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THANKS
Rondel Ramsey
HCC Minister
WELCOME to HCC and welcome to our sermon series called [••] STORYLINE: MAKING SENSE OF OUR REALITY.
The Bible can sometimes feel like a collection of disconnected stories, people, and events. But what we're discovering in this series is that they're all connected. They're part of one incredible Story that God has been unfolding from the very beginning—and it's a Story that eventually includes us.
If this is your first time (Welcome) or you need to catch up, please use the QR code on the screen or in your bulletin to access past sermon material and other study materials.
Here is a really fast recap of the journey we have taken together. This is the 12th sermon in our series and we have covered hundreds of miles walked and 1000s of year.
You are going to help me out with the recap. Last week, I asked you to memorize the 10 major movements, and I included the picture and the 10 movements in my weekly email, this is both your pop quiz AND our recap:
Are you ready? This will be fun. Here we go. [••]
Okay. How did you do?
Out of 10, what is your score? If you got less than 10, you know what your homework is this week!!! Ha.
—-
And with this 10th movement—the LAND—not only were the Israelites finally living in the land God had promised to Abraham, but the descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson, [••] had now become the twelve tribes of Israel, and each tribe had been given its own territory in the new land.
Well, almost. Two and a half tribes settled east of the Jordan River, while the others settled in Canaan itself.
[••] Settling the land was a great reminder that Promises made were eventually the promises kept to Abraham
And recall that with this new generation of Israelites, the children of the slaves of Egypt who died in the wilderness, Joshua called them to be faithful to their covenant with God by obeying the commands of the Torah, (the first five books of the OT) and said for them to choose whom they would serve, and the people responded with… [••]
Joshua 24:16-18
“Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes….
We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
Nice.
And by their choice and living in obedience, they would be showing all of the other nations what YHWH is like.
[••] And as they say in the movies,....
Ah… how sweet. Isn’t that wonderful… Wait. Do you believe that? No way, this ain’t the movies. You know these sinful, dysfunctional, messed up people… they won’t be living happily ever after. And we sometimes look at the same kind of people in the mirror today. And we know this from our study: words are cheap, aren’t they?
[••] Because from the beginning—with Adam and Eve, Cain, Abraham, Jacob, and now the nation of Israel—these people have been saying with their mouths that they will follow God but choosing their own wisdom over the wisdom of God the entire time with their actions. Every. Single. Time. They have cheated and schemed, played favorites and deceived, complained and rebelled, made and worshiped false gods, and repeatedly failed to trust the God who had been faithful to them. But God remains faithful to them.
And entering the Promised Land doesn’t suddenly fix any of that. Just like coming to a church service doesn’t make us a good Christian or a faithful disciple of Jesus. Going to McDs doesn’t make you a hamburger. Deeper human problems remain.
In fact, what happens next in the storyline is one of the darkest periods in Israel’s history. The compromises start small. They turn away from God. Things fall apart. God rescues them. They turn away again. And put that on repeat.
And each time around, they become more disobedient, They aren't just going around in circles of sin. Oh no. It’s much worse than that.
[••] Actually, they're …
Spiraling Out of Control
Judges 1-21 & Ruth
But before we move forward, let's flash back for a moment—like in a movie, just before everything unravels, when we're reminded of something important that was said earlier. [••]
Text
Before Joshua ever led this new generation across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, Moses had gathered them together on the other side of the river. Their parents had died in the wilderness. Moses himself wasn’t going in.
This was the generation that was going to enter the land. [••]
And Moses knew that getting them into the Land wasn’t the greatest challenge.
The greatest challenge was to get them to remain faithful to God once they were there.
For they were about to live in an evil culture, among people who worshiped other gods and who were vile in many ways. They would encounter other worldviews, beliefs, and values, much different from what they had been learning from YHWH. And their children would grow up in that world.
So Moses tells them how to remain faithful—and just as importantly, how to make sure the next generation knows the God who rescued them.
And at the heart of his instructions are some of the most important words in the entire Old Testament. This passage is called the Shema because the first Hebrew word we read is the word Hear or Listen; in Hebrew, Shema. [••]
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear [Shema], O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
[••] But Shema carries more weight than merely hearing sounds.
{Clap} Did you hear that? Great. Congratulations—your ears work.
But that isn’t the meaning of Shema.
Your smoke detector starts screaming at 2:00 in the morning.
That’s Shema. It’s listening that leads to action. This isn't merely, "Believe that YHWH exists."
Hear, O Israel
Sh’ma
Yisra’eil
Shema means to hear, pay attention, AND respond with obedience.
That is what the first part of the Shema is all about. [••]
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear [Shema], O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
And the second part of the Shema that God told the Israelites has to do not only with Loving and Obey God themselves but passing YHWH’s instructions and that relationship with him on to the next generation, to their kids. [••]
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
…Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
So those were the instructions of the Shema. This basically summarized the Law.
Now, back to our Storyline. With Moses' words still ringing in our ears, let's see what happens next.
Judges 2:10
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.
What? What the heck happened?
No Shema? No impressing the words of the LORD upon their children.
Well, sadly, that's the story of the book of Judges.
Tim Mackie, of the Bible Project, explains what this book is about… [••]
The book's name comes from the type of leaders Israel had in this period.
Before they had any kings, the tribes were all governed by these "judges." Now don't think of a courtroom or black robes.
These were regional, political, military leaders more like a tribal chieftain.”
Tim Mackie
He goes on to add, “And you need to be warned. The book of Judges is very disturbing and violent. This part of the Bible would be rated R for sure. It tells the tale of Israel’s moral corruption with its bad leadership and how they become NO different than the people they are living among, the Canaanites.”
God had called Israel to be a holy people—a people set apart, distinct from the nations around them. You may remember Jesus, in the sermon on the Mount, called his disciples to be light in the world for the very same reason. [••] Recall, these Israelites were YHWH’s “treasured possession,” his Segullah, a “kingdom of priests,” a “holy nation.” They were supposed to show the nations around them what their God was like. Definitely not become like them.
[••] And the people around Israelites? The Canaanites?
Oh my, they were as bad as they come.
The Canaanites practiced a polytheistic religion (they had many gods) marked by the worship of gods like Ba’al and Asherah, worshipping idols, divination (fortune tellers), sexual practices condemned by God, and even child sacrifice—all practices Israel had been explicitly warned not to adopt in the Torah by God.
And God had repeatedly warned them about what would happen if they did indeed adopt the practices of their new culture. There would be consequences.
But when Judges begins & unfolds, that's exactly what starts happening. Israel had taken possession of the land, but they had not completely removed the Canaanite presence and influence from it.
Instead, they began settling down alongside them. And little by little, (and that is the key), little by little, the people who were supposed to be different started becoming just like the people around them.
Here is the cycle[••]
and it gets worse with every cycle moving in a downward spiral
In Judges 2, the narrator gives us an overview of the sinful pattern that will repeat throughout the book, showing how Israel spirals further and further out of control. [••]
Judges 2:11-19
SIN AGAINST GOD
Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals [Canaanite gods]. 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.
Judges 2:11-19
OPPRESSION: God would allow them to be oppressed
They aroused the LORD’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them.
Judges 2:11-19
CRY: They would see their errors and repent
They were in great distress.
DELIVERANCE: God would raise up a deliverer, Judge
Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the LORD’s commands.
Judges 2:11-19
PEACE: The Judge bring about a season of peace
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 relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
Judges 2:11-19
JUDGE DIES
But when the judge died,
SIN AGAIN: They would go back to their old ways
the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
[••] “And from Judges 2 through mostly the rest of the book, the Israelites basically just hit repeat.
Except, every time the cycle repeats, things get a little worse, they spiral downward and more wicked.
[••] During this period, God raises up 12 different judges to rescue Israel. However, the book mainly focuses on 6 of them: Othniel, Ehud, and Deborah are epic stories and often bloody. Then the book focuses on the next 3: Gideon, Jephthah, and the worst of all, Samson and their deteriorating character flaws. Interestly, as the nation spirals downwards in sin, so do its leaders.
[DON’T READ,..(for personal study). GO ON]
The narrator illustrates just how bad things have gotten with these Israelites. You can’t tell the difference between the Israelites from the Canaanites. The problem isn't merely that Israel needs another judge. Something much deeper is wrong.
So the question now is: Who can lead these people?
None of these leaders have been able to solve the deeper problem with these people The book ends with a repeated refrain that highlights just how bad it is with God’s segullah, his covenant people. In fact, it’s how the book of Judges ends; like a mike drop. The very last verse says… [••]
Judges 21:25
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
Wow! Spiraling Out of Control.
And with this refrain, the story is beginning to raise a question: Is that what Israel needs? Do they need a king to lead them?
Well, eventually the Israelites seem to think they do…
The period of the judges continues for a while longer, until we meet one final major judge, a man named Samuel, in the first book of Samuel. And when Samuel grows old, the leaders of Israel come to him and say: [••]
Maybe that is the answer. Maybe what Israel needs is finally the right kind of leader, a wise, faithful leader, a King
I guess we'll see.
Now interestingly, there’s another small book of the Bible, the Book of Ruth, that takes place during this same period of the wild and crazy times of the Judges.
Ruth begins with these words: [••]
Ruth 1:1
In the days when the judges ruled,...
So while all of this chaos we've been talking about is happening with the people of Israel, another much quieter story is unfolding in the background with the story of Ruth.
[••] The Book is the story of a Moabite woman named Ruth (she’s not an Israelite) who loses her husband to death, but remains faithfully committed to her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi.
Eventually Ruth comes to Bethlehem, where she meets an Israelite man named Boaz, whose mom was Rahab, the prostitute, from Jericho, that we met last week. Remember her?
Boaz becomes what the Bible calls a kinsman-redeemer—a family member who has the ability and means to step in to help rescue and restore a struggling family. Both Naomi and Ruth are vulnerable widows and have no financial support. Boaz helps them.
[••] Now here's why this little tiny story matters so much to our bigger Storyline: Rahab’s son Boaz eventually marries Ruth, and together they have a son named Obed. Obed has a son named Jesse. And Jesse eventually has a son named... David.
So even while Israel is spiraling out of control, God has not lost control of the Story.
A king is coming.
So will David finally be the leader Israel needs and help this “out of control” people of God actually represent God to the nations and bless the world?
We'll find out.
—---------------------
But before we leave this part of their story, I need to make application to our story.
Israel had been called to live among the nations as God's distinct people. They were supposed to show the world around them what their God was like.
But somewhere along the way, instead of influencing the culture around them, the culture around them began shaping and influencing them.
—-------------
And that's a tension today every follower of Jesus still has to navigate.
Because WE live in a culture that doesn't always share the wisdom of God. So how do WE live in OUR culture without simply becoming like our culture, and repeating the downward spiral of the Israelites?
I want you to think about it this way.
Imagine that the water is our culture.
There are three ways we can try to navigate it.
Imagine a little parable with 3 boats and water. The water represents our culture. We have 3 options to navigate and live in our culture.
[••] 1st… OUT OF THE WATER We can pull the boat completely out of the water. And it’s so tempting!!!
Or we can go to the other extreme.
A Parable of the Three Boats of Cultural Engagement
Out of the water
We stay away from anyone who doesn't think, believe, or live like us. And maybe that keeps the boat dry. But boats weren't made to sit on the shore.
[••] 2nd Option…THE BOAT SINKING IN THE WATER
On the other hand, we can become so immersed in the culture around us that eventually there is very little distinction between someone who follows Jesus and someone who doesn't.
That's essentially what happened in Judges. Israel didn't remain distinct while living among the Canaanites. Increasingly, Canaan and it’s culture shaped Israel. They became LIKE the Canaanites and not holy LIKE the Holy God who called them.
The boat didn't just get wet. It sank.
And IF there’s nothing distinctive about the way WE think, speak, love, use our money, handle sexuality, treat people, pursue success, forgive enemies, raise our families, or determine what is true and good—then we're not influencing our culture. Instead, our culture is influencing us, & we cease being the light to the world as Jesus said.
That’s definitely not good. But there's another possibility, a 3rd option
A Parable of the Three Boats of Cultural Engagement
Out of the water
We stay away from anyone who doesn't think, believe, or live like us. And maybe that keeps the boat dry. But boats weren't made to sit on the shore.
Sinking in the water
We become so immersed in the culture around us that eventually there is very little distinction between someone who follows Jesus and someone who doesn't. The boat didn't just get wet. It sank.
[••] 3rd OPTION…RIDING THE WAVES
The 3rd option is to get the boat on the water and learn to ride the waves as best we can. To be in our culture but not of our culture.
We must engage the culture. Know the people around us. Listen to them. Love them. Work beside them. Eat with them. Understand the questions they're asking. And HUMBLY speak up. We recognize and celebrate what's good and beautiful in the culture around us—and be wise enough to recognize what isn't and avoid that. Tension.
And yes, sometimes we’re going to get culturally “wet.” But that is why we meet as a community of disciples of Jesus every single week, so that we can remain anchored in the wisdom of God in order that we can live differently, representing Jesus, while still being fully present with people of our culture.
That's where Paul's words in Romans 12 become so important:
A Parable of the Three Boats of Cultural Engagement
Out of the water
We stay away from anyone who doesn't think, believe, or live like us. And maybe that keeps the boat dry. But boats weren't made to sit on the shore.
Sinking in the water
We become so immersed in the culture around us that eventually there is very little distinction between someone who follows Jesus and someone who doesn't. The boat didn't just get wet. It sank.
Riding the waves
Get the boat in the water and learn to ride the waves. Engage the culture. Know the people around you. Listen. Love. Work beside & eat with them. Speak up.
Which boat to you use to navigate culture?
This is where Paul's words in Romans 12:1-2 become so important.
In a sense, he is offering that 3rd option.
I love how the Message translation presents it:
Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Wow. May that be our prayer this week.
Here are some questions to help us reflect.
If you have a decision to make that change, come forward as we sing. I’ll be up here.
Pray
PREACHED THIS SERMON