Judges: Wicked People, Gracious God
The News makes the world look like an awful place, full of murder, adultery & evil. The book of Judges makes the News look good. Judges plots the descent of Israel into a spiralling cycle of idolatry, sin & disregard for the God who rescued them from Egypt. Judges is dark, it’s uncomfortable, it’s humanity at its worst.
But God’s light shines in the darkness & God’s grace is on display.
‘The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord… The anger of the Lord burned against Israel… But when they cried out to the Lord, He raised up for them a deliverer…’ (Judges 3:7-9)
Does God value strength like our world values strength? God saves through weakness so the glory goes to Him, & so the world’s values are torn down.
God saved us to serve his church & gave us gifts to do it with, so gladly serve Jesus & others at Salt Church with your time, energy & money.
We’ve been saved to worship / serve God in all of life, so serve him in our many & different spheres of your life.
Our God serves us to save us from selfishness, so as we serve we’re being truly human & like God.
Thomas is a 'seeing is believing' guy, and when he sees Jesus he believes not only that Jesus is alive but that he is life - the Christ & Son…
Lots of things make Christians & non-Christians feel like it's reasonable to hold God/Jesus at arm’s length. In fact it’s only reasonable to embrace Jesus because He is your King…
In a merit-based-world, what do we have to do to do enough for God? Humbly ask God for mercy & then live an unmerited new life.
We may place our expectations on God but it's important to know he has expectations for us.
