Spiritual Anarchy
Judges 17 & 18
READ: “One of the most difficult books to deal with in all of the Old Testament is the book of Judges. It contains the stories of men and women who lived during the “dark ages” of Israel’s spiritual history. These people lived in the time period between Joshua and Samuel. Even though they lived after the Law was given to Moses, they lived in a period of history when the Law was ignored and forgotten. There is almost no mention of the Law in the entire book of Judges. Though God had given them specific instructions in the Law about who He was, how He wanted to be worshipped, and what He expected of His people, the Israelites abandoned those words and did what was right in their own eyes (see Judges 21.25).
The result was a group of people who lacked a moral compass, whose spirituality was off the mark at best, and at times, downright evil. The stories found in these pages are examples of what it looks like when there is a famine of the Word of God.
Most of the book is focused around the stories of the Judges, the charismatic leaders that were raised up by God to deliver Israel from its enemies. A few of them were shining lights (most notably Deborah), but most of them were dim watt bulbs (think Jephthah or Samson). With the death of Samson in chapter 16, the book ends with a collection of stories that are even more bizarre and disturbing than the ones before, as hard as that seems. The story told over the course of the two chapters of seventeen and eighteen is a prime example of the consequences of living without the Words of God. The story takes 44 verses to tell, so allow me to summarize some parts while quoting others.”1
I want to give you some principles and then we are going to look into God's word and see them played out over and over...
SPIRITUAL ANARCHY ALWAYS RESULTS IN MORAL COLLAPSE
It follows this pattern
1. You have a person with no moral compass
2. They meet another person with no moral compass
3. They multiply their sin and become spiritually bankrupt themselves and a danger to others.
Pathetic story from the start.
Son of wealthy family.... looking for the easy way out.
Didn't want to wait for inheritance.
Didn't want to work for anything.
Saw what he wanted... had no moral or spiritual compass... took it.
Judges 17:10 indicates that ten shekels a year was an adequate wage. Therefore, 1,100 shekels was a great fortune.
But without the true belief in God, he fell prey to superstition feared his mothers curse so confessed his sin.
It was easy to see how the young man got there... thief
he learned it at his mother's knee
she stole 900 sheckles from God
One of the true tragedies of our times is so many parents who are steering through the moral fog of relativism... and have no moral bearings or compass to pass on to their children.
So, their children get deeper and deeper into the fog.
Too many parents have abandoned the church, the Word, and the faith.
What is left… no absolutes... just relativism?
But the relativism of their parents does not match the relativism of their friends and so they pick and choose.
There is no king, no absolute higher law...so they do what is right in their own sight.
Notice how the mother did not even correct the boy for stealing,
how could she—a thief herself
Not only was she guilty of failing to do right by him... she was guilty of leading him to sin.
She was the one responsible for getting him into IDOLATRY.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God (Exodus 20:4-5).
This is what happens when you combine two hearts and minds , both wicked and neither having any principles.
The sin is multiplied.... IDOLATRY.
That is the reason God wants you to have Christian friends, partners and spouse.
Two persons without moral compasses combine their sin
Then you become spiritually bankrupt, spiritually malnourished and starving
Then you are a danger to those around you.... his son.
God's anger burned against Micah, his mother, and now his son.
That is the nature of sin.... it always takes you farther than you wanted and it always keeps you longer than you wanted
It always involves others
He consecrated one of his sons to be his Priest
Sin because ONLY God can consecrate someone as a priest.
Micah and his mother have now dragged Micah’s son into the quagmire of sin with them
But Micah was not finished yet....his sin would get much deeper, and he would endanger many more people.
Here is a 2nd sad case... we have a person who is a Levite but not a priest… but he is masquerading as a priest.
He is dissatisfied with his position and his inheritance.
When Israel was divided between the 12 tribes… the tribe of Levi is the only one that did not receive a territory… they received 8 cities.
They received no land and were to be supported but the tithes of the other 11 tribes.
A Levite would never own land or have riches.
He wants more... left Bethlehem
Levites were career temple workers, called by God Levites were only to live in certain cities.
This man had left the temple duty and the priestly cities. He had $$$$ in his eyes.
He had determined that he would go wherever and do whatever to make a name and a fortune.
This was totally contrary to the will of God
He had lost his moral/spiritual compass of what was right and wrong... absolutes, different from Micah...
Micah never had a compass, Levite did
Here was a man guilty of ingratitude, or pride, of disobedience to God
But whatever he was guilty of was nothing compared to what he would do when he paired up with another person with no principles, no moral compass
The sin would be multiplied.
He was in danger of self destruction and a danger to others.
He met Micah... an accident waiting to happen meeting another accident waiting to happen
RESULT: BIG BANG.
Micah wanted a proper Levitical priest (to get God's favor) the Levite wanted fortune and fame
They were a match made in Hell.
The Levite was a member of the clergy... not a priest.
He was not supposed to be a priest... not from priestly family.
In Numbers 16 God caused the ground to swallow a Levite that tried to be a priest.
But he was happy... he had been dissatisfied with God's plans for his life, now he had made his own, and he was happy… at least for a while.
Now the Levite had moved beyond the sins of pride and ingratitude... now in the big leagues... idolatry
He was serving an idol, sacrificing to an idol, worshipping an idol, leading others to do the same.
Now he was spiritually destroyed and a danger to others.
But his sin had not reached its peak... he would slide still farther and drag others down with him.
3rd sad story
Scripture tells us that the tribe of Dan was seeking an inheritance "for themselves."
They too were not satisfied with God's plan for them.
He had given them the land between Ephraim and Judah, and stretching to the Mediterranean Sea. It was not, as they claimed, that God had not given them a territory to possess, but rather that they chose not to possess it because that would cause them to have to defeat the Amorites living there and they did not have the faith in God.
They loved the junk-food of easy living.
They decided not to battle the Amorites, but rather to find easier people to defeat and take their land.
GOD’S WAY IS TOO HARD… WE WANT AN EASIER WAY
That was what Micah said
That was what the Levite said
Now Dan says it
And today it is the cry of society... God's way is too hard, too demanding... we want a new God.
So they left their home in the Promised Land and sought a new, easier place to take.
They left their compass of absolute right and wrong... lost in relativism
That is where they were when they met the Levite.
another one with no compass
Remember: they are guilty of disobedience, lack of faith, fear, and laziness.
But that is nothing compared to where they will be when they meet another person with no principles, no moral compass, no absolutes, no king... he is a danger to others
They are looking for a god to stamp their plans, the Levite is looking to move up... BIG BANG
They took the Levite to be their Priest and the gods of Micah to be their own.
Look how far they have fallen...
It started with a sinful mother with no principles, no king, and she was danger
She led her son into idolatry
Micah became spiritually bankrupt and dangerous to others
Micah led Levite into idolatry
Levite became spiritually bankrupt, mal malnourished and dangerous to others
Levite led Dan into idolatry
This is not just a pattern in this story...
It is played out in the bible from cover to cover
Eve lost her compass...met serpent with no compass, fell
into sin... danger to others
Samson lost his compass..met women with none... fell into sin... danger to others Judas lost his compass..met Pharisees with none... fell into sin... danger to others
David, Solomon, Jacob, the list goes on and on....
the story is the same... only the names change
When you get to the point where you are no longer satisfied with God's way because it is too hard, it doesn't give you what you want, not fun
Then you decide to choose your own way
toss aside the compass... absolute right and wrong
You are bound to run into others like yourself
Together, you will get more lost, deeper into sin
You will become morally/spiritually bankrupt
You will become a snare to others... leading them off with you your kids, your friends, your spouse,
You become a danger to others because you have no compass.
WHAT IS THE CURE?
You have got to hold on to the compass, no matter what.
What is the compass?
The Word... the Holy Spirit
As long as you have the compass, you cannot wonder into the swamp of relativism you won't get lost in the wilderness of ignorance
As long as you have the Word of God in your heart, the Holy Spirit in the driver’s seat, you will not be deceived by the bogus teachings or promises of the world
Instead of becoming bankrupt, you will grow rich in knowledge of God
Instead of becoming a danger and a snare to others, you will be a blessing and a guide.
But it all starts right here... Satan’s first move to get you off the straight and narrow is to get you to give up the compass
Give up the compass.... the absolutes
Accept the relativism.. all roads lead to God
all religions are the same
each person must decided for self
other religions have their bibles
there are no absolutes
With it, he can't trick you
Without it, he has you.
I have a powerpoint for this sermon... rhpendleton57@gmail.com
I used “The Biggest Loser: A Meditation on Judges 17-18”, sermoncentral.com
