The Success Trap

Father, we confess before you that we are far better at seeing sin in other people than seeing sin in ourselves.

That we are far better at seeing evil motives and being cynical about others and very poor at seeing evil motives in ourselves.

But at the same time, Father, we confess before you that we often seem to go between great pride and great despair when our proud pretensions get pricked.

And so, Father, we are unstable and we give you thanks and praise that you have set it up, that your people gather once a week on your day to gather together and hear your word, to be recharged and recommitted as we hear the gospel and think about your word.

And so, Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would very powerfully bring your word this morning home deep into our lives, that we might be disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel, learning to live day by day for your great glory.

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

Please be seated.

Some of you, I don't know how many of you have heard of David Woods in Acts 17 Apologetics Ministries.

I'd heard of him and some of you know as well, I actually spent several days, 10 days with him on a tour in Israel back in October and not just him but some other people.

And I had never watched his video about his conversion.

Everybody asked me on the tour, have you seen David Woods' conversion video?

And I said, no, I haven't.

So when I finally came back, I watched it.

I was really struck by it.

It just powerfully impacted me.

And I think I've shared it with you.

I told my family.

But I've noticed something.

I don't know how many of you have watched the video since I suggested, you know, Google David Woods' conversion video.

But many people are deeply offended and troubled by the conversion video.

Like deeply troubled and offended by it.

And I've been thinking about that.

I just had a conversation the other day about it by people who were worried about the man.

Just, you know, full disclosure.

And this fits very well with the book of Judges that we're looking at.

Because the book of Judges, part of the problem we have when we read the book of Judges is that it's filled with violence and evil.

Like today we're going to see a man who has sex with his slave, who murders and tortures people and produces a son who does even more murder and torture.

I mean, just like your normal uplifting thought on a Sunday morning.

But one of the things in the video is that part of the step of this fellow David Woods becoming a Christian is when he tries to hammer his father to death.

I'll give you a warning up front about it.

And I was thinking about, you know, why it is that I was so powerfully, I've never thought about hammering my father to death, by the way.

But why was I so powerfully affected by it?

And I think the reason was, is that I became a Christian in grade 12.

Continued on with my high school.

Went and did a degree in sociology and philosophy in graduate school.

And, you know, to be honest, for about the next seven or eight years of my life, I would go through bouts of doubting the Christian faith and almost giving up on being a Christian.

And for me, this is just saying something about me.

I was never tempted by Buddhism or Hinduism.

Never even for a moment was that a temptation to me.

My great temptation has always been nihilism, nihilism, atheism.

That's always been my thing.

And part of that is, and I just, I mean, when I talk to atheists, I try to restrain myself with this.

Because I actually think when somebody says they're an atheist, I said, no, you're not.

You know, because if you're a real atheist, you're gripped by Dostoevsky's statement that if God is dead, all things are permissible.

There is no meaning in life.

There is no morality.

There is no better or worse.

All there is is power and appetite.

Right.

And I don't know what that says about me, but for me, for seven or eight years, I would go through seasons.

I mean, I'm studying Marx.

I'm studying Feuerbach.

I'm studying Weber.

I'm studying all of these.

I'm studying Skinner.

I'm studying all these people at school.

I'm studying, you know, from a scientistic point of view and an atheistic point of view.

And I'd go through these periods of deep doubt.

And for me, the great temptation was that.

Is that true?

Am I wrong to be a Christian?

And if I'm wrong to be a Christian, that is what I would believe.

It would still be the case today.

If I was to stop being a Christian, that is what I would believe.

And that's what David Woods struggles with.

And I think that's why.

If any of you, if that's your temptation, then that's the video for you.

If you can't even begin to understand why somebody would even think those things, don't bother watching it.

It'll just offend you.

But I mention all of this because one of the things, it's a common Christian problem and it's a common human problem.

On one hand, there is a deep part of us that longs to arrive.

And when we've arrived, then life will be easier.

In Christian circles, it happens because we long that if we just had that miracle, if we just had that anointing,

if we just had that powerful religious experience, and after that, life would be easier and life would be better.

I wouldn't have these doubts.

I wouldn't have these problems.

I would have this certainty.

Praise the Lord.

I would walk in victory.

And there's many churches that teach that.

I grew up in a church that often taught that type of stuff.

If you just have this one spiritual, emotional breakthrough, then life is easier.

And we see it all around us in the world as well.

On one hand, if I just meet the right person, if I can just marry the right person, if I can just get this degree,

if I can just get this job, if I can just get this house,

if I can just get these kids, if I can just learn this technique of how to deal with people,

if I can just have this experience, if I can have this peak, then life will be easier.

And on one hand, it's a very powerful desire and drive.

And at the same time we have it, we doubt it.

And in fact, often if we hear somebody else talking about this,

in our hearts, we have a certain degree of despising of them

because we think it's very naive.

That's not how life works.

But at the same time that we see that in others,

we at ourselves, we always long,

could there just be this moment,

this relationship, this church,

this fill in the blank,

and then life will be better.

We're going through the book of Judges.

That's one of the things we do here at Church of the Messiah.

You know, the Bible is 66 books.

And other than Proverbs and maybe James and maybe 1 John,

they all have a very, very particular order.

They're written as books, and so we go through them as books.

And we're getting up to chapter 8 and chapter 9 of Judges today.

It's the longest text of Scripture I've ever tried to preach on in my life, 97 verses.

It has caused me lots of prayer and anguish all week, I will be honest.

And we've come to the story of Gideon.

And often what happens when people tell the story of Gideon,

they tell it in such a way that they think that by the end of the story of Gideon,

he lives happily ever after.

But that's, in fact, not how the story works.

Like, unconsciously, we Christians tell the story or part of the story of Gideon

as if it fits into this scenario.

But that's literally not how the thing goes.

If we were doing a Netflix of the series, limited series of the story of Gideon,

there'd be at least three episodes, maybe four,

depending on how you want it to break up chapter 8 and 9.

Really, it should be together.

But in chapter 6, and that's what we looked at a couple of weeks ago,

for those of you who don't know what the story of Gideon is,

it's a very, very powerful story.

It's one that's historically, like, you know,

I think to myself, you just watch the unfolding crisis in the Middle East,

and every time you think it can't get worse, it seems to get worse.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees trying to get into Turkey,

banned by Turkey, attacked by Russia and Syria and others.

And the story in chapter 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the book of Gideon

is that there's been this people group called the Midianites and the Amalekites

and their other different tribal allies.

And for seven years, they come into Israel,

and they don't try to take Israel over.

They don't try to annex it or occupy it.

All they do is they come in,

they steal all the food and eat as much food as they can carry and consume.

And then when they sort of load it up,

what they do is they kill, they destroy all the other food.

They try to destroy all the other food.

For seven years, you have genocide.

For seven years, you have what the Soviet Union tried to do

and killed millions of people in the Ukraine

by an artificial forced famine of stealing the food.

All the while, while the smart people in the West

were saying that the Soviet Union was a socialist, communist utopia,

they were forcing, they were creating forced starvation of the Ukrainian people.

And so this is what's going on in Midian,

and Israel can't fight against them,

and they're getting diminished and diminished and diminished.

And God goes and calls Gideon,

and if you look at chapter 6, in the course of chapter 6,

there's two very remarkable miracles

that finally convince Gideon

that God is calling him to go and deal with this.

The first miracle is where a large amount of food

is just put on a dry rock,

and the angel of the Lord representing God just touches it,

and the whole thing gets consumed in fire and disappears.

Just be honest, how many of us wouldn't love

to have the odd miracle like that appear

just to bolster our faith?

Just be honest.

And then the next one is the miracle around the fleeces.

And then in chapter 7, it would be episode 2

if we were doing a Netflix series about it,

that Gideon has to actually go and fight the Midianites.

And so he goes, the Spirit of God comes upon him,

he goes and he gathers up the tribes,

and he has 32,000 people who are going to go

and march up to this battle.

But in chapter 7, verse 2,

the verse which is the key to understanding

all four chapters, 6, 7, 8, and 9,

is in chapter 7, verse 2.

And God says to Gideon,

I'm concerned that if all of those soldiers

go and fight against Midian,

that what will happen when I deliver,

when I defeat the Midianites,

you folks are going to boast over me.

You're going to boast over me

as if it's something that you accomplished.

I'm concerned about that.

So it's a famous story.

So Gideon goes and tells people

if they're afraid, you don't have to go.

22,000 people leave, leaving 10,000 soldiers.

God says to Gideon, still too many people.

And so then, you know,

we know the famous thing about the water,

and the point is there's only 300 guys

left at the end of it,

and then there's Gideon and 300 guys,

and Gideon's still obviously afraid,

and then God does another miracle,

one which would have been very significant

for a paganized man like Gideon,

and that is that he has Gideon over here,

the dream of an enemy,

and how the enemy interprets the dream.

And in the ancient culture,

as in most of the world today,

dreams can have unbelievable importance

in terms of the gods speaking

or gods speaking to a human being,

and Gideon now really knows

that God's going to do this,

and there's the thing with the trumpets,

et cetera, et cetera.

The whole army of Midian is thrown into confusion.

They fight each other.

They kill each other.

They scatter,

and some of the Israelites come out of the mountains

and chase some of them

and hold the fords

and kill many, many more,

and that's how the story ends,

and usually in Sunday school

and in churches,

you don't hear what happens next.

You assume,

and they all lived happily ever after.

No.

I don't have time to read all of chapter 8 and 9,

but I'll just start to summarize

what happens immediately after.

Immediately after,

a very powerful tribe

that had been way up in the mountains

where it was hard for the Midianites

to go and fight them,

they come and they've actually killed

the two Midianite generals,

and they come and confront Gideon

and said,

how come you didn't call us

so we could go?

What do they want to do?

They basically say,

we wanted to share in the glory of that victory.

You robbed us of a chance to have glory.

Now, Gideon, in the story,

seems to give a very, very humble,

et cetera, et cetera, you know, answer,

but he's not humble.

They're too powerful for him to deal with.

In fact, one of the interesting things about this,

it's a very, very common biblical lesson.

Friends, how you treat very, very weak people

shows you who you really are.

If you meet somebody very powerful

or very rich or very famous

and you're nice to them,

that doesn't show you who you are.

It's when you meet somebody that nobody likes.

If you're in an office or if you're in a school

and there's the awkward, socially awkward,

irritating person that absolutely nobody likes,

and if you join in,

that reveals what you really like.

That reveals what you really like.

Because we see this very next, after this,

Gideon's going to try to kill

the two kings of Midian that have escaped,

and he comes up to a smaller city

and asks for some help,

and they won't give him any help.

And he says, listen,

when I come back successful,

I'm going to torture all the leaders.

And he goes to another little village

that he could easily handle,

and they don't give him any help as well.

And he says, listen,

when I come back victorious,

I'm going to kill you all.

I'm going to kill you all.

And he gets the two kings,

and he goes back,

and he does torture, torture, torture,

all of the elders of the first city.

And he does murder all of the people

of the second city.

How many of you hear this in Sunday school?

How many of you hear this

in character studies of Gideon?

And then you discover that the reason

he went to capture the two kings

wasn't because he was concerned

for fulfilling God's will.

It was a private quest for revenge

because they had killed his brothers.

And he actually tries to get

his very young child

to pick up a sword to kill them.

But the child can't,

so Gideon kills them.

And now,

we'll get to the part

that we're going to read.

Verse 22 of chapter 8.

If you have your Bibles,

you can follow along.

Chapter 8, verse 22.

And here's what happens.

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon,

because, you know,

now obviously Midian's

completely and utterly crushed.

The men of Israel said to Gideon,

rule over us,

you and your son

and your grandson also,

for you have saved us

from the hand of Midian.

Don't say God did it.

300 huge army,

but it's,

Gideon's getting the credit.

Now Gideon seems to give,

in verse 23,

a theologically precise

and perfect response.

And it is

a theologically precise

and perfect response.

He says,

I will not rule over you,

and my son will not rule over you.

The Lord will rule over you.

And we're just going to stop here.

Now, what happens now,

we need to,

I forgot to bring it.

So just imagine for a second

that I don't have a Bible here.

This is like a fitness thing.

I'm a fitness star,

and I'm a YouTube influencer

on fitness and on diet,

and hundreds and hundreds

of thousands of followers,

and I'm now standing here

talking to you.

And I have a bowl here.

And as I start to talk to you

about what I,

you know,

my secrets

and what I'm sharing with you,

my secrets to success

and perfect health,

as I begin to talk to you,

I open a bag

of barbecue potato chips.

Kettle.

Southwest barbecue.

Potato chips.

The best tasting

barbecue potato chips

in the world.

We'll have to make sure

that's not on the,

unless they want to

give us an advertising dollars,

Andrew.

And I pour the bag

of potato chips,

the whole bag in there,

and I have this bag.

As I'm talking to you,

eating potato chips,

I say,

I treat my body

as a temple.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

I never eat potato chips.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Potato chips are bad for you.

You should never eat them.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

I never have saturated fats.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

They're going to cause you

all these problems.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

You get the picture.

Chomp, chomp.

So, Gideon says,

Oh, I'm not going to rule.

My sons aren't going to rule.

Only the Lord will rule over you.

And then look what happens

in the very next verse.

And Gideon said to them,

verse 24,

Let me make a request of you,

every one of you,

give me the earrings

from his spoil.

For they had golden earrings

because they were Ishmaelites,

the people that they defeated.

And the people answered,

We will willingly give them.

And they spread a cloak

and every man threw in it

the earrings of his spoil.

And the weight of the golden earrings

that he requested

were 1,700 shekels,

about 20 kilos of gold.

20 kilos of gold.

Because the crescent ornaments

and the pendants

and the purple garments

worn by the kings of Midian.

So, in other words,

not only does he get 20 kilos of gold,

he also gets some other ornaments.

Earlier, I forgot to tell you,

he takes the royal ornaments

from the battle horses

of the Midianite kings

and he keeps them for himself.

And then look at this.

And he also takes

the purple garments

worn by the kings of Midian

beside the collars

that were around

the necks of their camels.

Now, we'll get to the next bit

in a bit here.

Now, just look at what happens.

So he said,

No, no, no, the Lord...

So there's several things

going on here.

Imagine this.

I hope I'm not offending

anybody here.

But I...

And maybe afterwards

you can just pray

that, George,

you're very cynical

and you're lacking of faith.

And I do know I lack faith.

But when I see people saying

there's going to be

a miracle service

at a certain time

in a certain place,

I think to myself,

how on earth

could you ever possibly know

that God is going to do

a miracle at that time?

Like, I'm sorry,

it just seems very presumptuous.

Like, God does a miracle

when he's going to do a miracle.

How can you advertise

in advance a miracle?

I don't know.

Like, I just find that presumptuous.

But let's say,

having preached on that,

all of a sudden

we hear some shots outside

and some yelling

and a guy comes walking in,

stumbling in,

and you can see

three bullet holes

in his chest,

blood pouring out of it.

And he comes

and he falls,

white-faced,

right over there.

We're all completely

and utterly in shock.

I run over

and I pray,

Lord,

heal this man.

Father,

you can do this.

We believe,

you know,

if you don't heal him,

help him to be prepared

to meet Jesus.

But Father,

we ask that you would

heal this man.

And in front of all

of our eyes,

the blood stops.

The wounds are healed.

Color returns to his face

and he stands up

and thanks me.

Now,

that would be a church service

for the ages.

But then imagine,

I turn and say to you,

folks,

I'd like to pass the plate

right now

because I would really,

I really,

really,

really would like

a Porsche SUV.

And it's not a donation

to the church,

it's a donation to me.

You just saw the miracle

I did,

didn't you?

So if you could just

pass the plate,

I want to keep passing

and passing and passing

until there's enough money

in the plate

for me to buy a Porsche SUV.

I have a color in mind

as well

and I want all the features.

Don't be cheap.

Now you laugh,

but that would be just

so wrong

and so offensive.

Right?

So here's Gideon,

300 men

and I'm sure

when they were holding

the torches,

they weren't holding them

like this,

they were holding them

like this

because their knees

were going like this.

And God does this

remarkable thing

and God does this

whole miracle

and then after God

has done the whole miracle,

Gideon asked for

20 pounds of gold

and 20 kilos of gold.

That's 44 pounds.

That's a lot of gold.

So,

and it even gets worse.

Look at what happens

in 27 and 28.

And Gideon made

an ephod,

ephod of it,

some of the gold

and put it in a city

in Ophrah

and all Israel

hoared or prostituted

themselves after it there

and it became a snare

to Gideon

and to his family.

So Midian was subdued

before the people

of Israel

and they raised

their heads no more

and the land had rest

for 40 years

in the days of Gideon.

So what he does

as well is this.

He makes an ephod

and an ephod

was something

that was used

in connection

with worship.

Only the high priest

could wear it.

It would be connected

to going to the Ark

of the Covenant

and going into the tent

and part of the ephod

was that there was

something right here

that contained

the umim

and the thumim

and in times of crisis

in the context

of worship of the Lord

the high priest

could take the umim

and thumim

and ask God

to give them

an answer and direction

and that would be provided

by God.

And what Gideon has done

is not in connection

in fact in the original thing

it's probably in connection

to an idol

that he made

with some of the gold as well.

And so what God

what Gideon has done

is said in connection

with worshiping this idol

I am going to have

my own ephod

and if you want God

to speak to you

if you want

to hear what God

has to say

about your business deal

your marriage

your trip

you come to me

and I will use

my ephod

because I'm the one

who had all these miracles

happen to me

and look at all the wonderful

things I've done

and you come to me

to hear the voice of God.

And needless to say

it became

a snare

to the people.

Now

if you could put up

the first point Andrew

so one of the things

we see in this text

is success

can be your downfall.

It teaches you

to boast over God

and exalt yourself.

success can be

your downfall.

It tempts you

to boast over God

and exalt yourself.

Now let's be honest

about this.

If

I got

300 people

and

there were

120 some odd

thousand

Soviet

and Syrian

and Iranian

troops

that were going to be

coming against

a particular place

and I went off

with 300 of you

and not 300 of you here

but our congregation

a couple of others

and the 300 of us

go and God

does a mighty miracle

and the 120,000

Russian, Syrian

and Iranian

troops

are all defeated.

I'd have a hard time

not bringing that up

in conversation

occasionally.

You know

somebody's asking me

for some advice

and I'd say

well it makes me

think about that time

when I defeated

120,000 Russians

and Syrians

and Iranians

with 300 people.

Did I tell you

about the time?

Maybe I'm the only one

because I'm probably

a worse sinner

than most of you

but it'd be pretty hard

not to be tempted

to do something like that

on a regular basis.

So regular

you'd be sick

and tired

of hearing it.

Now

here's the thing

that's going on

in this text.

Remember I said

that we long

for some type

of experience

that's going

to just make

things all right.

Like many of us

sort of wish

that if God

could just do

a mighty miracle

that we could see

that would be

undisputed

that that would be

fine.

We would live

with that.

Life would be

better after that.

If only God

would speak to us

or communicate

to us

in a very powerful

powerful

unmistakeful way

then that would

be fine.

If only God

would do something

just to vindicate

us

and to show

that he's with us

and if he could

do it in a very

very powerful way

then life

would be fine.

But all of those

things happen

to Gideon

and it hasn't

changed his heart.

in fact

what is getting

pointed at here

and touched on

here is something

which is a very

very very deep

human problem

and it's a deep

human problem.

It doesn't matter

if you claim

to practice

Buddhism

or Islam

or you're an

atheist

or completely

and utterly

just indifferent

to the whole

topic

that there's

this very

very very

deep human

bias

and prejudice

that makes it

hard for us

to imagine

that

if the universe

is going

in its proper

direction

or if

God

is going to

work

in a way

that brings

him glory

then obviously

it has to

include me.

Like it's

impossible

for God

to be glorified

and for me

to do poorly

because we

have a very

very hard

time.

we very

very quickly

blur the

line between

us

I quickly

blur the

line between

God and

me

upon God's

glory and

my glory

God's success

and my

success

my success

and God's

success

it very very

quickly comes

that I

blur those

things

things

it's hard

to imagine

that I

could take

a stand

for God

or take

a stand

for justice

and I

don't get

any recognition

for it

and I

get fired

and I

end up

having to

be on

welfare

and I

lose my

house

and I

have to

live in

subsidized

housing

and we

all in

our culture

think that

that is a

very very

good argument

that God

doesn't exist

that there's

something wrong

with the

universe

because it

is just so

deeply a part

of our

imagination

that it is

impossible for

me to

not have

for the world

not to be

right and for

me not to be

able to have

success

but for me

not

it's just

it's a deep

thing in us

I don't have

time to read

the rest of

the story

I want to

unpack a

couple of

things but

the thing

if you go

back and

you read

the book

of chapter

nine it

even gets

worse

because you

know it's a

very very

common thing

in television

and movies

and stories

the sin

of the

mother or

the father

the way

that somebody

has treated

you and

how that

has consequences

that go down

for years

and years

and decades

and decades

afterwards

and Gideon

by the way

one of his

he ends up

having many

many wives

he has a

slave and he

makes one of

his slaves

a concubine

which means

he can have

sex with her

and she has

a kid

and he names

the kid

my dad

is king

that's what

Abimelech

means

my dad

is king

at the same

times that he

said he's

not a king

he names

his kid

my dad

is king

and Abimelech

goes and

seizes the

kingdom

he murders

his brothers

he ends

up causing

he ends up

being

responsible

for the

murder

of whole

region

of Israel

and the

sins

of Gideon

and the

consequences

of Gideon's

life

and his

pride

and his

vanity

and his

arrogance

have

reverberations

throughout the

whole

about the

generation

that comes

even after

he's died

if you

could put up

the next

point

Andrew

just to

try to

bring this

home

you know

I said

that on

one hand

there's this

very very

powerful

sense

of us

as human

beings

that there

must be

some way

that we

can arrive

some way

that we

can turn

a corner

and our

life will

always be

better

whether

it's the

degree

the amount

of money

in the

bank

the academic

accomplishment

the artistic

accomplishment

the business

success

the marital

success

the success

in children

the success

in terms

of learning

how to

practice

mindfulness

so that we

can manage

our emotions

some other

technique

for managing

our emotions

some type

of yoga

breakthrough

so that we

have some

type of

ongoing

and merging

peace

and we

have this

very very

profound

sense in

so many

different ways

secular

and religious

and spiritual

and even

Christian

versions of

it

and we

have this

deep sense

that there

should be

something like

that but at the

same time we

know that that

is not true

and we make fun

of other people

who have their own

way of doing that

and we make fun

of them

and what the

story in

Judges is

teaching us

is this

if both

success and

failure keeps

you from the

triune God

then only he

can act to

save you

see that's what

happening in

the story

the story

is posing

riddles to

us

you think a

miracle will

change your

life

we'll do a

miracle of the

food

we'll do a

miracle of the

fleece

we'll do a

miracle of the

dream

we'll do a

miracle of the

battle

and Gideon's

heart is not

changed

and obviously

his failures

don't endear him

to the triune

God

nobody thinks

that his

failures

makes him

closer to

God

and so in

Gideon's

life you see

both this

mixture of

success and

failure

and if both

success and

failure keep

you from the

triune God

well then maybe

the nihilism

the nihilism

that I talked

about at the

beginning of the

service is

completely and

utterly correct

and Dostoevsky

is completely and

utterly correct

if God is

dead all things

are permissible

all that is

left is my

power and

my appetite

and my

desires

and my

comfort

and that is

all that is

left and

there is

nothing

no social

claim

no religious

or spiritual

claim can

make any

difference to

me

all that

matters is

my calculations

to maximize

myself

or maybe

there is a

God that's

just completely

and utterly

abandoned us

because the

fact of the

matter is

is if both

success and

failure do

not work

then unless

God has

mercy and

does something

for us we

have no hope

we have no

hope

only God

only God

God

now if you

could put up

the next

point just

very briefly

you will

always have

to struggle

with the

world the

flesh and

the devil

until you

die that's

one of the

messages of

the Bible

that there

is no sense

of arriving

in that sense

that we're

often looking

for but if

you could put

up the next

point Andrew

by grace

alone through

faith alone in

Christ alone

you have both

the certainty

of eternal

security and

the certainty

of help for

the daily

struggle against

the world the

flesh and

the devil so

let me unpack

all of this

see if only

God if we

have this

basic problem

and you know

one of the

things which is

so powerful

about the

Bible if you

if you listen

to the stories

is that the

the Bible

regularly surprises

us because if

we're honest about

the longings and

the yearnings and

our doubts and

our uncertainties

time and time

and time again

we see that

only the Bible

fulfills in

its own way

in a deeper

and wiser

and truer way

the longings and

the yearnings of

our hearts and

can speak to

the cynicism and

the skepticism

that we bring

against our own

longings and our

yearnings you

see if we're

honest success

and failure don't

seem to work

because it

doesn't change

this fundamental

desire I have

for glory

and to be the

center

and so what

this is preparing

us for in the

book of Judges is

what's going to

happen in the

cross

you see at the

very very heart of

reality as is

revealed in the

cross isn't a

solitary God who

is lonely who had

to create human

beings because he

had nobody to

love or she had

nobody to love

and unlike in the

stories of the

east and in

paganism it isn't

as if there was

some type of God

and there was

some cosmic

catastrophe as

if for a

moment God

forgot that he

was God and

lost control and

some catastrophe

happened it

happened somewhere

else and and

now he might or

might not deal

with and get

around to dealing

with it no the

very heart as is

revealed in Jesus

and as he unlocks

the true meaning of

the Old Testament

the very heart of

who God is is

that from all

eternity the

father is love

the son and

the Holy Spirit

is both the

means by which

that love is

communicated and

his love himself

and the son has

received the

father's love and

his love the father

back and the Holy

Spirit is both the

very means by which

that is communicated

and carried and

his love himself as

well and from all

eternity the father

has revealed himself

to the son communicated

and carried by the

Holy Spirit and the

son has revealed

himself back to the

father in delight

and in love and it

is out of the

overflow of who

God is that the

triune God created

human beings and

when we decided that

we would be like God

ourselves and we

bent and warped and

twist our nature God

did not despise us or

abandon us because it

is the very nature of

God that he is love

an overflow of love

an overflow of

goodness and so in

the fullness of time

through stories like

this posing riddles to

us about how is it

that we have longings

for having arrived but

at the same time doubt

that we could ever

arrive and how is it

that both success can

ruin us and failure

ruins us and if both

success and failure

ruins us and we have a

longing to be whole how

can that ever be and

so the story is posing

these riddles for us to

read and enter into so

that when we come to

Jesus and we learn of

the father's eternal love

of the son and the son's

eternal love of the

father and the Holy

Spirit both God himself

but also the love that

flows between and the

creation of all things

out of the overflow of

love and God never

stopping being loving and

seeing you and me and

our profound unfixable

need that Jesus does the

exact God the son of

God does the exact

opposite of our

condition if our

condition is to be so

bent that we somehow

think we could be like

God God the son of God

remaining in nature God

strips himself of his

appearance of God of his

power as God and becomes

no human being is more

weak than they are when

then than when they are a

zygote in their mother's

womb no human being is

weaker than when they are a

zygote in their mother's

womb and God the son of God

takes into himself our human

nature becomes one person

and enters our human race as a

zygote in the womb of

Mary and the only thing that

can be lower than that is what

happens at the end of his life

when he dies because you can't

be poorer than dead that's

something Flannery O'Connor said

you can't be poorer than dead

and on the cross we see this

wonderful offer that God makes

to us to solve the riddle of

our longings and our yearnings

and the riddles posed by our

cynicisms and our doubts

that God the son of God says I

will die a death in your place

and you know George after you're

dead and gone and your kids

talk freely about the different

ways that you weren't a perfect

dad and you bent their life out

of shape and your grandkids and

you know the ministry interns in

your congregations and your

neighbors and all those other

people and not only all the

things the ways that your pride

bent you out of shape and bent

other people out of shape and

hurt them and helped to bend them

out of shape and all the things

that they could say against you

and all the things that they wish

that could be said to you and the

ways that you should be punished

because of the different ways they

hurt you hurt them all of those

will be on me George that will

unmake you and I offer to take your

place and have all of that come on me

because I love you and George your

inability whether through success or

failure to live a life that is in

harmony with God the Father and the

Holy Spirit and that love and that

truth and that the beauty and that

that wonder that's been eternally

communicated between the Father and

the Son through the Holy Spirit and by

the Holy Spirit and your inability to

ever even remotely be at home with

that and my perfect at homeness in

that I will offer that to you I will

trade places with you George I will

bear the consequence of your pride and

I will offer you the destiny of my

great humility and love to clothe you

and there is nothing you can do by

success or failure George all you can

do is receive it by faith and here's the

wonderful thing about this you see when

you put your faith and trust in Jesus the

Bible has this constant message of

eternal security it means that after

today if I have done before I came into

this church God does not love me any

more if I've done a good job in the

sermon than he will if I've done a bad

job in the sermon I standing with him

does not depend upon my ability to

accomplish these things when I put my

faith and trust in Jesus and I know

that he has done everything that my

pride doesn't demands to be punished

and he has taken that upon himself and

all that my success and failure cannot

accomplish because of my bended knee

that he clothes him with his own he

closed me with his destiny and I

receive both by faith when I put my

faith and trust in him it means that the

moment after I die it does not matter

how the world has evaluated me or how

the world has evaluated you but the

moment after I die or you die in Jesus

the words of the triune God to you will

be welcome home you are mine and I am

yours welcome home

so on one hand through the gospel I

have an eternal security not based on

my accomplishment or my failure and at

the same time as we are gripped by the

gospel and it begins to soften our heart

towards gratitude and soften our heart

towards humility as this story of the

gospel becomes that upon which we stand

and that by which we begin to see the

world and begin to see ourselves it

means that week by week and day by day

but week by week in particular when we

gather together with other people who

are followers of Jesus on the Lord's day

to be reminded of this it gives me and

gives you as the gospel grips us more

and more a firm place to stand and say

Lord my pride has really had a field day

of wrecking my life this week my

arrogance my selfishness thank you so

much for what you did for me on the

cross I give these things before you

Lord help me to amend my life that I

might be more like Jesus

it gives us the certainty without the

cynicism to live with Jesus by grace

alone through faith alone in Christ

alone you have both the certainty of

eternal security and the certainty of

help for the daily struggle against the

world the flesh and the devil until you

see God face to face and he says welcome

home my beloved invite you to stand

just bow our heads in prayer

father just as we go into this prayer you

know the state of all of our hearts and

father if there is one here or more that

have not yet at this time given their

lives to Jesus we ask father those of us

who know the the wonder of grace we ask

father that you would move in a powerful

way in their lives and help them even now

at this time to say Jesus be my savior

Jesus be my savior father save me through

Jesus and father for all of us you know our

hearts you know how our wake week has been

you know those of us who can't forgive you

know those of us who are filled with

revenge you know those of us who are

consumed with envy those of us who are

consumed with pride with gluttony with

greed with anger father you know those of

us who struggle with this all this week we

you're children but we still struggle with

it and father we thank you that we can be

reminded in your word of the gospel and we

ask father that you would make us disciples

of Jesus gripped by the gospel learning to

live for your glory that you would grip us

with this eternal security and in the power

of the Holy Spirit that we can look at our

day in our week in our lives with realism

but without cynicism without despair but

with hope and that you would bring those

things to our mind that we can lay at your

feet and ask for your help and your

strength that we might be disciples of

Jesus gripped by the gospel learning to

live for your glory and all God's people

said amen