Father, you know those of us who have been victims of violence.
You know those of us who have been abused and oppressed.
And you know, Father, how hard it can be for them in a country like Canada to suffer alone
when it seems like nobody else has those problems.
And we confess before you, Father, that our Christian community isn't always maybe very good at helping people.
So, Father, your word today, Father, came as a shock probably to many of us.
And it seems odd that it would be in your word.
But we know that you are the good God, that you are the loving God,
and that even your hard words are said in mercy to bring us to yourself.
So we ask, Father, that in your kindness and in your grace,
the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon us with might and power and deep conviction,
that your word would come home to us in a deep way,
and that we would be gripped by the wonder and beauty and power and grace of the gospel,
and so live free and whole to bring you glory.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So it must have come as a bit of a shock to some of you when you heard Ken read that text of Scripture.
We, in fact, are going to look today at one of the most horrible passages in the Bible,
just to be very, very frank.
It is, and it not only is one of the most horrible stories in the Bible,
it touches on many of the deepest fears people in our culture have about the Christian faith,
in particular in religion in general,
that a man would be filled with the Holy Spirit and make a vow to the Lord
and then would proceed to, let's be blunt, murder his daughter.
Murder his daughter as a sacrifice to the Lord.
And it is a horrible story,
and as I said, it touches on many of the deepest cultural fears
that people in Canada have about the Bible.
And I guess for some of you, as you might have noticed in my prayer,
it might touch on some of your own particular fears
in terms of if you've suffered violence from a hand of a father or a mother.
So what we do here at Church of the Messiah is we,
you know, the Bible was written as a series of books.
And so what we do is we preach through books,
and that means we look at those things which are sort of easy.
I have some Sundays, some Mondays, I look at the text I'm going to preach on
and think, oh, this is going to be fun.
And I have other Sundays, other Mondays like this past one
when I look at 60 verses,
and I think, well, this is going to be a bit of an interesting week
trying to understand the text.
And so we're going to look at the story.
Once again, if you don't have a Bible,
there is Bibles up at the front.
Just feel free to just come and walk up to the front while I'm speaking.
That will be fine.
I can't read all of the text, all 60 verses.
The part that Ken read was just a little bit of the whole story of Jephthah.
And so parts of the text we will read,
and parts of it I'll just tell you in a bit of a summary form.
If you have your own Bibles, you can check.
I haven't, I've made sure that the awkward parts are in.
So I'm not trying to dodge anything in terms of what the text is saying.
So if you're just a bit of a, you know, a refresher,
this is a long, the book of Judges is a series of many, many, many stories.
It takes place roughly between the time that Israel enters into the promised land
and the coming of the first, the naming of the very first king.
It's several hundred years,
and it shows these different 12 tribes
and the different ways they depart from the Lord.
And one of the things you have to understand when we're reading this,
because some of us, if we're very Canadian,
will wonder why it is a bad thing
that we're, that the text talks about
you shouldn't worship Baal or Ashtar.
You shouldn't worship the gods of other nations.
And for many Canadians, it sounds very, very narrow-minded.
And I'm not going to argue about it today.
I just want to let you know that this is one of the things
that Christians believe is very, very, very, very, very un-Canadian.
Like, I believe that the triune God actually really exists.
And that talking about religion and spirituality
isn't like talking about things that make you peaceful
or things that give you meaning or anything like that.
I believe that the triune God,
revealed by Jesus, who lived in history
and died upon the cross and rose again,
that he really did die, he really did rise from the dead,
he really will come again,
and he really reveals a real being that really does exist.
And given that he really exists,
it means that to believe that God is somehow different than that
is to not know the real God.
And it's very un-Canadian.
But that's at the heart of this whole text, by the way.
All the way through it.
There is this particular God that really does exist,
and other gods don't exist,
at least not in the way that they portray themselves to their followers.
So let's look at the story.
If you turn in the book of Judges to chapter 10,
and we begin the story of Jephthah at verse 6,
and it begins like this.
The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord
and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth,
the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon,
the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites,
and the gods of the Philistines.
And they forsook, they left behind,
they completely abandoned,
they turned their back on the Lord.
And did not serve him.
You can also translate that as worship him.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,
and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines,
and into the hand of the Ammonites.
And they crushed and oppressed,
that is the Ammonites,
they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year.
For 18 years,
they oppressed all the people of Israel
who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Ammonites,
which is in Gilead.
And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah
and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim,
so that Israel was severely distressed.
Now just sort of pause there.
What we see here is the people of Israel are listed that they now serve seven different pantheons of gods.
So it's not just seven different gods,
but seven pantheons of gods,
seven whole families of gods.
And they not only worship these other apparent gods
that were native to the land of Canaan,
but even from those beyond,
because the Philistines aren't native to Canaan.
And many of these other people or nations that they mention
are people who have come into the land and defeated Israel.
And then Israel ends up starting to worship their gods as well.
And when it says here that the Lord,
as I've talked about in other weeks,
the Lord sells Israel into the hand of the Ammonites.
It's not like when,
if I was to sell you a car,
you'd really have to be desperate to buy a car that I would sell you,
because it's just half a step ahead of the scrap heap.
But if I was to sell you a car,
once I've sold you the car,
it's your car.
I can't tell you how,
you know,
when you should put oil in it or how you should drive it.
It's your car.
You could tell me,
get lost.
It's my car now.
That's not the language here.
It's a very literal translation.
But as I've shared other weeks,
what the Lord says is that you have chosen idols.
And in a sense,
the punishment for choosing idols is for the Lord to allow you to have a greater idolatry
and have the idol have a greater role in your life.
An example would be this.
There are many,
a simple one,
but many,
many people in our culture make an idol out of money.
We don't think of worshipping money.
Like,
you don't really think that there's like a multi-billionaire.
It's not just rich people who worship money,
by the way.
It can be many of us.
It's not as if they put a,
you know,
a hundred dollar bill down on a table and bow down and worship it.
But for many people,
they serve money.
They get their meaning from money.
They get their pleasure from money.
They get their hope from money.
They,
they,
they justify themselves and their behaviors and their actions from money.
And in a sense,
what happens is that God might at some point in time,
he,
he restrains that a little bit with you.
It's called common grace.
So that you don't really just completely and utterly give your life totally to money.
Because if you do that,
it will almost always ruin your relationships.
It will ruin your wife or your husband or your marriage.
If you're married,
it'll ruin your kids.
If you just completely and utterly devote yourself to money,
it'll twist how you view the world.
And this description of the Lord selling you is just saying,
if in a sense for you to,
to understand what you're doing,
I'm going to withdraw my common grace and let you pursue what you want.
In the hope that by pursuing what you want,
you say to yourself,
what am I doing?
Why am I putting everything into money?
And it's ruined my marriage.
It's ruined my relationships with my kids.
It's poisoned my relationships with my coworkers and my neighbors.
And that's the hope behind it.
And so what has happened is they've worshipped the pantheons of seven different nations,
the seven different pantheons,
and God has allowed that to happen.
Well,
what happens next?
And if you're familiar with the other stories,
you now realize that they come to that point where they start to cry out to the Lord.
And this next bit is a very shocking part of the Bible.
Just listen to what it is.
Continue reading at verse 10.
And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord,
saying,
we have sinned against you because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals,
the Baals.
And the Lord said to the people of Israel,
did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites,
from the Ammonites and from the Philistines,
the Sidonians also,
and the Amalekites and the Amalekites oppressed you and you cried out to me,
and I saved you out of their hand.
Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods.
Listen to this.
Therefore,
I will save you no more.
Go and cry out to the gods from whom you have chosen.
Let them save you in the time of your distress.
Just using the analogy of an idol of money,
money shows you no mercy.
Does it?
Money never shows you grace.
Never.
They worship these other gods.
God says this very,
very,
very shocking thing.
There have been seven pantheons of God.
Clever little thing is there are seven different deliverances which are made.
made.
Now,
this is one of the important things in the Bible.
Often when people get troubled by certain parts of the Bible,
and this is still a very troubling thing,
you need to keep reading and look at the whole story often,
sometimes the whole book,
to see how that actually really plays out.
And in this particular case,
what happens is that the people of Israel,
despite what is said,
throw themselves on God's mercy.
They abandon themselves to God's mercy.
And they really abandon themselves.
Look what happens next.
Verses 15 and 16.
And the people of Israel said to the Lord,
we have sinned.
Do to us whatever seems good to you.
Only please deliver us this day.
So they put away the foreign gods from among them
and served the Lord.
And he became impatient over the misery of Israel.
In other words,
his heart was moved over the misery of Israel.
And you know that he's going to do something about it.
Now,
just very,
very briefly,
I don't want to spend much time on it,
but I just wanted to point out,
if you want to go on later on and read this text
and meditate upon it,
it's a very,
very interesting thing about what true repentance is.
Truly saying you're sorry.
If you could put up the first point,
in true and wise repentance,
you are sorry for the wrong that you have done,
not the personal consequences of wrongdoing.
See,
many of us,
so let's say it's a matter that you get caught telling lies.
And what people are sorry about is that they got caught,
not the lies.
You know,
you're dating,
you know,
a couple are dating,
and you find out that,
you know,
you find out that your boyfriend
had been going on with dates with another girl,
and you get mad at him,
and you drop him,
and he's sorry that you dropped him,
not what he did.
Right?
And so what we see here in this story
is that they realize that they've been doing something wrong.
It's not just the consequences that they're sad about,
the personal ones,
they're sorry over what they've done wrong.
And the second thing,
if you could put up the next point,
is in true and wise repentance,
you put away the sin
and replace it with the good.
In true and wise repentance,
you put away the sin
and replace it with the good.
The last time I did a counseling session with a couple
about this particular issue,
not the last time I did something with a couple,
but there was this couple,
and as I'm talking to them,
I started to have a suspicion
that there was,
that he was punching her and hitting her.
And so I asked the direct question,
and there's this very, very pause,
this shocked silence.
And then she said,
yes,
he's hitting me.
And I said to him,
I'm not going to do any marriage counseling
until you stop hitting your wife.
And I said to her,
you either kick him out or you leave.
And when you're in a place of safety,
then we can continue the counseling.
Like,
that's what real repentance is.
You stop doing the bad thing,
and it can be hard,
but you start to do the right thing.
So it's actually,
if you look at that text,
it's a very simple little thing within the text
that I wanted to point out to you.
But the text continues.
And what happens next,
right after this,
just to sort of move the story along,
is war starts to be,
you're on the edge of war.
The Ammonites are preparing for a major battle.
They've been oppressing,
severely oppressing Israel for 18 years.
They're mobilizing their forces.
They're on the brink of war.
It's late August 1939,
and so to speak,
and they can see that the war is going to be coming.
And then what happens is
the people of Israel realize
that they have lots of different troops,
but they have no leader.
There's nobody over them,
and there's nobody who's really a warrior.
It's as if they have lots of bureaucrats,
not putting down bureaucrats.
They have lots of bureaucrats,
but not somebody who can actually lead somebody into battle.
And so you get a bit of a backstory about Jephthah,
and Jephthah is the son.
There's a married man who has kids,
and he goes and sleeps with a prostitute
and makes the prostitute pregnant,
and the baby is Jephthah.
And as Jephthah gets to be a certain age,
the brothers and sisters of the dad
start oppressing Jephthah
and eventually kick him out of the whole region,
and he has to go and flee and live somewhere else
because his brothers and sisters are so against him.
And when he goes to this other place,
he ends up becoming basically like a...
He becomes a raider.
He becomes a robber.
He gathers a whole pile of criminals around him,
so he's a natural leader.
Only the thing is, he's a leader in stealing.
But he's able to mobilize a large group of men,
and they go and successfully steal and raid
in lots of places.
And so the elders of Israel,
they go and they headhunt him.
And they said,
you're very successful at fighting,
and you're very successful at mobilizing people.
Will you come and be the commander of the army?
And he says,
I'm only going to come and be the commander of the army
if I'm also, in a sense, the king,
the ruler of the whole place.
And they have a bit of a negotiation.
And at the end of it,
the people of Israel agree.
And then if you look here at verse 11,
chapter 11, verse 11,
you see this very interesting thing.
So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead,
that's sort of the particular area of Israel that they're in,
and the people made him head and leader over them.
And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.
And it's sort of a very interesting thing,
is that despite that he's living in a pagan land,
and he's a robber, he's a raider,
he has this connection to the Lord.
And everything that's gone on,
all that they've asked him to do,
he brings before the Lord.
It's a holy moment, so to speak.
Even though they've been serving the pantheons
of seven other nations, seven pantheons,
he doesn't go and speak to any of the pantheons.
He brings the whole matter, everything.
What they're asking him to do,
the battle, the oppression, everything,
he pours it out to the Lord.
And that's what happens.
So what happens next?
Well, if you go back and you read from verses 12 to 28,
you see that the first thing that Jephthah does
is he actually tries to negotiate with the Ammonites.
And what you see there is how he says,
you know, what's the issue here?
Is there a way we can solve it by negotiation?
You can go and read it if you want.
And at the end of the day,
Jephthah says,
here's the different issues that I see them.
But the Ammonites just reject them all.
They're not interested in negotiation at all.
They're not interested in dialogue at all.
It's their way or death.
And their way will be death.
And so the battle is about to begin.
But this brings us to the part that Ken read.
It brings us to the horror of the text.
If you turn with me to chapter 11, verse 29.
And notice here,
the Bible doesn't pull any punches.
Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah.
Now you just pause and you think,
okay, the Holy Spirit's on Jephthah.
Things are going to be holy and good.
I mean, he's been a pretty good leader.
He's poured out his heart to the Lord.
He's tried to negotiate.
I mean, that's the right thing to do.
Things are going to be good now
because the Holy Spirit has come upon Jephthah.
Continuing on in verse 29,
and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh
and passed on to Mishpah of Gilead.
And from Mishpah of Gilead,
he passed on to the Ammonites.
In other words,
he's mobilizing his forces for the battle.
And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said,
if you will give the Ammonites into my hand,
then whatever,
and in Hebrew it can either be whatever or whoever,
comes out from the doors of my house to meet me
when I return in peace from the Ammonites,
shall be the Lord's.
And I will offer him or her or it up
for a burnt offering.
It's just a terrific text.
How is it that he has this affinity for the Lord
and he's open,
he's saying to God,
listen, here's the deal, God.
Here's the deal, Lord.
You help me win
and I will make the biggest sacrifice imaginable.
I'll sacrifice a human being for you
if you let me win.
Now we're going to spend some more time
on some other issues in this text,
but if you could, Andrew,
put up this next thing.
I just want to say a couple of things
very, very briefly
before we go any further.
Doing what is evil
is never acceptable worship
in the eyes of the triune God.
Doing what is evil
is never acceptable worship
in the eyes of the triune God.
I have an atheist friend.
He's since moved to a different Starbucks,
so I don't see him very often,
but one of the things
which he loved to do
was show me the most recent picture
of a Russian Orthodox priest
blessing war planes
that were going to Syria.
And for him,
it was just a classic defeater.
He would just go,
religion?
Christianity?
Drop the mic.
What the Bible is saying is this.
Adding a prayer
before you go to kill somebody
doesn't make it right.
Adding a prayer
before you commit adultery
doesn't make it right.
Adding a prayer
while you deny
you're a slum landlord
and you deny the rights
of your tenants,
but you go to church
doesn't make it right.
And I use the word evil
because it's very strong,
but it's anything which is wrong.
Doing something wrong
is never something
that pleases God.
It's not something
you can consider
to be worship.
Whatever else is going on
in this story here,
it's not meant to teach us
that it's all right.
And this is very important
because it touches
on deep cultural issues.
It's a very big cultural fear
and it's a big cultural fear
because sometimes,
I mean,
how can we deny
that there have been
many priests
and pastors
and ministers
who abused their power
to abuse boys?
We can't deny that.
And how many
Baptist deacons
and elders
have also been,
and Anglicans
have been guilty
of horrendous things
using religion
to cover it up.
We cannot deny that.
But what we can say
is this text
is definitely not saying
that it is right.
If you could put up
the next point,
Andrew.
Here's the other thing
is the Lord
is going to deliver Israel,
but the Lord
delivers Israel
despite Jephthah's vow,
not because of his vow.
The Lord's going
to deliver Israel
because the Lord
delivers,
not because of
what Jephthah says.
It is because
it is of the very
nature of the Lord
that he saves
and delivers.
And so despite
the evil
of Jephthah's vow,
the Lord will deliver.
And that's what happens
very next.
Just very briefly,
they win.
Immediately after this,
they win.
The people
who had been
severely oppressing them
for 18 years
are beaten
in battle.
And now we turn
to verse 34
of chapter 11.
Then Jephthah,
after the victory,
then Jephthah
came to his home
at Mizpah,
and behold,
his daughter
came out
to meet him
with tambourines
and with dances.
She was his only child.
Beside her,
he had neither son
nor daughter.
And as soon as
he saw her,
he tore his clothes
and said,
Alas,
my daughter,
you have brought me
very low,
and you have become
the cause
of great trouble
for me.
For I have opened
my mouth to the Lord,
and I cannot take
back my vow.
And she said to him,
my father,
you have opened
your mouth
to the Lord.
Do to me
according to what
has gone out
of your mouth
now that the Lord
has avenged you
on your enemies
on the Ammonites.
Just pause
before we read
the next bit.
If you make
an evil vow,
the Lord wants you
to recant
and repent of it.
So this is wrong.
But the other thing
is a very,
very telling thing.
This goes back
to the whole thing
about repentance.
from the story,
he would not
have been upset
if one of his
servants came up
first.
He would have
sacrificed them.
He's upset
because it's his
daughter.
And then the story
goes,
if you continue
on with it
in verse 37.
So she said
to her father,
let this thing
be done for me.
Leave me alone
two months
that I may go
up and down
on the mountains
and weep
for my virginity.
She's prepucessant.
Just on the edge
of being old enough
to be married.
I and my companions.
And so he said,
go.
Then he sent her
away for two months
and she departed.
She and her companions
and wept for her
virginity on the mountains.
And at the end
of the two months
she returned
to her father
who did with her
according to his vow
that he had made.
She had never
known a man
and it became
a custom in Israel
that the daughters
of Israel
went year by year
to lament
the daughter
of Jephthah
the Gilead,
Gileadite,
four days in the year.
It's an oral custom.
It's not something
which is still practiced.
And the fact
that they memorialize
this isn't a good sign
about the spiritual
health of Israel
by the way.
It's not a good sign.
They're not romanticizing it.
Right?
Because the lesson
should have been
that there is
a yearly remembrance
that you never
make a vow
to commit human sacrifice
which is clearly
condemned
throughout the entire
five books
of the Bible
which Jephthah
would have had access
to at that time
in his life.
It's consistently
condemned
in the Bible.
And then
just to wrap up
the story
if you read
the last eight verses
you'll find
that one of the things
that ends up happening
and by the way
in many many religions
and it's often viewed
as a positive thing today
you know
you look at the lion king
and the circle of life
but the fact of the matter
is is that people
who live
amongst a story
that is a circle
it's despairing
because you're trapped.
You're trapped
in circles.
In the Bible
the book of Judges
I haven't talked about
this very much
but in each of the
twelve judges
that mark the book
of Judges
it looks like a cycle
but it's not a cycle
it's a spiral
and you see
that's often
how life works
and I'm just
just as a bit
of an aside
the spiral
can go downwards
because
as the spiral
goes downwards
and that's what's
happening in the book
of Judges
as you go
from the very first judge
to by the time
you come to the very end
you see that there's
this apparent
going around in circle
but every time
it goes around
they get lower
and lower
and they get more
and more evil
and more and more
debased
and by the end
of it
you have
massive killing
and breaking
of promises
and raping
of a woman
and severing
her into twelve
pieces
you see this
and in a sense
what we know
about our holiness
is also a cycle
because it isn't
that you just
always do what is right
you do what is wrong
and you repent
but in a sense
in a godly way
there's a spiral
that goes up
or at least
goes up
and then down
and then up
and then down
and it's mainly up
but that's what you see
going on here
in this text
is this cycle
of
there's just civil war
Israel fighting Israel
at the end
there's a type of peace
but not rest
now what do we want to say
about all of this story
the sermon series
is called
Messy People
Faithful God
and by God
I mean the Triune God
and this story
seems to be
very very confusing
like for many people
it doesn't make any sense
that this isn't a Bible
it seems to talk
about making vows
to the Lord
it seems
talks about
making your
opening your heart
to the Lord
and pouring out
your heart to him
it shows being
trusting the Lord
to go and fight
in a battle
but it also makes vows
which are evil
but somehow or another
even after the Holy Spirit
comes upon him
they make this
this vow
and still it's all successful
and what on earth
is going on
like what on earth
is going on
well all I can say
is this
if we have
and I could have
called the sermon series
Faithless People
Faithful God
Sinful People
Faithful God
you know
Rebellious People
Faithful God
Messy People
Faithful God
but if God
has to get through
to messy people
he needs to mess
with their heads
if God wants
to deal with
messy people
he needs to mess
with their heads
and that's what
the book of Judges
does time and time
and time again
if you could put up
the next point
Andrew
when I say
a fallen mind
as a Christian
what I believe
is that God
originally made
human beings
to be completely
good and perfect
we human beings
in Genesis 3
it describes a fall
we desire to be
like God
and to be the center
and to be over God
and to be over each other
we think we can be
gods together
but you can't really
be gods together
because there really is
the very heart of the desire
to be gods together
is I'm going to be more
of a god than you
sorry
but that's my desire
and you want to be
more of a god than me
and human beings
are fallen
and what I would like
to suggest is
that there are two things
that the fallen mind
believes
it's especially
prevalent
in Canada today
the first
is that this is
how religion
or spirituality
works
first you be good
then once you
start to be good
then God
will hear you
the universe
will hear you
and then
after you're
still being good
and you're starting
to be heard
you're able to talk
to God
whatever that is
then eventually
if that all works out
you'll be one
with God
and I would suggest
this characterizes
most versions
of personally
put together
spirituality
I'm not denigrating
it by saying that
but that's how many
people approach it
they take the best
and what they would
view as the best
of different things
and put them together
to be their own
spiritual path
that they're walking on
and they seek to be good
within those terms
and as they're good
they can use their rituals
and whatever it is
their meditation
or their yoga
or their prayers
to connect with God
and eventually
if they do that
they'll be one with God
or recognize
that they're one with God
and it characterizes
all religious
and spiritual endeavors
and the second thing
that goes along with it
is that
and you hear this
constantly in our culture
is that
to the fallen mind
the world is divided
between the good people
and bad people
I read about
one novel a week
and they're all
secular novels
I don't read
Christian literature
unless it's C.S. Lewis
or J.R. Tolkien
or something like that
which is very old
and it's a constant thing
you're a good person
you hear it
you go to Tim Hortons
you can go to Starbucks
you can go to the Happy Goat
you can go to Bridgehead
you're a good person
he's not a good person
she's not a good person
they're bad
the world is divided
between good and bad
and of course
it's very easy
because if the world
is divided
between good and bad
and you're a good person
it means you're already
in terms of the spiritual journey
you've already got
step one nailed
now it's just a matter
of actually deciding
you want to start talking to God
so you can be one with God
and that's just how
our fallen mind
just understands the world
and it's all
part of that
by the way
is why
at a very very deep level
it just seems completely
and utterly obvious to us
that good things
should happen to good people
and bad things
should happen to bad people
and that
any bad thing
that happens to a good person
shows that there's something wrong
with the moral order
of the universe
and in fact
whatever God
that should exist
and that would include
whatever Christians say
God is
or they think he is
or she is
or it is
that that God
should rectify these matters
because there are good people
and there are bad people
and I'm a good person
and a bad thing
shouldn't be happening to me
because I'm a good person
haven't you heard me
why on earth
is it worth it
to be one with you
if bad things are happening
for many many people
that we know
and I know people
who completely
and utterly
rejected religion
they say religion
is a complete
and utter waste
of time
it makes me angry
to even talk about it
what they've given up
is point A
what they've completely
rejected
is 5A
that you
first be good
then be heard
then be one
and people who've given up
on religion
and spirituality
that's what they've given up on
but the fact of the matter is
is that even if they make jokes
about how they're going to go
to the bad place
how them and all their friends
will be in the bad place
they say that in a way
that it's good to be bad
because they still accept
the structure of that worldview
and so here's what happens
and there's Christian versions
of this by the way
and so what happens
if you have the view
okay first you be good
then you be heard
then you be one
and if there's a world
between good people
and bad people
where on earth
do you put Jephthah?
like what?
like he's heard
because he's one
and he sort of does this good stuff
but he does this work
like where do you put Jephthah?
where do you put this story?
where do you put judges
if that's how everybody knows
the world works
or should work
how on earth
does this make any sense?
well the answer is
it doesn't
but here's the thing
here's the problem
with the way
our minds work
if I got up
my wife's not in church
she's downstairs
looking after the kids
if I got up
and spent the next 10 minutes
talking about how good a dad I am
I am the best dad
I am the best husband
we're going to be married
39 years in October
it has been 39 years
of bliss
and happiness
and if I was to say that
my wife would be
gagging
none of you would believe it
and all it would show
was that I was very good
especially if I convince you
is that I'm really good at BS
and I'm really good
at self-congratulation
and self-flattery
and here's the problem
with this world view
the world is divided
between good and bad people
the fact of the matter is
is that bad people
think they're good
don't they?
like let's be honest
if you're thinking
who some of the bad people are
however you want to think
about that
my guess is
that if you hung around them
you want to know
how you really know
that there's no bad people
in the world
go to a funeral
doesn't matter
how big a crook
they are
there will be somebody
who gets up
and praises
how good a person
they are
guarantee it
nobody in a funeral
will say
this was a despicable person
I'm only doing this service
because they paid me
500 bucks
if it ever happens
it would go viral
if it was taped
and so
how does this work
if you in fact
aren't really good
but you believe you're good
and doesn't make you gag
when you meet somebody
who says how good they are
and you know they're not good
but why is it
that you give yourself
a pass
and we all know
that bad things
in quotes
happen to good
people
in quotes
that that isn't the way
the world is
yet that's how we think
the world is
or should be
just to wrap it up
only Christianity
explains our sense
and our hypocrisy
and our trap
and our dilemma
if you could put up
the next point Andrew
that would be very helpful
here's what the Bible
says about every human being
every human being
you will meet today
if you go wandering
around the market
and you meet some
unbelievably broken
street people
if you walk around
the market today
and you see Justin Trudeau
or Andrew Scheer
or you see the owner
of Shopify
it doesn't matter
I mean one level
it matters
but it doesn't matter
because at the end
of the day
you only
every human being
you meet
is a bent treasure
who wears
a crown
that's what the Bible
says
every human being
is made
in the image
of God
every human being
is made
so that they
would have stewardship
over the created order
you read Psalm 8
and it says
that every human being
in a sense
is crowned
by God
but the line
between good and evil
is not between me
and some other person
the line between good and evil
goes right down me
it goes right down
my thoughts
it goes through
my will
it goes through
my dreams of the future
my imagination
my hopes
my remembrances
of the past
the line between good and evil
is right through me
and so it is
that I am bent
I am out of whack
I am not straight
but even though
I am that
God does not
remove
my humanity
from me
so I am still
made as a treasure
bearing the image
of God
and wearing
a crown
and every human being
is like that
but if this is the case
that I am bent
and if the line
between good and evil
goes right down me
then how is it possible
for me to divide the world
between good people
and bad people
and how is it possible
for me
whether it is Islam
or Judaism
or religious forms
of Christianity
or spirituality
or Buddhism
or Hinduism
to think
that the way
that I can be one
with God
is that first
I am going to be good
and then I am going to be heard
and then I am going to be one
and how can I do that
if the line
between good and evil
goes right down
through me
it can never
ever
work
and that is why
religion and spirituality
so sickens
many people
because it is filled
with hypocrisy
I was too loud
and I made a baby cry
I am sorry
and it
and so here
I just want to tell you
this is why
this story
is preparing us
for something
far more glorious
Andrew
if you could put it up
religion
does not work
but there is a power
from the triune God
that is pure grace
and is offered
to the undeserving
as a gift
and when received
by faith in Jesus
God makes
the dead
to come alive
the blind
to have light
the shameful
to have honor
the slave
to be free
the condemned
to be acquitted
the lost
to be saved
the poor
to be rich
the alone
to be adopted
the impure
to be pure
the sinful
to be righteous
the doomed
to possess
a sure hope
the far off
to be brought near
the hostile
to be reconciled
the guilty
to be forgiven
the demonized
to be filled
with the Holy Spirit
the lovelest
to be loved
the dweller
in the domain
of darkness
to be transferred
to dwell
as a citizen
in the kingdom
of the beloved
son
and if God
does all
of that
for us
the undeserving
as a gift
for each
bent
treasure
for whom
the line
for good
and evil
goes right
down the center
of whom
they are
but they are
still a treasure
who wears
a crown
if God
does that
for us
and we
receive it
by Jesus
these stories
are trying
to break
our mind
from how
the fallen
mind
works
to be like
Israel
and throw
ourselves
upon the
mercy
of God
and then
the way
we live
is out
of gratitude
and security
for what
God has
done for us
and it is
out of that
that we begin
to pray
to our
father in
heaven
in a new
and different
way
and it is
out of that
that we
begin to
live
in our
father's
world
in a new
and different
way
I invite
you to
stand
just bow
our heads
in prayer
if there's
any here
who have
never yet
crossed
that line
and come
to that
point
where they
call out
upon God
for mercy
or who
have thought
all their
life that
they are
trying to
be good
to be
heard
so they
can someday
be one
and now
realize that
entire
journey is
completely
impossible
and the
Holy Spirit
is convicting
you to
die to
that
and die
to your
self-conception
as good
and your
fear that
you are
bad
and the
Holy Spirit
is knocking
on the
door
Jesus is
knocking on
the door
of your
heart
that you
would
cast
yourself
upon
his
mercy
and call
out to
him
there is
no better
time than
right now
to stop
listening to
what I
say and
just say
Jesus
be my
savior
and be
my
Lord
all that
list that
George just
read that's
all from the
Bible
I need
that I
want that
and I
surrender
to that
and there's
no better
time than
now to
use your
own words
to so
say it
and for
the rest
of us
who all
have fallen
minds as
well
who
we leave
church on
a Sunday
and very
quickly we
fall back
into thinking
of ourselves
as good
worried that
we're bad
seeing others
as the
other and
somehow a
threat
rather than
someone to
be loved
and served
and prayed
for
who quickly
fall into
those religious
habits of
thinking
Father this
is our time
to just come
before the
Lord and say
Lord thank you
for the gospel
thank you
I can be
with your
people
and hear
it
I really
need it
I want
my life
in light
of the
gospel
to be
a spiral
that ends
in heaven
Father
we thank
you for
your word
we thank
you that
you mess
with our
heads
we thank
you that
you mess
with our
heads
so that
we will
be open
to the
gospel
and be
gripped
by it
we ask
Father that
the Holy
Spirit would
move in a
mighty
and powerful
way within
us to
grip us
by the
gospel
and with
the gospel
with its
truth
with its
beauty
with its
power
with its
certainty
with its
reality
with its
unending
nature
Father grip
us with
the gospel
so that
we will
begin to
live free
in your
world
with you
as our
father
for the
good of
people
for the
sharing
of the
gospel
and for
your great
glory
not our
own
all
these
things
we ask
in the
name
of
Jesus
and
God's
people
said
Amen