Here Comes The Judge – Dealing With Rejection

Subject: Here Comes the Judge – Dealing with Rejection

Text: Judges 11:1-11

Introduction: The story of Jephthah is one of the most interesting in the Old Testament. It is really told from Judges 10:6 - 12:7. And I believe this story has a definite message for all of us today, but especially, those who believe and know they have been call to a higher purpose in life. The one prayer request I hear most often is, "pray that I will be all that God has called me to be."

Sometimes we are placed in a position in life where we know that God has something special planned for our lives, but no one seems to appreciate it but you. In life at one time or another, we suffer some form of rejection. Whether it was not being picked for the kickball game by the kids in the neighborhood, not making the football team, or the cheerleading squad, not going to the prom with the person you knew you wanted, or getting into the college you wanted, not getting the job you hoped for, not marrying the person you thought you would, not qualifying a credit card or loan, or having a marriage that you poured every fiber of your being into being destroyed by a moment of lust, by a person you thought was a gift from God.

In some form or fashion, we all have experienced rejection and felt the effects that it brings with it and will continue to feel them for many years to come. African Americans still feel the effects of being rejected as equal human beings and the results of slavery, Jewish Americans still feel the effects of an attempt to eliminate a race of people by what is called the Holocaust, everyone has felt rejection and suffered from the results of it. Rejection is a part of life that affects each of us at some point and it’s not limited to only one instance. In the body of Christ, it is almost impossible to calculate the damage wrought by rejection in the church. Whether it is real or imaginary, the effect is the same. Why do people get rejected? What is the cause of rejection?

1. The Cause of Rejection - Men will reject you because you are different.

First, Jephthah was an outsider and because he was different. His father was a Jewish and his name was Gilead. His unnamed mother was a prostitute. His daddy was sowing his wild oats and Jephthah was the unplanned, unwanted, and unloved crop. Jephthah was a treated like human trash.

Second, Jephthah was an outcast. Once people are placed in that different category, it’s easy to discard them as having no value. When Jephthah was old enough to fend for himself, his (30) half-brothers drove him away because they had no intentions of sharing any of their inheritance with him. In those times the eldest son inherited a double portion, the rest was divided equally between all the brothers. These brothers made sure their portions would be as large as possible by casting Jephthah out.

Third, Jephthah became an outlaw. No surprises here, lost men do lost things. Jephthah – unloved and angry, became a streetwise kid with a flair for attracting others to him. Jephthah became the leader of a gang of outcasts. He became the first “Robin Hood” except he stole from the rich and kept it for himself and his friends. When people are treated like outsider, they will begin to feel like an outcast. When they feel like outcast, they will usually become outlaws. When people are treated like outsiders in the Church, they leave the church and many times instead of building up the reputation of the church, they destroy the reputation of the church.

2. The Purpose of Rejection – How does Satan use rejection? Judges 11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.

Satan recognizes hidden potential. He uses rejection to rob us of our full potential. God saw Jephthah was a mighty man of Valor. One of Satan’s goal is to blind us from seeing our true potential. Satan recognizes the true power of our gift. His goal is to cause you to draw back or withhold your gift. Satan recognizes our importance to God in the preservation of others. The name Jephthah means breakthrough or opener. If Jephthah had been allowed to remain in Gilead and use his gift, not only would he have experienced personal breakthrough, but those around him would benefited from his gift. Our full potential can be reached only as we use our gift for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

3. The Pain of Rejection: Separation - God has created us for relationships. Our heart longs for a place to belong, a place to be valued and a place to be accepted. Our Lead character, Jephthah who name means opener or break through, the son of Gilead by a (innkeeper) harlot, a hired prostitute. He grew up in his father’s house. As a child he grew up in Gilead’s house, just as Ishmael grew up in the house of Abraham. Later when Gilead's wife bear him other children, things changed. Jephthah had probably help to raise his young brothers, teaching them to hunt and fish, to read and write and the like. After his father died, and his brothers were grown up, they thrust Jephthah out of their father's house and denied him his portion of his inheritance because he was the son a strange (another race) woman. The elders of the land gave their consent and agreed that Jephthah should be thrusted out of the land. Jephthah finds himself in a strange land doing strange things. His plight was like that of David when he became a leader of a band of outlaws. He knows in his heart there is a seed of greatest. He cannot explain it, nor does he understand it all, yet he feels he was created for more. He becomes the leader of those who were discontented, unemployed, poor, underclass and he was known as the son of a harlot.