"fights" From Other Believers? Series

Please open your bibles to Judges 12…… Last week we learned about Jephthah who led Israel to victory over God’s enemies the Ammonites. Read along with me now Judges 12……

Let us summarize what happened…

First of all, who is the Tribe of Ephraim?? Let us note……………

Ephraim is one of the Tribes of Israel (God’s Chosen People)!

We noted in Judges 8, this same tribe complained to Gideon; here in Judges 12…

v1: Ephraim complained to Jephthah about not being called to fight against the Ammonites!

How did Jephthah handled it? Jephthah like he handled the enemy the King of Ammon told the truth!

v2: The truth was Ephraim was called to fight with Jephthah BUT they didn’t help!

What does this tell us about Ephraim??

v3: Ephraim (one of God’s Chosen People) was arrogant, wanted to be the hero, and so was just looking for a fight!!

v4-6: Jephthah had to fight Ephraim and killed 42000 Ephraimites! And yes, sometimes you cannot fake your identity by the way you speak; how can you tell a Wisconsinite from one who is not? A Wisconsinite will say Sha-no and an out of Stater will say SHAAAWAANO; or, non-Wisconsinites cannot say Wauwatosa, Aushwabenon, or Oconomowoc the right way! Or if you give someone directions and you tell them head towards the lake and they say what lake?; you know they are out of towners!

Now, it doesn’t tell us; I do wonder why God would put that passage there about speaking? Any other thoughts beside telling us it was a test??

Perhaps God is just letting us know how personal and how human He is; God knows and accepts every specific “accents” of people!

Now…. v7: Jephthah led Israel six years, died, and was buried in Gilead. (Hebrews 11:32 – Jephthah is listed for Christians as one of the heroes of faith, even though he made one big mistake in his prayer and had to kill his only child, a young daughter).

Jephthah was called to lead God’s Chosen people then he died, but again….

v8-15: God kept giving new leaders to Israel but we read in Judges 13:1……………

Looking back to Judges 12:8-15, what 2 things did the Israelites do wrong??

v9: likely again married into paganism!

v14: indicates a focus on “riches”

The Biblical Principles for us are clear.

First of all, remember from Judges 11 that we Believers of God can expect “fights” from the world and we must know how to handle them like Jephthah did.

But here in Judges 12, where did the “fight” come from??

1. Because we are all sinners, we can expect “fights” from other Believers of God!

This actually happened to me when we first started this church in the year 2004. Someone actually accused me that I should not be a Pastor because I owed taxes!! The person actually looked into my financial records on the Internet! I was really mad because even though I explained that I owed taxes way back in the 1980s and we already paid all that we owed, the guy was still telling me to step down from ministry!

“Fights” outside and inside of the church will happen, for there will always be a spiritual battle which we need to handle with God’s help! How should we handle spiritual battles which will come our way from many people??

Fight the spiritual battles with:

a. Prayer – dependence and trust in God who will always win!

b. Truth – both Scriptures and realities of life!

c. Prayer – for the situation and people

d. Challenge the opposition to believe in the Triune God!

e. Stand and Take action based on God’s Word!

2. God will always provide for us!! (Hebrews 13:5)

3. Stay away from sins which can entrap us (e.g. paganism, ungodly relations, focus on riches)!

Jephthah is listed in Hebrews 11 as one of our heroes of faith (his daughter should also be a part of that list of faithfuls!). Remember and live out Hebrews 12:1-3….. Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses of faith, let us Christians run the race marked out for us, throw away everything that hinders and sin which easily entangles us…. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!