Sermon Transcript:

One of the most famous images of the 20th century is a photograph called “Burst of Joy”. It is a photo taken of Lt. Col. Robert Stirm on March 13, 1973 as he is reunited with his family at Travis Air Force Base after spending over five years in a North Vietnamese POW camp. This photo came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in Vietnam and captured the widespread feeling that the time had come for the war to end and for soldiers and their families to begin healing. The photographer, “Sal” Veder captured his Pulitzer prize winning shot as Sirm’s 15 year old daughter runs to him with open arms, with his wife and the rest of his family following. 

But what we don’t see is that for Stirm this is a moment of joy mixed with pain. Three days before this picture was taken, he received a letter from his wife telling him she was divorcing him. While he was a prisoner of war, knowing he was alive, she began pursuing relationships with other men. Not long after the photo was taken, Stirm would lose his wife, his house, most of his savings, over 40% of his future pension, and custody of his two youngest children.

This world is broken by sin. Even in moments of joy, sorrow and disappointment are not far off. Yet, the old serpent still tells his lie that we will be more satisfied chasing the things of the world than trusting God. Pay no attention to where that has led others, you are different. In paradise there was only one tree leading to death, but now because of sin, all trees lead to death except one, the cross of Christ.

Through Jesus Christ, God provides a way for the curse to be reversed, but sadly many choose instead to cling to the very things that perpetuate their emptiness. The devil often convinces even many believers to live defeated lives, spending too much of themselves pursuing the fleeting joys of this world rather than pursuing the satisfaction that comes only from fellowship with God.

C.S. Lewis famously described it this way,

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

This morning, as we finish up chapter 12 we meet three more judges. We are not given much information about these three but they preside over a time of relative peace and prosperity. No battles are recorded and unlike Jephthah, who lost his only child, each was blessed with a large family. Interestingly though, we also never read that the land had rest, that it was cleansed of its idols, or that the people grew in obedience or faithfulness. What we appear to have is a time when Israel was satisfied with a peace and prosperity that did not confront her enemies. There was no king, everyone did what they thought was right in their own eyes, God’s calling for them was ignored, but they were comfortable with what they had. It was a surface level prosperity.

That brings us to the key point I hope you see from our text today. 

God's children must never settle for a fallen normalcy.

Having our eyes opened by the Holy Spirit and having heard the word of truth, we must not be captivated by superficial appearances. Everything in this world is marred by sin and is therefore under a curse and less than what it was created to be. We live in an abnormal world and as believers we should no more be comfortable in this fallen world than we would be comfortable with a diseased body. There is a difference between peace and a ceasefire. We pick up in verse 8, 

8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

Ibzan is a coalition builder and a savvy politician. The use of marriages was a common way to build alliances. If these marriages were with other tribes of Israel, then it may show he pursued a healing of the divisions we saw earlier in the chapter. If, however, these marriages are outside of Israel, it is a sinful compromise indicating he was willing to enter covenants with Israel’s enemies. We can’t be sure which happened, but he achieves some prosperity as he is blessed with a large family and is buried in his hometown.

11 After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

The time of Elon was also a time of stability. He ruled for ten years and was also buried in his own land, which again indicates peace and rest. 

13 After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Abdon’s rules for eight years which was also a time of peace and prosperity. Like Gideon, Abdon had seventy descendants. The mention of seventy is not random. It shows a perfect or completeness in his line. Forty of these were immediate sons, but thirty grandsons are included to show the fullness of the blessing. 

As we saw with Jair in chapter 10, each of them rode on their own donkey. This is a figure of speech that highlights the wealth and status of the family. Owning a donkey was a sign of affluence and independence so the emphasis on each one riding his own donkey underscores their individual importance and the prosperity of their household. Like the previous two, Abdon is also buried in his home town.

At first, it may seem as though the downward spiral of the book has been interrupted but keep in mind that Judges isn’t a detailed chronicle of everything. There were periods of intense oppression mixed with periods of prosperity and political stability for Israel. Although at times the tribes were often fighting, there were other times when they were at peace. The material in the book is specifically organized by the author not to tell all the historical details, but to tell the story of God’s unfolding promise of redemption.

The times of these three were probably good times for the people, but I want to suggest to you these times of prosperity and peace were a lot like the Burst of Joy photo. There were things to be thankful for, but underneath things are not well. The tranquility is an illusion and one that will not last. They may be prospering physically but things continue to decay spiritually.

Each of these judges lived rich lives and they were honored. They each died blessed, surrounded by a large and prosperous number of descendants. But it is not these men whose names were chosen by the Holy Spirit as examples to encourage our faith. It was not the men at peace and comfort in the world that God points us to, but those who trusted God amid their struggles.

In Hebrews chapter 11 the author commends several examples of faithful people from the Old Testament. He says by faith Abel made his offering. By faith Noah constructed the ark. By faith Abraham left his home and was willing to sacrifice his son. By faith Sarah was able to conceive. By faith Moses was saved and by faith he chose the reproach of Christ over the treasures of Egypt. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea. Faith protected Rahab, and faith tumbled the walls at Jericho.

Then in Hebrews 11:32, when he gets to the time of the judges he says,

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, …”

Look carefully at that list. Why are these the ones God points out? This tells us something very important about the God we worship. This is hardly a list of steller examples. In fact, these guys are a mess but what distinguishes them is not their own righteousness, but that in the midst of an unbelieving world, they had faith.

Gideon was a bully and a gloryhound whose final act was spiritually disastrous. Barak was hesitant and thus the honor of his victory went to others. We haven’t talked about Samson yet, but he is a spiritual disaster in just about every way. And Jephthah, whose impulsive foolishness led to the death of his daughter of over 40,000 of his countrymen.

These are men with massive flaws. There are some dark things in their lives but God honors these flawed men of faith more than those who appeared to have it all together. It isn’t Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, with their quiet prosperous lives and perfect families that God points us to. It is to those who risked their lives and all they had on God’s promises. God is pleased to glorify himself in the broken and foolish who will trust in him. That’s good news for me, how about you?

While God blesses and even honors deeply flawed people who trust and worship him, he pronounces a warning and a curse over those who make themselves at home in the world. I tremble for many in our country when I read what God says in Amos 6:4–6,

4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

Disaster was upon Israel due to their unfaithfulness and many were indifferent to it. Their priority was leisure and entertainment. They lived as if there was no God. We are not Israelites but friends, there is a judgment coming and people need to hear the truth so they may be saved! Millions of people in our country claim to be followers of Jesus, yet they have the same interests and priorities and are entertained by the same things as those who are going to hell. They are comfortable and at ease in this world.

Those men and women of which the Bible says the world is not worthy are not those who have settled for what the world offers and the difference isn’t their ability to obtain those things. Abraham and David others were wealthy and connected. Amos and Jeremiah and others were poor but what characterized them all was that they valued the kingdom of God above all else. They were not content or satisfied with worldly things, but trusted in God to give them something far better.

They lived for the glory of God and used whatever they had, great or small, as an overflow of their relationship with him. In this they are all mere shadows, pointers to Jesus Christ who is the perfect embodiment of that kind of faithfulness. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says,

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

He did this by leaving the glory of heaven to come as a carpenter’s son and live as one of us. He is God, the eternal Word in the flesh. In the letter of 1 John, the apostle John says what was from the beginning they saw with their eyes and touched with their hands. Jesus enters into our brokenness to bring salvation, even to the point of suffering and dying for us. Hebrews 2:9-10 says,

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Jesus fulfills everything God requires from us, even suffering for sin. In him our salvation is fully accomplished. What remains is for us to simply receive it as a gift by faith. To believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior is to abandon any thought we can save ourselves and to trust God’s promise to accept the perfect righteousness of Jesus in our place. This is the gospel, this is the good news. The apostle Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4,

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

His death paid the price for the sins of all who will ever put their faith in him and his resurrection guarantees that they will be raised with him in glory. The joy of those who place their hope in Jesus is no longer limited to what this world offers because Jesus has overcome the world. We are being saved out of the world and being prepared for a better world that will come when he returns to establish his kingdom.

I have to travel frequently for my other job. When I check into a hotel I will do a few things to settle in, especially if I will be there for a few days. I will adjust the temperature, unpack and organize my things, maybe even reposition a chair or something like that. But no matter how shoddy the hotel may be, I have never considered buying new linens or furniture or redecorating the room. I am not there to make it my own. I am there to get a job done. Even in the nicest hotels, I am constantly aware that I will soon be leaving. That is how believers should live in this world. Some folks are trying to renovate and redecorate but this isn’t our home, and we are leaving soon. So, don’t worry about whether you like the furniture. Focus on what Jesus has for us to do.

There are a lot of distractions in the world. It is easy to get too comfortable and the devil wants nothing more than for us to feel at home here. If you know every sports statistic of your favorite team but don’t know your Bible, it might be good to think about why that is. If we spend so much time working and entertaining ourselves that there is no room left for prayer or serving others we might want to consider how that happened. 

Sometimes the enemy will even use worthwhile things to shift our priorities from God to the world. I know some who are consumed with concern over politics or economics. Yes, those things are important, but even at its best the government and the economy can only provide the things of the flesh that are here today and gone tomorrow. Don’t ignore them, they are important, but give them their proper place. Jesus says in Luke 9:25,

25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

We don’t trust in princes or kings, but in God who keeps watch over us. Jesus says in Matthew 6:31–33,

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We cannot look to sustain ourselves only with the things below without taking our eyes off of God. When we do not focus on God we get bigger in our own eyes and he becomes smaller in our thoughts. We begin to settle for mud pies thinking we have it made. What a horrible thing it would be to put our trust in things that we will lose instead of in the loving arms of our savior. But when we trust God anything we lose was going to be lost anyway and we gain that which we can never lose.

I like the way missionary Jim Elliot expressed it a few year before giving his life for the spread of the gospel. He said,

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

To live this way requires confidence that God will keep his promises. This is why knowing those promises is so important to our walk. We convince ourselves we are better off than we are and that it is better to have what is in our hand now than a promise for later. Our foolish hearts deceive us but the word of God shows us our true situation clearly. 

The Bible helps us see that this world is passing away and we desperately need a savior or we will pass away with it. Every passage points us to our need for Jesus. Even these few sentences in our main text does that. I want to back up a verse just to make the point more clearly.

7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead. 8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem. 11 After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 13 After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

It is like a neon sign pointing us to our need for Christ. Do you see it? Jephthah died and was buried. Ibzan died and was buried. Elon died and was buried. Abdon died and was buried. Like the tolling of a funeral bell, one after another, is the constant reminder that every sinner will die and stand before God. It doesn’t matter how strong or rich you are, each day brings you closer and there is no power we possess that can change that. 

We are blessed to have amazing doctors and scientists, but ultimately the medical profession has a 100% failure rate. Every king, every prophet, and every judge no matter how great died and was buried. Abraham died, Moses died, David died. So did Muhummad, Buddah, and Confusious. They all died.

But when Jesus died, he did it for others and once that payment was made, death could no longer hold him. He died, but his tomb is empty.

A lot of people are looking for spiritual growth in all sorts of places but only Jesus provides salvation from death. The promise of the gospel is not only will we gain spiritual life, but that all the consequences of death and the curse are removed. Jesus Christ offers victory not just over sin, but over death. The hope of the gospel is not just forgiveness, but that we who put our faith in him will be physically raised from the dead to live perfected for all eternity. Of all the deliverers and so-called saviors the world has seen, Jesus is the only one to make such a promise and then prove he can do it by walking out of his tomb.

Death removes all the rewards we obtain in this world, but because Jesus is risen, I know the treasures he offers can never be taken away because they are guarded in heaven itself. We must choose then either to believe the promise and be willing to trade peace and comfort here for him, or to reject his word and seek satisfaction here and now. We cannot have both. 1 John 2:15-17 says,

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Remember our main point? God's children must never settle for a fallen normalcy. Instead, let us look upon Christ and refuse to be satisfied until we are complete in him. Let’s pray to God to help us press on in faith and guard against becoming too comfortable.

By God’s grace, may we never settle for a self-congratulating ministry rather than doing the work of evangelizing and discipling. May we be willing to be the uncomfortable ones so that we can build real relationships with unbelievers and those different from us. 

May God protect us from ever thinking it is someone else’s job. I have seen churches where ministry has nearly stopped because they say they have done their part and it is time for the younger people to do it. I don’t find that anywhere in the Bible. In fact, I see the opposite. The Bible says it is the older men and women that are to set the example for the younger. 

Why would you want to waste your last years on earth when you have the most wisdom and experience instead of using them for Christ? I believe part of why our ministry has been blessed is because we have several older saints who set a godly example in their commitment to serve.

Someone once said the church is not intended by God to be like a cruise ship, where a small group of people work really hard so everyone else can rest and be at ease. Sadly, there are a lot of congregations like that. The church is not a cruise ship, it is a battleship, where every single person has a station critical to the effectiveness of the whole. We may be a small congregation,  maybe just a little escort ship, but it is the prayer of the pastors here that we are in the fight and ready for action. 

That means we love each other and serve each other, using our gifts and talents to ensure others are growing and safe. We expect every member to serve in some way, to be loved and served, and to serve and love. There is a battle raging for the souls of people who will spend eternity either in heaven or hell. May our love and compassion for them flow out of hearts that are themselves being renewed daily with a passion for God and his kingdom.

I would like to finish with the words of Colossians 3:1-4,

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.