Category Archives: Sermons

All of the past sermons of Franklin United Church.

Work Matters:
A Biblical Theology of Vocation
Genesis 1 & 2

            “The two men sat silent for a little, and then Lord Peter said: “Do you like your job?” The detective considered the question, and replied: “Yes—yes, I do. I know it to be useful, and I am fitted to it. I do it quite well—not with inspiration, perhaps, but sufficiently well to take pride in it. It is full of variety and it forces one to keep up to the mark and not get slack. And there’s a future to it. Yes, I like it. Why?”
“Oh, nothing,” said Peter. “It’s a hobby to me, you see. I took it up when the bottom of things was rather knocked out for me, because it was so exciting, and the worst of it is, I enjoy it—up to a point. If it was all on paper I’d enjoy every bit of it. I love the beginning of a job—when one doesn’t know any of the people and it’s just exciting and amusing. But if it comes to really running down a live person and getting him hanged, or even killed, poor devil, there don’t seem as if there was any excuse for me butting in, since I don’t have to make my living by it. And I feel as if I shouldn’t ever find it amusing. But I do.”
            This conversation is taken from Dorothy L. Sayers’ crime novel Whose Body?. I share this insightful dialogue with you because it illustrates the various attitudes people have toward their work. As the passage implies, people work in particular professions for a range of reasons: maybe it is an honorable occupation, perhaps they have a talent for that type of work, or perchance they even gain a sense of satisfaction from it. And if I may add to Sayers’ observations, some people actually feel divinely called to their vocation, others follow in their parent’s footsteps, and still others take whatever job they can to pay the bills. The latter are likely to have the bumper-sticker, “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.”

            What is your attitude toward your work? Why do you do what you do? Does your work give you a sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment—or is it something that you loathe, scorn, and despise? Do you look forward to going to work every day or do you wish you could retire right now? Do you love your vocation or do you find yourself fanaticizing about doing something different?

            I’ll never forget the day I told my father that I felt God calling me to be a pastor. He wasn’t much of a religious man, and I could see the confusion and doubt on his face. But he finally looked at me and responded, “Son, I have driven a plow truck for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for 30 years and I have hated my job every single day of my life. Now I confess that I don’t really understand why you want to be a pastor, but if that truly makes you happy, I will support your decision.”

            I genuinely appreciated my dad’s sentiment. Unfortunately, he only ever experienced the first half of King Solomon’s adage:

                        What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors                                under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does                         not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and                                  drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,                                    for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:22-25)

            Like Solomon, I have come to conclusion that the primary reason people don’t have peace, joy, and satisfaction is that God is not foremost in their lives. I also believe the reason why so many people don’t find fulfillment in their vocation is that they do not view their work from a proper theological perspective; they compartmentalize God from their work. When God is disconnected from work, it is no wonder there is such little joy in it.

            Today, I would like to help us reconnect God to our work by presenting a biblical theology of vocation. Through sharing a host of Bible passages, my goal is to convince you that your work matters to God, and that what you do, why you do it, and how you do it, makes all the difference in the world.

 

I. The Divine Rhythm of Work (Genesis 1; 2:1-3)

            Where does the idea of work originate? God is the creator of work and he himself is the original worker! The first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The very first thing that God did was work. By his very nature, God is a worker and he did the work of creating the universe and everything in it.

            The rest of Genesis 1 describes how God created light, water, land, vegetation, the sun and moon, sea creatures, land creatures, and ultimately human beings. When he had finished his great creation with all of its intricate details, he stepped back to reflect and saw that his work was good. (Gen. 1:31) As he breathed a sigh of satisfaction on the seventh day, he rested from all of his work, and thereby established the divine rhythm of work and rest that he would pass on to human beings. (Gen. 2:1-3)

            Did you notice how God’s work in Genesis 1 sets the pattern for our rhythm of work and rest for us? When we break God’s pattern by either neglecting work or worshipping work, we become miserable. I have seen people break God’s pattern in both directions. I hear it in idle comments like “I’m not going to look for another job until my unemployment runs out” and “Shoot, I get more money on welfare than I would if I had a job.” These attitudes of laziness will never be rewarded with a sense of divine satisfaction.

            I also hear it in comments like “I haven’t taken a day off in five months.” or “I haven’t taken a vacation in fifteen years.” To people who live like this, I just want to applaud them and say, “Wow, how impressive! You should be very proud of yourself, you have succeeded in completely disobeying God!” It is impossible to experience true satisfaction when you never take time to rest from and reflect on your work. Remember this: A nose constantly at the grindstone eventually feels the pain! When we get out of balance with God’s rhythms of work and rest, we become discontented and dejected!  

 

II. The Divine Role of Work (Genesis 1:28; 2:15)

            The second thing I would like us to consider is the divine role of work. In Genesis 1:28, right after he created the first man and woman, he commanded them to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every living creature that moves along the ground.” God gave Adam and Eve a second job in Genesis 2:15—“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

            We may say that God created Adam and Eve to be bi-vocational—they were to be both gardeners and governors. Governing, we might say, was their intellectual or mental work; gardening was their physical or manual work. By both of these roles, they would work for their food and sustain their lives. God did not just spontaneously provide them with food, but he created them with the mental and physical abilities to get food for themselves—he gave them brains to think, plan, and manage—he gave them arms, legs, and hands to pick, prune, and plant. God gives the birds their food, but he doesn’t throw it into their nests—the same is true for us.

            If God’s very first command to human beings was to work, then work must be one of the most fundamentally God-honoring things we can do! Today we live in a church culture that falsely dichotomizes spiritual work and secular work. Do you think that God wants us to read our Bible’s and pray all day long? Do you think God wants us sit around the campfire and sing praise songs all night? Don’t misunderstand me, the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and praise are certainly important, but that is not the vocation to which God has called most of us. God has created each one of us with unique gifts and talents to contribute to his kingdom. He has called some people to be pastors, preachers, and missionaries—but he has called most to be doctors, nurses, teachers, carpenters, farmers, waitresses, truck drivers, and lawyers (well, maybe not lawyers.)

            Martin Luther is credited with saying, “The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays—not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

            God is glorified through many vocational roles. Consider this brief survey of occupations we find in the Bible: Adam and Eve were gardeners and governors, Cain was a crop-farmer, Abel was a livestock farmer, Noah was a shipbuilder, Abraham was an entrepreneur, Esau was a hunter, Joseph was the vice-president of a large corporation, Moses was a shepherd, Joshua was a general, Caleb was a spy, Rachel was a homemaker, Deborah was a judge, Boaz was a businessman, Ruth was a barley-bailer, David was a king, Ether was a queen, Asaph was a songwriter and musician, Jesus was a carpenter and teacher, the disciples were fishermen, soldiers, and tax collectors, Lydia was a businesswoman, and the Apostle Paul was a tentmaker!

            What is your vocational role? What has God created and called you to do?

 

III. The Responsibility of Work

            The third point I would like us to consider is that God has given us all the responsibility work. Ponder these verses from the Book of Proverbs:

  • Proverbs 14:23- All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
  • Proverbs 21:25- The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse                 to work.
  • Proverbs 31:13-17- She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

Also, contemplate the Apostle Paul’s words from II Thessalonians 3:7-10:

For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.

            These verses don’t need a lot of explanation. They simply testify to the fact that God has given every man and woman the responsibility of work. He wants us to use the skills he has given us to earn our keep and contribute to his kingdom.

            Consider the parable of the man who came across three stonemasons who were working at chipping chunks of granite from large blocks. The first seemed unhappy at his job, chipping away and frequently looking at his watch. When the man asked what it was that he was doing, the first mason responded, rather curtly, “I’m hammering this stupid rock, and I can’t wait ’til 5 when I can go home.”

            A second mason, seemingly more interested in his work, was hammering diligently and when asked what it was that he was doing, answered, “I’m molding this block of rock so that it can be used to construct a wall. It’s not bad work, but I’ll sure be glad when it’s done.”

            A third mason was hammering at his block fervently, taking time to stand back and admire his work. He chipped off small pieces until he was satisfied that it was the best he could do. When he was questioned about his work he stopped, gazed skyward and proudly proclaimed, “I am building a cathedral!”

            All three masons were doing the same job, but only one found satisfaction in his work. I wonder what the difference was?

 

            If you want to find divine fulfillment in your vocation, follow God’s rhythm, role, and responsibility of work!

Coal for Christmas

Coal for Christmas

An adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s Christmas Day in the Morning

By Jason R. McConnell

            Country music legend Loretta Lynn used to sing that she was “proud to be a coal miner’s daughter.” Even though I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, I have always been proud to be a coal miner’s grandson.

I. Coal Town

            Where I come from in the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania, coal isn’t just a commodity; it is a way of life. I grew up hearing the sounds of train whistles and locomotive engines pulling rail cars filled with coal. My nose was full of diesel fumes from the steady flow of Mack trucks hauling coal up and down the highways. And from my grandparent’s old farm house on top of the hill, I could gaze upon the breathtaking views of the…well, the tall grey smoke stacks from the power plant down in the valley. We seldom had sunny days; mostly because the steady stream of white steam rising from the stacks and drifting across the horizon.

            Most of the men in my town worked in the coal mines. They wore coveralls, hardhats, and steel-toed boots. They carried metal lunch boxes, drove full-sized pickup trucks, and smoked unfiltered cigarettes—guys who smoked filters were considered sissies. On their lunch break, there were only two topics of conversation: union verses non-union employment and Pittsburgh Steelers football. They worked long hours, their skin was always dark (regardless of how many times they bathed, and they bore the stress from the constant fear of cave-ins, but they were passionate about their work and proud of their vocation.

            I was born and raised in a coal town, so from the time I was a young boy, I received a first rate education on mining and power plant procedures. It was important for fathers and grandfathers to pass this knowledge on to the youngsters because, like farming, mining is a generational occupation. They bring you up to do like your daddy done, and to break away and do something else was almost the equivalent of committing suicide So, to make sure this would never happen, I was indoctrinated with the process of how coal was transformed into electricity. Like oxygen and water, we were taught that coal was essential for life.

            At some point in your childhood, you probably heard your parents warn “Now you better be good or Santa won’t bring you any presents. All you’ll find on Christmas morning in your stocking is a big old lump of coal.” This is a classic parental intimidation tactic, but it is fairly effective at producing better behavior (at least during the month of December). I’m not sure where the idea for this threat came from, but I know that it was a credible warning where I came from; there was a lot of coal to go around!

II. My Grandfather

            By the time that I had gone to live with my grandparents at the age of four, my grandfather had worked the graveyard shift at the Pittsburgh Coal Company for over 30 years. Like most of his friends, he started mining right out of high school and never looked back. Three decades of a dreary job forged some pretty monotonous habits in him. Every morning he got home from work at seven o’clock sharp, did his morning chores, and took a shower. Then he came into the kitchen, drank two cups of black coffee, and ate a bowl of Raisin Bran cereal. After breakfast, he put me and my sister on the school bus and went to bed. I can’t remember a single day that he ever deviated from this routine.

            His morning chores consisted of the tedious custom of going into the cellar, fetching the coal buckets, and carrying them out to the big pile of coal we kept in our barn. Then he would take his square coal shovel, fill the pales, and carry them back inside two by two. Twelve buckets was enough to keep the fire burning in the old pot-bellied coal stove around the clock. He loaded four buckets into the stove in the morning when he came home from work, four in the afternoon when he woke up, and three at night before he left for work again. It was a dirty and laborious process but it saved our family a lot of money.

            My grandfather was always tightfisted with money. His frugality didn’t leave much room for frivolity in our family. I remember the economics lecture he gave me at breakfast one morning when I asked him why we didn’t just get an oil furnace. He just looked at me like I was a complete idiot and said, “Boy, the mine gives its employees enough coal to heat our homes! Why in the world would I pay for oil when I can get coal for free?”

            My grandfather was a man of few words and faint affections; his personality was as hard as the coal he dug underground every night. He rarely gave hugs or kisses, and I never heard him say the words, “I love you.” He believed in the concept of work before play, even when the other neighborhood kids were playing football in the backyard. And when I would ask him for things, he usually just said “No!”, and he didn’t explain why. Because of his demanding demeanor, I had always wondered if he really loved me. I honestly wasn’t sure.

III. Christmas

            When I was seven year old, there was only one thing I coveted for Christmas: a bicycle. I had want wanted one for a long time and I was the only boy in my neighborhood that didn’t have one. I reminded my grandparents of these facts regularly. (Some friends at my school had already ruined a certain secret about the true origin of Christmas presents, so I decided to by-pass all of the ho-ho-ho hoopla and take my petition to the true source. But my grandfather always had the same response, “Bicycles are expensive.”

            I knew that getting a bicycle was a long shot, but that did not curb my enthusiasm or deter my persistence. Even though I wasn’t much of a churchgoer as a kid, I figured that my best chance of getting a bicycle for Christmas was to beg my grandfather every day and to pray to God every night. So, that is exactly what I did.

            On the last day of school before Christmas break that year, I reluctantly woke up, dressed, and headed downstairs, when I accidently overheard my grandparents whisper the word “bicycle” in the kitchen. That stopped me in my tracks and I became as quiet as a church mouse. I listened closely and heard my grandfather say, “Well Ruth, the foreman gave us our Christmas bonus checks last night and the amount is more than we expected. With this and what we have saved in our Christmas club at the bank, I think we can get him the bicycle. I love that boy so much!” My grandmother started to cry and said, “Oh, he is going to be so happy.”

            She was right! I was already so excited that I wanted to do a cartwheel down the stairs, but I knew that I had to pretend that I didn’t overhear their conversation. So, I put my sleepy face back on, trudged into the kitchen, and tried to act normal.

            Even though I was thrilled that I was getting a bicycle for Christmas, I found myself being even more excited about my grandfather’s words. I had never heard him say anything like that before. Now I knew for sure that he loved me. I heard it from his own lips! And when I realized how much he was sacrificing to get me a bicycle, I wanted to do something for him too.

            We were fairly poor but my grandmother always scrounged enough money for me and my sister to by buy presents for the family at the Five and Dime store in town. I had already bought my grandfather a tie, even though I had never seen him wear a tie before.

             But now I wanted to get him something great; something that would show him how much I loved him. It wasn’t until Christmas Eve, but I finally came up with an idea: what he would appreciate most was not a fancy gift, but a special deed—I would wake up early on Christmas morning, load all of the coal buckets, and bring them in the house so he could just come home from work and relax.

            When I went to bed on Christmas Eve night, I wore my glow-in-the-dark Superman watch so I could check the time. I knew that I would have to wake up earlier than usual to get all of the buckets loaded and brought in before my grandfather got home from work.

IV. The Barn

            With all of the excitement about Christmas and showing my grandfather how much I loved him, I barely slept a wink that night. I looked at my watch about every thirty minutes until it finally read 4:30am, which is the time I decided that I would get up and go to work. I don’t think I had ever gotten up that early before, not even on Christmas morning. When I looked out the window, I saw that it was still dark. The only light I could see was the bright moonbeams reflecting off the fresh fallen snow.

            As I quietly tiptoed downstairs, I noticed that the lights on our Christmas tree were still glowing in the living room. And when I walked in, there is was! Among a host of wrapped presents under the tree stood a brand new Schwinn bicycle! My eyes glittered as I gazed at black and gold lettering and the big banana seat. I desperately wanted to take a spin around the living room right then, but I knew I had something more important to do.

            After I put my winter coat and snow boots on over my pajamas and found a hat and mittens, I walked around to the other side of the house where the door was to go directly into the cellar. When I turned the light on, I saw twelve empty black coal buckets beside the furnace. Even without any coal in them, it took me a few trips to get all of the buckets to the barn. When I got them lined up in front of the coal pile, I grabbed my grandfather’s heavy shovel and began filling the pales. It took every ounce of my seven year old strength to lift each scoop into the bucket, but slowly and surely, I eventually filled all twelve buckets. It took a long time.

            When I was done, I took a break to catch my breath before I began to carry them to the house. While I rested, I looked around the barn. I hadn’t really been in the barn at night before; it looked much different than in the day time. The one little light bulb glowed just enough for me to see the old wooden beams locked together above me. As far as I could remember, the barn had always been used as a garage, but my grandfather had told me that when he was a kid, it was a real barn that housed animals. As I imagined what the barn would have looked like with cows and chickens and hay, it dawned on me that Jesus was born in a barn just like this one. I wasn’t sure if Jesus’ barn had any coal in it or not, but for just a moment, I looked into the corner and envisioned the baby Jesus lying in a manger surrounded by Joseph, Mary, and the shepherds right there by the pile of coal in my barn. In the quiet solitude before dawn on Christmas morning, it seemed like they were all really there.

            I pondered that first Christmas the whole time I carried the buckets in two at a time. (Well, to be totally honest, I drug them through the snow more than I carried them.) It took me six trips, but I finally accomplished my goal. I had a great sense of satisfaction when I stepped back and looked at all twelve of those coal buckets lined up by by the old pot-bellied stove. The dented buckets weren’t wrapped up in fancy ribbons or bound with beautiful bows, but I knew that my grandfather would love this Christmas present.

            By the time I was finished, I was completely exhausted. I walked upstairs and collapsed on my bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell fast asleep.

V. Christmas Day in the Morning 

            When I woke up and rubbed my eyes, I saw my grandfather sitting on the end of my bed and twiddling a hunk of coal in his hands. I knew that he had just gotten home because he still had his work clothes on and there was a ring of coal dust around his eyes that made him look like a raccoon. The sun peaking through the window revealed a soft beam hiding under the dirt on his face. He just kept looking at me, but didn’t say anything.

            I looked up at him and said, “Grandfather, thank you so much for the bicycle. It’s exactly what I wanted. I’m going to ride it every day and I promise that I will take good care of it.”

            As soon as I spoke those words, I saw a few tears fall from his eyes and form black streams down his cheeks. It was the only time I ever saw my grandfather cry. He took out his handkerchief and wiped the eyes. He put his hand on my shoulder, smiled, and said, “How about that—coal for Christmas! It’s the best gift I’ve ever received!”

            As I lay on my bed that Christmas morning, I thought about Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than it is to receive.” He was right! Christmas is more about giving than it is about receiving. Christmas is about God giving his most precious treasure to the world, his one and only son.

            I have experienced many Christmas mornings since then; most of them have faded from the annals of memory. But I will never forget that Christmas when I was seven years old!

Breaking the Silence
Luke 1:57-80

            The opening chapters of Luke are like a duet from an oratorio. One voice begins to sing, followed by another, and then the two verses harmonize. For a while the second voice is silent while the first verse sings alone. Then the first voice leaves off and the second voice breaks the silence and carries the music until finally the song ends with a chorus of angels.

            The first melody here belongs to John the Baptist. It is the promise of his birth, given to his father Zechariah by the angel Gabriel, but fully believed only by his mother Elizabeth. Then we hear the song of the Savior: the virgin Mary will give birth to the Son of God. When the two mothers meet, their melodies harmonize into one song. But after a three month visit, Elizabeth is ready to give birth, and Mary returns to Nazareth. It is time again to sing the song of John the Baptist. (Ryken 54)

Zechariah’s Silence is Broken

            After 400 years without any word from God, the Lord broke his silence by sending his angel Gabriel to the old priest Zechariah. The angel appeared to him in the temple and told him that his wife was going to bear him a son in his old age. Like most of us would today, he didn’t believe it. So, Gabriel stripped him of his ability to speak for the long nine months of pregnancy. Marital communication is already difficult enough when the husband and wife can both speak; can you imagine how difficult it would be to prepare for a baby when one couldn’t speak? But Zechariah and Elizabeth somehow survived the quiet maternity phase.

            When the baby was born, the news quickly spread to all of their friends and relatives. One by one they showed up with hot casseroles, newly knitted baby blankets, and encouraging words. Zechariah’s fellow came with a box of Cuban cigars to celebrate in the joyous occasion. Even though his lips couldn’t speak, he could still puff on a big fat stogy. (Well OK, that’s not exactly the way the biblical story goes, but you get the picture.) Everyone recognized how the Lord had shown them great mercy, and the whole town showed up to share their happiness.

            According to the Jewish custom, Zechariah and Elizabeth took the baby to the temple on the eighth day so that he could be circumcised and formally named—a firstborn son was always named after his father, but his mother spoke up and said, “No, his name is John.” Although this was in obedience to the angel’s command, everyone else was shocked and horrified! “John” was a common enough Jewish name, but everyone protested because there was no one in their family with that name. (This is classic! When parents give their child an unexpected name, some people just can’t resist making snide remarks or offering unwelcomed suggestions.)

            Even though Elizabeth was a brand new mother, her friends and family thought she was having a senior moment. So, they gestured to Zechariah to inquire as to the child’s real name. Still unable to speak, he asked for a writing tablet and confirmed that the boy’s name was John.

            As soon as he wrote the name John on the tablet, his tongue was miraculously loosened and he began to verbally praise God. Everyone marveled at these events, and they wondered about the child’s divine destiny; for they recognized that God’s hand was upon him.

1.) Praising God for his Plan of Salvation (68-75)

            When Zechariah’s silence was broken and his speech returned, notice what he did first. He didn’t praise God for restoring his voice. He didn’t even thank God for giving him his own baby boy at such an old age. Instead, he uttered praise for the coming of Mary’s baby. He was thrilled about the birth of his own son and deliverance, but he was more grateful for the news of Mary’s miraculous conception.

            Why would Zechariah’s primary praise God for someone else’s baby before his own newborn son? Because Mary’s baby represented God’s plan of salvation for the world! His son would be the forerunner to Messiah; Mary’s son was the Messiah! Mary’s son was the fulfillment of God’s covenants with Abraham and King David; he would bless all people on earth and establish an eternal kingdom. Zechariah’s son would be wonderful, but Mary’s son would redeem Israel, save her from her enemies, and enable them to live without fear. In the midst of the bleak spiritual darkness that covered the land, Mary’s son embodied a new light was dawning.

            Like Zechariah, our primary praise to God should be for his plan of salvation. Before we praise God for giving us children, restoring our health, or providing for our physical needs, we should praise God for sending Mary’s baby to redeem our sinful souls. Mary’s son would be long awaited Messiah and our great horn of salvation. He would be the king who would deliver us from our enemies.

            Who are our enemies? Contrary to popular belief, our greatest enemies are not Muslim Jihadists in the Middle East, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, or even the Russian Bear Vladimir Putin. Our greatest enemy is not cancer, poverty, or injustice. Our greatest enemy is Satan and his minions of darkness who tempt us to sin and live apart from the grace and love of God. Our greatest enemies are not the one who can harm our bodies, but the ones who can destroy our souls and lead us to hell.

            God did not send his Son to be our political advocate, military liberator, or social supporter! He did not send his Son to deliver us from our financial deficiencies, physical pains, or psychological insufficiencies. Why did God send his Son to earth? To live a sinless life so that he could die a holy death and pay the penalty for our sins and to rescue our souls from the fire’s of hell. This is the salvation that God offers to each of us!

            Have you received God’s greatest gift of love? Have you embraced his offer of salvation? Have you put your faith in his birth, death, and resurrection for the redemption of your soul? Do you praise him for his plan of salvation? 

 

2.) Blessing a Child’s Destiny (76-80)

            After Zechariah praised God for his great plan of salvation through Mary’s baby, he took his own newborn in his arms and blessed the child’s destiny. With love and compassion, he looked into his little sons eyes and told him that he would one day become a prophet of the Most High and that he would go before the Lord to prepare his ways. He would give the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins to the people. He would tell about the tender mercies of God and give light to all who sit in spiritual darkness and wallow in the shadow of death.

            Wow! What a powerful blessing from a father to a son!  It is no wonder the child grew and became strong in spirit until the divinely appointed time for him to begin his public ministry. His father spoke love, peace, and purpose into his son’s life.

            I wonder how many parents pronounce blessings like this on their children today. I wonder how many parents hold their little ones close to their heart and tell them that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life. I wonder how many parents tell their kids that God wants to use them to accomplish great things for his kingdom.

            Sure, our children do not have the same divine destiny as little John the Baptist did—his was a one of a kind calling to be the forerunner of the Messiah. But I see many parents today either worshipping or cursing their kids, and these are equally detrimental. Parents who worship their kids put their kids above God. They give them everything, do everything for them, and never tell them “No!” The inherent sin of selfishness is never curbed and it leads to children who are spoiled, arrogant, and exhibit a sense of entitlement. This is really the sin of parental idolatry.

            I also see many parents who curse their kids. They constantly lie to them, berate them, and provoke them, and then wonder why their children are so screwed up.

            One of my childhood best friends was a boy named Barry. His father, Barry Sr., drank a lot and was a difficult man to please. He would often tell his son that he was stupid and that he would never amount to anything. If a kid hears curses like this enough, he eventually starts to believe them. Barry’s father would often beat him and embarrass him in front of his friends.

            When Barry was about19 years old, his dad began to criticize him one night. Barry took a baseball bat and beat his dad to a bloody pulp. Barry Sr. spent five days in the hospital—he suffered a severe concussion, broken ribs, and a shattered shoulder. Barry Jr. spent a few days in jail and has been in and out of corrections ever since.

            Whatever you do, don’t worship or abuse kids! Bless them as Zechariah blessed John! Speak loving words to them! Show them affection! Discipline them when they need it! And most importantly, model and teach them about the love and grace of God.

 

            When Zechariah’s silence was finally broken, he had a lot to say! His song teaches us a lot about the importance of praising God for his incredible plan of salvation and the importance of blessing our children. I hope and pray that we all will respond to Zechariah’s song to God and his little boy!

Preparations for Christmas
Luke 1:1-25

            For the past ten or so years, there has been a new holiday trend that has literally turned the traditional Christmas celebration upside down. Hammacher Schlemmer, a retail company based in New York, has pioneered a unique yuletide decoration: the Upside-Down Christmas Tree.

            Standing at 7-feet tall and pre-lit with over 800 commercial grade lights, this technological marvel can be yours for the low price of $599.95. But why would anyone want an upside-down Christmas tree? According to Hammacher Schlemmer: “The inverted shape makes it easier to see ornaments, which hang below the dense needles,” while “allowing more room for the accumulation of presents underneath.”

            Other retail outlets are following suit, including ChristmasTreeForMe.com, which offers 5-to-7.5-foot bizarro trees from $280–$504. Even Target is getting in on the action, with upside-down trees ranging from $299 to $499.

Does anyone have an up-side-down tree this year?  Go ahead; don’t be afraid to admit it!  Well, even if you don’t have an up-side-down tree, most of us have begun some kind of preparations for Christmas; whether it is buying reading an Advent book, decorating the house, or listening to Christmas music on the radio.

            In the midst of all of your preparations, have you ever wondered how God prepares for Christmas? Or maybe the better question is how does God prepare his people for Christmas?

            In this morning’s text, Luke gives us a glimpse of how God prepared his people for the very first Christmas. Before Mary and Joseph, the manger, or the shepherds, the story begins with some unlikely people: an elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth.

 

Narrative

The story is set in the days when Herod was the King of Judea and Israel was occupied and ruled by the cruel Roman Empire. Not only was it a time of military conflict and political peril, but it was also a time of spiritual desolation. It had been 400 years since God had spoken to his people. Without any prophets preaching the oracles of God, the Israelites persisted in a state of spiritual complacency, just going through the religious motions. They offered sacrifices to God at the Temple and apathetically waiting for the Messiah to come and deliver them. Little did the people know, but God was about to break his long silence.

Zechariah and Elizabeth’s Inability to Have Children (5-7)

Zechariah and Elizabeth both descended from priestly families and lived holy lives unto the Lord.  Luke actually says that they were “upright in the sight of God and they observed all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” Their whole lives had been dedicated to the service of the Lord.

But even though they were religious people, Zechariah and Elizabeth lacked the one thing they desired most in this life; they didn’t have any children. This not only caused them profound personal pain, but it was also a source of social disgrace. In their culture, married couples were expected to have children and populate the earth, and if a woman’s womb was barren, it was usually thought that God’s blessing was not on them.  They had endured this disgrace for many years, and since they were now elderly, all of their hopes of being removed from their shameful situation had been dashed.

This just doesn’t seem fair, does it? Do you ever feel like Zechariah and Elizabeth?  Do you ever wonder why when you try so hard to live a life that is pleasing to God yet it seems like his blessing is nowhere to be found?  Why is it that people who go to church regularly still get cancer?  Why do people who pray faithfully still have family conflicts? Why is it that many couples who honor the Lord with their lives can’t have children while so many unfit parents can have as many babies as they want? Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?  Well, as the story continues to unfold, I believe we will find our answer!

           

Zechariah’s Visit from Gabriel (8-20)

Since Zechariah was a priest, he left his home and went to the Temple in Jerusalem five times a year. Three of these were during the major festivals (Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles) as pilgrims swelled Jerusalem’s population and all priestly divisions served the masses at the Temple. Each division had two other weeks a year when they carried out the daily sacrifices and rituals.

With approximately 18,000 priests in Judea, special duties were assigned by lot.  Lots were sacred objects of unknown shape that would give a yes or no answer to questions; they probably resembled modern dice. A priest could only be chosen to enter the holy place and offer incense to the Lord once in a lifetime, but even after all of these years of faithful service, Zechariah had never been chosen. But little did he know that his good run of bad luck was about to come to an end. His lot finally came up.

While Zechariah entered the holy place to perform his duty, pious Jewish worshippers and priests joined together in prayer outside. As he burned the incense inside, he had the most shocking experience of his life: through the hazy smoke, he saw an angel standing on the other side of the altar.

Zechariah responded to the angel just as we would—with pulse-stopping fear and hair-raising terror, but the heavenly messenger gave the usual angelic greeting “Do not be afraid!”  Then the angel told him that his prayer had been answered.  But which prayer was he talking about? Throughout his life, he had prayed thousands of prayers.

God was now answering his most precious personal prayer; the one that he and Elizabeth had uttered for years; the one that he thought had passed him by. The angel told him that he was going to be a father and that he was to name his son John, and he would not be any ordinary son. This son would bring him great joy and many people would delight in his birth. This son would be filled with the Holy Spirit and would reunite families and bring many people back to the Lord. This son would be the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that Elijah would return and prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah.

Wow! How could Zechariah handle all of this at once? As you can imagine, he was blown away by what the angel said and struggled to understand how this could be possible. In his confusion, he spoke words of doubt and disbelief. He was focused on the natural rather than the supernatural. So, the angel finally identifies himself as Gabriel and he told Zechariah that he would not be able to speak until the baby was born because he did not believe Gabriel’s words. God struck him with nine months of silence. (Most women would love for God to strike their husbands with silence during their nine months of pregnancy! They wouldn’t be able to say anything dumb!)

Zechariah and Elizabeth’s Response to the Vision (21-25)

While all of this was going on inside the Temple, the crowd outside began worrying. “Where is he? What could have happened to him? It never takes this long!  Should we send someone in to rescue him?”

Finally, Zechariah appeared, but something was strange. He was supposed to raise his hands and announce the benediction, but he could not speak!  He kept making signs, nodding his head, and gesturing with his hands, trying to make them understand that he had received a vision from the Lord.

Well, after Zechariah’s priestly duty was accomplished, he couldn’t wait to get home to share the good news with his wife, even if he had to write it out by hand. Can you imagine this old man telling his old barren wife, “Hey honey, guess what, you are going to have a baby?”

Gabriel’s word came true. Elizabeth did in fact become pregnant. What a surprise this would be for all of her family and friends and townspeople! But she did not let anyone know for five months she remained in seclusion. (I suppose if you got pregnant in your seventies or eighties, you might want to remain in seclusion too!) She waited until God was ready to make his plans known.  Apparently, she gave up an expectant mothers’ joy of sharing her news—to wait for God’s timing.

This old peasant couple, who had been denied God’s blessing for most of their lives, was destined to be a part of God’s great plan of salvation history. In the end they realized that God’s favor was on them all along. They were prohibited from having a baby when they were younger because God had a different plan for their lives; a better plan. They would become the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah!

 

           So, how does God prepare his people for Christmas? He uses this story of Zechariah and Elizabeth to reminds us that his plan is perfect even when we don’t understand it, that we should trust our supernatural God over natural processes, and that sometimes we need to be silent to hear God speaking!

 

1.) God’s plan is perfect, even when we don’t understand it! (7)

            When bad things happen to us, it is easy to get discouraged and doubt God’s plan. We ask questions like, “Why do people who try to live holy lives and do the right things still have so many problems? Why does it so often seem like God is not blessing us?” The answer to this question lies in God’s sovereignty. God’s plan for each of our lives is absolutely perfect. So often we think we know what is best.  God uses problems and difficulties in our lives to accomplish his greater purpose.

            This is exactly the way it happened with Zechariah and Elizabeth. It wasn’t an accident that Elizabeth was barren or that Zechariah hadn’t got chosen to burn incense in the temple earlier in his life. God did not allow them to experience these blessings earlier because he had a different plan for them—a better plan. They had the honor and joy of giving birth to the forerunner to the Messiah! Do you think they would have traded this blessing to have children earlier or for Zechariah to burn incense earlier? I don’t think so!

            This advent season: Remember that God is sovereign over all of your problems!  And when things don’t work out the way you want or expect them to, remember that God just has a different plan for you—a better one!

 

2.) Trust in the supernatural God over natural processes! (18)

            Now Zechariah may not have been a gynecologist, but he knew that women who had gone through menopause could not bear children. But when God told him that his wife was going to have a son in her old age, he doubted and did not believe. He trusted in natural processes instead of the supernatural God.

            Many of us think the same way! We only trust what we can see, hear, and feel. Let us remember that God is not bound by natural processes; he is the creator of them. Let’s keep our eyes and hearts open to experience the supernatural!

 

3.) Sometimes we need to be silent to hear God speaking! (19-20)

            God had been silent for 400 years, but when he chose to speak through his angel, Zechariah wasn’t listening. He was too busy talking. Since he couldn’t be silent on his own, God gave him 9 months of silence. If Zechariah would have been quiet, he would have realized that this was God speaking to him, and he wouldn’t have doubted.

            Do you ever wonder why God doesn’t speak to you?  But the better question is “Why aren’t we listening?” I would like to challenge us to spend some quiet time with God this advent season.  Slow down, sit down, relax, read the first two chapters of Luke, and pray silently to God. And listen God speaking to you!        

The End of the Innocence
Judges 21:1-25

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by
But “happily ever after” fails
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly

O’ beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They’re beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie

Who knows how long this will last
Now we’ve come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye

But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

            Bruce Hornsby and Don Henley co-wrote The End of the Innocence in the late 1980’s. Its thought-provoking lyrics and haunting piano melodies have made it one of my all time favorite pop songs. It brilliantly juxtaposes nostalgic metaphors of childhood days with images of adult complication, corruption, and conflict. The skies were blue, mommy and daddy were together, and there wasn’t a care in the world, but sin gradually strips away innocence and spoils life.              

            This song describes what has happened throughout the Book of Judges—sin has stolen the innocence of a nation and has lead to the disintegration of their whole society. After God had delivered his people from 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites resettled in the Promised Land. Under Joshua’s leadership, the nation flourished spiritually and physically, but after Joshua’s death, Israel spiraled into cycles of generational sin.

            Throughout this time, God rose up judges like Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson to deliver his people from foreign oppression and establish peace and prosperity in the land. But these times were short-lived—with the passing of each judge, the periods of peace got shorter and the days of oppression got longer. Israel has slowly abandoned God and adopted the pagan practices of their Canaanite neighbors. They have exchanged God’s laws for the self-centered philosophy of doing what is right in their own eyes. The people of God have committed acts of idolatry, arrogance, narcissism, manipulation, deceit, vengeance, and violence, and the last few chapters of Judges has documented Israel’s descent into total debauchery, where they have stolen, raped, murdered, and massacred each other. There are no laws, no order, no justice, no morals, no ethics, no compassion, no mercy, and no love for God or neighbor!

            In the preceding chapter, we saw how the Israelites united to hold the men of Gibeah accountable for the brutal rape and murder of the Levite’s concubine, but they wound up massacring the whole tribe of Benjamin (men, women, and children). What started out as an attempt to uphold justice turned into a gross miscarriage of justice, and now there were only 600 Benjamites alive and the tribe was on the brink of extinction.

            In the final chapter, the author of Judges concludes the story by showing a nation that has completely given way to anarchy and civil war. Let us take one last look before we say goodbye!

Regrettable Regret (2-3)

            The first thing I would like for us to notice in this last chapter is how the Israelites regretted their preceding actions. After they massacred the Benjamites, verse 2 tells us that they went to Bethel and wept before the Lord. They genuinely regretted that one of their tribes was almost completely annihilated, but they didn’t regret their own sinful actions. Notice how they express this to God, “O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today we should be lacking one tribe in Israel?” (3) This prayer is really an accusation and their audacity reveals the corruption in their hearts. Instead, of taking responsibility for their own decisions and actions in slaughtering Benjamin, they subtly shifted the blame to God. They knew the answer to their question. Why did this happen? Because they ignored God’s laws and did what was right in their own eyes! This is a classic case of regrettable regret!

            Have you ever done this in your own life? Have you ever regretted the consequences of you sin, but not the sin itself? Have you ever tried to pawn off a personal mistake, bad decision, or sinful action on God? This is like the man who prayed, “Lord, I am really sorry for cheating on my wife, but why did you make my mistress so hot!” The lesson for us is this: Let us live in such a way that we have no regrets! But when we mess up, instead of blaming others or God for our failure, let’s take immediate responsibility for our actions.  

Hasty Oaths (1, 5)

            The second thing I want us to notice is how the Israelites made hasty and unwise oaths.

Verse 1 tells us that when the Israelites first assembled back at Mizpah, before they went to war against Benjamin, they had declared an oath that none of their tribes would allow their daughters to marry a Benjamite man. This passionate wartime embargo against Jewish brides was intended to isolate and punish the Benjamites, but they did not think through the consequences of their pledge. They did not realize that the wholesale slaughter of the Benjamite women would leave the 600 male survivors childless and the tribe would become extinct.

            The second hasty oath they made was that if any tribe did not unite with Israel to fight against Benjamin, those men would be put to death. The purpose of this oath was to ensure that everyone kept their word and that they would have powerful army to march against Benjamin. After the bloody battle, they took a role call and discovered that the men from Jabesh-gilead, from the tribe of Ephraim, did not come up to fight with them. Now because of this hasty oath, they had to inflict more bloodshed on their own people.

            This passage demonstrates the folly of making rash oaths. Proverbs 20:25 says “It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows.” We should never make a vow to God or anyone else that we do not intend to keep. Before we make promises, we need to think through all the ramifications and consequences.


Legal Loopholes (6-22)

            The third thing I want you to notice is how the Israelites searched for a legal loophole to get them out of a jam. Their regrettable actions and hasty oaths put the whole nation in a bad position, and instead of inquiring of the Lord, the elders of Israel devised their own strategy for solving the problem. They came up with a clever ploy to circumvent the oaths they had made to God. As they were planning to punish the people of Jabesh-gilead, the elders commissioned the army to kill everyone in the city (men, women, and children) except for the unmarried virgins. The virgins were to be spared and given in marriage to the Benjamite survivors.

            And that is exactly what they did. When all of the people of Jabesh-gilead were murdered, they found 400 young virgins who had never been married, and gave them to the Benjamites as wives. Do you see their twisted sense of justice? They massacre and kidnap one tribe to save another.

            But there was still a problem—200 Benjamites still needed wives. So, the Israelites developed another scheme to secure more wives. They instructed the Benjamites to go to the annual festival at Shiloh, hide in the nearby vineyards, and wait for the young women to appear. When they came out to dance and celebrate, the rest of the Benjamites were to grab a girl and take her home as a wife. In this way, the Israelites were technically not breaking their oath of not giving their daughters to the Benjamites because they stole them for themselves.

            Well, in the end, the Israelites got exactly what they wanted— all 600 Benjamites got wives. It only took the massacre of a whole town of Jabesh-gilead and the kidnapping and forced marriage of 200 innocent young women from Shiloh.

            When we are not walking with God, we too have the tendency to look for legal loopholes or moral rationalizations to get ourselves out of a jam. Using one law to circumvent another is never justifiable in God’s estimation. How many times have we rationalized sin by saying, “Well, it’s not technically lying. It’s not technically stealing. It’s not technically cheating?” Like the Israelites, technicalities may get us what we want in the short-term, but what is the price we pay for it in the long-run?


Poisoned by These Fairy Tales (23-25)

             After everything that has happened, it should come as no surprise that this story does not conclude with a fairy tale ending. It actually ends with some rather disturbing statements. In verses 23-24, the author of Judges tells us that the Benjamites took their new brides back to their hometowns, rebuilt their houses, and lived there. The Israelites also departed from there and returned to their own land.

            After a grotesque massacre and monstrous kidnapping, everyone simply returned to their homes and pretended like nothing ever happened. On the outside, it seems like “happily ever after,” but on the inside, there is nothing to be happy about. There was no repentance, no restitution, and no reconciliation. When this story ends, we are left with a sick feeling in our stomachs. Therefore, it is appropriate that the book concludes with the refrain that we have seen throughout: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

            Here is where the line in Hornsby and Henley’s song “and happily ever after fails and we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales” is so poignant. This story shows the end of the innocence of a whole culture. It shows us the moral decay of a nation that disregards God. It shows us the disintegration of a society that ignores God’s laws. The Book of Judges is certainly no fairy tale!

            The refrain “there was no king in Israel” is the most tragic line of all. Why? Because there was a king in Israel! God was their king, but they refused to acknowledge him. And unfortunately, the nation of Israel would treat God the exact same way when he appeared in human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Do you acknowledge him?

Casualties of War
Judges 20:1-48

            Over the years there have been a handful of Hollywood films that have profoundly affected me. The 1989 military movie Casualties of War is one of them. Starring Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox, the film is based on the actual events that happened on Hill 192 in 1966 during the Vietnam War. It tells the story of a United States Army unit who kidnapped a pretty 21 year old Vietnamese girl, bound her wrists with rope, gagged her mouth, and took her on the mission. Later, after setting up camp, four of the soldiers took turns assaulting her. The following day, in the midst of a firefight with the Viet Cong, two of the soldiers worried that they would get caught with the woman, so they shot her in the head with an M16 rifle.

            The film not only portray depicts the cruelties of the military combat, but it also exposes the moral malaises and ethical injustices that often accompany such conflicts. The powerful main point of the movie is: There are casualties of war even beyond the battlefield.

            This is precisely the point of Judges 20. As the author of Judges continues to paint a painful picture of a society that has no regard for God or his laws, he is putting on the finishing touches on the story by showing the nation of Israel disintegrating into complete anarchy and civil war. Like Casualties of War, this biblical story will kick us in the gut, but I hope that we will all be profoundly affected by it. So, let’s take a look!

Unity in Troubled Times (1-11)

            After the brutal rape and murder of the Levite’s concubine, he dismembered her body and sent pieces to the twelve tribes of Israel. When the tribes heard about what the men of Gibeah did to this poor girl and witnessed the evidence with their own eyes, they were utterly horrified. The refrain repeated throughout Israel was “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day.” (19:31)

            Now Israel hadn’t been a unified nation since the days of Joshua and the conquest of the Promised Land. The relationships between the tribes of Israel had been strained for generations and they absolutely refused to cooperate with one another. But Gibeah’s crime was so morally outrageous that the leaders of each tribe met together at the Mizpah to decide how to hold these men accountable for their acts of atrocity.

            Before deciding how to punish the perpetrators, the leaders of Israel wanted to hear the concubine’s story from the Levite’s own lips. When recounting the events, the Levite definitely told his version. He exaggerated that the men of Gibeah wanted to kill him, and although he was truthful about the rape and murder, he conveniently left out the part about him physically pushing her out the door and feeding her to the wolves. He spun the details in such a way to conceal his complicity and to make himself out as the primary victim. Nonetheless, an abominable crime was committed and justice needed to be served. So, the Levite asked the tribal leaders what they were going to do about it.

            Upon hearing this tragic tale, the Israelites rose with rage and indignation, and they declared that no one would return to his own house until Gibeah was brought to justice. In a rare display of unity, they formed a plan to gather men from each of their tribes to march against Gibeah. It is ironic that none of the judges of Israel were ever able to amass a unified army to fight against the wicked Canaanites, but now they agree to assemble against their own countrymen. It is sad that it took a national tragedy like this to bring the Israelites together.

            But isn’t that exactly the way it is for so many families, communities, and nations today? So often we live in strife and isolation from one another, and it takes a tragedy to bring us together. One of the more awkward aspects of my job is being in a hospital room or funeral home with family members who haven’t spoken to each other in years. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the words, “It is sad that it takes something like this to bring us all together.” They’re right, it’s downright heartbreaking! Don’t be like the Israelites and wait for a tragedy to motivate you to reconcile or reach out to your family.

            Likewise, the funeral home is the place I so often hear fellow community members say, “We have to stop meeting like this!” What does that say about a community when they only time people see each other is when someone dies? If we want to stop meeting like this, let’s start meeting for something else…like lunch, or even better, church!

            How about our nation? I wonder what kind of national crisis it will take to break the gridlock in Washington D.C.! I wonder what it will take to get us to love each other and work together in spite of our differences! The last time I saw our nation pull together with any real sense of unity was the week of September 11, 2001.

Blood is Thicker than Justice (12-17)

            The Israelite army demanded that the tribe of Benjamin give up the offenders from Gibeah so that they could execute them and purge the evil from the land. But the Benjamites refused. Apparently, blood was thicker than justice. They would rather protect their own guilty tribesmen than cooperate with the rest of Israel. Instead, they gathered their forces to defend Gibeah, even though they were hopelessly outnumbered. They were willing to engage in civil war rather than bringing the rapists and murderers to justice.

            So, the Benjamites brought their 26,000 sword-bearers and 700 south-paw slingers to fight against the army of Israel that stood 400,000 men strong. Now I’m not much of a military man, but I can tell you that with these odds, the tribe of Benjamin didn’t stand a chance. Why in the world wouldn’t the Benjamites just act justly?

            This is the question that plagues all of us at some level. Why don’t we just do what is right? Why are we willing to let family ties to trump our morals? Why do we allow ourselves to be complicit in sin against God to protect our family members?

            Some of you may be saying, “Wait a minute, I don’t do that,”, but I can give you countless examples of how this happens today. For instance, how about the momma bear who relentlessly defends her child when the teacher or principal calls home with a report of bad behavior? I have seen this many times. How about the parent who provides their own urine sample to help their teenager to pass a drug test? I’ve seen this one more than once! Or how about the man or woman who lies to the police to keep their spouse out of jail? Yes, I’ve seen this one too. What sins are you willing to commit to protect your family? Like the Benjamites, when we obstruct justice, we become just as guilty!

           

Humiliating Defeats (18-28)

            Before going to battle, the Israelites went to Bethel, where the Ark of the Covenant was located and Phinehas the priest ministered, to ask God which tribe should lead the charge against Gibeah. The Lord replied that Judah should take the lead, which is reminiscent of the beginning of the Book of Judges when God told Judah to lead the Israelites into battle against the Canaanites. This repetition is ironic because this time around, the battle is against their brothers.

            Even though the Israelites vastly outnumbered the Benjamites, the underdogs gashed the Israelites in the first two battles. After two days of fighting, the Israelite casualties numbered 40,000 compared to only a few for the Benjamites. The Israelites were not only defeated; they were totally humiliated. At the end of each day’s battle, they wept before the Lord and inquired if they should continue the fight. Both times God answered in the affirmative. Finally, on the third day the Israelites conquered the Benjamite army and captured the city of Gibeah by employing a clever ambush tactic by retreating from the front lines to draw out the Benjamite army while a battalion of Israelite soldiers stormed in from the side and captured the city.

            The Lord eventually empowered the Israelites to win the battle, but this raises the question of why he would allow them to experience humiliating defeats on the first two days. Perhaps he wanted them to humble them sufficiently. After all, there is no indication that they sought the Lord’s guidance in how they should respond to this atrocity. Even when they did consult him, they simply asked who should lead the charge. They had already committed to war and they just assumed God’s approval. Their initial defeat taught them that divine authorization should be sought before, not during such a grave mission. They Lord’s delay in giving them victory gave them the exact attitude adjustment they needed. (Chisholm 504)

            God does the same thing with us today. Whenever we display streaks of arrogance and independence, he uses adversity to adjust our attitudes. Sometimes he allows us to experience unexpected and humiliating defeats to humble us and remind us of our need for him. Just as the Israelites trusted in the size and skill of their army, we are often tempted to trust in our personal intellect, talent, cleverness, or bank account to make us succeed in life. When we get puffed up in our pride and think we have life all figured out, God has ways for forcing us to our knees. You know the phrase, “Pride always comes before a fall.”

            If we learn to pray before we act, it will prevent a lot of pain! If we seek his will before we make decisions, it will spare us heartache! If we just learn to say “please” and “thank you” to God, it will save us from unnecessary sorrow! God wants us to succeed, but he wants us to do it in the spirit of humility!  

 

Triumph Taken Too Far (29-48)

            Well, after the war was over, the whole Benjamite army was decimated. 25,100 of their men were bludgeoned the battlefield that day. 600 Benjamite soldiers managed to escape and hid at the rock of Rimmon for four months. In the meantime, the Israelite forces forged ahead and ravaged the rest of the Benjamite cities, striking them with the edge of the sword. That is—they killed every living thing in their path (men, women, children, and livestock) and burned all of their towns to the ground.

            There is tragic irony in this description of Israel’s victory. The expression “strike them with the edge of the sword” was used way back at the beginning of the Book of Judges to describe Israel’s conquest against the Canaanites. But now we see the Israelites inflicting the same kind of slaughter upon their own countrymen. In a classic case of triumph taken too far, the Israelites treated their own people more harshly than their enemies. This whole endeavor began with the Israelites uniting to bring the men of Gibeah to justice for acts of brutality against an innocent woman, but it ends with the Israelites committing even more gruesome and excessive crimes. Indeed, the casualties of war are everywhere.

            Like the Israelites, when God is not our top priority, even our best attempts of doing good and working for justice can easily be tainted by transgression. We all possess a sinful nature, and if it is left unchecked, we have the capacity to abuse God’s grace and turn great triumphs into even greater tragedies. I hate to say it, but we are all capable of committing atrocious acts against our own families and countrymen. Yes, the casualties of sin are broadcast across the headlines and scattered across the communities of America every day!

            Again, as the author of Judges brings the epic to a close, he wants us to see the dreadful consequences of living in a society where no one abides by God’s laws. He wants us to understand desperate need for a deliverer. He wants us to recognize that we need a redeemer who will save us from ourselves. The Book of Judges and the whole Old Testament are showing us our need for Jesus, God’s own Son, our great deliverer, redeemer, and friend. Do you know how much you need him?

Inhospitable Hospitality
Judges 19:1-30

            “In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.” These words comprise the introduction to every episode of the NBC television show Law & Order: SVU (Special Victims Unit). The show’s writer, Dick Wolf, adapts real life stories to reveal the ruthless realities of sexual crimes. He delves into the deranged minds and despicable motives of the perpetrators and depicts the dreadful effects on the victims and their families. Every episode of SVU is a documentary on the depths of human depravity.

            Whether you watch shows like this on television or if you simply scan the day’s headlines, you know that we live in a nation that is plagued by an epidemic of sexual violence. Prostitution is plentiful! Rape is rampant, especially on our college campuses. Child molestation is perpetrated by people you would least expect. Human trafficking is as common today as it was during the pre-civil war slave days (with more than 15,000 people trafficked in the United States every year, and most of them are young women who get exploited in the underground sex industry).  

            And if you think these dastardly deeds only happen in the big city, you are sadly mistaken: sexual violence lurks in every suburb, small-town, and rural village in America, even in communities like ours!

            Judges 19 is like an episode of Law & Order: SVU. I want to warn you from the outset, this is one of the most shocking and appalling chapters in the whole Bible. It is Rated-R for graphic violence and sexually explicit material. As we investigate this case together, you may find yourself asking, “Why is this in the Bible?” But I assure you, if you can bear through the repulsive scenes, you will see that God has put it here for a good reason. So, let’s take a look!

A Bad Romance (1-9)

            This sick saga begins with a bad romance between a Levite and his concubine. Levites were descendants of Levi, the tribe which God designated to serve as priests and spiritual leaders of Israel. This Levite, however, was anything but a spiritual leader. As we will soon discover, he was a yellow-bellied self-serving morally degenerate back-stabbing weasel.

            Concubines were live-in mistresses who performed all of the functions and duties of a wife but did not enjoy the social status or legal protection of being married. Although we don’t know how this girl became a concubine, many young women were forced into this lifestyle as a means of survival. As we will soon discover, this concubine, who was from the little farming town of Bethlehem, would not receive the security she desired; instead, she will become a special victim of sexual violence.

            We don’t know how these two originally hooked up, but we do know that they were shacking up together in the remote hill country of Ephraim. But for some unknown reason, the concubine became angry with the Levite and moved back to her father’s house in Bethlehem. Again, we don’t know why she left him—she may have been frustrated because she was forced to live a lonely life of seclusion in the boonies. Maybe she just got fed up with the fact that he wouldn’t marry her (maybe she held out her hand and sang “If you like it, you better put a ring on it. Oh oh oh, oh oh oh!) Or perhaps he was even verbally or physically abusive to her. At any rate, she left him and returned to the comfort and security of her father’s house.

            After four long months, the Levite’s loneliness got the best of him and he decided to go to Bethlehem and try to make amends with his concubine. He probably had a pocket full of half-hearted apologies and empty promises to persuade her to come back.

              When the Levite got to Bethlehem, the girl’s father was surprisingly glad to meet him. We would think that the girl’s father would confront the Levite about the conflict with his daughter, but it never happens. Instead, her father displays grace and generosity; providing him food, drink, and shelter for three days. You know what they say—“Company is like fish, after three days they begin to stink.” But this father shows incredible hospitality when he insists that the Levite stay a forth night. Finally, after the midday meal on the fifth day, the Levite and his concubine saddled up the donkeys and headed northwest toward the town of Jebus.

Ghastliness in Gibeah (10-21)

            By the time they approached Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), it was already late in the day, so the Levite’s servant proposed that they stop there for the night. But the Levite immediately squashed any idea of spending the night there because it was inhabited by the Jebusites, a powerful subset of the wicked Canaanites. He decided, instead, to press on a few more miles toward the Israelite town of Gibeah, where he expected to receive a more hospitable welcome.

            As the afternoon wore on to evening, the weary travelers arrived at Gibeah, hoping to find lodging from their fellow Israelites from the tribe of Benjamin who inhabited the town. Following the custom of the day, they went to the town square and waited for someone to offer them a place for the night. But there was an eerie air about this town. Like something out of a Stephen King novel or Wes Craven horror film, the people of Gibeah wouldn’t even make eye contact with them, let alone offer them hospitality. Their prospects of securing accommodations were soon vanishing with the setting sun.

            But just when they thought they might be forced to camp in the town square for the night, an old man, who was on his way home from work, approached and greeted the couple. They were delighted when they discovered that, even though the man was temporarily living in Gibeah, he was from the hill country of Ephraim. (When you are in a stranger in a strange place, it is always comforting to meet someone from your hometown.) The old man’s offer for them to stay with him was gracious, but his insistence that they not sleep in the town square cast an ominous shadow over the whole ordeal. There was some ghastliness about Gibeah.

Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited  (22-30)

            When they got to the old man’s house, he treated them with tremendous hospitality: he made sure that their donkeys were fed, their feet were washed, and their bellies were filled. As they reclined around the dinner table enjoying cordial conversation and a glass of wine, iniquity came knocking. A mob of mad men surrounded the house, pounded on the door, and demanded that the old man send out the Levite so that they could sexually abuse him. (For those of you who know your Bible, you will recall that this was precisely what took place at Sodom and Gomorrah. This act provoked God’s judgment in the form of sulfur and fire from heaven.)

            The old man knew that both homosexuality and rape were expressly forbidden by God’s law, and he went outside and begged these monstrous men not to do this disgraceful deed. But just when we think that the old man is will make a heroic stand for moral justice, he offers the ultimate indecent proposal: “Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.” (24)

            Well, how would the Levite respond to the old man’s cowardess? Would he be a real man and stick up of his own wife and the old man’s daughter? He was close enough to the door to hear that the old man’s offer was not pacifying the savages, so he grabbed his concubine and threw her out like one tosses a scrap of meat to the dogs, and the men of Gibeah abused and gang raped her all night long.

            Now we have to pause here for a moment and ask, “What in the world were these men thinking? What kind of father would sacrifice his own daughter to secure the safety of a stranger? What kind of person would offer another man’s wife to a horde like this? What kind of husband would actively allow his wife to be treated like this?  

            The answer is—men who have no value or respect for the female gender. These men were so consumed with saving their own skin and maintaining their honor in a male dominated culture that they was willing throw their women to the wolves. The old man showed incredible hospitality to the Levite, but none to his own daughter or the Levite’s wife. The Levite was happy to receive the old man’s hospitality, but he wasn’t willing to extend it to a woman. This is truly a case of inhospitable hospitality!

            Just when we think this story can’t get any worse, we have to brace ourselves for another shockwave of wickedness. As dawn’s early light appeared, the perpetrators finally had their fill and they let the concubine go. As she stumbled back to the old man’s house, she collapsed before she could reach the door and laid there until morning.

            As the poor girl lies there, can you behold the bewilderment of betrayal and abandonment in her unopened eyes? Can you feel the ache of her blood-stained and broken body? Can you taste the tears of terror and torment trickling down her face? And can you hear the faint sounds of fingernails scratching against the threshold of desperation?

            When the Levite woke up in the morning and got ready to go on his way, he found his concubine’s brutalized body by the door and uttered the chilling words, “Get up, let us be going.” And when he picked up her limp frame and a placed in on his donkey, he discovered that she was already dead.

            As the Levite returned to his home in the hill country of Ephraim, he had a lot of time to reflect on everything that had happened and what he should have done. When he arrived home, he performed an unspeakable act of gruesomeness. He took a knife, cut her body into twelve pieces, and sent one to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, along with a note that explained what the Benjamites’ inhospitality, brutality, and degeneracy of their own society. He and his concubine avoided a Canaanite city in favor of their own, but they wound up back in Sodom and Gomorrah. (Block 546)

            I hope we are all shocked by this story. I hope that we are all outraged by such tale of unrestrained animal lust and human depravity. And I hope that you are all wondering why the Good Book contains such a bad story!   

            The answer to that last question is simple: This story shows us what happens when a society ignores God’s laws. This is what it looks like when a society falls into the pit moral relativism. This is what happens when the people of a society say, “I determine my own morality. What’s right for you may not be right for me and what’s right for me may not be right for you. Nobody has the right to tell me what to do or how to live my life.” A society becomes the new Sodom and Gomorrah.

            When people do what is right in their own eyes, the strong take advantage of the weak and injustice prevails. Don’t we see this in our world today? Just like in the Book of Judges, as our society continues to turn its back on God, government corruption, economic inequity, social injustice, and violence (particularly sexual violence) will flourish. Are we not watching this before our very eyes right here in America?

            So, what is our only hope? There is only one hope: Jesus Christ. Our society will only truly change when it repents from its sin, trusts in God’s only son Jesus Christ, and lives a life centered on God’s moral standards! Will it begin with you?  

Danite Decadence
Judges 18:1-31

            How would you like to live in a land without laws? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a nation with no government, ethical codes, or moral standards? Can you imagine living in a society where everyone does whatever they want?

            The double conclusion of the Book of Judges (ch.17-21) addresses these questions for us. Throughout the book we have seen a repeated pattern: the Israelites become spiritually lazy and fall away from God, God sends a foreign nation to humble them through oppression, they cry out to God to rescue them, God sends them a judge to deliverer them, and then the land experiences peace and prosperity for a time before they lapse again. But with each reoccurring cycle, the judges are progressively worse and the periods of peace become shorter and shorter. Samson’s reign was the straw that broke the camel’s back. After his renegade rule, and now with no judge or king to lead, Israelite society finally decayed to the point of needing a cultural root canal.

            When there is no spiritual leadership, no regard for God’s laws, and everyone doing what is right in their own eyes, a society will eventually degenerate into total debauchery. We catch a glimpse of this in Judges 18 which I have titled “Danite Decadence.”

The Spies’ Surprise (1-6)

            When the Israelites first settled the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership, the tribe of Dan failed to dislodge the Amorites and never possessed the land that God had originally allotted to them. They dwelled in a few cities like Zorah and Eshtaol, but they did not have a region for themselves. After living for many years as refugees, they became determined to find a piece of land that they could call their own. So, they selected five able men to serve as spies and sent them on a special mission to find a suitable territory for their tribe.

            The five spies ventured north and happened upon Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim. Micah was the man in Judges 17 who had stolen a large sum of money from his mother and used some of it to purchase the ingredients for a big batch of old-fashioned homemade religion. He set his home up like a temple—he fashioned a shrine, an ephod, household idols, and even paid a Levite to live there be his own personal priest. (On a side note, I want to let you know that if there is anyone wants to offer me a full salary position to be your personal minister, I’m not for sale!!)

            When the Danite spies spent the night at Micah’s home, they were surprised to see this makeshift temple and priest serving in the hill country. They recognized the Levite’s Judean drawl and wondered what he was doing there. When they heard the story of the Micah’s idols and Levite becoming his personal priest, they should have been appalled by this despicable display of spiritual decadence, but instead, they were complicit in the apostasy and asked the priest to inquire of God and let them know if their mission would succeed.

            The phony priest either used the ephod in an act of pagan divination or he simply played the part of a con-artist fortuneteller, but he told the Danites exactly what they wanted to hear: “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.” Either way, the priest waded into treacherous water by pronouncing God’s favor on their immoral mission.

            It is ironic that the Danites never bothered to consult God before they sent the spies to scour the land, but afterwards they wanted to know if God will give their mission success. This is like praying, “God, by the way, I just wanted to let you know my plan and how I am going to accomplish it. Now will you tell me if it will be successful?”

            This scene shows some serious symptoms spiritual decay. The Danites displayed a deliberate disregard for God. They did not seek God’s will for their future, but took matters into their own hands. They even sought divine approval for their apostasy.

            Unfortunately, our modern society exhibits some of these same symptoms of spiritual decay. There are many people in our country who try to manipulate God into what they want him to be rather than worship him for who he is! They go through the outward religious motions, but their inward motives are impure. They may even attend church regularly, but their hearts are far from the Lord.

            And how many people today seek the Lord’s approval for their wicked acts? We constantly hear the masses clamoring for the church to change its positions on moral issues that God has clearly spoken? They want the church to look more like the world than God. People cry out for God to bless their immoral practices and ungodly behaviors! How about you? Do you try to conform to God’s ideals or do you try to conform God to your ideals?

           

An Immoral Mission (7-20)

            With the priest’s blasphemous blessing upon them, the Danite spies continued north to the land of Laish, where they discovered its lush meadows and fertile fields. They observed the inhabitants there as a quiet, peaceful, and prosperous people. Since they were mostly farmers, they didn’t have an army, weapons, or even a city wall to protect them. Like the sheep they raised, the people of Laish were docile and unsuspecting.

             When the spies saw that this land was perfect and easy pickings, they immediately reported back to their tribal leaders. Together, they plotted to pillage the land. Even though they had never sought divine guidance for this immoral mission, they had the audacity to say “for God has given it [the land] into your hands.” (v.10) So, the Danites mustered up an army of 600 mercenaries, took up their weapons of war, and set out to slaughter the innocent lambs of Laish.

            The spies led the army along their previous path, and they came upon Micah’s house once again. As they showed thee army the peculiar place, an evil idea entered their minds. Like a scene out of a mobster movie, the spies lined up the muscle at the gate of the house while they confiscated all of the cultic idols for themselves. And when the priest protested the theft, the spies said, “Put your hand on your mouth! Don’t say a word! We’ve got a little deal for you. Let us make you an offer you can’t refuse—how about you come and work for us and be our father and our priest; after all, wouldn’t it be better for you to be the priest of a whole tribe rather than just one man?”

            Even though the spies blackmail didn’t give the priest much of a choice, he was delighted by their offer. He knew that this was a chance for him to climb the corporate ladder and earn more money and gain greater prestige. He saw an opportunity for personal advancement and took it without any hesitation.

            Do you see how everyone in this story is motivated by pragmatic materialism? The Danites desired a piece of land for themselves and they were willing to do whatever it took to get it. The spies wanted to get their hands on Micah’s idols and were willing to steal and blackmail to get it. Even the priest was willing to sell out his employer for an opportunity to gain wealth and prestige. Where were their morals? Where were their ethics? Where was their sense of right and wrong?

            When people reject God’s Word, materialism sets in! People try to substitute all sorts of things in God’s place: money, pleasure, possessions, prestige, advancement, human wisdom, personal happiness, and so on. Happiness can never be achieved by pursuing it, since the pursuit of it involves the absurdity of self-deification. So, all these things that our current society seeks as God-substitutes—its idols—are allusions and materialistic props that are ultimately nothing but absurdities. (Younger 345)

            What about you? What drives you? What is your purpose and motivation in life—to achieve wealth, power, popularity, education, amusement, etc? What are you willing to do to get them? Would you compromise your morals or break God’s laws? Is your goal to please yourself or to please God?

 

The Disintegration of a Society (21-31)

            After plundering Micah’s home, the Danites broke camp and headed for Laish, but verse 21 reveals the depth of their devilry—not only did they steal his idols and priest, but they took his whole family, his livestock, and all of the goods from his house. The spies strategically placed Micah’s treasured belongings at the front of the parade so that the infuriated Micah would have to content with the armed soldiers first, should he try to reclaim his stolen property.

            Sure enough, Micah wasn’t going to let the vandals get away without a confrontation. When the Danites saw Micah and some of his people coming, they turned around and said, “What is the matter with you? Do you really think you are going to stop us?” Micah knew that he didn’t stand a chance in a fight, so he made a dramatic plea for justice saying, “How can you take away everything I own?” This plea is really ironic coming from a guy who stole everything from his own mother.

            At first, the Danites were amused by Micah’s passionate appeal but they quickly became weary of his words and strongly advised him to shut his mouth and go home, lest some angry fellow would cause him or one of his loved ones to lose his life. So, Micah put his tail between his legs and returned to his home.

             From there, the Danites continued their quest of corruption by sweeping through the valley of Laish and striking the unsuspecting people with the edge of the sword and burning their city with fire—thus mercilessly annihilating all of the defenseless inhabitants.

            After this, the Danites plundered whatever was left and they rebuilt the city for themselves. They named it Dan, after their ancestor, the son of Israel. And if all of this wasn’t bad enough, they established their city a pagan cultic center by setting up the idols that Micah had manufactured and installing Micah’s priest and his sons as their own priests.

            The author ends this story with a shocking detail. He finally reveals the identity of the Levite who became Micah’s priest; it was Jonathan, the son or Gershom, the son of Moses! What? This pagan priest was the grandson of Moses, whom God used to deliver the Israelites from 400 years of slavery in Egypt and establish God’s law in the land. In just two short generations, we see how a godly family was completely overcome by idolatry. These were supposed to be the people of God, but they acted more like the Canaanites. This whole story shows us how fast a society can disintegrate into complete decadence.

            At the beginning of this sermon I asked you what it would be like to live in a land with no laws, government, moral standards, or ethical codes. Well, this is what it would be like! People would covet, steal, and murder at will. There would be no justice; the weak and defenseless would fall prey to the strong and powerful. Without laws and leadership, a society cannot survive. It will always succumb to sinful human nature and disintegrate into decadence and debauchery.

            Furthermore, when a family, church, or society turns its back of God and his laws, it becomes subject to spiritual and moral decay. It happens slowly and subtly at first, but over time it snowballs into a powerful force. Materialism replaces morality! Pragmatism replaces principle! Pleasure replaces propriety! And God is replaced by worthless idols!

           

            As far as our commitment to the Lord and his laws, where do you think we are as a nation today? Where is your family? Where are you?

Memoirs of a Tragic Life & a Triumphant Death
Judges 16:23-31

            One year, one month, and one day ago I was standing in my hometown of Blairsville, Pennsylvania conducting my grandfather’s funeral service. As I delivered his eulogy and my family reflected on his life, our hearts were overcome with mixed emotions. On the one hand, we were deeply grieved by what the lung cancer did to his body, but on the other hand, we wholly rejoiced at what the physical suffering did for his soul.

            You see, my grandfather was a hard-hearted man: independent in his posture, stoic in his emotions, and cynical toward religious faith. He was the type of self-made man who always had to be in control and everything had to be on his terms. He believed that he was the master of his own destiny. But as the cancer slowly stripped his breath away, he eventually came to grips with the fact that he was not in control. Just one month before he passed away, when he had been humbled by affliction, he was finally ready to depend on God rather than himself. On that day, I had the great joy of watching him make peace with his Creator by receiving Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. In many ways, my grandfather lived as tragic life, but in the end, he died a triumphant death.

            Our world is filled with people just like my grandfather: independent, proud, and self-reliant. They actually believe that they are in control of their life and can determine their own destiny. They snub their noses at the thought of falling on their knees before God. And sadly, it often takes some type of tragedy or prolonged physical suffering to convince them otherwise. They have to experience a great deal of heartache before their hearts will soften. Do you know anyone like that? Perhaps there is even someone here today who exhibits these attitudes.

            As we have learned over the past few weeks, Samson lived a tragic life! God had blessed him with a miraculous birth, supportive family, clever wit, supernatural strength, and even a full head of hair (all you bald guys know you are jealous). He had all of the talent in the world and God gave him the incredible destiny of delivering his people from 40 years of Philistine oppression. But he was also autonomous, arrogant, and obstinate. Instead of fulfilling God’s plan for his life, he pursued his personal pleasures and agendas. He used his God-given talent to promote his own glory. When he should have been uniting the Israelites to resist the Philistine occupation, he foolishly wasted the best years of his life chasing Philistine women.

            God tried to humble Samson through numerous adversities: the lion attack, his fiancé and her father being burned alive, and almost dying of thirst after the battle at Jawbone Hill. God miraculously intervened for him, but Samson still did not learn his lesson. It was only after Delilah deceived him and the Philistines gouged out his eyes that he began to come to his senses. The physical pain of losing one’s eyesight and being forced to grind grain in a dark dungeon has a way of bringing a man to his knees and seeing his need for God. Yes, Samson lived a tragic life, but today’s text shows us how he died a triumphant death!

Degraded by Dagon (23-27)

            After the five lords of the Philistines imprisoned Samson, they planned a massive victory celebration to honor their god Dagon and thank him for delivering their arch-enemy into their hands. Dagon was the Philistine god of grain and the people saw Samson’s capture as divine retribution for him burning their grain and crushing their men. From all around, thousands of Philistines gathered at Gaza see this great spectacle with their own eyes. They flocked to the temple of Dagon to be entertained by the mighty Israelite judge stumbling and groping around in the darkness. The mob was so massive that 3,000 people were forced to stand on the roof just to catch a glimpse of the main event.

            As the prison attendant led Samson into the pagan temple, the ravenous crowd erupted with sarcastic shouts, contemptuous cheers, and degrading dirges on their lips. Can you see the smug smirks on the Philistine’s faces? Can you smell the spoiled food and rotten trash they flung at Samson’s brutalized body? Can you hear the slurs, taunts, and jeers they hurled at Samson’s diminished demeanor?

            The Philistines thought that this was a celebration of Dagon’s victory over Samson, but it was actually a showdown between their false god and Samson’s God, the one true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Even though Samson was blind and bound in bronze shackles, he was still incredibly valuable in God’s eyes. Even though Samson’s quality of life wasn’t what it once was, God still had a plan for him. Even though Samson lived a tragic life, God wasn’t done with him yet! Do you remember the glimmer of hope in the last verse of the preceding passage?—“But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.” (16:22)

 

Deliverance through Death (28-31)

            As the once proud Samson suffered ultimate humiliation between the two pillars of the temple of Dagon, he finally recognized his need for God. In his prayer, he declared his helplessness by referring to God by his covenant name, “O Lord God” and petitioning the Sovereign Lord to remember him and strengthen him one last time so that he could push the pillars apart and bring the whole house down.

            Even though Samson acknowledged his need for God, he still did not understand his divine role as Israel’s deliverer. Notice the motivation of his prayer—he is only concerned about executing personal vengeance against the Philistines for blinding him. The repetition of personal the pronouns “remember me”, “strengthen me”, “that I may be avenged”, “my two eyes”, and “Let me die with the Philistines” shows a continued self-centeredness. But nonetheless, God graciously answered Samson’s selfish prayer and miraculously enabled him to his to push the supporting pillars off their foundation, causing the whole temple to collapse and kill everyone there. Thus, it is always said that Samson accomplished more in his death than he did in his life.

            From a human perspective, Samson not only lived a tragic life, but he also died a tragic death. O how I wish that Samson would have achieved his potential in life! O how I wish he would have humbled himself before God and followed his plan! O how I wish that he had fully repented from all of his selfish sins and gave God all the glory before he died. But he did not! In the end, he only partially recognized his need for God and even his heroic act was tainted by the desire for revenge and self-glorification. 

            But from a divine perspective, even though Samson lived a tragic life, he died a triumphant death. From before Samson was even born, it was God’s plan to use him to deliver the Israelites from Philistine oppression. Even though Samson did not cooperate with God’s plan, God accomplished his plan anyway. This is a prime example of how God’s sovereignty always trumps human free will. Throughout his life, Samson thought he was in control, but he wasn’t. God was in control! Even though Samson’s last act was purely selfish, God used it to liberate his people.

            Samson’s life and death provokes many penetrating questions for our lives today: Do you try to control everything in your life or do you let God do that for you? Do you try to assert your will in every situation or have you embraced God’s sovereignty? Do you strive toward your own personal aspirations, ambitions, and agendas or do you actively seek to follow God’s plan for your life? Are your big life choices and little daily decisions self-centric or theo-centric—that is, are they based on God’s desire or your desires?

            I find it heartbreaking that so many people in our society are no longer content to just live on their own terms, but now they also want to die on their own terms. It is a sad ethical reality that four states in our nation have declared it legal for people with terminal diseases to take their own lives with the assistance of a physician. Well, guess what—we’re all terminal! And suicide, even if it has the legislature’s approval, still breaks the sixth commandment, “Thou shall not murder.” It is highly ironic that proponents call this “death with dignity.” There is no dignity in actively ending a human life—it’s disgraceful. It is just another vain attempt to maintain a false sense of control!

            I don’t know how many of you have followed the story of Brittany Maynard, the 29 year old teacher from California, who recently moved to Oregon so that she can legally end her own life on November 1st rather than suffer with brain cancer, but I ran across an interview with her in this week’s People Magazine that really struck me. Listen closely to what she says:

I don’t want to die, but I am dying. My cancer is going to kill me, and that’s a terrible, terrible way to die. So to be able to die with my family with me, to have control over my own mind, which I would stand to lose—to go with dignity is less terrifying. When I look at both options I have to die, I feel this is far more humane…I would not tell anyone else they should choose death with dignity. My question is ‘Who thinks they have the right to tell me that I don’t deserve this choice. (People Magazine, Oct. 27, 2014, p. 66-67.)

            Well, Brittany, who thinks they have the right to tell you that you don’t deserve this choice? God does! When someone tries to take life and death into their own hands, it is nothing short of a selfish act of rebellion against God. Personal choice has become a great American idol! We have become a culture of choosing what is right in our own eyes rather than doing what is right in God’s eyes!

            Allow me to contrast Brittany Maynard’s words with the words of another 29 year old who was dying from a terminal disease. David Brainerd, one of the first missionaries to the American Indians, endured intense physical suffering throughout his life and finally died from tuberculosis on October 9, 1747. Just weeks before his passing, as he laid in immense pain at the home of his good friend Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, MA, he spoke these words:

My heaven is to please God, and glorify Him, and give all to Him, and be wholly devoted to His glory; that is the heaven I long for; that is my religion, and that is my happiness, and always was ever since I suppose I had true religion; and all those that are of that religion shall meet me in heaven…My greatest joy and comfort has been to do something for promoting the interest of religion and the souls of particular persons: And now, in my illness, while I am in full pain and distress from day to day, all the comfort I have is in being able to do some little char [act] for God; either by something that I say, or by writing, or some other way.” (Vance Christie, David Brainerd: A Flame for God. p.299)

            As you compare these two different perspectives on death and dying, you tell me which one is more dignified! This is the difference between a self-centered and God-centered life! Which one will you choose?

 

            Even though Samson never got it, God sovereignly used his suffering and death to deliver his people from slavery to the Philistines. But there is another man in the Bible who did get it. Like Samson, God gave this man a miraculous birth, supportive family, clever wit, supernatural strength, and a divine destiny.  This man was not a Nazarite, but a Nazarene. And in God’s sovereignty, he would use this man’s suffering and death to deliver his people from slavery; but in this case, it was not slavery to the Philistines, but slavery to sin. You ask who this man may be—Christ Jesus, it is he!

            I am so glad that Jesus got it! He knew that his life was not his own. He embraced his Father’s plan for his life even though he knew it would take him down the road of suffering. Jesus willingly and courageously chose to suffer on the cross to pay for our sins and purchase our redemption. And if we put our faith in him, we are forgiven and have the hope of eternal life!

            Do you get it? Do you know that your life is not your own? Have you embraced God’s plan for your life? Will you suffer for him like he suffered for you? And when the time comes, will your death be tragic or triumphant?

Blinded by Seduction
Judges 16:1-22

            Some people just never seem to learn their lesson! They get caught in the same old traps and repeat the same mistakes over and over again! They refuse to reckon with the dangers in their decisions and their desires dominate their discretion. Even though they know that they are heading down the wrong road, they will not turn around and go in the opposite direction. Once they hop on the merry-go-round of misery they don’t know how to get off. Even though they have seen the light, they choose to live in darkness. Does this sound familiar? Do you know anyone like that?

            This description fits Samson like a glove. Instead of pursuing his divine destiny of delivering his people from 40 years of Philistine oppression, he was blinded by his lust for Philistine women. In blatant disregard for God’s law and his parent’s advice, he allowed his sensual passions to drive his decision to pursue the girl from Timnah, which put him on a downward descent to depravity. He compromised his Nazarite vows on a number of occasions and spiraled through vicious cycles of sin and vengeance. Even though God had shown him remarkable grace and miraculous provision, he showed no heart for the Holy. Tragically, his arrogance and selfishness caused him to sacrifice his divine potential for momentary pleasures.

            As Judges 16 dawns, we see that Samson has not learned anything from his earlier errors. He still exhibits a weakness for women and an obsession with personal glory, which blinds him to truth and will lead his ultimate downfall. This chapter recounts Samson’s one night stand with a prostitute and his epic romance with Delilah. So, let’s see how Samson is blinded by seduction!

A One Night Stand and a Gate of Glory (1-3)

            God had just spared Samson’s life by miraculously providing him water at En-hakkore, in the Israelite town of Lehi, and now we see him immediately going to Gaza, the southernmost city in the Philistine region and forty-five miles from his hometown of Zorah. Why did Samson go to Gaza? The author of Judges doesn’t tell us explicitly but it isn’t too hard to figure out. Remember, Samson was a man driven by his sensual appetites, which still hadn’t been fully satisfied. He never got to act out his fantasies with his almost-bride from Timnah. So, where does a man go when he want to pursue his illicit passions? He goes somewhere he thinks he won’t get caught! So, deliberately and foolishly, he went fraternizing in enemy territory again.

            It didn’t take Samson long to find what he was looking for. The narrator describes the scene with incredible brevity: “and there he saw a prostitute, and went into her.” His heart had been scorned by past nuptials, so this time around, he decides to by-pass the morality of marriage altogether and conveniently pays for his pleasure.

            Even though Samson went to a remote location, he underestimated his seclusion. The news of Samson’s escapades at Jawbone Hill had obviously circulated through the Philistine camps. As Public Enemy #1, he had a bounty on his head and a bulls-eye on his back! While he was in the prostitute’s chamber, the people of Gaza discovered his presence and plotted an ambush, but for some reason, they decided to wait until morning to capture and kill him.

            Before the Philistines could execute their punitive plan, Samson somehow caught wind of their scheme and decided to beat them to the punch. While the whole city lay sleeping, he left his mistress at midnight and escaped. But before he slipped away, he saw an opportunity to do something to help the people of Gaza to always remember him. He went to the entrance of the city, shook the large doors off their posts, hoisted them on his shoulders, and carried them all the way up the hill of Hebron some forty miles away.

            From the hill of Hebron, the city gate could be seen by the Philistines and also the men of Judah (the same group of Israelites who turned their backs on him in chapter 15). The gate would stand as a testament to Samson’s strength. This self-serving display certainly accomplished its goal; no one would ever forget this feat. He achieved his desired glory!

            These three little verses give us a lot to think about. First, they remind us of the dangers of fraternizing with the enemy. When we put ourselves in tempting situations, we set ourselves up for a fall.  What are we willing to sacrifice for momentary pleasures? Second, they showcase God’s providential grace. Even when Samson put himself in a dangerous situation, God intervened for him by somehow alerting him to Philistines plan to capture him. Likewise, God often delivers us from dangers that we did not know existed. He often spares us from the consequences of our foolish decisions. As he did for Samson, he intervenes on our behalf, even though we don’t deserve it!

Delilah’s Deception (4-17)

            Well, the Philistines were totally humiliated by Samson’s display of strength. Every time they gazed upon Gaza’s gate and thought about how Samson slipped through their fingers, their eyes were filled with fury and they were willing to do anything to destroy him. The lords of the Philistines finally figured that the only way they could defeat Samson was to discover the source of his strength and neutralize it. The best way subdue a man’s strength is to exploit his weakness, and the encounter with the prostitute exposed Samson’s Achilles Heel. He may be able to carry a city gate 40 miles uphill, but he could not withstand the wiles of a Philistine woman. And he just happened to be in love with another one.

            Samson barely escaped disaster in his affair with the prostitute, and now we find him descending upon the Valley of Sorek where he was shacking up with a Philistine woman named Delilah, the most famous femme fatale in history. Today, the name “Delilah” is synonymous with deception and seduction, but the two ancient Semitic possibilities are “to flirt” or “of the night.” Either way, her name casts an ominous shadow from the outset of the story.

            Samson was madly in love with Delilah, but she was not in love with him; she was just playing around. When the five lords of the Philistines found this out, they employed her to seduce him and discover the source of his strength so that they could capture and torture him. They each promised to give her 1,100 shekels of silver if she succeeded. 5,500 shekels at that time was the equivalent to more than 20 million dollars today. (Now I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger, it was silver she was after. It wasn’t Samson’s cash she considered, she just sold to the highest bidder.) Delilah was delighted by their offer, and she immediately went to work.

            On three separate occasions, Delilah turned on her sensual charms and tenderly asked Samson to reveal to her the secret of his great strength, and three times, Samson deceived her. First, he told her that seven fresh bowstrings would bind his strength. Obviously, this was not true, but contacting bowstrings, which were made out of animal tendons, compromised his Nazarite vow again. Second, he told her that new ropes would incapacitate him. Apparently, she did not know that this tactic had already failed back at Lehi. Third, he teases her with instructions to weave his hair together and tie it with a pin, and then he would become as weak as any other man. Though not true, we see Samson’s will weakening as he comes perilously close to revealing his hair as the real source of his strength.

            In each attempt, Delilah tied Samson while he slept and had Philistine soldiers stationed close by to subdue him when he awoke. But in the morning, he easily broke the ties that bound him, preventing any opportunity for the Philistines to pounce on him.

             Most women would have given up, but the devious Delilah was undaunted. She reached deep down into her pocket of tricks and pulled out the atomic bomb of emotional weapons—the old line “If you really loved me, you would…tell me the secret of your strength.” This was coupled with an onslaught of sad puppy dog eyes, deceptive tears, and manipulative persistence. She nagged him to the point of death and he eventually laid his heart out on a silver platter, spilling everything about his Nazarite vow from birth and confessed that if his long hair was cut that he would lose his strength. He bore his soul on this most important of matters to a pagan woman who wasn’t even his wife. (She tied him to her kitchen chair; she broke his throne, and she cut his hair; and from his lips she drew the Hallelujah.)

            When we encounter this part of the story, it is hard for us to understand how Samson didn’t see what Delilah was doing to him. You just want to shake him and ask, “Are you blind man?” But yes, he was blinded by seduction! He was so “in love” with her that he didn’t realize that she was just playing him. He only heard what he wanted to hear. He lowered his defenses and was willing to compromise anything to keep her—even his most precious secret! He certainly had a lot of brawn, but he didn’t have any brains!

            Do you know anyone who has fallen in this trap? Over the ages, many people have been blinded by seduction and have been willing to compromise their morals, standards, and beliefs in the name of love. So many people have sacrificed their own relationship with God for a relationship with someone who doesn’t even care about God. I hope that Samson’s blindness will help us to see a little more clearly!

 

 No Eyes to See (19-22)

            As soon as Delilah learned Samson’s secret, she called the Philistine lords to cash in on their deal. With the money now in her hands, she decided to help them get Samson in their hands. So, one night, after what I assume was one last round of carnal romance, she lays his head down on her lap and begins stroking his long locks with her crafty fingers. This would soothe any suspicion of betrayal and hasten his slumber. As she lulled him into a deep sleep, a seductive smile crossed her face and she whispered to the Philistine barber that was waiting outside her tent. He quietly entered and snipped off Samson’s seven braided locks.

            Once his hair was gone, Delilah began to torment him until he awoke, and when he did, she yelled that the Philistines were upon him. Being through this routine previously, he did not panic; he assumed that he would shake himself out of this situation like he had always done before. But he was in for a great shock. The end of verse 20 is one of the saddest statements in the Old Testament—“But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” His Nazarite vow was completely compromised and he lost his strength. The Philistines took their revenge by binding him with shackles and blinding him by gouging out his eyes. Then they took him to Gaza and forced him to grind grain, which was considered woman’s work in that culture.

            Do you see the ironic consequences of Samson’s sins? It was his eyes that got him into trouble in the first place, and he loses his eyes in the end. He had lived in spiritual darkness for most of his life, and now he would live in physical darkness for the rest of his life. He had always relied on his own might, but now he would have to depend on the mercy of others. He once burned the Philistine’s grain and now he had to grind the Philistines grain. The one seduced by the hands of a woman was now reduced to doing the work of a woman with his hands—the great womanizer got womanized.

            This section shows us that our sinful habits and patterns eventually catch up with us. To quote a popular maxim: If you constantly play with fire, it is only a matter of time until you get burned. Whether it is sexual indulgence, foolish pride, lying, greed, or some other type of sinful attitude or action, it always costs more than it is worth. Like Samson, God gives us so many chances, but if we don’t repent and change our ways, we will face the consequences of our sins.

            The life of Samson is indeed a tragic tale—a  miraculous birth, a divine destiny, a wonderful family, supernatural strength, clever wit, and all the potential in the world, and he through it all away. By all accounts, Samson was a total screw-up; his life was a complete failure. How could God ever use someone like that?

            But notice the glimmer of hope in verse 22, “But the hair on his head began to grow again…” Maybe God wasn’t done with him yet! I hope you’ll come back next week to hear how the story ends.