Rev. David Holwick Y
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 12, 2001
Judges 17-18
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I. Designer religion reflected in website Yahoo!
A. Main religion page, with around 40 entries, includes:
Angels [29]
Demons [34]
Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals [22] (branches out to over 100)
Reincarnation [16]
Women [28]
Subtopic: Wicca and Witchcraft [160+]
("Bible" doesn't appear - it is buried under "Texts")
B. Under "faiths and practices":
Aboriginal Dreamtime (7)
Afro-Brazilian Religions (4)
Afro-Caribbean Religions (9)
Agnosticism (11)
Animism (3)
Atheism (73)
Bah '¡ Faith (303)
Cao Dai (9)
Channeling (19)
Divination (341)
Firewalking (9)
Gnosticism (39)
Hinduism (581)
Jainism (26)
Mithraism (9)
Monasticism (13)
Mysticism (98)
Native American Religions (29)
New Age (497)
Occult (17)
Paganism (575)
Pantheism (10)
Santer¡a (10)
Satanism (44)
Scientology (130)
Shamanism (49)
Shinto (11)
Theosophy (33)
Voodoo (21)
Zoroastrianism (22)
("Sermons" or "Pastoral Resources" - no listing in Yahoo)
II. A time of messed-up faith.
A. Early in Israel's history.
1) Really a form of appendix.
2) Probably takes place before any judges rule.
B. A sorry cast of characters.
1) Micah (who is like Yahweh?) steals from mom.
a) 1100 shekels is a fortune - 28 pounds of silver.
1> Mom's curse must have unnerved him.
2> She said it in his hearing; did she suspect him?
b) Micah ends up with a minor industry in religion.
1> He sets up a shrine in his house.
2> He makes an idol. (two or one?) Adds others, too.
3> Ephod was a waistcloth, used for divination.
4> He ordains a son, till a Levite wanders by.
2) Micah's mom. 17:2
a) She tries to reverse the curse with a blessing.
b) She makes a commitment to God, then shortchanges him.
c) She honors God by making a forbidden idol. (second comm)
3) A wandering Levite.
a) Gladly accepts his new job.
b) He claims to be a descendant of Moses.
1> Big hero, but only Aaron's sons could be priests.
c) He is treated like a son, with low pay but room & board.
1> (He is an early Baptist minister)
d) He happily goes to a higher bidder (armed Danites).
4) Danite tribe. 18:27
a) Can't hack it near the Philistines.
b) Migrate north and slaughter a bunch of peaceful people.
c) One scholar's summary:
1> They took what Micah had made (not gods).
2> They take a priest who could be bought.
3> They capture a city that cannot be defended.
III. Do we need "organized religion"?
A. Jews were limited to a single sanctuary.
1) Temple in Jerusalem became only place for sacrifices.
a) More lenient in period of Judges, but each altar
covered a large region.
2) Christians can worship anywhere.
a) Even on golf course.
B. Jewish priests were limited to one family, Aaron's.
1) Some want to limit Christian leadership to ordained clergy.
a) Only they can baptize, do communion.
2) We believe in priesthood of all believers.
a) We have direct access to God.
b) We can minister to one another.
c) A "personal priest" is unnecessary.
C. There is one true religion.
1) This is one area that hasn't changed.
2) Not enough to believe in the true God.
a) Bible argues even demons acknowledge this.
b) Popular today to think all religion is pretty much
the same (Barna: 33% of born-again Christians)
but this is illogical.
3) God must be believed in truly.
a) What kind of God do we believe in?
b) Jesus makes exclusive claims: can't accept SOME of them.
c) Paul says if another gospel is proclaimed, they
will be condemned.
4) God must be worshipped truly.
a) Micah thought he could invent a personal religion
with some trinkets. God thinks otherwise.
b) Jesus and Samaritan women. Salvation is of Jews.
1> Location not important but spiritual lineage is.
2> We come to God through Jesus.
IV. How to have a real faith.
A. Beware of idolatry and feel-good religion.
1) Not all spirituality is of the Spirit.
a) Astrology and palm reading.
1> Jamaican fortuneteller on TV ads is fake.
Really a guy named Steve.
2> (Micah's ephod not much better)
b) Virgin Mary shrine in Clearwater, Florida.
Former car dealership.
Mary appears in warped glass panels.
2) Don't be gullible.
a) Many money scams are targeted at religious people.
b) Spiritual fads can be just as costly.
B. Circumstances are not our only guide.
1) Micah: "God will be good to me now!"
a) Circumstances would seem to agree with him.
1> After confessing his theft, his sanctuary prospered.
2> Levite happens to come his way.
3> His sanctuary is a blessing to others (scouts).
b) Even better for Danites.
1> They bump into a Levite they already knew.
2> They easily conquered their new territory.
3> They get a new priest who is a grandson of Moses.
4> Truly, God is good!
2) Be careful how you read circumstances.
Pastor Clark Wrather tells of two Christians he knew in
college.
They went to church.
They read their Bibles with some regularity.
But spiritually, they were fooling themselves.
These two young Christians fell in love, or at least lust.
After a couple of months, they moved in with each other.
The guy told Clark that he could spend his whole life
with this girl.
Clark asked, then why don't you marry her?
I will, he said, but we want to be together now.
We can't wait.
The guy had had several failed relationships and he really
believed this one would last.
His lady love became pregnant after a month of living
together.
Their idyllic relationship started cracking apart.
He wanted her to get an abortion.
She wanted to keep it.
He confided to Clark that he had a "real peace" about this
decision, because the baby would really mess up their
lives and God would not want that to happen.
They quit talking to each other, quit loving each other.
Then, she miscarried.
She was devastated.
He felt like God was really looking out for him.
This was a sign that God agreed with him on the baby.
He wanted to put the pieces back together with her, but
those pieces had been smashed into little tiny bits.
She left him and has never spoken to him again.
It is sad, because he is still unmarried.
Maybe he would still have her, if they had not been living
under a spiritual delusion.
Many Christians live within a spiritual delusion.
They put a godly spin on circumstances but they have already
wrecked their spiritual foundation.
Sermon #660
3) Focus on God rather than your happiness.
C. Belief must be tied to consistent morality.
1) Micah's mom is like many Christians - she knew the
spiritual language but skimmed the silver.
2) Practice what you preach. Knowing the truth is not enough.
3) According to Charles Colson, a 1999 study of sixty-five
common values and traits showed that the values of
born-again Christians were not substantially
different from any other segment of our culture.
Can such a church expect to change the world? #19602
D. Stands up against philosophy of world.
1) Focus on service and weakness rather than power and force.
a) Judges: might makes right, as armed mob steals priest.
2) Believe enough to suffer for it. (handless Christian)
E. Follows guidelines of Bible.
1) God speaks through this book as clearly as he spoke through
Jesus in Galilee.
2) It is not a textbook or daily devotional - it is God's word.
F. Genuine faith is not man-made and cannot be stolen.
1) Popular song a few years back (Debbie McMullin liked it):
"Losing My Religion."
2) Genuine faith cannot be lost or stolen.
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#19602 "In And Of The World: A Culture Of Conformity," BreakPoint
Commentary by Charles Colson; July 19, 2001. [full text below]
Sermon #660: "The Symptoms Of A Spiritual Delusion," by Rev. Clark
Wrather, Little City Baptist Church (SBC),near Madill, Oklahoma;
Gen-x Sermons; preached October 3, 1999.
These and 18,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
HOLWICK'S ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION Number: 19602
SOURCE: Breakpoint Commentary
TITLE: In And Of The World: A Culture Of Conformity
AUTHOR: Charles Colson
DATE: 7/19/2001
_______________________
At a recent presentation on Capitol Hill, researcher George Barna said,
"Twenty-five years from now, historians are likely to say the year 2001
was right around the time when the era of moral and spiritual anarchy
began." In his talk, Barna predicted that, of all the changes likely to
occur in the next few years, moral chaos will have the most devastating
impact on American culture.
It's a bold and shocking prediction. What are we to make of it? In his
prophetic new book BOILING POINT, Barna and co-author Mark Hatch report
that while most Americans today claim to be Christians, this commitment
is becoming less and less meaningful.
Consider the following: 85 percent of all adults claim that religious
faith is very important in their lives. Also, 85 percent claim to be
Christians. More than four out of five adults claim to know the basic
teachings of the Bible and nine of ten own at least one Bible -- good.
Yet, just one in four adults and only one teenager in ten believes in
absolute moral truth. In fact, less than half of those who call
themselves "born-again" Christians believe that anything is "absolutely
true."
If a majority of Americans own a Bible and value its content, if they
know that Jesus says "I am ... the truth," [John 14:6] then why do so
few believe in absolute truth? The disconnect comes from what Barna and
Hatch call Americans' "evolving values." Our culture's embrace of moral
relativism has led to an abandonment of traditional values -- including
loyalty, morality, accountability, and sacrifice.
Many Americans, Barna says, now cling to the values that best align with
relativism -- that is, independence, personal happiness, tolerance,
comfort, instant gratification, the right to make ones own choices --
all of this centers on the individual.
Christ spoke to this problem long ago when He said, "Where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also" [Matthew 6:21]. When God is no
longer the center of our lives and when we replace worship with our own
self-interest, spiritual and moral anarchy inevitably follow. And
without firm religious foundations, our society will have enormous
difficulty arriving at a moral consensus to cope with the dramatic
changes that lie ahead.
Most distressing, the church sometimes seems right in line with today's
evolving values. Barna and Hatch note that people's church preferences
often align precisely with their relativistic approach to life.
Americans often do not join churches these days; instead, they attend
churches based on how far they have to drive, the convenience of the
worship schedule, the kinds of emotional experiences they can enjoy, and
whether or not the sermon is upbeat and interesting.
Now none of these reasons are inherently bad, but all too often people
are choosing their church without regard for doctrinal purity or
reliable teaching. Convenience, comfort, and emotion tend to be the
values that drive today's spirituality.
Accordingly, Christians are increasingly indistinguishable from their
non-Christian friends. A 1999 study of sixty-five common values and
traits showed that the values of born-again Christians were not
substantially different from any other segment of culture.
Can such a church expect to change the world? If we have any hope of
renewing the culture, we'll need to rediscover what Jesus meant when he
called us to be in the world but not of it.
For further reference:
Barna, George and Hatch, Mark. Boiling Point. Ventura, CA: Regal
Books, 2001.
_________________________
Copyright (c) 2001 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with
permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison
Fellowship Ministries.
*
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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