Freedom of Worship
0 Amens
Introduction
“My relationship with God is my business. Who I worship and how I worship has nothing to do with you.” This is one of the mantras of our culture. Our culture says that religion is a private thing, a personal thing. Our culture says that spirituality is a private thing, a personal thing. Even the Christian culture, the Church culture, uses this same language and shouts out this same mantra. “I have a personal relationship with Jesus,” we say. And many times we try to make that relationship more than just personal. We try to make it private. We act as though our “personal” relationship with Jesus is our business and no one else’s. After all, what I do with Jesus doesn’t have any impact on anyone else but me. Right? Wrong! Of course, what you do with Jesus does impact you. But it also impacts everyone else – your family, your friends, your neighborhood, your city, your country, the world. That may sound like an overstatement but today we’ll see that it is not. In our country every citizen has the freedom to worship who they please as they please. And thank God for that. Every one should have the right to choose who and how they will worship. But our culture has taught us to take this good principle way too far. Instead of simply acknowledging that everyone has the right to worship who and how they please we have gone even further and concluded that who and how anyone worships is their business and it is really no concern of ours. And this is where we went wrong. Because though we do have the right to choose who and how we will worship our choices in this arena are not private…our choices in this arena affect everyone around us. They are everyone’s concern. So while it may sound true to say something like, “My relationship with God is my business. Who I worship and how I worship has nothing to do with you.” It is not true. It’s a lie. Our personal experience confirms this. History confirms this. And the Scriptures reveal this. Turn with me to Judges 19:1-30 where we will see this truth illustrated.
Doing as They See Fit
What we’re going to read in Judges 19 is a tragedy. We are going to see the downfall of a person, of a family, of a city, of a tribe, and – ultimately – of an entire nation. And all of this damage, this damage that started with one person and spread to an entire nation, all of it was caused by the same thing. And Judges 19:1 tells us what that cause was, “In those days Israel had no king.” If you were here last week you’ll remember that this is the third of four times that the author has told us this. In two of the four times he says this he adds an additional clause. He says, “In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as they saw fit.” What he’s telling us is that the Israelites had made a decision related to worship. Yahweh was their king but they did not live with him as their king. They lived as though they were king of their lives. They did as they saw fit. They chose to worship creation instead of the Creator. And this “personal” choice of who and how to worship had disastrous consequences for the entire nation. Some of which we’ll read about here in chapter 19.
Let’s start by meeting the principal character. We can do that by reading Judges 19:1-3, “In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.” Here we meet the two principal characters of this story. We meet a man, who the author simply calls “a Levite,” and we meet a woman, who the author simply calls “his concubine.” All of the drama that will follow starts with these two characters: the Levite and his concubine. And like every other character in this narrative these characters have chosen to worship creation instead of Creator. The Levite has chosen to worship himself, he has chosen to do what is right in his eyes, by taking a concubine instead of a wife. And the concubine has chosen to worship herself, she has chosen to do what is right in her eyes, by being unfaithful to the Levite. She even walked out on him and returned to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. Eventually the Levite decides to pursue her. He decides to go to her parent’s house and try to woo her back. But verse 2 tells us that he waited four months before he went after her. Who knows what he was doing in those four months. He must have been looking in the mirror practicing what he was going to say, perfecting the mack daddy vibe he was going to give to her. “Hey, baby. Listen, baby. I’m sorry, baby. I know I’ve treated you as a second-class wife. I know I’ve only made you my concubine. But I love you, baby. These last four months have been torture without you. It made me realize how much I need you. Come home, baby. Come home with me.” I’m not saying that’s exactly what he said. But I imagine it was the ancient equivalent of something like that. I’m pretty sure guys have been spitting game ever since Adam ate the fruit. Either way, once he arrived at her parent’s house the father was quick to let him in and show him some good ol’ fashioned Jewish hospitality. It was customary for guests to stay and enjoy this hospitality for three days. But the Levite’s father-in-law wanted to prolong it. And as we read the text it seems like the father-in-law might have just wanted a drinking buddy. On the fourth day he convinced is son-in-law to stay and the two of them sat down together, eating and drinking – enjoying themselves. On the fifth day when the Levite got up to leave his father-in-law stopped him again and the two sat down and ate together again. After finishing their meal the Levite got up and prepared to leave again. But, again, his father-in-law tried to convince him to stay. “Stay and enjoy yourself,” he said. But the Levite didn’t want to be delayed anymore. So he saddled his two donkeys, grabbed his servant, and his concubine, and began the journey home.
As they were traveling evening came and it began to get dark. The Levites servant recommended that they stop in a nearby city. In verse 11 the servant says, “Come, let’s stop at the city of the Jebusites and spend the night.” But in verse 12 the Levite replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” The Levite decides that he would rather keep traveling at night in order to stay in an Israelite city than to stay the night in a city of non-Israelites. As we’ll soon see, this was a terrible mistake. Because the Israelites have become no different than their Canaanite neighbors. Just like the Canaanites they have chosen to worship something other than Yahweh, the true God. They have chosen to worship creation instead of Creator. In particular, they have chosen to worship themselves. And this will prove to be disastrous for everyone involved.
Nevertheless, at the Levites urging, the group continued to travel until they reached the Israelite city of Gibeah later that night. When they arrived they stopped at the city square hoping that someone would offer them a place to stay for the night. But no one did. Until later that evening when an old man saw the Levite and his party in the city square. The Levite explained that he, his servant, and his concubine just needed a place to stay for the night before heading back to their hometown of Ephraim. The old man kindly invited them to stay the night at his house. And they did. At first everything seemed to be going well. The old man fed the Levite’s donkeys, they washed their feet, and they had something to eat and drink. But then everything changed. Look at verse 22, “While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house. “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” Does this sound familiar? It should. This is very similar to what happened with Lot and his guests when they stayed in the pagan city of Sodom. Now we see that the cities of Israel have become no different than the pagan cities that Yahweh destroyed. Just like the people of Sodom, the people of Israel chose to give their worship to someone other than Yahweh. The men we see here have chosen to worship themselves, their passions, and their desires in place of Yahweh. And though they certainly have the right to make this “personal” choice the consequences of that choice are far from personal. The Levite and his crew are finding that out first hand.
But it’s not only the wicked men of the city who have made themselves king instead of Yahweh. Even the Levite’s generous host has chosen to give his worship to something other than the True God. Look at how he responds in verse 23, “The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.” If the host was interested in worshiping Yahweh he would have given equal protection to everyone in his care. But he doesn’t. He’s willing to sacrifice his own daughter and he even offers up another man’s woman! Now why would he do such a thing? Probably because he has chosen to live by the values of his culture instead of by the values of Yahweh. Perhaps he has chosen to submit to his culture’s view of women instead of Yahweh’s view of gender. So he views women as less valuable and more expendable than men. Or perhaps he’s chosen to submit to his culture’s view of honor and hospitality. So he thinks that he is actually being virtuous by protecting his primary guest, even if that means he is hurting others. Either way he’s ultimately worshiping himself. Notice that he doesn’t offer himself to the men. No, he only offers his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine.
The men of the city are worshiping themselves as they seek to feed their lusts. The host is worshiping himself as he tries to protect his honor. And the Levite is worshiping himself as he tries to protect himself at any cost. Because in verse 23 he willingly gives his concubine to the men in order to save himself. Then the text tells us that he went to sleep. He went to sleep while his woman was raped and abused throughout the entire night. When the Levite woke up from his peaceful rest in the morning he went outside and saw his concubine laying by the front door with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he told her. Not the most loving or compassionate thing to say to someone who you just gave over to be raped and abused in your place. But, again, the Levite is not worshiping Yahweh, the God of all compassion. He’s worshiping himself. “Get up, let’s go” he said. But the woman said nothing in response. She had collapsed and died as a result of the horrendous abuse. So the Levite put her on his donkey and headed home. When he finally arrived home he took the body of his own woman and continued to abuse it. He chopped her up into 12 pieces and sent each piece to a different part of Israel. Presumably he wanted justice for what had been done. But even this was more about him then it was about her. And it definitely wasn’t about Yahweh. Remember, she only ended up this position because he put her there to protect himself. Like everyone else, he was worshiping, but he was worshiping creation instead of Creator.
The Lie of Private Worship
And that’s how this story began. It began with the author of Judges reminding us that each person in Israel was living as their own king, doing what they saw fit. These decisions seem personal at the time. They seem to be inconsequential to everyone else. But we see here that this is not the case. What began as one man’s choice to worship himself soon destroyed a family, it soon took the life of an innocent woman, now it is going to lead to the downfall of an entire city, and that will culminate in an all-out civil war that ravages an entire nation. All of this because one man made a personal choice to worship something other than Yawheh, the True God. All of this because one man chose to worship creation instead of the Creator. You see there is no such thing as “private worship.” Each character here made a choice about who and how they would worship. And each of their choices impacted those around them. So, yes, we have the right to worship who and how we please but our choices have consequences. They affect us and they affect everyone around us whether we know it or not.
Now, listen, most of us probably haven’t done some of the more violent things we see in this story. Most of us probably wouldn’t willingly give one of our loved ones over to abuse and murder. But even if we haven’t done exactly what these people did we have done what these people did. Like them, we have done what is right in our own eyes. We have done as we see fit. We have, at times, committed idolatry in our hearts. Remember, you don’t have to bow to stone images to be an idolater. An idolater is anyone who gives to creation what belongs to the Creator. Anytime that we give our allegiance, our obedience, our trust, our fear, our hope, our mind, our hearts, our bodies, our lives to anything other than Jesus we are worshiping something or someone other than Jesus. We are committing idolatry. This means that if you’re an irreligious person you’re not immune to idolatry. In fact, your irreligion guarantees your idolatry because you are always giving yourself to something other than Jesus. But it also means that if you are a Christian you are extremely vulnerable to idolatry. Because even as we name Jesus as king it is possible that we are giving to creation the things we should be giving to him. It is possible that we are looking for our peace, and our rest, and our joy, and our fulfillment in things and people other than Jesus or in addition to Jesus.
This is a problem. No, this isn’t “a” problem. This is THE problem. This is THE problem for us. And this is THE problem for everyone. This is THE human problem. Everything that is wrong with the world is a result of this. The problem is not a lack of education, the problem is not poverty, the problem is not corrupt politicians, the problem is not traditional morality, the problem is not moral relativism, the problem is not irreligion, the problem is not religion. The problem is a worship problem. The problem is the idolatrous worship so common to the human heart. This is described in great detail in Romans 1. Let’s turn there together and read Romans 1:18-32.
It would take hours to talk about all this passage has to say about worship and idolatry. So let’s just hit on a few important things. First, this passage tells us that idolatry is a willful choice that we make. Look at what is said in verses 18 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Those of us who are not Christians think that we have good reasons for this. We say things like, “Well, how do I know that Jesus really is who he says he is?” Or, “I don’t see how Christianity can be true when Christians are such hypocrites.” Or, “What about the people who will never hear about Jesus?” Or, “Can we really trust the Bible?” These questions sound like reasonable questions on the surface. So we feel justified as we continue to remain agnostic or antagonistic toward Jesus. But these things are not the real issue. These things are lies that we create to cover up the real issue. The real issue is what we read here in verse 18 – we are “human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” We are idolaters by choice. We don’t want to worship Jesus. Not because he’s not real, but because we love our wickedness. We love being God of our world. Idolatry is a willful choice that non-Christians make. But idolatry is also a willful choice that Christians make. Whenever we give our minds and bodies and hearts to people and things other than Jesus or in addition to Jesus we are committing idolatry. But we Christians would never call it that. Because we would never willfully choose to worship creation rather than Creator. After all we’re Christians, right? So instead of calling our sin what it is we have an arsenal of explanations for it. When we worship other human beings and look to them for our happiness we say, “Well, Jesus wants me to be happy.” When we worship health and wealth and prosperity and look to them for our value and peace we say, “Jesus wants me to be prosperous.” When we worship ourselves by giving into our sinful cravings we say, “Jesus wouldn’t have made me this way if he didn’t want me to do this.” When we worship the culture and follow it instead of Jesus we say, “It’s not my fault that I’m not growing. My pastor isn’t feeding me.” When we worship the opinion of other people instead of Jesus we say, “I would share the gospel with them but they don’t want to hear it. They don’t listen.” When we worship ourselves and are bitter or unforgiving we say, “It’s not my fault. I became like this because of things that were done to me in my past.” In other words we deny our own idolatry and we say that we are who we are and we do what we do and we value what we value because of external forces. But these things are lies. They are lies that we create to cover up the real issue. The real issue is not external but internal. As it says in verse 18 – we are “human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” I worship Jesus Christ. Yet every time I sin it is because I have made a willful choice to commit idolatry. I have willfully chosen to suppress the truth and feed my wickedness. All Christians do this from time to time because even as Christians we have conflicting desires. We have our new nature -- our new heart that is righteous and loves and worships Jesus alone. But we also still live in the flesh – with its self-serving and idolatrous desires. Which means there is still a part of us that wants to be god of our life, there is still a part of us that looks to people and things other than Jesus for our joy and peace. It doesn’t matter if we are Christians or non-Christians we all commit idolatry in varying degrees. And this passage tells us that idolatry – in any and every case – is a willful choice that we make.
Second, this passage shows us that in addition to being a willful choice, idolatry is also a senseless choice. Let’s re-read verses 19 and 20, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” When we look at creation it is obvious that it is just that – creation. When we look at even the most beautiful and powerful aspects of creation we clearly see that someone greater, and wiser, and far more powerful must have created them and must sustain their existence. Yet, in spite of how glaringly obvious this is, human beings continue to worship and serve self, and people, and beauty, and sex instead of the God who created these things. This is so senseless that it is almost humorous – and it would be humorous – if it wasn’t so destructive.
And this leads us to the third thing we see in this passage. We see that this willful and senseless choice of idolatry also comes with great and terrible consequences. Verse 21 says that idolatry produces futile thinking and dark, foolish hearts. Verse 22 says idolatry reveals us to be fools. Verse 24 says that God brings his wrath to idolaters by allowing them to continue in their idolatry even to the destruction of their own body. Verse 28 says that God’s wrath gives idolaters over to a depraved mind. But it gets even worse. Because the choice to worship things other than or in addition to Jesus doesn’t just impact the idolatrous worshiper. It has consequences for everyone. Verse 29 says that idolatry fills human beings with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. It results in envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. Idolatry produces gossips, slanderers, God-haters, people who are insolent, arrogant, and boastful. Idolaters invent ways of doing evil, they disobey their parents, they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy, and they approve of others who are just like them.
Who and how we worship has serious consequences for us and for everyone around us. And though it may be popular to say that who and how we worship is no one’s business. We all know that it is. We all know this from our own experience. Every one of you in this room has been hurt physically, emotionally, psychologically. And sometimes you struggle to find an explanation for why they did what they did. But there is no need for an explanation. Because all of the blame really comes down to one thing: upside down worship…idolatry. You have been hurt because someone else chose to worship someone or something in place of, or in addition to, Jesus. Someone else’s “personal” worship choices directly affected you. Idolatry is THE human problem. Every problem in this world is a result of someone choosing to worship someone or something other than Jesus. And this choice, no matter how personal, is never private. It impacts everyone.
The Worship Solution
This is THE human problem. THE human problem is a worship problem. And since it is a worship problem it requires a worship solution. Which means that the solutions that irreligious people offer – education, legislation, redistribution -- these things cannot solve the problem. It is a worship problem. Which means that the solutions that religious people offer – moral living, religious teaching, churchgoing – these things cannot solve the problem. It is a worship problem and it requires a worship solution. The only solution is to move our worship from creation to Creator; the only solution is to give our worship to the One who has worshiped perfectly in our place. This, of course, is Jesus Christ.
You see, our idolatry had made us the enemies of our own Creator. And once we fell from a right relationship with our Creator we fell from a right relationship with everything he created. So we also became enemies of each other and enemies of creation itself. Every day that we lived worshiping anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ was a day that we were storing up more and more of God’s wrath for ourselves. Through our idolatry we had not only earned enmity with God, we had earned death. We had earned judgment. We had earned eternity separated from God and all goodness. Because though we can plainly see that created people and things are not God we continue to give ourselves to them in worship. And we continue to wage war against the True God and against other people in the process. But here’s the astonishing thing: this same God who we were waging war against freely chose to rescue us from our slavery to idolatry, death, and inevitable judgment. And he did this at great cost to himself. God, the Father, sent his own Son to us to give his life for us. His own Son, whom he had been united with in perfect and loving community for all of eternity. His own Son, who created the world and the very people who would kill him. His own Son, who was and is eternally good, and loving, and righteous, and just, and perfect. His own Son became like us, and came to us, in order to save us – his enemies. He did that by doing what we did not do and what we cannot do. From the moment of his birth to the moment of his death he worshiped the True God and only the True God and he did it perfectly. He did this so perfectly that Jesus himself said this about his relationship with God the Father in John 8:29, “I always do what pleases him.” I always do what pleases him. Jesus was able to always do what pleased God the Father because he was always worshiping God the Father and he was doing this for us – in our place – because we failed to do it. After 33 years of worshiping the Father perfectly through his life Jesus then offered perfect worship to the Father through his death. The wrath that you and I had stored up for ourselves by giving ourselves to creation instead of to the Creator, Jesus willingly took all of it upon himself. Instead of smiting his enemies God allowed his enemies to smite him so that his people could have life, and be forgiven of their idolatry, and be restored to a right relationship with God and with each other. After dying a horribly violent death in our place – and at our hands – Jesus rose from the dead. God raised his Son from the dead to vindicate him and to show that his worship – his perfect worship – had been accepted by the Father as the substitute for our imperfect worship.
Worship is never a private matter. Our worship – our idolatrous, imperfect, creation worship – destroys other people. Jesus’ worship – Jesus’ true, and perfect, Creator worship – restores everyone who puts their trust in him. If we accept Jesus’ worship on our behalf, we are freed from our idolatry, we are freed from death, we are freed from judgment, and we are restored to a right relationship with God. But on top of that, our decision to accept Jesus’ worship on our behalf has a positive impact on everyone we come in contact with. Just as when we worship anyone or anything other than Jesus it hurts other people, when we worship Jesus it blesses other people. Think about it.
Irreligious people are prideful because they are in control of their own lives and they don’t have to submit to anyone. Religious people are prideful because they think that they have earned God’s favor through their obedience. But those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are humble because they know that they have been given life and restoration even though they deserve death and destruction.
If irreligious people want justice they have to get it for themselves. If religious people want justice they have to condemn other people. And both ways lead us to think, and say, and do things that hurt other people. But those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf don’t have to think, say, and do harmful things to get justice for themselves and they don’t have to condemn anyone. Rather, they trust that Jesus himself will one day return to the earth to bring and establish perfect justice for everyone and for all time.
This also frees those who trust in Jesus Christ to forgive like no one else. Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship don’t have to overlook what was done to them, or minimize the pain in order to forgive. No, those who trust in Jesus’ worship are uniquely able to acknowledge the egregious evil that was done to them and then love their offender as if they never did anything wrong. They are able to do this because Jesus Christ did that for them. He acknowledged our terrible evil and himself willingly absorbed all of the punishment that we deserved. And then he loved us as though we had never waged war against him.
Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship are also freed to love like no one else. They are freed to love the unlovable and freed to love those who do not love in return. They are freed to give all of themselves to others because Jesus gave all of himself to them. He has lived and died and risen so that his people could have life, and hope, and acceptance, and approval, and value, and meaning, and fulfillment. This means, now, that his people don’t have to live for themselves. They have everything they need in Jesus and are now free to give all of themselves to other people.
Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are freed to be honest about who they are because Jesus has chosen them and accepted them already. Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are freed from racism, nationalism, and all forms of human division. Because Jesus has reconciled all types of people into one people by reconciling these people to God. Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are freed from fear, which causes so many of our world’s problems. They are freed from fear because Jesus has given them present and eternal security be reconciling them to God now and forever.
So you see, who you worship and how you worship is everyone’s business. Worshiping someone or something other than Jesus destroys you and it harms those around you. Trusting in Jesus’ worship on your behalf, and worshiping him as a result, that restores you and helps those around you. So while you are free to worship as you please you must recognize the tremendous consequences of your decision. And, more than that, you must recognize the tremendous consequences of Jesus’ choice to worship Yahweh in your place. He has done all that is necessary for you to be united with God and your fellow man. There is nothing left for you to do. Other than to simply fall at his feet and worship him for who he is and for what he’s done.
“My relationship with God is my business. Who I worship and how I worship has nothing to do with you.” This is one of the mantras of our culture. Our culture says that religion is a private thing, a personal thing. Our culture says that spirituality is a private thing, a personal thing. Even the Christian culture, the Church culture, uses this same language and shouts out this same mantra. “I have a personal relationship with Jesus,” we say. And many times we try to make that relationship more than just personal. We try to make it private. We act as though our “personal” relationship with Jesus is our business and no one else’s. After all, what I do with Jesus doesn’t have any impact on anyone else but me. Right? Wrong! Of course, what you do with Jesus does impact you. But it also impacts everyone else – your family, your friends, your neighborhood, your city, your country, the world. That may sound like an overstatement but today we’ll see that it is not. In our country every citizen has the freedom to worship who they please as they please. And thank God for that. Every one should have the right to choose who and how they will worship. But our culture has taught us to take this good principle way too far. Instead of simply acknowledging that everyone has the right to worship who and how they please we have gone even further and concluded that who and how anyone worships is their business and it is really no concern of ours. And this is where we went wrong. Because though we do have the right to choose who and how we will worship our choices in this arena are not private…our choices in this arena affect everyone around us. They are everyone’s concern. So while it may sound true to say something like, “My relationship with God is my business. Who I worship and how I worship has nothing to do with you.” It is not true. It’s a lie. Our personal experience confirms this. History confirms this. And the Scriptures reveal this. Turn with me to Judges 19:1-30 where we will see this truth illustrated.
Doing as They See Fit
What we’re going to read in Judges 19 is a tragedy. We are going to see the downfall of a person, of a family, of a city, of a tribe, and – ultimately – of an entire nation. And all of this damage, this damage that started with one person and spread to an entire nation, all of it was caused by the same thing. And Judges 19:1 tells us what that cause was, “In those days Israel had no king.” If you were here last week you’ll remember that this is the third of four times that the author has told us this. In two of the four times he says this he adds an additional clause. He says, “In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as they saw fit.” What he’s telling us is that the Israelites had made a decision related to worship. Yahweh was their king but they did not live with him as their king. They lived as though they were king of their lives. They did as they saw fit. They chose to worship creation instead of the Creator. And this “personal” choice of who and how to worship had disastrous consequences for the entire nation. Some of which we’ll read about here in chapter 19.
Let’s start by meeting the principal character. We can do that by reading Judges 19:1-3, “In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.” Here we meet the two principal characters of this story. We meet a man, who the author simply calls “a Levite,” and we meet a woman, who the author simply calls “his concubine.” All of the drama that will follow starts with these two characters: the Levite and his concubine. And like every other character in this narrative these characters have chosen to worship creation instead of Creator. The Levite has chosen to worship himself, he has chosen to do what is right in his eyes, by taking a concubine instead of a wife. And the concubine has chosen to worship herself, she has chosen to do what is right in her eyes, by being unfaithful to the Levite. She even walked out on him and returned to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. Eventually the Levite decides to pursue her. He decides to go to her parent’s house and try to woo her back. But verse 2 tells us that he waited four months before he went after her. Who knows what he was doing in those four months. He must have been looking in the mirror practicing what he was going to say, perfecting the mack daddy vibe he was going to give to her. “Hey, baby. Listen, baby. I’m sorry, baby. I know I’ve treated you as a second-class wife. I know I’ve only made you my concubine. But I love you, baby. These last four months have been torture without you. It made me realize how much I need you. Come home, baby. Come home with me.” I’m not saying that’s exactly what he said. But I imagine it was the ancient equivalent of something like that. I’m pretty sure guys have been spitting game ever since Adam ate the fruit. Either way, once he arrived at her parent’s house the father was quick to let him in and show him some good ol’ fashioned Jewish hospitality. It was customary for guests to stay and enjoy this hospitality for three days. But the Levite’s father-in-law wanted to prolong it. And as we read the text it seems like the father-in-law might have just wanted a drinking buddy. On the fourth day he convinced is son-in-law to stay and the two of them sat down together, eating and drinking – enjoying themselves. On the fifth day when the Levite got up to leave his father-in-law stopped him again and the two sat down and ate together again. After finishing their meal the Levite got up and prepared to leave again. But, again, his father-in-law tried to convince him to stay. “Stay and enjoy yourself,” he said. But the Levite didn’t want to be delayed anymore. So he saddled his two donkeys, grabbed his servant, and his concubine, and began the journey home.
As they were traveling evening came and it began to get dark. The Levites servant recommended that they stop in a nearby city. In verse 11 the servant says, “Come, let’s stop at the city of the Jebusites and spend the night.” But in verse 12 the Levite replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” The Levite decides that he would rather keep traveling at night in order to stay in an Israelite city than to stay the night in a city of non-Israelites. As we’ll soon see, this was a terrible mistake. Because the Israelites have become no different than their Canaanite neighbors. Just like the Canaanites they have chosen to worship something other than Yahweh, the true God. They have chosen to worship creation instead of Creator. In particular, they have chosen to worship themselves. And this will prove to be disastrous for everyone involved.
Nevertheless, at the Levites urging, the group continued to travel until they reached the Israelite city of Gibeah later that night. When they arrived they stopped at the city square hoping that someone would offer them a place to stay for the night. But no one did. Until later that evening when an old man saw the Levite and his party in the city square. The Levite explained that he, his servant, and his concubine just needed a place to stay for the night before heading back to their hometown of Ephraim. The old man kindly invited them to stay the night at his house. And they did. At first everything seemed to be going well. The old man fed the Levite’s donkeys, they washed their feet, and they had something to eat and drink. But then everything changed. Look at verse 22, “While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house. “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” Does this sound familiar? It should. This is very similar to what happened with Lot and his guests when they stayed in the pagan city of Sodom. Now we see that the cities of Israel have become no different than the pagan cities that Yahweh destroyed. Just like the people of Sodom, the people of Israel chose to give their worship to someone other than Yahweh. The men we see here have chosen to worship themselves, their passions, and their desires in place of Yahweh. And though they certainly have the right to make this “personal” choice the consequences of that choice are far from personal. The Levite and his crew are finding that out first hand.
But it’s not only the wicked men of the city who have made themselves king instead of Yahweh. Even the Levite’s generous host has chosen to give his worship to something other than the True God. Look at how he responds in verse 23, “The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.” If the host was interested in worshiping Yahweh he would have given equal protection to everyone in his care. But he doesn’t. He’s willing to sacrifice his own daughter and he even offers up another man’s woman! Now why would he do such a thing? Probably because he has chosen to live by the values of his culture instead of by the values of Yahweh. Perhaps he has chosen to submit to his culture’s view of women instead of Yahweh’s view of gender. So he views women as less valuable and more expendable than men. Or perhaps he’s chosen to submit to his culture’s view of honor and hospitality. So he thinks that he is actually being virtuous by protecting his primary guest, even if that means he is hurting others. Either way he’s ultimately worshiping himself. Notice that he doesn’t offer himself to the men. No, he only offers his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine.
The men of the city are worshiping themselves as they seek to feed their lusts. The host is worshiping himself as he tries to protect his honor. And the Levite is worshiping himself as he tries to protect himself at any cost. Because in verse 23 he willingly gives his concubine to the men in order to save himself. Then the text tells us that he went to sleep. He went to sleep while his woman was raped and abused throughout the entire night. When the Levite woke up from his peaceful rest in the morning he went outside and saw his concubine laying by the front door with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he told her. Not the most loving or compassionate thing to say to someone who you just gave over to be raped and abused in your place. But, again, the Levite is not worshiping Yahweh, the God of all compassion. He’s worshiping himself. “Get up, let’s go” he said. But the woman said nothing in response. She had collapsed and died as a result of the horrendous abuse. So the Levite put her on his donkey and headed home. When he finally arrived home he took the body of his own woman and continued to abuse it. He chopped her up into 12 pieces and sent each piece to a different part of Israel. Presumably he wanted justice for what had been done. But even this was more about him then it was about her. And it definitely wasn’t about Yahweh. Remember, she only ended up this position because he put her there to protect himself. Like everyone else, he was worshiping, but he was worshiping creation instead of Creator.
The Lie of Private Worship
And that’s how this story began. It began with the author of Judges reminding us that each person in Israel was living as their own king, doing what they saw fit. These decisions seem personal at the time. They seem to be inconsequential to everyone else. But we see here that this is not the case. What began as one man’s choice to worship himself soon destroyed a family, it soon took the life of an innocent woman, now it is going to lead to the downfall of an entire city, and that will culminate in an all-out civil war that ravages an entire nation. All of this because one man made a personal choice to worship something other than Yawheh, the True God. All of this because one man chose to worship creation instead of the Creator. You see there is no such thing as “private worship.” Each character here made a choice about who and how they would worship. And each of their choices impacted those around them. So, yes, we have the right to worship who and how we please but our choices have consequences. They affect us and they affect everyone around us whether we know it or not.
Now, listen, most of us probably haven’t done some of the more violent things we see in this story. Most of us probably wouldn’t willingly give one of our loved ones over to abuse and murder. But even if we haven’t done exactly what these people did we have done what these people did. Like them, we have done what is right in our own eyes. We have done as we see fit. We have, at times, committed idolatry in our hearts. Remember, you don’t have to bow to stone images to be an idolater. An idolater is anyone who gives to creation what belongs to the Creator. Anytime that we give our allegiance, our obedience, our trust, our fear, our hope, our mind, our hearts, our bodies, our lives to anything other than Jesus we are worshiping something or someone other than Jesus. We are committing idolatry. This means that if you’re an irreligious person you’re not immune to idolatry. In fact, your irreligion guarantees your idolatry because you are always giving yourself to something other than Jesus. But it also means that if you are a Christian you are extremely vulnerable to idolatry. Because even as we name Jesus as king it is possible that we are giving to creation the things we should be giving to him. It is possible that we are looking for our peace, and our rest, and our joy, and our fulfillment in things and people other than Jesus or in addition to Jesus.
This is a problem. No, this isn’t “a” problem. This is THE problem. This is THE problem for us. And this is THE problem for everyone. This is THE human problem. Everything that is wrong with the world is a result of this. The problem is not a lack of education, the problem is not poverty, the problem is not corrupt politicians, the problem is not traditional morality, the problem is not moral relativism, the problem is not irreligion, the problem is not religion. The problem is a worship problem. The problem is the idolatrous worship so common to the human heart. This is described in great detail in Romans 1. Let’s turn there together and read Romans 1:18-32.
It would take hours to talk about all this passage has to say about worship and idolatry. So let’s just hit on a few important things. First, this passage tells us that idolatry is a willful choice that we make. Look at what is said in verses 18 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Those of us who are not Christians think that we have good reasons for this. We say things like, “Well, how do I know that Jesus really is who he says he is?” Or, “I don’t see how Christianity can be true when Christians are such hypocrites.” Or, “What about the people who will never hear about Jesus?” Or, “Can we really trust the Bible?” These questions sound like reasonable questions on the surface. So we feel justified as we continue to remain agnostic or antagonistic toward Jesus. But these things are not the real issue. These things are lies that we create to cover up the real issue. The real issue is what we read here in verse 18 – we are “human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” We are idolaters by choice. We don’t want to worship Jesus. Not because he’s not real, but because we love our wickedness. We love being God of our world. Idolatry is a willful choice that non-Christians make. But idolatry is also a willful choice that Christians make. Whenever we give our minds and bodies and hearts to people and things other than Jesus or in addition to Jesus we are committing idolatry. But we Christians would never call it that. Because we would never willfully choose to worship creation rather than Creator. After all we’re Christians, right? So instead of calling our sin what it is we have an arsenal of explanations for it. When we worship other human beings and look to them for our happiness we say, “Well, Jesus wants me to be happy.” When we worship health and wealth and prosperity and look to them for our value and peace we say, “Jesus wants me to be prosperous.” When we worship ourselves by giving into our sinful cravings we say, “Jesus wouldn’t have made me this way if he didn’t want me to do this.” When we worship the culture and follow it instead of Jesus we say, “It’s not my fault that I’m not growing. My pastor isn’t feeding me.” When we worship the opinion of other people instead of Jesus we say, “I would share the gospel with them but they don’t want to hear it. They don’t listen.” When we worship ourselves and are bitter or unforgiving we say, “It’s not my fault. I became like this because of things that were done to me in my past.” In other words we deny our own idolatry and we say that we are who we are and we do what we do and we value what we value because of external forces. But these things are lies. They are lies that we create to cover up the real issue. The real issue is not external but internal. As it says in verse 18 – we are “human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” I worship Jesus Christ. Yet every time I sin it is because I have made a willful choice to commit idolatry. I have willfully chosen to suppress the truth and feed my wickedness. All Christians do this from time to time because even as Christians we have conflicting desires. We have our new nature -- our new heart that is righteous and loves and worships Jesus alone. But we also still live in the flesh – with its self-serving and idolatrous desires. Which means there is still a part of us that wants to be god of our life, there is still a part of us that looks to people and things other than Jesus for our joy and peace. It doesn’t matter if we are Christians or non-Christians we all commit idolatry in varying degrees. And this passage tells us that idolatry – in any and every case – is a willful choice that we make.
Second, this passage shows us that in addition to being a willful choice, idolatry is also a senseless choice. Let’s re-read verses 19 and 20, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” When we look at creation it is obvious that it is just that – creation. When we look at even the most beautiful and powerful aspects of creation we clearly see that someone greater, and wiser, and far more powerful must have created them and must sustain their existence. Yet, in spite of how glaringly obvious this is, human beings continue to worship and serve self, and people, and beauty, and sex instead of the God who created these things. This is so senseless that it is almost humorous – and it would be humorous – if it wasn’t so destructive.
And this leads us to the third thing we see in this passage. We see that this willful and senseless choice of idolatry also comes with great and terrible consequences. Verse 21 says that idolatry produces futile thinking and dark, foolish hearts. Verse 22 says idolatry reveals us to be fools. Verse 24 says that God brings his wrath to idolaters by allowing them to continue in their idolatry even to the destruction of their own body. Verse 28 says that God’s wrath gives idolaters over to a depraved mind. But it gets even worse. Because the choice to worship things other than or in addition to Jesus doesn’t just impact the idolatrous worshiper. It has consequences for everyone. Verse 29 says that idolatry fills human beings with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. It results in envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. Idolatry produces gossips, slanderers, God-haters, people who are insolent, arrogant, and boastful. Idolaters invent ways of doing evil, they disobey their parents, they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy, and they approve of others who are just like them.
Who and how we worship has serious consequences for us and for everyone around us. And though it may be popular to say that who and how we worship is no one’s business. We all know that it is. We all know this from our own experience. Every one of you in this room has been hurt physically, emotionally, psychologically. And sometimes you struggle to find an explanation for why they did what they did. But there is no need for an explanation. Because all of the blame really comes down to one thing: upside down worship…idolatry. You have been hurt because someone else chose to worship someone or something in place of, or in addition to, Jesus. Someone else’s “personal” worship choices directly affected you. Idolatry is THE human problem. Every problem in this world is a result of someone choosing to worship someone or something other than Jesus. And this choice, no matter how personal, is never private. It impacts everyone.
The Worship Solution
This is THE human problem. THE human problem is a worship problem. And since it is a worship problem it requires a worship solution. Which means that the solutions that irreligious people offer – education, legislation, redistribution -- these things cannot solve the problem. It is a worship problem. Which means that the solutions that religious people offer – moral living, religious teaching, churchgoing – these things cannot solve the problem. It is a worship problem and it requires a worship solution. The only solution is to move our worship from creation to Creator; the only solution is to give our worship to the One who has worshiped perfectly in our place. This, of course, is Jesus Christ.
You see, our idolatry had made us the enemies of our own Creator. And once we fell from a right relationship with our Creator we fell from a right relationship with everything he created. So we also became enemies of each other and enemies of creation itself. Every day that we lived worshiping anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ was a day that we were storing up more and more of God’s wrath for ourselves. Through our idolatry we had not only earned enmity with God, we had earned death. We had earned judgment. We had earned eternity separated from God and all goodness. Because though we can plainly see that created people and things are not God we continue to give ourselves to them in worship. And we continue to wage war against the True God and against other people in the process. But here’s the astonishing thing: this same God who we were waging war against freely chose to rescue us from our slavery to idolatry, death, and inevitable judgment. And he did this at great cost to himself. God, the Father, sent his own Son to us to give his life for us. His own Son, whom he had been united with in perfect and loving community for all of eternity. His own Son, who created the world and the very people who would kill him. His own Son, who was and is eternally good, and loving, and righteous, and just, and perfect. His own Son became like us, and came to us, in order to save us – his enemies. He did that by doing what we did not do and what we cannot do. From the moment of his birth to the moment of his death he worshiped the True God and only the True God and he did it perfectly. He did this so perfectly that Jesus himself said this about his relationship with God the Father in John 8:29, “I always do what pleases him.” I always do what pleases him. Jesus was able to always do what pleased God the Father because he was always worshiping God the Father and he was doing this for us – in our place – because we failed to do it. After 33 years of worshiping the Father perfectly through his life Jesus then offered perfect worship to the Father through his death. The wrath that you and I had stored up for ourselves by giving ourselves to creation instead of to the Creator, Jesus willingly took all of it upon himself. Instead of smiting his enemies God allowed his enemies to smite him so that his people could have life, and be forgiven of their idolatry, and be restored to a right relationship with God and with each other. After dying a horribly violent death in our place – and at our hands – Jesus rose from the dead. God raised his Son from the dead to vindicate him and to show that his worship – his perfect worship – had been accepted by the Father as the substitute for our imperfect worship.
Worship is never a private matter. Our worship – our idolatrous, imperfect, creation worship – destroys other people. Jesus’ worship – Jesus’ true, and perfect, Creator worship – restores everyone who puts their trust in him. If we accept Jesus’ worship on our behalf, we are freed from our idolatry, we are freed from death, we are freed from judgment, and we are restored to a right relationship with God. But on top of that, our decision to accept Jesus’ worship on our behalf has a positive impact on everyone we come in contact with. Just as when we worship anyone or anything other than Jesus it hurts other people, when we worship Jesus it blesses other people. Think about it.
Irreligious people are prideful because they are in control of their own lives and they don’t have to submit to anyone. Religious people are prideful because they think that they have earned God’s favor through their obedience. But those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are humble because they know that they have been given life and restoration even though they deserve death and destruction.
If irreligious people want justice they have to get it for themselves. If religious people want justice they have to condemn other people. And both ways lead us to think, and say, and do things that hurt other people. But those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf don’t have to think, say, and do harmful things to get justice for themselves and they don’t have to condemn anyone. Rather, they trust that Jesus himself will one day return to the earth to bring and establish perfect justice for everyone and for all time.
This also frees those who trust in Jesus Christ to forgive like no one else. Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship don’t have to overlook what was done to them, or minimize the pain in order to forgive. No, those who trust in Jesus’ worship are uniquely able to acknowledge the egregious evil that was done to them and then love their offender as if they never did anything wrong. They are able to do this because Jesus Christ did that for them. He acknowledged our terrible evil and himself willingly absorbed all of the punishment that we deserved. And then he loved us as though we had never waged war against him.
Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship are also freed to love like no one else. They are freed to love the unlovable and freed to love those who do not love in return. They are freed to give all of themselves to others because Jesus gave all of himself to them. He has lived and died and risen so that his people could have life, and hope, and acceptance, and approval, and value, and meaning, and fulfillment. This means, now, that his people don’t have to live for themselves. They have everything they need in Jesus and are now free to give all of themselves to other people.
Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are freed to be honest about who they are because Jesus has chosen them and accepted them already. Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are freed from racism, nationalism, and all forms of human division. Because Jesus has reconciled all types of people into one people by reconciling these people to God. Those who trust only in Jesus’ worship on their behalf are freed from fear, which causes so many of our world’s problems. They are freed from fear because Jesus has given them present and eternal security be reconciling them to God now and forever.
So you see, who you worship and how you worship is everyone’s business. Worshiping someone or something other than Jesus destroys you and it harms those around you. Trusting in Jesus’ worship on your behalf, and worshiping him as a result, that restores you and helps those around you. So while you are free to worship as you please you must recognize the tremendous consequences of your decision. And, more than that, you must recognize the tremendous consequences of Jesus’ choice to worship Yahweh in your place. He has done all that is necessary for you to be united with God and your fellow man. There is nothing left for you to do. Other than to simply fall at his feet and worship him for who he is and for what he’s done.
Comments:
Login to post comments