The Danger of Strong Faith without Good Theology

The Danger of Strong Faith without Good Theology

The Path to Jephthah

I. The Spiral of Sin that never ends

Judges 10:6-9

A. The people again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

(This is the sixth time that they have turned their back on God.)

(As well as being the start of the Jephthah story, these paragraphs mark the half-way point of the book.)

a. They are sold into the hands of their enemies.

(This is a strong phrase. When you sell a car to a new owner it means they can do with it as they please)

Illustration: Selling our daughters car, that ended up abandoned on the side of the road with no transfer of title.

NOTE: The selling of the Israelites into the hand of their enemy does not mean that he has broken his promise to them, or some how abandoned them. It does mean for a time he has lifted his protection off of them. He let the things they had been serving to actually dominate and control their lives.

Judges describes not a circle but a spiral of sin. We are right back where we started.

Have you noticed how every time Israel ended up adopting a god from another people that nation ends up oppressing them? This time it’s the Amorites.

It is easy to see the futility in this behavior, but has has the human heart really changed over the years?

For example: If someone finds their identity and purpose in a relationship they will sacrifice everything for that failed relationship. I need to find another relationship, I need another wife. So then we move into worshiping another relationship and the spiral continues in our lives.

Roman’s 1:23-25

What happens when we exchange the image of God for an image created to look like mortal man, birds, animals, and reptiles.

“What was the result? “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts.”

Greek word for lust “Epighumia” which means overwhelming drive, an enslaving uncontrollable desire.

One of the main themes of the story of Jephthah will be that the rot which set in long ago has reached the core, causing things that are central to the relationship between God and his people to be adversely affected.

ILLUSTRATION

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac became the first NBA player to stand for the National Anthem as the league resumed play after a 20-week hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The television broadcast showed Isaac, who is Black, standing as players and coaches from both teams, as well as referees, took a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. The 22-year-old forward was also the only player seen not wearing a "Black Lives Matter" shirt.

Isaac can be seen wearing his Magic game jersey instead.

He explained his position on Friday ahead of the game versus the Brooklyn Nets, saying that he doesn't think "putting that shirt on and kneeling went hand-in-hand with supporting Black lives."

"For me Black lives are supported through the gospel. All lives are supported through the gospel," he said. "We all have things that we do wrong and sometimes it gets to a place that we're pointing fingers at who's wrong is worst. Or who's wrong is seen, so I feel like the Bible tells us that we all fall short of God's glory. That will help bring us closer together and get past skin color. And get past anything that's on the surface and doesn't really get into the hearts or men and women."

1.The danger of a Me Centered approach to theology.

Judges 10:6

6 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. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him.

Count the number of gods they served. This was the society that Jephthah was born into.

NOTE: God does not come to save the people immediately. He tells them First: to go and cry out to the gods whom they have chosen; let them save you in the time of distress.

*It appears that God does not take the confession seriously. His verbal reaction is essentially negative, being cast in the form of a modified judgement speech, angry in tone.

Judges 10:10

“They now recognize that they have sinned when they cried out to God. They realize that they are broken and need God to fix them even if it comes at their expense.”

ILLUSTRATION

Idolatry and Slavery go hand in hand. So, God says to the person who worships money: “If you want to live for money instead of me, then money will rule your life. It will control your heart and emotions. If you want to live for popularity instead of me, then popular acclaim will rule and control you. God say’s if you want another God besides me - go ahead. Let’s see how merciful it is to you, how effective it is in saving and guiding and enlightening your life.

Judges 10:13

“I will save you no more”

A Me centered approach to theology leads to REGRET not REPENTANCE.

This must have been a crushing blow to the Israelites, to so displease God that he is now ready to turn his back on their cry’s for help.

NOTE: Never forget that the Lord is patient up to a point.

Romans 2:4

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

He often gives people, especially members of His covenant community, many chances to repent.

During the old covenant, He even sent prophets to warn Israel of its impending doom and the discipline that was coming if the people continued in their sin. 

2 Peter 3:8-10

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Let’s look again at the second appeal to God for help as apposed to the first.

vrs. 10

First Appeal: We have sinned against you, because, we have forsaken our God and served the Baal’s. (Note the plural in Baal to denote multiple Gods) What do we have here, this is admitting they know where they messed up, but does not completely take ownership of the situation.

CULTURAL THEOLOGY: I want you because I want, need you to give me X. We are reveling that X is our real ultimate God.

NOTE: They send their regrets to God and he sent them right back saying, look you’ve been so interested in these other Gods, why don’t you go ask them for help.

A God Centered approach to theology leads to SACRIFICE not SELFISHNESS.

vrs.15

Second Appeal: We have sinned, do whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day. So, they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord.

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY: I want you regardless of whether you give me X,Y, or Z.

They got rid of their foreign god’s to show that they were going beyond the surface to change their hearts not just their superficial appearance.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:

This has much to do with way we read and interpret the Bible today.

We are all wearing tinted colored glasses that have been blurred by the either the culture we live in or the culture in which we were raised. We have lenses that allow us to see some thing very clearly, but other things are distorted by the world around us.

Think, for instance, of the parable of the Prodigal Son. When 100 North American students were asked to read the parable and retell it, only six mentioned the famine the prodigal experiences away from home. In a word, American readers tend to be "famine-forgetters," perhaps because most Americans simply have not experienced terrible famine. Compare the response of 50 Russian readers to the very same parable: 42 out of 50 mentioned the famine. Why? The cultural history of famine in World War II has deeply embedded itself in the Russian consciousness, and this cultural lens influences what Russian Christians see in a biblical text.

How many of you have sat in a Bible Study and had the leader ask you the question, what does this passage of scripture mean to you. You will have half a dozen different interpretations of the same text of scripture.

The problem happens when we make ourselves the center for the search of meaning in the Bible. I will naturally then begin scanning the scriptures for text that are relevant to my life and ignore the greater parts of scripture that are not. This leaves us basing our Christian lives on less than the full counsel of God’s revealed word. This also causes us to confuse application with meaning.

Simply put, I am not the focus of the Bible’s meaning; Christ is.

Yes, as God's image-bearers, we play an important role in the Bible's story. Christ has come to save us, and much of the Bible's story explains the wonder of how he has done just that. But if the first question I ask of a biblical text is how I can apply that text to my life, I leapfrog over meaning to applicability. I place myself at the center of the universe, a tendency especially prevalent among American Christians.

NOTE: So for the greatest commandment, they new the first of the 10 commandments, thou shalt have no other Gods before me, they knew that God is a jealous God and thinks he should be the only God in their lives.

The first attempt was trying to make the most out of a bad situation.

They didn’t rush to the application but to get rid of all the other God’s they had been worshiping, to remember and believe the promises. (If you will follow me and be obedient to my plans I will bless you, if not it is not going to go so good with you.)

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2.The danger of a Culture shaped approach to theology.

D. A. Carson on his book Christ and Culture Revisited

Donald A. Carson

The key to understanding how the church should relate to culture is to have a strong grasp of the major themes in biblical theology.

Culture what is it: the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.

A Jephthah’s Dysfunctional Family

Child of an illegitimate prostitute.

Kicked out of the house at a young age by his half brothers.

Fell into a band of outlaws involved in organized crime.

Yet God raises him up to be a Savior for Israel.

NOTE: So, this is what Jepthah knows. Worshiping seven gods is ok, the feeling of betrayal and lack of true love are left out of his story. Even the idea of real family are a stretch for Jepthah. Now his brothers call on him when they are in need of his services.

It is safe to say that Jepthah has been shaped by his culture.

This goes to remind us that a dysfunctional background does not disqualify us from God’s service.

Dr. Ashford, Souteastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Every Square Inch”

1) Christianity against Culture: The church stands on one side of the line and culture on the other as apposing forces. This view many times see’s Christianity as a daily ultimate fighter competition. They rightly recognize that we must put on the whole armor of God. The problem with this view is that it’s too easy to see ourselves as fighting against people instead of against sin.

Many times people know what we are against more than they know what we are for.

The Church fights culture by continually pointing them to the one who brings true healing.

2) Christianity of Culture: This is the other extreme when we build Churches that tend to mirror our Culture. Without God, Culture raises up idols in His place, celebrities, politicians, sex, wealth, power, and even productivity and freedom. Can Church embrace the culture without also embracing it’s idols. Well, ask the Israelites how that worked out for them. The problem is that Christianity is defined as black and white, while culture lives in shades of gray.

3)Christianity in and for Culture: This views us as representatives Christ who lives their lives in the midst of and for the good of the Culture around them, whose cultural lives are characterized by obedience and witness. As Christians, we are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20)—we represent another world, while we live in the midst of this one. The culture is ripe for the Christian witness.

On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus prays to his Father in John 17:14–19,

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Judges 11:4-11

The Ammonites made war against Israel. The Gileadites remembered Jephthah and asked him to come and be their leader. Jepthah reminds the elders of Gilead that they treated him poorly and kicked him out. He asked them why they are coming to him now when you are having a problem with the Ammonites. God has a way of using the people that we least expect. This should not surprise us because Jesus himself was despised and rejected, he was not liked in his home town.

Jepthah challenges the sincerity of their invitation. Reminding them of their initial involvement in his rejection. Jepthah agreed to go with certain conditions. he was concerned that their words had no substance so he made them formalize a commitment with them before the Lord. Words are so important in our culture today. We live in a culture where words are twisted and changed all the time.

12-27

So Jephthah agreed. He came back, this mighty man of valor, to lead the people against the Ammonites. But he was not just a man who wanted to fight; he was a man of peace. He sent a letter to the king of the Ammonites. Rather than fight over something, he wanted to talk it over. He tried to persuade the king that he had no right to the land that he was trying to claim. He argued from history, from common theology, and with reason. But if you're a king with an army and you think you can win, arguments don't really impress you.

It is in Jephthah’s preparation for battle that we detect a fatal flaw in his life.

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A Culture shaped approach to Theology leads to syncretism.

Syncretism: : the combination of different religious cultures, or schools of thought into practice.

Make no mistake Jephthah was a man who took God seriously.

Judges 11:27 ESV

I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.

NOTE: He refers to God as Jehovah, the covenant name, more than any other person in the book of Judges. When he went to battle the spirit of the Lord came upon him, something said by only three other judges.

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.”

Jephthah's flaw was the same flaw many of us have today. He mixed his cultural upbringing with Scripture.

A Culture shaped approach to theology leads to flawed assumptions.

*We assume that we need to help God out. For Jepthah God’s spirit and promise coming on him was not enough. He had to go add something more into the mix. How are trying add something more into our Churches, or our theology.

“As sinful and foolish the vow was for Jepthah to make God was still faithful to give him the victory.”

Judges 11:34–35 ESV

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.

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.”

Jepthah ignorance of scripture and influence of his society has caused great damage.

NOTE: The Law of God clearly forbids human sacrifice.

Deuteronomy 18:10 ESV

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer

Cultural Note: What had Jepthah anticipated coming out of his door.

The first thing that came out of his door was his daughter, he half way blames her. His daughter remarkably encourages her father to keep his vow.

“Why did Jephthah promise this?”

1) Jephthah had definitely been de-sensitized by his pagan culture. This is a horrible example of how believers today can profess belief in Christ and then squeeze them into it’s mode.

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

2) Jephthah had been infected by pagan moral codes, but also by the pagan works righteousness understanding of God’s character. Human sacrifice was how you could buy off a pagan God. A pagan worshiper did human sacrifices to say, “let me show you how impressed and awed I am of your power.”

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The God of the bible only wants one kind of sacrifice, self-sacrifice.

NOTE: We offer God the Lordship of our lives.

“In view of God’s mercy we present our bodies as a living sacrifice.” Romans 12:1

Jepthah somehow thought the Lord needed to be impressed bought and controlled.

Why did Jepthah keep this horrible vow!

This is the difficult question. Jepthah seemed to have no concept of God’s Grace. He basically had a faulty view of God, he saw god as someone who he needed to buy off with flattery and lavish sacrifice.

Why doesn’t he simply confess and just break the vow and save his daughter. The answer is: He does not trust God. He has the misguided view that God will strike him down if he doesn’t.

Ignorance carries an awful price tag. Ignorance of Scripture carries one that is even greater.

Jephthah’s ignorance was hereditary. He passed down it down to his daughter.

Judges 11:36 ESV

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.”

How much would you know about God, growing up the way he did? How much would you know about God, living in Tob? How much would you know about God, living in the United States?

NOTE: We live in a society inundated with churches on every corner and more ways to consume Biblical content than any previous generation. Yet most evangelical Americans don’t know very much about God. Much of what is published in books and blogs, produced for TV programs and podcasts reveal our Jephthah like situation.

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2 Deep Lessons we learn

1) We are far more affected by the culture than the Bible.

It is easy to see how Jepthah ignored what the scripture he had. The first five books told him who God is, and how sacred human life is; how, instead he listened to the culture about God and life.

What blind-spots do we have in view in our lives? The answer to the blind spots is to become a student of the Word. Know the Bible.

2) God’s people struggle to believe in a God of Grace.

The first lie of the serpent in the Garden was to get man to dis-believe that God had their best interest in mind. Since then we have always felt that we needed to control God, pay God, and deserve God; that we cannot simply trust God to love and bless us.

Faith without strong theology does great damage.

I’ve heard people say, don’t stand up and preach theology, people need to have an experience of God. Don’t focus on theology, Focus on being relateable. Make experience not exposition your focus.

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ILLUSTRATION

Imagine you visit a doctor. You say to the doctor, "I have a pain in my stomach." The doctor says, "Well, you need to know I don't pay much attention to medicine. I took that stuff at school, but I haven't paid much attention to it. What I'm into is a 'bedside manner.' I want people to feel comfortable around me. Why don't we just cut you open and see what's inside?" It sounds so good, doesn't it? We want to give people an experience of God. But if you have a deep faith in God and a shallow theology, you'll be giving yourself to superficiality and nonsense, and you can do great damage to yourself and others.

CLOSING

C. S. Lewis grapples with this in Beyond Personality. He recounts a time when he was delivering a lecture to a group in the Royal Air Force when right in the middle of the lecture, an old, grizzled R.A.F. sergeant stood up and said: "I got no use for all that talk about God. Mind you, I believe in God. I felt him out there in the desert. And if you experience God, you don't need any talk about God." Lewis could understand how that man felt.

As you take a walk beside the Atlantic, you feel the spray of the ocean in your face; you smell the salt in the air; you hear the gawking of the seagulls. Then you go into your study and look at a map of the Atlantic. That is quite a letdown. It is certainly far more fun, far more interesting, to walk beside the Atlantic than to substitute that for colored paper. But Lewis said there are a couple of things you need to know about that paper.

One, it's based on the experiences of thousands of people, not just your own, and of people better qualified to analyze what they saw than you are. Secondly, if you want to get any place, the map is absolutely essential.

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The greatness of God is most clearly displayed in his Son. And the glory of the gospel is only made evident in his Son. That's why Jesus' question to his disciples [in Matthew 16] is so important: "Who do you say that I am?"

The question is doubly crucial in our day, because [no one is as popular in the U.S. as Jesus]—and not every Jesus is the real Jesus. …

Love God with your heart and with your soul, but love him with your mind as well.

There's too much at stake not to do that.