Let me begin this morning by quickly recapturing what we observed from Gideon’s life last week. During the period of Judges, unlike the neighboring countries, Israel had no physical human kings to rule them over. So, when there was a stunning victory against the Midianites with mere 300 men of Israel, they came to Gideon the leader of the 300 men and asked him to be their king because they believed that Gideon had saved them out of the hand of Midian (8:22). This was of course wrong thinking. It was not Gideon, but God made it possible!
We saw how Gideon rightly turned down their request to be their king. He said to them in Judges 8:23, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” Gideon appeared to be on the right track.
But, we saw Gideon gave only lib service to God’s rule over Israel and his life. He said God was the king, but in reality, he lived as though he was the king. Gideon robbed God’s glory when he took the credit for the stunning victory with just 300 men instead of correcting Israelites’ wrong belief. He took the credit for the victory for himself when he asked people to give him earring from their share of the plunder.
And, with this share of the plunder people gave to him, some 43 spounds of gold, he made an ephod. He made it in complete dishonor to what God said in Exodus 28. There, God gave a specific instruction about making ephod. It was to be made by priests, for priests to use for worshiping God and inquiring his will, to be used in tabernacle or temple setting. Gideon made his ephod violating God’s specific instruction; he was not a priest; he didn’t follow the specific details on making it; he didn’t place it in the tabernacle to be used for worship by priests, instead he placed it in his own town, perhaps in his own home. He went about it against God’s will.
Do you remember what the result of Gideon’s action was when he robbed God’s glory and made an ephod in violation to God’s word?
8:33-34 tells us, “No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.”
When he gave only a lip service to God’s rule over him and Israel, he, he left the legacy of undermining God’s rule, God’s kingship over Israel.
Now, we are going to see the destructive result when Gideon undermined God’s glory and God’s rule over him, his family and his nation. And, the question that I want you to keep in mind is, “How does your choice, to follow God as your king or be your own king, affect the legacy you leave behind?
1. Abimelech’s treacherous and murderous rampage to become the king of Shechem.
In chapter 8, we were introduced to one of his son, Abimelech. I highlighted him last week because of his name, which means, “My father is king.” My father can either refer to God or Gideon, Abimelech’s physical father. But, from what we see in chapter 8, Abimelech’s name indicates Gideon’s unspoken, but lived out life choices to become his own king.
Abimelech grew up watching his father Gideon saying he was not a king, but living as a king. But, Abimelech was not like the rest of Gideon’s other sons. 8:31 tells us that Abimelech was born to a woman who was not Gideon’s wife, but his concubine, his mistress. So, although he was born into a prestigious and influential family of Gideon, he was a sort of outcast an illegitimate son, unaccepted by his own half brothers.
Also, what we notice about Abimelech is that his mother was not an Israelite. We see this from what Abimelech said to his mother’s relatives in Shechem in 9:2. He said to them, “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man? Remember, I am your flesh and blood.” Abimelech was telling his relatives of his mother’s side that he should rule over them because he was related to them by blood. This meant Abimelech’s relatives from his mother side were not related to Gideon, an Israelite, by blood. This makes Abimelech’s mother, Gideon’s concubine, a non-Israelite. God strictly forbade his people, the Israelites from having this kind of relationship with the non-Israelites who worshiped the idols and the other gods.
A case in point, when God’s people ignore God’s mandate, God’s purpose for their lives, what could they expect? What could Gideon have expected when he got himself a concubine, a Shechemite woman, a non-Israelite who worshiped not the God of Abraham, but Baal-Berith, a pagan god? Certainly not what his rogue illegitimate son, Abimelech did to his other seventy sons!
For the unspecified reasons, Abimelech had tremendous hatred and anger toward his half-brothers and against his father Gideon. As an illegitimate son, he didn’t have the legitimate claim to rule over the Israelites like Gideon’s seventy sons would have. Not being content of low status compared to his half brothers, having this pent-up anger and hatred against them and Gideon his father, he devised a wicked and brutal scheme to rule, to become a king!
We see in 9:1-6 how he went about doing this. He went to his mother’s relatives in Shechem to rally them to back him up and to make him their king instead of Gideon’s other seventy sons. Being convinced by him, his relatives gave him seventy sheckels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, which was about 1 and ¾ pounds of silver. With this silver, he hired reckless adventurers, thugs. And, he went to his father’s house and sought to murder seventy of half brothers one by one by crushing them to death with one stone. He successfully, brutally, in cold blood murdered all but one of his half-brothers, Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon. And, when the people of Shechem and Beth Millo got together in Shechem, they crowned Abimelech a cold and brutal murderer as their king.
2. Jotham, the sole surviving half-brother curses Abimelech.
And from verse 7 to 21, we see the account of the sole surviving half brother, Jotham bringing indictment, a lawsuit against the citizens of Shechem by telling them a fable. He told them in verse 7, “Listen to me, citizesn of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.” Herbert Wolf says that Jotham was asking citizens of Shechem “to present to God a response to his arguments,” and that “God is viewed as the judge in Jotham’s lawsuit against Shechem.”[1]
His fable went like this. The trees seeking to anoint a king for themselves asked the olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine to become their king. But, all of them rejected the offer because they did not want to abandon their roles; the olive tree producing olives used for food, ointment, and medicine, one of Israel’s most valued crops (Deut 11:14), the fig tree yielding its good and sweet fruit, and the vine producing grapes to make fine wines. Then the trees asked the thornbush to be their king.[2] To this thornbush answered in verse 15, “If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!”
Jotham then explained and applied the fable to Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem in verse 16-20. If they acted honorably and in good faith made Abimelech their king while treating Jerub-Baal, Gideon, and his family well, he would wish that they would be glad for making Abimelech their king. But, this was not the case at all. The trees are analogous to the citizens of Shechem, seeking to make someone their king. And, the thornbush is analogous to Abimelech. In verse 20, Jotham cursed for that the citizens of Shechem and Abimelech would turn against each other and destroy each other.
Having cursed Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, Jotham took of to a place called Beer to find safety from his half-brother.
3. The revolt against Abimelech and Abimelech’s revenge and his own demise
And, from verse 22 to 25, we see the unraveling of the relationship between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. Verse 23 makes it clear that it was not happening randomly; it says, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelech. God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the citizens of Shechem.” Their hearts having turned against Abimelech, they now rebelled against his rule by setting ambush and robbing indiscrimately.
And, when a new guy Gaal son of Ebed showed up in Shechem, the people of Shechem put their confidence in him and they cursed Abimelech. Then, Gaal went on to dismiss Abimelech because he was after all the son of Jerub-Baal, Gideon, an Israelite. Gaal asserted that he was better fit to rule over Shechem than Abimelech because he was not an Israelite. He said in verse 28, “Serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father!” Genesis 34:2 says that Shechem’s father Hamor was the Hivite prince. Gaal was instigating the people of Shechem to revolt against Abimelech.
And, now in verse 30-41, we see how Abimelech defeated and squelched the revolt against him. Abimelech placed Zebul to rule over Shechem. And, when Zebul realized what Gaal and the people of Shechem were up to, he secretly sent a messenger to Abimelech to warn the impending danger. Zebul encouraged Abimelech to preemptively strike Gaal and Shechemites. Abimelech successfully ambushed Gaal and the revolting Shechemites, defeating them soundly.
Abimelech was still thirsty for revenge. It was not enough to drive out Gaal and his accomplices. In verse 42-45, when the people of Shechem went out to the fields unarmed to bring in the harvest, Abimelech went after them and struck them down. And, he attacked Shechem until he had captured it and killed its people. He destroyed the city and scattered salt over it to symbolize that the city was utterly destroyed with prospect for life.
There yet remained a stronghold of the pagan temple of El-Berith. There the remainder of the people of Shechem locked themselves in. But, Abimelech led his men to set the temple on fire. And, verse 49 says that about a thousand men and women died.
Apparently, the resistance against Abimelech spread to the adjacent city Thebez about 10 miles northeast from Shechem. The people of Thebez all fled to the strong tower hoping to defend themselves against Abimelech. Abimelech again tried to the same thing he did against the stronghold temple of Shechem. But, while he was approaching the tower to burn it down to the ground, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull, verse 53 says.
Having mortally wounded, he didn’t want to be known as having killed by a woman who dropped a millstone on him. So, he ordered his armor bearer to finish him off, which the armor bearer did.
With their leader killed, the rest of the Israelites simply retrieved and went back to their home.
And, the story ends with verse 56 and 57: Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.
4. Application #1: Think twice before you set out to make yourself your own king!
Abimelech’s father Gideon did great thing for the kingdom of God. In spite of his doubts, fears, skepticism, Gideon rose to God’s challenge and led 300 men to witness God’s deliverance.
But, the story didn’t end there. Instead of continually adoring God and worshiping him, Gideon did whatever he wanted to do without regard to God’s will, God’s concern, God’s opinion.
His revenge was not of God’s will; Making an ephod was against God’s will; marrying a Shechemite woman, non-Israelite was against God’s will, naming his son Abimelech, “My Father is king,” betrayed his confession of God’s kingship.
Just like the father, Abimelech learned to walk the same destructive path. To become his own king was so important that he murdered all his seventy brothers except one. Once he secured himself the position of a king by committing evil sins, maintaining the power as a king was so important that he turned into tyrant.
When the people revolted against him, he mercilessly killed his own people and burned them alive, only to meet the death in shame without any honor.
As a father of three daughters, I often think about what kind of legacy I am going to leave behind me. I take the warning from God seriously. The way I relate to my wife, the way I related to them, the way I relate to other people have huge influence on what kind of character they develop. The kind of person I am also influences you as I pastor you.
I certainly do not want to raise Abimelech kind of children. So, I take God’s call to lay down my pride before him, my king, to trust him, to humbly follow him and serve him. I know I don’t always succeed in imitating Jesus in the way he lived. But, I press on to become more like him.
5. Application #2: Ask God to increase and overflow your love.
When you and I try to be the king of our own lives, what happens is we become selfish, we try to use people for our own gain, for our own happiness. When we make ourselves kings, we subject others to serve us. We loose the ability to compassionate. We loose the ability to put ourselves in others’ shoes. We want to win the arguments. We want to conquer the relationship. We want to manipulate people, gossip, swear, yell and scream. We want to have our ways at all cost.
These days God has opening my eyes to see the kind of person I become when I set him aside and try to make myself as the king of my own life. Are you aware of the capacity to become like Abimelech if you insist on being your own king? Are you aware how your love gets cold and it gets replaced by anger, bitterness, resentment and hatred when you insist on getting what you want?
This past week I’ve been mediating on Apostle Paul’s letter to Thessalonians. He always prayed for people whom he ministered to. And, one particular prayer stood out to me. It comes from 1 Thessalonians 3:12, where he prayed, “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as our does for you.” This prayer has revealed my spiritual state. Is my love increasing for my wife, my children, and for you guys? Am I overflowing? My self-assessment was negative. That discouraged me.
But, what really encouraged me was the fact that I have something I can do about that! That is I can ask God to increase my love to overflow just like Apostle Paul prayed. So, this past week, I’ve been praying this for myself, for my wife, for my children, and for you guys.
Can you imagine how our church, our relationship with each other would be like if our love for each other increases and overflows?
God desires this for us. And, to see that happen, we are given the pathway. We got to ask God for it! And, our God is the perfect person to train us in love. Philippians 2:5-11 says this about our Lord Jesus Christ, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on across! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knew should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
When we ask God to increase and overflow our love for people, what God does is he first takes us to the cross and has us learn the way of Christ, his Son.
Would you join me asking God to increase and overflow our love by imitating the attitude of our Lord Jesus?
[1] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Judges, Judges 9:7.
[2] Ibid., “In recognition of Israel's lowly status, Jotham began, not with a cedar, but with an olive tree (vv. 8-9). Olives were used for food, ointment, and medicine. They were one of Israel's most valued crops (Deut 11:14). Olive oil kept the lamps in the Holy Place burning constantly, thus "honoring" the Lord. In view of its important functions, the olive tree declined the offer to become king. 10-11 The fig tree likewise passed up the opportunity to rule. Like olives, figs were a key agricultural product. Israel's picture of the ideal age was for every man to sit under his vine and under his fig tree (Mic 4:4; cf. 2 Kings 18:31). 12-13 Predictably, the vine also refused. Its fruit was the main beverage of the land, and libations of wine accompanied many sacrifices at the sanctuary (Num 15:10). "Wine makes life merry" (Eccl 10:19).”
We saw how Gideon rightly turned down their request to be their king. He said to them in Judges 8:23, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” Gideon appeared to be on the right track.
But, we saw Gideon gave only lib service to God’s rule over Israel and his life. He said God was the king, but in reality, he lived as though he was the king. Gideon robbed God’s glory when he took the credit for the stunning victory with just 300 men instead of correcting Israelites’ wrong belief. He took the credit for the victory for himself when he asked people to give him earring from their share of the plunder.
And, with this share of the plunder people gave to him, some 43 spounds of gold, he made an ephod. He made it in complete dishonor to what God said in Exodus 28. There, God gave a specific instruction about making ephod. It was to be made by priests, for priests to use for worshiping God and inquiring his will, to be used in tabernacle or temple setting. Gideon made his ephod violating God’s specific instruction; he was not a priest; he didn’t follow the specific details on making it; he didn’t place it in the tabernacle to be used for worship by priests, instead he placed it in his own town, perhaps in his own home. He went about it against God’s will.
Do you remember what the result of Gideon’s action was when he robbed God’s glory and made an ephod in violation to God’s word?
8:33-34 tells us, “No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.”
When he gave only a lip service to God’s rule over him and Israel, he, he left the legacy of undermining God’s rule, God’s kingship over Israel.
Now, we are going to see the destructive result when Gideon undermined God’s glory and God’s rule over him, his family and his nation. And, the question that I want you to keep in mind is, “How does your choice, to follow God as your king or be your own king, affect the legacy you leave behind?
1. Abimelech’s treacherous and murderous rampage to become the king of Shechem.
In chapter 8, we were introduced to one of his son, Abimelech. I highlighted him last week because of his name, which means, “My father is king.” My father can either refer to God or Gideon, Abimelech’s physical father. But, from what we see in chapter 8, Abimelech’s name indicates Gideon’s unspoken, but lived out life choices to become his own king.
Abimelech grew up watching his father Gideon saying he was not a king, but living as a king. But, Abimelech was not like the rest of Gideon’s other sons. 8:31 tells us that Abimelech was born to a woman who was not Gideon’s wife, but his concubine, his mistress. So, although he was born into a prestigious and influential family of Gideon, he was a sort of outcast an illegitimate son, unaccepted by his own half brothers.
Also, what we notice about Abimelech is that his mother was not an Israelite. We see this from what Abimelech said to his mother’s relatives in Shechem in 9:2. He said to them, “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man? Remember, I am your flesh and blood.” Abimelech was telling his relatives of his mother’s side that he should rule over them because he was related to them by blood. This meant Abimelech’s relatives from his mother side were not related to Gideon, an Israelite, by blood. This makes Abimelech’s mother, Gideon’s concubine, a non-Israelite. God strictly forbade his people, the Israelites from having this kind of relationship with the non-Israelites who worshiped the idols and the other gods.
A case in point, when God’s people ignore God’s mandate, God’s purpose for their lives, what could they expect? What could Gideon have expected when he got himself a concubine, a Shechemite woman, a non-Israelite who worshiped not the God of Abraham, but Baal-Berith, a pagan god? Certainly not what his rogue illegitimate son, Abimelech did to his other seventy sons!
For the unspecified reasons, Abimelech had tremendous hatred and anger toward his half-brothers and against his father Gideon. As an illegitimate son, he didn’t have the legitimate claim to rule over the Israelites like Gideon’s seventy sons would have. Not being content of low status compared to his half brothers, having this pent-up anger and hatred against them and Gideon his father, he devised a wicked and brutal scheme to rule, to become a king!
We see in 9:1-6 how he went about doing this. He went to his mother’s relatives in Shechem to rally them to back him up and to make him their king instead of Gideon’s other seventy sons. Being convinced by him, his relatives gave him seventy sheckels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, which was about 1 and ¾ pounds of silver. With this silver, he hired reckless adventurers, thugs. And, he went to his father’s house and sought to murder seventy of half brothers one by one by crushing them to death with one stone. He successfully, brutally, in cold blood murdered all but one of his half-brothers, Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon. And, when the people of Shechem and Beth Millo got together in Shechem, they crowned Abimelech a cold and brutal murderer as their king.
2. Jotham, the sole surviving half-brother curses Abimelech.
And from verse 7 to 21, we see the account of the sole surviving half brother, Jotham bringing indictment, a lawsuit against the citizens of Shechem by telling them a fable. He told them in verse 7, “Listen to me, citizesn of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.” Herbert Wolf says that Jotham was asking citizens of Shechem “to present to God a response to his arguments,” and that “God is viewed as the judge in Jotham’s lawsuit against Shechem.”[1]
His fable went like this. The trees seeking to anoint a king for themselves asked the olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine to become their king. But, all of them rejected the offer because they did not want to abandon their roles; the olive tree producing olives used for food, ointment, and medicine, one of Israel’s most valued crops (Deut 11:14), the fig tree yielding its good and sweet fruit, and the vine producing grapes to make fine wines. Then the trees asked the thornbush to be their king.[2] To this thornbush answered in verse 15, “If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!”
Jotham then explained and applied the fable to Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem in verse 16-20. If they acted honorably and in good faith made Abimelech their king while treating Jerub-Baal, Gideon, and his family well, he would wish that they would be glad for making Abimelech their king. But, this was not the case at all. The trees are analogous to the citizens of Shechem, seeking to make someone their king. And, the thornbush is analogous to Abimelech. In verse 20, Jotham cursed for that the citizens of Shechem and Abimelech would turn against each other and destroy each other.
Having cursed Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, Jotham took of to a place called Beer to find safety from his half-brother.
3. The revolt against Abimelech and Abimelech’s revenge and his own demise
And, from verse 22 to 25, we see the unraveling of the relationship between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. Verse 23 makes it clear that it was not happening randomly; it says, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelech. God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the citizens of Shechem.” Their hearts having turned against Abimelech, they now rebelled against his rule by setting ambush and robbing indiscrimately.
And, when a new guy Gaal son of Ebed showed up in Shechem, the people of Shechem put their confidence in him and they cursed Abimelech. Then, Gaal went on to dismiss Abimelech because he was after all the son of Jerub-Baal, Gideon, an Israelite. Gaal asserted that he was better fit to rule over Shechem than Abimelech because he was not an Israelite. He said in verse 28, “Serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father!” Genesis 34:2 says that Shechem’s father Hamor was the Hivite prince. Gaal was instigating the people of Shechem to revolt against Abimelech.
And, now in verse 30-41, we see how Abimelech defeated and squelched the revolt against him. Abimelech placed Zebul to rule over Shechem. And, when Zebul realized what Gaal and the people of Shechem were up to, he secretly sent a messenger to Abimelech to warn the impending danger. Zebul encouraged Abimelech to preemptively strike Gaal and Shechemites. Abimelech successfully ambushed Gaal and the revolting Shechemites, defeating them soundly.
Abimelech was still thirsty for revenge. It was not enough to drive out Gaal and his accomplices. In verse 42-45, when the people of Shechem went out to the fields unarmed to bring in the harvest, Abimelech went after them and struck them down. And, he attacked Shechem until he had captured it and killed its people. He destroyed the city and scattered salt over it to symbolize that the city was utterly destroyed with prospect for life.
There yet remained a stronghold of the pagan temple of El-Berith. There the remainder of the people of Shechem locked themselves in. But, Abimelech led his men to set the temple on fire. And, verse 49 says that about a thousand men and women died.
Apparently, the resistance against Abimelech spread to the adjacent city Thebez about 10 miles northeast from Shechem. The people of Thebez all fled to the strong tower hoping to defend themselves against Abimelech. Abimelech again tried to the same thing he did against the stronghold temple of Shechem. But, while he was approaching the tower to burn it down to the ground, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull, verse 53 says.
Having mortally wounded, he didn’t want to be known as having killed by a woman who dropped a millstone on him. So, he ordered his armor bearer to finish him off, which the armor bearer did.
With their leader killed, the rest of the Israelites simply retrieved and went back to their home.
And, the story ends with verse 56 and 57: Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.
4. Application #1: Think twice before you set out to make yourself your own king!
Abimelech’s father Gideon did great thing for the kingdom of God. In spite of his doubts, fears, skepticism, Gideon rose to God’s challenge and led 300 men to witness God’s deliverance.
But, the story didn’t end there. Instead of continually adoring God and worshiping him, Gideon did whatever he wanted to do without regard to God’s will, God’s concern, God’s opinion.
His revenge was not of God’s will; Making an ephod was against God’s will; marrying a Shechemite woman, non-Israelite was against God’s will, naming his son Abimelech, “My Father is king,” betrayed his confession of God’s kingship.
Just like the father, Abimelech learned to walk the same destructive path. To become his own king was so important that he murdered all his seventy brothers except one. Once he secured himself the position of a king by committing evil sins, maintaining the power as a king was so important that he turned into tyrant.
When the people revolted against him, he mercilessly killed his own people and burned them alive, only to meet the death in shame without any honor.
As a father of three daughters, I often think about what kind of legacy I am going to leave behind me. I take the warning from God seriously. The way I relate to my wife, the way I related to them, the way I relate to other people have huge influence on what kind of character they develop. The kind of person I am also influences you as I pastor you.
I certainly do not want to raise Abimelech kind of children. So, I take God’s call to lay down my pride before him, my king, to trust him, to humbly follow him and serve him. I know I don’t always succeed in imitating Jesus in the way he lived. But, I press on to become more like him.
5. Application #2: Ask God to increase and overflow your love.
When you and I try to be the king of our own lives, what happens is we become selfish, we try to use people for our own gain, for our own happiness. When we make ourselves kings, we subject others to serve us. We loose the ability to compassionate. We loose the ability to put ourselves in others’ shoes. We want to win the arguments. We want to conquer the relationship. We want to manipulate people, gossip, swear, yell and scream. We want to have our ways at all cost.
These days God has opening my eyes to see the kind of person I become when I set him aside and try to make myself as the king of my own life. Are you aware of the capacity to become like Abimelech if you insist on being your own king? Are you aware how your love gets cold and it gets replaced by anger, bitterness, resentment and hatred when you insist on getting what you want?
This past week I’ve been mediating on Apostle Paul’s letter to Thessalonians. He always prayed for people whom he ministered to. And, one particular prayer stood out to me. It comes from 1 Thessalonians 3:12, where he prayed, “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as our does for you.” This prayer has revealed my spiritual state. Is my love increasing for my wife, my children, and for you guys? Am I overflowing? My self-assessment was negative. That discouraged me.
But, what really encouraged me was the fact that I have something I can do about that! That is I can ask God to increase my love to overflow just like Apostle Paul prayed. So, this past week, I’ve been praying this for myself, for my wife, for my children, and for you guys.
Can you imagine how our church, our relationship with each other would be like if our love for each other increases and overflows?
God desires this for us. And, to see that happen, we are given the pathway. We got to ask God for it! And, our God is the perfect person to train us in love. Philippians 2:5-11 says this about our Lord Jesus Christ, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on across! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knew should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
When we ask God to increase and overflow our love for people, what God does is he first takes us to the cross and has us learn the way of Christ, his Son.
Would you join me asking God to increase and overflow our love by imitating the attitude of our Lord Jesus?
[1] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Judges, Judges 9:7.
[2] Ibid., “In recognition of Israel's lowly status, Jotham began, not with a cedar, but with an olive tree (vv. 8-9). Olives were used for food, ointment, and medicine. They were one of Israel's most valued crops (Deut 11:14). Olive oil kept the lamps in the Holy Place burning constantly, thus "honoring" the Lord. In view of its important functions, the olive tree declined the offer to become king. 10-11 The fig tree likewise passed up the opportunity to rule. Like olives, figs were a key agricultural product. Israel's picture of the ideal age was for every man to sit under his vine and under his fig tree (Mic 4:4; cf. 2 Kings 18:31). 12-13 Predictably, the vine also refused. Its fruit was the main beverage of the land, and libations of wine accompanied many sacrifices at the sanctuary (Num 15:10). "Wine makes life merry" (Eccl 10:19).”
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