Cockroaches and compromise
Most of you know where we live. Nearly all of the houses around us are rentals, so people come and go. Rarely do we get to know our neighbors well --except when there is a problem. Last week was one of those times. We all joined forces to do battle with a common enemy. We called on all of our resources to defeat it.
For two or three months we put up with some messy renters in a house nearby. They had cars and car parts in the yard, on the street, and even on the sidewalk. We could see stuff piled up in their house and on their porch. Their cat roamed the neighborhood and their dogs barked. We thought things couldn’t get much worse –that is, until they left. That’s when the battle intensified.
We learned that even though the landlord had evicted the renters, he failed to tell some of the residents of the house it was time to leave. Cockroaches were still living there and they began making visits elsewhere. Across the alley to the south, Tom and his renters found that their house had been invaded. The neighbors on the north began to complain about roaches on their porch and in their cars. We even saw some on our side of the street. We did all we could. Tom sprayed. We sprayed. Several of us talked to health department officials and called the code enforcement office. In desperation, Sue and I found out where the landlord lives and went to his home. We were in a battle we couldn’t afford to lose.
There are two things you can’t compromise with. One is cockroaches. You can’t say to the cockroach, “Look. As long as you stay in this corner or on your side of the line, we will tolerate you.” We all know that even one cockroach is too many. It’s a matter of all or nothing. When it comes to cockroaches, compromise is a sign of failure.
The second thing you can’t compromise with is sin. God can’t tolerate it because He is holy. Nor does He expect us to tolerate it because he has made us holy. Yet we often try to strike a compromise with sin and allow it to occupy a corner of our lives. Compromise with sin is a sign of failure.
We have been following the Israelites as they entered the promised land. Moses brought them out of Egypt. Joshua took them into the new land. Now they were ready for the next step. Their next step was to take the land that God had provided and to live in it. But, unfortunately, they failed to follow through with God’s instructions and they tried to take the easy way out. They compromised with the Canaanites and just as Moses warned them in Exodus 23:33, These people living among them “became a snare to them, enticing them to sin.” The book of Judges lets readers know why Israel did not experience the blessings God had promised.
Chapter 1 outlines what happened when they got to their new land. Remember how the Israelites as God’s people vowed publicly and strongly in Joshua 24 that yes, they would serve the Lord. And we see in the first few verses of Judges that Israel did indeed get off to a good start.
When Joshua died, the people asked the Lord for guidance about what to do next. They wanted to know who should take the lead. Verse 1 doesn’t say exactly how they did that. They likely came together in some kind of a service led by the priests where they asked for God’s guidance. That is exactly how it should be.
Twenty years or so ago, this congregation went through a discernment process about its future. The neighborhood had changed. Some members had moved away. Attendance was down. Lots of churches had moved out of the city. Should this church do the same? They gathered information. They asked the Lord what they should do. The members decided to continue the ministry of this congregation in this place. A few of you participated in that decision. And because God led you to stay instead of to leave, we are here this morning. That doesn’t mean it has always been easy. Over the years we have been here we have seen people come and go. Some left because there was no one else here like them. Some left because the challenge looked too difficult. But you stayed because you felt that God was calling you to stay. And since then others of you have come because you too want to follow God’s leading.
In Verse 2 the Lord answered that the tribe of Judah should take the lead and God gave his promise of victory. This verse reminds us again that when God commands he enables. He won’t ask you to do something you cannot do or promise you a future you cannot have. God is faithful. We could cite story after story of ways that has happened in the life of this congregation.
Verse 3 says that two tribes worked together to take the territory that Judah should occupy. We get the sense that they experienced real unity of purpose and harmony in working together. They knew what they were about and they labored together to accomplish their task. I think there is nothing more pleasing to God than when his people work together in accomplishing his work. The psalmist wrote Ps. 133. “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Jesus prayed that all his disciples “may all be one” in Jn 17. Paul encouraged unity in Rom. 15:5. “May God grant you to live in harmony with one another… so that you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And in the time of the judges, the Lord prospered the efforts of these two tribes as they worked together. Things never looked better.
But unfortunately, things began to go down hill. Like a race in which the favored stock car takes the lead but half way through gets bumped and pushed off the track or a ballgame in which your team gets points up on the board right away and then fumbles and scrambles, these people began to lose momentum and they ended up in desperate failure. What happened?
We start getting clues about halfway through chapter 1. Each tribe was given a territory. God had told them to drive out the people who were living there.
But in v.21 we see that the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites. The Jebusites continued living there.
In v.27 Manassah did not drive out the people. The Canaanites continued there.
In v.29 Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites. The Canaanites lived among them.
In v.30 Zebulun… In v.31 Asher … In v. 33… v.33 Naphtali
The people they were supposed to drive out were allowed to stay. In some cases they evidently plea bargained and became slaves. The Israelites worked out a compromise with them so these people wouldn’t have to leave. The Israelites got tired and instead of following God’s rule, they accepted the desires of the Canaanites.
And in the end, they did not occupy the land completely. The Canaanites stayed. Not only that, but, but in v.34 we read that some of the Canaanites pushed the people from the tribe of Dan back up into the hills. Now instead of Israel being on the offensive, they were on the defensive. Their compromise had led to failure. And God was not pleased.
In chapter 2 God sends a messenger to confront them. This divine representative brings a word of rebuke. He reminds them of what God has done, how He brought them out of Egypt into the promised land. He reminds them that God has kept his side of the promise. He points out that they have not kept their side of the covenant. They had fallen short of doing all that God commanded. It wasn’t a military problem or a political problem; it was a sin problem. And God withdrew his offer to drive out the enemy and they would have to deal with the result. The book of Judges records cycle after cycle of obedience and disobedience, faithfulness and unfaithfulness, sin and repentance. And we are reminded again and again that half-hearted obedience is not enough. Allowing a few cockroaches to stay is not acceptable. You cannot compromise with sin.
What was their sin? The stories in Judges record story after story of compromise with sin. The record is not pretty.
1. They were disobedient to God. All through Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, God had told them clearly that all the people living in that place were to be destroyed or driven from the land. From what we know about God today because of Jesus, that may not seem like the right thing to do, but God wanted to establish a people for himself. And time and again we see that his people simply did not do what God asked. When you read Judges you will see the words, “The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” And disobedience is sin.
We all know God’s command not to steal or lie. We know it is wrong to cheat. Yet how easy it is to tell ourselves that we will do it just this once even though we know that God’s word says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Just this week a young man lied to me. I didn’t know it, but he did and God did. Later he called to apologize. That was the right thing to do. You cannot compromise with sin.
We need to ask ourselves if we are obedient to God in the way we live, in the way we treat others, in the way we work. James 4:17 says “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.”
2. Their disobedience led to intermarriage. Even before they entered the land God had warned them of the danger of intermarriage with Canaanites. Deut 7:3,4 “Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods.” Since they were not obedient to God in the first place, the temptation to compromise became even stronger.
It is not that young Canaanite men and women weren’t nice people. That wasn’t the issue. The point was that the Canaanites would influence them, turning them away from following God. In addition, it would lead to loss of identity for the Israelites. God had taken extreme care in the past so this would not happen. That is why the story of Isaac and his marriage is told so carefully in Genesis.
Young people, the second most important decision you can make is that of finding a marriage partner. As you think about the future and the possibility of marriage, remember that as a member of the family of God you have an identity to protect. You have a faith to maintain. That is why God says, “Do not be mismatched with unbelievers.”(II Cor. 6:14) There are a lot of nice young men and women, but the real question is, “Is the Lord Jesus at the center of their lives?” I heard of a Christian man who decided to marry a woman who was not a believer. Later he said that at the altar when he said his marriage vows, it felt as though the Holy Spirit had left him.
3. Their disobedience led to ungodly influence. I’ve already mentioned the possibility of influence that would take their affections away from the God they served. If the Israelites lived near the Canaanites, they could easily learn their ways. The Canaanites were advanced in their culture; their technical knowledge was attractive. Their knowledge of farming was advanced. This generation of Israelites had not farmed. Learning the technology was one thing, but accepting the influence of their religion was a problem. The Canaanites worshiped their own gods. Baal was the major one, the god of storm and rain. They believed this god controlled all forms of fertility and reproduction and that they were completely at the mercy of this god when it came to crops and livestock.
At first, the Israelites may have rejected the Canaanite gods, but what happened when crops failed. Did the crops fail because they had made this god angry? The Cannanite gods promised so much, made so few demands, and were so convenient to follow while allowing the people to indulge themselves as they pleased. And little by little the influence of this god became stronger and the covenant bond they had with God became weaker. This sin struck at the heart of all that God had planned for his chosen people. God had formed the nation that it might worship Him; now the people were turning from Him to the gods of pagans.
Christians today are not tempted to worship gods like those of the Canaanites. But some Christians are tempted to put their trust in chance winnings of the lottery instead of depending on God to meet their needs. Some Christians are tempted to get something for nothing or to rip people off as though it doesn’t matter. Some Christians are tempted to find substitutes for God in drugs, sex, or even violence. A poll of Christian teens found that 1 in 20 used drugs this past year. Ungodly influence is everywhere, but let’s not compromise with sin.
Rom 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The book of Judges may seem depressing because of Israel’s disobedience. Even today as we look about us we might become distressed over the sins of God’s people. We hear about child molestation in the church. Our church insurance rep says they deal with an increasing number of such cases. We hear of the misuse of money –embezzlement and outright theft. If we focus only on those things, we might become discouraged.
Let me also point out that there are lessons of grace and obedience in Judges, just as there are today. And above all, God is at the center, working out his purposes.
The question is how obedient are you? Where are you tempted to compromise? One of you said recently, “It’s so easy to backslide. I’m tired of it.”
Thank God there is forgiveness. I Jn 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
With God’s help we can be overcomers. We can get the cockroaches out of our lives.
