Leaders, Legends & Losers
Series: Leaders, Legends & Losers
May 18, 2014
So today, I’m starting a summer series of messages on the book of Judges. I’ve always liked the book of Judges because of the classic bible characters and stories that you find in it. People like Gideon, Deborah, and especially Samson. I remember as a young boy sitting in Sunday School class, listening to the story of Samson… wishing I had his strength! I could just imagine myself breaking cords of rope and chopping down Philistines with their jawbone of an donkey! Or how about Gideon…and his 300 men, charging down the hill with a torch in one hand and a sword in the other…greatly outnumbered against thousands of Midianites crying out…”For the Lord and for Gideon! Ahhhh!” Pretty exciting stuff for a 9 year old boy!
However, it wasn’t until I got to be an adult that I actually decided to do an in depth study on the WHOLE book of Judges (not just individual stories) and WOW! …what a different picture I got! For most of us, when we think of a “judge”, we think of the justice system. A person with a long robe, coming into a courtroom and slamming their wooden hammer down. “Order in the court!” Kind of like a “Judge Judy” or a “Judge Joe Brown”. (I can’t watch those shows without thinking to myself…"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when 1st we practice to deceive." Man, we can sure get ourselves into messes, can’t we?)
But the Heb. word ,“soap-tim” that most of our bibles translate as ‘judge’, is actually more accurately translated, “deliverer” or “savior”. The “judges” were men and women that God raised up and anointed for the specific purpose of delivering and saving His people from their enemies, so they could live out their lives for Him. But as we’re going to see…not all of the ‘judges’ fulfilled that assignment. Some of them succeeded pretty well, others were somewhat successful, and still others were outright disasters! That’s why we’re naming this series, “Leaders, Legends and Losers”.
In fact, as we go through the book, we’re going to see that as time goes on, there are more “losers” than leaders! With each chapter, the ‘judges’ become increasingly flawed and failing. So you say, “What in the world are they doing in the bible then?” Well, you have to understand that the bible shows people as they ARE, not as we “want” them to be. It shows them warts and all. So the book of “Judges” isn’t a book about these sanitized, perfect people who always did everything God wanted them to do. No. It’s a book about messed up, weak, flawed and undeserving people (like you and me)…that God (in His mercy) works with and is somehow able to rescue us from our worst enemies…ourselves! So each “judge” we’re going to encounter in this book, symbolizes a weakness that God needs to save us from.
Of course, the ultimate ‘judge’, the ultimate Savior and Redeemer, is God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. He’s the one who ultimately delivers us and equips us for victory in this broken world we live in. Hopefully, by the end of this book, we’ll be convinced… not only of how BAD we’ve screwed things up…but of how desperately we need God’s help in our lives!
Now, the book of Judges begins by looking backwards and ends by looking forward. Judges 1:1 states, “After the death of Joshua”. You’ll remember from our study in Numbers (about year ago)…Joshua was Moses’ “God chosen” successor to lead Israel. He was one of only 2 men (out of the millions who left Egypt) who stayed faithful, and actually made it to the promised land (Not even Moses did that!) In the book of Joshua we see God keeping His promises (like always), and bringing the nation of Israel into the promised land. It’s a whole book dedicated to teaching that since God always keeps His promises, we can bravely obey and worship Him. (wow, that’s a great lesson to get under our belt! Maybe I need to go back and preach through Joshua 1st)
Judges on the otherhand, tells of the history of how God’s people FAILED to receive their inheritance. How they FAILED to turn the promised land into God’s land. How instead of changing their culture, they let the culture change them. Like the Borg in “Star Trek Voyager” they were “assimilated” into the world, instead of changing the world. Something we’re in jeopardy of today! Like someone said, “The book of Joshua is how Canaan became Israelite, while the book of “Judges” is how Israel became Canaanite.”
“Judges” spans the time between Joshua and the 1st king, (Saul) around 1200 BC.
Now, the land God gave his people wasn’t a “home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play.” No, it was a pretty tough place. There were other peoples, tribal groups, whole cities & civilizations already there when they arrived. So as they moved in, it became a mixture of believing and pagan people. Because of that, God’s people faced the choice of either looking to God as their Lord, or following the spirit of their age. We have a lot in common with them because we have to make those same choices everyday, don’t we?
• Am I going to do and act the way the world wants me to act? Or am I going to do and act the way GOD wants me to act?
• Am I going to accept the value system and ideals of this world…or am I going to march to the beat of a different drummer?
• Am I going to be GOD’S man, God’s woman? Or am I just going to try and blend in?
Well, the book of Judges is going to challenge us and teach us how to stand firm for God. To wait and reap the rewards that come from following Him with all our hearts and minds and souls! There are 4 main themes in the book of Judges, and they can be summarized by understanding the 2 things we “need”, and the 2 things that God “wants” for us…
1st of all, we have to understand what our greatest need is…(not our greatest WANT)…but our greatest need. And that is…
1. We need…a SAVIOR!
The failure of the ‘judges’ God raises up teaches us that human saviors will always, ALWAYS…fail! Whether that Savior is a person, (a parent, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, wife, husband, our kids)…OR whether it’s a thing…(our bank account, our savings, a new car), ALL of them will ultimately fail! And so, the “judges” by their failure begin to point us to someone beyond themselves.
• Othniel will show us that, God can save through ALL
• Deborah teaches us that God can save through MANY
• Gideon will show us that God can save through FEW
• Samson will show us how God can even save through ONE
• But in the end, it’s always been God’s plan to save us by sending THE ONE. Jesus is the one person who that can truly save us from our sin and our self-destructive actions.
So “Judges” is going to show us that not only do we NEED a Savior, but that…
2. God wants…to SAVE us.
Like I said, God wants to meet our greatest need, not our greatest greed.
• If our greatest need had been information, I’m sure He would have sent us an educator.
• If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
• If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an accountant.
• If it had been pleasure, I’m sure God would have sent us an entertainer.
• But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”
If there’s one thing about God I hope you pick up by studying Judges…it’s that He’s relentless in His love! He never gives up trying to bring us to Himself. He offers grace to people who don’t deserve it, or seek it, or even appreciate it after they get it! Like I said, the ‘judges’ are pretty good to start out with (people like Othniel, Deborah)…but they get progressively worse. For example, I always thought Samson and Gideon were hero’s…but as it turns out…they were real zero’s! Many of Samsons acts are blatant acts of disobedience. He was a selfishly motivated man who cared only about what He wanted and very little about God’s calling on his life. Gideon wasn’t the courageous spiritual leader I always thought He was. In fact, before he’s even dead, the Israelites are worshiping an idol…that He made! (Whoops! I just remembered that “The Gideon’s” are here today. Sorry! Really, I’m really not trying to be offensive. But it’s the truth!)
Yet somehow, God is in charge no matter how bad it looks. As we go through this book you’re going to be tempted to ask, “Where’s God in all this?” I mean, it’s a question we ask now isn’t it? Sometimes it seems like He’s abandoned us. The Israelites for sure were asking that question. But let me assure you, just like back then…He hasn’t abandoned us. In fact, He’s not absent at all! He’s behind the scenes, patiently working out His will through weak people and (more often than not) “in spite” of weak people. We’re going to see how He does that all through the book of Judges. We’re going to see that no matter what it looks like (in my life, in your life) that God’s purposes are never thwarted…they’re never sidetracked, they’re never derailed.
It’s like somebody once said, “The mills of God may grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine.” In otherwords, it may take a while, but God’s purposes are ALWAYS worked out to the finest detail! The point is…there’s only one true Savior. And His grace will ultimately triumph over even our stupidest actions.
So the theme of Judges is…1st of all, That we all need saving…and then 2ndly, that God wants to save us and He WILL save us, if we’ll simply submit to Him and follow His plan for our lives.
Now, the 3rd thing that Judges is going to teach us, is that…
3. We need…spiritual RENEWAL
As we study the book of Judges, we’re going to see God is working through His “deliverers” to bring about revival and renewal to His people. In fact, if you watch very carefully, you’re going to see a pattern emerge. It’s called “The Judges Cycle” because it happens over and over in this book. It goes like this…
1. Israel does evil
2. As a result…God gives them into hands of their
enemies
3. Israel ends up serving their enemy for years
4. Over time, Israel begins to cry out to God for help
5. God answers by raising up a deliverer/ judge
6. Spirit of the Lord comes on that deliverer, giving
them the power to carry out God’s plan.
7. The enemy is defeated…which results in…
8. Rest and Peace in the land…BUT…over time Israel
forgets about what God has done. They abandon
His will and…
9. Israel does evil…and here we go again! It’s like the
song that never ends. Ever sing that? “This is the
song that never ends…” (don’t worry, I won’t bore
you with it! )
Now, as I went through that cycle, it may have seemed a little familiar to you. That’s because it is! It’s a cycle we’ve all been through, (and many of us are in right now.) We drift away from God, end up in some kind of sinful action, and then we start reaping the consequences of our actions. So we pray to God, “Why is this happening to me?” We might even abandon Him for a while. But eventually, over time…we realize that it’s our own rebellion that’s brought us the pain we’re experiencing. So we cry out to God for help. Mercifully He delivers us out of our “sour situation” Maybe it’s a financial mess we’ve made, it could be physical issue that we’ve caused by our own negligence or bad habits, it could be a marriage problem or relationship knot we’ve gotten ourselves tangled into again. etc.
But despite our ignorance, and despite our stubbornness, God gets us out of the fix. He miraculously helps us to defeat our enemy! Whether that enemy is an addiction or a habit, fear, unforgiveness, etc. Things go great for a while, until we forget what He taught us, and all the sudden we find ourselves in the same situation all over again! It’s a vicious cycle. But it’ doesn’t go on forever, because if we refuse to change our ways, and if we get back on the “crazy cycle” over and over again…eventually we get tired of calling out to God. Satan convinces us that He won’t listen this time…and so we stop trying. We stop calling out to Him… and as a result we end up rejecting Him altogether! (That’s what eventually happened to the nation of Israel, as we’re going to see.) But listen, you don’t have to stay on the cycle! You can get off the “not so merry-go-round”. If you humble yourself and learn the lesson…when He redeems you, you can STAY redeemed. When He delivers you…you STAY delivered. You actually become thankful for that trial! That’s His will for you!
I believe that as a nation, and as a community, we’re on the “Judges cycle” right now. We’ve walked away from God and now we’re seeing the devastating results in our children. In the abuse of alcohol and drugs. In the crime rate, rampant immorality and emotional pain we’re seeing in peoples lives. The breakdown of the family. I hope you see how badly, how desperately we need…I need…YOU need spiritual renewal. Because until we see our need, we’ll never “cry out” for a solution. It’s like a person who has cancer, but they don’t know it because they’re afraid to go in for a pet scan. But if they’re never diagnosed, they’ll die wondering why they died! So we have to see our need. We have to let God diagnose our sin problem. Once we do that, we discover Judges Theme #4…
4. God wants…to RENEW us spiritually
What we find in Judges is that God allows the people of Israel to be taken over by their enemies, NOT as a way to destroy them…but as a way of waking them up! Each “deliverer” He sends is an attempt to motivate them to come back to Him. Now, the bible says that “Jesus Christ is the same …yesterday, today and forever”. Do you think the way He worked in the lives of the Israelites might be the same way He works in our lives today? I think so! Could God be doing that in your life? Could He be allowing the pain that you’re feeling, as a way of waking you up spiritually and getting you to turn to Him? I think that’s a real possibility based on His track record!
Today, God’s people all over this country are beginning to cry out to God for deliverance from the awful state of affairs we find ourselves in. (I don’t know if you realize it, but a small group of pastors who’ve been gathering together for 18 years now asking God to help us reach our community)…and I believe He’s moving. The bible says in Romans…that “where SIN abounds, GRACE much more abounds!”. In otherwords, grace always trumps sin! God is never out of control. He’s never caught off guard by what’s going on. God’s plans always out maneuver Satan’s plans! He always has a way of escape, a “plan of deliverance” just waiting to be put into action, the minute us we reach out and take advantage of it! I believe part of the plan of redemption for this community is through “Kids Clubs”. It blows me away at how God is moving to save a whole generation of kids, (who will in turn be used to turn the tide in our country and community.) I really believe that!
We need spiritual revival!
And God is willing and able to provide it. But we have to humble ourselves. Sometimes (honestly) we have to hurt enough before we give up and turn to Him. Unfortunately, we don't change when we see the light....we change when we feel the heat! None of us really like to change. It’s painful. We fear what change it might mean for us. We might have to give up sinful habits that we cling to. We fear change, so we don't change, until the pain becomes greater than the fear of change! (catch that? repeat). And so once the “pain” is greater than the fear…we ask God to help us change.
God is so interested in speaking to you and having a personal relationship with you… that He’ll even allow pain into your life to get you to turn to Him. He did it with the Israelites, don’t think He won’t do it with you! Proverbs 20:30 "Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." How many of you have found that vs. to be true? Could that be what’s happening in your life today? Now don’t get me wrong…not all pain is God speaking to you. Not every little hurt, ache you experience is God. But some of it is.
Sometimes God will use pain in order to slow us down and get our attention. I remember reading of an All Star Basketball player who had back trouble. A number of his disks went out. He was asked by a friend in the hospital, "Why do you think this happened?" Without hesitation He said, "God had to lay me flat on my back, in order to get me to look up to Him." Hmmmm…has that ever happened to you?
David wrote in Ps.119:67 (READ) “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word.” David apparently learned the lesson God was trying to teach him. Pain (emotional, physical, relational) has a way of getting our attention. It's “God's hearing aid”. One of my favorite quotes is from the great Christian author C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia?). He said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures… speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” When you're hurting, God is saying, "Hey! Wake up! I want to tell you something. You don’t have to suffer through this alone. There's somebody here who wants to help you overcome that issue in your life! I want to deliver you. You can depend on Me. I'll help you through that tough time if you'll just let Me."
So as we go through Judges…put your listening ears on. God wants to talk to you! He wants to communicate that…
A. You need a Savior
B. He wants to Save you from yourself!
C. You need spiritual renewal
D. God wants to renew you spiritually.
