Wowza...

This past week was full of wonderful things that resembled a slight appearance of what used to be normal!

It was so nice however, it really threw me off my Sunday Sermon game. So, even thought today is Tuesday and one of the most anticipated and talked about days of the year (can we all just breathe deep, say a prayer, and hold onto hope for our country?), here's this week's sermon post!

If there’s one thing we are seeing as we progress through the Judges it is that they started off great but as we continue…they are not so amazing. We didn’t cover it all last week in Gideon’s life but after the battle he got a little full of himself, made an idol and led the people away from God which only got worse after his death, as we have seen each time a judge passes. This next chapter leaves me a bit perplexed. What we see here are men who stepped into the role of judge without being appointed by God. Honestly, at first I was wondering why I would even spend time covering this part of the story of Israel…it’s ridiculous and over the top, if you ask me. But then as I studied, researched, watched/listened to and read other commentaries and sermons about Abimelech and Jotham, I realized there is a very healthy lesson for us to learn.

Abimelech is one of 71 sons of Gideon and was the product of a promiscuous relationship with a woman who was not one of his many wives. He wouldn’t have been considered a legitimate son with rights, yet his name means, “Son of the king.” Son of the King…I read several schools of thought on this. One is of the belief that Gideon named him this because God is his Father and is the King over all. Another believed this was his mother’s doing and all to overthrow Gideon’s role. There’s no evidence of that in scripture so I am not sure I buy that. And honestly, I don’t think it was as spiritual as the first suggestion. Personally, I think we can start by looking in chapter 8:22-23.

Judges 8:22-23 22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you delivered us from the power of Midian.”

23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”

Abimelech lived his life in a desperate and unquenchable thirst for power that becomes an obsession. There are signs for us to see that can serve as warnings for us.

1. Dream Becomes a Fixation

9:1-2 Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem and spoke to his uncles and to his mother’s whole clan, saying, 2 “Please speak in the hearing of all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you or that one man rule over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood

People asked Gideon to be King but he refused. Jesus dealt with a similar hunger for power from His disciples.

Mark 10:35-37

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you.”

36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.

37 They answered him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”

Jesus made it clear that only the Father selects placement in the Kingdom but any desire for it comes at a heavy price of personal sacrifice. Abimelech not only is not the one appointed by God but faces the cost of pursuing his own plans over God’s.

2. Depend on Self-Promotion

9:3-4 3 His mother’s relatives spoke all these words about him in the hearing of all the citizens of Shechem, and they were favorable to Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” 4 So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith.[b] Abimelech used it to hire worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.

In the Assemblies of God we have three levels of credentials. The first two levels are certified and licensed. The process for application of these have changed a bit over the past year or two but, when I went through the process, I had to apply, take an exam and go through an interview where district leaders, presbyters and pastors, talked to me about my exam and different subjects pertaining to life and ministry. At the ordination level, there is no application per se. You see at this level, a candidate has already held a license credential for at least two years. The presbyters will discuss candidates at a special meeting and evaluate the level of active ministry the person is serving in. Being ordained is not just a credential but it is a statement that those around you believe in and see the call of God on your life and that you are doing your part to fulfill that call. It’s very special and humbling, if I am honest. It is a declaration that God has called you. Abimelech didn’t have any such thing. Every other Judge, as we already mentioned, was appointed by God and the people submitted to them. Abimelech’s story is so different in that he killed and bought his way into a role not meant for him.

I can remember being around 12-13 years old and one Sunday afternoon several families from church went to what was the “new” McDonald’s in Pontoon Beach for lunch. While my dad and I were getting ketchup and napkins for our family, a woman walked up to me and said, “You’re a Christian aren’t you?” It startled me!! I remember looking at my dad and then answering the woman, "yes, I am." She said, “I knew it. I could tell by your eyes. It’s all over you.” It was something that stuck with me. I don’t have to wear a cross necklace, put a bumper sticker on my car, or anything else! If I live my life according to God’s ways it will exude Him and speak before I ever do. No self-promotion needed. Fulfilling the call God has placed on me will require effort on my part, preparation that is within my ability to do, and educating myself but if I truly trust Him, if I truly rest in His call, that’s enough for Him to place me where I need to go.

3. Succeed at any Cost

Think of the scandal that was all over the news in the past year or so of celebrities paying and cheating so their kids could get into top universities, knowingly committing fraud! These celebrities have had to pay hefty fines, have hundreds of hours of community service and probation ahead of them.

I have seen people so hungry for social media fame and status that they say, post and do things that are at best questionable and at worse shameful just for likes and shares. Yes, I have even seen Christians do this.

Abimelech was horrific in his quest for power. Verses 5-6 tell us, 5 He went to his father’s house in Ophrah and killed his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal [remember, Jerubbaal is Gideon], on top of a large stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid. 6 Then all the citizens of Shechem and of Beth-millo gathered together and proceeded to make Abimelech king at the oak of the pillar in Shechem.

Abimelech as well as the people of Shechem who agreed to let him become king both erred greatly in their haste to make such a decision without any concern for God’s leadership. When we ignore God and his Word, we will eventually reap negative consequences. So hungry and desperate to be in charge, he wasn’t satisfied with just having the people agree to his authority. He killed his brothers to remove them from the scene. Only the one got away…I guess my point is this…even if God has called and appointed you to a role, you will have work to do. No question about it. However you won’t have to compromise your integrity, your faith, or bribe your way into it! He’ll open doors for you that He desires you to walk through.

4. Ignore Advice, red flags and discipline

That one brother that got away comes on scene and tells a story…

9:7-21

7 When they told Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and called to them:

Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, and may God listen to you:

8 The trees decided to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, “Reign over us.”

9 But the olive tree said to them, “Should I stop giving my oil that people use to honor both God and men, and rule[c] over the trees?”

10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, “Come and reign over us.”

11 But the fig tree said to them, “Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit, and rule over trees?”

12 Later, the trees said to the grapevine, “Come and reign over us.”

13 But the grapevine said to them, “Should I stop giving my wine that cheers both God and man, and rule over trees?”

14 Finally, all the trees said to the bramble, “Come and reign over us.”

15 The bramble said to the trees, “If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.”

16 “Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have rewarded him appropriately for what he did— 17 for my father fought for you, risked his life, and rescued you from Midian, 18 and now you have attacked my father’s family today, killed his seventy sons on top of a large stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, king over the citizens of Shechem ‘because he is your brother’— 19 so if you have acted faithfully and honestly with Jerubbaal and his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech and may he also rejoice in you. 20 But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.” 21 Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and lived there because of his brother Abimelech.

If we have people in our lives who will tell us what we need to hear over what we want to hear and we intentionally ignore them, we’re in for a rough road ahead. We cannot be so overcome by desire to “be someone” that we miss the signals and warning signs from the Lord! Pay attention and heed the words of those placed on our paths to guide us and keep us going in the direction we’re supposed to go.

5. Fight to stay in control

This sort of makes me think of the game tug of war. You can have one side clearly winning, the other side lets up on their pull but the other side is oblivious and keeps pulling with all their might and what happens? They fall down. Sure they won! But…Or when a kid is pulling on a toy they want to get from another child and they refuse to let go…Sometimes we can hold on too long after God makes it clear it’s time to move on.

9:22-25 (46)

22 When Abimelech had ruled over Israel three years, 23 God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. They treated Abimelech deceitfully, 24 so that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood would be avenged on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him kill his brothers. 25 The citizens of Shechem rebelled against him by putting men in ambush on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed everyone who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech.

I won’t read the next 20 verses to you, you can do that on your own but the summary is that battle happened and Abimelech led a massacre. Bodies everywhere, scripture says. In verse 50, Abimelech went to Thebez, camped against it, and captured it. 51 There was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men, women, and citizens of the city fled there. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof of the tower. 52 When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he approached its entrance to set it on fire.

There was no way Abimelech was going to step aside, admit he missed God and move on. He’d rather destroy people, literally, than to do that and it comes back to bite him right here.

6. Refusal to Repent

53 But a woman threw the upper portion of a millstone on Abimelech’s head and fractured his skull. 54 He quickly called his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, or they’ll say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his armor-bearer ran him through, and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

56 In this way, God brought back Abimelech’s evil—the evil that Abimelech had done to his father when he killed his seventy brothers. 57 God also brought back to the men of Shechem all their evil. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

Even as he’s dying, he can’t see to it to repent for his behaviors and admit he messed up. One time I was at my grandparent’s house and I can’t remember what I was talking to them about but it had something to do with me apologizing to a friend or co-worker. I’ll never forget the words my grandpa told me because it made me so sad for him, if I am honest. He said, “Never say you’re sorry. Saying you’re sorry is a sign of weakness.” I told him I strongly disagreed with his logic because I saw it as a sign of great humility and humanity because none of us are above making mistakes. I wonder how many people in this world are missing out on the amazing and abundant life God has for them because they can’t bring themselves to say, “God, I’m sorry.”

I think it’s just good for us to be reminded of how NOT to live for ourselves and our own dreams but to submit to God’s plans and ways because they are better and when we choose to do it our way instead of his, we leave wake behind that engulfs those around us and can be devastating for everyone. One of the repeated themes in Judges is: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (see Judges 21:25, for example). Romans 1:24–31 reflects this same concept in the New Testament. One of the worst results of continued sin is that God finally hands us over to our desires; He lets us have our own way to our own bitter end. Don’t let your pride get in the way of experiencing God’s redemption. The hope of the gospel is that we can repent of this idolatry and God will forgive us. God is calling you to Himself. You just have to respond. Come to Him with repentance and accept the grace and mercy He is waiting to pour over you.