Judges
Our pastor talked about how we are living in a time now similar to the time of Judges of the bible. I have been rereading Judges and finding this an interesting and helpful insight to reading the book and our culture. I was especially struck by Ch2 vs 1-3
Judges 2:1-3
Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, ‘I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you into the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, “I will never break my covenant with you. For your part, do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; tear down their altars.” But you have not obeyed my command. See what you have done! So now I say, I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become adversaries to you, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’
How true these words ring for us today in our postmodern culture. As we make deals with our culture to live comfortably with them are we not making covenants with those we should? Do we stand guilty of not tearing down the altars as we are called to do? Do we find ourselves in a covenant with a culture that stands in direct contradiction to God's command for our lives? Do we not find now that we have adversaries all around us and are easily ensnared in the gods of this world? If they can not reach us how easily they try to reach our children and those less mature in the faith?
Our modern day Christian can heed the lessons of Judges and learn from the struggles they faced for an unwillingness to obey and to destroy the false altars and stand firm in the convenant with God.
Jesus, was loving and the example of who we are to be. He went to the tax collectors and the prostitutes but he never made claims it was okay that they stay that way. That they were that way He found them, to be sure, but the understanding was something would change. Jesus never condoned the sin, he always loved the sinner.
In our culture we too easily buy into the lie that we can not do both, we either have to accept and condone through our loving tolerance or we are intolerant. That could not be further from a biblical basis. We are called to love all, even the sinners, but we are never called to condone or uphold the sin.
What do you think? Anyone want to read Judges and discuss?
posted by Kellie-Ann at 7:48 PM
1 Comments:
Right now I am in the midst of reading Ezekiel, which describes the outcome of ignoring God and making covenants with other gods. The warning in Judges was not simply empty words. God proved His word and followed up with eventual punishment for the sin of loving the world. This should be especially frightening to us who claim allegiance with God, yet live inconsistent lives. God is not to be trifled with, nor does He ever take sin lightly. The cross is overwhelming evidence of that.
When I read Judges earlier this year, I remember thinking that it could have been written today. The church at large is indistinguishable from the surrounding culture. We have fallen into the same patterns and activities as our culture and very little is different in our lives. We run around making money, comfortable homes, perfect children, spending money on hobbies, trips, treats all the while thanking God for all His generosity to us and for making us happy. Perhaps it is not God giving us all the stuff of life in America. It seems to me that religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, rather the pursuit of happiness is.
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