Our World

So here's a British actor and presenter of the TV quiz show QI, which many of you I'm sure will watch, Stephen Fry, speaking about why he doesn't believe in the God of the Bible.

He says this, I wonder if this is where you're at today.

He said, in an interview with an Irish TV channel, why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?

Now that is a philosophically valid and an emotionally honest question.

And it's one we're going to be thinking about today as we get into this chapter of the Bible.

Now this chapter, if you scan your eyes over it, it is 31 verses long.

But I guarantee that every single one of us within two verses of reading this together are going to have the same question in mind.

And it's this.

What on earth is something like this doing in the Bible?

Because this is a horrendous story of the rape of a young woman.

And flowing from that, the harrowing account of revenge and bloodshed.

Now if the British Board of Film Classification were tasked with rating this, they would, without shadow of a doubt, go for 18 plus.

So here's the question I've been asking myself for the last number of weeks knowing that this is coming.

And asking myself as I've been prepping this series in Genesis.

Why don't we just skip it?

Now two reasons why we go towards this.

And here's number one.

It's a conviction.

It's a conviction that all scripture is God breathed.

Right?

We are a church that loves its 316s.

We love John 316.

How God desires all people to be saved.

We love 1 Timothy, sorry 2 Timothy 316.

That all scripture is God breathed.

We're a church who loves its 316s.

Meaning that with chapter 34, it's not like the Bible translators dropped the ball with this one.

No, every single verse in the Bible is there because God wanted it there.

The first one is a conviction.

The second one is an experience.

Having done this, worked in this church for 11 years, here's what I know to be true.

That so often God does the deepest work in our hearts when we go to what we wrestle with the hardest parts of his word.

Now some of us will read this as it were and we will read this from the armchair.

Right?

We will be thinking exactly what Stephen Fry was saying.

And if that's you here today, if you're wondering, and surely this just proves the invalidity of the Christian faith,

then here's the question I want to ask you to think about as we read this together in just a few minutes time.

Do you recognize the world of Genesis 34?

And the answer is, it's our world.

Right?

It's our world where it was discovered this week that Andrew Tate's been running a WhatsApp group aimed at grooming women.

It's our world where as of this week I now find myself in a street WhatsApp group because one of our neighbors just up the road was broken into and everyone was kind of rallying together to see if we could get some CCTV of what footage of what actually went on.

This is our world.

This is our world.

But here's where Christians respectfully disagree.

And I'll just put it up there again with the comments of Stephen Fry.

Yes, God created the world.

But Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 tell us that God created a perfect world.

In fact, it's only as Adam and Eve defy their creator, something that human beings have done ever since,

that from Genesis 3 onward as sin enters and spoils God's perfect world,

that we begin to get words in the human story.

We begin to get words like shame and we begin to get words like death and we begin to get words like murder.

And the thing is to see that those words were not on the scene in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.

Here is life as we know it.

And this is a Bible phrase that people use worth thinking about.

Here is life as we know it, east of Eden.

East in the Bible is symbolic of just moving away from God.

So in our passage today, if you come with me to chapter 34, right, we meet this young girl called Dina.

And we are quickly introduced to the man who violated her at verse 2.

His name is Shechem.

Now notice what we're told about him.

We are told, do you notice, and none of this is wasted, that he's a young prince of the land.

Now what we have to understand is that in this guy's world, might is right.

He gets what he wants.

And what he wants in this moment is that he thinks he has a right to Dina's body.

Hear it in his verse at verse 4, right?

What does he say?

Dad, and hear him speak.

Get me this girl to be my wife.

And this is par for the course in Canaan.

We've got to understand that this crime is not making the headlines on the Canaan 6 o'clock news.

As far as Canaan is concerned, this is nothing.

But here is the God of perfect justice saying about this young woman,

this human being who he made wonderfully in his image.

Here is he here declaring that I see you.

And I see what happened.

And it's worth parking that thought for where we're going to end this morning.

God is declaring here that I see you.

Nothing escapes the attention of the three times holy, all-seeing God.

Others of us will be reading this, not so much from the armchair,

but I am so aware we will be heartbreakingly reading this from the hospital bed.

Sexual crime, revenge, this is a raw part of your life story.

And hear me say that I am so deeply sorry

that that's been your experience.

And I desperately want you to hold on

and see the tender heart of Jesus for you.

So what on earth is something that they're doing in the Bible?

Well, here's the key, I think, that unlocks the purpose of this chapter.

Okay?

See in chapter 34 who isn't mentioned.

Scan your eye over it.

Who is not mentioned in this chapter?

God's not mentioned in this chapter.

Yeah?

Not once in 31 verses.

As if the writer is saying,

here is what the anti-God,

we will do what we think is right,

human heart is capable of.

And also see who is mentioned in this chapter.

And there's a lot of people mentioned,

but the camera zones in on one,

is Jacob.

And as we'll see as we read this through now,

this man called Jacob is pathetically passive.

See if, here's the challenge as we read it through.

See if you can spot the ways

that Jacob so terribly fails in this chapter.

Come and read this with me and let's see

and hear from our God this morning.

Verse one.

Now Dina, the daughter Leah had born to Jacob,

went out to visit the woman of the land.

When Shechem, son of Hamor, the Hivite,

the ruler of that area,

saw her,

he took her and raped her.

His heart was drawn to Dina, daughter of Jacob.

He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.

And Shechem said to his father,

Hamor, get me this girl as my wife.

When Jacob heard that his daughter Dina had been defiled,

his sons were in the fields with his livestock.

So he did nothing about it until they came home.

Then Shechem's father, Hamor,

went out to talk with Jacob.

Meanwhile, Jacob's sons had come in from the fields

as soon as they'd heard what had happened.

They were shocked and furious

because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel

by sleeping with Jacob's daughter,

a thing that should not be done.

But Hamor said to them,

my son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter.

Please give her to him as his wife.

Intermarry with us,

give us your daughters

and take our daughters for yourselves.

You can settle among us.

The land is open to you.

Live in it, trade in it

and acquire property in it.

Then Shechem said to Dina's father and brothers,

let me find favor in your eyes

and I will give you whatever you ask.

Make the price for the bride

and the gift I am to bring as great as you like

and I'll pay whatever you ask me.

Only give me the young woman as my wife.

Because their sister Dina had been defiled,

Jacob's sons replied deceitfully

as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor.

They said to them,

we can't do such a thing.

We can't give our sister to a man

who's not circumcised.

That would be a disgrace to us.

We will enter into an agreement with you

on one condition only,

that you become like us

by circumcising all your males.

Then we will give you our daughters

and take your daughters for ourselves.

We'll settle among you

and become one people with you.

But if you will not agree to be circumcised,

we'll take our sister and go.

Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.

The young man who was the most honoured

of all his father's family

lost no time in doing what they said

because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter.

So Hamor and his son Shechem

went to the gate of their city

to speak to the men of their city.

These men are friendly toward us, they said.

Let them live in our land and trade in it.

The land is plenty of room for them.

We can marry their daughters

and they can marry ours.

But the men will agree to live with us

as one people only in the condition

that our males be circumcised

as they themselves are.

Won't their livestock, their property

and all their other animals become ours?

So let us agree to their terms

and they will settle among us.

All the men who went out of the city gate

agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem

and every male in the city was circumcised.

Three days later, while all of them were still in pain,

two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi,

Dina's brothers,

took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city,

killing every male.

They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword

and took Dina from Shechem's house and left.

The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies

and looted the city where their sister had been defiled.

They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys

and everything else of theirs in the city

and out in the fields.

They carried off all their wealth

and all their women and children,

taking as plunder everything in their houses.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi,

you've brought trouble on me

by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites

and the Perizzites, the people living in this land.

We are few in number

and if they join forces against me and attack me,

I and my household will be destroyed.

But they replied,

should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?

Now friends, we're going to rattle through

four ways that Jacob fails here.

Here's the first of these.

Did you notice his lack of love for his daughter?

Now, when Dina, daughter of Leah,

was introduced to us,

back at verse 21 of chapter 30,

you get the sense

that she is simply an inconvenient footnote

in Jacob's life.

Right, what is she doing at verse one?

She is innocently wandering the streets

of this strange new place

where the family have found themselves called Canaan

and she's trying to see,

you see it at verse one,

the woman of the land.

Now, this is kind of like my girl Chloe

getting on the 37 bus outside our house

and making her way into town on Saturday night

because all her friends are talking about

how much fun there is to be had

and she wants to see what all the fuss is about

and all the time I'm sitting there in the armchair

watching her go, not caring.

So rather than nurturing and protecting her

and raising her to know, love and serve the Lord

who has protected him

and led him so graciously,

Jacob lets Dina just walk straight out into danger.

At best he didn't know,

at worst he didn't care.

He horrendously fails to protect his daughter

in this situation.

Here's the second one.

It's his lack of response to the tragedy.

See verse five.

He hears about what's happened

and rather than weeping and mourning,

which is fully what we would expect him to do,

what does he do?

He holds his peace.

Which you've got to say is really strange, is it not?

In fact, it's Hamor, the father of Shechem,

who comes toward Jacob and initiates the dialogue here.

And the author seems to be shocked

that this is Jacob's response.

I think that's why we're told that his sons get angry.

I think it's why we're told that such a thing

should not be done in Israel.

The author's trying to tell us,

Jacob, what are you doing?

The third way he fails is his lack of leadership

in the aftermath.

Not only does he entertain the speech from Hamor

from verse eight about intermarrying,

a thing that God has told his people not to do,

the heart behind that being that because

if you intertwine your lives with theirs,

worshiping the gods of the Canaanites,

you will gradually drift to just becoming just like them.

And I think that's one of the big lessons

for the original readers here.

Jacob lets his son hatch this deceitful plan

to do them over.

In fact, do you notice how they weaponize

the one thing that God has said

was physically meant to show that they were God's people

set apart for him,

distinct, loved, chosen.

What do they manipulate?

Circumcision.

And this only goes to show just how far from the Lord

they have wandered in their own hearts.

And I think that's the tragedy here.

This is God's people who are in the frame here.

Now, if there's anyone who knows

the catastrophic effects of lying and deceit

and how it will always come back to haunt you,

it's Jacob.

And yet, do you see how he, as a father,

he fails to say absolutely anything

to firstly his daughter

and then secondly his sons.

Fourth way he fails is in his lack of rebuke

for the revenge.

Right?

So Simeon and Levi,

notice that those guys are named there.

They are Dina's brothers.

Leah's their mother.

They are set in revenge.

And I think verses 25 to 29

are written to show us that what they do,

and did you pick this up as we read it through,

what they do goes so far beyond

what we might possibly understand

as being justice.

They just go so over the top

in terms of what they do.

And I think this is maybe just understanding

the Bible story,

that God had enshrined in Israelite society

this law,

that it was an eye for an eye

and a tooth for a tooth.

Now, I'd imagine most people in our world,

because we use that phrase,

have heard of that concept.

And I remember for years thinking to myself,

well, surely that just encourages things like this.

Does that not encourage you to take matters

into your own hands?

And then I suddenly read it in the context.

And it's written to ensure that justice is done

in the society,

particularly for the oppressed

who cannot get justice on their own.

But more than that,

as well as that,

it caps it.

As if to say,

justice will be done,

but it will be done

on equal terms.

And it means that vendettas like this

that go so far above

the thing that's being capped

just should not happen

in Israelite society.

But rather than scolding his sons

for their utter wrong,

do you see how Jacob is thinking primarily

about the impact

that this is going to have on them?

Did you pick that up

as we read it through?

Notice the repetition there

at the end

of the word I

or me.

Do you see it?

You've brought trouble on me.

You've made me stink

in the sight of my neighbours.

You're going to bring trouble

on my family.

I'm worried that they will attack me.

It's me.

Me, me, me.

All the way through here.

Who's he thinking about

all the way through?

He's thinking about himself.

And you bring those four things

all together

and do you see

how in this account

Jacob is pathetically passive?

Now you think back

to what we learned last week

as we were in chapter 33

and you've got to see

I kind of skipped out of here

last week thinking

this is really good.

In the context of Genesis

maybe you were optimistically

thinking that maybe

Jacob is the saviour

that God said

he'd send

to save us

to save his people

from their

east of Eden lives.

The promised serpent crusher

of Genesis 3

maybe it's Jacob.

Well that dream collapses

like a house of cards

in this chapter.

But more than that

who is Jacob

in this chapter

in actual fact

like?

I've never seen this before

until studying it this week.

Who does he remind you of?

He's not the serpent crusher

is he?

No we see

we see him

failing to care

as a father

and I think

this really should be

a lesson to us dads

in here.

We see him

sitting silently

in the background

failing to lead.

presumably he's an earshot

of all these conversations.

We see him

blaming others

failing to take responsibility.

We can almost hear him

say at the end there

our God

is these sons

who you've given me

who are the problem.

Who does he remind you of?

He's just like

Adam.

Isn't he?

He is just

like

Adam.

He is not

the serpent crusher

and so you've got to ask yourselves

let's come back to this question

what on earth

is something like this

doing

in the Bible?

As we see this man

who fails in so many ways

and who is

pathetically passive

I take it

partly

that one of the reasons

is that we would read this

and it would make us long

for someone to come

from Jacob's line

who would save us

by being everything

that Jacob

and every single character

in this

is not.

If Jacob is

pathetically passive

dear friends

we have to see

that our longing here

is that someone would come

who is so attractively active

to save us

and step into that

Genesis longing

comes Jesus.

Now contrast him

with every single character

in this chapter

as it were

every male

in this chapter

contrast Shechem

the prince of the land

who abused

his position

to get what he wanted

contrast him

with Jesus

and how is he described?

What kind of prince is he?

He is the prince of peace

who stepped into our

east of Eden world

and who used his power

not to be served

but to serve

and to give his life

as a ransom for many.

Contrast Levi and Simeon here

brimming with anger and rage

going to do whatever it takes

to see that justice is done

and more

contrast them

with Jesus

who both said

and personified

a love

for

your

enemies

and contrast

Jacob

who failed his daughter

in so many ways

at this point

contrast him

with Jesus

who came

to win for himself

and make

sons and daughters

of the living God.

Now can I just take you

to one place

as we begin

to wrap this up

that I love

seeing Jesus

in action

and if you've got a Bible

turn with me here

and you will see him

in all his beauty.

Here he is in

Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

Oh this is one of my

favorite stories

in the Bible

because you see

both the compassion

and the power of Jesus

on full display.

the context of the story

Mark chapter 5

Mark 5 · chapter mention

as you're turning there

this man called

Jairus

has desperately

summoned Jesus

to come and heal

his dying

12 year old

daughter.

And as Jesus

is on the way

there

out of nowhere

into this scene

comes this

woman

and we're given

details about this

woman

right?

she's been bleeding

for 12 years.

She's been to doctor

after doctor

trying to get better

and in this day

we need to understand

that you'd get

as many good ones

as you would

bad ones

because witch doctors

and the likes

are prevalent

in that day

who make a living

from fleecing people.

Perhaps that's evidence

in the third fact

that we're given

about her

that she's spent

all that she has

trying to get better

all that she has

but she's only

gotten worse.

So step into

Jesus' world

this woman

who may well

have been

taken advantage of

who would

certainly be

accustomed to

humiliation

and because of

her condition

she would certainly

know what it is

to be

an outcast.

Here is a woman

on the canvas

of life

and in desperation

she reaches out

and touches

Jesus' robe

and I love that.

I love her desperation

but I love

what Jesus does.

What does Jesus do?

He doesn't just

walk on by.

He stops

as if to say

I see you.

I see you.

I know.

And recognizing

her faith

he calls her

and I've always thought

this was really strange

he calls her

daughter.

Always thought

that was

really weird

as I read it through

but what if

and this has recurred

to me recently

what if Mark

has intertwined

these two accounts

of people

one a 12 year old

daughter

one a woman

who's been suffering

for 12 years

and he's intertwined

these accounts

to make to us

the point

that just

how

Jairus

feels

about

his daughter

how much

more then

and in the same

way

does Jesus

feel

and now

relates to

this woman

as daughter

you know

Sam Albury

I heard him

recently talk

about becoming

a Christian

he said

he came to

Christianity

for the

forgiveness

but he stayed

in Christianity

for Jesus

and this

account of him

here

it is

wonderful

and what makes

this more than

nice words

what makes this

better than

sentiments

is that Jesus

goes to the cross

to win

this woman

for himself

see the cross

is the only

place we can go

to make sense

of what is

happening here

with Dina

it is the place

where the justice

and the grace

of God

meet at their

apex

you see the cross

of Jesus

says to you

and it says

to Dina

that what

happened to

you is not

trivial

that what

happened to

you is

serious

so serious

in fact

that it required

the suffering

and death

of the son

of God

to pay

for it

we look

at the cross

and it doesn't

undermine

injustice

it underscores

it

hear Jesus

say

from the cross

that I know

what it is

to be humiliated

I know

what it is

to be wronged

and hear

Jesus say

right at the

end of the

Bible story

that one day

he will return

to make

all wrongs

right

and his

heart

right now

in heaven

for his

people

his heart

right now

for you

whoever you

are here

today

whatever has

happened

to you

is exactly

the same

as it is

as we see

here

and you know

knowledge

of that day

that he will

return to make

all wrongs

right

knowledge of

it means

that we

can leave

justice

to God

it is only

the grace

of Jesus

seen perfectly

at the cross

that makes

the long

long road

of forgiveness

and change

a possibility

and I've

seen it

in my own

life

when people

forgive

and I think

wow

it is only

possible

when Jesus

takes out

the heart

that longs

for revenge

and blood

and puts

in it

a knowledge

of who

he is

and what

he's done

for us

on the cross

to quote

Tim Keller

a God

who substitutes

himself for

you and

suffers so

that you

might go

free

is a God

that you

can fully

trust

so what on

earth is

something like

this doing

in the Bible

friends can I

just leave us

with two quick

words of

response I

think we

need to

make

here's the

first and

it's just

simply the

word tears

I think

what goes

on here

should break

our hearts

because we

see injustice

so often in

our world

don't we

that our

hearts can

so often

become numb

to the

plight of

everyday human

beings

do we care

about and are

we willing to

be a safe

place where

we walk

with and

welcome people

in our city

people in our

lives who

know this

pain

do you

know it

was the

church's

response to

the great

plagues of

the second

century as

people were

suffering left

right and

centre when

everyone else

was legging it

out of the

cities but the

Christians stayed

behind the

historians reckon

is the reason

behind the

explosive growth

of Christianity

in the second

century as

people looked

on Christians

and thought

they really

care

you know we

want to be a

church family

and maybe

taking another

angle on this

where we treat

and view

particular members

of the opposite

sex radically

differently

you know three

of the world's

top 12 most

visited websites

in 2019

were porn

sites

the biggest

site in the

UK has an

average of 42

billion visits

per year

which works

itself out

is 1200 clicks

every second

maybe particularly

speaking to the

guys in the

room although I

recognise that

this is an issue

for girls as

well guys if

you're in those

zones right now

if you've found

yourself in those

circles you need

to do everything

that you can to

get out

we want to create

a safe space

where we can be

honest with one

another about our

struggles and if

this is you today

you have to see

that Jesus has

saved you out of

that everything

that you are doing

every view

every click is

funding a

institution that

is taking

advantage of

some of the

most violated

people in our

society

not to mention

the fact that

simply it's just

not the way that

we should be

viewing women

particularly our

sisters in

Christ

can I just say

as well not

just to go on

the defence but

to go on the

offence

guys we should

be the biggest

supporters of

the flourishing of

women's ministry

in this church

so here's what

we're going to

do if you're up

for this on

Wednesday night

when our

sisters meet

we are going to

meet on zoom

just for half an

hour to eight

and half eight

just to pray for

them because we

want them to know

that we love

them and we

see them and we

value everything

that they bring to

our church family

another angle in

this friends do we

see anger and

bitterness in our

hearts do you

see that longing

for revenge now

it might not

express itself to

the extent that it

does here but how

often is it the case

that we can destroy

people with our

words we can

destroy people with

posts we can

destroy people with

texts and this

calls us to be a

people who are

different with our

words and how we

treat other human

beings so that's the

first word tears

dear friends let's do

some soul searching

off the back of this

and I couldn't be

creative enough to

come up with another

word so we're just

going to go for

fears tears and

fears this should

move us really

simply as we close

to fear God more

fear the Lord come

back to him have

your eyes on him

the place just like

that woman that

says my only hope

is you Lord Jesus

you know just as we

closed you know the

earliest Christians

had this saying

that they always

said and it was

just the word

Maranatha

Maranatha is just

taken from one of

the very last words

of the Bible in

response to what

Jesus said Jesus

says there right at

the end he says

behold I'm coming

soon it's the very

last taste that we

get in the Bible of

what he says before

he comes that longing

that should be inside

his people's hearts

Lord Jesus come and

make it new so what

Maranatha means is

just simply come Lord

Jesus come and make

it right come and

put perfect justice on

full display and one

day he will and I

take it in the words

of the Narnians that

this will be true and

I love the way that

C.S. Lewis captures

this wrong will be

right when Aslan

comes in sight and

the sound of his

roar sorrows will be

no more when he

bears his teeth

winter meets its

death and when he

shakes his mane we

shall have spring

again and so it's to

him that we look

we're saying in just

a moment I want to

pray but particularly

if there's something

this morning that you

want to chat about or

pray about and we've

covered so much stuff

here today but we

want to create a

church culture where

we are serious about

carrying one another's

burdens and so if

that's you here today

any of the elders

Keita anyone else

who's been up front

here today it would be

our joy to pray and

chat to you if there's

not something you want

to do this morning our

email addresses are all

on the website you can

contact us through that

but friends let's feel the

weight of the challenge

and I hope the height of

the comfort that's come

to us as we've heard

God speak to us today

in his word let's pray

the words that Jesus

said there in Mark

Mark 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 daughter

rise your faith has

made you well

oh Lord thank you that

there is none that

compares with Jesus

thank you that we do

not need to second

guess what you are

like but thank you

that you have spoken

to us in your words

thank you that we see

you on full display

your heart your

purposes as we gaze

at Jesus and so

father I'm so conscious

that I have no idea

where this lands today

but father thank you

that your spirit is a

way better pastor than

I will ever be

and so Lord I pray

that as he works

through your words

that's gone forth

this morning that he

would be bringing

comfort

assurance

tenderness

challenge

and words

of rebuke

father may

we be a community

that shines

the light of Jesus

even more brightly

in our world

father we thank you

for your goodness

and we just pray

all of these things

knowing that you hear

us because we pray

in Jesus's worthy name

amen

blessings

for future

you