Judges (Part 4) - Rise Up!
Pastor Rollan Fisher
As we move through this series in Judges, we will continually come back to a theme that runs the course of the book.
Judges was a time when “Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25).
What we’ll see played out in Judges and reflected in our own lives are the repercussions of living before God as if he were not king, and living by simply doing what is right in our own eyes.
Our goal will be to return to a life of faith and love for Jesus that ultimately leads to God’s glory and our good.
Judges (Part 4): Rise Up!
Focus: The God of glory sends people into our lives to help us rise up to be all that we were created to be and do in Christ.
Rise Up!
Lose Yourself
To Gain (in) Christ
Rise Up
God will send people into our lives to challenge us that we might rise up to become all that we are meant to be in Christ.
Judges 4:1-10 ESV
“And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.”
Deborah was a prophetess who was calling Barak and the men of Israel to rise up and fulfill their God given roles.
In a patriarchal society, God broke cultural norms to deal with the sin into which Israel had again fallen.
Deborah was not just called a prophetess, but she was judging Israel at that time, meaning that she was leading them.
The people of Israel would come from long distances to her location in the center of territorial Israel to get judgments from the Lord because of her walk with God.
How reflective this is of much of our church community even to this day, and the indebtedness that we have to the amazing women of God - church mothers, intercessors and prophetesses who have been holding their ground, fasting, praying, serving, discipling and leading in the things of God throughout modern history when others would not show up!
We give God thanks and honor even the many women of God in our midst who’ve been just as amazing as Deborah!
Barak’s name meant “Lightning” and was a portent of the catalyst that he was called to be amongst the Israelites, who seeing his example would rally to fight their oppressors leading to God’s deliverance.
Yet he was unwilling to go without Deborah’s presence.
Deborah’s name meant “bee” and her words definitely came with a sting as she was the first prophetess of Israel mentioned since Miriam, the sister of Moses in Exodus.
The truth is that God will not stop the continuation of his purposes and the advance of his kingdom, even when we are not doing our ordained part.
Regardless of your upbringing or culture, the Scripture is clear that God has and does anoint women to be full of might, strength and the Spirit of God for the advancement of God’s purposes!
The issue here is not whether or not a man or woman should get the glory.
Scripture emphasizes that God uses women in important, influential roles throughout history, just as he does today (think of Ruth, Esther, Pricilla in Acts 18 or the list of faithful female ministers that Paul commends in Romans 16).
The issue is that God is calling men to rise up to take their place as warriors and servant leaders as the heads of their homes, in the church and in society.
*Men are called by God to reject passivity and lead courageously.
"A real man is one who rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, and expects a greater reward, God’s reward."
-Robert Lewis of Raising Modern Day Knights
Think of the patterns that you see in the modern church world.
As with Barak, men are receiving a call to be courageous initiators, and not passive spectators in the Kingdom of God; to be on the tip of the spear in advancing God’s purposes, and not merely commenting as to what they see wrong from the bench.
Lose Yourself
The key to becoming all that you were meant to be in Jesus is to lose your preconceived notions of the way that you thought life would go so that you might find your true purpose in Christ.
Judges 4:11-16 ESV
“Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh. When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.”
You must lose your life in Jesus to find out who you are truly created to be.
“But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away "blindly" so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.
The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it.
Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
To Gain (in) Christ
When we are focused on the cross, we are able to put lagging encumbrances to death that we might be fulfilled and free in Jesus.
Judges 4:17-24 ESV
“But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my Lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple. So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.”
Being overly concerned with political correctness can keep us and others bound by sin.
Jael is another woman of God whose courage God uses to help solidify Israel’s deliverance.
Heber and Jael were related to Moses, and though at that time there was an alliance with Sisera’s boss, Jael chose to side with vanquishing the Lord’s enemies rather than the political correctness of her day.
Jael used hospitality to invite Jabin into her home, and once there she drove the peg into the temple of Jabin - right into his center of thought.
Proverbs 21:22 ESV
“A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.”
When people understand the holiness, justice and love of God all demonstrated at the cross of Jesus, they can be brought to a genuine repentance (which is a change of mind and direction) and faith.
We can use hospitality to invite those bound by the world’s ideologies and sin into loving environments to them set free by the truth and cross of Christ.
Invite people to church.
Invite people to your community group.
Invite people into your home.
Romans 12:9-14 ESV
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”
Again, is this not how we can use hospitality to invite those bound by sin into our faith environments to see them set free by the truth and cross of Christ?
The Gospel Comes with a Housekey is one of my wife's favorite books.
I highly recommend this and Rosaria Butterfield’s story.
With kindness, we must be diligent to explain the need for Jesus’ sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, even as we apply the cross to controversial issues.
Like Jael, we must find our security and identity in Christ more than worldly alliances to have the courage to love others as Jesus does (which includes telling them the truth).
Mark 8:34-38 ESV
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."”
The question is:
In what ways has political correctness kept you or those you know and love bound in sin?
Deborah had to risk being misunderstood in the midst of the social conventions of the day to call Barak and the people of Israel to a zeal necessary to serve the Lord.
Barak had to deny his timidity and reluctance and rise up in faith to save himself and his people.
Jael had to forsake her comfort and security to embark on the risky effort to finally put the tyranny of Jabin to rest.
How is God calling you to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus for the sake of his gospel that you might find your life and see others find theirs as well in Christ?
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher