Judges Series - Week 20 - “Ruth’s Path, Jesus’ Path”

  There are countless seemingly inconsequential moments throughout history that, had it happen just a little different, the world would be a much different place. 

Take Field Castor. The story goes that he wanted to play professional baseball, so he tried out for an American baseball team. The team said he wasn’t cut out for the game, so he went into politics. 

Or Archduke Ferdinand, who an assassin was supposed to kill, but missed his opportunity, only for the Archduke’s driver to make a wrong turn, which brought the Archduke back to the assassin.

Then there’s the story of the last minute crew master replacement on the Titanic. The crew master forgot to turn over a key to the binocular’s locker to his replacement, so no one saw the iceberg coming.

A big one comes from the life of Adolf Hitler, who, as the story goes, at the age of six experienced horrible nightmares. A doctor recommended that he be placed in a mental institution, but his parents decided against it, because they didn’t want anyone to find out that he was being abused by his father.

How about one more that doesn’t end badly. Supposedly there was a butler in the country of Turkey who was serving the British Ambassador. The butler found out about the Allies’ plans for D-Day and presented them to the Germans only for the Germans to believe he was unreliable. 

Small moments throughout history can cause monumental waves. 

It’s one of these seemingly small moments that brings us to our final week in our summer Judges series, where we are going to be looking at the whole of the book of Ruth.

And as we open up to the book of Ruth, we need to understand where the book of Judges leaves off. As a whole the book of Judges shows us about a 400 year window of the nation of Israel. We see the denigration of the society to the point where sinfulness is active in all areas of life. Where God is sought for help at the beginning, but by the last sentence in the book, only man’s own desire is looked to. Because of this, Judges ends with a gut punch, where there is no hope to be found; Israel seems lost.

Yet, hope is not lost. We’ve talked about it before, when we read a verse, we must read that verse in the context of the other, at least, thirty verses that surround it. Ten verses around, ten verses before, and ten verses after. And our mantra when doing this is, “context is king.” Meaning that to understand a verse we must understand it’s context first. But it doesn’t stop with the thirty verses, we must understand the chapters that surround those verses, and the book that the verses are found in. But there’s an even bigger step to understand one verse, and that’s the placement of the book within Scripture. Ruth is one of those books.

Ruth is a book that really makes no sense, when you think about the flow of the Scriptures. The first seven books of the Bible tell the story from the creation of the universe to the creation of Israel, and it’s eventual establishment as a nation in the land of Canaan. Many different stories are told over a period of several thousand years. Skipping Ruth, the next eight biblical books continue the story of Israel; it’s movement from a theocracy to a monarchy, it’s split into two nations, it’s downfall, exile and eventual return to the land. Ruth sits as an anomaly of a story about an individual that could have easily been tacked onto Judges, or tacked onto the first book of Samuel. Yet it is purposefully left as a stand alone. Why? Well let’s walk through the book. Starting in chapter 1, verse 1.

“1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech (i-lem-a-leck) and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon (ma-lon) and Chilion (keel-le-on). They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”

The book of Ruth takes place sometime during the time period of the book of Judges. And like the book of judges, the beginning of Ruth follows the last two stories about the Levites. Like the Levites, Elimelech, who’s name means “my God is king,” leaves the national boundaries that God had given him. And like the people in judges, his sons marry foreign women, who are not Israelites.

Following this, both Elimelech and his sons die, which would seem like divine judgment because he is in living in opposition to what God has commanded. The same opposition that we have become accustomed to throughout the book of Judges. But it’s at the death of the three male members of this household that things changed. Naomi, the wife, decides to go home and releases her daughter-in-laws to return to their people. Where one eventually leaves, Ruth decides to stay, saying this in verses 16-17 of chapter 1, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 

This is a monumental statement because Ruth isn’t just deciding to stay with Naomi, but rather, she is rejecting her whole culture and religion to embrace the nation of Israel and their God Yahweh. It’s also an oath, which usually doesn’t go over well in the book of Judges, yet with Ruth it’s not a sinful oath, but an oath of loyalty.

From here to the 18th verse of chapter 3, we get a love story. Ruth is sent out to the fields to gather the droppings from the harvest, a practice which allowed the poor in the community to survive by working for their food. And it just so happens that the man’s field she is working in is also related to her deceased husband. Boaz is his name and he is an older man. He is referred to as a worthy man, which is the same language spoken about Gideon by the Angel of the Lord in the book of Judges. 

Boaz is obviously attracted to Ruth and so treats her really well, protecting her from any assaults by younger men and giving her extra provisions, though knowing full well she’s out of his league. But Naomi recognizes what’s going on and she instructs Ruth to pursue Boaz for marriage in a traditional way that would not taint their relationship with sin. This is why the same words that describe Boaz as worthy are used for Ruth as well (3:11).The whole thing is perfect, because Boaz is a relative, he is in a position called a kinsmen redeemer. This was a custom and law placed down by God to protect women and to continue family lines. A kinsmen redeemer would be the closest relative to the deceased man, who would then take on the widow to provide both a child for the linage of the deceased and financial stability.

Though Boaz is delighted at the proposition to marry Ruth, there is another closer relative that would be entitled. So from the beginning of chapter 4, Boaz seeks to have the other kinsmen release his position, so that Boaz may take it. And it happens. Boaz and Ruth are able to marry. And by verse 17 of chapter 4, not only are they married, but they bear a son named Obed, who’s name means, “servant of God.”

And so the last six verses end with connecting Obed to King David, ending the era of Judges, not on a sour note, but a hope for the dynasty of God’s chosen king. And in turn, looking back from this side of the cross, we see that servant of God, isn’t just pointing to David, but the eventual Messiah Jesus.

This is why the anomaly book of Ruth is placed where it is. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit who shapes the Scriptures to show us, that in the midst of the judges’ corruption, God is still working. That there are still people seeking God, and he uses them to bring about his good plans. Ruth is the furthest thing from a hero that the Israelite people would have thought they needed as Elimelech left Bethlehem. She was a foreigner and unworthy of covenant of God. Yet God used her, because she had forsaken the pagan ways of her culture. She sought to live under the covenant of Yahweh. She lived God’s righteousness, by honoring her mother-in-law. She lived purity in how she dealt with Boaz. And through it, God redeemed her, her family, and the whole world through the sacrifice of Jesus.

The book of Ruth stands in the middle of two eras of Israelite history, and at the center of her story, is that redemption of Israel and the world. Mary and Jospeh both come from the lineage of Ruth, the Moabite, non-Israelite woman, who made a commitment to Naomi and her God. 

Because of that righteous act, we can stand today in the forgiveness and grace given through Jesus. We’ve talked a lot about how one sinful act can effect generations to come, well one righteous act, can break those curses. 

God is calling his people to the path that Ruth took. The path of his righteousness, that leads through the cross of grace to the eternal life in Jesus. It’s the path that all must go to if they are to receive eternal life. And once on that that path every Christian must point others to it as well. 

My challenge for you this week is this, whatever you’re going through, seek the path of Ruth, the path that leads through the cross and to Jesus into eternity. In your bulletins there is a small picture with a path and cross to which it leads. Place it somewhere where you will see it as times of trouble come. Maybe on a TV or computer, when you see the horrors of the world, seek God’s peace. Or maybe on your door frame as you go out, to remind you to seek Jesus’ path of righteousness as you interact with the world.

God is calling all people to the path that Ruth walked; a path that leads to the Savior, a path that leads to eternal life. Let us all be found on that path. Amen. 

Judges Series - Week 19 - “Our Parallel”

 ince the attacks two weeks ago, the nation of Israel has been in the news. The destruction of buildings and lives has already been horrendous, as we see another war break out in our world. Talks of World War 3 are on the lips of the majority of political commentators. With rumors of countries like Iran and China preparing for war with the U.S. by creating a fourfold frontline, so that they can gain territory by splitting American forces. 

Not since the USSR, has the fear of coming war been so heavy on people’s minds. But to the Christian, this shouldn’t surprise, nor should it cause us to fear. Jesus told us in Matthew 24:4-6, “…See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” 

We are moving in the direction of Jesus’ return, and as we do, the world will continue to get worse and worse. In fact it will get to a point, as Jesus says, “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:37).” And what were those days like? Genesis 6:5 tells us that, “…the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

And it’s this wickedness that we’ll be looking at in the second week of our epilogue to the book of Judges. In this week, we turn our eyes purely from looking at the Scriptures and applying it to our lives, to looking at our own society and asking the question, “Where are we in comparison to the Israel found in Judges?”

The reason we should be asking this question is because it’s a natural question to wonder about, because when we read examples in the Scriptures, it’s only natural to ask how do we compare?

So first off, we must ask, can we even compare the modern US with the Israel of the Bible? I mean the governance style were wholly different. In the days of the book of Judges, Israel was a theocracy, which is a “government by divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided (https://www.britannica.com/topic/theocracy)." And after that, they became a type of monarchy. We, on the other hand, are a constitutional republic; don’t believe those people who say we’re a democracy, we’re not. So right off the bat, there are major differences there. They were ruled by the direction of God, and later a king, whereas we elect officials to represent us at various levels of government based on our constitution’s laws. Very different forms of government.

Except that, like Israel, our governmental system is based on the biblical commands of God. In his letter to the Third Division of the Militia in Massachusetts on October 11, 1798, one of the Founding Fathers of the US, John Adams wrote, “While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (SOURCE OF INFORMATION: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States; With A Life of the Author Notes and Illustrations of his Grandson Charles Francis Adams. Vol. IX, Books For Libraries Press, Freeport, New York, (First Published 1850-1856, Reprinted 1969) pp 228-29).”

Adams lays out in this letter that the constitution, which was just ten years old at the time, was “made only for a moral and religious people.” Through the writings of other Founding Fathers and sermons written by preachers of the time, it is clear that these morals was based on the biblical God who set them out for his people under both the old covenant of Israel and the new covenant of Christ. 

So in comparing the two nations, though under different type of governances, we can see parallels between the two, because the U.S. was purposefully structured by the founders of our nation to have the same foundation as biblical Israel. 

So, if Israel was founded on the word of God and if the U.S. was likewise founded on the word of God, what does that word say? Exodus 20:1-17 reads, “And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 

“3 You shall have no other gods before me. 

“4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

“8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

“12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

“13 You shall not murder.

“14 You shall not commit adultery.

“15 You shall not steal.

“16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

This passage is widely known as the ten commandments and the foundation for all other commandments in the Bible. This passage is important because if it is the foundation for biblical Israel, then it is also the foundation of the U.S. This is even more apparent due to the fact that in the capital building of the U.S. there are reliefs, or pictures of faces, depicting major influences to the foundation of the U.S. constitution. All of these faces are side profiles, and all look to one man, Moses, who’s face is the only one fully seen. Moses is the one whom God used to bring down his commands to the people of Israel and, in turn, to us.

Every single one of these commands was broken by the people of Israel in the book of Judges. The whole nation was in a cycle of worshiping other gods who were not Yahweh. Gideon and Micah made idols to represent these non-existent gods. Jephthah and the eleven tribes made oaths in the name of God, but those were sinful and destructive. The Levites did not seek to live holy lives and so broke the Sabbath of God. Samson didn’t honor his mother and father and disregarded their advice. The eleven tribes murdered people, Samson committed adultery, the eleven tribes stole daughters of their relatives, Jephthah and the second Levite bore false witness that led to civil war. And the Danites coveted and desired the idols of Micah and took them from him. In breaking these commands, the nation of Israel descended to a point where only their sin was before their eyes, and they based their actions on their own deceived moral judgments. 

In the book of Judges we see the breaking of God’s foundations to his law time and time again. In the letter to the Massachusetts’s militia that we read from earlier, John Adams also wrote, “But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.”

John Adams word’s sound a lot like the words that God spoke to Moses in Exodus 20 and that Israel broke in the book of Judges. 

Are we there? Have we broken what Adams said would be our destruction? Yes, and more. 

We look at Gideon who was offered to be made king, and who wanted that power, but who also wanted to have the facade of being pious. Do we have politicians who do the same today? 

We look at Barak and the second Levite who was called by God to protect the people of God, but they wouldn’t do it. Barak had to be shamed into it, while the Levite took no responsibility. Do we see that with the men of our day, who shrink away as women and children are being abused right in front of them? 

We look to the lesser judges who acted like kings, and Jephthah who sought his own power and glory. Do see in our society a desire and covertness that hurts others to gain wealth, power and prestige?

We look at the second Levite who took on a concubine, therefore not giving her protections under the law, using her more for his sexual appetite than for what was good for her. Do we see men not wanting to be true and faithfully to woman in our society? Instead using them through pornography and one night stands? Or that same Levite who threw his concubine out to wicked men to be abused and killed. Do we also see women who are being abused by society, both in the sense of taking away their God given worth away from them and not standing up for them when sick men try to enter their restrooms?

Or how about the wicked men who came to sexually abuse the Levite himself, do we see that kind of sexual perversion in our society?

We parallel Israel so close in both what our society was founded on, and how we brake those very foundations. And it’s worse for us because we’ve taken it to the next level. At the end of the book of Judges, Israel was abhorred that the concubine had been abused and killed. That’s just another night in the US where the statistics state that about 20 people a minute are abused (https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS); with 1 out of 4 woman and 1 out of 9 men being abused in some way.

Our radio stations, our TV channels, our internet sites praise and lift up sexual acts and idol worship that would make the Israel of Judges blush. And where did it lead to in the end? A civil war, and where are we headed?

The question that I purposed at the beginning was, “Where are we in comparison to the Israel found in Judges?” And the answer is, we’re so far beyond them, they are just dots in our review mirror. And we can see how the perversion and disregard of the foundations of our country lead to the social ills we see today. That’s why society is in an upheaval, because it has nothing to anchor on.

So, as Christians, what are we to do about it? I believe the Bible gives us three steps in dealign with the collapsing of this nation: 

First, 2 Chronicles 7:14, “…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” It starts with the people of God, humbling themselves, steeping themselves in prayer, seeking the face of God, and turning from our own wicked ways. We must be the first to seek holiness before the society around us does. We can’t call them to God’s foundation if we ourselves are not doing so. We can’t judge, until we get our act together, which is the point of Matthew 7:1-5, that we’ve talked about several times throughout this Judges study.

Next, Ephesians 6:12-13, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” We must realize that everything we see begins as a spiritual battle, so we must make sure we’re armored up for that type of fight. Our first thought cannot be, “If I just pick the right candidate or support the right organization, then everything will be fixed. No, we start with the spiritual realities and fight in the Spirit against those things that are unseen. We pray, lifting up the work of our God and against the works of the enemy. We need to understand the fight starts in spiritual places, before we start fighting in physical realms. This means before I go to the ballot box, I pray against spiritual forces that seek the destruction of lives. This means before I engage in a debate, a conversation, or argument, I pray for the person whom I’m talking with, that their eyes and ears would not be covered by the enemy. It’ sonly after, I am right with the Lord, and I am fighting on the spiritual level, that I can then enter into the physical aspect.

Finally, 1 Peter 2:13 states, “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.” And so we must work within the government process that we have been given, because God has placed them there for our good. And yet, the same apostle who wrote 1 Peter 2:13, also stated in Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men.” We must obey the commands of God and work to bring those back to our society which was originally founded on them. We are not called to stand by and do nothing. God tells us in Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” There are sexual predators that need to be confronted, they show up in the shows we watch, and the music we listen to, we need to stop that consumption by our families and ourselves. To the best of our ability, understanding that we cannot fully take ourselves out of the world (John 17:15), we need to stop supporting with our money those business, and those politicians that support the things that God says are sinful. It doesn’t matter if on somethings they are okay, they are still funneling money to things that are abominations to God. We are accountable to God for the people we vote for, the media we consume, and the money we spend. We need to take seriously how we conduct ourselves, and ask, is this aiding the work of God or the work of the enemy?

Adams was prophetic when he wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” In our society right now we are seeing the foundation of morals being decimated and the religion of the Bible is being ridiculed and rejected. What is left to happen? Our constitutional government will collapse because it wasn’t made for a people that rejects the morals and religion of the Bible, but the Church will survive, the word of God will survive, and when that happens, we who are God’s people need to already have rise up and be light and salt in this world, always pointing to Jesus for salvation as we live holy lives in prayer and who seek justice for those around us.

The challenge this week is simple, take the three things we talked about today, seeking God in holiness and prayer, gearing up for the spiritual battle that surrounds us, and actively seeking God in how we conduct ourselves in this society, and make sure you’re doing them. Don’t sit back and think, “I’ve accepted Jesus that’s all he wants from me.” No you are called out to the battle, so stop playing with sin, get your gear on, and get out there. 

And a second part of to this is, don’t be a jerk while doing it. We shouldn’t tell people they’re going to hell as if, we weren’t on the road ourselves and grace didn’t save us from that destiny. No we are beggars who found food, showing other beggars where they might find it as well. But that doesn’t stop our resolve, it only emboldens it in the love of Jesus, that was first given to us.

Let us be a people, who do not back down from the call of holiness, of prayer, of battle and of love that is on our lives. Because when the King returns and the war is won, we want as many who were once seen as our enemies to be worshiping him by outside. Amen! 

Judges Series - Week 18 - “Do You Trust Me?”

  Fall Fail Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgM-Rof2rI

Trust falls don’t always work, but it’s this idea of trust that brings us back to our summer Judges’ series, where are doing an epilogue to the book, because it ends on such a low note. So today we’ll be looking at the first of three areas that stem from the ending of Judges, which is found all the way towards the back of the Bible in the book of Hebrews chapter 11. And as we open up to Hebrews 11:1, lets take a brief inventory of the whole book of Judges.

Judges is a book that let’s us look through a snippet of time that deals with three themes of Scripture: God’s faithfulness despite unfaithfulness, his call on his people to obedient lives, and that when we disobey, our sin affects not only us but the world around us. The entire Bible deals with these three themes, but in Judges, we see how they play out through a handful of situations in the life of Israel as a nation. These situations show us a cycle of sin, judgment, repentance, restoration. This plays out again and again through the book, but instead of thinking this cycle is circular in the sense that Israel returns to the exact same spot they started, we’ve talked about how it is more like a whirlpool, as Israel is sinking deeper and deeper into flagrant sin and moving further and further away from God.

So through the this whirlpool of moving further from God and deeper into sin, we see those people God raises up to bring about restoration, get worse and worse as well. The judges’ downward slide in morality mirrors the whole of the nation. And when we get to the worse of the judges, Samson, we finish off the book with two stories about men who are suppose to be the holiest of all from the priestly tribe of Levite, falling into wicked behavior. The book then ends on the haunting phrase, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (v.25).”

This lets us know that Israel was far from God, steeped in sin, and seemingly without hope.

But there is hope even with sin is walling us in on all sides, and so we turn our eyes to the New Testament and the book of Hebrews 11:1. Let’s read the opening verses together. 

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

The 11th chapter of Hebrews is structured in a way that builds up to the conclusion that starts in verse 39 and carries over through chapter 12 to verse 2. That build up starts with the words we just read. 

What is faith? The writer of Hebrews tells us that it is an assurance of what is hoped for, and it is a conviction of what we cannot see. When the writer gives us this definition, they then turn to give us examples of what this means. Our attention is turned to the people of old. To the people we read about in the Old Testament. The writer starts us with creation and how we have a conviction that God created all there is; not from what already existed like in other creation stories, but out of nothing and by his spoke word. 

It’s here that we begin to move through Old Testament figures. First comes Abel and Enoch who we learn were counted righteous because of their faith. If we were to read their stories, there’s not much there. Just that Abel presented an offering that God accepted, and that he was killed by his brother. For Enoch, we just simply know that he walked with God and was taken up to heaven, not tasting death. This culminates in verse 6 where the writer states, “6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

So faith now is coupled with pleasure. By us trusting in what God has said he has done, and trusting in what he says he will do, we please God. Think about the implication of that. God’s pleasure with us, begins when we simply trust what he says. There are two moments in the Disney animated film Aladdin, where Aladdin is standing with his hand outstretched to the princess and he tells her, “Do you trust me?” The first time he says it to her, it is stern and she has to make a quick decision if she trusts this man who she just met, to save her from the palace guards that she believes are after her. They then proceed to jump off the roof of a two story building. The second time Aladdin says the same statement, it’s in a playful way, which leads to a world wide experience flying on a magic carpet. Both call the princess to trust, both are for her benefit and both lead into greater trust.

God’s metaphorical hand reaches out to us and asks, “Do you trust me?” And when we take it, it brings pleasure to him, and a whole new world to us.

This then leads into an escalation of Old Testament people. From two, Abel and Enoch, to three, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. These are strange. True Noah built the ark and he did so without grumbling. But Abraham and Sarah both have episodes where is doesn’t seem they are very faithful in there stories. Abraham denied that he was married to Sarah twice, whereas Sarah herself laughed at the very idea that in her old age she could have a son, and so she tried to make it happen through her servant Hagar. Yet, here the Scriptures commend all three on the same level of faith. 

This culminates in verse 13 where we read, “13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

There words, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God..” are highly important, because it bridges these people who, though, were not perfect, were accepted by God through faith. Faith that wasn’t always perfect, but faith that trusted beyond their own failures. 

And so we get another block of people, Issac, Jacob, Jospeh, Moses, the whole op the people of Israel who crossed the Red Sea, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. WAIT! Did you catch that? Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, those are judges, and not just any judges, those are the judges that weren’t the good ones. Barak is the one who heard God’s call, but ignored it until Deborah took him to task. Gideon was the one who was scared, who questioned God, who made a show of not accepting a monarchy, yet did everything to look like a king. Jephthah wasn’t even called by God to be a judge, yet God worked though him, even when he made a horrific sinful oath, that brought ruin to his family, and which was followed by a civil war. Samson, never had an eye for the things of God, but rather sough after his own desires. Until one day, when divine punishment met with the punishment of Samson enemies, and he had no where to turn except to God, God was still there.

The great judges, Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar, are not mentioned, though they were the best that God used. No the worst of the judges are mentioned. Why? Especially when we look at the others that are mentioned. Issac who was the son of the promise to Abraham and Sarah. Jacob who brought about the twelve tribes. Jospeh who God used to save Israel from a famine. Moses who led the people out of their captivity in Egypt. Rahab, who turn away from her own gods to the God of the Hebrews and who became a grandmother to the Messiah Jesus. Why would these horrific judges be placed alongside of these great people of faith?!

And then to top it off, we read in verse 39 this, “39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”

These judges, who’s stories we read, are now commended for their faith? Did the writer of Hebrews even read the book of Judges? Yes, and their inclusion here, in the chapter that is called the Faith Hall of Fame, gives us an immense insight into who God is. He is the lover of humanity that treats even the smallest acts of faith with great weight. Even in their depravity, even at their worst, the smallest actions done in faith carry with them value to God. 

The value of small faith is something Jesus touches on in Matthew 17:20, where we read, “20 He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’”

We tend to view faith as needing to be large for God to approve of it. We think that we must have trust that gets everything right. That if we stumble in anyway, we are now on God’s naughty list, as if he were Santa Clause. 

But this is a wrong view of faith. To God, the smallest amount of faith, the smallest amount of trust we put in him, is treated on a massive scale that puts us in God’s Faith Hall of Fame.

The inclusion of such horrible judges, lets us know, we could mess up in monumental ways, ways that could lead to the destruction of relationships a hundred times over. But even the smallest of faiths in the life of someone who does that can still receive the grace of God. Because grace is not based on how good we are for God, it’s solely and squarely based on the goodness of God. 

When Paul writes in Romans 8:31-39, “31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’

“37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If we have put our trust in God for our salvation through Jesus’ work on the cross, no falter in that faith is so large that God turns away from us. God takes the smallest of faith and turns it enormous. As Jesus stated about faith in Mark 4:20, when talking about what happens when trust in God takes root in our lives, he said this, “But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

So how does this section end? The thought concludes in chapter 12:1-2, “1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, we are called to lay down sin, to lay down burdens because if God accepts the smallest of faith from people like Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, he’ll accept it from any who places their trust in him. No matter how deep their sorrow, how destructive their life, how impossible it seems in the deepest of depths, The great love of God reaches out to every person.

For us as individuals, that means when I falter God still accepts me, because of the work of Jesus. For those around us, it means that God can still reach that old curmudgeon, that person who thinks their good with their own goodness, that elderly person who was hurt by a church. God still loves them, he is still reaching out to them, and the smallest amount of faith turns the eternal tide of destiny.

My challenge then for us today is to not give up. In our own lives when the hardships of life seem overwhelming, when we falter and allow sin to gain a hold on us, when we seem far from God, God is not far from us. He can use a little trust, a little faith, to bring about monumental work. He didn’t call us to be perfect to gain his eternal life, he bought eternal life for us to make us perfect. So praise God that he did this for us.

But also, do not give up on that person who is denying Jesus. Do not stop praying for them, do not stop loving them and sharing with them the work of God in your life. If God can save a Barak, a Gideon, a Jephthah, a Samson, he can save them as well.

Let us be encouraged today, that God is working in the smallest of areas, to bring about his love in the lives of his people, and through them, the lives of this world. Amen.