Sunday – February 16, 2014 Judges 10:1 – 12:15 “Jephthah: I Said What?”

Sunday – February 16, 2014 – Read the Word on Worship

Judges 10 to 12 “Jephthah: I Said What?” from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.


Word On Worship – Sunday – February 16, 2014 Download / Print

 Judges 10:17-18
Then the sons of Ammon were summoned and they camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel gathered together and camped in Mizpah. The people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

We love our heroes. We want someone to be bigger than life and be immune from the shortcomings of society to somehow save the day. The medium or source does not matter. Whether people come from television or sports or  from politics and religion, we naturally seek to put individuals on pedestals and view them through rose-colored glasses, looking past their flaws and over exaggerating their strengths. We are distracted by their physical strength, or the style with which they carry themselves. Maybe they have faults, but we will not dig deep enough to find out because at the end of the day, we want a champion, a true deliverer.

There is only one True Deliverer, only One who is worthy of our worship and praise. If we are looking for heroes in the Book of Judges, we are destined for disappointment. The more closely we look at Israel’s judges, the more obvious their flaws become. Frankly, almost all of Israel’s judges who are described in any detail are jerks. They have weaknesses and besetting sins. We should learn from Scripture that all leaders – every one of them – have flaws. If we look long and hard enough, we will see them.

We can not idolize men for we will surely be disappointed. But we can be encouraged as we see the kind of instruments God uses to achieve His purposes. He uses homemade swords wielded by left-handed men, tent pegs, ox goads, and mill stones. He uses plain and ordinary people like Jael and the woman with the mill stone. When God uses the simple and even foolish things to achieve His purposes, then it is only He who should receive the glory. Let us be encouraged by the kinds of people God uses to achieve His purposes.

God saves those who are unworthy of salvation, not because of men’s works but solely because of God’s mercy and grace. Are you not amazed to find men like Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, and women like Rahab in the “hall of faith” of Hebrews 11? It is not the greatness of our deeds, but the gracious work of God in the person of Jesus Christ, that saves unworthy sinners. Jesus bore the penalty for our sins on the cross of Calvary. He offers the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life to all who place their trust in Christ Jesus and His work on their behalf. He is the Hero! He is the only Deliverer who can deliver condemned sinners from the penalty of death. Have you acknowledged your sin and placed your trust in Him alone for your salvation? If not, I plead with you to do so for your eternal well being.