomaria-Garmany Elementary School. PMA Baby! Anyways, we were at school one day and we were having a tornado drill. All of this sounds normal and regulated only this time, there was an actual tornado. As someone who was just educated on the different types of storms, I think that was second grade, am I right teachers in the room? I was well aware of tornados and I was terrified. Now y'all have to understand that I am not like most people when I am scared. My wife will vouch for this, but when I get scared, I don't scream, I don't yell, I don't panic, I just go completely emotionless. Im not sure why I do it, it could be because I refuse to show weakness as a man, or it could be a survival mechanism to immediately think to save myself over the lives of everybody else who's are too busy panicking and not thinkingng. So we are in the middle of this live tornado drill, I am against the wall, criss cross applesauce, head down holding my social studies book above my head. I chose my social studies book because it was the thickest book we had, that's right Dante Boyd aint dying today, God Bless America. Meanwhile, I hear a commotion coming from down the hall. It's my friend Jeronimo Garduno. I had to say his name like that at least once and you'll see why later. We all knew Jeronimo was terrified of tornadoes and so this was not abnormal. What was abnormal to me at this point in my early life was the fact that Jeronimo was so scared, that he was crying, shaking, and turning red. Now understand, for those that have not caught on yet, Jeronimo was not a caucasian kid. So we have a 4th grade Dante in the middle of a live tornado, witnessing his first panic attack ever, and a non caucasian kid turning red. All I could think was, we are about to die. So what did a 4th grade Dante who has accepted death began to do. “Father God I come to you to ask you to PLEASE not let me die God, PLEASE. God if you allow me to live, I promise to never sin again God, PLEASE! By the Grace of God, I am here today because the Lord was faithful. Amen.

I promise that story has some relevance to today's message. Today I am going to be continuing in our “Let Me Do Me” series as we move through the book of Judges. We are going to look at Jephthah, the mighty worrier, and his story about how he delivered a Gilead from the Ammonites. As we go through this story today, I really want this question to be on the fronts of your minds.

Do you know that God is enough?

Repentance

We are going to begin in Judges Chapter 10:6. This is setting the scene before for Jephthah.

The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.

I feel like this is a broken record in this series. “The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”. Verse 7.

7 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, 8 and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

18 years, now that's a long time. Can you imagine making a sinful decision that bear consequences for 18 years. Verse 10.

10 And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”

This is good right. It has taken them 18 years of slavery to get to this point, but at least they are here now right? Lets keep reading.

11 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? 12 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. 13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”

Wait a minute now, this kind of seems a little harsh right? Lord did they not just repent. Well honestly God, this is like the 5th or 6th time they have done the same thing so I don't blame you honestly. Verses 15.

15 And the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.”

This is deep. They said, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you”. I want to pause right here. Before in verse 10 They were crying out for help acknowledging that they were wrong for worshiping the bales. God threw that up in their face and told them to ask the other Gods for help. They respond by saying “do to us whatever seems good to you”. There it is, the heart change. When is the last time have asked for God’s Will over your favor? Or have you ever asked for Gods Will over your favor? Verse 16.

16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel.

“They put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord”Ahh So that's what it was! In verse 10, they acknowledged that they were wrong and asked to be saved! They were asking this while continuing to serve the little g gods! How crazy! we would never do anything like that in today's time, right? If we break this down we can see an interesting formula. In verse 10 they acknowledged their sin, in 15 they showed heart change, and now in Verse 16 they are taking action against sin and toward God. Then what happened? “and He became impatient over the misery of Israel. Wow. This true repentance. Repentance means to turns away, and that's exactly what they did, it just took 18 years of slavery and getting blessed out by God Almighty. If you break it down, it is not a complex process. Acknowledgment of sin + Heart Change + Action= Repentance. What is it that we need to truly repent from? or better yet

Is God enough for you to repent.

Lets continue.

18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Here comes our guy, Jephthah

Relationship

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

Here we have Jephthah, the next judge or small s savior if you will. What do we know about Jephthah. He is a mighty warrior, he is an illegitimate child,and he was banished. “and lived in that land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him” worthless fellows, went out with him, that doesn't sound like they were evangelizing to me. Okay so it is obvious that Jephthah was not righteous, but to me it was not his fault, it was his brothers who chased him out! Anyways, this is Jephthah our judge, let's continue.

4 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. 5 And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” 7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” 8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” 11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.

So the elders of Gilead, AKA his brothers come and ask him to help them. Jephthah then negotiates into these contingents of becoming their leader, what a guy right. Jephthah the negotiator. Fast forward, Jephthah sends messengers to the King of the Ammonites attempting to explain history how Gilead is their land and he asks for them to restore it peacefully. Yeah, he is negotiating again. The king of the Ammonites doesn't respond and now its go time. Verse 29.

29 Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

“the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah” there it is, God’s anointed judge, let see what he does. Verse 30.

30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 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.”

What. a. vow. We will come back to this. Verse 32.

32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand.

Well I guess the vow worked am I right? Wrong, this was actually a foolish vow! Honestly I don't know which is worse Jephthah's vow or 4th Grade Dante’s vow to never sin again. “Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah.” Imagine having the power of God Almighty in the palm of your hand heading to war for His people and your first step before battle is to negotiate. I mean He was doing what he knew to do, can you blame him. It is crazy though! That is similar to being given a million dollars and saying “hey if you let me borrow $20 dollars, I’ll work for you for one week for free”. Right, it doesn't make any sense. Do you truly know the value of a million dollars, if you're attempting to to make a foolish negotiation for $20. It is obvious that Jephthah did not see the value of the spirit of the Lord. He did not know that God was enough. In my personal walk with Christ, I notice that the deeper I grow in my relationship with Him, the more I value Him and continue to pursue a deeper relationship. Jephthah's relationship with God was obviously lacking. This makes me ask myself; is my relationship with God, hindering me from seeing more of His value? Is the quality of your relationship with God hindering you from see his value? How deep is your relationship with God?

Is God is enough for you to pursue deeper relationship?

Alright, moving on in the story.

Culture

So the battle is won, the Israelites are saved once again, let's see what is next. Verse 34.

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 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.”

I told y'all that vow was foolish. Verse 36.

36 And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” 37 So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” 38 So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. 39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah’s vow was foolish, and it costed him greatly. It is obvious that Jephthah’s knowledge of who God is, was lacking. But it is not completely obvious why. I read a book called Judges For You by Tim Keller that broke down Jephthah s story in a chapter. There are some who believe that Jephthah was influenced by pagan culture in the land of Tob and it affected the way he saw God. I believe that this makes sense. In verse 24 when he attempting to negotiate with the King of the Ammonites and he says,

24 Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.

It's clear that he had knowledge of pagan Gods and culture. I also believe that that played a part in why he thought a potential human sacrifice would please God as for it was how pagans pleases their Gods. Believers knew better for it was addressed in Deuteronomy 12:31 referring to the warning against idolatry.

31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

God hated human sacrifices and what else would meet Jephthah out of his front door. I assume he thought it would be a servant but it just so happened to be his daughter. It is clear that Jephthah knew that God existed but his knowledge of who God is was obviously misconstrued. It makes sense to me considering that he grew up away from home, leading a band of worthless man, who some commentaries believed were robbers.

If Jephthah had a deep relationship with God he would have known that he could have repented from his foolish vow. Some commentaries believe that he kept his vow because he was fearful of the what God might do if he did not. It seems to me that Jephthah had a looped God almighty with pagan god characteristics. I would have to agree with Tim Keller that suggest that Jephthah’s relationship with God lacked because of his pluralistic culture that he grew up in. Some small s Gods ideology got in his view of God almighty and it costed him dearly. That being said, God still chose to use him to free His people. We live in a pluralistic culture where all beliefs and practices are accepted. How is our culture manipulating our view of God Almighty? At a point in my life I have identified with a group of people that referred to themselves as “The Culture”.

Is God enough to be over culture?

Conclusion

Is God Enough? You know it's funny because I made that vow as a 4th grader facing potential death from a tornado at school. I thought that prayer saved my life when it was said and done. I remember feeling the weight of being grateful for being alive, but then thinking, “oh man, I better not sin now”. Well by the end of the school day I had probably forgotten all about it honestly. Jesus has been Lord over my life for the past 5 years and I know now that it was already in Gods plan to keep us safe that day. It was already Gods plan to use Jephthah to deliver the Israelites from the Ammonites. There was no need for a foolish vow, God alone is enough.

Judges does this great job of capturing the tension between God’s love and grace for His people but also His Holiness and wrath towards idolatry. It's an unending cycle of people saying “Let Me Do Me”, then repenting, and God rescuing them with temporary small s saviors. It seemed liked an unsolvable never-ending cycle. However, I am happy to be here today to tell you that there was a solution this whole time and the solution is permanent. That solution is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

So I ask you today, Is Jesus Christ enough? Is Jesus Christ enough for you? Is Jesus Christ enough for you to acknowledge that one sin, to have change in your heart towards that one sin, and turn away from that one sin? “he became inpatient over the misery of Israel. Can you imagine repenting from that one sin that has a grip on you. Imagine turning from that one sin that has had a grip on your family for generation after generation; and God Almighty becoming impatient over your misery. Man, aint He Good?

Is Jesus Christ enough for you to pursue a deeper relationship with Him? Maybe we have some sort of a relationship with Jesus but have become complacent. We see that Jephthah was used to save God’s people, yet he deeply suffered at his own hand for his lack there of in knowing who God is. How well do we know Jesus and what knowledge are we lacking that causes us to suffer? Maybe you don't know Jesus at all and would like to? I invite you reach out to me personally. You can also fill out a connect card and we can get you connected to somebody who is waiting on you to take that step.

Is Jesus Christ enough over our culture? Is Jesus Christ enough, or do we need our political party in office. Is Jesus enough or do we need more money or a better job. Is Jesus enough or do we need to another vacation? Is Jesus is enough or do we need our kids to live their best life. Is Jesus enough or let me do me? Hey, I could go on and on, but at the end of the day; GOD IS ENOUGH.