Thank you to Peter for leading the service so far, and Gary and Fiona for leading our singing.
We aren't many gathered this evening, but it's been good to join our voices to praise our God.
My name is David Reimer. It's my privilege to be preaching this evening.
And if you're visiting this morning, evening even, I did get up a little while ago.
If you're visiting this evening, this is our third sermon in the series on Judges,
but it's still an introductory sermon. This is our third introductory sermon on Judges.
So although you might have missed something, you haven't missed a lot yet, and you'll see how that's the case.
In fact, Judges, the book of Judges, has two introductions.
And we started off with an overview of the book as a whole, so it's still an introductory material.
So if you've got your Bibles with you, please open them up to the book of Judges,
or swipe to the book of Judges, however you read your Bible.
If you're using the Pew Bible, it's on page 243.
And the chapter divisions don't quite coincide with the section divisions here.
So we start at Judges 2, verse 6, and we'll be reading, as Peter said, into chapter 3, finishing at 3, verse 6.
So let me then read God's word for us, and please do follow along.
After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, or if I just tweak that slightly,
sorry to pause already as we've just begun,
so Joshua dismissed the Israelites.
You'll see why I've tweaked that in just a few minutes.
So Joshua dismissed the Israelites.
They each went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.
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.
Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110,
and they buried him in the land of his inheritance,
at Timnath-Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
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.
Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.
They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt.
They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them.
They provoked the Lord to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
In his anger against Israel, the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them.
He sold them to their enemies all around whom they were no longer able to resist.
Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them,
just as he had sworn to them.
They were in great distress.
Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.
Yet they would not listen to their judges, but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them.
Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked,
the way of obedience to the Lord's commands.
Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them,
he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived.
For the Lord had compassion on them,
as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
But when the judge died,
the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers following other gods
and serving and worshipping them.
They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel and said,
Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers
and has not listened to me,
I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
I will use them to test Israel
and see whether they will keep the ways of the Lord
and walk in it as their forefathers did.
The Lord had allowed those nations to remain.
He did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.
These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites
who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan.
He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites
who had not previous battle experience.
The five rulers of the Philistines,
all the Canaanites, the Sidonians,
and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains,
from Mount Bel-Hermon to Lebo-Hermath,
they were left to test the Israelites
to see whether they would obey the Lord's commands
which he had given their forefathers through Moses.
The Israelites lived among the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Hivites, and Jebusites.
They took their daughters in marriage
and gave their own daughters to their sons
and served their gods.
As we come to look at this section of God's Word,
let's pause to pray.
Gracious God and Heavenly Father,
we pray now that you would speak,
for we, your servants, are listening.
Help and strengthen us by your Spirit
to be careful how we listen.
And grant us not only to hear,
but to receive your Word.
We pray in Jesus' name,
who is the Living Word.
Amen.
Well, as I mentioned a few moments ago,
seems a long time ago now,
we've been through quite a lot
reading this chapter already.
Here we are with yet another introduction
to the book of Judges.
And I thought it would be helpful,
while we're still settling in,
just to have a couple of comments
by way of preface to the introduction.
So we're not even at the sermon introduction yet.
First of all,
I thought it would be helpful
just to locate us again
in where we are in the Bible's story arc.
When we're here in the book of Judges,
just where are we in the story
of God's actions with God's people?
Well, in one sense,
the story runs from Genesis to Revelation,
but we'll narrow it down just a little bit.
And our story,
the story arc that we're interested in,
really starts at the book of Exodus,
when Moses leads the people of Israel
out of Egypt.
And it comes to rest.
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth.
First and second Samuel.
First and second Kings.
The story comes to rest, if you like,
at the end of Second Kings.
And it goes something like this.
You see, Moses lead the people of Israel
out of Egypt.
They leave Egypt and are wandering
and have this period,
a kind of confused period,
in which a state is formed,
a nation is formed.
Thinking around the 13th century BC here.
And from that point,
they enter into the land
and eventually achieve kingship.
And if you think,
you know your kings,
King David,
this is a date and number
I can remember fairly easily,
David.
And the year,
1000.
That's one with three zeros after it.
Easy to remember.
That's a marker
for the king in Israel,
the monarchy of Israel.
His son builds a temple.
And as the biblical historian tells us,
from the time of Solomon's
building the temple,
there is a steady decline.
Decline.
It's this people who were formed
and came into the land
now start to go wrong.
Eventually,
that nation is dissolved.
They leave the land,
are taken into captivity in Babylon.
And the last thing we read,
might surprise us
if we don't know this storyline very well,
is that the last refugees of Israel
go to Egypt.
Egypt.
It's the end of 2 Kings 25.
So we have this story of out of Egypt,
into the land,
to this great moment of the dedication of the temple.
As the,
then,
things go wrong,
the state dissolves,
out of the land,
and back to Egypt.
So,
we're interested in that period
of slightly chaotic
and confused state formation
as the people of Israel
are making their way
into the land.
You can see it corresponds
in some ways
to that period of chaos
and confusion
as Israel is dissolved
and loses its national identity
again at the end
of this story.
So,
about,
that's about four centuries later.
So,
here we are then
at this period
when the people of Israel
are entering
the land
that has been promised
to their fathers,
promised to Abraham.
So,
that's one thing.
I hope that
very brief survey
of that long story
helps to locate
where we are
in the book of Judges.
And the second
comment by way of preface
is this.
Those of you
who were here
last week
were helped
greatly
by what Neil
had to say
about thinking
through this
difficult issue
of genocide.
You know,
in the books
of Joshua
and Judges together,
this is one of the places
where we feel
some tension
with what's happening
through God
and God's people
on the pages
of Scripture.
And I'd like to add
just a couple more
comments as we think
about this.
More probably
having to do
with Joshua
where the problem's
a little more acute
than Judges.
But the two
quick comments
are this.
First of all,
it isn't genocide
in any case.
This is just
bad history.
The term genocide
might surprise us
again to know
this comes from
1944.
It was a response
to the terrible
experiences
of the Second World War
and the Holocaust
in particular.
In 1948,
the United Nations
put together
its convention
on the prevention
and punishment
of the crime
of genocide.
And with its
understanding
of what genocide is,
it just doesn't fit
what's going on
in Joshua
and Judges.
It doesn't fit
at all,
conform to the character
of what happened
in the Holocaust.
That's one comment.
And the second one
is this.
Especially when we
look at Joshua
that sets up
what we see
in Judges,
we need to notice
something that might
surprise us
if we have this
sort of simple
idea in our heads
that, oh,
isn't Joshua
about genocide?
Because the first
thing we notice
very early in the book,
in fact,
obedient Canaanites
live.
Well, that doesn't
happen in a genocide.
Rahab,
who's in Jericho,
she's a Canaanite,
she lives.
The Gibeonites,
who are part of the
cities of Canaan,
they live.
Obedient Canaanites
live.
And yet,
disobedient Israelites
die.
When Israel has
disobeyed,
they go up
to fight.
It's the first time
Israelite lives
are lost.
Then Achan,
the disobedient
Israelite,
loses his life
together with his
family.
Disobedient Israelites
die.
So it makes clear
why this isn't
about genocide then.
It's rather about
divine judgment
and the relationship
of every nation
under heaven
to the one
true
and living God.
So with those
couple of comments
by way of preface
in mind,
we come to our
introduction
to this third
sermon
in the series
on Judges.
Perhaps
a multi-introduction
seems a little
less odd
when we realize,
as I mentioned
a moment ago,
that the book
of Judges
has these
two introductions
and in fact,
the book of Joshua
has two conclusions
and the book
of Judges
has two conclusions.
So there's a
certain symmetry
here.
And then we do
well to consider,
well, why?
What's the relationship
of these two
introductions
to each other
and how do they
relate to the
conclusions
that we see
in the book
of Joshua?
Well, the two
introductions
do two quite
different jobs.
The first
introduction,
as we saw
last week,
puts Israel's
story in the
foreground.
If you like,
this is the
historian's
introduction.
And the second
introduction,
the one we
look at this
evening,
2 verse 6
to 3 verse 6,
puts Israel's
God in the
foreground.
If you like,
this is the
theologian's
introduction.
Chapter 1,
primarily
historical.
Chapter 2,
primarily
theological.
There's a
couple more
features that
would be useful
to pick up
about the
stories of
chapter 1
and into
chapter 2
that help
us to dig
into the
theology of
chapter 2.
Judah does
well to take
the initiative
at the beginning
of chapter 1,
and Neil pointed
this out last
week.
But on closer
inspection,
just as the
book gets
going,
we think,
oh,
it's going
well.
Well,
is it really?
they punish
Adonai Bezek,
the Canaanite
king,
by cutting off
his thumbs
and toes.
And it might
look like
poetic justice
because that's
what Adonai Bezek
did to other
kings,
but that's
just to act
the way a
Canaanite
acts.
Israelites
don't name
their captives.
This is just
not what
Israelites do.
And already,
Judah is starting
to look a little
bit Canaanite.
And one more
observation that
leads us directly
into our passage
this evening,
and it's why I
tweaked our text
just slightly
at 2,
verse 6.
Joshua is
alive.
So maybe a
little bit mind
bending if we
think that Joshua
dies at the end
of Joshua 24,
the preceding
chapter,
the preceding
book.
But I think
we're,
most of us
in the room
used to the
idea that we
can press the
pause button,
rewind a little
bit,
and then pick
up the story
again from a
little bit
before.
And that's
exactly what
is going on
with the
narration of
the opening
of Judges.
And that
as we read
through chapter
1 attentively
and into
chapter 2,
we're actually
in the period
when Joshua's
alive.
Caleb and
the springs,
that's when
Joshua's
alive in
Joshua 14.
And we have
the various
notices about
Manasseh,
that's from
Joshua 17.
And we have
the notice
about Ephraim,
that's from
Joshua 16.
And we
realize that
our theologian
slash historian
is wanting
to bring
these two
stories of
Joshua and
Judges
together.
And that's
the thought
then that
should be
in our
minds as
we begin
our journey
into Judges
2 verse 6.
So keep
your Bible
open and
bear in mind
that we're
thinking about
Israel,
God's covenant
people.
And as our
passage begins
then, Joshua
is alive and
well.
The passage
falls into
three parts
and what I'll
do is take
a few minutes
on each of
the three parts
and then have
some reflection
on the story
as a whole
at the end,
well, towards
the end.
So the three
sections are
these if you're
just wanting
to get a
sense of where
we're going.
In 2 verse 6
to 10, we
see an
exchange take
place.
2 verses
11 to
19, we
see Israel
exposed.
And from
2 verse 20,
to 3 verse 6,
we see
Israel
examined.
So there's
an exchange,
there's exposure,
and there's
an examination.
So first of
all, 2
verses 6
to 10,
the exchange.
Well, this is
the story of
three generations
and perhaps you
picked them up
as we read.
Joshua's
lifetime and
the elders who
outlived him
and then verse
10, after that
whole generation
had been
gathered,
another generation
who grew up
who knew
neither the
Lord nor
what he
had done
for Israel.
So we've
got three
generations,
Joshua
generation,
the next
generation,
the elders
who outlived
him, and
then their
children,
the
grandchildren
of the
wilderness
generation
in verse
10, the
next generation
who grew up.
And what
happens in
the space
of three
generations
then?
The Lord
is forgotten.
Now there's
analogy to
this in
modern immigrant
studies.
An immigrant
myself, this
is not a
native Scottish
accent you're
listening to
right now,
but at least
I move from
an English
speaking country
to an
English speaking
country.
For those
who move
from a
non-English
speaking country
into an
English speaking
country,
it is a
very, very
strong pattern.
First
generation
immigrants
learn to
use English
to a degree,
but remain
dominant in
their native
language.
Second
generation
immigrants
typically
are bilingual
and speak
either tongue
well.
Third
generation
immigrants
typically,
a very
high percentage,
become
monolingual
in the
language of
the new
country.
In an
English speaking
country,
monolingual
in English.
It only
takes three
generations
for that
heritage
language to
be forgotten.
That's very
much like
what we see
here in
verses 6
to 10.
As Israel
moved into
the promised
land, it
only took
three
generations
for the
Lord to
be forgotten.
We see a
failure here
then on the
part of
that
generation
that
succeeded
Joshua
to pass
on the
tradition.
It reminded
me of a
Paul Oakley
song that
I heard
years ago
and came
back to
mind.
It's from
a song
called
Revival
Sounds,
if any of
you want
to Google
it later.
No more
messing
around,
it's time
for taking
the ground.
Not his
finest moment
as a
poet.
No more
messing
around,
it's time
for taking
the ground.
Wake
up,
wake
up Joshua
generation.
Well,
Oakley's
call to
the Joshua
generation
to wake
up makes
a lot
more sense
to me
now than
it did
in 1998.
We have
the sense,
I think,
when we read
scriptures,
that it's
the generation
that left
Egypt that
was the
unfaithful,
sinful
generation.
And so
it was,
they died
in the
wilderness.
But the
next generation
had their
own failure,
their failure
to pass
on the
tradition
to their
children.
It was
while they
were in
the wilderness
that they
failed to
do what
Moses
instructed
them.
In
Deuteronomy
32,
Moses taught
a song to
Israel so
that they
would remember
the ways
of the
Lord.
And he
finished
teaching
them this
song,
the end
of
Deuteronomy
32,
with these
words and
picking it
up at
verse 45.
When
Moses finished
reciting all
these words
to Israel,
all Israel,
he said
to them,
take to
heart all
the words
I have
solemnly
declared to
you this
day,
so that
you may
command your
children to
obey carefully
all the
words of
this law.
They are
not just
idle words
for you,
they are
your life.
By them
you will
live long
in the
land you
are crossing
the Jordan
to possess.
But Moses'
expectation
that contentment
and prosperity
in their new
land would
lead to
spiritual
complacency
and eventually
to apostasy,
to abandoning
their God,
God, sadly
that came
to pass.
Sadly
too, it
fulfilled
Joshua's
expectation.
Joshua 24
describes how
Joshua put
the question
to the
gathered
people.
Choose
this day
whom you
will serve.
As for me
and my
house,
we will
serve the
Lord.
When the
people echoed
this choice,
yeah, we'll
serve the
Lord too.
Joshua came
out with
something quite
startling,
perhaps one
of the most
depressing
verses in
the whole
Bible.
Joshua said,
you are
not able
to serve
the Lord
for he
is a
holy God.
He is a
jealous God.
If you
forsake the
Lord, he
will turn
and do you
harm.
And that's
precisely what
our passage is
reflecting on
this evening
as this
theologian
from Israel
makes sense
of what's
happening
between God
and God's
people.
And with
this, we
then pass
into our
middle section
where we
see the
hard theological
work being
done in
verses 11
to 19.
There is
here, having
had an
exchange of
the God of
Israel for
the God of
the nations,
we have
Israel
exposed.
so these
verses 11
to 19
give us
the theological
heart.
What is it
true to say
about God
in this
passage?
And in a
nutshell, it's
this.
The Lord,
being a
holy and
jealous God,
just saw in
Joshua 24,
fulfills his
word to his
people.
evil.
It's
precisely the
way our
passage puts
it.
So that's
the theological
understanding.
God is
faithful to
his word.
And there
comes with
it something
we might
call anthropology.
That is
something true
about human
beings,
something true
about us.
And that
is that the
people were
consistently
inclined towards
evil and
sank more
and more
deeply.
into those
ways.
So what we
see in these
verses then is
a sadly
consistent
people and
a completely
consistent
God.
God is
holy and
cannot tolerate
idolatry.
But on the
other hand,
God is a
covenant God,
cannot
abandon
his people.
So God
acts in two
ways here,
two sides of
the same coin
really.
God
and if you
follow along
in verses
12 to
15,
you can
see Israel
did,
the Lord
did,
Israel
did,
the Lord
did.
And in
verses 12
to 15,
he hands
them then
over to
their desires,
just like
the exchanges
of Romans
chapter 1,
when people
exchange the
truth about
God for a
lie and
they're handed
over to
their desires.
so here,
Israel decides
that it
prefers Canaanite
gods and
Canaanite
ways.
And so
they're exposed
to Canaanite
gods and
Canaanite
ways.
It's important
to see this
because the
lesson that we
take from
this isn't
that God
punishes bad
people.
The lesson
we take
from this
is that
the failure
of the
covenant
partner here
is respected.
As one
commentator
put it,
what appears
to be
divine punishment
in an
active sense
is actually
the people's
experience
of the
destructive
effects
of their
own
selfish
choices.
It leads
us to reflect
on the nature
then of
God's love.
Where is
God's love
in this
kind of
respect?
Well,
it isn't
just warm
acceptance.
rather,
put it
this way,
God loves
you so
much that
he will
make you
fit to
stand in
his presence.
He loves
you that
much.
Without
holiness,
no one
will see
the Lord,
says in
Hebrews.
So in
this sense,
God's love
isn't quite
like our
love.
We see
someone
beautiful,
we fall
in love.
But God
looked at
us and
saw something
quite hostile,
something quite
repugnant.
And God's
transforming work
will make us
beautiful.
That's quite
different.
So God's
love will
make you fit
to stand in
his presence.
God's work
does a
work of
transformation
to make me
fit for his
presence and
to know his
pleasure.
And so
idolatry must
be excluded.
Anything
rival to
God must
be excluded.
So these
verses show
us that God's
judgments
are intended
for this,
to have the
capacity to
equip his
people for
holiness.
That's one
side of the
coin.
We turn it
over in
verses 16
to 19.
And again
we see
something else.
The Lord
raised up
judges who
saved them
out of the
hands of
their raiders.
So the
Lord raises
up deliverers
from their
oppressors.
But just
as the
Israelites
repudiated
God's
ways,
so they
repudiate
the
deliverers.
Verse 17,
they would
not listen
to their
judges.
So they
repudiate the
judges and
what happens
in shunning
the deliverer
that God
sends?
People
sink even
lower.
Now it's
sometimes said
that the
passage we're
looking at
this evening
gives us a
template,
a pattern
for the
stories of
the judges
that follow
through the
book.
But it
isn't quite
so.
We see
that pattern
most clearly
next week
when we see
the first
judge,
Othniel.
That's the
sort of
template
judge.
So why
do I say
that this
isn't the
template for
the book
here?
Well,
there's
certain
things
missing
that,
in fact,
Graham
pointed us
to a
couple
weeks ago.
In this
stark
theological
evaluation
of this
God and
this
people
at this
moment,
there's
no
repentance.
You might
have noticed
this last
week at
the beginning
of chapter
two,
when they're
weeping
and crying
at
bochim,
there's
no
repentance.
When God,
the Lord,
raises up a
judge in
verse 16,
there's no
repentance.
God's
action to
raise the
judge is
his own
divine
initiative.
And to
sign it
has to
be said
of God's
sheer
grace.
The
people's
actions
expose
them to
enemies,
invite the
enemy into
their lives.
God's
action
brings a
savior,
which offers
a space
for repentance
and return.
But in
fact,
that's the
second thing
that isn't
in our
passage.
There is
no period
of peace,
as we'll
see as
we move
through some
of the
stories in
weeks to
come.
There's
only a
relentless
descent into
a settled
existence away
from the
living God.
And the
third thing
we don't
have in
our passage
that we
see frequently
throughout the
stories to
follow is
there is no
spirit of
God at
work who
will act to
empower the
deliverers.
God's
So in
our
middle
section
here,
the
theological
heart of
the
passage,
we see
a
consistent
people
drifting
away
from the
living
God.
And we
see a
consistent
God who
is holy,
exposing his
people to
the pain
that may
turn them
back to
himself,
but also
sending them
saviors.
If only
they will
listen.
Which brings
us then to
the third
section,
which starts
in verse
20 and
runs through
to the
end of
our
passage at
3,
verse 6.
The end
result is
that God
determines to
use Israel's
enemies to
drive his
people to
himself.
Or rather,
put it slightly
differently,
to use Israel's
enemies to
test Israel,
to examine
them, to
see which
way they
will walk
in.
And sadly,
it's a
failed test.
Well,
this represents
another sign
of grace,
really.
The oppressors
are the
enemies that
the people
have, in a
sense, chosen
for themselves
to their
own harm,
but become
in God's
hands the
agents to
turn the
people back
to God.
This isn't
an isolated
example of
this in
Scripture.
It starts
in the
garden with
Adam and
Eve being
tested to
see which
way they
will walk.
It's
echoed in
the prayer
of the
psalmist.
Search me,
O God,
know my
heart, try
me, know
my thoughts
to see if
there be any
grievous way
in me.
Lead me in
the way
everlasting.
Or even,
as Jesus
said to his
disciples, as
he said to
Peter in
Luke 22,
Simon,
Satan has
asked to
sift all of
you with
wheat.
But I
prayed for
you,
Simon,
that your
faith may
not fail.
This is the
way God
works with
his people.
And there
is our
passage as
a whole.
And if we
stand back
for a
moment, I
want you to
notice just
a few
verses in
particular.
There's a
certain way
in which the
notion of
service
frames the
passage.
look at
2,
verse 7.
As the
passage begins,
the people
served the
Lord.
And that's
where we
start.
It's okay.
But then as
we've seen,
there's this
exchange, and
the exchange
comes at
2,
verse 11.
The
Israelite
served the
Baals.
And then as
we work into
this exchange,
it gets worse
in verse 13.
They served
not only
Baal,
but also
the
Ashtoreths.
And then
go down to
the end of
this section
at verse
19.
Their ways
became even
more corrupt
than their
fathers,
following other
gods,
serving and
worshipping
them, in
fact, the
gods of the
nations now.
Until in
the last
verse we
read,
they took
their daughters
in marriage,
gave their
own daughters
to their
sons,
Canaanites,
Hittites,
Amorites,
Perizzites,
Hivites,
and Jebusites,
and served
their god.
They start
serving the
Lord.
The Lord's
serving the
Lord is
replaced by
serving Baal.
To serving
Baal is added
serving Ashtoreth.
Then they're
serving the
gods of the
nations,
and by the
time we get
to 3,
verse 6,
their service
is just
indiscriminate,
and the
Israelites are
indistinguishable
from the
Canaanites.
We often
think of
the Exodus
in terms
of freedom,
great Scottish
word too,
the freedom,
Israel being
set free
from slavery
to the
Egyptians.
But if some
have pointed
out, that's
a bit of a
misreading of
what's going
on in
Exodus.
The Exodus
is all about
this.
Who will
Israel serve?
Will Israel
serve Pharaoh,
or will
Israel serve
the Lord?
Once put
it in those
terms, I'm
sorry, but
Bob Dylan
came to
mind.
A 1979
album,
Slow Train
Coming,
included the
Grammy Award
winning song,
you gotta
serve somebody.
And a
remarkable lyric
which covers
the vast
majority of
people on
the planet,
includes this
verse repeated
over and over
again.
You're gonna
have to serve
somebody.
Yes, indeed,
you're gonna
have to serve
somebody.
well, it
may be the
devil, or
it may be
the Lord, but
you're gonna
have to serve
somebody.
That's
Judges 2
in a nutshell.
And perhaps
you're here this
evening,
recognizing
in this
living and
true God,
the one to
whom you owe
your life,
and your
allegiance.
And you're
beginning to
sense in
the pleasures
of the world
around you
snares that
separate you
from God.
You wonder
how you can
stop being a
slave to
sin to
serve this
awesome and
life-giving
God.
Well, our
passage,
perhaps quietly,
but still
insistently,
points forward
to God's
gracious
provision of
a Savior
for his
people,
and in
Jesus,
he has
provided the
ultimate and
only Savior
for every
nation on
planet Earth.
Jesus bore
the punishment
for our
wrong choices
so we
could share
in his new
life,
living by
his strength
in the
friendship of
God.
This
captures
something of
your thoughts
this evening.
I'd love to
talk with you
after the
service,
prayer together
so that you
too can
know God's
grace at
work in
your own
life.
Well, as
we begin to
wind down
then, three
things to
reflect on
that arise
from the
passage of
the whole.
I think if we
had an
agenda, this
would be the
matters arising
section,
which usually is
at the beginning
of the agenda,
but we are
towards the
end.
the first
matter arising
is this.
The notion
that God
tests us,
tests Israel,
tests Adam
and Eve,
tests Peter,
might seem a
bit unfair.
Unfair that
our choices,
good and bad,
have consequences.
It might seem
hard, especially
if we're making
poor choices.
But this
has always
been God's
means to
call his
wayward
creatures to
himself.
God allowed
these painful
experiences into
the lives of
his people.
God allows
painful experiences
into our
lives.
Why doesn't
he just
prevent it?
Why doesn't
he just stop
us from
making those
choices?
Of course,
we're still
thinking now about
God's covenant
people.
And about
us as
Christians,
who are
Christians here
this evening,
why doesn't
he just
prevent us
from having
pain?
Well,
difficult
question.
Here's one
response from
C.S.
Lewis,
who thought
quite deeply
about this.
Lewis writes,
pain is not
only immediately
recognizable as
evil, but
evil impossible
to ignore.
We can rest
contentedly in
our sins and
stupidities.
And anyone
who's watched
gluttons
shoveling down
the most
exquisite food
as if they
didn't know
what they
were eating
will admit
that we
can even
ignore pleasure.
But pain
insists on
being attended
to.
God
whispers to
us in our
pleasures.
He speaks
in our
conscience,
but shouts
in our
pains.
It is
his megaphone
to rouse
a deaf
world.
Well, the
whole of
Lewis's book,
The Problem
of Pain,
is well worth
reading and
pondering if you
haven't already.
But here he
goes on to
discuss how
God uses,
even sends,
pain into
our lives
as one of
his means
of shattering
our illusions
of self-sufficiency
to conform
us to
Christ.
So much
as Paul
said in
Philippians,
the letter
we're looking
at in our
morning sermons,
not yet being
perfect,
we press
on,
straining
forward to
what lies
ahead,
to be
conformed
to Christ.
In the same
sense, the
writer to the
Hebrews encourages
us.
And your
hardship as
discipline,
God is
treating you
as his
children.
For what
children are
not disciplined
by their
father?
If you are
not disciplined
and everyone
undergoes
discipline,
says the
writer to
the Hebrews,
then you
are not
legitimate,
not true
sons and
daughters at
all.
But God
disciplines us
for our
good in
order that
we may
share in
his holiness.
Hebrews
chapter 12.
Well, this
is our
God.
He is the
same yesterday,
today,
and forever.
We need
to have
ears to
hear
God's
shouts
in our
lives.
So the
second matter
arising is
this.
Where did
it all go
wrong?
we noticed
at the
beginning
that Joshua
and Judges,
the two
books are
drawn quite
closely together
in our
introduction.
Joshua,
first glance,
looks wholly
positive.
Not one of
all the good
promises that
God gave to
Israel failed.
Every promise
came to pass
and so on.
And we look
at Judges
and it seems
wholly negative.
Just failure
after failure.
failure.
But I don't
think it's
that simple.
That's what our
introduction is
wanting us to
see and
bringing the
books so
close together.
How did
what was so
good turn
out so
bad?
Well,
it already
goes wrong
in Joshua
is the
answer.
When
something's
going wrong
in the
house,
you want
to check
the
foundations.
So we
do here.
And so we
see that
again and
again,
in Joshua
chapter 13,
chapter 16,
chapter 17,
Israel did
not drive
out the
Canaanites
who they
were supposed
to drive
out.
And it's
further,
this impression
is further
reinforced when
we see how
often Judges
1 forces the
reader back
to text
from Joshua
till we
find the
situation at
2 verse 6
So Joshua
dismissed
Israel and
they went
to take
possession of
the land.
Joshua's still
alive while
things are
starting to
go wrong.
There's this
dovetailing
of the
two books.
Spending
time in
this,
in chapter
2,
in this
inspired
theological
diagnosis
of the
condition of
Israel
is an
invitation for
us to
assess our
own personal
and
domestic
and
communal
foundations.
You should
look back
and if we
see something
wrong in the
foundations,
let's confess
it,
repudiate it,
much like
Daniel and
Nehemiah of
old,
and turn
from generational
sin,
cling to the
holy love of
God through
Christ.
And we
should look
forward to
the next
generation,
thinking about
what Moses
said to the
Israelites of
his day,
there is
another
generation,
and ensure
that we
are the
ones.
It's up
to us to
ensure that
the foundations
for the
succeeding
generations
are stable,
steadfast,
not shifting,
the words
that Paul
uses in
Colossians
chapter 1.
So let's
use the
opportunity
of this
passage to
check our
foundations and
the foundations
we're laying.
And thirdly,
it's also an
opportunity for
me to ask
myself,
perhaps for
you to ask
yourself,
about my
relationship to
my wider
world and
culture.
Israel went
sleepwalking
into a
destructive
life,
losing its
identity as
the people
of God.
Ultimately,
as we saw
by the end
of our
passage today,
indistinguishable
from their
neighbors,
invisible,
and lost
apart from
the gracious
intervention
of a
divinely
sent
deliverer.
recently I
read something
by Alan
Jacobs that
came back
to mind.
Alan
Jacobs is a
noted literary
critic and
author,
recently
pointed back
to a piece
that he'd
written in
the Wall
Street Journal
in 6th of
June,
2008.
And here's
a little
paragraph from
it.
Jacobs
writes,
I am by
most measures
a pretty
deeply
committed
Christian.
I'm quite
active in
my church.
I teach
at a
Christian
college.
I have
written
extensively
in support
of Christian
ideas and
belief.
Yet when
I ask
myself,
how much
of what I
do and
think is
driven by
my religious
beliefs?
The honest
answer is,
not so
much.
The books
I read,
the food
I eat,
the music
I listen
to,
my hobbies
and interests,
the thoughts
that occupy
my mind
throughout the
greater part
of every
day,
these are,
if truth be
told,
far less
indebted to
my Christianity
than to my
status as a
middle-aged,
middle-class
American man.
Although
Jacobs uses
this frank
and transparent
assessment to
go on to
make a
slightly
different point,
his personal
appraisal
gives me
pause.
Is there
anything about
me that
distinguishes me
from my
neighbor?
In what
ways are
you
distinguishable
from your
neighbors?
What really
about my
daily life
owes its
origins to
my allegiance
to the
Lord Jesus
Christ?
As Bob
Dillon
said,
you're
going to
have to
serve
somebody.
So we
face the
question this
evening,
who are we
serving?
Who am I
serving?
Who are you
serving?
Let's pray.
as we
pause in
God's
presence
just now,
although we
are not
many in
the room,
there's
probably as
many different
thoughts as
there are
people.
Perhaps
there's some
this evening
who are
feeling a
great sense
of disquiet
about the
foundations.
So it
would be a
good moment
to say
sorry to
the Lord
for those
things that
have marred
his work
in our
lives.
Maybe
some of
us who
are sensing
that this
world's
pleasure has
really marked
too much
of my
life.
Let's
use this
moment to
pray that
we would
attend to
the
deliverer,
to the
Lord Jesus,
the one
who we
sung of
earlier,
whose
blood can
wash away
my sin.
love for
us.
And perhaps
we're here
this evening
thinking about
those yet to
come,
young children,
grown children,
the next
generation.
They're on
our hearts.
Let's commit
them to the
Lord and ask that we would have wisdom to build
foundations well, whatever time left God has given us
to be builders and workers in his kingdom.
And our Heavenly Father, as we gather in your presence this evening,
we want to say thank you. Thank you that you graciously
intervene to send someone to save.
Amen.
Israel's deliverers lived only to die.
Lord Jesus came to be a deliverer who died,
yet lives again.
Help us to live in the strength that only he can give
through his resurrection life. We pray for your glory.
Amen.