PLAYING NOW: A SMALL DEVIATION

PLAYING NOW: A SMALL DEVIATION;

RATED PG-13

COMING SOON: THE FAMILY TREACHERY;

RATED R

In my last post “Your PG-13 Becomes Their R”, I stated plainly that pastors and fathers who compromise see their sin play out in front of them.

I don’t believe that this is just a strong, conservative opinion on what we ought to do when it comes to upholding Biblical values, I see this in the Word of God.

I want to share a story in the book of Judges that I haven’t heard preached in church before, and something I pull from it.

If you read in sequence you can picture an already racy PG-13 movie deviating into something much worse.

I encourage you to read Judges 8-9 in their entirety, I am going to paraphrase much here. 

The crux of what I share is found in Judges 8:22-27, but you need to read the whole thing to see that actions have long reaching consequences.

The story follows Israel’s deliverance by Gideon’s hand, a truly miraculous and well loved Bible story, you can find it in Judges 6-7 (or if you are feeling lazy, see the SuperBook of it!)

Gideon had just had his major victory over the Midianites, the Bible commends him for his faith & obedience. 

Gideon wraps up some loose ends and deals with countrymen who opposed him and ultimately opposed God. (8:1-21)

ACT 1 THE ABDICATING COMPROMISE

Judges 8:22-23 22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” 23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.” 

At this point Israel wanted to make him king. (8:22)

You see something like this when Samuel is pressed by the people to appoint a king 100 or so years later.

God tells Samuel they are rejecting Him because they don’t want the Lord to rule over them. (1 Samuel 8:7)

It’s easy to read something like this in Judges or in 1 Samuel and to assume the people should have trusted God more; may I suggest this also speaks to a group who were expressing the desire for leadership.

I understand the hard heartedness of these people, but in not having any leadership, they had to have felt aimless.

Jesus saw people and understood they were sheep without a shepherd.

No pastor, father or authority figure should ever try to usurp God’s place of authority in a person’s life; on the other hand to ignore the need of the sheep is heartless and not of God.

Gideon tells them that he will not, nor will his son rule, but the Lord will rule over them. (8:23)

Most Bible commentators I see commend this, but I break agreement with them.

Not the rejecting of royalty that belongs to God, (I agree with that); but the call to lead and serve the people.  

Gideon could have led them to the righteous middle ground between a man being king and being hands off, he could have been a leader.

God raised Gideon up to be a judge in that time.  God was with him to deliver the people and reteach them God’s ways.

Instead he gave a nice, pious sounding statement, leaving the people without real leadership- this will result in catastrophe.

I refuse to believe that God used men like Moses and Joshua to lead, but didn’t have the same grace or standard for men like Gideon.

Gideon’s statement is similar to what I hear from parents who refuse to be bothered with their wayward kids:

“It’s in God’s hands.”

I want to point out how Jesus speaks about the Master’s response to servants in Matthew 25.

To the ones who made it their mission to do something with what was given them: well done!

To the one who claims of the Master: 

Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground.  Look, there you have what is yours. (Matthew 25:24-25)

The Master responds differently to this one: you wicked and lazy servant! Take away what he has and give it to the faithful one.

Here is what I see in Judges 8:22-23:

ABDICATING RESPONSIBILITY IS EVIL.

If God has allowed you into church leadership or given you children, you don’t need to wonder if you should step into your role.

Of course you should never presume to act like a king and abuse spiritual authority (that’s to address another day), but don’t think you avoid responsibility by doing little or nothing.

If you are reading and being honest with yourself, ask this: where have I abdicated responsibility, what can I start today to change it?

My encouragement is to start with prayer and honest introspection, but don’t stay there.  Take action today, don’t be found burying what God gave you.

ACT 2 THE FALSE HUMILITY COMPROMISE

Judges 8:24-26 24 Yet Gideon said to them, “I would request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his spoil.” (For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. 25 They said, “We will surely give them.” So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. 26 The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels’ necks.

Just moments before Gideon had rejected the responsibility of leadership, but here he is to claim the reward of a king.

Gideon had done an amazing job dealing with the Midianites, for him to receive a reward was fitting.

However by rejecting his responsibility as leader I believe he should have rejected the reward.  

Gideon was inconsistent.

If God was to rule over them, the gold should have gone solely to Him.  Was that God’s desire?

Reward is wonderful, God rewards His servants.  

In Matthew 25 the Master took great delight in handing out reward to those responsible for increase.

The Master gave them more responsibility in accordance with the reward, He didn’t retire them.

Do you think the Master would be fooled if one of the faithful servants played coy?  

“I’ll take the pay increase, but it wasn’t me who did great, it was Jesus! I’ll just leave with my money now…”

This was Gideon’s attitude!

It is further confirmed in the story when in Judges 8:31 Gideon names his son Abimelech, which means “my father is king.”

Run it all back- Gideon acted humble, took the treasure and is in effect put his son as the heir to the hierarchy of Israel- do you see what’s happening?   

Here is what I see in Judges 8:24-26:

REWARD WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY IS ROBBERY.

In the modern era of church it is easy to see men who gladly take the accolades but abdicate the role they were raised up for.

There is nothing wrong with God publicly blessing a minister, I love to see that actually.

It is a gut punch when you see that same minister exposed as a fraud.

You wonder, was it all an act?

Like Gideon, they took the blanket of treasure but walked away from their important role.

If you have experienced this, it hurt.  

God wants to use the people of the church to bless His servants; for pastors & ministers- never take that lightly.

Don’t take the money and run, don’t pretend that you don’t have a call on your life to lead.

My encouragement here for anyone, whether they are in church leadership or not, is to examine yourself. 

God gives every believer some measure of grace, don’t rob others of what God has given you.

ACT 3 THE IDOLATRY COMPROMISE

Judges 8:27 Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household. 

The golden ephod had the same effect on the Israelites as a foreign god idol, it turned people away from God and towards worthless worship.

An ephod was a priestly garment and symbolically had everything to do with the worship of God.

Gideon didn’t make a mistake through ignorance, he was intentionally turning the worship of God towards himself.

Gideon did this successfully until he died- the people gave their affections towards Gideon and this golden ephod- which had no power to redeem.

You become like what you worship.  That’s why it’s abominable to worship anything but the living God.

The Israelites played the harlot by giving undue affection to Gideon and the golden ephod, and as soon as Gideon died foreign god idol worship resumed.

Here is what I see in Judges 8:27:

IDOLATRY KILLS SLOW AND THOROUGH 

Does this ring a bell?  Can we relate to this at all in our modern church setting?

In the last couple years you and I have seen more celebrity Christian leaders fail spectacularly.

Some I believe were sincere and missed the mark; others were charlatans stealing from Jesus.  

The result of a beloved Christian hero falling isn’t always that people find another church, sometimes they leave it and Christ altogether.

This is a sure sign that people didn’t know Jesus- the one job the leader was supposed to facilitate!

Of course every person has to take personal responsibility- but in the text here it blames Gideon for the people playing the harlot.

Christian leader- do you think God will look the other way for you?

What about you, dad?  Will God look the other way for you when your kids fall off?

Anointed preachers, worship teams, production, excellence in the church- I love all of it!  

God wants all of that too, but not at the expense of His glory, ever.

We must learn to hate the self congratulatory, to destroy the golden ephods we make.  

Our victories and accomplishments that the Lord gave us are wonderful, but they can easily become the thing that people focus on and forsake their first love.

SHHH, THE NEXT MOVIE IS STARTING…

If you gutted it out and finished Judges 8, the PG-13 movie, force yourself to read Judges 9.

The sequel story gets the R rated treatment and doesn’t hold back.

Gideon’s son, named ‘my father is king’, kills all 70 of his brothers to usurp a crown that wasn’t even there.

I don’t want to spoil the thing for you, go read it.  It’s full of treachery and broken dreams.

It ends like it starts- hopeless without God.

You might be entertained in some way, but remember that this was Gideon’s family and Israel- if you can’t identify in some way you are in trouble.  

We see this chapter of the Bible being played out in front of us in the United States right now.  

What happens when dads & pastors compromise and let the children grow up not really knowing God?  

Minneapolis.  Shout my abortion.  Trans clubs in elementary schools.  Complete godlessness.

Don’t blame the devil, this happened on your watch.  

The Master didn’t ask the servant ‘who opposed you as you tried to work?’ He came to settle accounts. 

Our PG-13 will become their R, we would be wise to live as 1 Timothy 4:16 encourages:

Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

We all fail & need mercy.  Left up to any person, our legacy will be destruction.  Glory to God for the cross.

God forgives sinners, not mistakers.

When you confess your transgression before God you find mercy; when you make excuses and try to improve you keep what you made.

Obtain mercy for the coming generation’s sake.