All of us have them. Some of us have more than others.
• There are those who are crippled by them, others can rise above them and continue to live with confidence. But all of us have them.
• What am I talking about? Flaws and failures. Our imperfections and mistakes.
Flaws are the imperfections – the weaknesses we are born with, bad experiences we had, unfortunate backgrounds we come from.
• These are not what we would have chosen. They are being thrown at us. We have no choice. They are not under our control.
Failures are the mistakes we made in life. We chose them wrongly and foolishly.
• We struggle and we suffer, because we made wrong decisions.
But remember this, flaws and failures in life don’t define us, ultimately.
• We need not stay as victims of the past, nor victims of our flaws and failures.
• In Christ, we are a new creation. God is the One who made us and is capable of remaking us. He can make everything new.
If our flaws and our failures don’t define us, what does? Faith does.
• Our faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith in God changes everything.
• That’s what we can learn from Jephthah, the judge in Judges 11.
I’m going to divide his story into 3 parts. We are going to look at…
• his flaw - his unfavourable past, then
• his failure, the unfortunate vow he made, and lastly
• his faith, his simple yet unflinching faith in God.
[Read Judges 11:1-11]
His past is something Jephthah cannot change. His birth. His background.
• He is an illegitimate child. Born to a prostitute. His father sinned and he was the result.
• Although his father Gilead brought him home, he wasn’t really a part of the family.
Gilead’s wife and her sons rejected him. They said, “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family.” (11:2) Obviously he is not!
• And this was likely said because their father Gilead has died. No one left to defend him. No one in the family can now speak out for him.
• So the sons drove Jephthah away.
Jephthah is an outcast, not just to the family, but also to the society as well.
• According to Mosaic Law, Deut 23:2 “No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.”
• He is a despised man. That explains why he ended up with a “group of adventurers” (worthless crooks and villains).
• He became a gang-leader, hanging around with fellow outcasts. He’s the “robin hood” of his time.
This is his unfavourable past, something that he cannot change, something that is beyond his control. But that doesn’t define him.
• Our past doesn’t define us, always remember that. We can be affected by it, influenced by it, we cannot ignore it, but it does not define WHO we are.
OUR PAST DOESN’T DEFINE US. GOD REDEEMS US.
As a matter of fact, we all come to God with a past. Who doesn’t?
• But if we hold on to the past, if we believe in the past, if we are hindered by our past, then our faith is not in God. Our faith is in “FATE”.
• We are believing then in a “force” over our lives that is greater than God. There is no such thing.
The past does not make us WHO we are; God does. In Christ, God redeems our past.
• He does not take away the past, undo the past, ignore the past; He REDEEMS the past. He takes our brokenness and do something with it.
• In fact, He makes use of our past and make something new out of it. God uses our past to prepare us, refine us, teach us, and mould us into who we are today in Christ.
Look what happened to Jephthah. After some time, the elders of Gilead come looking for him. This is the grace of God.
• The Ammonites made war on Israel and the elders wanted him to lead the fight.
• Jud 11:7 Jephthah: “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”
• They have no answer. Jud 11:8 “The elders of Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead.”
Favour comes upon him because God was gracious to him, that’s why.
• 1 Cor 1:28 “28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not (the nobodies) - to nullify the things that are…”
• It really does not matter where we come from, what we have done, or who we used to be. It does matter if we are someone who truly trust God. God redeems lives.
Jephthah sought confirmation. Jud 11:11 “So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.”
Jephthah made a foolish mistake. As he prepares for the fight, he made a rash vow to God. It was uncalled for and unnecessary.
Let’s read in Judges 11:30-40.
OUR MISTAKES DON’T DEFINE US. GOD TEACHES US.
There is no need to bribe God’s help. God will help him, but Jephthah made a foolish vow, which the Law warns against.
• Deut 23:21-23 “21If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.”
He vowed that whatever comes out of his house, he would offer it as a burnt offering. His only daughter came out dancing with joy.
• Jephthah kept his promise to God! He offered his daughter to the Lord.
• Some says literally as a burnt offering, while others say she was dedicated to God (not going to marry but dedicating her life to serving God).
• I believe that latter meaning is more acceptable, because (1) human sacrifice is an abomination to the Lord and prohibited in the Law, (2) the daughter says she will never marry (not die), and (3) the text ends with Jephthah “did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.” (11:39)
Jephthah honours God by keeping to his vow. He has his flaws and failures, just like anyone of us.
• But these don’t define him. His faith does. We see his unflinching faith in God.
Jephthah wrote a message to the king of Ammonites before the fight, hoping to get a diplomatic solution to this.
• Jud 11:23-24 "Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? 24Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess. 27I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites."
• His argument: Ammon should be satisfied with the land that their god had given them and should not contest the land the Jehovah God had given Israel.
• Jephthah believes in God’s plan and will for Israel!
OUR FAITH IN GOD DEFINES US. GOD USES US.
His faith in God was also evident at home. Look at his daughter’s response:
• Jud 11:36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.”
• They both honoured the vow made to God. It was not a simple thing. Jephthah had no other children and for his only daughter not to be married, it would mean the end of his family line.
Jephthah’s FAITH in God defines him. His name was mentioned among the men of faith in Hebrews 11 (cf.11:32).
• That’s what defines us – our faith in God.
• God redeems our past, uses our flaws, and teaches us through your failures.
A house servant had two large pots. One hung on each end of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack on it. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. The other pot was perfect and always delivered a full pot of water.
For 2 years the servant delivered each day only 1½ pots of water to his master's house. The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, but the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable over achieving only half of what it had been made to do.
After 2 years of failure, the cracked pot spoke to the servant one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself, and I am sorry."
"What are you ashamed of?" asked the servant.
"For these past 2 years I have been able to carry only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you don't get full value from your work."
The servant said, "Let’s go back to the master's house. As we walk, I want you to look at the beautiful flowers along the path." As they went up the hill, the cracked pot noticed the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path.
When they reached the house, the servant said, "Did you notice the flowers that grew only on your side of the path? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For 2 years I have been able to pick beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table."
We are not seeing the full picture yet.
• Have faith in God. Keeping looking up to Him and serve Him all that we’ve got.
2 Cor 5:17-21
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ… Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
