Stories of the Saints Digging Deeper Judges Pt II

Introduction
Last week, we had an introduction to the book of Judges, the overall pattern of the story, and some connections to our lives today. In case you missed last week, lets spend just a quick minute reviewing that. The book of Judges details the nation of Israels story following the death of Joshua. We a fourfold pattern emerge: 1. the nation forgets God and sins greatly, 2. God allows foreign nations to oppress Israel, 3. Israel repents and cries out to God for deliverance, and 4. God raises up a persona judge/leaderto deliver the people out of this oppression. The cycle happens a total of 12 times with 12 different judges. Eventually this cycle leads to the creation of an earthly king for the nation of Israel, which we will see in coming weeks. This week, we want to dig deeper into the context of the time of the judges and unpack one of the key themes that is woven throughout the story, and the whole Bible. probably more powerful, word: whoring. The people whored after other gods (2:17, ESV). This strong language illustrates the seriousness of sin. Sin is not simply breaking a list of rules. It is a personal offense against a partner in a serious relationship. And because it is personal, all people of God need to take sin seriously. We do not offend against a nameless, faceless entity. We offend against a personal God who loves us.2

Forgiveness and Reconciliation

And yet, the stronger the language and images of sin, the more we can realize the strength of forgiveness; that God does not simply say, its ok and shrug it off. That is no forgiveness at all. True forgiveness names sin for what it is; it does not shy away from that. And then true forgiveness means a restoring of the relationship; that the sin is paid for, and the parties are reconciled to one another. It is a much more tangible and powerful thing to understand forgiveness in this way, is it not? It allows us to understand the depth of Gods love for us, and also enables us to share that true forgiveness with one another. Like God acts toward us, so we also act toward one another. We dont shrug off sin. We acknowledge the pain and brokenness, deal with it, and then the relationship can be restored.

The Language and Imagery of Relationship

One of the keys to understanding this part of Scripture (and really, all of Scripture) is realizing that the Bible is not a history textbook or a set of rules for living. It is the story of Gods relation- ship with His people. The words and images given to us by God in the Bible help us understand the depth and nature of this special relationship. The Bible is very personal; it is about a personal God who interacts with His people in personal ways. And we are affected just as personally as those in the story of Scripture. And some of the words and images in Scripture are especially strong. They are stronger images that perhaps we might even want to hear. Often we want to tame God, toning down language, or worse, skipping over parts of His Word that are hard to hear.

Making This Real

It can be easy to think of sin and reconciliation with God in the abstract because we dont see Him face-to-face as we do one another. It can be harder to realize the personal nature of our relationship with God. Yet it is as real as anything can be, and we can see the result of Gods forgiveness lived out in our own lives with one another. Perhaps a few thoughts can help us make this concept more real in the coming days and weeks for us: forgive us our sins (trespasses) as we forgive those who sin (trespass) against us- from the Lords Prayer In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.- 1 John 4:10-12 We love because he first loved us.- 1 John 4:19

Sin as Adultery and Prostitution

The Bible often describes Gods relationship to His people to the churchusing the language and image of marriage: Jesus as the bridegroom and the church His bride. 1 So when Gods people turn away from Him in the book of Judges (and certainly other times throughout Scripture), He doesnt just consider it to be a mistake or some trivial issue. Three times in Judges we see a description that Israel acted like prostitutes in chasing after gods other than the One True God (2:17, 8:27, 8:33). Some translations (ESV, KJV) use a less refined, but
1

Some examples are Isaiah 62:5, Matthew 9:15 and 25:1-13,

John 3:25-30, Revelation 19, 6-9, 21:2, and 22:16-17.

The whole story of Hosea, found in the book of Hosea, is a tangible illustration of this image of relationship, specifically about the effects of adultery and its impact on the relationship. 2009-2010 Concordia Lutheran Church. Used by permission. For more information, visit www.concordialive.ca

Stories of the Saints Digging Deeper

As a disciple of Jesus this week, spend some time in Gods Word, most specifically as you read through Judges, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you to better understand sin in the context not of rules, but of relationship. Maybe there are some relationships in your life that have been broken by sin. What could happen if you made the effort not to shrug it off or try to think its no big deal, but to name it for what it is, deal with it, and work for restoration? As well, know that when you come to worship, part of our worship service is to confess our sins to Godto agree with His judgment that we are sinful, and not to hide from it. This is not just a motion to go through every week. This is a real and true confession, and the words that you hear each week You are forgivenare not just a canned response. They are words of truth, action, and power. God forgives you your sin because of the work of Jesus, who restored the relationship with the Father (yet another word full of the image of relationship) on your behalf. When you hear those words, there is action going onGod is forgiving your sin! It is something to celebrate! May the Holy Spirit work in you this week as we look at a more difficult theme in Scripture, and as we come to more deeply understand and experience Gods forgiveness and grace.

2009-2010 Concordia Lutheran Church. Used by permission. For more information, visit www.concordialive.ca