Judges 10:1

After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola, the son of Pua, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir, in the mountains of Ephraim. He judged Israel twenty-three years, and he died and was buried in Shamir. After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. (Judges 10:1–3)

Watching Israel fall apart and come back together in a single chapter—taken not as condemnation, but as caution for the church today.

Approaching Judges From a "Well Done" Standpoint

I'm Mark Childress, the Executive Pastor. My background is a little different than most pastors—I was a commercial fisherman from a couple hundred years of commercial fishermen, and after I got saved I became a carpenter building custom homes. So I tend to look at the pragmatic side of ministry, and I can be a little rough around the edges. Some of the people Jesus hung around with, the fishermen and carpenters, were a little rough around the edges too.

I've been enjoying the book of Judges, partly because I love watching other people mess up. But it can be a downer—you watch the Israelites keep falling out of favor with God, like a root canal that just gets worse as you go. This morning I want to encourage you. I want to approach Judges 10 from a "well done" standpoint, because when I look at what the servants and people of this church are doing, I'm seeing a lot of well-dones. So as we watch things go from bad to worse with Israel, take these as cautions, not necessarily as conviction—though maybe some of us need conviction.

Same God, Different Covenant

We're studying the Old Testament. Same God, but these are different people, a different time, a different place, and some different rules. When we apply these things, the promises and covenants aren't necessarily made to us, but they are applicable to us, and they often flow right into the New Covenant you and I are under. So there are valuable lessons here.

If Hitler rides a motorcycle into a wall at 100 miles an hour, do we ignore the lesson just because we don't like the guy? No—don't ride your motorcycle into a wall. We're going to learn the cause and effect of being out of covenant with the Lord, and what happens when we're in covenant with Him, looking at both the present and the future of Israel as it relates to their obedience.

In Judges 10 we see roughly forty-five years of slowly coasting downward—Tola judging twenty-three years, Jair twenty-two—getting a little worse all the time.

Covenant, Not Contract

The relationship between the Lord and Israel was a covenant. We know about contracts; contracts are different. A covenant is an agreement between parties who each genuinely want it to succeed—it's about relationship. A contract is based on mistrust: if you don't do this, we'll do that. A contract doesn't work for marriage. If you had to bring in an agent to negotiate meatloaf once a month and two kids, that's a contract.

My wife and I have a little contract: she said, "I don't want to marry you and have you riding street bikes." I said, "Okay, then I want an Easter basket every year." I got the best of that one. But it's based on relationship. Think of it this way: when you go to a movie, you pay, you watch, and when it's over you leave your big drink and popcorn behind. When you come to church, you build relationships, you serve, you give—and you don't leave your relationship behind when you go. That's covenant.

Point one: In a covenant relationship, God always fulfills His promises. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses lays out God's intent:

Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me... Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." ... Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen... And teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

Israel's Commission: Come and See

Israel's commission was, first, to inhabit the land and expel its peoples—in this case the Canaanites—because God knew they'd be a snare later. They didn't do so well with that. Second, they were to obey God's laws and statutes, and in Judges they are not. They were to be set apart, unique, and to teach and train their children in these ways.

This was the evangelism plan: all the nations would look at what God was doing with Israel—how mighty, how powerful, how He saved their bacon when they got in trouble—and fear and respect the God of Israel. Notice you can't name a great Jewish evangelist; there was never a Billy Graham of Judaism. It was a "come and see" thing. See how great God is, see what He's doing. That was the attraction, and it brought glory to His name. My Jewish friends would be the first to tell me, "Don't try to convert. That's not the plan."

Our Different Covenant: Go and Make Disciples

We are under a different covenant. God's Son, born of a virgin, did the signature miracles of the Messiah, was tortured and put to death as a sacrifice for our sins, and rose again. I don't have to walk on eggshells with God. Forgiveness is just one prayer away, and if I forget to pray, I'm still covered. But I do have responsibilities; my obedience and love for the Lord come with action.

How do we bring glory to God? Through the two great commandments in Matthew 22:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Point two: The most loving and obedient thing we can do is lead someone to God. Most of us came to church because somebody invited us. I came to Christ because a friend shared Christ with me—not to put a notch in his Bible cover, not to win me to his political team, not even to make me just like him. His dastardly evil plan? He loved me. We bring people to church and tell them about Jesus because we love them. And we love them because it's close to God's heart and He commanded it, and in doing so we become more godly.

That's why we talk so much about serving here. It's not because I need to fill a hole. We want people to serve because it brings maturity and commitment—so you're not the one leaving your popcorn behind. You become part of the church. You are the church.

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee... And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:16–20)

The Israelites were to get rid of the Canaanites; we're to bring the Canaanites to God. As Christians we take those on the outside—the Gentile nations—and bring them to the inside through Jesus. This book is about 98% what God did and 2% what we're supposed to do. We make disciples because we love people. It's not about numbers.

The Predictable Pattern of Failure

Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. (Judges 10:6)

Seems to be a pattern. It's like a Hallmark movie—you know how it's going to end. The strong independent woman from Seattle, the guy in the flannel who secretly went to Harvard, the bakery or hockey rink that has to be saved. The Israelites have just lost the bakery. It's easy for us, with 20-20 hindsight, to pile on them for failing.

Point three: When God's people live ungodly lives, the nation suffers. Why did they fail? Prosperity—they were doing well financially and living in relative peace. Familiarity—they figured God would always be there. Pride—they thought because they were so special, they didn't have to keep their end of the bargain. Forgetfulness—they forgot what God had done in delivering them from Egypt. Politics—the next judge does cool things, but for political reasons, forgetting God is even in the equation. And the overarching thing: they lost their humility. God became an accessory they carried with them, and they thought their success came from themselves.

And they taught this to their children. If you want your kids to pick up habits, do them—they'll watch you. If they see you reading your Bible, going to church, doing good works, living the way a Christian should, that's catchy. It's not guaranteed, but it's catchy. Their children did what they did: they blew God off, and the Canaanites and their gods became a snare.

A Warning From the Jesus Movement

I've been beating up on these guys, but who was around forty-five years ago? I was—fifteen years old, working on a fishing boat. In 1979, just north of us in Costa Mesa, we were in the middle of the Jesus Movement. Unlearned men—carpenters, fishermen, drug addicts, musicians—were coming to Christ who never knew anything about the Bible. The message of the cross clicked, and the church grew at a pace never seen before. Thousands were baptized. A friend of mine became a pastor because he was one chapter ahead of the congregation; he'd preach, sweating through it, and a hundred people would get saved.

But what happened? I'll bear some responsibility, because I was at the tail end of it. We became too prosperous, too familiar, too proud. We forgot who we were and what God saved us from. We got political. And worst of all, we lost our humility—pointing the finger at people who had been just like us five years earlier. The church I attended as a young man held maybe 9,000 people across multiple services, packed out. Today I could just about fit that church in my living room. I can see the same mistakes of pride, politics, and lost humility. I tell you this not as condemnation, but as caution. It can happen.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)

That's the single biggest verse that sticks out to me in Judges. We have a saying at Cross Connection: play stupid games, win stupid prizes—the extended version being, go to stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things. There's a cause and effect to these things.

Look at the nation of Israel today. They're at odds with the world, and the world hates them because they're God's kids. But you also have to question their protection, because they're completely out of covenant with Him—no more godly-looking than the United States, honestly pretty gnarly. And I love Israel. Their world looks the way it does largely because of their actions and inactions. My question is: does our world look the way it does because of our inactions? Are we reaping consequences for not going out and making disciples? Much of it traces back to worshiping the gods of our own interest. We have a saying: energy, assets, and time—whatever you pour your energy, assets, and time into is what you worship. A person's calendar and checkbook tell a lot.

Misrepresenting God's Name

So the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon. From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years... (Judges 10:7–8)

Why was God so angry? Point four: God's people should represent God's glorious name. In 1 Samuel 4, Israel dragged the Ark of the Covenant into battle as a lucky charm. The Philistines panicked:

God has come into the camp... Woe to us! ... These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

Notice—gods, plural. The credit for delivering Israel from Egypt was now being given to the foreign gods Israel had been worshiping. The nation meant to be a glorious example of God's power was now profaning His reputation. The first three commandments—no other gods, no idols, do not take the Lord's name in vain—are all tied together, because idolatry profanes the name of the Lord.

True Repentance Brings a Godly Result

There's good news—the guy in the flannel shows up. In verses 10–16, Israel cries out, sorry for their actions but at first not really repenting. God gives them what I call the Dr. Phil treatment: you worshiped this god and that god—how's that working out for you? Let them deliver you. Then they do something important: they repent. They admit their guilt, acknowledge God for who He is, put away their idols, and begin to worship the Lord. There's action—and that brings them to a place where God can redeem them again.

True repentance from God's people brings a godly result to the nation. What does this mean for us? We're still going to light the dumpster on fire. We're going to make mistakes—maybe smaller ones than before we were believers, but mistakes. The difference is in how we get back up. For a condemned person out of step with God, that desire looks very different than for the believer who can simply say, "Dear Lord, forgive me, I've sinned, show me the way." That's what gives us the power to get back up and go make disciples. We are forgiven. We are not condemned.

Well Done

The title of this sermon is "Well Done"—not because we're getting barbecued. As a pastor, I'm called to look at the flock, and here's what I'm seeing: you are loving people, and not just talking about it. We're in about five elementary schools, doing after-school programs where kids are getting saved, with invitations to more—we just need more people. Our people go into nursing homes, bringing Jesus, hope, and comfort to those whose families don't come to see them. We have dedicated people praying over cards every week.

I see you serving. I see you giving—the lights are still on. And you're making disciples by bringing people here, where they'll hear life-saving truth, because you love them. We have men working with veterans, four chaplains serving police and fire departments, people working with Billy Graham, missionaries we finance reaching the outermost parts of the world. In June we'll pack this sanctuary and fill a sea container with 30,000 meals headed, I believe, to widows and orphans in Paraguay who are being trained with the gospel and in job skills. You're doing a great job. Stay humble.

Closing Prayer

Lord, I love it when I can look out and see so many people I'm thankful for, and so many I don't even know, whom I'm blessed by. Father, as we leave today and enter the mission field, those we interact with—Lord, that we would love them, and love them in a way that brings them to the cross. Empower our people with Your Holy Spirit. Give them the words to say, a good reputation, and the right answers. Bless them and fill them with Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.