A Task Unfinished – Judg 2:1-15
I want to take a poll this morning.
- How many of you regularly start one book and then pick up another before you finish it.
- How many of you have a little project at home which has been sitting there waiting to be finished. It may be a cross stitch that you’ve never gotten around to finishing. It may be a picture that you’ve bought, but you’ve never gotten around to putting it up. It may be that you are in the middle of making something and well, it has never gotten made?
- How many of you have ever started something and never completed it.
Why do we do that I wonder? Is it because we lose interest – maybe something better comes along. Maybe we have grown tired of struggling to finish it. Maybe we lack the discipline to finish it. Maybe we’ve chosen to busy ourselves with other things. We could list plenty of excuses, couldn’t we – but the fact is that probably we all have things that are not finished.
And you’re not alone. The People of Israel failed miserably in one task specially given to them. We read about it at the beginning of Judges. But before we read it, let us just pause and pray.
Prayer : Lord, we ask that you come now and fill our minds and hearts. Help us to concentrate this morning Lord on you and your word, even though there might be many things whizzing through our minds. Help us to understand your word clearly and see how it can be applied to us today we pray. Aman.
Read Judg 2:1-15
The people of Israel had failed their mission. They knew it and God knew it. And they were distressed.
Let’s backtrack a little to figure this all out. Judges 2 is written at the end of the conquest narratives after the exodus from Egypt. The people were being led to the land God had promised to their forefather’s long ago. However, there was one small problem. They had been gone from it so long, that many other people had settled in the land and made it home. God had promised it for the Israelites though and so he assured them that he would help them drive out all those living in the land. You will know the story that Israel balked at this first up and because of their lack of faith they spent the next 40 years wandering around in the desert till all but 2 of that adult generation had died. Given a second chance, they moved into the land and began to clear out the people living there. They were very quite successful really and over a period of years they made huge in-roads, fighting many battles and taking much land. It all seemed to be going well, but if we read carefully, we start to see the real picture.
The people of Israel were not completing the task 100%. They were not driving out everyone. They did not destroy everything in the wicked cities that God told them to. I mean, it was not as though they didn’t try, They did try. They had been at war for approximately 25 years and had achieved a lot – just not everything asked of them.
You can read it for yourself in Judg 1:19
The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country … This was a fantatic achievement. Three cheers for Judah – Well done … but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. 20 As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak … Good old faithful Caleb. You may remember that it was these giants who made the Israelites scared enough to refuse to enter the land in the first place over 60 years previously …. 21 The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites,
We can keep reading …
27 But Manasseh did not drive out the people
29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer
30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol,
31 Nor did Asher drive out
33 Neither did Naphtali drive out
34 The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.
They tried, but they didn’t succeed and so they gave up – settling for second best. Their motto was “Near enough is good enough.”
When we get to Judges chp 2, we find that their great leader, Joshua has just died and they are at a cross roads.
- Do they continue to fight, or
- Do they accept what they had achieved as a mighty good effort and get down to building a home and raising a family.
Well it seems that those of Joshua’s generation decided to continue the fight. After being confronted with their failure …
4 … the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. (weepers) There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
This generation were determined to succeed to the end and they served God till their death, but as they died they passed the baton on, And … The next generation was different …
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
What happened? In just 1 generation, the people went from out and out serving God – dedicated to finishing the task set before them, to a generation who abandoned the task and fell into sin. Look at it - these people who were God’s chosen people were worshipping other Gods – they were defeated physically and spiritually. Are you shocked that this could happen in just 1 generation? Think of it in this light – do you ever think that your children slip so far? The Israelite’s children did
I think there were several contributing factors to this downward spiral
1) They got comfortable. Let’s face it, you and I wouldn’t have done any different. Fighting was a hard life. You are always on the move. You don’t have the comforts of a nice home – they were probably living out of a tent at best. You would have been separated from your loved ones for lengthy periods and there was no guarantee you would be coming back home alive. If I was in that situation, I would far prefer to have found a nice little plot of land with a nice view and fertile land and settled down. Why fight when you can feast? Why march when you can marry? Why battle when you can bathe in serenity? So the people got comfortable
2) They lost sight of the goal The goal was taking the whole land. The people lost sight of it and replaced it with their own forgery. “Near enough was good enough”. But in not completing the task, they were disobeying God and breaking the covenant that they made with Joshua and God when they entered the land Josh 1:16-18.
3) They Compromised their life and faith. God in his wisdom knew that if the Israelites allowed some of these other nations to remain in their land, they would be corrupted. Fairly soon, the Israelites would be adopting the evil practices and idolatry of these other nations. And sure enough that is exactly what happened. Isn’t it amazing that God always knows the future?.
What a fall. What a catastrophe. We can be so thankful that over the generations, we haven’t seen such decay. Or have we.
I am not sure that we are too dissimilar from the Israelites. Bear with me a while before you put up your indignant barriers, because I think there are many similarities here. The Israelites had a mission and although the first generation set out at a cracking pace, it wasn’t long before the people got comfortable, lost sight of the goal and compromised their life and faith. The end result, was that their task was left unfinished and they abandoned God and his program.
I want to put it to you that we also have a mission too that is not finished and in some cases we have abandoned God’s program too.
We have been focussing this month on Missions. Interesting word don’t you think. Mission – it is something we are told to do. It is a task set for us, a job, an assignment, a post. Yet how many of us are actively engaged in it.
I don’t think that any one of us can reasonably argue that Jesus’ last command to us is somehow not relevant. It does not have a clause which somehow limits it’s application to the first century church or to anglo-saxon nations or to super Christians who have a strong faith, or to people with the gifts of martyrdom, or to people who have blue eyes and size ten shoes. There are no such clauses in the Great commission – it is a commission to all believers in all nations at all times – it is a command given to you and to me – so lets get familiar with it.
If you aren’t – you can read about it in Matt 28:8-20
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
or Mark 16:15
Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Now I don’t really think that too many of you really think that the work has been completed 100% yet. But how far have we really got to go? Okay – time for a quiz.
How many continents are there? 7 (including Antarctica)
How many countries are there in the world ? (to the nearest 10) 228 (Newest – East Timor)
How many people are there in the world? (to the nearest 0.1 billion) 6234 Million.
Since 1960, the world’s population has grown by how many percent? 100%. The growth rate is currently at about 1.39% so that is about 87Million more people per year. The growth rate is declining though mainly due to smaller family sizes and AIDs (particularly in Africa)
Which continent has the most people living in it? Asia with 3292M, Africa is the next biggest with 784M and then Europe with 729M. But when you start to talk about people groups (groups of people with distinct cultures and language, Africa has 3839, Asia has 3548, Europe and Sth America have about 1500. So Africa is the most diverse continent, while Asia is the omst popuulous. There are 482 cities over 1M people and 20 over 10M. Cities are an untapped mission field.
Largest language group? Chinese – 1000 million.
English is second with 350 Million.
Percentage of Languages with Scriptures written? 31% with 9% in progress.
Percentage of the World who claim to be Christian? 32.54%
Which religion is growing quickest? Muslim - 2.17%
How many countries have significant restrictions on religious belief ? 66 – 42 are Muslim nations.
How many countries don’t have a visible Christian presence? 10 – 4 in Asia – Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan & Nth Korea), 2 in Africa (Western Sahara, British Indian Ocean).
How many unreached people groups are there 6000 out of approximately 12000
As you can see from some simple statistics, the job for us is far from over but if we are not careful, we will slip into the same trap as the Israelites and give up on the task all together.
The same 3 snares that the Israelites fell into, can also be snares for us …
1) We can get comfortable. Maybe being a missionary isn’t as tough as being a warrior in the 15th Century BC, but I can assure you that it is far harder than being an nominal engineer, a luke warm teacher, a secular health worker, a housewife or a student in Gladstone. What has God called you to do that you are baulking at because you are comfortable where you are? It may not necessarily be to give up your job and go overseas. But it may be to commit yourself to a particular ministry in the church. Or to invite a friend along to church. Or begin some bible college studies in preparation for going into full time Christian work. Or even to talk to someone about the love of Christ. We can get so comfortable with our current life that we block out our calling. Our calling is to make disciples of all nations. Have you blocked out your calling to take Christ to the world?
2) They lost sight of the goal The goal of the Israelites was taking the whole land. Our Goal is to take the gospel to all nations (or people). Isn’t near enough good enough I hear you saying? The answer has got to be a resounding No. God wants all people everywhere to come to know him. Our role is to make that happen. Don’t lose sight of the big picture. Even if most of your time is focussed in ministry here in this church or in this city, we need to be world focussed people with our eyes firmly on the overall goal. The Goal is bigger than Gladstone, the goal is the world. Be assured that what you are doing in Gladstone is important and will make a contribution. But I want to challenge you to look beyond this church also. Support an overseas missionary (in prayer and financially). Take an interest in a particular country or a particular people group. You may not be able to go and minister to them, but you can pray and support them financially. That is what keeping focussed on the goal is about.
3) They Compromised their life and faith. The Israelites turned to false Gods. They changed their priorities and began to worship idols. What idols are you worshipping? I’ll put it another way. What things are you pursuing in life which are taking you away from serving God and accomplishing his mission. The World offers many things which we can replace God with. We can end up chasing a better paying job, success in our career, money a relationship, a better house or even a sport. Each of these can consume us and distract us from giving our lives wholly and solely to God. Are you failing to apply your task to your mission because you have sold yourself out to another cause? Get your priorities right. It may be that you need to give some things up.
I want to challenge you this morning to consider what you are doing to bring us closer to achieving God’s mission. Examine those ministries you are involved in. Are they making the most of every opportunity to share Christ with those who need him? We have some excellent ministries in this church which regularly make contact with non-Christians. But are they purely social groups, or do you have a strategy to reach others for Christ. If your church ministry groups are purely social, then you need to get with the leaders and figure out how they fit in with our mission. Develop some strategies and figure out how you can reach those around you.
We realized early this year in the Connections group that we were too inward focussed. We were a great holy huddle, but we weren’t having an impact outside our group. So what are we doing about it … well at the end of this term, the Connections Group are having an outreach night where we intend to invite our non-Christian friends along to a non-threatening coffee and dessert night where they can hear the gospel. On this cross are red hearts with the names of people who we are individually praying for and will be seeking to invite along to that night. What an amazing opportunity – this is mission activity. Why has it taken us so long to do something like this. What is your ministry group planning in terms of outreach for this year. Maybe you like the connections group need to do some navel gazing and regain your focus.
The task we have is an huge one. It is no where near finished and we need every single one of you involved in it. What are you doing? For Christ’s Sake do something, do anything – Because people need the Lord. Spend some time thinking about that as I play you a song.
Presentation - People Need the Lord.
Jesus said to them.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Obedience is the measure of our love for God. How much do you love him today. Let’s pray.
