PRINCETON CHRISTIAN CHURCH
JUDGES 17:1-6 04 AUGUST 2024
READ Judges 17:1-6
Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return them to you.” So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
These were dark days in the history of the nation of Israel.
The nation had become a nation that lacked effective direction and leadership.
They began to follow any path that looked good to them at that time.
When that didn’t work out so well, they would turn and begin to follow another path that looked promising and beneficial.
And they found a dead end at the end of each of those trails.
Of course, we know why that happened in that way. It was simply that they were following their own desires and ignoring the plan God had for them—the plan that would benefit them, a plan that would cause them to be a great nation, the plan to save them.
They were going, but they were getting nowhere.
And, you know, people in our world today are not much different, not much better at finding the good path, seeking direction to direct us to the path that leads to life as God has planned for us.
So, many people today are in that same condition. Many are on the fast track, competing with others for the best jobs, houses, cars, toys, etc. They race through life on the fast track but do not go anywhere.
So many people today seem to lack direction and purpose.
Chuck Girard is a Contemporary Musician – He wrote a little song titled “Little Pilgrim.”
Here is how that goes:
Little Pilgrim walking down the road of life, I find that in your heart, you're just a lonely one. For you see, upon that very road, my search for good and truth had its beginning. You take a little turn to the left, and you see what that path has to offer you. Then you gotta make it back to the main road anyhow, and you have all that lost time to make up for. And it's a sad thing to realize that you're all alone, that you're on your own again. Little Pilgrim, walking down the road of life, can't you see that there are many others who are just like you? I was looking in that same direction, but all I ever found were others who were searching just like me. And we didn't find the way or the answers to the questions that were buried deep down in our souls. We just found that the ways of men have no answers anyhow. Oh, don't you wonder now what you're trying to do? Oh, don't you wonder now where that path is taking you? Little Pilgrim, walking down the road of life, I know that deep down in your heart, you are just like me. What you're seeking is a better way, and you're reaching out for temporary resting places. You're glad to find a little peace of mind here and there, but it won't last, no, no, 'cause you'll have to move along someday. 'Til you're resting in the arms of the only one who can help you, 'til you give your heart and your soul and your body and your mind and your life to the Lord. And it's a glad thing to realize that you're not alone anymore, that you found your way back home, back home.
Here in this passage in Judges – these were days when people had lost their direction. They were days of confusion.
The lines – guidelines – between good and evil had been eliminated.
Those who lived in sin were saying we need to be tolerant toward people who have chosen to live differently than we do. Those who were preaching tolerance were the most intolerant of all, especially against those who had a different opinion than theirs.
I don’t know about you, but I see a whole lot of today’s world in that mindset.
Those who are committing all kinds of sexual and immoral sins are shouting about the intolerance of Christian people. And in their opposition to those of us who adhere to Christian principles, they become intolerant of us.
That phrase in Judges 17 – In Those Days – refers to the days when there was no King in Israel. Israel was established as a Theocracy. God was their King.
But the people rejected God’s rule over their lives. And, so, in rejecting God as King, there was no king in Israel.
They had rejected God’s laws as absolutes – meaning God should be recognized as being the full authority.
The result was religious and moral chaos – don’t we have the same today?
Each person became a law unto themselves. Each person made up their own rules. When unauthorized persons attempt to make their own laws, they could also break the rules and even change them as they fit their own circumstances.
In the world today, many people have rejected God's absolutes, insisting that they don’t apply to them. They believe they can make better decisions—for self-benefit and individual enjoyment and enhancement.
An example of how that has happened—and this one isn’t new—it has been in effect for several years now—is that people hate the laws of God so fiercely that God and His law have been ordered out of our schools and public buildings.
That is why schools now have to have metal detectors, armed guards, and such on public school buildings.
That is why any reference to God and His Son are outlawed, and our children suffer from not learning what their very lives are missing.
Remember what David said: “Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day.”
The prophet said it so clearly: “They have sown the wind; they will reap the whirlwind.”
And so, in the days of Judges, and sadly even in our day in 2024 ---
Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Did you ever hear anyone say, “What right do you have to tell me what is right or wrong?”
Here is what our answer should be to that question:
“I don’t have any right to tell you what is right or wrong. But I do have the responsibility to tell you what GOD has said is right and wrong.”
“I am not trying to tell you how you should live. I am telling you how GOD says you should live.”
We are living today, I believe, in a day of what is known as moral relativism.
Now, what does that mean?
In the Biblical sense, it means simply this – simply what we see in our Scripture today – Judges 17:6.
“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.”
Do you know what that does? It leaves God out of our lives if we live by that standard.
And how has that affected life here in our country?
Jails and prisons are overflowing with law-breakers. Some are so full that even after criminals are convicted, they are released and too frequently commit the same crimes over again.
An overwhelming number of children are being raised in homes with parents who cannot cope with life without the aid of illegal drugs.
One study found that one in every 5 teenagers is infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
More babies are born to unwed mothers than ever before. The other side of that is that many of those babies don’t have the opportunity to be born. They are destroyed by abortion.
And we have to stop and wonder – just how long will God allow these sinful acts to continue before He steps in and brings judgment on America?
The song, America the Beautiful, has long since lost its truth. “America, America, God shed His grace on thee – and He has for some time – but He has promised He will pour out His wrath on this kind of behavior.
God has declared: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Each of us needs to take time to reflect on this question:
Who or what has set the standards I live by?
Hollywood? College Professors?
Have you created your own individual standards?
And a really critical concern – at least it is to me - who is setting the standards that your children or grandchildren are living by?
What are they listening to? What are they watching on TV, on the Internet? What is the content of the music they listen to? What mind-altering games are they playing on the Internet?
The people we are reading about in Judges were living by doing what was right in their own eyes. We must be careful that we do not fall into that trap.
The Bible tells us that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgment.
It tells us that on That Day, every person will stand before God to be judged.
And the standards He will use will be His standards, not the standards of the world.
Just before Israel’s destruction, the Prophet Jeremiah said this:
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; my people love to have it so; but what will you do at the end thereof?
Where is your path leading you? What are you going to do at the end of your path?
Are you prepared to stand before God and give an account to Him for how you have spent your life?
Jesus Christ came to say to each of us: “Turn your life over to Me, and I will make the changes for you. I will set you free from the power of sin and give you the ability to walk the path of life. Follow Me, for I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no man can come to the Father but by me.”
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