📖 What are we doing to pass on the knowledge of God to our kids? 🙏 Join Kent to explore this crucial question through the book of Judges! EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
So, I need to confess something. I am a problem in our family. Not just a problem, I am THE problem. Here’s how it works. It will be 9 or 9:30 at night, our kids will have school the next day, and everyone is getting ready for bed, showers, brushing their teeth, etc. One of our kids will come into our room to say goodnight and a half hour later we are wrestling around and joking or watching a show or whatever. I am the agent of chaos in our family! Lol, it’s what I do!
Our kids know it too, they know if they can get me to think something is funny or fun that it’s over, I’m gonna forget about the reality of the day that is looming on the other side of night and I’m going to go headlong into crazy.
When I was a kid, I hated order, I hated structure – I’m naturally a rule breaker, but as I’ve aged, I like to think I’ve gotten a little wiser and one of the things I’ve learned is
Where chaos rules, consequences multiply
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We all know actions have consequences right?
If I stay up late on a school night, I’m going to have a longer harder day the next day…
You can only ignore the consequences of chaos for so long before they become unbearable.
WE:
-This may be a hoarder house where you can’t move around and can never invite anyone over to your house
-it may be the person who lives with the spouse that you can’t trust – anything they say is ever honest
-it may be the teacher who has no ability to manage their class
I don’t care what the context is, if you ignore the consequences the chaos will eventually overtake your world.
I want to jump into a world that was FULL of chaos today.
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The book of Judges in the scripture follows on the heels of Joshua and his generation passing away.
Listen, I tell you a few stories from the book of Judges you need to not think of the Jewish people as you might see them, an organized nation and religious group.
These were more like an odd mix of the old west and native American Indian Tribes that were loosely connected to each other.
There is a violence and a way of doing things that does not fit with our modern sensitivities…
God’s promise had been “If you obey me, I’ll be with you. If you don’t, I’ll remove my blessing…”
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Over and over again this will be God’s promise to humanity and over and over again WE will walk back on the contract.
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The Israelites stop following Yahweh God and begin to experience life outside of His blessing… They experience violent oppressors, famine, and wickedness…
Here’s what’s crazy to me about this though
God never gives up on them…
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He just keeps coming after them – no matter how many times they run from Him.
During this period, the way God comes after them is to raise up Judges. There are a lot of them but I want to highlight 3 of them
Deborah
Debbie was a prophetess in Israel, she had a tree that she would sit under and people in the nation would come to her to have their cases decided. She was wise and courageous. She led in a time when Israel was under great oppression by a cruel leader named Sisera.
I don’t want to simplify it too much, but at times it feels like God is like, “Ok, enough, the people need help.” What Scripture says is that in essence
God would raise up these judges in response to the people finally going “We can’t bear these consequences anymore…”
When God called Deborah he told her to anoint a military leader named Barak to go and war against Sisera from Mount Tabor – a mountain right across from Nazareth – Jesus would have played looking out over at this little mountain on the middle of the plains. Barak says he won’t go unless Debbie goes with him. I imagine Debbie looking at him and looking him over for a minute in silence and finally saying, “Ok, I will go, but because you wouldn’t listen, the victory will be given to a woman…” You read the story and it’s pretty exciting. Sisera gets routed by the Israelite forces. He ends up abandoning his chariot and running on foot – he seeks refuge with a family that had a treaty with his kingdom at one point. The wife Joel puts Sisera at ease, she gives him some milk to drink and says she’ll watch the doorway while he sleeps. This is where the story gets dark. She will come in while he’s sleeping and take a tent peg and hammer, her heart beating a million miles an hour. The deep long slow breath of this man breathing as he lays on his side. She positions the peg above his temple and with one strong full swing of the hammer – maybe too strong, the peg plunges through his skull and into the ground, pegging him to the earth in that moment the final blow is struck and she saves Israel!
Gideon:
Gideon’s story is the same – the people – even after God saves them with Debbie are ok for a while and then the abandon God again – so much so that when Gideon gets called we find out his father has been worshipping false gods – Baal & Ashera. Gideon’s story is worth a read this week. He goes from a man who is hiding out trying to provide food for his family to a man who will lead a crazy courageous victory. He will turn to God and walking with Him.
Gideon will listen to God when he’s told to reduce his military force from 30,000 to 300.
Gideon’s soldiers will go up with horns, and clay pots full of torches – it’s almost a ridiculous story – I really think it’s just God showing that His blessing is better than the strongest of armies
Gideon’s family will lead and rule for a time and the people will go downhill even more.
Samson:
Until finally a judge will come on the scene named Samson. Samson is under a Nazarite vow – this is a religious commitment to not cut your hair or drink alcohol. Samson grew up in a world dominated by the Philistines. For 40 years they had been oppressing the people of Israel…
God will raise up Samson to rescue Israel
But Samson is a man with desire for the ladies – he’s as close as you get to a super hero in the bible. A flawed one. He has incredible supernatural strength as long as his hair isn’t cut. When the Philistines manipulate him to get this information, the cut his hair and take him prisoner. They seize him and gouge out his eyes – they would bring him out as entertainment – mocking him and the God of Israel. Samson prays one last prayer for God to give him one last blast of strength and while the Philistines are on the roof of their temple – all their leaders. He will have the strength to push on the pillars and collapse them killing himself and most on the roof.
I want you to listen to how the Book of Judges ends…
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Judges 21:25 (ESV)
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
We are living in this same world right now
Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes… A world where chaos is more the norm than not
So, how did the Israelites get here?
I want to show you where the author said this all came from. The author of Judges tells us… clear back at the beginning, the author tells us this…
Judges 2:10-12
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
A generation grew up who didn’t know the Lord nor what he had done…
I want you to hear the result of this generational loss of knowledge and relationship with the Lord…
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger
I don’t know why the Israelites didn’t pass on the knowledge of God and a relationship with God
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I don’t know if they thought they’d have more time, I don’t know if they just didn’t consider it, I don’t know if other things seemed more pressing.
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What I do know, is that they didn’t pass it on and their children paid for it.
Parents, Grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, Christians, what are we doing to pass on the knowledge of God to our kids? I’ll be honest, I’m worried sometimes that we are all so focused on finding what we like and what we want that we are missing the opportunity to drop into the next generation that they know God and know of His stories.
This starts with two things – you have to know God yourself to pass Him on. So it’s time to get serious if you haven’t.
It also means telling the stories of God to your children – the stories in your own life of how you’ve seen Him move.
CLOSING:
When I was growing up my dad told me all the funny stories he had about getting drunk and pulling pranks, all the funny stuff he did. I never really heard stories about God. What I grew up thinking I wanted to be was the funny drunk guy. Thank God He still never gives up on people and God rescued me! Now the stories I want to tell are His stories. I want my kids to want Him and want to know Him. It’s the prayer of my life..
This morning – I want to offer the altar as a place for you to come forward and pray and pray over your children. To invite the God of the universe to lead you out of chaos and into hope!
