A famine. A desperate attempt to survive. Childlessness. Death. Three widows left grieving. Tragedy upon tragedy. Where is God in all of this?
Set during the period of the Judges, the story of Ruth, a woman from Moab, and her mother-in-law, an Israelite named Naomi, remind us that even when things are the darkest God is working out his special plan.
The little book of Ruth is an expertly told short story of family tragedy and God's gracious provision when all seems hopelessly lost. In this message we'll cover Act 1 of this drama, tracing the travels and travails of an Israelite family from Bethlehem to Moab. It's just fives verses, but short as it is, it has much to teach us today. Join us at the start of our journey with Ruth and Naomi.
As a second illustration of the consequences of living by the moral code of doing what is right in one's own eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25), Judges 19-21 tells a second story from the period of the Judges, likely very early in that period.
We'll discover that one of the tribes of Israel has lost all sense of what is right and wrong. As a result, they not only refuse to deal with egregious sin in their midst, they defend that behavior even at the risk of their own lives.
Thankfully all of Israel has not lost its sense of what is right and wrong, and they address the problem. However, it costs them dearly to bring about justice and punish the wrong doers.
This is an ugly story and much of it not meant to be read publicly, but it is a story we need to hear because it is a warning to us today about tolerating sin and defending those who choose to live by the code of "doing what is right in their own eyes."
When we come to chapter 17 of the Book of Judges we encounter the first of two undated incidents that occurred during the period of the Judges. Each serves as an example of the spiritual and moral decline of Israel that occurred during this period.
The first, our passage for this week, is in Judges 17 and 18. It relates the story of a man in Ephraim, a Levite from Bethlehem, and the tribe of Dan. We'll find that each of these is rocking to the beat of a song whose theme is "Every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6). This was the moral code of many during the period of the judges, and these two chapters illustrate the spiritual and moral results of embracing that code of conduct.
In this message we'll reveal the lyrics to the song they were rocking to, and the results that letting that song play continuously in their heads led to. The song is strangly familiar, so worth discovering for our own instruction.
The book of Judges focuses most of it attention on six men and one woman who acted as delivers for Israel. There are, however, six other men who served in this role who didn't get as much coverage. They are easy to overlook or ignore.
But God does not have majors and minors, even though that's sometimes how these two sets of judges are categorized. Anyone who serves God is on God's team, period. All count. These six men who got less 'ink' remind us that God knows everyone who serves him, regardless of how spectacular or ordinary their contributions are. Let's take a look at the six men God didn't overlook and learn from them how God may look at some of us.
You have probably know someone who had great potential but never lived up to it. Such was Samson. Supernaturally caused conception, a mission from God before his birth, great powers, but tragically compromised by his own weaknesses.
We'd hope that as he matured, Samson might turn into the person God intended him to be. But that did not happen. His weaknesses only led to his own tragic end, as we'll see in this message,
We can be gifted, talented, and be give many advantages, but unless God helps us overcome our own weaknesses, we could end up a tragedy like Samson.
Have you ever made a mistake, then turned around and done it again? Samson repeated many mistakes, but his enemies, the Philistines, matched him at least one-for-one. Unfortunately for them, they totally misunderstood who they were dealing with. The result was that every mistake they made cost them more and more.
What the Philistines failed to recognize was that they were not just dealing with a strong man named Samson. They were dealing with Samson's God. It was God who was empowering Samson. No effort on the Philistine's part was going to stop him. They didn't figure that out even in the face of superhuman feats, so it cost them dearly,
This message warns us about not learning from our own mistakes. We don't want to be modern day Philistines.
Hidden weaknesses can bring down huge structures. Hidden character defects can bring down otherwise strong people.
In Judges 14 we encounter the strongest man who ever lived, but before his physical strength is revealed, his inner weaknesses are. By the time the chapter is over, we will see his inner weaknesses getting him into the trouble that will eventually be his downfall.
Samson wasn't the last strong person with hidden problems. None of us want to fail like he did. That makes his story relevant to us.
Most of us like to know what's going on. We grow tense when we don't see how things are working out. Many of us do this with God. When we don't see him at work or answering our prayers we grow frustrated, confused, and perhaps disillusioned. But as we'll see today, God may be at work for years before people see what he's been up to. Sometimes he is working, but his work is hidden from sight.
Suffering an invasion from the east, the leaders of Gilead searched for someone to lead them in battle. Eventually they recruited a man called Jephthah for the job. He was a man who suffered from a difficult past, but the opportunity to lead Israel must have seemed to him to be a golden opportunity to overcome all that and become a person of respect. As we'll see he was highly successful, except in one area of his life. That area did him in, personally. We'll learn what he did, what the outcome was, and the danger we face in that same area of life in this message.
There is a sadly recurring account in the book of Judges, one we've encountered five times already. We're about to encounter it for the sixth time. It's the account of Israel turning away from God, then God sending a nation to oppress them, then their crying out to God in their suffering, and then God raising up a deliverer, a judge.
This time what the Israelites have done is worse than before. They cry out for help and this time God directly responds, but what he says is deeply unsettling. Israel has failed to learn the lesson He has been trying to teach them and the consequences are severe.
Many of us have trouble with repeated sin. Perhaps we make little of it, excusing ourselves or justifying our behavior. We'll learn that is a dangerous thing to do, and we'll learn the help born-again Christians have in dealing with sin that the Israelites did not have. Sin deludes then sin destroys. It isn't something to play around with.
We all have met someone who fits to description: he/she is too big for his/her britches. Folks with oversized egos and too much self-confidence can be tough to work for or live with. They can cause trouble for organizations, businesses, communities, and even nations.
Today we get to meet King Bramble, better known as Abimelech, a man who was clearly too big for his own britches. The damage he did in Israel, but especially for his supporters, was significant. However, the lessons of his brief attempt at satisfying his ego are relevant to all of us today. We'll get a chance to learn them in this message.
King Bramble: When You Get Too Big for Your Britches
A brief look at the news or among those we know validates the claim that is isn't easy to finish well. A great start doesn't ensure a great finish.
As we've seen, Gideon got a great start. God's improbable choice for a leader won an improbable victory and set Israel free from the worst oppression it had yet experienced. However clouds soon rose over Gideon as he made some poor decisions. The result was that Gideon did not finish well.
Can we finish well? How? That is part of what we'll discuss in this message.
The final miracle of Christmas was a star that guided a group of astrologers from the east to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem to pay homage to the new-born king of the Jews.
Who were these 'wise men'? Where were they from? Why did God allow pagan astrologers a way to discover the new-born king of the Jews, his son, Jesus? What was God trying to teach us from this unusual story?
These and other questions are ones we'll take up as we look for the final wonder of Christmas in the arrival of these wise men.
The Miracles of Christmas: A Miracle Star Guides Wise Men to Jesus
The most astounding miracle of Christmas is that God became a man in the person of Jesus who was born in Bethlehem on the first Christmas. In this message we'll see how the apostle John declared this truth, and then consider how amazing and miraculous what we call the Incarnation actually was. It is the chief wonder of Christmas not only in how it occurred, but why it occurred. Join in the wonder of this greatest miracle of Christmas.
Shortly after the first miracle of Christmas, the second one occurred. The angel Gabriel was sent to announce what was about to happen: a virgin would conceive without losing her virginity, and she would bear a son who would be God's Son and would reign on the throne of King David forever. The virgin, a peasant girl named Mary, living in a small and obscure Galilean village, submitted to God's plan and willed for God to do for her what the angel said even though it might meant public ridicule and a divorce from her engaged husband, Joseph.
This is a familiar story, but the great miracle and the willing submission of this likely teenage girl, Mary, are two of the wonders of this second miracle of Christmas.
A story of an elderly childless couple seems irrelevant to the Christmas season, yet that is the story Luke uses to open his gospel. He doesn't start with Mary, or Joseph, or shepherds, or a manger, or wise men. He starts with the miraculous conception of the one who would be the Messiah's forerunner, John the Baptist.
This is the first miracle of Christmas, one of many. It is a miracle that shows God's grace, compassion, love, and faithfulness. It's a wonderful human interest story, too, one we can be encouraged by today. That's probably one reason Luke began his story of Jesus with it.
The Miracles of Christmas: A Childless Couple Has a Son