Big Mess, Bigger Grace

Father, you know those of us who have been victims of violence.

You know those of us who have been abused and oppressed.

And you know, Father, how hard it can be for them in a country like Canada to suffer alone

when it seems like nobody else has those problems.

And we confess before you, Father, that our Christian community isn't always maybe very good at helping people.

So, Father, your word today, Father, came as a shock probably to many of us.

And it seems odd that it would be in your word.

But we know that you are the good God, that you are the loving God,

and that even your hard words are said in mercy to bring us to yourself.

So we ask, Father, that in your kindness and in your grace,

the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon us with might and power and deep conviction,

that your word would come home to us in a deep way,

and that we would be gripped by the wonder and beauty and power and grace of the gospel,

and so live free and whole to bring you glory.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So it must have come as a bit of a shock to some of you when you heard Ken read that text of Scripture.

We, in fact, are going to look today at one of the most horrible passages in the Bible,

just to be very, very frank.

It is, and it not only is one of the most horrible stories in the Bible,

it touches on many of the deepest fears people in our culture have about the Christian faith,

in particular in religion in general,

that a man would be filled with the Holy Spirit and make a vow to the Lord

and then would proceed to, let's be blunt, murder his daughter.

Murder his daughter as a sacrifice to the Lord.

And it is a horrible story,

and as I said, it touches on many of the deepest cultural fears

that people in Canada have about the Bible.

And I guess for some of you, as you might have noticed in my prayer,

it might touch on some of your own particular fears

in terms of if you've suffered violence from a hand of a father or a mother.

So what we do here at Church of the Messiah is we,

you know, the Bible was written as a series of books.

And so what we do is we preach through books,

and that means we look at those things which are sort of easy.

I have some Sundays, some Mondays, I look at the text I'm going to preach on

and think, oh, this is going to be fun.

And I have other Sundays, other Mondays like this past one

when I look at 60 verses,

and I think, well, this is going to be a bit of an interesting week

trying to understand the text.

And so we're going to look at the story.

Once again, if you don't have a Bible,

there is Bibles up at the front.

Just feel free to just come and walk up to the front while I'm speaking.

That will be fine.

I can't read all of the text, all 60 verses.

The part that Ken read was just a little bit of the whole story of Jephthah.

And so parts of the text we will read,

and parts of it I'll just tell you in a bit of a summary form.

If you have your own Bibles, you can check.

I haven't, I've made sure that the awkward parts are in.

So I'm not trying to dodge anything in terms of what the text is saying.

So if you're just a bit of a, you know, a refresher,

this is a long, the book of Judges is a series of many, many, many stories.

It takes place roughly between the time that Israel enters into the promised land

and the coming of the first, the naming of the very first king.

It's several hundred years,

and it shows these different 12 tribes

and the different ways they depart from the Lord.

And one of the things you have to understand when we're reading this,

because some of us, if we're very Canadian,

will wonder why it is a bad thing

that we're, that the text talks about

you shouldn't worship Baal or Ashtar.

You shouldn't worship the gods of other nations.

And for many Canadians, it sounds very, very narrow-minded.

And I'm not going to argue about it today.

I just want to let you know that this is one of the things

that Christians believe is very, very, very, very, very un-Canadian.

Like, I believe that the triune God actually really exists.

And that talking about religion and spirituality

isn't like talking about things that make you peaceful

or things that give you meaning or anything like that.

I believe that the triune God,

revealed by Jesus, who lived in history

and died upon the cross and rose again,

that he really did die, he really did rise from the dead,

he really will come again,

and he really reveals a real being that really does exist.

And given that he really exists,

it means that to believe that God is somehow different than that

is to not know the real God.

And it's very un-Canadian.

But that's at the heart of this whole text, by the way.

All the way through it.

There is this particular God that really does exist,

and other gods don't exist,

at least not in the way that they portray themselves to their followers.

So let's look at the story.

If you turn in the book of Judges to chapter 10,

and we begin the story of Jephthah at verse 6,

and it begins like this.

The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord

and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth,

the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon,

the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites,

and the gods of the Philistines.

And they forsook, they left behind,

they completely abandoned,

they turned their back on the Lord.

And did not serve him.

You can also translate that as worship him.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,

and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines,

and into the hand of the Ammonites.

And they crushed and oppressed,

that is the Ammonites,

they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year.

For 18 years,

they oppressed all the people of Israel

who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Ammonites,

which is in Gilead.

And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah

and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim,

so that Israel was severely distressed.

Now just sort of pause there.

What we see here is the people of Israel are listed that they now serve seven different pantheons of gods.

So it's not just seven different gods,

but seven pantheons of gods,

seven whole families of gods.

And they not only worship these other apparent gods

that were native to the land of Canaan,

but even from those beyond,

because the Philistines aren't native to Canaan.

And many of these other people or nations that they mention

are people who have come into the land and defeated Israel.

And then Israel ends up starting to worship their gods as well.

And when it says here that the Lord,

as I've talked about in other weeks,

the Lord sells Israel into the hand of the Ammonites.

It's not like when,

if I was to sell you a car,

you'd really have to be desperate to buy a car that I would sell you,

because it's just half a step ahead of the scrap heap.

But if I was to sell you a car,

once I've sold you the car,

it's your car.

I can't tell you how,

you know,

when you should put oil in it or how you should drive it.

It's your car.

You could tell me,

get lost.

It's my car now.

That's not the language here.

It's a very literal translation.

But as I've shared other weeks,

what the Lord says is that you have chosen idols.

And in a sense,

the punishment for choosing idols is for the Lord to allow you to have a greater idolatry

and have the idol have a greater role in your life.

An example would be this.

There are many,

a simple one,

but many,

many people in our culture make an idol out of money.

We don't think of worshipping money.

Like,

you don't really think that there's like a multi-billionaire.

It's not just rich people who worship money,

by the way.

It can be many of us.

It's not as if they put a,

you know,

a hundred dollar bill down on a table and bow down and worship it.

But for many people,

they serve money.

They get their meaning from money.

They get their pleasure from money.

They get their hope from money.

They,

they,

they justify themselves and their behaviors and their actions from money.

And in a sense,

what happens is that God might at some point in time,

he,

he restrains that a little bit with you.

It's called common grace.

So that you don't really just completely and utterly give your life totally to money.

Because if you do that,

it will almost always ruin your relationships.

It will ruin your wife or your husband or your marriage.

If you're married,

it'll ruin your kids.

If you just completely and utterly devote yourself to money,

it'll twist how you view the world.

And this description of the Lord selling you is just saying,

if in a sense for you to,

to understand what you're doing,

I'm going to withdraw my common grace and let you pursue what you want.

In the hope that by pursuing what you want,

you say to yourself,

what am I doing?

Why am I putting everything into money?

And it's ruined my marriage.

It's ruined my relationships with my kids.

It's poisoned my relationships with my coworkers and my neighbors.

And that's the hope behind it.

And so what has happened is they've worshipped the pantheons of seven different nations,

the seven different pantheons,

and God has allowed that to happen.

Well,

what happens next?

And if you're familiar with the other stories,

you now realize that they come to that point where they start to cry out to the Lord.

And this next bit is a very shocking part of the Bible.

Just listen to what it is.

Continue reading at verse 10.

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord,

saying,

we have sinned against you because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals,

the Baals.

And the Lord said to the people of Israel,

did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites,

from the Ammonites and from the Philistines,

the Sidonians also,

and the Amalekites and the Amalekites oppressed you and you cried out to me,

and I saved you out of their hand.

Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods.

Listen to this.

Therefore,

I will save you no more.

Go and cry out to the gods from whom you have chosen.

Let them save you in the time of your distress.

Just using the analogy of an idol of money,

money shows you no mercy.

Does it?

Money never shows you grace.

Never.

They worship these other gods.

God says this very,

very,

very shocking thing.

There have been seven pantheons of God.

Clever little thing is there are seven different deliverances which are made.

made.

Now,

this is one of the important things in the Bible.

Often when people get troubled by certain parts of the Bible,

and this is still a very troubling thing,

you need to keep reading and look at the whole story often,

sometimes the whole book,

to see how that actually really plays out.

And in this particular case,

what happens is that the people of Israel,

despite what is said,

throw themselves on God's mercy.

They abandon themselves to God's mercy.

And they really abandon themselves.

Look what happens next.

Verses 15 and 16.

And the people of Israel said to the Lord,

we have sinned.

Do to us whatever seems good to you.

Only please deliver us this day.

So they put away the foreign gods from among them

and served the Lord.

And he became impatient over the misery of Israel.

In other words,

his heart was moved over the misery of Israel.

And you know that he's going to do something about it.

Now,

just very,

very briefly,

I don't want to spend much time on it,

but I just wanted to point out,

if you want to go on later on and read this text

and meditate upon it,

it's a very,

very interesting thing about what true repentance is.

Truly saying you're sorry.

If you could put up the first point,

in true and wise repentance,

you are sorry for the wrong that you have done,

not the personal consequences of wrongdoing.

See,

many of us,

so let's say it's a matter that you get caught telling lies.

And what people are sorry about is that they got caught,

not the lies.

You know,

you're dating,

you know,

a couple are dating,

and you find out that,

you know,

you find out that your boyfriend

had been going on with dates with another girl,

and you get mad at him,

and you drop him,

and he's sorry that you dropped him,

not what he did.

Right?

And so what we see here in this story

is that they realize that they've been doing something wrong.

It's not just the consequences that they're sad about,

the personal ones,

they're sorry over what they've done wrong.

And the second thing,

if you could put up the next point,

is in true and wise repentance,

you put away the sin

and replace it with the good.

In true and wise repentance,

you put away the sin

and replace it with the good.

The last time I did a counseling session with a couple

about this particular issue,

not the last time I did something with a couple,

but there was this couple,

and as I'm talking to them,

I started to have a suspicion

that there was,

that he was punching her and hitting her.

And so I asked the direct question,

and there's this very, very pause,

this shocked silence.

And then she said,

yes,

he's hitting me.

And I said to him,

I'm not going to do any marriage counseling

until you stop hitting your wife.

And I said to her,

you either kick him out or you leave.

And when you're in a place of safety,

then we can continue the counseling.

Like,

that's what real repentance is.

You stop doing the bad thing,

and it can be hard,

but you start to do the right thing.

So it's actually,

if you look at that text,

it's a very simple little thing within the text

that I wanted to point out to you.

But the text continues.

And what happens next,

right after this,

just to sort of move the story along,

is war starts to be,

you're on the edge of war.

The Ammonites are preparing for a major battle.

They've been oppressing,

severely oppressing Israel for 18 years.

They're mobilizing their forces.

They're on the brink of war.

It's late August 1939,

and so to speak,

and they can see that the war is going to be coming.

And then what happens is

the people of Israel realize

that they have lots of different troops,

but they have no leader.

There's nobody over them,

and there's nobody who's really a warrior.

It's as if they have lots of bureaucrats,

not putting down bureaucrats.

They have lots of bureaucrats,

but not somebody who can actually lead somebody into battle.

And so you get a bit of a backstory about Jephthah,

and Jephthah is the son.

There's a married man who has kids,

and he goes and sleeps with a prostitute

and makes the prostitute pregnant,

and the baby is Jephthah.

And as Jephthah gets to be a certain age,

the brothers and sisters of the dad

start oppressing Jephthah

and eventually kick him out of the whole region,

and he has to go and flee and live somewhere else

because his brothers and sisters are so against him.

And when he goes to this other place,

he ends up becoming basically like a...

He becomes a raider.

He becomes a robber.

He gathers a whole pile of criminals around him,

so he's a natural leader.

Only the thing is, he's a leader in stealing.

But he's able to mobilize a large group of men,

and they go and successfully steal and raid

in lots of places.

And so the elders of Israel,

they go and they headhunt him.

And they said,

you're very successful at fighting,

and you're very successful at mobilizing people.

Will you come and be the commander of the army?

And he says,

I'm only going to come and be the commander of the army

if I'm also, in a sense, the king,

the ruler of the whole place.

And they have a bit of a negotiation.

And at the end of it,

the people of Israel agree.

And then if you look here at verse 11,

chapter 11, verse 11,

you see this very interesting thing.

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead,

that's sort of the particular area of Israel that they're in,

and the people made him head and leader over them.

And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.

And it's sort of a very interesting thing,

is that despite that he's living in a pagan land,

and he's a robber, he's a raider,

he has this connection to the Lord.

And everything that's gone on,

all that they've asked him to do,

he brings before the Lord.

It's a holy moment, so to speak.

Even though they've been serving the pantheons

of seven other nations, seven pantheons,

he doesn't go and speak to any of the pantheons.

He brings the whole matter, everything.

What they're asking him to do,

the battle, the oppression, everything,

he pours it out to the Lord.

And that's what happens.

So what happens next?

Well, if you go back and you read from verses 12 to 28,

you see that the first thing that Jephthah does

is he actually tries to negotiate with the Ammonites.

And what you see there is how he says,

you know, what's the issue here?

Is there a way we can solve it by negotiation?

You can go and read it if you want.

And at the end of the day,

Jephthah says,

here's the different issues that I see them.

But the Ammonites just reject them all.

They're not interested in negotiation at all.

They're not interested in dialogue at all.

It's their way or death.

And their way will be death.

And so the battle is about to begin.

But this brings us to the part that Ken read.

It brings us to the horror of the text.

If you turn with me to chapter 11, verse 29.

And notice here,

the Bible doesn't pull any punches.

Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah.

Now you just pause and you think,

okay, the Holy Spirit's on Jephthah.

Things are going to be holy and good.

I mean, he's been a pretty good leader.

He's poured out his heart to the Lord.

He's tried to negotiate.

I mean, that's the right thing to do.

Things are going to be good now

because the Holy Spirit has come upon Jephthah.

Continuing on in verse 29,

and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh

and passed on to Mishpah of Gilead.

And from Mishpah of Gilead,

he passed on to the Ammonites.

In other words,

he's mobilizing his forces for the battle.

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said,

if you will give the Ammonites into my hand,

then whatever,

and in Hebrew it can either be whatever or whoever,

comes out from the doors of my house to meet me

when I return in peace from the Ammonites,

shall be the Lord's.

And I will offer him or her or it up

for a burnt offering.

It's just a terrific text.

How is it that he has this affinity for the Lord

and he's open,

he's saying to God,

listen, here's the deal, God.

Here's the deal, Lord.

You help me win

and I will make the biggest sacrifice imaginable.

I'll sacrifice a human being for you

if you let me win.

Now we're going to spend some more time

on some other issues in this text,

but if you could, Andrew,

put up this next thing.

I just want to say a couple of things

very, very briefly

before we go any further.

Doing what is evil

is never acceptable worship

in the eyes of the triune God.

Doing what is evil

is never acceptable worship

in the eyes of the triune God.

I have an atheist friend.

He's since moved to a different Starbucks,

so I don't see him very often,

but one of the things

which he loved to do

was show me the most recent picture

of a Russian Orthodox priest

blessing war planes

that were going to Syria.

And for him,

it was just a classic defeater.

He would just go,

religion?

Christianity?

Drop the mic.

What the Bible is saying is this.

Adding a prayer

before you go to kill somebody

doesn't make it right.

Adding a prayer

before you commit adultery

doesn't make it right.

Adding a prayer

while you deny

you're a slum landlord

and you deny the rights

of your tenants,

but you go to church

doesn't make it right.

And I use the word evil

because it's very strong,

but it's anything which is wrong.

Doing something wrong

is never something

that pleases God.

It's not something

you can consider

to be worship.

Whatever else is going on

in this story here,

it's not meant to teach us

that it's all right.

And this is very important

because it touches

on deep cultural issues.

It's a very big cultural fear

and it's a big cultural fear

because sometimes,

I mean,

how can we deny

that there have been

many priests

and pastors

and ministers

who abused their power

to abuse boys?

We can't deny that.

And how many

Baptist deacons

and elders

have also been,

and Anglicans

have been guilty

of horrendous things

using religion

to cover it up.

We cannot deny that.

But what we can say

is this text

is definitely not saying

that it is right.

If you could put up

the next point,

Andrew.

Here's the other thing

is the Lord

is going to deliver Israel,

but the Lord

delivers Israel

despite Jephthah's vow,

not because of his vow.

The Lord's going

to deliver Israel

because the Lord

delivers,

not because of

what Jephthah says.

It is because

it is of the very

nature of the Lord

that he saves

and delivers.

And so despite

the evil

of Jephthah's vow,

the Lord will deliver.

And that's what happens

very next.

Just very briefly,

they win.

Immediately after this,

they win.

The people

who had been

severely oppressing them

for 18 years

are beaten

in battle.

And now we turn

to verse 34

of chapter 11.

Then Jephthah,

after the victory,

then Jephthah

came to his home

at Mizpah,

and behold,

his daughter

came out

to meet him

with tambourines

and with dances.

She was his only child.

Beside her,

he had neither son

nor daughter.

And as soon as

he saw her,

he tore his clothes

and said,

Alas,

my daughter,

you have brought me

very low,

and you have become

the cause

of great trouble

for me.

For I have opened

my mouth to the Lord,

and I cannot take

back my vow.

And she said to him,

my father,

you have opened

your mouth

to the Lord.

Do to me

according to what

has gone out

of your mouth

now that the Lord

has avenged you

on your enemies

on the Ammonites.

Just pause

before we read

the next bit.

If you make

an evil vow,

the Lord wants you

to recant

and repent of it.

So this is wrong.

But the other thing

is a very,

very telling thing.

This goes back

to the whole thing

about repentance.

from the story,

he would not

have been upset

if one of his

servants came up

first.

He would have

sacrificed them.

He's upset

because it's his

daughter.

And then the story

goes,

if you continue

on with it

in verse 37.

So she said

to her father,

let this thing

be done for me.

Leave me alone

two months

that I may go

up and down

on the mountains

and weep

for my virginity.

She's prepucessant.

Just on the edge

of being old enough

to be married.

I and my companions.

And so he said,

go.

Then he sent her

away for two months

and she departed.

She and her companions

and wept for her

virginity on the mountains.

And at the end

of the two months

she returned

to her father

who did with her

according to his vow

that he had made.

She had never

known a man

and it became

a custom in Israel

that the daughters

of Israel

went year by year

to lament

the daughter

of Jephthah

the Gilead,

Gileadite,

four days in the year.

It's an oral custom.

It's not something

which is still practiced.

And the fact

that they memorialize

this isn't a good sign

about the spiritual

health of Israel

by the way.

It's not a good sign.

They're not romanticizing it.

Right?

Because the lesson

should have been

that there is

a yearly remembrance

that you never

make a vow

to commit human sacrifice

which is clearly

condemned

throughout the entire

five books

of the Bible

which Jephthah

would have had access

to at that time

in his life.

It's consistently

condemned

in the Bible.

And then

just to wrap up

the story

if you read

the last eight verses

you'll find

that one of the things

that ends up happening

and by the way

in many many religions

and it's often viewed

as a positive thing today

you know

you look at the lion king

and the circle of life

but the fact of the matter

is is that people

who live

amongst a story

that is a circle

it's despairing

because you're trapped.

You're trapped

in circles.

In the Bible

the book of Judges

I haven't talked about

this very much

but in each of the

twelve judges

that mark the book

of Judges

it looks like a cycle

but it's not a cycle

it's a spiral

and you see

that's often

how life works

and I'm just

just as a bit

of an aside

the spiral

can go downwards

because

as the spiral

goes downwards

and that's what's

happening in the book

of Judges

as you go

from the very first judge

to by the time

you come to the very end

you see that there's

this apparent

going around in circle

but every time

it goes around

they get lower

and lower

and lower

and they get more

and more evil

and more and more

debased

and by the end

of it

you have

massive killing

and breaking

of promises

and raping

of a woman

and severing

her into twelve

pieces

you see this

and in a sense

what we know

about our holiness

is also a cycle

because it isn't

that you just

always do what is right

you do what is wrong

and you repent

but in a sense

in a godly way

there's a spiral

that goes up

or at least

goes up

and then down

and then up

and then down

and it's mainly up

but that's what you see

going on here

in this text

is this cycle

of

there's just civil war

Israel fighting Israel

at the end

there's a type of peace

but not rest

now what do we want to say

about all of this story

the sermon series

is called

Messy People

Faithful God

and by God

I mean the Triune God

and this story

seems to be

very very confusing

like for many people

it doesn't make any sense

that this isn't a Bible

it seems to talk

about making vows

to the Lord

it seems

talks about

making your

opening your heart

to the Lord

and pouring out

your heart to him

it shows being

trusting the Lord

to go and fight

in a battle

but it also makes vows

which are evil

but somehow or another

even after the Holy Spirit

comes upon him

they make this

this vow

and still it's all successful

and what on earth

is going on

like what on earth

is going on

well all I can say

is this

if we have

and I could have

called the sermon series

Faithless People

Faithful God

Sinful People

Faithful God

you know

Rebellious People

Faithful God

Messy People

Faithful God

but if God

has to get through

to messy people

he needs to mess

with their heads

if God wants

to deal with

messy people

he needs to mess

with their heads

and that's what

the book of Judges

does time and time

and time again

if you could put up

the next point

Andrew

when I say

a fallen mind

as a Christian

what I believe

is that God

originally made

human beings

to be completely

good and perfect

we human beings

in Genesis 3

it describes a fall

we desire to be

like God

and to be the center

and to be over God

and to be over each other

we think we can be

gods together

but you can't really

be gods together

because there really is

the very heart of the desire

to be gods together

is I'm going to be more

of a god than you

sorry

but that's my desire

and you want to be

more of a god than me

and human beings

are fallen

and what I would like

to suggest is

that there are two things

that the fallen mind

believes

it's especially

prevalent

in Canada today

the first

is that this is

how religion

or spirituality

works

first you be good

then once you

start to be good

then God

will hear you

the universe

will hear you

and then

after you're

still being good

and you're starting

to be heard

you're able to talk

to God

whatever that is

then eventually

if that all works out

you'll be one

with God

and I would suggest

this characterizes

most versions

of personally

put together

spirituality

I'm not denigrating

it by saying that

but that's how many

people approach it

they take the best

and what they would

view as the best

of different things

and put them together

to be their own

spiritual path

that they're walking on

and they seek to be good

within those terms

and as they're good

they can use their rituals

and whatever it is

their meditation

or their yoga

or their prayers

to connect with God

and eventually

if they do that

they'll be one with God

or recognize

that they're one with God

and it characterizes

all religious

and spiritual endeavors

and the second thing

that goes along with it

is that

and you hear this

constantly in our culture

is that

to the fallen mind

the world is divided

between the good people

and bad people

I read about

one novel a week

and they're all

secular novels

I don't read

Christian literature

unless it's C.S. Lewis

or J.R. Tolkien

or something like that

which is very old

and it's a constant thing

you're a good person

you hear it

you go to Tim Hortons

you can go to Starbucks

you can go to the Happy Goat

you can go to Bridgehead

you're a good person

he's not a good person

she's not a good person

they're bad

the world is divided

between good and bad

and of course

it's very easy

because if the world

is divided

between good and bad

and you're a good person

it means you're already

in terms of the spiritual journey

you've already got

step one nailed

now it's just a matter

of actually deciding

you want to start talking to God

so you can be one with God

and that's just how

our fallen mind

just understands the world

and it's all

part of that

by the way

is why

at a very very deep level

it just seems completely

and utterly obvious to us

that good things

should happen to good people

and bad things

should happen to bad people

and that

any bad thing

that happens to a good person

shows that there's something wrong

with the moral order

of the universe

and in fact

whatever God

that should exist

and that would include

whatever Christians say

God is

or they think he is

or she is

or it is

that that God

should rectify these matters

because there are good people

and there are bad people

and I'm a good person

and a bad thing

shouldn't be happening to me

because I'm a good person

haven't you heard me

why on earth

is it worth it

to be one with you

if bad things are happening

for many many people

that we know

and I know people

who completely

and utterly

rejected religion

they say religion

is a complete

and utter waste

of time

it makes me angry

to even talk about it

what they've given up

is point A

what they've completely

rejected

is 5A

that you

first be good

then be heard

then be one

and people who've given up

on religion

and spirituality

that's what they've given up on

but the fact of the matter is

is that even if they make jokes

about how they're going to go

to the bad place

how them and all their friends

will be in the bad place

they say that in a way

that it's good to be bad

because they still accept

the structure of that worldview

and so here's what happens

and there's Christian versions

of this by the way

and so what happens

if you have the view

okay first you be good

then you be heard

then you be one

and if there's a world

between good people

and bad people

where on earth

do you put Jephthah?

like what?

like he's heard

because he's one

and he sort of does this good stuff

but he does this work

like where do you put Jephthah?

where do you put this story?

where do you put judges

if that's how everybody knows

the world works

or should work

how on earth

does this make any sense?

well the answer is

it doesn't

but here's the thing

here's the problem

with the way

our minds work

if I got up

my wife's not in church

she's downstairs

looking after the kids

if I got up

and spent the next 10 minutes

talking about how good a dad I am

I am the best dad

I am the best husband

we're going to be married

39 years in October

it has been 39 years

of bliss

and happiness

and if I was to say that

my wife would be

gagging

none of you would believe it

and all it would show

was that I was very good

especially if I convince you

is that I'm really good at BS

and I'm really good

at self-congratulation

and self-flattery

and here's the problem

with this world view

the world is divided

between good and bad people

the fact of the matter is

is that bad people

think they're good

don't they?

like let's be honest

if you're thinking

who some of the bad people are

however you want to think

about that

my guess is

that if you hung around them

you want to know

how you really know

that there's no bad people

in the world

go to a funeral

doesn't matter

how big a crook

they are

there will be somebody

who gets up

and praises

how good a person

they are

guarantee it

nobody in a funeral

will say

this was a despicable person

I'm only doing this service

because they paid me

500 bucks

if it ever happens

it would go viral

if it was taped

and so

how does this work

if you in fact

aren't really good

but you believe you're good

and doesn't make you gag

when you meet somebody

who says how good they are

and you know they're not good

but why is it

that you give yourself

a pass

and we all know

that bad things

in quotes

happen to good

people

in quotes

that that isn't the way

the world is

yet that's how we think

the world is

or should be

just to wrap it up

only Christianity

explains our sense

and our hypocrisy

and our trap

and our dilemma

if you could put up

the next point Andrew

that would be very helpful

here's what the Bible

says about every human being

every human being

every human being

you will meet today

if you go wandering

around the market

and you meet some

unbelievably broken

street people

if you walk around

the market today

and you see Justin Trudeau

or Andrew Scheer

or you see the owner

of Shopify

it doesn't matter

I mean one level

it matters

but it doesn't matter

because at the end

of the day

you only

every human being

you meet

is a bent treasure

who wears

a crown

that's what the Bible

says

every human being

is made

in the image

of God

every human being

is made

so that they

would have stewardship

over the created order

you read Psalm 8

and it says

that every human being

in a sense

is crowned

by God

but the line

between good and evil

is not between me

and some other person

the line between good and evil

goes right down me

it goes right down

my thoughts

it goes through

my will

it goes through

my dreams of the future

my imagination

my hopes

my remembrances

of the past

the line between good and evil

is right through me

and so it is

that I am bent

I am out of whack

I am not straight

but even though

I am that

God does not

remove

my humanity

from me

so I am still

made as a treasure

bearing the image

of God

and wearing

a crown

and every human being

is like that

but if this is the case

that I am bent

and if the line

between good and evil

goes right down me

then how is it possible

for me to divide the world

between good people

and bad people

and how is it possible

for me

whether it is Islam

or Judaism

or religious forms

of Christianity

or spirituality

or Buddhism

or Hinduism

to think

that the way

that I can be one

with God

is that first

I am going to be good

and then I am going to be heard

and then I am going to be one

and how can I do that

if the line

between good and evil

goes right down

through me

it can never

ever

ever

work

and that is why

religion and spirituality

so sickens

many people

because it is filled

with hypocrisy

I was too loud

and I made a baby cry

I am sorry

and it

and so here

I just want to tell you

this is why

this story

is preparing us

for something

far more glorious

Andrew

if you could put it up

religion

does not work

but there is a power

from the triune God

that is pure grace

and is offered

to the undeserving

as a gift

and when received

by faith in Jesus

God makes

the dead

to come alive

the blind

to have light

the shameful

to have honor

the slave

to be free

the condemned

to be acquitted

the lost

to be saved

the poor

to be rich

the alone

to be adopted

the impure

to be pure

the sinful

to be righteous

the doomed

to possess

a sure hope

the far off

to be brought near

the hostile

to be reconciled

the guilty

to be forgiven

the demonized

to be filled

with the Holy Spirit

the lovelest

to be loved

the dweller

in the domain

of darkness

to be transferred

to dwell

as a citizen

in the kingdom

of the beloved

son

and if God

does all

of that

for us

the undeserving

as a gift

for each

bent

treasure

for whom

the line

for good

and evil

goes right

down the center

of whom

they are

but they are

still a treasure

who wears

a crown

if God

does that

for us

and we

receive it

by Jesus

these stories

are trying

to break

our mind

from how

the fallen

mind

works

to be like

Israel

and throw

ourselves

upon the

mercy

of God

and then

the way

we live

is out

of gratitude

and security

for what

God has

done for us

and it is

out of that

that we begin

to pray

to our

father in

heaven

in a new

and different

way

and it is

out of that

that we

begin to

live

in our

father's

world

in a new

and different

way

I invite

you to

stand

just bow

our heads

in prayer

if there's

any here

who have

never yet

crossed

that line

and come

to that

point

where they

call out

upon God

for mercy

or who

have thought

all their

life that

they are

trying to

be good

to be

heard

so they

can someday

be one

and now

realize that

entire

journey is

completely

impossible

and the

Holy Spirit

is convicting

you to

die to

that

and die

to your

self-conception

as good

and your

fear that

you are

bad

and the

Holy Spirit

is knocking

on the

door

Jesus is

knocking on

the door

of your

heart

that you

would

cast

yourself

upon

his

mercy

and call

out to

him

there is

no better

time than

right now

to stop

listening to

what I

say and

just say

Jesus

be my

savior

and be

my

Lord

all that

list that

George just

read that's

all from the

Bible

I need

that I

want that

and I

surrender

to that

and there's

no better

time than

now to

use your

own words

to so

say it

and for

the rest

of us

who all

have fallen

minds as

well

who

we leave

church on

a Sunday

and very

quickly we

fall back

into thinking

of ourselves

as good

worried that

we're bad

seeing others

as the

other and

somehow a

threat

rather than

someone to

be loved

and served

and prayed

for

who quickly

fall into

those religious

habits of

thinking

Father this

is our time

to just come

before the

Lord and say

Lord thank you

for the gospel

thank you

I can be

with your

people

and hear

it

I really

need it

I want

my life

in light

of the

gospel

to be

a spiral

that ends

in heaven

Father

we thank

you for

your word

we thank

you that

you mess

with our

heads

we thank

you that

you mess

with our

heads

so that

we will

be open

to the

gospel

and be

gripped

by it

we ask

Father that

the Holy

Spirit would

move in a

mighty

and powerful

way within

us to

grip us

by the

gospel

and with

the gospel

with its

truth

with its

beauty

with its

power

with its

certainty

with its

reality

with its

unending

nature

Father grip

us with

the gospel

so that

we will

begin to

live free

in your

world

with you

as our

father

for the

good of

people

for the

sharing

of the

gospel

and for

your great

glory

not our

own

all

these

things

we ask

in the

name

of

Jesus

and

God's

people

said

Amen