Life with no King part 1

This morning we are going to be continuing in our series in Judges strength in weakness. We are now entering the final section of the book that goes from chapters 17-21. Technically this is the final sermon, but this final sermon is going to be 3 sermons. So you can think of it as 3 part series finally. This final section is a little bit different than the rest of the book. The first 16 chapters told us the stories of the judges the God placed in Israel to “rule” over Israel. We see their flaws and their shortcomings, and we see how God triumphed through their weaknesses and showed his strength. We also see the fickleness of the hearts of the people of Israel who wavered back in forth between worshipping the God of Israel and worshipping the gods of the people in the land of Canaan. This final section tells two stories that give a more in depth picture of what the condition of Israel during this time. These chapters are often overlooked when studying this book because it’s not pretty, there are going to be some ugly scenes in this section. These are not the stories that kids learn in Sunday School. But I believe these stories are necessary to get a full view of what the spiritual and social climate of Israel during this time.

The author repeats one statement that drives home the purpose of telling these stories. In those days, there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Four times in this section we are reminded that Israel did not have a king. Now this was not meant to be a political statement that Israel needed a human king who would force them to do what was right. This statement was meant to emphasize that Israel had rejected God as their king. Their nation was meant to be a Theocracy. God was supposed to be their supreme leader. His Word was supposed to be their law. God used the judges to in some form enforce his law, but God was the king. Since Israel had rejected God as king, there was no authority, there was no law, everybody just did whatever was right in their own eyes.

This series within the series is titled Life with No King. So this week we are going to look at chapter 17-18 gives us a picture of the spiritual condition of Israel during this time.

Let’s start reading Judges 17:1-6

Judges 17:1–6 ESV

There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

So in the land of Ephraim there is a man by the name of Micah. Right away, we see that Micah is a thief. A thief of the worse kind. He stole from his own mother. Micah hears his mother curse the person who stole her money and gets a little scared that this curse may come true. He decides to confess to his mother that he was the person who stole her money. Now her tone completely changes, instead of a curse, she asks God to bless her son because he returned the money. She determines that she is going to dedicate the returned money to God, and with it, she is going to to make a metal image, a carved statue, an idol in the name of God. One things to note is the discrepancy in the money. 1,100 pieces of silver were stolen, but only 200 pieces of silver were actually “given to the Lord”. But what’s even more important to notice is in verse 3 LORD is in all caps so that is the covenant name for the Lord Yaweh. She isn’t serving Baal, or Ashtaroth, or Dagon - this idol, this carved image was to be dedicated to the one true God.

Somehow, Micah’s mom completely ignored commandment #2 Exodus 20:4

Exodus 20:4 ESV

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

So right away we see a problem, and I don’t think this was unique to Micah and his mother. Israel had taken the idol worship of the people of pagans and implemented it into their worship of the one true God. I believe this is how this happened. Israel had heard the stories of how their God, Yahweh, had delivered their forefathers from slavery in Egypt and provided for them in the wilderness. They had seen God do miraculous things among their people as they conquered the promised land. But they also saw how the people in Canaan seemed to be blessed with bountiful crops and flourishing cities and they wanted part of that too. The result was that they started mixing the worship of their God with the worship of the gods of the people in the land. It was like the Israelites believed they were all worshiping the same God with different names. We call him Yahweh, you call him Baal, but there was really no difference. They completely ignored the fact that God had brought them into the land of Canaan to eliminate these people because they were so wicked in their pagan worship.

But Micah did not just stop with one idol. The Bible tells us that he made an entire shrine. He had household gods, he had his own ephod which was a breastplate the was used by the high priest to get answers from God for the people’s questions, and he even ordained one of his sons to be to be his priest which contradicted God’s law the priests were to be from the tribe of Levi. Micah had basically created his own center of worship.

Now God had told Israel there was to be a central place of worship to God. The place where God’s presence would dwell. It was there that sacrifices were made and worship took place. These things were not to be taking place wherever they wanted. At this time, the center of worship was in Shiloh. To make this worse, Shiloh was actually a city in the tribe of Ephraim. Micah would not have even had to travel very far to worship God where He had ordained for them to worship.

But instead of doing things God’s way, Micah sets up his own homemade, hodgepodge center of worship. Obedience in how to approach God in worship had become optional. God’s Word had become a suggestion of best practices, instead of an authoritative decree. And the author makes the statement for the first time that there was no king in Israel so everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

This is still very much a sin of our time. Question: What was the problem with making graven images of God? The main issue that the entire character of God cannot be captured by an image of a statue. Inevitably, they would highlight the characteristics of God that they wanted accentuate while others were ignored. For example, their image could depict God’s strength, but neglect God’s love. Their image could display God’s mercy, but ignore God’s righteousness. A graven image reduced God into an image that was comfortable to the worshipper. And with a distorted view of God comes a distorted view of morality. Every man does what is right in his own eyes.

People may not carve out physical statues that represent the God they are comfortable with serving, but people have no problem carving out in their own mind (whether consciously or unconsciously) their own depictions of God. They don’t submit to God as He is, but rather they redefine God into what they want him to be. They don’t want to worship a God that says that, fill in the blank - is wrong. People want to worship a God that is all grace and no holiness. Instead of going to God’s word and learning about the character of God and taking it for what it says, they open God’s character up to subjectivity. Which makes right and wrong subject to opinion instead of basing it on the authority of God’s Word. They take influence from culture and from “what feels right” and drum up their own homemade form of comfortable worship just like Micah and many others did in Israel.

But wait, Micah isn’t done yet. In the next verses, the Bible tells us there is a man from Bethlehem who was looking for a new place to live. On his journey, he stumbles upon Micah’s house. And guess what? He’s a Levite. Micah saw this as an opportunity to bring more legitimacy to his house of worship. He requests that the Levite live with him. He would pay him a salary and take care of all of his needs if he would stay there and be a priest for him. Well, this was an offer that this young Levite couldn’t refuse, so he accepts the position. Let’s look at verse Judges 17:12-13

Judges 17:12–13 ESV

And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

So now we see Micah’s true purpose for all of this. Micah believes that this shrine to Yahweh will bring him God’s favor. He thinks that God will give him a good crops, a bunch of sons, health, and riches. The things that made a man in Israel look like a success. Micah was not looking to worship God. He was looking to use God. There are two false premises that Micah has that many people still carry today. One is that God exists for you. The second, is that we can leverage God into doing things for us by doing things for him.

These two false ideas are the foundation of false religion. True faith, a true relationship with God says to God I exist for you. I exist to bring you glory and you owe me absolutely nothing because you have already given me everything. This is the problem with man-made, self-centered religion. It reduces God into someone who we can control instead of exalting Him as the one who has all control and authority in our lives.

Again, today we don’t do this by building up a shrine in our house, but we often do this by trying to hold up our religious acts as a lightning rod for God’s blessings. God I’m going to church. I’m putting my money in the offering plate. I read my Bible this morning. I didn’t yell at my wife today. I gave that homeless man a dollar. You see me God? I’m doing good things, I’m expecting a blessing! We often build up our religious resume’ our shrine to God and think - God owes me something for this. All these things are good, but if they are done out of a heart that is trying to manipulate God rather than glorify God, it’s worthless.

Now if this type of religion that used the worship of God as a good luck charm was exclusive to Micah and his household, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But we are going to see that this type of religion was commonplace all throughout Israel.

Let’s continue the story. Judges 18:1

Judges 18:1 ESV

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them.

The author doesn’t completely restate the phrase here, but we see again what happens when a people do what is right in their own eyes.

The tribe of Dan was still trying to settle into a land to call their own. Judges 1:34 gives us a picture of why

Judges 1:34 ESV

The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain.

So the people of Dan did not successfully go down and possess all of the land that God had allotted to them. From what we can tell, they were forced into a few cities in the mountains and lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Now, they wanted to their own space. Instead of possessing the land that God had promised to them, they decided they were going to look elsewhere. So the Danites sent out 5 men to spy out the land and find a new place for them to settle.

While on their expedition, the come upon the house of Micah and hear the voice of the Levite who had become Micah’s priest. Ater inquiring about the Levite’s business there, they ask him to ask God if they will succeed on their journey, and the Levite confirms to them that God will make their expedition a success.

Well the 5 explorers from Dan continue on their journey and come upon the city of Laish. It was a remote, quiet town, wealthy, with great land, plenty of space, very secure, but they had no major allies close by like the Sidonians who would come to their rescue. It seemed that God had indeed blessed them on their journey, just like the Levite priest said.

They returned home to their tribe and proclaimed Laish as the perfect place for them to settle.The men of Dan wasted no time. An army of 600 Danites took up arms and started their march towards Laish.

The 5 men who spied out the land took the army along the same route which means that they again came to Micah’s house. They informed the rest of their tribe about Micah’s shrine that had given them the good fortune of finding their new home. You see just like Micah, the people from the tribe of Dan believed that all of these religious relics would bring them some good luck as they went to their new land.

So With 600 armed soldiers standing at the gate, The 5 men that had scouted out the land came inside the house, greeted the Levite, then proceeded to steal Micah’s shrine. The household gods, the carved image from his mother, the ephod, they took it all. The Levite spoke up and asked why they were doing this, but the Danites basically said shut up and come with us. You’ll be the priest over an entire tribe rather than a priest over one’s man’s house. Mr. Renta-priest, thought it sounded like a promotion so he agreed.

After ransacking Micah’s house and stealing his priest, the continued on their way. Well Micah realized what had happened, and he gathered the men who lived close by and chased after the Danites. Now the Danites had stolen all this stuff from Micah, but when Micah and his men confront them, the Danites ask, “What’s the matter with you? Why are you coming after us with all these people? Again, Micah’s response is very telling of his view of God. Judges 18:24

Judges 18:24 ESV

And he said, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ”

Now rightfully, he is upset that he’s been robbed and the Danites are pretending like nothing happened. But he says you took my gods and my priest. I have nothing left.

This definitely tells us the Micah had no real relationship with God. His entire “religious expeience” was based upon this shrine that he had built up to gain God’s favor. Without it, he felt that his household would crumble. This is a great reminder that any type of man-made religion will only disappoint you. Whether you turn money, success, power, career, relationships, or even self-centered religion into your god, know that at any moment it can be taken away.

Well, the Danites felt no remorse. They basically told Micah to shut up or they would kill him and everyone else in his household. The few men the Micah had gathered were no match for the army of Dan, so Micah had to let them go.

Dan continues on their mission and conquers the unsuspecting land of Laish. To celebrate, they rename the city Dan and set up Micah’s shrine to be their center of worship. We also learn an interesting fact about the Levite that they had recruited to be their priest. His name was Jonathan and he was a direct descendant of the most famous person from the tribe of Levi - Moses. It seems that this whole shrine thing worked out for them. The city of Dan became an epicenter for pagan worship for years to come. Jonathan’s descendants served as their priests. It seemed like their was something to this shrine that really did bring upon them the favor of God.

But if you were study the tribe of Dan beyond the time of the kings you won’t find much. They aren’t mentioned at all in the New Testament. In Revelation 7:4-8 the tribes of Israel listed as sealed or preserved during the time of Tribulation

Revelation 7:4–8 ESV

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

Noticeably missing is the tribe of Dan. It seems that the tribe of Dan’s role in idolatrous worship in Israel caused them to be disinherited as a tribe. This shrine was not bringing God’s favor on them. It was a symbol that Dan had chosen to go their own way instead of following God. This tribe refused to possess the land that God had given them, and set up there own place of worship in opposition to where God had instructed for them to worship.

I think we can gather this key point from this story in Scripture and the fate of the tribe of Dan.

Religious worship without relationship leads to ruin

What should have both Micah and the tribe of Dan had done? They should have worshipped in Shiloh like God commanded. If they truly wanted God’s favor upon them, they should obeyed God’s commands. God had clearly shown and where they were to worship, and Shiloh should have been the center of their lives. But instead, they chose to center their lives on a self-serving version of religion, and it ultimately ended up in their ruin. And likewise, we cannot get caught up in centering our lives in self-serving religion instead of centering our lives on a relationship with Jesus.

This chapter gives us a picture of a society who does whatever they think is right. It’s not always a conscious rejection of God. The Israelites were still very religious people. An entire shrine in his home? He was very committed to his religion. The Danites were willing to steal and kill in order to have God as part of what they were doing. But their religion was not about God and his glory, it was about their own comfort and prosperity.

If we are going to truly worship God, our worship cannot just be just a means to an end. We cannot go to God so we can get our desires. God has to be our desire. He has to be our focus. Our relationship with him has to be the focal point.

Look with me quickly at John 4:23-24. This is a story that many of us are familiar with when Jesus is speaking with the woman at the well. The woman has a question about the place of worship. Like the time of the judges, their was a designated place they were to worship, but Jesus is letting her know that the time is coming, and now has come, that worship did not have to happen at certain place

John 4:23–24 ESV

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus says that we must worship in spirit and in truth.

In short, in spirit means that it must originate from the heart. Our motivation for worship should be our love for God and for all that He has done. So whether your serving in a ministry, or giving money to the church, or having your own devotional time, it should be done out of a genuine heart of faith, love, and passion for God. And in the heart of the believer, it is the Holy Spirit that moves within us and stirs our hearts, enlightens our minds, and opens our eyes to the God that we should celebrate and devote ourselves to. So we should worship in spirit.

But we must also worship in truth. That means that our worship must conform to what God has revealed to us in Scripture about His character and his commands. It cannot be focused on what sounds good or what feels right. Ultimately, that leads to idolatrous worship. Our worship must be doctrinally grounded and focused on the truth of God’s Word.

Spirit and truth must work together to form true worship. If you take either one without the other it leads to a man-made false religion that is centered upon self and not God. Our worship should be an overflow of the relationship that we have with God. It shouldn’t be something that we manufacture in order to get God on our side. Because as we’ve pointed out, that leads to destruction.

Religious worship without relationship leads to ruin

Let me give you these few thoughts before we go. These are things that we’ve mentioned already, but just to give you some clear thoughts to chew on this week.

I. Religion without relationship will cause you to redefine God into a comfortable image.

We saw this as Micah set up his own shrine for his household worship and completely disregarded God’s commands for proper worship.

We must have a relationship with God in which we know Him and His desire s. We must seek to conform our thoughts and actions into his image. We cannot try to reimagine God into a God we are more comfortable with in order to accommodate a self-centered or culturally acceptable worldview and morality.

I like the way Tim Keller puts. “It’s impossible to have a personal relationship with anyone if they cannot contradict or upset you. That conflict causes you to wrestle into deeper intimacy as you get to know that person better and seek to respect their wishes. But when we simply ignore the parts of God we don’t like, it means we don’t have a God that can ever contradict our deepest desires or say “no” to us. We never wrestle with him. We never let him make demands on us. We can end up worshiping a much more comfortable God, but also a non-existent one.”

II. Religion without relationship will cause you to seek God’s favor, but not God’s glory

We saw this in both Micah and the tribe of Dan. They were religious because they wanted to use God to bless them. They had no real desire to serve God or to obey His Word or to bring Him glory. There primary motivation for religion was to use God for the good things that He could bring into their lives.

We need to make sure that everything that we do in the name of Jesus is focused on glorifying God not trying to leverage God to do things for us. We should be devoted to spending time with God in prayer and Scripture meditation whether He gives us a good day or not. We should seek to live holy and righteous whether God gives us that job promotion or not. We should be committed to giving to God’s work whether God gives back to us or not.

Here’s the good thing though, if we will worship, serve, and obey God out of a pure heart for his glory. God will bring blessing into your life. Proverbs 3:1-4

Proverbs 3:1–4 ESV

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

So yes, obedience to God can bring God’s favor into upon our lives, but I think sometimes that looks much different than what we think it looks like. It’s not always a new car, more money, excellent health, and an easy life. I wish it worked that way, but there are plenty of people who are faithful to God who have lost their job, lived in poverty, and been through tough trials. But God still shows His favor by walking with us and teaching us through even the difficult things that we go through.

Far too often people practice religion thinking. “What does this do for me.” God will bless me because I’m doing right. Then something bad still happens and they get mad at God.

Instead we must approach God like he owes us nothing because He has already given us salvation through His Son Jesus. Anything on top of that is just a bonus.

Religion without relationship will cause you to conform God into a comfortable image. Religion without relationship will cause you to seek God’s favor, but not his glory. And the final thought.

III. If you focus on relationship instead of religion, no one can steal your blessing

Micah built his whole religious life on something that could be taken from Him. When the Danites came and took his shrine he had nothing left. His idols were gone, his priest was gone, and along with them went any chance at God’s blessing in his life.

Anything external can be taken away. For example, there a places all over the world where meeting together to worship like we have done today is illegal. They could be killed for assembling together in the name of Jesus. They can’t depend on their church attendance record to show how good of a Christian they are. What if that were to happen here in America? Would you be able to continue in your faith, or would you slowly fade away. For many, their relationship with God is based upon going to church every week, or tithing, or doing good deeds. All those are good things, but we must always examine the dynamic between us and God in our heart.

If your relationship with God is based upon what’s in your heart, it can never be taken away from you. You will always be blessed because God will always be there. We must seek after that vibrant communion with God in which we talk with Him, and He talks with us, and we find joy and delight by simply being in His presence. Nobody can take that away from you.

This morning we saw the tragic state of the spiritual climate in Israel during the time of Judges. God was nothing more than a good luck charm to bring them prosperity. May that never be said of the spiritual climate in our church or our individual lives. Religious worship without relationship leads to ruin. May we always come from a pure heart of love and devotion to God. Surrendering all, and expecting nothing.

If you don’t know Christ, just gave it all for you...