Sunday Sermon: Judges 3:7-11, Aggressively pursue God's promises!

Last week, we focused on the spiritual truth about how we need to fight not to forget God. Forgetting God is not just a benign state of mind. God takes forgetting him very seriously that he calls it doing evil. We fight not to forget God by learning to dwell in his love and by being saturated in God’s word.

Today, we go back to Judges 3:7-11. There was a great lesson to fight not to forget God. Today, we are going to learn what it means to be men and women of godly pursuit.

Read Judges 3:7-11.

The judge in this passage is Othniel; he was not so famous, but he was considered an ideal Lord’s judge. When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help God raised up Othniel as their deliverer. God empowered Othniel by his Spirit. Being led by the Spirit of the Lord, he went to war against Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram. It is not too clear who this king actually was. Whoever he was, his name suggests he was a very powerful and intimidating king since the name meant “Cushan of double evil.”

When the Lord raised Othniel up as a judge and empowered him by his Spirit, it didn’t matter how fierce, powerful, intimidating “Cushan of double evil” was. Othniel simply overpowered this evil king. Under Othniel’s leadership, there was forty years of peace.

What made Othniel an ideal judge was his attitude towards God and his promises. He was a man who aggressively went after God’s promises trusting in God’s unfailing steadfast love, faithfulness, and power. He was a man of godly pursuit.

To understand better how he aggressively pursued after God’s promise while trusting in God, let me take us back to Judges 1. The beginning of Judges chapter 1 chronicles the tribe of Judah’s effort to possess the land that was allotted by the Lord. This passage is parallel to Joshua 15, which gives little bit more detail. Joshua 15:13 says:

In accordance with the Lord’s command to him, Joshua gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion in Judah-Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.) From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites-Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai-descendants of Anak. From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). And, Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

Othniel, Caleb and his daughter Acsah all belonged to the tribe of Judah. The Lord allotted the southern portion of the Promised Land to Judah. And, it was the people of Judah’s job to attack and capture the remainder of the land that was yet to be possessed. Attacking and capturing all the allotted land required them to exercise their faith in God who promised them the land. What we see is not only Othniel, but his father-in-law Caleb and Caleb’s daughter Acsah, Othniel’s wife, were all ideal people of God because they all aggressively pursued after God’s promise. They were fully convinced of this: what God had for them was what was best for them.

When Caleb challenged the men of Judah to attack and capture Kiriath Sepher and to promise his daughter to the man who completes the task, what he was really looking for was a man who would not compromise, but go after God’s promise wholeheartedly and obediently. Othniel stepped up to the challenge. And, it demonstrated that Othniel was a man of faith in God’s power, faithfulness, unfailing love and his promise.

And for Caleb to have challenged in this way tells us that Caleb too was a man of deep faith.

Forty five years before Caleb gave this challenge, he and Joshua were the only two spies who were fully confident that they could attack and capture the land of Canaan because the Lord promised them to give it as their inheritance. Numbers 14:7-9 reveals Caleb’s confidence in God at that time,

The Land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.

How did the people respond to Caleb and Joshua’s plea to trust in the Lord? Verse 10 says,

But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Verse 2-4 reveals their hearts:

All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Was this true that God only brought his people out thus far only to destroy them by the sword, to have their wives and children be taken as plunder? This was not God’s promise. God’s promise was to give the land of Canaan to the Israelites as their inheritance. But, their utter lack of confidence in God for his promise grieved his heart deeply. Numbers 14:11 reveals God’s heart: The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?”

Because they treated the Lord with contempt and disbelief when they showed no confidence in God to deliver what he promised to them, God said in Numbers 14:21-23: as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fill the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt an din the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.

But, about Caleb, the LORD said this in verse 24:

But because my servant Caleb had a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

The Lord’s promise from this Numbers 14:24 to Caleb was fulfilled forty five years later when Caleb was eighty five years old. Forty five years later, Joshua 14:6-14 recorded what Caleb said at the age of eighty five years old:

Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb Son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my brothers who went up; with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’

Caleb continued in verse 10-14:

“Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. So Hebron belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.

This is the story of Caleb. At the age of forty years old, Caleb was more than ready to fight to possess God’s Promised Land. And, forty five years later, Caleb was passionate as ever before to pursue hard after what God promised him.

This Caleb as the father of his daughter Acsah, would not have any other way for his daughter except to give her into marriage to a man in his mold. Caleb witnessed what happened when the people of God gave into the fear of people, circumstances, when they walked by their sights instead of trusting in God’s promise and walking in faith. Forty years of wandering in the desert was the result instead of forty years of possessing the Promised Land with milk and honey.

The challenge to attack and capture Kiriath Sepher was to measure a person’s faith and devotion in the Lord. The man who would attack and capture Kiriath Sepher would have trusted that the Lord would enable him to possess the city, which the Lord himself promised to the tribe of Judah.

Othniel was that man. Just like his father-in-law Caleb, Othniel was courageous, confident because he wholeheartedly trusted in God for what he promised to him as inheritance. God allotted Debir as an inheritance to the tribe of Judah. Othniel belonged to Judah. And, as such when Othniel responded Caleb’s challenge successfully, it demonstrated that Othniel didn’t forget God. God he served was the God who gave Hebron to his father-in-law at the age of eighty-five years old. Othniel was courageous, strong, and confident man because he didn’t forget to look straight ahead, to fix his eyes directly before him on God and not to swerve to the right or to the left, but to do the will of God. Othniel walked by faith, not by sight. He was an ideal judge because he pursued courageously after God’s blessed promise. He was a man of faith.

Now, let’s look at Othniel’s wife, Caleb’s daughter Acsah. Father like daughter, Acsah too was a woman of convictions. After getting married to Othniel, she urged her husband to ask Caleb, her father for a field. When Caleb asked her what he could do for her, she responded in Judges 1:15 and Joshua 15:19: “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” And, Caleb gave her the upper and the lower springs.”

Acsah’s asking for more could be mistaken for greed if we don’t understand what the land meant for the Israelites. Acsah was not a greedy woman. Far from it! She was an ideal of woman of God, just like her father Caleb was, just like her husband was. She was an ideal woman because she didn’t shy away from God’s promise. She pursued God’s promise aggressively. When Acsah asked her father for springs of water for the land, she was acting on her confidence in God’s promise to give good things to his people. She wasn’t going to sit on the sideline on this. She trusted in God’s promise and actively sought after what God promised as inheritance. This is why she was an ideal of woman of God.

In the Old Testament theology, not to desire, not to fight to possess the land the Lord promised is what made a person undesirable. The ideal people of God were people who didn’t let the fear of people and circumstances direct their actions. They trusted and acted confidently in God’s promise for them, in God’s faithful, loving, and good character. In trusting God’s faithfulness, they obeyed God’s command to enter into the Promised Land to possess it.

How does this relate to us Christians? Othniel, Acsah, and Caleb portray for us the ideal picture of what it means to follow Jesus.

1. Aggressively pursue love relationship with Jesus

For Christians, the promise of inheritance is not the physical land as it was for the Israelites. Instead, our inheritance is the promise of rest as Jesus talked about in Matthew 11. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Hebrews chapter 4 talks about entering this rest. Hebrews 4:8 says, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”

Few observations from this passage: 1) Entering and possessing the land was not the ultimate rest. 2) A paradox exists between the call to enter God’s rest by resting from our own work and the call to make effort to enter that rest.

This Hebrew passage and the Matthew passage both point to the same conclusion. It is all about love relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In order to rest from our own work, we need to focus on love relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And, focusing on love relationship isn’t a passive actively; it means aggressively pursuing love relationship.

How do we pursue love relationship with Jesus? Psalm 75:1 says, “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds.” We pursue love relationship with God when we retell again and again how God has saves us. And, we do this by mediation in God’s word. Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.” How do you aggressively pursue love relationship with God? This psalm tells us that it happens when we call on him, when we cry out to him for his sustaining, empowering grace.

Now, ask yourself this question. How are you making every effort to enter the rest Jesus gives that is enter into love relationship with God through Jesus? Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Elizabeth P. Prentiss wrote a beloved hymn called More Love To Thee. She wrote during a time of deep personal surrow of having lost a child in 1850’s and a short time later her youngest child also died. In her diary, she wrote, “Empty hands, a worn-out, exhausted body, and unutterable longings to flee from a world that has so many sharp experiences." What did she do? She sought comfort not passivley, but aggressively by meditating on the scripture. And, from that, she wrote this hymn.

More love to Thee, O Christ, More love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee. More love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, Give what is best;
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee! [i]!

2. Aggressively pursue to become a person tested and approved in Christ.

The story about Othniel, Caleb, and Acsah is relevant to how we need to approach relationship between a man and a woman.

Don’t let this escape your attention. What made Othniel, Acsah, and Caleb ideal people of God was their conviction about relationship between a man and a woman.

One of the things that grieve the Lord was that the people of God didn’t obey God who told them they were not to marry the people of another faith or no faith.

For Christians, there should be no negotiation on this. If you are a Christian, you marry a Christian. But, it is not enough that a person calls himself or herself a Christian these days.

For Caleb, he wanted his son-in-law to be a person who demonstrated deep faith in God through concrete action. He raised his daughter up Acsah to trust in God and to pursue God’s promise. He wanted a godly man for her.

If you are interested in dating someone and if you are dating someone now, but you don’t know the person that well, your primary goal should be to find out what kind of love relationship the person has with Jesus Christ. And, if you are interested in introducing someone to your friend, make sure you know that person is really in love with Jesus and loves people. Otherwise, don’t even bother!

God wants you to pursue for the best in relationship. And, the best is a person who is in love with Jesus. People talk about chemistry between a man and a woman. I say that the best chemistry you want in relationship is not between a man and a woman, but it is the chemistry each of them has with Jesus and how that person loves other people.

When I was in the season of pursuing marriage relationship, what attracted me the most to my wife besides her beauty, humor, wisdom, was her love for Jesus and love for people.

I know that some of you feel frustrated because you want to be in relationship, but is not yet happening yet. God knows your heart. Be patient! Hope in Jesus for he wants what’s best for you.

In the mean time, instead of focusing on finding or getting that special someone, focus on becoming a special person who is deeply in love with Jesus.

For Othniel, the foremost challenge was not finding that someone to get married, to be in relationship. His foremost challenge was becoming a man of God who acted in deep trust and confidence in God’s character, God’s promise.

In Romans 16:10, Paul talks about a person named Apelles. He speaks well of this person by saying tested and approved in Christ.

Men of the church, women of the church, your goal ought to become a person tested and approved in Christ. This is what I mean when I tell you to focus on becoming a special person. Let the reviews about you give you the stamp of approval as a person of deep love, faith and action! Let your attraction be your love for Jesus and love for people!

This goes for me and those of you who are married as well. Our primary focus ought to be becoming men and women tested and approved in Christ, who are deeply in love with Jesus.

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^[i] Logos Hymnal, 1st edition. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995).

Yahweh’s grace is bestowed on individuals like Caleb, Othniel, Acsah and the Kenites. In each instance, this grace is specially given to non-Israelites… This theme… that God gives grace to non-Israelites- is developed through the Old and New Testaments. Those who are not expected to evince faith do, and those hwo should show faith do not (cf. Rahab contrasted with Achan [Joshua 6-7], Elijah and the widow of Zarephath [1 Kings 17.7-24], Elisha and Naaman [2 Kings 5.1-19], Luke 4-16-30). Such a lesson is great encouragement to “Gentiles” especially in the church age.

It is important to remember that the land in the Old Testament carried spiritual overtones. This is true here as well as in the story of the daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27.1-11, 36.1-13, Josh. 17.3-6). The actions of all these women are strongly commended. The story demonstrates that the claim of the descendants of Othniel and Acsah to this land is based on a legal bequest by the original recipient of territory. Acsah’s request is not transitory but generational in its impact. She emerges as “an image of ideal Yahwist womanhood.” In the more extended context of the book of Judges, Acsah served… (1) as a positive paradigm of a daughter being given to an ideal hero, she is juxtaposed to the notice of Israel’s apostasy of intermarriage with the inhabitants of the land (3.6). These Israelite daughters (in contrast to Acsah) are, in a sense, dispossessed since the gift of the land will never be theirs because of their intermarriages. (2) The contrast between Acsah and Deliah could not be more stark! Acsah was the wife of Othniel (who will be described later in the book as the ideal judge). She took the initiative to procure greater blessing for her husband’s progeny through her request for more land and springs. In contrast, Delilah was the consort of Samson (the worst of the judges). She used her initiative to bring down her man, all for filthily gained money. P. 68.

Acsah’s request is also analogous in certain ways to that of Ruth. Both are non-Israelite women who have been “grafted” into the community of faith. Both have men who are outstanding in their personal qualities. Both make requests that involved God’s blessings of inheritance (as connected to the land). Both received their requests.

For the Christian, Acsah represents a woman who will not be denied her full inheritance. She is a model resembling the women of the Gospels, who sought out Jesus refused to be turned back by the crowds and by Jesus’ own disciples. As a result, they found salvation, healing, and blessing for themselves and their families (Matt 9.20-22, 15.21-28, 26.7-13, Mark 7.24-30, 14.3-9, Luke 2.36-38, 7.11-15, 36-50, 8.43-48, 13.10-17, 18.1-5). K. Lawson Younger, Judges, Ruth (The NIV Application Commentary), p. 93.

Sunday Sermon: Judges 2:6-3:6, A Living Encounnter with God

Today, we will hear from the book of Judges chapter 2:6 to 3:6.

This passage 2:6-3:6 expands the passage from the last week, specifically 2:1-5. Today’s passage is about God’s perspective on what really happened to the generation after Joshua’s death.

Open your Bible to Judges 2 and would you follow with me as I read the passage.

1. The generation under Joshua’s leadership

Judges 2:6-7 says, “After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they 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 that Lord had done for Israel.”

These two verses refer back to Joshua 24:28 and 31. Joshua died at the age of a hundred and ten. And, when Joshua dismissed the people to take possession of the land, their own inheritances, he was close to the age of 110.

And, before Joshua dismissed the Israelites to go and to take the inheritances, he gave his farewell speech. We see this farewell speech in Joshua 23.

He gathered the leaders and spoke to them. He told them in 23:4-5, “Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain-the nations I conquered-between the Jordan and the Great Sea in the west. Joshua allotted the still unoccupied land to the twelve tribes back in Joshua 13, some twenty five years before.

Now, close to his death, Joshua encouraged them in 23:5-8:

The Lord your God himself will drive them out of your way. He will push them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you. Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.

Before his death, Joshua wanted people to trust in God who had remained faithful to them. He wanted them to be strong and to remain faithful to God as he had done.

Joshua followed his exhortation and encouragement with the strong warning. He began his warning by saying in verse 12-13:

But if you turn away. and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.

And, he continued in verse 16,

If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.

Having given them the charge, the encouragement, and also the stern warning, Joshua in chapter 24 gathered the Israelites at Shechem. Long ago, Shechem was where the Lord first promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants in Gen 12:6-7. In this historical site, Joshua challenged the people to decide, to choose whom they would serve. He said in 24:14-15:

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

To this, the Israelites committed to serve the Lord. 24:31 says, “Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.”

This is the background of Judges 2:6-9.

The generation under Joshua’s leadership and the elders of his time experienced God firsthand. And, they responded to God faithfully.

2. The post-Joshua’s generation and their downfall.

From 2:10, you witness how the post-Joshua’s generation fell away from the Lord.

Verse 10-11 says, “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.”

Unlike their previous generation, this post-Joshua’s generation is said to have not known the Lord, neither what he had done.

Does this mean that this post-Joshua’s generation did not have the head knowledge about God and what he had done in the history? This is unlikely. They were cultured in the Hebrew tradition. They heard the story about God and what he had done. They were like churched people who grew up hearing the Bible stories. The problem was not that they didn’t know the stories about God and what he did, but they didn’t know God and what he did personally.

Let me illustrate this from Judges 3:2. It says that the descendants of the Israelites had not had previous battle experience.” The phrase had not had previous experience translates a Hebrew verb ud^y, which is the same Hebrew word used in 2:10.

The post-Joshua’s generation knew about the warfare. They heard about the battles. But, they didn’t have the personal encounter in fighting the enemies.

I personally grew up hearing a lot about what the Korean soldiers experienced, but those stories were just the stories to me. Those stories did not have any smell of mud or sweat, nor any sound of wind brushing the trees, nor the sight of the North Koreans, no weight of M-16 on my shoulder. I heard about them, but have never experienced them.

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament defines knowing God, ud^y as “a personal relationship growing out of a living encounter with God.”

What was the consequence of not having the living encounter with God? They did evil in the eyes of the Lord. What did they do that was evil in the eyes of the Lord?

Instead of holding fast to the Lord, they forsook the Lord; instead of following and worshiping the Lord, they followed and served the various gods of Canaan. Instead of remaining distinctive people of God, they assimilated, they became like one of the Canaanites and others.

Verse 12-13 says this “provoked the LORD to anger.”

And, when the Lord was provoked to anger, he acted. Verse 14 says that God handed them over to the raiders, sold them to their enemies around them, and verse 15 says that whenever Israel went to fight, his hand was against them to defeat them. Verse 20 says that because the Israelites violated the covenant with him, he no longer drove out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. He left those nations as means of punishing the Israelites, for they became the thorns and the snares for the Israelites.

We need to be very clear about this. God doesn’t get angry because he is feeling moody or wants to get back at us for no reason. His anger is not unpredictable unlike how we get angry. I don’t know about you, but I am very unpredictable when it comes to what makes me angry, how I get angry. If I am feeling funk, it seems like anything can push me over the edge. But, God’s anger is nothing like that.

Our God laid it out plainly for everyone to know with certainty what would make him angry, when he would get angry, what he would do in his anger. He spelled it out throughout the Old Testament. Deut 4:25 says, “After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time--if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God and provoking him to anger.” When it comes to anger, God is very predictable.

Was this the end of the story? Does the story end with God punishing the Israelites for their unfaithfulness because he was provoked to anger?

No, the story doesn’t end with God’s anger and punishment. Yes, when he was provoked to anger, he handed them over to the raiders, he sold them to their enemies around, he was against them to defeat them… whenever Israel went out to fight. When God acted in anger, the people experienced the great distress for the nations remained became the thorns and the snares. They groaned in agony and can you guess who was there to hear their cries of distress? Verse 18b says, “for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.” What was God’s compassionate act all about? God raised up a judged for them and he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as judge lived (Joshua 2:18a). He swung into the action to save them, to deliver them, to rescue them when they cried out for help.

3. Stand out in the crowd!

Judges took place during the Iron 1 period (1200-1000 B.C.). And, the archeological studies have revealed hardly any kind of distinctive mark of the Israelite’s existence.[1] Another word, Israel had assimilated to the surrounding and occupying culture so much that Israel during this period left no distinctive mark in the history. How did this happen? 3:5-6 says, “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.” Instead of standing out in the crowd, they became one of their enemies.

Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:17:

live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Why has God redeemed us? 1 Peter 2:9 says:

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belong to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

The generation during the Judges period, the Iron age, and our generation face the same choice. Whether to respond to God who calls out, to be unique, distinctive, to stand out in what we value, live for, how we do our daily lives, how we speak, how we care for people, or to blend right in, assimilate with the rest of the world that refuses to acknowledge God.

Are there things about you that set you apart, to make you stand out, that make you unique, strange, and mysterious to people around you? Or, are you like the majority of the people who make confession with their mouth that they believe in God or even Jesus Christ, but show no evidence of their confession in their daily living? Beyond how you spend two hours on Sunday morning, are there things that mark you radically different?

Can things said about you by people around you that you are crazy about loving Jesus and loving people? The world is full of Christians who talk about their relationship with God and how they are glad for holding the ticket to go to heaven, yet they think, live, behave no differently from the rest of the world. Are you one of them?

How can you make sure that this doesn’t happen to you? You need to fight against it! You do this by fighting to know God. You fight for the daily living encounter with God. How can you have the daily living encounter with God? You do this by fighting for the time to read God’s word, to talk to him, to do his will, to be in brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ. When you fight for it, God becomes real! When God becomes real to you, then you change. When you change, the world notices it! You stand out in the crowd.

4. Worship God = enjoy God the most!

How do you know if you are provoking God to anger? You provoke him to anger if you don’t worship him. How do you know if you are worshiping God? Coming to church on Sunday and sing praise songs for 30 minutes does not define worship.

To our God, it is really important that he is in the position of giving himself to us as our God, as our King, as our Lord, as our Lover. And, that we live out his purpose, his will, his love. And, that we see living in the presence of God as the best thing we can ever experience. This is what worship is. We know we worship God if we are crazy about God and what is important to him.

We provoke God to anger when don’t worship him, when we don’t enjoy him.

Our God has the kingdom agenda. The kingdom agenda is for God to give himself to us through Jesus Christ as our joy, as our meaning, as our purpose, as our end, as our glory, as our everything. His agenda is for us to become consumed by his love, his greatness, his will. Deuteronomy 4:24 says, “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” If this is not growing reality for you, then you are likely provoking God to anger.

So, again fight to worship God, to enjoy God the most!

5. Seek God’s mercy in Jesus!

When the Israelites abandoned their God, God was provoked to anger. And, in anger, God no longer fought the battle for them. God would permit such miseries and defeats in their lives they would find themselves in great distress.

But, this is not the end of the story. Judges 2:18 says, “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.”

As God what he does to the unfaithful generation in his anger is right and just. In our rebellion against the God of the earth and the heavens, we all deserve to perish. But, when our God hears us groaning in agony, when he sees our distress, our God is God whose heart is moved with deep compassion. So, he has compassion on us when we groan. When God’s people experienced God’s merciful act, they are moved to serve God. The Judges were the tangible reality of God’s powerful mercy and compassion; and those who experienced God’s mercy served God.

Judges 2:19 says, “But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.” When the tangible reality of God’s mercy and protection was not so evident by the death of the judges, the Israelites returned to their old ways, even further away from the Lord. They didn’t cherish the memories of God’s loving kindness, his mercy upon them. They didn’t remember God.

For us, our judge is Jesus Christ. He is the tangible reality of God’s mercy for he died and was raised from the dead. And, the intangible reality of God’s mercy is the presence of the Holy Spirit in us who reminds us the reality of God’s love in Christ.

This is really another way of describing what it means to know God, to have a personal relationship growing out of living encounter with God. This is possible only in Jesus Christ.

Why doesn’t God make all sources of temptations and evil go away to make it easy for us to trust him, to follow him, to worship him? Why did God allow the existence of that one limitation in the Garden of Eden, the fruits from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

God uses them to test us, to train us in warfare. The world is our testing ground. The word is our training ground. God doesn’t shield us from the evil. God doesn’t magically get rid of the sources of temptations. What God wants for us is to make the choice, the choice to serve God, not the devil who brings temptations.

And, you can make the choice for God only when you remain in his mercy, in Jesus Christ. To remain in God’s mercy, in Jesus Christ, you need to acknowledge that you are not up for the challenge to face the evil and the temptations in this world without the help from the Lord. This is the attitude of humility that sees Jesus as the only way to salvation, deliverance from the evil, from the sinful flesh.

Don’t give up! Because God doesn’t!

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[1] K. Lawson Younger, Judges, Ruth: The NIV Applicaiton Commentary. p. 87