Judges Study - 2026-11-04

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

Thank you for joining us today.

All right.

Well, my opening remark to you before we pray is elections do not save America.

God does.

Amen.

Right?

All right.

Okay.

So, Father, we thank you tonight for the opportunity to see you grow your kingdom

in spite of all that we see and all that has been experienced, Lord, in this last bit of time.

And we ask, Lord, that you become King of kings and Lord of Lords in this land,

that your reign is a reign of justice and truth and mercy.

So, Father, we give you, in the name of Jesus, our leaders, watch over them, Lord, direct them

with righteous thoughts and acts, we pray, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

So, the turning point that we have in this chapter is a bit disappointing.

And why I say this is that if you remember in our study for all these months and back in now,

probably a year and a half, we have seen the Lord build his kingdom in the people of Israel

and how he has longed to bring them to a knowledge of him.

And through the ritual that they have had, that they were going to be a people that were

righteous to the rest of the world.

And I want to read from Deuteronomy 6.

It just says this.

This is what he anticipated in looking at the nation.

You will show other nations how wise you are.

In fact, everyone that hears about your laws will say,

that great nation certainly is wise.

And what makes us greater than other nations?

We have a God who is close to us.

Think about those words and think about what we have been studying

and the consequences of our cycle.

Our cycle is what?

Following God, slipping from God, crying out to God,

repenting and God restoring the nation Israel.

And for all that he did, for all the blessings, the miracles that he had,

he anticipated that he would have a people that would be a triumphant glory to him

and that people in the nations and in the kingdoms would look and would experience

through their testimony what he was and who he was.

But now we enter in this chapter the civil war of the Israelites.

The civil war, the unrest that we have been seeing in individual lives

and the individual people that we have studied, the differences of opinion,

the criticisms that we had talked about, that these were a stiff-necked and rebellious people.

And remember what God said, I wish that I would have never brought them together.

And then in another time and issue, he said that these people are worse

than the pagan people around them.

And yet he loved them.

And now we have a situation through this cycle that we see a deteriorating aspect

of the kingdom within Israel.

And it's a shame, but this chapter brings forth the real testimony of the heart,

the heart that wasn't what God wanted.

He didn't want chaos.

He didn't want differences.

He wanted peace.

And you know in your life and you experience,

especially when you talk with other people that don't know the Lord,

that we have peace in our hearts.

And that's something that God only gives.

There is temporary peace and satisfaction,

but the heart is seeking and looking for things that usually aren't there.

So now we have this dilemma.

We have a people that are deteriorating in their relationship with God.

And now there's going to be a civil war.

So let's take a look at these things as we develop this theme.

So, Jephthah's conflict with Ephraim, and this is a conflict.

Let's start out.

And I'm just going to review the first six verses of this chapter real quickly.

Ephraim confronts, that's Ephraim the tribe,

confronts Jephthah for not inviting them to fight against the Amorites

and threatens to burn down his house.

You didn't include us.

What's wrong with you?

Why weren't we there?

And we'll talk about some of the reasoning behind that in a bit.

So Jephthah explains to them, look, he said,

I had asked you to do war with me and help me fight the Amorites

and you didn't even respond.

You didn't even so much as to send any soldiers.

We had to do it ourselves.

So you can paint the picture here about his disappointment.

And then as Ephraim begins to disparage Jephthah and the Gideonites,

the disagreement escalates into civil war between the two tribes.

A war that's okay to have as long as it's outside

and establishing the kingdom of God in the areas that they were to take,

that was okay because that's what he said.

Here's the land.

You possess it.

You conquer it.

You do what you do.

Get rid of all the individual people and the tribes.

And this land is yours.

But now they're fighting inside.

They're quarreling.

They're disagreeing.

And the Gideonites defeat Ephraim.

And then they control the Jordan River.

So what did the Gideonites do to make sure they got all the people?

They asked the returning defeated tribe of Ephraim soldiers

to repeat the word Shebelath.

And because they knew that the people of Ephraim would pronounce it differently,

and it was Sibyleth, they knew then that these people were soldiers

and they killed them.

Because of this test, they killed up to 42,000 people.

And this was their own internal battle.

And that's disappointing when you think of all that was done.

So let's ask the question.

I wonder what was behind Ephraim's complaint.

They wanted to go to war.

For me, I would have been satisfied to be home and not do that.

But no, they weren't.

So let's take a look at some of this.

Their complaint suggests that they believe that they should have had been included

in the military campaign and share in the recognition that comes with victory.

Think about that, the recognition.

And you can put the word pride in there, parenthesis.

And notice by contrast, here is Jephthah.

He defeated the enemy of Israel.

But Ephraim only focused on the fact that they had not been included.

They weren't even happy that he conquered them.

Not happy that there should be a celebration of victory.

And they threatened the issues of this through that tribe.

So why did the disagreement elevate and escalate?

Two sides to every story.

Jephthah had excluded them from the battle.

And Jephthah's position was he had sought their help,

but they had failed to respond.

So that's the issue.

There's two different sides to that.

All right.

So the question now that we ask is,

what do you think were the reasons for Ephraim's attitude toward Jephthah?

Why do you get in the mind of these people?

What was going on in their mind?

Why didn't you include us into battle?

In your wildest imagination?

What are your thoughts?

I said in here, they called him once and they didn't help.

Right.

Okay.

They didn't help.

We got a haircut, too.

Yes, thank you.

I mean, yeah, it looks good.

It means a lot when you say that.

Thank you.

I didn't almost know you coming in the door.

Not kidding.

All right.

So that's the truth.

But why did they want to be included in the battle?

And when they weren't, they felt, you know, that's the issue.

Don't feel bad.

Male idiocy.

Yeah, you're right there.

Okay.

Yes.

Well, I think it's a matter of pride.

Okay.

And because they didn't get the chance to get that recognition that they could have gotten,

but I really see it because we've been doing the bait of Satan,

but that was the bait of Satan to be offended.

Instead of recognizing what had been accomplished,

they're just taking offense because of their pride.

They didn't have John Bevere back then, did they?

Coming from Philly, it would have been a point of disrespect.

You disrespected me.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

So what's in your heart when you say that?

You didn't respect me.

Oh, pride, of course.

Okay.

So we're narrowing down some of the thoughts about this whole thing.

So let's develop this a little bit.

Their complaints suggest the following.

They felt overlooked and excluded.

We kind of said that, and that's one.

They wanted recognition.

We kind of defined what that was as an important tribe.

They resented being left out of a significant military victory.

The tribal pride that they had and personal interest may have been wounded.

And then another thing, they wanted to receive the share of the plunder.

Remember, they used to go in, defeat the enemy, kill everyone,

take the lambs, the sheep and the gold and all that stuff.

So there's a lot of various reasons that they were offended.

That's not to justify, but that's some of the reasons why.

So their response was extraordinary aggressively put out there as part of what Jephthah didn't do.

This was not the first time that Ephraim had expressed resentment over being excluded.

So let's go take a look at that.

Consider an earlier incident where, in Judges 8.1.3, after Gideon defeated the Midianites,

Ephraim confronted him for not calling them earlier to participate in the battle.

So we see a commonality and repeatability of their feelings, and that's bad.

Unlike Jephthah, Gideon responded diplomatically, and he calmed the anger.

He didn't take the offense, and he didn't go in charge against the offense.

He calmed them down, and he settled the argument, and hence there was no battle.

But you can see now that we're getting more agitated in the life of the Israelites.

So the question then we ask is, how can pride, need for recognition and or resentment,

create damage in our relationship with others?

Let's bring it forward to our lives, to our situations.

How can that bring...

We have offenses.

We have the need for recognition.

How does that affect our relationship with fellow Christians?

We need to prove we're better than someone else.

We need to prove that we're better than somebody else.

And that I'm right and you're wrong.

We're making assumptions about somebody else when we're offended.

We're making assumptions that they did such and such.

That offended me, and we don't really know their reasoning behind it,

but we're going to take offense anyway.

And if we find the truth out often, what we thought isn't even the truth of the situation.

Could be.

We know what this situation is here.

What else?

What other thoughts?

All right.

So we have the issues before us.

We have the difference of opinion.

Now, this concern about receiving recognition has some serious consequences.

And I think about these things.

It can result in disunity in the family,

in relationships, in the church, in the kingdom of God.

All sorts of things can happen when there is disunity and feelings.

Israel's internal conflicts demonstrate the destructive consequences of pride and rivalry.

So we have this.

Here it is.

It's in our face.

Uh-oh.

All right.

Let's go back.

Let's go forward, I mean.

Leadership disagreements, and there has been many.

We know that many pastors have fallen because of sin.

We know many churches have split.

But Jephthah's victory over an eternal enemy is followed by devastating conflict within Israel.

And many, many churches, they often say about Christianity that you divide and conquer.

In other words, the church divides on differences,

and then they conquer the area, and then they grow again.

That's not the way it should be, but often that's the way it works.

A troubling pattern begins to emerge here.

This account emphasizes a military conflict, a leadership disagreement, a family status

and death while saying little about the Israelites' condition and the need to repent.

They were all consumed about this thing.

They didn't even ask God into the situation of the equation.

And we can go on and on and on, and we can disagree, and we can grumble, and we can fight,

and we can disagree, and we go round and round again when we didn't ask God to come in

and work through us and reunite us.

So we have that.

So another question, how can we respond to differences of opinion

and competing interests without allowing them to disrupt the unity that we share with believers?

How can that be?

So we have disagreements.

Ken and I, we don't disagree on everything, but we disagree on some things.

It's just natural.

Ron and I, as we sit down and we iron out who is who and what is what,

there will be differences.

So why aren't we to make that offense, and how do we get around it?

Gail, my anchor lady.

We aren't to take offense because we need to think about

the fact that we were forgiven by God.

So we need to in turn forgive, and we also need to think of others

as more highly than ourselves.

And so we're not to worry about whether we're being recognized.

We need to be more concerned about how that other person is feeling

and talk it out instead of making assumptions.

Also, the opinion is like, it's just someone's opinion.

You're not here to persuade each other who's right and who's wrong,

and calls this disunity and resentment.

Just give an opinion and drop it.

Yeah.

If you don't have that in your heart, and you don't need to be right,

and you don't need to make the argument of which years ago I was guilty of,

you know, you bring a situation up, boy, I'd argue to the end.

But I've learned through my gracious wife and through experience that that doesn't work.

And so we have, go ahead.

I think we have to major on the, or focus on the major things

and forget about the little minor things.

And I, when we first got, well, when I first got saved,

we went to a church that had a meeting, a yearly meeting.

And they were fighting over the color of the drapes or the rugs, I forget.

Something important.

But yes, but it got so heated that a guy got up out of the congregation

and charged the pastor who was leading the meeting.

Two deacons had a tack on.

And I said, this is, and here I am a new Christian.

And I'm saying, yeah, they tackled me and they wouldn't leave me up.

No, no, no, yeah.

So, you know, we got to leave these stupid little things go.

And they're meaningless.

Really majoring in minors.

We had, we had done a reverse location in our church.

The church was seated this way.

It was wider and we turned it so then everybody could see the platform

and made a semi-circle.

And in doing so, that original front wall had a mural on it.

Well, we lost three people because we painted over the mural.

You know, because they could see God in it and they could see peace in it.

And I went on, I said, oh my Lord.

You know, and we didn't think anything of it.

I mean, it was part of what we were doing, redecorating.

And boy, I'll tell you what, we get some heat from that.

I'll be there.

So one of the best times I had was I went to stay with my brother for a while

and he went to a very different church.

And I went to a Bible study and there was these five guys

and they couldn't agree on anything, but the studies were incredible

because they all knew their position really, really well.

And I left there thinking, man, these guys, they're sharp.

They're sharp, but they got to hate each other.

Well, then I was invited to a party.

They were all there.

These guys were thick, best friends ever were, you know?

And I took away from that, you know, the best study I'm going to have

is with somebody that really knows their stuff and is willing to talk about it.

And there was one guy there.

He says, what, what denomination you want to be?

I don't know.

He says, because I can convince you any one of them.

He knew the Bible so well.

And it was just, I just cherish that.

So that's the flip side of what we were talking about.

Yeah.

Yeah.

These five guys were just, it was incredible study because they didn't agree.

Right.

And they were still in a yoke fellowship with one another.

Isn't that cool?

It was, it was amazing.

That doesn't happen that often.

Yes.

It's funny.

I was having a meeting with my boss and she's only 33.

And I got talking about God and she kind of went like this.

She goes, my dad's a minister.

I went, oh, that's crazy.

I go, what's he doing?

She goes, oh, he's a conflict minister.

And I went, a conflict man.

She goes, mm-hmm.

When there's conflicts in the churches, he goes and helps that out.

I'm like, you're kidding me, right?

She went, no, there's conflicts in churches.

I was shocked to hear it's funny here.

We're talking about it.

And she just kept on telling me that.

That's what he is, a conflict minister.

Yeah.

We need therapy.

So we have these issues.

We have these issues.

All right.

Let's take a thought or two about these things.

And take a look at the pride, the resentment, the poor communication,

can then turn fellow believers against one another if you let it.

Now, here we go.

Here's the theme.

Unity among believers is both good and pleasing to God.

We should value it rather than allow pride,

rivalry, or personal differences to divide us.

Here's some scripture along with that.

Psalm 133.1, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

So that's the goal, is unity.

Not unity at any cost.

There will be differences, but unity for the sake of staying together and being together.

And like Ken said, these things are minor.

You know, it shouldn't separate us.

There's more things to celebrate in the spirit of unity than there is,

well, I don't agree with you, Ron, or back and forth, and I won't fellowship you.

That means nothing.

So just Jesus prayed for unity for his followers.

Christian unity serves a purpose beyond our own relationships,

and it bears witness to the world that the Father sent Jesus.

If we can live in unity, that's certainly different than what we see outside the door,

right?

So that's the comparison that we have.

How do we live the life?

John 17, 2021, that they may all be one as you, Father, are in me.

And I in you, that they may be one in us.

That's not disagreement.

That is unity.

So pride and self-interest can threaten this unity.

So here we are.

We have this issue in Philippians 2 through 4.

Fulfill my joy, he says, that you are like-minded, having the same love,

being of one sound and one mind, being of one accord and one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife and vain glory,

but in lowliness of mind let each esteem one another more than themselves.

And that was already brought out.

How do we get around it?

We esteem one another.

Now, I may not like what Ken says, but I need to esteem him.

I need to respect him.

And out of that mutual respect, we can live and habitate together.

And I still like his haircut.

So, you know, there you go.

All right.

So let's take a look at another question.

Why do you think God places such importance on believers living together in unity?

Because...

Set an example to the rest of the community,

because when you're together in unity, you can also share that love of like-mindedness.

You don't even have to say a word.

If we're in unity and people see love and fellowship and going on,

there's no need for even a testimony.

There may well be opportunities.

But yeah, just the virtue of living together and walking our Christian life out together,

I mean, that's testimony.

And that's what God wanted.

What did he say?

He said, you're going to be a nation that is an example to the world.

And yet here we have this separation and this war.

Matt?

Because we're stronger together than when we are apart.

One can conquer a thousand and two can conquer 10,000.

Think about that.

Yes.

Yeah.

I'm going to live on the other side of Fifth Avenue.

So I just want to mourn you.

All right.

Okay.

Now that's a point.

But in different circumstances where we have a redeemed body and new body,

I don't think we'll have the differences at all.

No, that's for sure.

Aren't you glad?

Yeah.

Just come to the aisle.

Based on what I know, our bodies is designed to be one.

Yes.

Which means we have some facts and figures.

75 trillion cells working together in unison by body design.

There is never, ever a mistake.

So that's how God meant us to live in that plane of being in peace and harmony.

Unless I can go in depth.

I'm not going to say a word.

This man's honor.

So even our physical body represents unity in function,

and the outgrowth of that is strength.

The outgrowth of that is having a sound mind.

So yeah, that even starts there.

And also, we are the, excuse me, I'm choking.

We are the body of Christ.

And the body, as a body, it has different parts that do different things,

but it all works together, as he was saying, to make it work.

Yeah, right.

Scripture says that.

Can the arm do without the leg?

No.

Okay, I thought you, Jim?

What say is that?

No, nothing.

Okay.

All right.

I thought maybe we're leaning forward to contribute.

That's okay.

That's all right.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, here we are.

Good.

Take it away.

Well, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, they live in unity,

and we're the Imago Dei, so we're the image bearers of God.

So in order for us to be considered children of God,

we have to live in unity with each other,

the way that the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son

live in unity with each other, maybe.

No, that's right.

You're right.

Now, if we live that out,

that doesn't necessarily mean that life will be easy.

We have to find the mutuality and the love

and the consideration for one another.

And out of that, not knowing one another,

like a lot of churches, you come in, the churches are big.

My son goes to a church, and they have three services,

and there's about 400 or 500 people in each service.

So how do you get to know what that relationship

could look like?

It's almost like a movie theater.

You come in, you go, and da-da-da-da.

So I'm not criticizing him, but it's just a different perspective.

Whereas here, we can get to know one another,

and when we know one another, what happens?

The esteem and the mutuality begins to build

if, like you say, we don't major on those things

that are our differences.

Well, I don't believe that, or, you know,

Gail has a brown shirt on her, a blouse,

and I don't like brown.

I mean, you know, it could be anything.

It could be the mural on the wall.

It could be the disagreements,

but we don't let those things overcome us.

Don't be like children, the word says.

Be mature.

Grow up.

And so we have these things, and, you know,

as you look back in the juvenile aspects

of the accusations, well, why didn't you include us?

For the sake of the tribes of Israel being one,

they should have not engaged in that.

Let me read this again.

You will show other nations how wise you are.

In fact, everyone that hears about your laws will say

that great nation certainly is wise,

and what makes us greater than the other nations?

We have a God who is close to us,

and yet here we are.

We find the deterioration.

After all that has been said and done,

now we're fighting amongst ourselves.

Now, because of what?

Unity reflects the character of God.

And here you go, see?

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one,

and therefore our unity with one another

should be tightly bound together.

The more time you spend with your fellow brothers

and sisters, the more opportunity it is

to respect their calling and their giftings.

And if you shake hands and go out the door

and don't fellowship, you think there's a party of one, me.

So it's not.

It's many member body, all one.

That's how we are to be known.

Now, we should cherish our common spiritual identity,

commitment, and purpose.

What is that?

It's to declare the kingdom of God.

It's to be a witness.

It's to be strong enough together

that we can do outreach programs.

It's strong enough together

that we can have children's ministry that's dynamic.

If you look at all the little babies in our congregation,

my, won't we have a youth group?

My word.

I mean, it's starting small,

but we're building and we're responding to that.

How many little babies do we have?

Gail?

Yeah, gee.

Well, you can either grow without or grow within, right?

So, all right.

This doesn't mean believers must agree on everything,

but these things should be minor,

should be minor.

The goal is to maintain the unity,

and secondarily, we may not agree, but so what?

It's not that important.

Okay, unity demonstrates the transforming power

of the gospel to the world.

Like we said, you don't even have to declare witness.

You can be together as a group,

and I tell you in different picnic associations

that we have been involved with in different churches

when we go to a public thing like we've done here,

people say, boy, you guys get together.

You have fun, you have games,

and nobody was hurt, feelings and so forth.

Well, that's the way it should be.

So, the gospel brings together people

who might otherwise have little in common.

Think about that.

The common denominator is what?

Jesus Christ.

Now, we come from all different walks of life.

We have tradesmen, we have executives,

we have people that are retired,

people that are young,

and yet, we see that there is one body,

one love, one purpose.

All right.

I'm preaching to the choir here, I think.

The world is accustomed to divisions based on differences.

Well, I don't believe like you do.

Disagreements and competing interests.

When you have a difference of opinion like that,

you need to not only confess your anger

or your pride,

but you have to ask God to show you

and show you how not only to be patient

and gentle with people and compassionate,

but to show you the truth.

So, as you seek him, he'll open those doors for you.

And what else should we do

when we have disagreements, Gail?

Talk them out.

Yet, to one another.

Communicate.

Yeah.

If I sit here and have...

That's just a personal thing.

You need to talk to God about what you think.

First, give me humility, Lord.

And then as the opening of opportunity comes,

we share those things.

Healing.

I mean, I can remember one situation

in our, not our immediate family,

but there was an unforgiveness thing

that lasted years.

And when I asked, I said,

well, what's the problem?

They didn't even really know.

It's like, what is it?

The Kentucky Hills between the two warring...

What?

The boys and the ankles in McCoy.

Yeah, and when it came down to it,

nobody ever remembered what it was

because it was generational.

But they hated each other.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

What's that all about?

Well, I want my way.

That's not the way.

All right.

Unity demonstrates the transforming power

of the gospel.

We said that.

The gospel brings together people who might.

We have said that.

The world is accustomed to divisions.

We said that.

And when believers demonstrate genuine love,

forgiveness, and unity,

despite their differences,

something remarkable begins to be visible.

And that's the presence of God.

Is God going to be in the presence

if we're all angry about each other

and we come together

but we have differences of opinion?

No.

He is going to be present in the body of Christ

as the body of Christ exalts him

and lives out his word.

All right.

People see evidence that the gospel changes lives.

No two ways about it.

Unity creates an environment for spiritual growth

because you're not talking about differences.

You're talking about wanting to follow God.

So God intends believers to grow together

not discuss our differences

which can separate us

but rather strengthen our common heritage in Christ.

If we talk about our differences

and that's all the further we get,

that's not accomplishing much for the glory of God.

It's when we start to what?

Universally talk about him,

begin to worship together,

begin to read the Bible together,

discipleship together,

living our lives, yes,

but communing together in God's love.

All right.

We need one another for encouragement,

correction, accountability,

instruction, and spiritual support.

Hear me on that.

You can't live Christianity alone, right?

Doesn't work.

You don't grow spiritually living unto yourself

in counseling people.

Well, I don't go to church

because the church isn't perfect.

Well, if you went to church,

the church would then not be perfect.

But I have all these differences

and I can find God at home on the TV

or in my prayer closet.

That doesn't make it.

It talks about do not forsake

the assembling of yourself together.

Why is that?

It's the common denominator

for spiritual growth

and empathy for one another.

And as you begin to know one another,

you begin to what?

You even pray for one another.

When we first came to this church,

I went out with Ron and Jackie,

Joni and I,

and we're just inquiring about the church

and I saw that they loved the Lord.

There was a peace among them.

Ron wasn't fighting with his wife,

at least in our presence.

No, I'm kidding you.

And I knew that,

that okay,

here's an example of something

that we could attach ourselves to.

And we've been here ever since.

So the idea that we can live our life

alone and mature is ludicrous.

There is a degree of God's blessing,

but it only goes so far.

There's a ceiling to that.

And you plateau.

When you plateau,

you don't move forward.

And when the body of Christ

is moving forward,

you're then left behind after a while.

God has a job for each of us.

Yes.

God has a job for each of us

and being at home

is not going to do that.

Right?

Right, yeah.

Like, I always kid Gail

that the church wouldn't function

because she's a little bit of everything.

In each group,

you take Gail away,

the whole church is going to fall apart.

No, not really.

No, it's the idea

that we all have something.

We all contribute.

Yes.

I'm reminded of the time

where Jesus washed the feet

of all the disciples.

And now he was a servant to them.

And so part of that,

like you can't be of service

to your brothers and sisters

if you're staying at home

and you're isolating yourself.

Yeah, you can't get very far, can you?

Correct.

No, me and thee.

Me and thee only.

Right now, that doesn't work.

And when Christ called his disciples,

they didn't get along that well

because they were so different

from one another.

There was a tax collector

amongst them and fishermen.

And I mean, they were all different.

They all had two brothers

who want to be better.

Yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, there you go.

Well, he took the worst of anything.

And if he could bring those 12 together,

we can also have unity.

And by the time he was finished

and they cried and they repented

because they denied God,

they loved him so much.

Our hearts burned within us,

the word says,

because of his love for those people.

Well, there's a song that,

it's an old song.

And it was,

No man is an island.

No man is an island.

No man can stand alone.

And I never knew the meaning of it

until I came to know Christ.

And I started depending on other people.

And I realized that I couldn't stand alone.

I needed the family.

And I wanted to course correct here.

These two do not fight.

That was a joke.

They are.

No, no, no, no, no.

Yeah, but.

Well, not that bad

because you're still together.

Well, we do have a difference of opinion, right?

Because one is male and one is female, right?

All right.

What happens to our Christian witness

when unbelievers observe division,

resentment, unresolved conflicts within the church.

And I'll open one statement.

Well, if that's what Christianity is,

I don't want it.

We are judged.

What?

By the very presence of who we represent

or don't represent our attitudes.

I can remember one time my,

I had a little son that was extremely difficult.

It was so difficult

that I had to tell him to leave home

after he got of age

because he couldn't abide.

And he was out for some years of time.

And my wife and I cried,

what did we do wrong?

And I realized it's not what we did wrong.

It's that he just didn't abide by the house rules.

And so consequently,

kind of chokes me up to think about it.

He, coming back to the Lord,

he always said, he said,

dad, he said, it's not what you say.

It's I always looked at you and watched you.

He said, I wouldn't agree to you

or even give you credence of what you said was right.

But I watched you.

And that's what made the difference.

He watched us interdynamically play together

as husband and wife,

administering love to the family and so forth.

And that's what drew him

because he knew it was in the heart.

And so many, I think I've asked a question before,

but I'll ask it again.

How many have had occasions to meet people

and be with people and they say to you,

well, what makes you so different?

You ever have that happen?

Yeah, I mean, you know,

what do you have that I don't have?

It's basically what they're saying.

And that's what the presence of God in your life,

the aura of God.

I mean, God, through Jesus Christ,

there was an aura about him as he ministered.

People were drawn to him

and our people drawn to us.

Why are you so different?

Then that's opportunity to give thanks to the Lord

for who he is.

Nothing we've done.

No credit to our own, but to him.

All right.

Here are important observations

that Israel gradually moved from.

So let's build the case.

A shared identity, one God, one kingdom,

12 tribes living in unity, being an example.

That's what he wanted.

That's what he labored for.

He made them a nation.

He dug them out of differences.

He brought them together.

He laid down laws that could live

peaceably with one another.

And now we see competing interests overtake.

So the degradation, what's happening

over the hundreds of years.

Shared convictions.

What was this big shared conviction?

We are given a promised land.

We will dwell in there.

We will conquer.

We will annihilate.

And the land will be ours.

And so we now have differing spiritual directions.

And we talked about that.

Two weeks ago, I showed you all the different idols

and worshiping modes that the Israelites had.

There were about 13 different things that they did.

And what did God say?

They were worse than the pagans.

They were worse than the other people

that existed in this land.

Because they took a little bit of this

and a little bit of that and put it together

and homogenated what their following was.

And they still maintained the liturgy of the tabernacle.

They had cooperation.

Remember when Gadd and the NASA

didn't want to go to the promised land.

They said, well, the land here is perfect

for our sheep and our herds.

And we don't want to go over there for our allocation.

And what did they do?

Moses said, look, you can stay here.

You establish yourselves.

You build your houses.

You take care of your wives and your children.

When you're established, you then come over

and you fight with us so we can conquer the rest of the land

so we too can live at peace.

And that's what they did.

So there was a mutual agreement, a mutual interest.

Now, we have suspicion and hostility.

We're going down.

We're getting worse.

Tribal disagreements.

We always had those.

Now we have civil war.

Civil war.

This is the anointed one.

This is the nation that's supposed

to be an example to the world.

One kingdom was established, and eventually what?

It evolved into two kingdoms fighting back and forth,

disagreeing.

Don't you think God was disappointed and grieved?

That's what the scripture says.

He was grieved, and he wanted to get rid of them.

I'll annihilate them all.

And I'll make you, Moses, part of the generation

that I want you to bring in.

He said, no, Moses, wait a minute.

No, no, don't do that.

And he pleaded with God.

How can we recognize when disagreements, wounded pride,

and personal differences are beginning to threaten

the unity of our Christian fellowship?

What are those, what might be some of those signs?

I'll start you off, an easy one.

When you see people start to withdraw

from the body of Christ, well, it's not my cup of tea.

Been too busy, wanted to sleep late, yada, yada, yada.

You know, there's nothing wrong with all those things,

but as you withdraw, you then lose that momentum

that you have created.

What else?

What other thoughts?

And everybody was quiet.

All right.

Thank you for anchoring this question.

All right, you stopped thinking about,

you stopped thinking about we,

and you start thinking about me.

Yeah, right.

And me is important, right?

No, no.

I mean, not as important as we.

No, I'm reinforcing.

Yeah.

That's everybody, everybody's strange,

except me and Dee, and I wonder about these

sometimes as the old expression goes.

Yeah, no, that's good, yeah.

And as we talked earlier,

we allow ourselves to be offended

by what people's actions are,

and we don't really understand what they are,

but we take offense anyway.

Because I have a right to have my own opinion.

No, no.

Because opinions are what they are.

All right.

Now, these are questions for you.

I've delineated all the judges

on the left-hand side.

I've put their number of years of leadership

in a column,

and then I put over on the right column

the priority and focus of their interests.

So you can see that we started out

in the beginning with a leader

that led Israel for 40 years.

They delivered Israel

and restored peace and rest.

And you can go down the line.

Here's one, E.H.O.D.

For 80 years, he was a judge.

He delivered Israel from the Moabites.

And we can see that the Philistines

were struck down.

Deborah, which co-authored Deborah's song

and reigned with Barack for 40 years.

They provided leadership alongside of one another.

And Gideon, we talked about him

not too long ago, 40 years.

He delivered Israel

from the Midianites with 300 men.

Tola, 23 years.

Family, marriage, connections.

Jair, 22 years.

Tribal identity and location.

Ibsam, seven years.

Elan, 10 years.

Abdan, eight years.

Family, marriage, tribal identity.

Now let's break this down.

Look at what happened in the first phase.

These judges represented violent events

as they were military deliverance

and bringing peace and excluding

the Abimelech issue.

Remember when he wanted to seize the throne.

I'm not including him

because he never was a judge

because of his personal ambition.

So that was one group of people.

Now look what happens

when we see Israel's leadership

in phase two that emphasized family,

tribal identity, social standing,

governing and stability.

The numbers start to go down

with regard to their rule.

And I'm not saying anything wrong with that,

but then let's take that

and extrapolate it one other time.

In these observations,

we notice that the earlier judges

experienced extended periods of leadership.

While the later judges

had decreasing periods of leadership.

What does that say to you?

The nation was at rest in the beginning

and now they're becoming

and looking for things

that advantages of one another

and not an agreement.

So the question I ask you,

so what conclusion can we draw from this?

What do you think?

In your wildest expectations or thoughts?

80 years, 7 years.

I told Justin I might hang myself

on this new cord.

It doesn't lay down in here.

So almost did.

Yes, Jackie.

Maybe they stop really that connection

with God and that relationship.

Not only relationship,

but yeah, I'm going to go all out for God.

So that kind of got laxed

and then they started feeling comfortable

and they weren't doing their all for the Lord.

And then they were bickering

and pride came in and stuff like that.

What did Moses say

before they ever went into the land?

You will be comfortable.

You will not remember me.

You will backslide.

And you will take the Gods of nations

unto yourself.

Oh my, what prophetic utterance that was.

Well, any time a nation stops

fearing God and being obedient to him,

they're not going to be blessed.

And they're going to gradually deteriorate.

What's that say about our own life?

Same thing happens, yeah.

Right, same thing.

All right, all right.

Okay, here's some thoughts.

One, Israel's spiritual problems

are becoming increasingly persistent

because of their own self.

Unwillingness for them

to remain faithful to God, Jackie.

There you go.

Number two, tribal divisions

and internal conflicts

were becoming more prevalent.

Levels of national commitment

varied by tribe.

Remember, there was only one tribe

that was left that wanted to bless God.

And that was what?

The tribe of Levi.

Because they were the priests.

They were the remaining.

And then number three,

the judge's leadership

was becoming less associated

with the nation's need

for national deliverance

and more focused on the family,

the tribal identity,

and the social standing.

Because remember,

we talked about the

out of the shepherds became traders.

Out of the traders became blacksmiths.

And they had a whole society

that they developed.

Like Jackie said,

they became comfortable.

And then probably

because one guy was successful,

he has 14,000 sheep

and I only got 100.

I want what he has.

And bickering started.

And so forth and so on.

So now the takeaways

for us to remember

and act upon.

This is where it hits home, I hope.

This chapter then challenges us

to examine our own attitudes.

Well, that was the Children of Israel.

Okay, let's apply it to us.

Let's ask the question.

Do we become resentful

when others receive recognition?

Boy.

Now,

some of you people may ask fire

to be a teacher.

And that's great.

I mean, it's commendable.

And I had that opportunity to do that.

But I will tell you,

there's a price you pay for that.

There's hours upon hours

upon hours upon hours

of waiting on God,

putting these things down.

I'm making them taking the complex

and making it simple.

That's just an example.

Say, well, you know,

I want to be a pastor of a church.

Ask Chris.

The only reason he's the pastor

of the church is

because God led him to that.

He didn't want that.

Neither did I want to be a teacher.

I didn't aspire to that.

But God's calling is

yea and amen in our lives.

As well as being an instrument,

playing an instrument,

being in children's church,

doing the things that God's called you to do.

Do we allow disagreements

to become personal?

Like Gail said, well, I'm offended.

I don't know that I'm going to go

to that church and fellowship

with Jim anymore.

Oh, no.

Do our words help resolve conflict

or make it worse?

Remember, there's two things

that you can judge Christianity by.

When you walk into a church

or when you're people

and you see chaos and confusion,

that's not God.

What is God?

Peace that passes all understanding,

understanding, unity, love.

Are we more committed

to defending our pride

than preserving unity?

We should always have

the priority of preserving unity,

not at any cost.

I'm not saying that.

There are limitations.

There are boundaries

that God's given us,

but we don't have to have our own way.

We don't have to be right,

as I used to think I had to be.

Are we so self-absorbed

in our own thoughts and rights

while excluding opinions

and convictions of others?

Now, that hurts.

Somebody's convicted

that this is the way

they should live

or they shouldn't eat meat

or they should be a vegetarian.

Who am I to say,

well, you're wrong.

You know, there's varied things

in the kingdom of God,

and we all have

many different convictions.

The enemy outside Israel

had been defeated,

yes, by and large,

not all the way,

but the conflict within Israel

approved even more destructive

to its people,

because why?

They didn't lay hold of the truth.

Kill the people,

get rid of them,

take the spoils,

take the houses

that you didn't build,

harvest the vineyards

that you didn't make

and live unto me.

But yet they left,

as we know,

pockets of individuals,

which then what?

Influenced them

because of the idols

and the worship

that they had

then they started to intermarry,

then they started to follow idolatry,

and then we have this downward slide

to civil war.

Well, I'm right.

You're wrong.

This should remind us

that preserving unity

requires three things,

humility,

restraint,

and a willingness

to resolve disagreements

before they become destructive.

So let's take a look.

How should we accomplish

these things then?

What's that mean, humility?

What's that mean, restraint?

And because it's time,

I'll just go to the end.

We want to accomplish

these things by the following.

The principle is this, humility.

Well, what is that?

It's putting others

before ourselves.

More important than us.

That's been said

and thank you for that.

As long as we have that in mind,

we will be humble.

Now, you can't glory

in your humility.

That's another.

That's false humility.

God even talks about that.

Philippians 2.3 says,

in loneliness of mind,

let each esteem other

better than yourselves.

Restraint.

That's important.

Controlling our reactions

rather than allowing

our reactions to control us.

That's a big statement.

Well, you know, okay,

here comes the old man.

Put it down.

Control it.

James 1.9,

let every man be swift to hear,

slow to speak

and slow to wrath.

Anybody say amen to that?

All right.

Here's some things.

Think before responding.

All of a sudden,

the words come out

and now they're out there

and they're public

and oh my gosh, I wish

I wouldn't have said that.

Everybody been in that?

Yeah, I have.

Don't allow our actions

to dictate our behavior.

Well, if that's the way you feel,

you know, then you go off.

Know when to remain silent.

Boy, that's precious, isn't it?

People don't know your position

until you open your mouth

and then you reveal who you are

by your conversation.

Refuse to fuel disagreements

or take sides.

Well, all of you are against Gail,

but I'm on her side because,

you know, you don't take sides.

You calm.

Remember like Gideon did.

He calmed Ephraim.

Willingness to resolve disagreements.

Pursue reconciliation

rather than winning arguments.

That was my big thing.

I want to win the argument.

Think and talk directly

with the person involved.

We talked about that.

Be willing to apologize and forget.

And please don't keep bringing up

forgiveness of forgiven offenses.

Leave them die the death

that they deserve.

And after a while,

you don't even know

that they existed.

So in closing,

preserving unity requires

each of us to be more concerned

about honoring Christ

and protecting our relationships

with each other

than defending our personal preferences,

opinions, and pride.

Remember that.

And one last exhortation,

which is a quote that I got

not too long ago.

Let's be people who bring

others together

rather than allow ourselves

to become the reason

that they're pulled apart.

Don't be part of anything

like that.

All right.

Lord, we thank you

for this conversation.

We thank you so much

that we have been redeemed.

And we're not standing up here

and parsing words

and defining separations

as righteous,

but we're seeking to have unity

with ourselves with one another.

With you, Lord.

And we ask, Lord,

as we go our way,

that we'll take these things home

with us

and that you'll put a watch

before our lips

that it will love

and esteem our mates,

our friends.

Lord, these things are precious.

So we thank you

for giving us the courage

and the patience

to walk your kingdom

out in our life

as an expression of what we do

and what we think

in the name of Jesus,

everyone said.

Amen.

God bless you.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us

at Lansdale Life Church

as we praise God

and discuss His word.

Don't forget to join us

for Worship Lives Sunday mornings

at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

Be blessed

and have a great day.