TITLE: THE PREACHER AND THE PROSTITUTE
SCRIPTURE: HOSEA 1:2-3
Hosea was a young preacher in the nation of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and he was a contemporary of the prophets ISAIAH and AMOS. He lived, as we are told in the first verse, during the reigns of UZZIAH – JOTHAM – AHAZ - HEZEKIAH (kings of Judah, the Southern Kingdom), and during the reign of JEROBOAM, the son of JOASH, the king of Israel.
Jeroboam was one of the wicked kings of Israel and the nation was going through a difficult time when Hosea was preaching. People were “living it up” as we might say, and didn’t have much time for God. They wouldn’t have said that, of course, because nobody ever says that when it’s true!
• The people were busy doing other things
• Did not have time for God
• The spirit was willing but the flesh was ready for the weekend
So God commissions this Young Preacher. It is important that I take a few minutes to introduce us to this Young Minister, for those of you that have not had the pleasure of meeting this Young Preacher by studying the pages of the Old Testament. Hosea was his name and preaching was his game! God called Hosea to be a herald—that is, a prophet who proclaims God’s Word. He did this in the northern kingdom of Israel from the years 750-725 B.C. Just as the young preacher was beginning his prophetic ministry, God came to him and said –
• Hosea, beside every great preacher stands a great preacher’s wife!
• So Hosea decides to go down to the local Bible College and find himself a preacher’s wife
Things were no different then, than they are today. Young preachers typically don’t need any extra encouragement to find a wife. So Hosea puts on his clergy collar, his favorite pair of Stacey Adams - rushed to the local seminary, sits in the Lobby, the commons and gazed out over a sea of suitable young SHEPHERDESSES. They all had long hair tied up in buns; their modest ankle length denim skirts complemented the purity of the glow of golden halos hovering above their heads.
• They were all triple majors
• Bibles under their arms
• Piano playing
• Choir singing
• Bible Quoting
• Sunday school teaching Sisters
Hosea’s heart began to pound as he pondered the possibilities, but each time he pointed, Maybe that one that sings so beautifully, we can marry and she can sing in the choir – Maybe that one with the pretty hair who is playing the Piano, we can marry and she can be our musician - Oh, Lord, maybe that one by the bookshelf, she is so pretty and intelligent, we can marry and she can be the announcement clerk - God said, “No not that one.” He went through every girl in the commons, but God did not give his approval.
• Then God says Hosea, I want you to look across the street
• God drew his attention to the other side of the street
• There stood a woman who obviously wasn’t a Bible college student
• She had short black hair with purple highlights
• Her short leather skirt complemented the promiscuous pumps on her feet
• And the immoral mascara around her eyes
• The Bright Red Lipstick was a little much
• The Clip on Nails were way too long
• Yes Hosea, that one right there with the Fish Net Stockings
• She wasn’t a piano player, choir singer, nor a Sunday school teacher
• Let’s just say, “She had some other talents”
• And she was just looking to use them
• Hosea, says, I see her God
• She must have a sister attending the Bible College
• No Hosea, and then God said, “That’s the one I want you to marry!
As if her profession wasn’t bad enough, her name was “GOMER.” How was Hosea going to preach God’s Holy Word with a harlot named Gomer sitting in the First Lady’s chair? I’m sure Hosea had some questions too—
• Why would a Holy God ordain an unholy union between a preacher and a prostitute?
• What does Piety have in common with Promiscuity?
• Why a Herald and a Hooker?
• What sense does it make for a Holy Man to hook up with a Hootchie Mama?
• And all God said was - “You’ll see!”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God, prior to stepping into our lives and turning it upside down would take the time to explain it all to us. When we hit those tough patches in our lives, is it just me or do you also wonder why God does not stop and tell us what He is doing in our lives. I can relate to Hosea, when things were rocky in my life, all I hear God say during those times…God’s only response to me – YOU’LL SEE.
But God said to Hosea, "I want you to know the whole story about this girl. I want you to marry her, but she is going to be unfaithful to you; in fact, she will become nothing but a common street prostitute. But I want you to marry her anyway." Now undoubtedly Hosea was very puzzled by God’s strange command just as Abraham was puzzled by God’s command that he take his son out and kill him, put his own son to death.
• God does strange things at times
• Things we don’t always understand
• Things we can’t categorize
• Things that don’t fit into what we think we know of Him
• And this is one of those strange things
God invites Hosea to dive into God’s own heart by entering into a relationship which he knows will be Unreciprocal. God wants Hosea to love someone—not just marry them, but Love them!—in the knowledge that his love will not be returned. You ever been there? Maybe not on purpose, but have you ever found yourself completely in love with someone that just wasn’t that into you?
• That is simply one of the most painful things that can happen to humans
• And it happens to most of us at some time or another
IN OUR NATION, A DIVORCE IS GRANTED EVERY 26 SECONDS. Slightly more than half of all marriages, and nearly 60% of all remarriages end in divorce. Divorces are granted for all kinds of reasons, but the most common rationalization for why marriages end is, “we just don’t love each other as we once did.” As a society, we have come to believe that when the romantic feelings of love have cooled, the relationship is no longer valid.
Hosea obeyed God by marrying Gomer. This is the point where the text becomes really interesting because Theologians have been debating as to if the children mentioned early on belong to Hosea or if they were born out of her promiscuous behavior. Three children are born quickly to this family and God stepped in and named them –
• A Son - Jezreel – Bloodshed
• Daughter, Lo-Ruhamma – not loved
• Second son – Lo-Ammi – not my people
So here they were one big unhappy family. Why did this happen to Hosea? Why did God want the preacher to marry the prostitute, especially when he knew that she wouldn’t be faithful? Why did God give Hosea’s children such horrendous names? Because -
• God wanted to use Hosea’s dysfunctional family as an illustration of Israel’s dysfunctional nation!
• God was going to use Hosea’s personal position to empower his preaching about a national condition!
Well, after the birth of little Lo-ammi - there were no more children in Hosea’s household. And, that little family began to have hard times because Gomer started to fulfill the sad prediction that God had made when He had told Hosea to marry her in the first place. Initially the marriage went really well. They looked like the perfect little preacher’s family. What a heartbreak it must have been to this young preacher as he heard the whispers that began to circulate about his wife and what happened when he was away on his preaching trips. His own children may have even unconsciously dropped some remarks about the men who visited when Daddy was away. Things went from bad to worse and soon the children were left un-cared for while Gomer wasted all her time running around behind her husband’s back.
One day Hosea came home after working in the Church office all day and found a note from his wife Gomer. It said that she had decided to find the happiness she felt she deserved and she was leaving him with the children to follow the men she really loved. Eventually she went so far as to give herself over to the life of a temple prostitute. I imagine that she bragged to Hosea that her lovers provided her with rich foods – raisin cakes – wine- gifts - all things that he could not afford on his preaching income.
• Important to understand that Hosea never stopped loving Gomer deeply
• Just as God never stopped loving the people of Israel
• Even after they had left Him to worship other gods
And about this time a new tone came into Hosea’s preaching. Yes, he still warned people of the judgment that was to come and the fact that God was going to send the Assyrians down across the land, but he no longer preached this by angrily pounding the pulpit. Now He spoke to them with tears. And in his sermons Hosea began to speak of a day when love at last would triumph - when after Israel learned the folly of ignoring God’s law, they would return to the God Who loved them. With God’s help Hosea saw that a time would come when his children’s names would be changed to foretell a coming change in the hearts of the people of Israel.
• I can hear his hopes as he sings from the Pulpit before his morning sermons
• He views his Children who were left by their mother
• He looks at his children and opens his mouth and sings
• I know I been, changed, because the Angels in Heaven have changed my name
For even though Gomer has left his home, she has not left his heart. You can imagine how the gossip went across the back fences of the community – mouth to ear:
• "That prophet's wife has left him"
• "Preachers wife is gone"
• Or some folks would say, "Well it serves him right
• I mean, he's so busy telling everybody else how to live he couldn't hold his own home together"
• But there were others who knew Hosea and knew Gomer, knew how she had played him false, who simply shrugged their shoulders and said, "Well, now that she's gone she's better off forgotten"
• Others had a different position and said - The Preacher and his Wife have been embarrassing the Church long enough
• Good Riddance to her
Gomer was now gone and this Young Preacher was left with all the children. She was gone for some time and Hosea moved on with his life. It was not Easy, he did not understand why he loved her so much. I can imagine one day there came a knock on the door. Hosea goes to the door and asks who is there. The person on the outside did not answer. He opens the door and there stands Gomer. You can tell she has been used and abused. He wants to say what do you want and close the door in her face. BUT… HE LOOKS INTO HER EYES AND SAYS… COME ON IN HERE.
I imagine that things began to improve for a while. The church family was pleased that their First Family was back together again. After a period of time, things were looking up and Gomer was looking like her normal beautiful self. But then, that fire in her flesh must have returned. She did not want it to and before Hosea knew it she was gone again. This time she stayed gone twice as long as before. Sure enough, once again, there came that day when there was a knock at the door. He knew that sound and was determined not to take her back this time. He rushes to the door to give her a piece of his mind. He is ready to lay his religion down. BUT….THEN… HE LOOKS INTO HER EYES AND SAYS….COME ON IN HERE.
The Church is not that forgiving this time. Can you blame them? They cannot understand why their Pastor has allowed this to happen again. Certainly he is better off without her. I imagine that Hosea must have taken the time to remind the church that ISAIAH 55:8-9 “FOR MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS, NEITHER ARE YOUR WAYS MY WAYS, SAITH THE LORD. FOR AS THE HEAVENS ARE HIGHER THAN THE EARTH, SO ARE MY WAYS HIGHER THAN YOUR WAYS, AND MY THOUGHTS THAN YOUR THOUGHTS.”
• That is why it annoys me when I hear saints try to tell me what God is doing
• That is why we must stop trying to rationalize with God
• We missed out on many blessings because we tried to figure it out instead of Trust God
• I CORINTHIANS 1:27 “BUT GOD HATH CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE; AND GOD HATH CHOSEN THE WEAK THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE THINGS WHICH ARE MIGHTY.”
• Stop listening to those around you and take the time to listen to God
I imagine you know what happened next. Things were once again going really real for this Preacher and His Wife. But…..after a short period of time Gomer could not help it, but she returns to her lovers found in the streets. She is gone quite some time and perhaps Hosea, although he loves her, now feels that she has been gone so long that she would never return this time. But eventually word comes to the Preacher that Gomer was to be sold in the slave market.
She was no longer as lovely as before. No longer requested by the male worshipers who frequented the pagan temple. Her sinful lifestyle had finally begun to take its toll and had made her too unattractive for use as a temple harlot. So she was to be sold as a slave. I imagine that this brokenhearted prophet didn’t know what to do at this point. So, he went weeping to God and asked for His guidance.
• God’s response must have been shocking to the Preacher
• God says go show your love to Gomer the same way that I show my love to the nation of Israel
You can imagine the scene. Gomer led up to the slave block. And then folks noticed on the edge of the crowd there was there Preacher, Hosea. I can imagine that some were relatively pleased that their Preacher showed up. All the anguish his estranged wife has caused him. All the damage to his ministry. You can hear the gossip.
• Well, he's come to see her get what she deserves
• Here to see her get her punishment
• To be sold into slavery
• Then the bidding begins
So Hosea went to the marketplace and watched Gomer being brought up and placed on the dock where she was stripped of all her clothing and stood naked before the crowd. The auctioneer pinched her and prodded her and showed how strong she was, and then the bidding began.
• Someone bid three pieces of silver and Hosea raised it to five
• Someone else upped it to eight and Hosea bid ten
• Another bidder went to eleven and Hosea went to twelve
• Then Hosea offered fifteen pieces of silver and a bushel of barley
• Together all this was equal to more than a year’s wages
• An unbelievably high price to pay for a slave
• Especially one as unattractive as Gomer had become
But if you're tempted to sit in judgment on Gomer, or begin to say what we Would or Would not Take. I remind you that that's the way you and I have acted all of our lives. It's from the hand of God that we receive life's rich blessing—food for our table, clothes for our body, and a warm place to live. And yet how easily we can thank everyone and everything except the God who provided them.
• We can thank our government for its supply
• We can thank our family, our friends
• We thank the strength of our own hands
• Everyone and everything except the God from whom the blessings flow
• Yet, God loves us anyhow!
You say to me, "Look, does God really love us like that?" And I say to you that everything in the Word and everything in the World testify that God does love you just like that. And we've wanted desperately to have our own way. We've flung away from God in a fit of rebellion. And when we have run from him, we think he is gone, he's out of our lives, we don't have any use for him anymore, there's a tap on our shoulder and we turn and we find he's there, and he says, "I love you. And I want you to know that after you're through with your running, going astray, I'll be here to take you to myself again." You say, "Well, does God really love us like that?" I say to you that everything in the Word and everything in the world testifies that God does indeed love you just like that.
You say to me, I hear you Bishop, but, "How could any man do that? I mean, how could any man go before a crowd that knew him and buy his wife to nurse her back to purity? How could anyone do that?" And the answer to that is found in verse one of chapter three in one of the great sentences in the Bible. The Lord said to me,
--"Hosea, go show your love to your wife again, for she is loved by another, she is an adulteress, but love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, for they turned to other gods and loved the sacred raisin cakes," which were offered on idols altars.”
And the reason that Hosea was able to love Gomer as he did was that the love of God was shed abroad in his heart, and Hosea is playing the part with Gomer that God has played with you all of your life and that God has played with me. Hosea renews his wedding vow. He says to Gomer –
• You’re coming home, and you will live with me for many days
• Everything you need, you will find in me
• You won’t have to go outside this relationship to find love, acceptance, worth, or anything else
• I will be for thee
--And if you ask me where is God, the answer is very much the same
--He's right here
--Right here speaking to you again
--Right here waiting for you to respond with love to love
--Waiting for you to respond with trust to promise
--Waiting for you to cast yourself with a reckless abandon upon the grace of God
--And waiting for you to discover in the depth of your experience
--What it means to be loved by God according to the love he demonstrated through the prophet Hosea
--God did not wait for us to get Cleaned up before Loving us
--ROMANS 5:8 “BUT GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US”
--Does God really love us that much?
--ST. JOHN 3:16 “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVER LASTING LIFE”
--HOW MUCH DOES THE LORD LOVE US?
--JESUS LOVED US SO MUCH
--HE SAID, I LOVE YOU THIS MUCH
--THEN HUNG HIS HEAD AND DIED FOR YOU SINS AND MINE
